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Started pulling off my valve cover to get ready to replace my water pump, timing belt as per regular maintenance, and noticed coolant in my valve cover
Have taken the head off, cleaned up my pistons and going to start cleaning up the head.
Any tips/advice on how to clean up the head easily?
Anything I should be doing "While im in here" In terms of power mods or reliability mods?

Car is a 1994 NA8.

Anybody know a machine shop or place I can take the head too to check if its warped? or can i do some checks to see if its ok?

Some pics for those who like visuals from crappy camera phones.
http://imgur.com/a/DqjTC

Where are you?

I am in north eastern suburbs of Melbourne

I would probably investigate why you have coolent in a location you should not have it.

Believe the issue was a head gasket leak, unless there is another way for coolant to get in there that I am unaware of...?

Car has never overheated during my ownership.

You local mechanics or places like Bursons will tell you who does head work / machining in your vicinity. You could ring or call on the mx5 factory to see if they can give some advice. I would talk to the head experts- before doing anything else at this stage and of course do some reading - you should have a repair manual at hand.

The head should be hardness tested, cleaned, pressure tested, inspected and machined before going back on. There may be a crack letting coolant cross through to oil. There may be heat damage to the head. You really should find a mentor for this. Some mechanics will happily lend or sell you their time for this.

Reflex Engine Reconditioning in Campbellfield have been good for me for the testing/cleaning/machining work.

Doing all that work to the head sounds expensive.
Any ideas on rough pricing so I know I am not getting ripped off?

My original plan was to keep the car stock till I had more of a idea what I wanted to do powerwise, so I just want to get it back on the road as reliable as possible (to do more track days!) without spending a fortune.

Luckily I have a head gasket and lots of other spare gaskets/seals ready to drop in.

What I thought I would do was -
Clean out the head as best as I can.
Clean up the head and block surface
Put it back together and happy motoring...?

Guess thats not the way to go?

As manga said, it may have a crack/fracture. Def get it x-rayed before putting back together otherwise it could be all for naught


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Will do

Anybody know what the little bung at the back of the head is called? Its a unused water plug.

Called up my local mazda dealer, and from the diagrams they sent me I am not sure of the part number.

booki89 wrote:Doing all that work to the head sounds expensive.
Any ideas on rough pricing so I know I am not getting ripped off?

Depends on what you have done. Often having more done at once is cheaper than having just 1 item tackled.

Cleaned, decked and tested could be around $400-500 but if you're doing that, you'd may as well get the valves and valve surface reground, and also do the guides etc.. so often it isn't about how much, but do as much as you can or risk repeating. Technically, if you are decking the head, you should consider doing the same to the block, though isn't always needed in most cases.

I'd encourage at least taking to a head shop - tell em you'll pay cash, just want it initially tested and decked. Then discuss what else they'd recommend and how much more. Do as much as your budget allows.

As g said, just take it in and talk. Most machine shops will do the hardness test for free on the counter so they know if it's even worth thinking about at all.

I am not sue anyone can really tell you. There is not much you can do at home without equipment and training as far as the head is concerned. You cannot fix cars without spending something but only spending what really needs to be done is no bad plan either. If the engine was running well its probably not a big issue. Anyone interested in cars needs to make some contacts with local pros- bear in mind machining work if needed is farmed out by mechanics to their shop of choice. There is no substitute for talking to people direct - e mails / forums are only of value up to a point.

You have to read about the processes you are planning to do i.e. the water pump / belt replacement/ alignment/ head torqueing etc.

gslender wrote:

booki89 wrote:Doing all that work to the head sounds expensive.
Any ideas on rough pricing so I know I am not getting ripped off?

Cleaned, decked and tested could be around $400-500 but if you're doing that, you'd may as well get the valves and valve surface reground, and also do the guides etc.. Technically, if you are decking the head, you should consider doing the same to the block, though isn't always needed in most cases.

I'm fortunate to know a good old school guy and recently paid $260 to have head tested, shaved, cleaned and reseated the valves with new valve stem seals. Doesn't help you much but just wanted to share what I think was a bargain.

When decking the block, he requested that I remove pistons, rods, crank etc.
Imagine that's the norm, so bare that in mind if considering decking the block. Is very easy to rack up the costs and that's why a plan is a handy thing.
Speak to them and get the best understanding that you are getting what you want/need for the money.

Good luck


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speed wrote:I'm fortunate to know a good old school guy and recently paid $260 to have head tested, shaved, cleaned and reseated the valves with new valve stem seals. Doesn't help you much but just wanted to share what I think was a bargain.

That price is insane!