2.0l MA engine rebuild
 

New member here. I picked up a 79 Ford Courier that has the Mazda MA 2.0l 8V engine. Bought it with a known blown head gasket, and tore into the engine recently.

Parts are hard to come by for this engine I’ve learned, but I’ve had some pretty lucky finds on NOS eBay listings. I do have the rebuild manual, and I did find a website that gives the part numbers for a B2000 of that vintage so that does help. Point is, info/support is scarce but it’s still possible to accomplish a rebuild (so far).

A few questions I have that some of you may have insight on:

Camshaft bearings. When I pulled the cam, the cam bearings had literally looked like the babbit material melted on them. Like the cam journal pushed molten metal to the sides of the bearings where it turned into slag. Looks almost as if someone who couldn’t weld was going at them. Never seen this damage before in an engine.

New bearings are almost nonexistent but I know I’ll figure something out. The closest I’ve come is King bearings has a set CS330BB. On some sites it’s listed as a replacement for a 79 2.0l engine. Kings website has it listed only for the 1.8l engine for a 72-79. Normally I’d take this at face value, but on a few sites like rockauto, I’m seeing the cam bearings part numbers are the same for the 1.8 and 2.0l engine for a 79. I’m tempted to buy a set from Kings and see if they fit because it’s the only option I’ve found so far. Does anyone know if there’s any difference between the two engines cam bearings?

Head gasket. I see felpro offers a 0.020 head gasket shim. That doesn’t inspire confidence and I’m afraid this might have been popular enough to be made due to some sealing issue of the time I’m not aware of. Anyone know what it’s about? Is it just to bring back factory compression if you had the head shaved? I did see mention of it on another old forum post where a guy had bad sealing issues and mentioned that he now understands why they offered a shim…

I found an old TSB where Ford sent out recalls for a head gasket issue for a handful of years and mine falls under it. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Other thing I noticed was the head bolts were very loose on this teardown. I think someone tried to replace the gasket and may not have cleaned out the block holes properly to where the head never sealed. They were a bit more than finger tight which is crazy.

Anyways, any insight is appreciated

Welcome to the forum

Nice write up!
Pictures would be great to see.

Thanks for the welcome. I’ll get a picture of the cam bearings sometime too.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...7b4c2f685.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...3a657aeda.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...cd3ffd3f2.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...98329e6e7.jpeg
Bought .030 pistons and rings. Plan to overbore. Can feel the area where the rings sat with water in the cylinder.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...584e8dc41.jpeg

Nice project! :cool:
Funny I owned one of that back when I also lived in a mobile home as well.

Welcome to the forum!

I picked up a 1976 Ford Courier manual......somewhere. Would this help you with your truck, and would you be interested in it? I'm pretty sure I still have it........I will look tomorrow. Let me know if you are interested in it.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...8a974d2b37.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...bcbd5a1942.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...08e618126a.jpg

Thank you for the offer. Yes I actually have the 79 and 80 manual. They’re pretty thorough. My issues are more about whether I need (or should) use the head gasket spacer or if I can source the cam bearings. I think I’ll make a gut call based on how much the head needs to be shaved, and if the block needs decking at all. If flat is flat then I see no need to use it otherwise

Sometimes I get bored and look up the possible meanings to members name.
:D

Wormwood Motors is a fictional business from Roald Dahl's novel Matilda, and it is located in England. In the 1996 film adaptation, the car dealership was fictional and the exterior shots of the Wormwood family's home were filmed at 15811 Youngwood Drive, Whittier, California.

Lol yeah I went back and watched those scenes as an adult and they’re hilarious. Speaking of which, I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry himself did this head gasket previously.

Updates so far:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...cec464718.jpeg
Before old head gasket removed and cleaned.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...3b6d9fc01.jpeg
After cleaning.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...e598a3c26.jpeg
Head warped like a banana 0.018” in the middle. Gonna have to try to straighten this before even thinking about shaving the head because the cam towers are gonna be warped as well. (I suspect partly the cause of why the cam bearings were toast)
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...dbf0e7e04.jpeg
Close up of a runny cam bearing
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...ee9fc99c8.jpeg
Interesting valve stem tip wear. The picture makes it look worse than it is, but I’m replacing all with NOS Manley and TRW valves found on eBay either way.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...dc28938be.jpeg
Hand ground valve stem tip?? I don’t even know what was going on here but it’s crooked and can be seen by the naked eye. It also did not want to pass through the guide.

Updates:

I ended up sourcing a good used engine for the rebuild. I got the original head straightened to under 0.010” with an acetylene torch but I got to thinking. I’m almost positive that head was off the car before, and I know it had work done to it. That I’m guessing includes resurfacing the head. The service limit is 0.010” removed total. I bet it would still be ok if you went a bit past that, but I’m not interested in gambling.

Donor head with about 0.001” warp. We’re good to go there to get a skim cut. I planned to replace the valve guides but wasn’t interested in sourcing this tool.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...3d75c627e.jpeg

So I turned some scrap stainless on the old south bend and beat the living hell out of them. Success.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...87cce4b95.jpeg

That engine was the death of so many Mazda's. Blown head gasket and not worth spending the money meant off to the scapyard. I'd really make sure the head if flat and also not gone soft. I remember we had a tool that dropped a ball bearing onto the head surface and it had to bounce back a specified amount and if not the head was soft and there was little that could be done to recover it.