Plain Jane OEM nothing to see here rebuild

[RETed]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

I figured the same thing about that thin spot, but thought it was odd that it had a thin spot.

I think the molds were just getting bad toward the end of the production that some of the irons came out like that.
I've seen a lot of them on tear-downs, and they look awfully like massive corrosion...
It's so common that I've just chalked it up to "bad" molds.
Oddly enough, I've never seen a failure in those areas.

I don't remember the specific order I torqued the through bolts down in, but I did it in a chris cross pattern. I used a beam torque wrench and did them down to FSM specs..though I don't recall what those numbers are at the moment. I get where you are going with this though and talked to a friend about it just yesterday. If they weren't torqued down correctly wouldn't I have had leaks everywhere. I didn't have any signs of coolant in oil or any outer leaks through the irons and into engine bay. BUT I did transport the assembled keg to a friends shop to use his air tools for the flywheel nut. I doubt the engine "loosened" during transportation....but is it possible?

I believe the Mazda torque spec is around 27 lb-ft?
I only use Snap On torque wrenches - click-type.
I run my rebuilds at 30 lb-ft.
It's slightly higher than stock spec, but it's not tight enough to interfere with the rotating assembly.
I know guys run them higher, but you run the risk of increasing friction.
I've seen an engine torqued down to 40 lb-ft that almost could not be rotated by hand!
I know Snap On torque wrenches are not cheap, but the ~$200 investment is a good one in this case.


-Ted