KV's 2010 MS3

[krimsonviper]

Damn, I fall off the face of the planet a lot. Also, kind of did, Aaron. I used to weight ~230 when we met. I'm down to 185-195. Diabetes is a b**** when not in control.

Not much has happened since last I posted. I think I got it tinted and that was it. Just regular maintenance and still stock besides the mount. I'm broke, so that's not gonna change anytime soon. I am finally getting around to getting a professional compression test and leak down test since I kept getting various readings on my own because I keep using rental tools or Harbor Freight tools. If everything checks out, I will be able to do the valve cleaning after buying the oil catch can from Damond Motorsports and injector seals from Corksport. I plan on sending my injectors to a place in Texas to get them cleaned and checked and change the seals because they are prone to failure and the OCC to help keep the valves clean. Gonna change the PCV because that is prone to fail on stock setups, similar to the injector seals. I'm on the fence about the EGR delete because I do care about the environment, but I know the valve cleaning is a PIA. I'm gonna try and get this s*** done spring break, but we'll see. MIAMI, you feel me?

*edit*
Actually, something to note that happened with the car, I had to figure out a starting and idling issue that had something to do with the throttle, or EGR system and fixed that through simple cleaning. Then most recently, I bent a stud removing a lug nut because the bastards at America's Tire in Vacaville like to over-torque your s***. So I replaced a wheel stud and am waiting on all new lug nuts to come in the mail, then gonna properly torque everything. Another check mark in the long list of reason's why I don't like to f*** with mechanics and prefer to do s*** myself. I also plastidipped the hoodscoop. Did this originally to see if I like and I do and when I get the money to buy a stock black hoodscoop I'll pick that up. Not f*** with the other hoodscoops because I don't like the size and I would rather prefer to get vents to take advantage of the opportunity when I get an FMIC in the future.

Also, I am the best man for another wedding, so my main focus is that. Plan on going hang gliding for that, then a strip club in SF to end the night. I am also planning to transfer to Sac State in Fall this year and I'm not sure I'll be getting a lot of financial aid even though I'm living on less than $12k/year for the last two years. Ridiculous.

Here's some photos I took last year. Not a lot of opportunity to take pics last year because of the fires and school. Enjoy!
(I'll be cleaning and painting the calipers black sometime in the summer, also going to clean, clay, and wax the wheels)

[krimsonviper]

Got my V.V.T. gear and timing chain done on my car over the weekend. I wish I could say I did it myself because then I could have saved myself $600 and gained knowledge and confidence on touching my car. Well, at least I don't have to worry about my engine blowing up because of a manufacturer issue. Still waiting to finish my 100 miles before I can open it up and see how it is. Looking to buy an O.C.C. and install. The stock K04 is still good according to the mechanic who did the work and I checked it myself when installing the boost tubes. Just a lot of oil because of the massive blow by these engines produce. I will be doing the valve cleaning as I collect the tools and find the time to get it done. Still need to convince my parents to let me house my car in the garage for a week while the injectors are sent off to Canada for testing and cleaning and save money for the injector seals from Corksport. The stock injector seals are prone to failing and the Corksports are as good as the CP-e ones and a lot cheaper. All in all I'm ~$500 and one convincing talk away from doing that job lol.

I didn't do the job because my hand is messed up and currently doing therapy to get it back to normal. I hurt it while raging in my room and breaking a bunch of s***. Control your anger, kids. A couple of pictures of my hand. This is how wide I can open it and how far I can close it. No grip strength and I can't get into tight spaces.

[krimsonviper]

Some car parts! Ordered a Damond oil catch can, a PCV valve attachment, and a couple fender brackets because I broke one and have the other just in case I break that one while installing the new one on the other side.



Gonna install these after I fix the lawn mower and get to chopping the front lawn that is a jungle right now. Should be within the next couple of weeks. Next step after these is valve cleaning, thermal gasket on I.M., sending injectors to a place in Canada to get them cleaned and checked, new injector seals, and replacement of torx bolts into regular bolts that hold the injectors in place. Only about ~$400 away from all that lol. Hopefully get that done in the summer. I might also bypass the coolant in the throttle body during the summer to help keep B.A.T.s low. Got up to 105+ degrees for a full week last year.

Then after that a car alarm to install my aftermarket head unit. Tired of reaching for my phone when I have CarPlay on a head unit collecting dust after my car was totaled.

[krimsonviper]

**This is not a write up**

I installed my Damond Motorsport OCC that I posted about. I did this install from underneath the car instead of removing the manifold and fuel rail to get to the PCV system. Unfortunately for you reading this I didn't take pics of this install. Just know it was a b**** to do because the clip that holds the hoses came off prematurely and it took me a long time to coax the hose and clip into place to properly secure the line.

I redid my headlights and this time I used the UV protectant. While I was there I replaced the broken bracket on the passenger side and now my bumper is back to normal.

I finally got around to cleaning my intake valves and did a few other mods while I was there. The MS3 is known to have weak injector seals from the factor. They fail even under stock boost and I was afraid mine were done. Since I will eventually go with a bigger turbo targeting 300-350whp later down the road and I am sending my injectors off to get cleaned, seals are something I need and decided to upgrade. There are five ways to go about this: stock again, Toyota diesel engine seals, CP-E, Corksport, or Overspeed Motorsports. Stock fails, Toyota fails, CP-E occasionally fails, Corksport is nice but expensive compared to Overspeed and Overspeed and Corksport have identical designs and I got a good discount because I'm apart of a Facebook Group. Several high HP MS3 engines run these and they haven't failed so I have full confidence in Overspeed, plus Jordan who gave me the hookup helped me a lot while reassembling my car.

So, this is the exact moment I s*** myself.



Before this moment, all I've done on vehicles is basic maintenance. Tire rotation, oil changes, coolant flush, etc. Simple things. Taking things apart was fairly simple. I've seen a good amount of videos so I am confident disassembling. Lots of Ziplock bags and labeling are your best friend, especially when the car will be in pieces for a couple days or more. Take it from me when you see later, if you think you've separated enough, you haven't, so separate some more.

Since my fuel injectors will be out for some time and I only have a week to do this, injectors are the first thing out. I was originally going to go with a shop in Canada called Precision Line Fuel Injectors. I wanted these guys because they are the only ones in North America that test direct injection injectors at operating PSI. Everyone else does only 100-200 psi. Some people have been known to send out their injectors, get them back, and have injector issues or a burned through piston. But Precision wouldn't be able to get my injectors back to me in time and the chances of that happening to me is slim, so I went to go with RC Fuel Injection in Torrence California. I get a discount with these guys as well and multiple people in the Facebook group have used them and no issues that I previously mentioned. If I can I will send them out again, but to Precision this time in order to get proper testing done on them and have a peace of mind.

Here's my injector report. #2 concerns me, but there isn't much I can do since time is an issue. I know, I know. Saving time in the short run can be costly in the long run, but again, there's nothing I can do since my vehicle needed to be out of the working space within the seven days.



First issue!



I bent the line that goes north that's in the center of this pic. No kinks and no gas came out anywhere else but where it plugs into the fuel rail so I am fairly confident I am good. After start up I had a fire extinguisher ready and the car's e-brake was off and the chocks removed so if worse comes to worst I'll push the car out into the street. No gas smell, gas mileage is on point, and I haven't caught on fire. This line was extremely difficult pulling out of the rail and this wasn't my first ugga dugga incident.

Second issue!



In my efforts to ugga dugga the fuel rail off of the fuel injectors, I pulled off the wires that go into the plug for injector #4. Luckily upon reassembly Jordan from Overspeed who assembles these engines was available he showed me the proper connection order and they were secured back into the plug.

The ports for the fuel injectors.






All 4 seals failed! Number one, which is the last image in that set was the best of them. The black against the shine on number one is gasket material stuck to the block that I picked off.

[krimsonviper]

All clean.



The fuel injectors looked like s***, but not as bad as I've seen. In no particular order






Off to the races these go!

I decided to clean the manifold as best I could, especially the matting area for a proper seal. The same thing with the injector seals, the manifold gasket left behind some of itself that I had to scrape off with picks. I made sure not to make any deep scrapes. Nothing came even close to a millimeter deep.





Prepping my engine bay and my walnut blasting set up. I used a shop vac and a media blast gun from Harbor Freight with fine walnut that will last me a lifetime of doing this plus five other cars. When you do this, make sure all holes are plugged. I forgot to put the dipstick back into it's hole and as a result during clean up I suspected there were some shells that made it into my pan so I pulled the pan to check. About 5 pieces made it into there so I am glad I pulled the pan. Plus I can smelled a lot of B-12 when I pulled the pan so I was happy I did it. For those that don't know, a lot of oil is left behind during an oil change. I forgot to take a pic of this, but there was at least a quarter quart left inside there. I used painters plastic lining that they use to prevent paint from ruining your floors when painting a house. This was probably the most irritating part of the cleaning because you have to make sure everything is covered and your spray cleaner will affect the adhesion of your tape. I use kept using more and more tape to seal off corners and such.

[krimsonviper]

Here are my before cleaning valves and why this needs to be done on direct injection engines. In order of one to four.






I soaked these things for about an hour in B-12 before I blasted. My advice is that one you understand how much pressure it takes to remove the gunk, leave the B12 in the valve as you scrape. This helps cut time in half. Sure you're blind, but you'll feel this stuff as you scrape and it helps break it down as you scrape. When you remove it and blast the valve, the residue hardens again on the valve and makes life hard. I would blast one valve and leave the other soaking and then rotate until I'm done with the cylinder, seal it up and move over to the next cylinder. Soaking the valves overnight doesn't do anything as I did that for number four and it took the same amount of time to remove. The walnut really wasn't needed, but it helps. What it does is leave a nice outline for the stuff inside the valve for your to pick at. B12 and picks did 90 percent of the work here.

After! This time in no particular order.






By the way I didn't bother cleaning the walls. It felt useless to do those since I can't soak it and using a toothbrush is the only option. I did find an imperfection in one of them. There's a lump about a couple centimeters big and about a centimeter tall. I thought it was the blow by I've been removing, but it really was the aluminum block. I'm not sure what to do about this. Let me know if you do.

[krimsonviper]

Injectors are back!



Overspeed seals on!



I bought an Adapted Performance thermal insulated gasket to help fight the rising climate temps. I think it's a gimmick, but if it works it works. This thing is nine times thicker than the stock one and has a steel core. Many people are running it and some claim BATs are helped, but heat soak eventually sets in any way. The bottom of the manifold is touching the block, so heat is getting transferred to the manifold directly anyway. Again, I think its a gimmick, but if it helps, it helps. Since I was here, I decided to do a free mod and do a coolant bypass from the throttle body. Just unplugged and plugged a hose from one spot and completed the system in another. This one does help out a lot since hot coolant isn't running in the throttle body anymore. I just have to restore it in the freezing temps of the year if I decide to. All the coolant does in the throttle body is help prevent it from sticking. I was thinking of doing having a TIG for the throttle body, but decided against it.



While buttoning everything up I decided to clean the throttle body because the side that attaches to the manifold was layered in oil and I cleaned the MAF. I don't have a pic of the throttle body. I may eventually eliminate the EGR system from my car, but I mostly drive in the city right now and I am concerned about the environment. Ridiculous, right? I'm a car enthusiast, but I care about the environment. "Don't go full retard. Never go full retard." I also replaced the PCV valve since you can't do it under the car. I mean, you can, but do you really want to? Rhetorical question.

One last thing. Separate everything and label it. While torquing the fuel rail, I thought I had the right bolt in but it turns out I didn't. I was interrupted while installing it and didn't realize this bolt was shorter than the others. This was the result.



Luckily the proper bolt is another inch longer and torqued down to spec. The silver in the threads is the amount of threading removed out of the block. Less than a centimeter is length.

It's been about two weeks since I finished. No boost leaks and MPG is on point. Would I recommend this? If you just DD and don't bother with power, then no. If you do more than that, then do it. The positives I've gotten is that I don't need to give it so much gas to get up to speed than I did before. The car feels like its gained some power and I can stay out of boost if I felt like it. I took it easy for the first 100 miles to make sure everything is good and now I'm treating the car the way I normally would. When my check comes out Tuesday or Wednesday I will fill up and see what my MPG is now. I was getting 19-21 combined. I hope it's more now. The engine is also quieter. I don't know what sticky valves sound like, but I think I do now and it's gone in my car for right now. I would probably sell the car before I do the valve cleaning again and if history is any indication of the future, the car will probably die before it reaches 200k miles in an accident that's not my fault.

Next up in maintenance is coolant flush. Over 4 years due. Next mods are high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) internals and an AccessPort from Cobb.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Nice step-by step.
I'm not looking forward to cleaning the valves on my ST. I was thinking of just doing catch cans and some meth injection though... that should be enough to keep it clean.

What do they change on the high pressure fuel pump, and why?

[krimsonviper]

Nice step-by step.
I'm not looking forward to cleaning the valves on my ST. I was thinking of just doing catch cans and some meth injection though... that should be enough to keep it clean.

What do they change on the high pressure fuel pump, and why?

Thanks!

From what I've been reading, meth isn't enough to keep the valves clean unfortunately. Nothing short of full port injection will keep them clean, but EGR delete, meth, and an OCC will help a lot. It's why some companies now are messing around with duel port injection I am thinking of going meth for fun weekend nights for aux fueling would be nice to have. Having it available on 100+ degree weather would be nice, too. We'll see how that goes for me though. M.I.A.M.I.

What do you mean "what do they change on the high pressure fuel pump (a.k.a HPFP)"? Do you mean why the new internals? The stock internals can only run at 2000 psi unreliably and with more air, the engine really needs that amount of pressure or more. The stock is already maxed and only reliable for 1600-1800 psi and I don't want to detonate, or zoom-zoom-boom (ZZB), the engine. Luckily Autotech already had internals that are swappable and Corksport developed good ones for the platform, too. Anything beyond 400whp requires a 5/6th port or full PI. An AP and new HPFP internals are the gateway to more power for this block. Some Gen 1s are able to get away with an intake without HPFP internals, but when the cold air weather comes up it gets questionable. Gen 2s, mine, not so much. I can't even upgrade the TMIC without HPFP.

It seems like Mazda really pushed what they could to keep the platform affordable enough for the public.

And I change my mind about my next mods. Going to go with a new car alarm and mess with my car audio before I crank the power. I have an hour commute on a good day for the next two years. #creaturecomforts

How have you been, Smurf?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I've been up and down. Peaks and valleys, highs and lows, s*** and sunshine

Also, your aluminum protrusion into the intake port - I'd just grind/buff that bad boy down with a dremel. Don't use the stone attachment, as it'll just load up with aluminum. You can probably use the 80 grit drum to get a lot of it done. From what I recall, that's what they do for porting.

[krimsonviper]

Back after some time! Things that's happened since. Well, I bought a Cobb accessport just before quarantines happened. Thinking I needed to sell soon, but then I got unemployment and now I get to keep it. Discovered with the use of the AP that I have a leak somewhere. Built a boost leak test and couldn't find it with soapy water so I'm bringing it to a tuning shop on the first if everything goes smoothly. Figured I might as well have the combo for tuning and bought Autotech HPFP internals for future zoom zoom.

Bought SPC camber arms since my stock ones are bent according to a body shop I brought it to to align my front sub-frame because I was tired of not knowing why my car pulled to the left ever since I bought it. They also believe my left front lower control arm is bent so I will be buying that soon. I also bought some tires some time in December when I found out two of my rims are bent! Yay! So After I get the suspension all sorted I'm gonna buy some new rims. The previous owner definitely hit something on the right side. Probably why they traded it in and no Carfax report on it because they dealer did the least amount of work to make it drive-able and kept it hush-hush.

Waiting on both SPC and the Autotechs to come in later today. Dunno when I'm gonna install as the garage is packed again. House went to s*** to make room for a medical bed for my mom. Things aren't going well for her.

To fight for a bit of life I reinstalled my JL W6, 300/4 and 600/1 and Kenwood deck into my MS3 and bought all new door speakers: Focal Flax components front and Hertz Dieci rears. Went with two different companies because I wanted the Hertz but my amp can't completely power their component sets, so I settled on Flax. Flax is a really good speaker, but it doesn't have a warm sound to it. Just sounds very mechanical. I haven't finished tuning it so we'll see. The Hertz is super bright, but they don't take away from the rear stage, amazingly enough.

For a bit of rice, I bought a license plate relocator and that is a good $45 I spent on Amazon. Now I'm looking for an FMIC and a 3 inch intake. The power upgrades aren't first on my list and just waiting to find a really good deal on Facebook for them. After the FMIC and intake, gonna get a tune by PurpleDrank and turn my hood scoop into a vent!

I'll post pics when I'm not pressed for time. Just taking a small break from my studies. Deuces!

Forgot to add, I also bought a fire extinguisher bracket from a company called Kap industries in Australia. Honestly looking forward to that more than anything. I can finally secure the fire extinguisher that's been sitting in my car for months!

[krimsonviper]

Alright, since last update, I finally installed my 3 inch CorkSport (CS) short ram intake, CP-e TMIC, and (CS) catless racepipe and tuned by Will at Purple Drank (PD) Tuning. No idea what my whp numbers are at but it's at least 25 when compared to similar mods done by others and got dyno'd. I also dropped in 4 new StopTech centric blanks and discs because my front discs were worn pretty bad and the pads were squealing and WeatherTech floor mats because I am tired of the smell wet carpet gives. I bedded them and they are just as good as stocks cold and a lot better when warmed. I also swapped out the Redline MTL transmission fluid for Motul's and so far there is a noticeable difference in moderately cool weather and the transmission isn't quite warmed up, meaning my first to second doesn't grind as much when cold. I will find out how much of a change there is when I wake up early morning to drive to work and it's 40F outside. I know, my transmission grind is more indicative of a bad transmission, but I don't have the money right now to buy a new clutch, flywheel, and used transmission and have it all installed because I sure as f*** aint doing that myself at my level of knowledge and my transmission is not getting any worse so I'm just riding it out for now. The increase in power I believe my clutch is slipping at 125K miles and when my turbo finally goes, I'm putting in CS's CST4 into my car along with COBB's high flow catted long downpipe. I got a ticking time bomb under the hood!

I'm hunting for TSW Nürburgring wheels currently because two of my current ones were bent by the previous owner from an unreported accident I am having to fix and one of the center caps broke and popped off. The center cap popping off broke the camel's back on this call. It will be nice eliminating some weight with the lighter wheels. I don't believe I will ever be lowering the car. Speaking of suspension, I will also be fixing the caster damage from previously mentioned accident. I believe my LCA is damaged, but I also believe that strut is damaged because center bolt for the strut has moved when compared to the other one. I may just go with OEM ones all around because I'm really not interested in dropping the car. This is my main focus because I don't want to continually buy new tires due to premature wear from this damage.

That's all for now!

[PapaSmurf2k3]

\No idea what my whp numbers are at but it's at least 25

I got a ticking time bomb under the hood!

[krimsonviper]

I sometimes need to proofread my s*** before I post. A lot of the time I'm just tired of reading and writing though since I'm swamped with it in school
Meant to say I dunno what my whp gains were but it's at least 25. I do have a ticking time bomb under the hood. The turbo doesn't like free(er) flowing exhaust systems, so the seals tend to blow because the increased flow pushes oil past the turbo seals.

Report on the Motul:
A lot better cold response. No grind noise but I do feel it a little still, however a lot less. If anyone is reading this and they have the Gen 2 MS3, ditch Redline and go Motul. Oh, and don't run the unicorn jizz Gen 1 owners shout about. s*** not for Gen 2 transmission.

[krimsonviper]

Sent my first report. In the summer I will go up to 3K miles and send a sample with plenty of hot days in it to see if I need to go to 5W-40 or stay 5W-30. Makes me happy to learn my engine is "wearing particularly well."

[krimsonviper]

Oh yeah! I forgot to announce I got this little piece of equipment for my AP. Nice little mount and you can get one for your car, too, Smurf.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Nice!
I'm trying to leave mine *mostly* stock. I've got the corvette for go-fast activities