and what I mean by this is should I heat up the engine when I tear it down cause I'm having one heck of a time trying to take it apart and its well being a pain in my butt. (like a heat gun?)

and I made sure all bolts where out of the engine and everything so how do most of you guys do it?

embarrassing to say the least I guess

 

Lets tackle this one bolt at a time. What part of the engine are you having issues with?

 

the Front Iron if you look in the build section I have a picture of it with everything off of it. but I still can't seem to get the front Iron to come off it had moved up a tiny bit I could put a smal flat head in it to just measure but nothing further then that.

 

ok click on the link in my signature.

 

From the pictures in the link, the engine appears to be still in the car.

It's actually the reverse procedure. To disassemble the engine you need to remove the 17 tension bolts access under the flywheel. The bolts hold the whole stack together and disassemble from the back end forward.

Here is a link to a video by Aaron Cake.
Its short, not everything may apply but it gives a general procedure.

I bought the Mazdatrix video, also the Atkins video. Some overlap but some variation. I also have the Haynes book for Rx7 through 1985. The link at the top of this forum will take you to a FSM, the engine section has steps to disassemble and reassemble.

Or I could be way off and don't understand where you are in the process.

 

Are all the tension bolts out? All of them? What about the one with the stylized M on it? Count your tension bolts. A typical Y 12A has 17. That is 16 regular length ones and one slightly longer one with an M on it.

If all the tension bolts are out, I'd say just jamb a screwdriver in there and get the separation process started. Why? Because if your irons are broken from ice damage caused by this:

Then it probably doesn't matter how careful you are because the damage is already done. It could be the very reason the engine isn't wanting to come apart (the metal moved and now things like dowel pins are stuck in the irons). Or maybe there's still a tension bolt in there somewhere.

Now if it was a good engine getting torn down for a freshening up or a port job, I would say to take your time and not jamb a screwdriver in wherever it fits, but at this point the rotor housings are probably cracked too, so might as well go for it.

 

Oh and if you can, see if you can tear the engine down on a drip pan or some other smooth surface that can catch fluids. Don't use an engine stand like in the video. You have to not only fight gravity while trying to pry off stuck irons, but you have to want to get an oily watery yoohoo colored sludge all down your legs and on your shoes. Yum.

 

I love the Frozen reference there Jeff, that made my night.

 

Only the middle Iron is damaged and im trying to keep the rest in good shape.
But yes all the bolts are out and I have looked around for anything else that could be keeping it from destacking.

Me and my buddies will be back at the shop tommorow to keep working at it.

 

I think I have and idea to get them unstuck without harming anything but jeff as a fellow jeff your reference made me laugh. but everything else on my motor is in good shap from what I can see just the middle iron is damaged for sure and cannot be used for anything more then display.

However a fellow idahoan is hopefully selling me his rebuildable engine and I will just go from there.

His motor needs new apex seals cause his rear seals went bad and mine are lookin pretty nice through my ports.

Also that is one of his vids I must have over looked

 

It may be more than just the middle iron. Hmm, maybe something more sinister is going on here. The only way water can get down to the oil is if a black (outer) coolant seal dies or an iron cracks down there inside the area enclosed by the oil pan.
Or this had something to do with it:

Check every iron and both housings. Be sure to also check the freeze plugs in the front iron. Might as well check the rear iron too. If any have popped out, blame Icy.

 

damn Jeff xD

and yes two of the freeze plugs had actually fallen out after we tor it down and they were chewed up as well.

I looked in the middle Iron and I promise that middle one is just gone lol it cracked almost to the inside of the motor.

I as well as a few others looked at the housings other from missing some slight plating on the very edge I think the motor can be saved however I may just buy the other one and rebuild it if its in better shape lol.

we will see next week I will take further pictures and post them in my thread in the build section if me and my friend go to the shop to show the housings conditons and the side irons conditions. also I should have waited to clean my rotors but after 30 years of slow driving I was almost due for Carbon lock if I hadn't of bought it when I did and started red lining it xD

lets just say I cleaned them up in not the most favorable of ways and I will not post pictures of those as I'm trying some things out with them and just gonna keep buying more parts as time moves on.

someday Jeff I will have to go to Washington to visit my sister I would love to check any parts you have out any day depends on whether your willing to meet a weirdo like me or not I only bring it up cause shes around the seattle area and from what I hear a cousin of mine just bought a house there too so I will be making trips that way soon would love to have a parts supplier if your willing to yard garage sale for me from time to time. =w=

 

Wow, Icy did knock your freeze plugs out. Ouch. They probably got smacked by the front counterweight. It's the only large moving part up there that could do that, but check your oil pump chain too. My advice is to avoid using this front iron again if possible because I certainly wouldn't trust an iron that had that happen to it.

Mazda didn't design these freeze plugs to ever come out. They aren't actually classic "freeze plugs". They are there to allow the sand to be emptied after the iron casting process is complete, then the holes are machined and some steel plugs are installed with some sort of sealant. I've never seen them fail in normal use and they should never be removed and new ones installed like you'd see in a typical chevy 350 rebuild, but I did come across an S4 NA shortblock in an outside storage unit with ice damage where the steel plug had gotten pushed out a few mm (Icy is such an attention *****!). I did not use any irons from this engine. They went to a metal recycler. I dont think I used the housings either. I think it was the one with the broken apex seal.

Here, it's the one toward the left side of the picture. You're asking why throw away so many parts? Because they were all damaged in some way. Broken apex seals, water damage (ice damage) or just plain worn out.

 

haha boy I can honestly say I never have good luck when it comes to having to rebuild anything or replace parts cause its never easy xD

oh well more fun I get to have replacing parts the more I can learn is the way I see it to keep positive!~

 

Ok, Is the oil pan off? Front cover off? Disassemble from the rear first, working your way down to the front. Sometimes you need a mini sledge to tap around the perimeter several times to wiggle everything apart. Never pry between housings and irons with a blunt object. You can damage cool grooves etc. Tap the ears on the edges instead. There are a couple dowels in the front cover that can give some trouble. Nothing a hammer wont fix.

 

Yeah I got it apart cross I did have to hammer it some to get it to come apart easier but thanks.

As for what me and jeff were going over is my freeze plugs are gone on my front plate and were chewed up a bit and now my front Iron is no good. So what will I do now keep searching for rebuildable motors so I can get this old girl running 1000% again. Also I pretty much removed all my rats nest since I got rid of all my emeissions I will just have to re-tune the carb out after I rebuild it and get a motor in it.

 

Here is a front iron with good freeze plugs. (I randomly found this on someone's thread)


What does your front iron look like up close with the missing freeze plugs? I'd like to see how much they got banged around (how much damage they did) before falling into the pan. Thanks.

 

oh they didn't do any damage at all no one is working today at the shop cause of the holidays and I havn't had time to take more pictures. but it just looks like they got nugged out and hit by the front weight a bit then when we got everything off the motor they just fell out of the holes when we tipped it over to start taking the bolts out for the tear down.

the front Iron is in good shape just needs to be cleaned up. however with the 2nd motor i purchased i'm just gonna swap all the Irons on to my housings since I think they all look better and the other motor came with a block heater so kind of a win for me hope it actually works. the next time I get paid i'm going to buy the whole gasket kit then new seals.

I'm really getting that driving itch!!~

when the holiday is over I will go to the shop with one of my buddies and take pictures of everything so I can show you whats going on. and I will try to get me a better camera then my crappy phone one cause most of my pictures are really unclear for most ppl i'm sure.

also as a side note the other motor I bought came with a slightly lighter flywheel then mine is and it even looks different? might just be a different year of motor? guy told me it was from an 83 he had owned.

 

There were three stock flywheel versions:

30 pounds, very thick, 215mm clutch disc surface, came on 79-80 (and some j-spec nitrided R5 engines)

23 pounds, thin, 215mm clutch but a 225mm disc can fit if you get creative, came on 81-82 but cane be swapped onto 79-80

26 pounds, 225mm clutch disc, looks different and has three little steel dowel pins and a different step height for the pressure plate. Fits the slightly lighter 83-85 rotors.

This info (with pictures) is also on Mazdatrix' flywheel FAQ.

 

With the help of a good friend, is the best way to tear an engine down.

 

The sequel to that video must be really interesting, but probably not appropriate for this forum. X tube perhaps? Should we be looking for that in the near future Aaron?

 

"See my crotch is that powerful"

I was watching this at work and almost died laughing.