Hi,

I bought a 1987 B2200 engine today. I got the block for $50 from a very cool nearby junk yard. I'm not a mechanic, but here are my plans:

Bore .030 with Chevy pistons and rings (or something that can handle up to 300 hp)

Fast Freddy's cam with lash adjust lifters and strong valve springs (where to get those?)

Switch to fuel injected with a Probe GT intake system (if possible)

Probe GT Turbo and Intercooler

Shaved head (maybe port/polished)

custom split exhaust

NOS (let me know what else I need to upgrade on my engine please)

It seems like there's more but I guess that's about it. What do you all think? Do you see any conflicts coming up with this setup? I want it done right and I'm under the illusion that I can do all this for under $2500 including labor. So far all I have is the turbo, exhaust manifold, and the stock engine.

Let me know what you think!

First of all That probe turbo is junk. Second if you plan on running a Turbo AND NOS you WILL need forged rods. I've heard Crower makes a set for $200 or $300 rated at 8400 rpm at 500 hp. I wouldn't run any more than a 60 shot of Nos even with the rods and pistons. When you get rings for the pistons get moly rings, because the alloy of the block eats up the stock ones. Only shave the head if it needs to be shaved, otherwise you might regret it later. Run a larger radiator or run an oil cooler. Don't run anything less than 10w-40 oil in the summer, I would run 20w-50. Look into a lightweight flywheel and aluminum crank pully. If you read the posts through the first 5 pages from Me, Keir, and Rattler you'll find out a lot of info. I'm telling you now the stock tranny won't be able to handle the amount of speed your looking for. Read the information on Solomiatas drivetrain interchange guide and consider doing a second gen RX-7 tranny swap (just go into yahoo and type Solomiata drivetrain interchange), the tranny should run you up above 140 mph, I've seen my friends up to 120mph in 4th taching about 6k. Hope this gives some insight.

Thanks for the reply; I read most of the other topics on Mazda upgrades and I learned a lot from them. Do you know where I can get some forged pistons or something you would recommend for this build? How about the moly rings; I don't know where to get those either.

I know the Probe turbo isn't great but I already own one. Are there any other turbos that work on this engine that you would recommend?

Well obviously you go with your cheaper options first, if you already have the probe turbo then go for it, you can always put a different one on later whent the opportunity presents itself. I'm not a big turbo fan so I don't know what else will fit. When I rebuilt mine the machine shop I took it to ordered the pistons and when the asked about the rings I told them I wanted moly. I think pretty much its just knowing what size ring you need. If your looking at putting some chevy pistons in then just find the rings to go with the piston, shouldn't be that hard. I'm getting ready to drop forged rods and pistons into mine as well and I'm rebuilding the entire upper end, so if you find something drop a post, and if I find something I will as well.

Thanks for suggesting that interchange guide by the way. It looks like I would probably be best off with a transmission from a B2600; if you see any problems with this then let me know.

I called Fast Freddy's today and the cam goes for $315 including adjustable rocker arms..

I'll keep you posted. By the way I love your truck (saw it on streetsourcemag.com last week)!

Well if I'm right the B2600 housings for the transmission are beefed up and are the same as the RX-7 Turbo II tranny. I don't know what the gear ratios are but if you happen to run accross a 2nd gen tranny I would swap out the guts. The Weber cam Fast Freddy's sells comes in to duration grinds as they have posted on their site. You will have to decide whether you want to setup your motor for torque or high end hp, the lower duration will give you more torque and the higher duration will give you more upper end. I think Keir said he used the higher duration cam and he will match rev a Honda, which I take it is around 7k if you have the rods and pistons to do it it should handle that on the redline. Personally I think I'm going to go with the lower duration because the one advatage that little truck motor has is torque so depending on what my exhaust and intake do I'm thinking if I build the engine to handle high end torque than I should be able to use a RX tranny to gain my high end speed. I would think you would probably want to do the same with the turbo, the turbo will boost your upper end but won't help your lower end at all.

I agree with you 100% there. The durations are 260 and 272. I think I heard that the stock duration is around 230, so I'll probably be going with the 260 cam and make a torque machine. I wasn't aware that the RX-7 tranny could add all that much upper end, but I don't know much about transmissions so if it will add some upper end, I will go with that. Thanks again for the info and the help

I forgot to mention that because the weber cam comes with lash adjusters you can adjust the duration of the cam. If I'm right you should be able to adjust the duration anywhere from +/-5 to +/-10 degrees, we would have to call fast freddy's and find out. But once you had your engine built you could bump down the duration and see how well it performs or bump it up. I have an article on my site about it, it was written in 86 and meant for v8s but the general information still holds true.

http://www.angelfire.com/darkside/deathrealm/CamShafts.html

Depending on what RX tranny you swap out with you can add some serious high end. Most first generations are the same as the truck tranny except 5th which you can get a variety of ratios, the one I have right now isn't as good as I hoped at .825:1 but thats still better than stock which is .858:1 I havn't installed it yet to know how much more speed it will give me. But the second generations have higher gears in 1st though 3rd and 5th is way up there usually at .711:1 the 86 models run .697:1. If you have the power to accelerate at that high of a gear ratio I would go for an 86 5th gear. I've been in my friends 2nd gen RX when he's had it up to 150mph and it wasn't breaking a sweat.

Yah thats quite the build, although.. parts for chevy's and parts for Turbo's are 2 different things, increasing your compression then running a turbo and NOS is just asking to see if you can get the head through the hood. And as for the cam, you might find running the stock long duration cam may get you more power than running aftermarket cams made for an NA vehicle. Long been tested that the right set of stock cams from honda's make more power than 90% of the aftermarket cams. You may want to get your own cam ground, which isnt impossible, its actually not that hard. And as for the ford turbo being bad, it could be Im not sure, if its the same one used on mazda's 626's it was also used on ferrari's so I figure its good enough for a B2200 with a rebuild. Dont bother putting it in if you arent going to rebuild it.

I wouldnt shave the head, as I said before compession and detonation are going to be the things you have to keep at bay. You have the right idea of the probe/626 Injection although I havent seen anyone actually get it to work for any length of time ( need to mess with the distributor and it seems to have some durability issues ) if your going allt his fare you better port and polish the head, to not do it would be crazy. The other thing everyone tends to forget is Valve springs, and its nice that people think that we have 2 valve springs and thats strong but its not. they float above 5500 rpm I got some spec'd out that were higher sprigrate made of Ti and work a lot better, little bit noiser valves, but oh well I know I wont have a valve smack a piston. So good luck and keep us posted.

As for the exhuast that really should be made by a decent exhuast shop that has exp doing turbo diesel piping, they tend to know a lot and can get you the most of making your turbo breathe.

To be honest I'm scared of running NOS with all the other stuff that I have on the engine. I will probably do everything except that. I'll look around for the Ti valve springs and I'm sure that the machine shop will be able to hook me up with those as well as forged pistons, forged rods, and moly rings. I've never taken an engine in to get it rebuilt before but these places normally can get this type of stuff for you, right?

Well when I rebuilt mine I didn't have the shop do it, they did the machine work to the block, crank, and cylinder head and I told them to order 40 over pistons and Moly rings for it. They should be able to order the stuff for you, but I would make sure to know what they order and if it is to your likeings. Or you could find the rods you like and have the shop find the pistons and rings to go with your motor and rods. Whatever works.

Thanks again.. do you think NOS would send a piston through the hood with this setup? Assuming I get all the "good stuff" forged rods, pistons, moly rings, ti valve springs, to handle the power of a turbo, intake, cam, and exhaust (approx. 70-80 hp over stock for this engine) then do you think it would be safe to run NOS with all this stuff? Just a small shot, nothing more than 60.... just something to give me a little boost when I need it

Let me know if you think I should run NOS or not

To tell you the truth I have more of a grunge with NOS than I do turbos. Yes it should be ABLE to handle the nos but no matter what your running nos is much harder on the parts than any type of forced air induction you run, whether it be a turbo or blower. If your going to dump all of this money and time, I would not take the chance of screwing up one hell of a ride. I don't recommend running the nos but it should be able to handle a 60 shot, if your really considering it I would build the engine first see how your low end is and if you decide it isn't enough then add the small shot of nos.

I just got my RX modified tranny in my truck, it worked!!! I don't know how it runs yet have to finish the job tomarrow morning I'll tell you how it goes.

I have a 1992 Mazda B2200 and a ford probe turbo and intercooler bolted right on? what year was the probe?

It hasn't been done yet; it's just a theory that I'm trying out on my engine build. '86-93 B2200 uses the same block as '86-91 Probe (not positive on that year range) with a nicer head on the Probe however that would not fit in a Mazda engine bay very well so I'm sticking with the Mazda head for now. I won't be able to afford the build for awhile (unless my job application goes through soon) but I'll keep everyone here posted. I think it would be really cool but I am still 17 and pretty busy in school, etc. and not exactly what you would call "wealthy" right now.

Diddo

Alright well keep us posted.