Patchy's Fawlty Towers risk management. Enter at own risk

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 11:29 pm

Not good!
Looks like you won't be polishing the valve cover for a while.

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StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 6:33 am

Can't see myself doing anything for a while porting, polishing or re assembly

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:23 pm

That's the main reason I gave up.cycling. I recommend running as a safer past time to keep u fit.

Ross · Postby **Ross** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:50 am

Rest up and get better STM, sounds very lucky in the end, all things considered.
I've taken a trip across the roof of a car myself - with bike still attached to my shoes :shock:

, not a pleasant experience.

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:59 am

Holy Moly Ross....

by bike was definitely not attached any more.

I'm kind of a bit dirty that my head gasket hasn't arrived yet. USA postal charges like a bull but postage must go via Pluto. Anyway My thumb is out of action for 4-6 weeks. So really it matters nothing.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:26 am

Crikey STM - glad to hear it was only a minor injury.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:43 am

Methinks Ross, your cleats were a little tight?

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 5:13 pm

My experience in purchasing from the USA has been less than exciting.

They charge a bomb for postage and it goes via Pluto to get here. The only place Ive had joy was Amazon. Quick delivery with reasonable shipping cost.

My Head Port & polish kit arrived minus the box :roll:

I should have just gone via E-bay....but because I wasnbt sure what to order I ordered the same kit as the instructions suggested. I Paid through my nose for Postgage. and probably too much for the kit itself. Now that Ive got my head around it. Next time will be from e-bay.
the one I got was the Standard Abrasives Deluxe Porting Kit. Then I went to Bunnings & got a compartment organizer for $7.00.
Don't ask me where I got it from its not worth it. Customer service wasnt exactly rudebut it wasnt an outstanding experience & it took 2.5 weeks to get here. Postage cost a shiteload.

Then Low & Behold my my Head gasket arrived along with the other bits.

Customer service at Miata Roadster is far better. But shipping cost really kills it as well. Bill has very good customer service but because he is a 1 man show nothing is automated. Which is a problem if it was urgent.
I will consider Miata roadster in the future again but cost of shipping any further orders will be unlikely.
extra thin head gasket & and some other bits.

the worst part now is waiting for my thumb to heal so I can give the head porting a bit of a go

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 5:56 pm

USPS is really expensive.
Auspost is cheaper (as I had to return something to the US).
Shipping kills it for us (considering the aussie dollar is so low).

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:32 pm

I was supposed to rest my thumb.

I was just going to play for 5 minutes. Honestly.

90 minutes later

My thumb is really sore now though.

I did the s with a drill.

Just came home from Bunnings with a air compressor & die grinder.

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 9:07 am

So all intakes are done. Ended up getting a compressor & rotary thingy tool to do the job. Much easier on my injured hand.
A slightly premature question. How do I remove all the mentally bits inside the head & ville guides? Trying to avoid having to go back to the machinist for a clean .

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Postby **Okibi** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:26 pm

I seem to remember a post about FM finding that the only real way to remove all that is to have it professionally cleaned.

You could try a DIY ultra sonic cleaner, find your favourite speed garage 20 kHz to 400kHz tune and drop the speaker in with some degreaser?

Postby **Okibi** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:38 pm

'95MSM - Mazdaspeed forums wrote:FM used a certain vendor for their ported heads a long while back. They had a series of failures / very short engine life that they traced back to the vendor using flapper wheels and sandpaper sleeves on the aluminum cylinder heads and/or manifolds. They washed the parts, but that apparently was not enough to dislodge bits of grit. The grit comes loose and ruins the finish of the cylinder walls on its way through the engine. The proper solution is to either not use any sandpaper type products or have all aluminum parts involved in the flow path of the engine ultrasonically cleaned afterwards. There was quite a lot of finger pointing over this and FM dropped that vendor.