MPS6 engine noise

Bought this mps6 from a guy who had a vvt fail, he replace the kit but still had a horrid noise, so sold it.

I stripped this out to find both the vale and ign timing was out, so ordered up some friction washers ready to reassemble and start again.

Well re assembled and timed up correctly, so the engine runs a great deal smoother than it did, BUT still has a horrible noise.

While it was running I spent a while trying to locate the noise. It sounded louder around the turbo and oil filter areas, so decided the sump had to come off.

Found a couple of bits in the bottom, one being the vvt plug, obviously from before and two other bits.

Dropped the balance shaft housing and it felt rough, so stripped and found the inner gearing had lost some teeth.

So next will be a couple of main and a big end caps off the see what the bearings are like. Any suggestions which are the best to remove, the 1st to suffer?

The next issue is locating a replacement balance shaft or has anyone had success/issues fitting a delete plate?

Thanks

A balance shaft delete is going to make it much more vibey, but it deletes about 8Kg of rotating mass from the engine so it also gives you a gain in horsepower and throttle response. I guess it probably depends on how much you care about vibes. CS documentation says "not recommended" for stock block, but I can't see deleting it doing any harm in and of itself. I guess a replacement balance shaft is going to have to come from an engine salvage. Mazda would probably tear your wallet a new one, if the quote they gave me on a long block is any indicator.

I think you need to add more oil to the engine after it's gone, too. Apparently aftermaket engine mounts are a requirement if deleting balance shaft, so I'd be suspecting quite a lot of vibration with it deleted.
You're braver than I am tackling this kind of engine maintenance yourself. I wish I was better at spinning a spanner myself. You seem more confident about it than most.

If your bores and bearings are OK - having bits rattle around and teeth missing from the balance shaft assembly is a bit scary - and you don't mind it being vibey and needing aftermarket engine mounts (I think rear mount is an essential anyway), and a replacement balance shaft isn't readily available, then I'd say it's a good solution.

Not sure re: which bearings are most likely to wear. I know cylinder 3 has a bad rep. Sounds to me like it's all worth checking.

Thanks for your reply and information.

Not sure why it should suffer with vibration, but it appears to be the consensus. I used to be in the motor trade, so luckily I can have a go, but the main issue appears to be getting the info about the product.
This is my 1st dealings with Mazda and what appealed to me was the likeness to a quattro, which unfortunately, have gone down hill, so I thought I would give it a go.
I can't believe that this motor is so fragile, but I guess its the FoMoCo cock up!

Anyway I will do a thread once I get this back on the road, but if I can manage to Attachment 18012upload an image, you can see the balance shaft failure.