Awesome '74 engine (13B)
06-10-07, 02:38 PM
#52
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Borrow a bit of knowledge here, take that from there, put it together the way it makes sense to you... and see whatcha got
06-13-07, 01:35 PM
#53
I corrected an engine placement problem in the white truck yesterday. It seems some dullard attempted to fit a Cosmo 5 speed ribcase tranny in it and the result was quite bad. The driveshaft vented sleeve collar thing kept coming in contact with the back of the tranny, which is what wore out the front u-joints of two shafts in only a few thousand miles. It had metal to metal rubbing of the tranny crossmeber thing and the tranny itself. The constant vibrations caused the nuts and bolts holding the rubber rear tranny mount to the tranny and the crossmember to vibrate out! When I checked it there was one of each, and both were ready to fall off in no time. I borrowed the good high mileage shaft out of my red truck and installed new hardware. So far so good until I had a chance to correct the cause of the problem yesterday. That's the short version anyway.
Here you see what somebody did to try to fit the 5th gear's housing through the front of the crossmember thing. A real hack job. The end result was sub par.
And you see my solution. You simply slot every hole in the rubber mount and the crossmember. Also grind down the edge of the four large washers of the crossmember and that's it. It locates the engine cporrectly in the bay and there are not stupid metal to metal vibrations. At least there should be any. I'll see how it goes after I redo the exhaust (if you adjust the engine location, you have to 'adjust' the exhaust too).
The header I acquired for the red truck.
I'll have to cut off the crappy pipe on the end. Not a problem.
Here you see what somebody did to try to fit the 5th gear's housing through the front of the crossmember thing. A real hack job. The end result was sub par.
And you see my solution. You simply slot every hole in the rubber mount and the crossmember. Also grind down the edge of the four large washers of the crossmember and that's it. It locates the engine cporrectly in the bay and there are not stupid metal to metal vibrations. At least there should be any. I'll see how it goes after I redo the exhaust (if you adjust the engine location, you have to 'adjust' the exhaust too).
The header I acquired for the red truck.
I'll have to cut off the crappy pipe on the end. Not a problem.
06-14-07, 02:23 PM
#54
I cut off the crappy pipe yesterday.
I got the white truck running again yesterday. It's a lot quieter inside than before. Now when it returns to idle, I can't tell what RPM it's at unless I look at the tach. Did it stall? heh.
The shifting is tons smoother now. The tranny isn't metal to metal anymore. It's actually easier to drive. The only drawback is the lack of high end power with the manifold. I suspect two reasons. For one thing, it's streetported, and they're affected more by exhaust flow than stock ports, and another thing is the exhaust itself is utter garbage. Thinwall 2" pipe, then into a reducer/enlarger that ups it to 2.5, which is then gap welded into a crappy 3 inch inlet/outlet three chambered "turbo" style muffler, then into a reducer back down to 2", then into a long glasspack (both muffler and glasspack sound hollow when you tap on them) and from the glasspack it goes 2 1/4 and extends over the rear end and all the way to the rear bumper, at which point it exits through a dual Monza tip thing.
It was noisey and obnoxious before with the header, and the crappy components certainly weren't helping flow, but now with the manifold, it's actually not as bad sounding. I mean it still sounds bad, but not as loudly.
The only drawback is the loss in high end power. Low end seems to have gained a little torque. It's quite driveable below 2k. It's good enough for now.
Would I want to drive it every day? Heck no. The exhaust simply needs to be redone with quality parts (probably RB header, presilencer, and a powerpulse muffler modded to fit the truck, like I did on my bro's RX-4 wagon. Also a couple thick wall U-bends and straight pipe). I guarantee power would be an order of magnitude higher than before and the noise would be further reduced than it is now. The best of both worlds, and all in 2".
I got the white truck running again yesterday. It's a lot quieter inside than before. Now when it returns to idle, I can't tell what RPM it's at unless I look at the tach. Did it stall? heh.
The shifting is tons smoother now. The tranny isn't metal to metal anymore. It's actually easier to drive. The only drawback is the lack of high end power with the manifold. I suspect two reasons. For one thing, it's streetported, and they're affected more by exhaust flow than stock ports, and another thing is the exhaust itself is utter garbage. Thinwall 2" pipe, then into a reducer/enlarger that ups it to 2.5, which is then gap welded into a crappy 3 inch inlet/outlet three chambered "turbo" style muffler, then into a reducer back down to 2", then into a long glasspack (both muffler and glasspack sound hollow when you tap on them) and from the glasspack it goes 2 1/4 and extends over the rear end and all the way to the rear bumper, at which point it exits through a dual Monza tip thing.
It was noisey and obnoxious before with the header, and the crappy components certainly weren't helping flow, but now with the manifold, it's actually not as bad sounding. I mean it still sounds bad, but not as loudly.
The only drawback is the loss in high end power. Low end seems to have gained a little torque. It's quite driveable below 2k. It's good enough for now.
Would I want to drive it every day? Heck no. The exhaust simply needs to be redone with quality parts (probably RB header, presilencer, and a powerpulse muffler modded to fit the truck, like I did on my bro's RX-4 wagon. Also a couple thick wall U-bends and straight pipe). I guarantee power would be an order of magnitude higher than before and the noise would be further reduced than it is now. The best of both worlds, and all in 2".
06-14-07, 02:43 PM
#55
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06-20-07, 01:10 AM
#59
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06-20-07, 08:03 AM
#60
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06-20-07, 01:11 PM
#61
i really don't know about the 12a oil pickup, since the differences in the pans is the deep area needing to be toward the back of the engine rather than toward the front like the '74 pan is. not sure if just flipping the oil pickup around will work to reach the deep area with it being toward the back of the engine. i was swapping the engine from my wrecked 808 to the '84 rx7 at a friends house and he told me i would have to swap oil pans due to the placement difference of the cross member between the 7 and the 808. i don't remember the engine i took the oil pan i used off of, just one that was sitting in the shop with what i needed, but he also said i'd need to use the oil pickup from it too.
06-20-07, 01:31 PM
#63
GSL-SE pan, 12A pickup tube. No problems.
Latin270, are you saying that the engine you just put together has a slight gap? How long did it take to assemble? Back when I still believed in vasoline, I gooped up all the coolant seals and proceeded to stack the engine. My brother had 'built' the rear rotor and when it came time to put it on the intermediate plate, none of the corner seals were aligned and the apex seals wouldn't go in. To make things worse, an apex triangle end piece or two fell all the eay down to the front plate through the water jacket. That meant tearing it all back down to fish them out.
Meanwhile the coolant seals were expanding from all the petroleum absorbing into them. We had to unstack the engine two or three times. It was my worst time rebuilding an engine ever. All because there were too many cooks in the kitchen.
When the engine was finally getting torqued down, it didn't feel right. There was a bit of a gap at the rear housing. I think it was between the intermediate plate. I did't think much of it and proceeded to install it. We poured some coolant in and noticed a small stream leaking between the intermediate plate and rear rotor housing. My bro felt physically ill (what a lightweight).
I knew exactly what went wrong. It required just a set of new black coolant seals and tension bolt washers. That was it. Already had an oil pan and front cover gasket setting here. The engine went back together smoothly first try and it ran ok (it's the clunker in the RX-4 wagon explained elsewhere on this forum). It worked fine for as long as we kept it in the RX-4. Then we tore it down and only kept the side plates. Everything else was replaced with GSL-SE stuff and all new seals and springs. It had a ton more low end blah blah blah.
Good luck with your gap. If it leaks coolant, you'll know the coolant seal expanded too much during assembly and wound up getting pinched/crushed durring assembly. Also check the oil because coolant could leak directly into the oil pan as well.
Latin270, are you saying that the engine you just put together has a slight gap? How long did it take to assemble? Back when I still believed in vasoline, I gooped up all the coolant seals and proceeded to stack the engine. My brother had 'built' the rear rotor and when it came time to put it on the intermediate plate, none of the corner seals were aligned and the apex seals wouldn't go in. To make things worse, an apex triangle end piece or two fell all the eay down to the front plate through the water jacket. That meant tearing it all back down to fish them out.
Meanwhile the coolant seals were expanding from all the petroleum absorbing into them. We had to unstack the engine two or three times. It was my worst time rebuilding an engine ever. All because there were too many cooks in the kitchen.
When the engine was finally getting torqued down, it didn't feel right. There was a bit of a gap at the rear housing. I think it was between the intermediate plate. I did't think much of it and proceeded to install it. We poured some coolant in and noticed a small stream leaking between the intermediate plate and rear rotor housing. My bro felt physically ill (what a lightweight).
I knew exactly what went wrong. It required just a set of new black coolant seals and tension bolt washers. That was it. Already had an oil pan and front cover gasket setting here. The engine went back together smoothly first try and it ran ok (it's the clunker in the RX-4 wagon explained elsewhere on this forum). It worked fine for as long as we kept it in the RX-4. Then we tore it down and only kept the side plates. Everything else was replaced with GSL-SE stuff and all new seals and springs. It had a ton more low end blah blah blah.
Good luck with your gap. If it leaks coolant, you'll know the coolant seal expanded too much during assembly and wound up getting pinched/crushed durring assembly. Also check the oil because coolant could leak directly into the oil pan as well.
06-20-07, 01:34 PM
#64
It then becomes a question of engine location vs crossmember and how close they'll actually be. I need an empty engine bay to measure...
06-20-07, 01:45 PM
#65
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I dont think its the black seal but I'll find out soon enough I guess. lol My guess is a wouldnt have good compression or I would see a leak somewhere but so far all looks good? I really dont feel like tearing her down again but I will if thats the case (leaks) no problem.
06-20-07, 05:37 PM
#67
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Nope Jeff it sounded normal. I think when I was cleaning the housings and scrap off the gunk I may have slightly tapered off the top. I cant explain any other possibility except what you mentioned earier with the black seal. If the seal is off the groove wouldnt I still be able to feel some kind of pressure coming out of that slight gap?
06-21-07, 07:33 PM
#69
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Okay, I hate the idea of doing something wrong and later paying the price, so I took off the flywheel, tension bolts and removed the rear iron. I'm still not sure what caused the housing to have that tiny gap but after replacing the gaskets and cleaning up a few things, I put it back on and it fits like a glove.....NO GAPS! lol. Now I'm confident this baby is going to scream! FYI. Still waiting for the new6 puck clutch set up and now an SE oil pan!
06-21-07, 11:31 PM
#70
It sounds like you dodged a bullet there. Looks like I'm going to have to build another 4 port 13B soon.
I removed the automatic tranny from my Cosmo today for a flywheel and 5 speed swap, and upon removing the flex plate, noticed a largeish oil leak dribbling down from the rear (orange) seal. I think it was a Mazda reman or new engine that was installed probably in the late '80s. It's a good 20 years old now, and smokes on startup. Looks like it's rebuild time.
The only hickup is that I have everything I need to rebuild another 4 port sitting here that is in parts at the moment, but not enough to rebuild the Cosmo engine. Basically it comes down to oil seals, which the Cosmo engine needs, but I don't have any more good used ones. They've all gone to the MG, red truck, GLC, Ted's spare engine etc. I actually do have one set that is questionable and another set that is highly questionable. Might as well get new ones and not worry. Can't afford them though as I've got too much tied up in parts at the moment, and that other engine would work out quite well in the Cosmo (I'm building it for torque). Why not go for it and see what the Mazda engineers would have installed had emissions not been an issue in the US in '76.
If the Cosmo really likes torque I'll rebuild its engine for it. Otherwise I might do a copy of the REPU engine featured in this thread.
I removed the automatic tranny from my Cosmo today for a flywheel and 5 speed swap, and upon removing the flex plate, noticed a largeish oil leak dribbling down from the rear (orange) seal. I think it was a Mazda reman or new engine that was installed probably in the late '80s. It's a good 20 years old now, and smokes on startup. Looks like it's rebuild time.
The only hickup is that I have everything I need to rebuild another 4 port sitting here that is in parts at the moment, but not enough to rebuild the Cosmo engine. Basically it comes down to oil seals, which the Cosmo engine needs, but I don't have any more good used ones. They've all gone to the MG, red truck, GLC, Ted's spare engine etc. I actually do have one set that is questionable and another set that is highly questionable. Might as well get new ones and not worry. Can't afford them though as I've got too much tied up in parts at the moment, and that other engine would work out quite well in the Cosmo (I'm building it for torque). Why not go for it and see what the Mazda engineers would have installed had emissions not been an issue in the US in '76.
If the Cosmo really likes torque I'll rebuild its engine for it. Otherwise I might do a copy of the REPU engine featured in this thread.
09-15-07, 10:31 PM
#72
I made some progress on the header. It has a flange and an O2 bung.
And here's how it looks in the bay. I could've gone the 9 yards and ground off the rust but this header is almost done for as it is. Notice the patch job on the rear pipe? Can you see the exfoliating metal, especially on the front pipe? That gives it character. Too much rich running in its former life.
Wacky will appreciate this. It has a dual stud pattern for Hitachi or Nikki. It was already like that when I got it. The channels were added by me.
And here's how it looks in the bay. I could've gone the 9 yards and ground off the rust but this header is almost done for as it is. Notice the patch job on the rear pipe? Can you see the exfoliating metal, especially on the front pipe? That gives it character.
Too much rich running in its former life.Wacky will appreciate this. It has a dual stud pattern for Hitachi or Nikki. It was already like that when I got it. The channels were added by me.
09-15-07, 11:50 PM
#73
Good job mang!!! Very nice. And thanks for the idea on the OMP line (betwee the block and w/p housing). 
For some reason, Im having a hard time getting back on a 1st gen. I think I lost my taste. Charcoal gray FB has been under the cover (with less than 20 miles) since I installed the new motor.
For some reason, Im having a hard time getting back on a 1st gen. I think I lost my taste. Charcoal gray FB has been under the cover (with less than 20 miles) since I installed the new motor.
09-16-07, 01:41 AM
#74
Good job mang!!! Very nice. And thanks for the idea on the OMP line (betwee the block and w/p housing).
For some reason, Im having a hard time getting back on a 1st gen. I think I lost my taste. Charcoal gray FB has been under the cover (with less than 20 miles) since I installed the new motor.
For some reason, Im having a hard time getting back on a 1st gen. I think I lost my taste. Charcoal gray FB has been under the cover (with less than 20 miles) since I installed the new motor.