That's me, with my mechanic/mentor Alvaro and the Mazda. Yes, I'm smiling and the car is still running. Today we changed the head gasket on it and I'm updating this thread with pictures about it but, more importantly, with some things I've thought of and lessons I've learnt since my last post. Me and the "Asahi" are back.
The last time the car broke down, which actually was the car's first semi-serious break-down, it turned up to be a faulty fuel return valve that was causing the engine to spill fuel and run terribly low on power, with an awful sound. While taking the car to the shop in that condition, the ECU got in safemode and was blocked completely. I lost my marbles, to be honest. I've got a tendency towards depression and this car means a lot to me, so having to push the car because it died on me 6 blocks or so away from the shop was pretty tough. Moreso considering it was an F8DOHC, blah, blah, blah. I left it to Alvaro, I didn't want to know **** more about the car and mentioned to him I was bent on selling it. "If you're gonna sell it, I'm first in line. Actually, you know what kid? Nah. I couldn't take it away from you, it's a great car", he replied. That same afternoon he called me. "Found the issue kid. Getting the replacement for one of those valves is really hard. Don't worry, I know a guy that works on a shop nearby that tunes rally cars. He had one of those we can use and he unlocked the ECU from safe mode, the car is fine again". I couldn't believe it, but that old fox had fixed it, Haltech ECU and everything. He only charged me for the valve and for whatever his friend charged him fiddling with the ECU.
With that done, I kept going to the meetings of a local Mazda owners club. The guys gave me a very warm welcome and I really felt like I fitted in. They fell in love with the car, every one of them was impressed with it. We also went to a local carshow as a group, and one of them lent me the wheels from his Mazda 3 which looked pretty nice on the Asahi! Even Mazda themselves supported our showing with a bunch of branded crap and a privileged spot that was half showroom at the carshow. I talked to a couple of the club members about my thoughts of selling it and giving up on the whole project, to which they replied in a similar way to Alvaro. All in all, they made me appreciate my car more and acknowledge it's potential. Here are some pics of the car show:
Just as I was leaving the car show, the temperature needle shot all the way up to "H". Which means, "Huck, bad news". The car began drinking it's own water in serious quantities. The idle was absolutely gone and it revved pretty slowly. Once again, my head filled up with dark feelings and predictions. I talked to Alvaro and he told me it was sure to be a head gasket issue. In a matter of days he called me to tell me he talked with a guy ("Guy" in question turns out to be the one who imports Maserati cars in Colombia...) that had the original head gasket. I was quite unsure, after all there aren't more than twentyfive or so engines like this here. Also, it got into my mind a more serious doubt: What if it wasn't an F8DOHC but a regular F8 with the FE3N 16V head on it?
Well, today it turned it it isn't. The difference between a regular FE/F8 OHC engine block and a FE3N/F8DOHC engine block is quite significant and as soon as we removed the head I had an answer: the engine is all F8DOHC, the block is a genuine FE3N except the crank/conrods/pistons are weaker and of shorter stroke. Upgrading to FE3N specs is a relatively simple affair and, having done a bit more reaserach, isn't actually needed for my target horsepower. An F8DOHC on stock internals can do 200 or so fwhp just fine with a proper tune. It all came out fine today, the engine's pedigree was confirmed and the headgasket replaced. Fortunately, Alvaro was able to source the right headgasket so the car was back on the street in half a day, had proper compression once again and stopped emptying it's radiator into the cylinders. We just need to do some quick adjusments, like the disty cap and some parameters on the ECU but it's working fine now!
Here are some pictures taken today of the procedure. We did the job at the house of a guy from the Mazda owners club:
So, as the headline for this entry says: Back from the dead. And with some important lessons learnt.
First of all, I'm learning how play with the cards that I've been dealt. As some of you here in GTP have said, and as everyone I know have said, the car is pretty special and I should feel proud of it. I once read a book about Bushido, the moral and ethical code that was predominant in feudal Japan, and it had an old japanes adage: "To bear what you think you cannot bear is really to bear". That adage is starting to be clearer now. I learnt I shouldn't give up that easily, that sometimes it's wiser to persist and don't abandon hope on something that, in the end, is worthy of it. This experience has also taught me about how important friendship is. I kid you not, if it wasn't for Alvaro the car would be done for. Few people here know how to deal with an FE3N engine properly, and almost all of them are high-end, high-class tuners who charge you massivley for their "knowledge". How did I earn his esteem and respect? By being humble, by being honest, by being kind. It's amazing. You never know when someone you know could be helpful, so it's always best to treat everyone as nice as you can and be as helpful as you can.
I'm...I'm just talking nonsense now, I'm sorry
. Anyhow, I hope my experience can be of help to any other young car owners. It's definitely not an easy thing, being young and having a project car, specially when various factors are against you, but those moments when everything comes together...right know I feel they're worth it!
Thank you guys for the support!!!
. This thing turbo, as a simple YouTube search with the terms "MX6 FE3N TURBO" could demonstrate, is ALL kinds of awesome. But sadly, it wasn't meant to be. As you said, the third world isnt the best place to embark on this kind of adventures. I envy even the things most of you take for granted like scrap yards and school workshops where you can work on your car. Take a minute of your time and appreciate it guys! 
I love how good this thing sounds!
. Let's just hope that either the patched-up Neova works or that I'm able to eventually find another one!
) so I guess I'm right in saying that the tyres were on their last legs. Or maybe is 2mm enough and I'm just grasping at straws to feel better? 
