I just Purchased an 06 mazda 3s 2.3 last night that needs "engine work".
The PO spun a bearing in the old motor and swapped in an engine from an 05 M3.
He put the original 06 head on the 04 block with all accessories and the engine runs, but the vvt is noisy as it does not have any oil pressure. I figured out why from doing some research finding out the the 04-05 vvt gets oil from a port through the timing cover and the 06+ gets oil from a port through the head gasket. I'm wondering if there is any way to modify the 04-05 block to feed oil to the vvt like on the 06+ engine? Or am I going to need to source an 06+ block?

 

You need a full matching 06 long block assembly. The heads are way different that even the spark plugs are different and not interchangeable. Btw, It's a MZ3 not M3, as people may confuse what you mean with the BMW M3.

 

Thanks for the info, I purchased an 06+ block and I'm in the process of rebuilding it.