Category Archives: Car

Mazda 3 Ford Focus 1 3.620 2.80 2 1.925 1.50 3 1.285 1.00 4 0.933 0.84 5 0.692 -

After watching the “king of miata’s” videos on youtube I attempted my timing belt again. Spot on this time and the car runs like a dream. I was much quicker to pull it down and reassemble the second time.

I think I spoke too soon about not getting a tooth wrong on my cam belt. I’ve fixed the coolant leak at the rear of the head, but now I have discovered a larger and much more serious issue… No acceleration! The car starts an idles fine, and timing is set using my timing light. Car seemed to be ok as I pulled out of my driveway but as soon as I started accelerating it was apparent that something was wrong. No power and backfiring when I backed off. Took it straight back to my house, no point risking things. I guess on the weekend I’ll have to pull it down again. Something to keep my hands busy and my mind off things.

Had a fairly productive weekend. Replaced cam belt and water pump, welch plug in front of the engine and a coolant reroute from around the back. Car is running and nothing horrible like getting a tooth wrong on the belt. I have a slight leak on the rear housing but it should be easy to fix, just remove and refit and check the gasket is sitting properly. Of note I discovered the Mazda B6 engine from the Japanese NB uses the same water pump as a BP engine and not that of the earlier NA B6’s.

My car wasn’t ready for the club track day on the 6th of September so I just did some filming.