Hello from SoCal my 1st mini build

wow that sucks meng

Ok, so Friday(5/31/13) my motor blew, due to a bent valve that i did not notice a 2 months ago when my timing belt broke. So Saturday i scoped out a few engines at the junkyard, found this 626, after an hour the motor was in my truck.
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/113/13581/l.jpg


So because my truck isnt painted the Metallic Orange/Graphite that i will end up painting it, my engine will be Aluminum for now, until i repaint the truck and then pull the motor for a complete rebuild/painting.
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/113/13590/l.jpg

And here are the brackets that bolt to the motor, a Flat Black to give it a little different look, even though nobody will see much of them, i'll know its different.
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/113/13595/l.jpg

And swapping/painting parts to put on my new engine, will have the head back Wednesday, hopefully the motor will be running the same day, but the latest im hoping for Friday. Im tired of borrowing a 2000 VW bug that is a baby blue color. At least its a 5 speed with a Turbo, that car gave me my 1st speeding ticket, 104mph, glad he didnt clock me at 126 like i was doing. Anyways, More pics will come as I put more together.

Damn, I feel for you. It's a crappy situation to be in, been there on a few different occasions. Any chance I could get close up pictures of the mounts on the tonneau? I've been contemplating making my own, but not sure how they mount them to ensure it doesn't leak when closed but clears when opening.

Yeah ill take some, this tonneau cover is off a 2000 for ranger, so it didnt fit perfect, i had to cut it and make it work. I still dont like it, so i will be cutting it to sit inside the bed, flush with the bed sides. But ill take some and upload them for ya no problem

Heres the mounts for the tonneau cover. They were originally angled i straightened them out and mounted them inside the bed, the passenger side had damage, my friend rolled his ranger and messed it up a little bit. but now it works. Hope this is what you were looking for.
Driver side
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/111/13607/l.jpg
Passenger Side
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/111/13612/l.jpg

And this is how it sits now, i had the head re-done and picked that up today, tomorrow ill finish painting the brackets and hopefully Friday when i get home from work ill be able to put it in.

So after a week of not being able to drive my truck, it finally is back on the road. needed a new throw-out bearing and clutch slave cylinder, or else it woulda been back in yesterday(Friday).

1st turn of the key it fired right up, no tapping from the lifters, fan is rubbing a bit, so ill have to adjust that. And i do have a little water leak from my water pump, i guess the water pump sealant i offer everyone at work is a good thing to use. Oh well, live and learn.

No more misfire, no more exhaust leak, no more oil coming out the tailpipe. I'm a happy camper right now. Well 4AM i guess ill get some sleep before i wake at 7 to fix my leak.

So its been a while since I've posted. Been pretty busy with my jobs(got promoted at one of them), fixing everyone's cars around me, as well as my truck. Still doing some work on it for fun, i also found a club that meets up out here with their trucks so I will try to make it to that this Saturday and post some pics. I've met this woman who i am hoping things go well with. So anyways here is some pics of a week ago when my truck decided it wanted to pull over and take a break on the side of the 118 freeway.
My timing pulleys decided to freeze up

The tensioner is now fused with the belt.
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/113/14128/l.jpg
So after getting it towed to my brothers house, and waiting for my new pulleys to show up at O'Rielly(sucks cause i work at Autozone but we didnt have them in stock) so my brother and I decided to go to a VW meet up the freeway from his house and it was pretty cool. Until we were on the way home and his bug decided it wanted to take a break and hang out on the side of the freeway as well. The fuel pump went out. Again.
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/113/14130/l.jpg

So we called my parents and my other brother and said it might not be a good idea to drive, if they had to, they should stay off the freeway.
End of the day I got the truck back up and running. Next morning I left for work, stop at the gas station close to my job, and i popped the hood and I had oil everywhere under the hood. Oh great. Checked it, and I was about 2quarts low. got some and drove to work. Had it towed home, on the way home the chain they were using to tow it broke. The chain whipped around, knocked my center cap off, and banged up my fender pretty good. Ripped a brake line but it made it home. Replaced the Crank Seal, so i fixed the leak, got a new brake hose, and now my truck is running well again.
Did a compression check, and all 4 cylinders are at 120-140 so i didnt bend a valve.
://static.mazdabscene.com/userphotos/2014/113/14137/l.jpg
So with the good news on my truck, I went out with a friend, then had some drinks and played pool with his neighbor and a bunch of other people. 1st time drinking is quite a few years, so it took a bit of getting used to the alcohol again. So now I have a date and ill be going out Friday. Things are looking pretty good so far now.
Here is a pic of who I'm taking out. figured I'd share.

Nice trukck, and bug, pic of ya woman didn't show for me, but good luck there as well, and that towing company should replace your fender or offer to buy the part to replace it, especially if it was on their vehicle being towed at the time.

Thanks, i have a thread on the bug in here as well.
It took a while to load the pic of her for me too, but it does.

If only it was a tow company, but a private company called "family" and they don't cover that kind of stuff. Just means i need 4X4 fenders for when i get the rims.

I like your Signature.