Another happy BSD install!
 

So I installed the F2 balance shaft delete and oil pan baffle this weekend along with the spin-on filter conversion kit.

First impressions:

Idle feels exactly the same. No added vibrations.

The only added vibrations seems to come from WOT. But you can't feel it, it's more of a noise. Like the car sounds meaner. It's not anything rattling, just seems to sound more rugged. (might be my imagination).

Complaints:

I hate the fact that the pan seals only with gasket maker, I'm really paranoid about the pan leaking, so I've been checked the oil level and crawling under the car to search for leaks, but so far so good.

The only major complaint, damn car takes like 7 1/2 quarts of oil now! Omg, at $6.99 per quart (Pennzoil Platinum), oil changes are going to be pretty costly.

Only bad thing I can really say about it is that it was kind of a paid to get the pan back on after the baffle was installed. Kept getting hung on the oil pickup. You kind of have to put it on at an angle.


Overall I'm pretty happy with the install, it went pretty smoothly. Not really any HP gain that I can tell, still can't really get on the car, still haven't put the fuel pump internals in and I'm still getting fuel cut.


On a side note, I did the transmission fluid too! And wow, shifts like butter now!

I was going to buy Pennzoil Sycromesh but they only had 2qts of it. So I went with Mobil 1 synthetic 75w-90. Took right at 3 quarts, maybe a little less because I kept spilling it.

Anyway, if you have any questions about any of this I can probably help.

Nice write up! I was going to change my tranny fluid soon how hard is it?

Nice write up. BTW, where are you buying your Pennzoil Platinum at $6.99 a quart? You're getting taken for a ride without lube. You can buy 5 qt jugs of the stuff at Walmart for about $24.

It isn't THAT much cheaper, but the 5qt jugs can normally be had for ~$20 at Wal-mart. The qt bottles are just barely over $4. So, 8qts @ $4/qt = $32 versus 8qts @ $7/qt = $56.

Edit: Looks like FrequentFlyer beat me to the punch.

What is the reason for removing the BSD?Is it to help the car rev up faster?

Yeah it removes rotational mass similar to a light flywheel

Transmission fluid was easy for me. Have a lift. But be carefull. The bolt that "looks" like the fill bolt, isn't the fill bolt haha. Had to pull out the service manual to make sure I was taking the right one out.

The only problem is that I didn't use a funnel or a tube, I was squeezing it in from the bottle, and there isn't much room to turn the bottle up enough. But a funnel or some kind of line running from the top would make it easier.

Yeah I noticed that when I went to walmart to pick up an extra qt. Autozone screwed me hard.

There also seems to be increasing evidence that the balance shaft is a culprit in a number of engine failures.

correct. Like I said though, power increase is minimal, But hopefully this is a safe mod that keeps some drag off of our crank and hopefully will take some stress off of the rods.

how much does it actually weigh? does it seem to you like it's significant enough, at speed, to contribute to rod snapping?

i have a baffle and BSD in the for sale section, for sale, if anyone is interested.

the balance shaft assembly itself is heavy. but thats not all rotational mass that your losing...

Yeah the thing weights like 20 lbs. But rotating assembly isn't that much.

and it does hold its own oil, so it is well lubricated rotating mass....

Please post your source.

I'm sure that the balance shaft isn't the only culprit (if it is one at all, no one knows, it's just speculation). But less drag on the rotating assembly is a plus.


Also the trucks with the 2.3 (I think ranger and b-series) shares the same block (variation) and doesn't have the balance shaft. But correct me if I'm wrong. Just took that from this forum somewhere.

which is also another issue. It's oil that doesn't get changed when you change your oil.

I probably poured 3/4 of a qt out of that thing.

awesome thread. i've been thinking about doing this for my next oil change.
i know some people are concerned with removing the bs saying it's there for a reason. can anyone elaborate on this please?
it's there to balance something; does removing it lead to shorter engine life?
or something?

I'm no expert... but 4-cylinder engines have a natural secondary imbalance. The larger the displacement (and generally the larger/heavier the pistons and relatively long strokes) the more pronounced this effect becomes. This is why the larger displacement 4-cylinders have balance shafts, and often heavy and/or dual-mass flywheels. The balance shaft is used to help counter act the imbalance. So, the balance shaft is partly to reduce the NVH because the average joe doesn't want his new car vibrating like a... well, use your imagination.

There are numerous cars with numerous engines where a balance shaft removal is a common modification. In theory, if the engine isn't 'as balanced' it would put more stress on the engine, or more specifically the engine mounts, but I would imagine the common mod of a rear engine mount would have more affect on the engine. If you're going to keep your car stock or very light mods (intake only for example) I would just leave the balance shaft alone. If your going for more moderate or heavy mods, get rid of the balance shaft.

EDIT: nice post phantom.

fuck light mods...
also, i have three mounts installed...so then i hope this wouldn't be too much of an issue. can someone else please chime in...i'd really like to get this 17 pound thing out of my fucking engine...kthnx

FWIW, here are two good Wikipedia articles on this subject:

What you wanting to know?

about extra vibrations? or reliability?

I'm gonna go ahead a say it. All these blown engine threads are funny. It's always someone with a MBC and no tuning or meth. Or a cracked oil filter housing or missing drain plug. Yes there are some cases where a stock motor goes. But seriously, the number is still really low.

If an engine blows, more than likely you will here about it on a forum. You never see threads like "I'm full bolts ons and running great!" or "My car has 75000 miles with no issues". because people don't sign up for forums to tell you that there car is doing great, but they will sign up in a heart beat to tell you they blew a motor.

Now with that said, hopefully the mazda engine gods will not blow my motor tomorrow for saying this.

As far as vibrations go.

If you have 3 mounts already, you will probably not notice or even care about the added vibrations you will get from deleted the balance shaft. I only have the TRZ poly rear mount and I can barely tell a difference. In like 3 days I will not even remember what it felt like before the BSD.

yeah...i'm not worried about doing bsd and my engine blowing...i meant more along the lines of reliability and engine life...or how well it runs...
fuck it, i'll probably be doing this mod

Putting 1 and 2 together here in terms of failures and the BSD ... It seems this engine has quite a bit of crank walk (or lateral movement of the crank). If the crank moves too far, the alignment and change of alignment with the BS can cause some problems. I am quite convinced that MOST of the failures we've seen are defects from the factory where the rotating assembly locks up. Whether the BS is to blame or not is still unknown.

Good write-up Chris, glad to hear the vibrations aren't bad.

I don't think anyone can for sure answer this. Because no one, that I know of, has had it for a long time. Our cars are still new, the most miles I've seen so far is like 75000. Maybe some have more?

I can say that I owned a dsm and had both balance shafts removed. And it lasted a while. But it did die, and it wasn't because of the balance shafts, it was because it was a dsm haha.

Thanks! :)

lol at the dsm comment...hahahaha

what was the GL rating on the mobil1 75-90 you used? GL3 or GL4?

The only thing it said was that in was compatible with GL-5 vehicles. It wasn't very clear on that.

But the owners manual said GL-4 or GL-5 can be used so I figured it was ok.

And if not, it won't stay in there long, was planning on ordering some good stuff.

Doesn't seem like there is much difference between gl-4 and gl-5.

Taken from Wiki :
API GL-4, oils for various conditions - light to heavy. They contain up to 4.0% effective antiscuffing additives. Designed for bevel and hypoid gears which have small displacement of axes, the gearboxes of trucks, and axle units. Recommended for non-synchronized gearboxes of US trucks, tractors and buses and for main and other gears of all vehicles. These oils are basic for synchronized gearboxes, especially in Europe.
API GL-5, oils for severe conditions. They contain up to 6.5% effective antiscuffing additives. The general application of oils in this class are for hypoid gears having significant displacement of axes. They are recommended as universal oils to all other units of mechanical transmission (except gearboxes). Oils in this class, which have special approval of vehicle manufacturers, can be used in synchronized manual gearboxes only. API GL-5 oils can be used in limited slip differentials if they correspond to the requirements of specification MIL-L-2105D or ZF TE-ML-05. In this case the designation of class will be another, for example API GL-5+ or API GL-5 LS.

I believe Mobil 1 only makes a GL-5, but their website indicates it can be used where GL-4 is called for. Also, to pre-empt it.. a GL-5 shouldn't have any effect on the tranny synchros. If anything, one might get a little LSD chatter.

I believe the manual says GL-4 or GL-5 for the regular 3 but calls for GL-4 in the MS3. I'd venture this is because the MS3 has the LSD and nothing to do with synchros.

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/foru...anny_fluid.png

Good write up. And good info on trans fluids

ive been curious about this delete. is there any good how too's for doing this?

There are a few floating around, don't have a link for you.

But it's pretty easy to do, but it's messy. plan on getting oil in your hair and mouth, especially if you're doing it on your back. And you will probably need another person to help get the balance shaft assembly out, thing weights a lot. As you unbolt it, it falls out. So it would help to have someone hold it up while you unbolt it.

Basicly the steps are:

1) Drain oil

2) Remove oil pan. Lots of 10mm bolts and ~four 8mm bolts going from timing cover to oil pan.

3) pry oil pan at the pry points, using a pry bar or big flat head screwdriver. (you'll see notches on the pan to pry from, one on front, one on back.

4) remove oil pickup tube. (black tube that goes to the pan)

5) remove balance shaft assembly, 4 bolts. Oil will come out of it!

6) You'll notice that the BSD kit uses one of the bolt holes that the balance shaft use to screw into. Install the kit, tighten it down.

7) Re-install oil pick up

8) Clean the oil pan very well with some degreaser and wash it out. The hard part is getting the old RTV gasket off. Make sure you get it ALL off. You don't want any leaks.

9) Apply a good bead of RTV Gasket maker, (I used Grey RTV, looks stock and is oil and high temp resistant)

10) reinstall pan, torque everything to spec.

11) fill her up with oil. Takes 7qts or so now. Just check it and make sure you don't over fill.



But most kits you buy come with better instructions. But thats just showing you how simple it is. Hardest part is getting everything clean and all the old gasket junk off.

I bought the kit from Darkstar Motorsports.

It's the F2 kit I believe.

Did you remove the center ring gear that drives the BS or did you just leave it in there?
And if you did leave it in there does it move around in there or not?

I might be doing this mod in the near future.

Did you forget to put the 4)oil pickup tube back on?

yep sure did haha.

Thanks

I left the ring gear. It doesn't move around like side to side or anything, it's pressed on.

Plus only way to get it off is to use a Dremel or some other cutting tool. Screw that, anytime you cut something like that, metal flakes and shavings are going to go everywhere, even some you can't see. So all of that stuff is being sprayed into your block as your cutting it off.

Plus no one knows if the ring gear has an effect on the cranks balance, so best to leave it in I figure.

Chris, how long would you say the whole process took? The shop I had mine done at told me that it is a 5 hour job to remove the oil pan and what not.

I agree w/ Chris and LBV, I think I'm leaving the ring gear on. I think that will reduce some of the "percieved" vibes from this mod.

I agree. I think the problem is crank walk, and has little to do with the BSD. This is reinforced by the fact Mazda added some washer/shims to later 08/08.5's to reduce crank walk.

What I am interested however, is the effect of removing the BSD on Used Oil Analysis's. With the addition of a quart of oil to the overall vehicle capacity, wear metals should DROP. If someone did a before BSD UOA, and an after BSD removal UOA, and wear metals ROSE, this could indicate that removing the BSD could have some secondary issues.

By all reports though, wear metals should noticeably drop...I just haven't seen anyone do a before/after UOA report yet, which would be really interesting...

i don't care about vibes...
i want to take the gear out...
any negatives to this?

I took my time on it, the most time consuming part was getting the old gasket off.

Plus I did the spin-on conversion and transmission flush too.

But I'd say that if I had to do it again it could be done in under 2 hours for sure.

Worst case, you get metal shavings in your engine and you screw up a main or rod bearing. You know what happens next.

I just wasn't going to risk getting fine pieces of metal in my block. And I don't see it causing any issues being there. It might sling some oil but hell if it does then it was doing it with the BS in there as well.

so clean it thoroughly

id say in and out in 2 hours. 5 is a little crazy.

No negatives from what I have heard.



And you are correct ChrisK, the 2.3L Ranger does not have a balance shaft gear

Does this actually remove the balance shaft, or just the gear that runs it? I saw on a different thread that you remove a gear and its housing. I didn't actually see a shaft. I thought the shaft ran the length of the block.

There are two balance shafts inside of the assembly, or balance shaft unit, whatever you want to call it.

You can't see them.

The shaft is bascially the crank, then there is a large gear that is mounted to it. The rotating gear mates to the balance shaft assembly, which then rubs you of power.

I hope to have an answer for you guys on this here very soon. Crank is on its way to me.

I would remove it to get the sprinkler out of the motor. All that gear will do when you pull the BS assembly is cause oil spray.

It is a lot of crank walk and there was a change to them (I think there are even new bearing part numbers as well).

Do not leave the BS assembly in the motor if you plan on turning up the boost. The all casted steel BS assembly cannot move around like the frail aluminum block. Its a material missmatch that will eventually fail if your running higher then stock boost levels.

I would like to see some UOA testing as well, but there are just to many variables with getting consistant results from something like this. If someone were to do this in one day and do back to back simiulation testing on a chasis dyno then I think those results would be fair. One street driven UOA to the next is always going to have some changes in it, be it climate or driver change in drive style you will never get a consistant test with a street driven car.

hi, i was wondering its been almost 5yrs since you posted the BSD review and i was wondering how is the car doing with it. i am a little concerned about the whole harmonic noise and if it will damage or shorten the engine life, i know that oil change and drive behaviors have to do with it but still will like to find recent info before i do the BSD on my MS6.

anyone else if you have new info please share thank you!!


thank you!

Arthur