Yanke speed6 street build

[yankejustin]

Here she sits as of today. I've already come pretty far with this car. I bought it at about 221,000 miles as a neglected half-dead car that was running pretty poorly.

I bought it from Virginia and drove it straight to my previous home in Indiana where I swapped the transmission with one that has all 6 gears. I could already post a book on all the shit I've already done to bring it back to life but I'll just be documenting the stuff from this point on out

This is my adventure with my speed6. My vision is to build it out to support a nice fat turbo.

 

[yankejustin]

I recently picked up some quality of life things for the interior to make it better to drive. 60k mile doors with newer speakers, 2007 head unit (to support an audio jack), and the stock car back.

Mod list now:
- 2.5" intake (meh)
- ISC coilovers
- 3" downpipe with high-flow cat
- Damond RMM
- Damond power steering cooler and lines
- Damond EGR delete

Maintenance:
- All fluids changed
- Tons and tons of cleaning and degreasing
- Transmission replacement
- Pro tune
My radiator is looking just destroyed, so that'll be next on the list after I get more settled into the new house. I'll be installing that along with the Treadstone TR8 when I can pick up some piping.

 

[yankejustin]

The rear portion of the interior was in complete contrast to the front- it was worn and pretty nasty. And also a lot of weight that I don't necessarily care for.

 

[Raider]

Looking good!

 

[Sho]

Welcome Justin! Good to see another local on here!

 

[yankejustin]

I've been increasingly losing a lot of power until I could easily be beat by some SUVs... Yikes
I knew all the seals on the head (including valve cover and VVT solenoid seals) were in shit shape but I hadn't considered how bad they all really were. Cylinder 1 is completely filled with oil and the plug was drooling oil on removal. I'm very surprised it ran so smoothly otherwise.
New seals and plugs are on the way. I also scooped up a spare valve cover and painted it with better (oil and gas resistant) paint.

 

[yankejustin]

Not so bad for such high mileage. I was right about the culprit. I also neglected to clean the mating surface because I was slapping it together so fast a couple months back.
I also some vvt marks on the valve cover but the chain is really tight. I'll be checking the crankshaft position sensor and checking the chain tension at TDC today.

Compression test was 166, 176, 154, 166
Parts are on the way! After wrapping up some house projects for the next month or so, I'll begin planning out the engine build. I've been very heavily considering a 2.5 bottom end with better rods and pistons if possible.

 

[yankejustin]

With the fresh seals and new spark plugs, it's running better than it has in probably 150k miles... It pulls great for being such an old engine! As I'm getting through stuff with the house, I'm gathering a list of what I'll need to achieve my goals with this car. Depending on the parts available, I may end up going with a 2.5 block...

Pic below of the slightly-crusty but cleaned up engine bay.

 

[yankejustin]

It's been pulling pretty great still. I'm really happy it's running so well since it probably hasn't been in such good condition since about 125k miles ago!
I haven't done anything extensive since life is still pretty busy. Other unrelated projects are chugging along and I'm looking at some options for a fat shed to get even more garage space.

Pics below of some more cleanup and ITG's beautiful valve cover dress up kit. I did some more rust reforming too.

 

[StreetSpeed6]

It's a lot of work getting high mileage stuff back to where it should be (ask me how I know lol) but hang in there man seems like you're on the right track! Keep it up

 

[yankejustin]

Still lots going on in life and I haven't had the chance to enjoy either of the Mazdaspeeds that much. I beat the piss out of the speed6 recently and I have an assortment of fluids coming out of different spots, which is to be expected lol

I don't anticipate having this engine in its current state that much longer and I have been considering the 2.5 bottom end swap for a while. After more research, I am now building up a parts list. I would like to have the head and block machined and i'll be building both in my garage with a fair amount of goodies thrown in. The Miata guys have been doing this type of swap long enough that there are some good forged internal upgrades for the Ford 2.5 Duratec. The 2.3 head will be machined and rebuilt with better parts.

Ultimately, my goal is 500awhp with a healthy punch of torque. I think i'd be happy with methanol injection and a moderately chunky turbo.

More to come soonish after I finish building a room in my house. I'm starting to clear out the garage to prepare for this winter build. I'm hoping that spring will come with a significantly freshened up and much faster speed6.

Any advice is welcomed of course.

 

[StreetSpeed6]

Sounds like you have the right attitude man just work towards your goals with it until you get results! I will say that methanol injection is great but to push high levels of power with it you need to dot every i and cross every T 3 times over because it's very dangerous when things go wrong.... I too plan to run methanol injection to reach higher power levels but just look at @Maisonvi's profile pic and you will have seen someone who lived it.

 

[yankejustin]

Shit that's one hell of a profile pic... Sheesh!

Thanks for the advice!

 

[yankejustin]

Not much has been going on with he speed6. I broke a few headlights while learning how to fix them up and add stuff to them. I might build a pair eventually but it's not a huge priority at all right now.

I've been in research mode. I've found a few good candidates for a block. I would like to get a slightly higher mileage block and have it machined by a local shop that @Sho has used.

Meanwhile, I'm gathering a list for cooling and fueling parts. Methanol still seems perfect for my case but I still have concerns about heat management and safety if fueling goes wrong.

I'm having a shed put up before winter and the garage will be cleared out to make way for the build. The engine will come shortly after the shed. I'm looking at stronger internals and deciding on vendors of forged 2.5 parts

 

[yankejustin]

Got married and I decided to put the shed build off. I'll have plenty of room right now. I'm starting to get some supporting parts on hand for the build. I still need FMIC piping and some cooling components. I found a nice deal on an HKS 4" intake

Next step is taking a trip to Michigan to scoop up an engine to have machined so I can put it together.

 

[yankejustin]

The trip went smoothly. The haul included some decent-looking accessories at 105k miles, an engine with rod knock, the transmission, and the transfer case.
All things considered, the head looks undamaged and the engine doesn't have any clear damage yet. I'm about to pull the rods out and check the bearings.

 

[yankejustin]

Cylinder 1 rod to the right. The block looks completely undamaged and the head is in great condition. The whole thing is looking perfectly worthy of a rebuild.
I'm personally amazed the rod didn't snap and go through the engine

 

[supertubesocks]

I'm right there with you resurrecting a high mile Speed6. Very interested with how your build goes.

 

[yankejustin]

In the usual craziness of life, my wife got pregnant! I'll be distracted with a newborn pretty soon so i've mostly been preparing for that.
My speed3 also could use a new stock+ suspension and some clean injectors + injector seals. I'll be spending this year saving up extra money for that shed plus speed6 parts and i'm thinking 2022 will be a great year to go through with my plans for this car.

In the meantime, I have more frame work I would like to do (rust reforming and protection). I would also like to spend some time to drop the rear subframe and re-do a lot of whatever is going on back there because it feels pretty loose and sloppy.

 

[yankejustin]

I'm right there with you resurrecting a high mile Speed6. Very interested with how your build goes.

Good stuff dude! It's been a long road so far and I get a lot of fun out of it. In this upcoming year i'll still be enjoying it even though it's somewhat sloppy and slow still haha