We spent a good 5 hours on the car, not just doing the friction gear though, we changed fuel filter, chatted, fitted new plug leads, sorted out a misfire caused by oil draining in to the spark plug holes when we took the cam covers off..... We were in no rush All the parts cost £146, that included 2 friction gear springs, 2 new lock nuts, 2 cam cover gaskets, 2 inlet manifold gaskets, fuel filter and an oil filter and sump washer All genuie Mazda parts with a bit of discount for smiling nicely at the bloke behind the counter I can't remember the torque figures off the top of my head, I'll need to look them up if you want them. Things like camshaft caps, cam covers and friction gear nut. FYI, I'll be doing mine as well soon

robbie/& ed

did you ever get around to doing the work on your car that you were planning? am interested to hear how you got on.

will

Iread in your post that you had reached 160 kph-mph?with 1 wheel off the ground. Take great care when doing this because even though the speedo may read 160 the wheel that is turning will be spinning at twice that ie 320.At those speeds there is real riskof tyre rupture.Regular car tyres are not designed for those speeds[quote="fastmike"]update:

This afternoon i changed the oil using a castrol engine flush bottle - 300ml, £3. It says to empty the bottle into the oil filler hole and run the engine for 15 minutes occasionally revving it.

After this you drain the oil out from the sump, took the driver side wheel off and it made it much easier. What i realised is that the oil is a lot thinner and runs out of the engine much faster than the last time i did this. The flush must cause this.

I changed the oil filter - quite a bit easier than i first thought and filled the engine with 4 litres of castrol 10W/40 oil and let the engine run for 10 minutes. The tappets were quiet all the time.

While i was waiting i gently built the revs up (with it in 5th :P ) and got the speedo round to 160 at full revs!

Will report back with whether this has solved the tappet noise fingers crossed [/quote]

Don't think the wheel was on the ground... (?)

...well, I can take credit for most of the chatting anyway!:P

(prob would have taken Robbie 2-3 hours if I wasn't there to interupt "...so what happens if....etc":lol:)

right, for any1 wanting to replace the friction gear spring, hers the best FAQ and guide ive read

[url]http://www.mx-3.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=34786[/url]

like will said, it is only cosmetic noise, mine does it but i dont mind so much, it growls when i put my foot down so :twisted: who cares.

it is a fiddly ass job tho!!!

Thanks to MX-3.com for hosting that guide!!

[quote="hop13b"]Iread in your post that you had reached 160 kph-mph?with 1 wheel off the ground. Take great care when doing this because even though the speedo may read 160 the wheel that is turning will be spinning at twice that ie 320.At those speeds there is real riskof tyre rupture.Regular car tyres are not designed for those speeds[/quote]

Both wheels off the ground. Silly thing to do, in retrospect but was a giggle.


Car has begun tapping again, i think it needs another flush and oil change again, its done about 4,500 miles since the last one. Also the oil light has been coming on, so best off to change it altogether than topping it up.

Back to the topic - for your edification, a picture of the 1.8 tappets ...

[img]http://www.geocities.com/smotter.geo/Temp/Tappets.jpg[/img]