Oi - great timing Mr Magna.... :( Mum tells me the RACV bloke who towed her TS 2.6 home diagnosed a popped head gasket. Which means I may as well deal with the chains and guide seals as well now!!

Can someone pls recommend a good parts supplier in inner west Melb, and a good engine shop for giving the cylinder head the once over (ie skim face, clean, test, cut valves etc)?

Will need I assume a VRS kit and a chain kit.

Any hot tips that the manual doesn't cover I need to know about?

I get my timing chain kits and vrs from ringwood auto parts from ebay

you can get them from bursons repco or supercheap

you need a sump gasket / sealent etc

also a good pin punch to replace the tensioner on the oil pump of the TS

Second for VRS kit from the ebay guy.

Thanks guys. Glad to see that place is still going - remember buying all the bits to rebuild a mates Mazda engine from there about 8 years ago now! That was about the last time I did any major work on a Japanese engine :)

Now to wait for the engine reconditioning shops to open and for a day that's under 30 degrees....

I do like it when the RACV bloke is wrong :) Just a combination of a slight leak from the thermostat gasket, combined with a stuffed overflow bottle cap.

Water was slowly leaking out when hot, and not been drawn back in when it cooled down - hence Mum was seeing plenty in the bottle, but the engine was empty.

More importantly, I dont need to blow a weekend pulling the engine apart!

Woot. :)

I had a similar worry with my car, which turned out to be some weird electrical fault and a combination of weird effects that had us well confused, glad it wasn't that in the end.