Matty's first 1st Gen

Hey guys i'm currently taking my engine out of my 83, what should i do while its out, following a low budget. I was thinking of putting new engine mounts in, what else should i do while i have the chance, i'm leaving the transmission in, if it makes a difference. Thanks in advance for the tips guys.


~Matt

Pedestrian X

port exhaust ports? if i remember correctly you dont need the crack the engine open to do those.. i coudl very well be wrong though..

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Not really an upgrade, but while its out you might wanna give the bay a good scrubbing, maybe even some paint if it needs it. Give it a nice clean look. Here's a mod for ya if you haven't done it already, get rid of the beehive oil cooler and put the 79-82 air style oil cooler in.

Matty's first 1st Gen

what do i have to do, in order to do that/what do i have to buy, or is it just an easy connecting to the bottom of my rad

SoRRoW

You do need the engine aprt to port the exhast..unless you dont mind metal shavings in yoru rotor housings..and you do need it aprt to know how big you need to go

Matty's first 1st Gen

what is needed for air - oil coller conversion, how hard is it, should i start looking for air-oil coolers at scrapyards?

Matty's first 1st Gen

i was just taking a look and i think my old water-oil cooler must have a leak, cause there is lots of oil all over the wires and other areas directly under it, also cooling is important to me now that i'm putting a new engine in, i was think about an electric fan, when i came across flex fans, are these good ideas or would an electric fan be better, i dissagree with the fan running 100 percent even in high speed conditions thought, someone help me out.

thanks, Matt

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

In my opinion, if you wanted a horsepower robbing flex fan, just stick a bolt through the stock clutch fan. Get an electric fan. I swear my engine revvs faster than an 83 I drove the other day with a bolt through his fan (I have an electric fan). Mine was a hell of a lot quieter too.

If your oil cooler has a leak (most likely), now would be a great time to fix it since you have to drain everything anyway to get the engine out. To fix the leak, its usually the O rings under the cooler that seal it tothe engine. Theres 4 of them on the water/oil cooler. So, heres what you do, get new O rings, take off cooler, replace O rings, put cooler on, all done. Also, you might want to replace the radiator coolant hoses and such down there because oil softens them and they can burst (ask me how I know).

If you really want to upgrade to the air/oil cooler, there is some cost involved, depending on how you do it. I have over $200 into my oil cooler swap. $76 for the hose (bought enoughfor two coolers though), $75 for the fittings (should be more cause I shouldve bought at least 2 swivel ends), $40 for the adapters, about $5 for angle stock to make mounts from, $40 for the oil distribution block (not really needed though), plus the cost of the cooler itself, and shipping charges for the above parts. Im not saying you have to do it my way because there are A LOT cheaper ways to do it, but I chose to do it this way because of my own circumstances.

Anyway, I hope that helps. If youre tight on money, my vote would be to just replace the O rings in the stock oil cooler for now. Especially since youre gonna have everything drained anyway. So, definatly decide something about the oil cooler while the engine is out, which ever way you go. I just dont see the point in not fixing it while its all apart and drained now. If you wait to do it later, then you just have to drain it all over again, especially if the O rings go out and FORCE you to fix them .

~T.J.

PS - You can get the O rings from MazdaTrix pretty cheap. I got mine from Steve at www.rotaryautosports.com though. Email him, he might be able get you some cheap too .

82transam

iTrader: (18)

I agree with RMD, there is some cost involved in swapping the oil coolers. But the basic swap could be done for under $100. Find a 79-82 junk car, either locally or online through someone here who knows what they are doing and get the shorter rad, the cooler, cooler mounts, cooler lines, filter pedastal, and hard water line (goes on passenger side from rad to heater box) Oh yea, fan shroud too. All that could be gotton for under $100. I was gonna do taht at first, but decided to go with stainless steel oil lines, a electric fan, and all new coolant hoses. I think by the time I had it all in and working I had spent over $500. Well worth it IMO, once the car is warmed up the temp gauge won't move, no matter how long your in traffic.

Pedestrian X

mebbe it wont move cuz its broken?

MIKE-P-28

iTrader: (1)

hell no , dont try that, unless you want metal all up in the block, that will trash a motor faster than anything...

Pedestrian X

yea thats what i thougt.. hehe ohwell.. if you were ded set on it mebbe you could setup sum sorta lil high powered vaccum to suck up the metal shavings so they dotn go into the rotor housing.. but seriosuly dont try that.. im jsut syaign that for the sake of me uhh not beeing so totally wrong hahah

Suparslinc

Take the carb and manifold off, replace all the gaskets in the intake manifold (coolant rings tend to leak) remove the butterfly valve and plug the holes, and wire the secondaries. Change the oil pan gasket.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, all that stuff too. Its relativly cheap, and can only help you in the future. Do some of the "basic maintenece" that you usually wouldnt do (therefor usually doesnt get done).
This is why mine costed a lot more than I originally thought. I have a brand new radiator in my car, and I didnt wanna ditch it for a used shorter model, so I put the cooler in front of it. Well, that meant that I needed longer lines. So, no pre-made lines would work.

Also, I dont think it would even cost $100. The local yard here sold me 3 oil coolers with the lines attached now for $6.50 each. I just put the filter necks in my pocket. The radiators are like $10 or $15 each too. Plus, you dont even need that hard water line. I just took mine out, cut off the "T", deburred it, and put it back in. Works fine .

~T.J.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

ok, for us who aren't lucky enough to have a insanly cheap junkyard like you RMD, it would cost $100. At least thats what it would have cost if I done the basic swap.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Shiiiiiit... Junk yards here are expensive as hell...

Distributor for the RX-7 is $140...

**** that... I just took the "sensors" off the side of it and called it a done deal. Miscelanious parts... $5

Some other prices:

1986 Toyota Camry:
- Tail Light Assy: $60
- Headlight Assy: $75
- Windshied washer/Coolant resivour: $30
- Rear side marker light: $20

1985 Honda Civic Wagon:
- Front turn signal assy: $35

Also... All cars have removed wheels, sitting on the ground... No jacks allowed...

Someone mail me some parts!!! I hypothetically asked them if they'd cut wheel wells out for me, and they said no... Please help a fellow RX'er out.

Matty's first 1st Gen

i only need 2 oil-o rings though right?

Someone told me i needed 4 and mazda said i needed 2, my haynes looks like there are only 2 as well, anyone?

SoRRoW

You need 4,
2 uppers,2 lowers

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

If you have the water oil cooler, you need 4.

~T.J.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

getting new mounts is an excellent idea!

these are not horsepower upgrades, but they're not a bad idea.
- i agree with the oil cooler upgrade
- change the front seal on the tranny
- clean the engine bay
- electric fan (preferably a puller! REVHED has a thread on this - check it out)
- have the radiator cleaned

if your "new" engine just a used engine you're buying then you should probably change the pilot bearing and oil pan gaskets (just because they're a pain the *** to change without removing the engine again - but if it's a NEW engine, then just forget what i said.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

Change them both if your gonna change them. Just get the whole kit man, its only $11 from RB.

~T.J.

http://www.racingbeat.com/resultset....rtNumber=12036

81Rex6port13b

pele: if the yard your talking about takes the part off for you its not a real junk yard. its.... crap i cant think of the name. there is one by me. they charge a lot more then a regualr yard because they take the part off. at the yard right next to it, i picked up both tail lights from a 240sx coupe. they cost me $35 (and i missed 1/2 off day by 1 day!) at the other place they wanted $50 each tail light. just because they took it off and it was "fair value" the guy said.

chastan

yeah it's called you pick you pull for the ones you want. unfortunately there is like one around me...

it did have a beautiful '84 the other week though...picked clean of some parts...don't know the engine status...otherwise looked great.

SoRRoW

Matty's first 1st Gen

i'm having a hard time getting this damn oil cooler off, any tricks, do i just unbolt the nuts attached to the bottom, whats the story, any trick or am i way off?

anyone know where i can get some more info about this oild cooler