OKay,

I have everything off my engine except the water pump, how can I pull it off? The bolts are off but it is being held in by the main pulley on the front, HOW DO I GET THIS OFF!!! also, what is the size of the big *** nut on the back? as I am sure that will have to come off too.

I have pulled off the 4 bolts on the pulley on the front yet it still won't slide off!

any help would be appreciated!

cheers'

 

Remove all the bolts that hold it on, and hit it with a hammer and screwdriver along the seal

 

seal?
what seal?

are there only the 4 bolts holding it in polace or are there 4 plus the big one in the center?

cheers'

 

ahhh, the rubber mallet worked wonders! It's off now, so now there is nothing on the front housing.... what next
hehe

do I have to remove the big nut on the front engine housing to get it (the front engine housing) off?

By big nut, I mean the one in the middle of the eccentric shaft pulley.

cheers'

 

Yeah the big 19mm nut, and its a BITCH... Almost as bad as the flywheel nut..

Well the order of removal to strip the front of the motor is water pump and water pump housing (actually you can remove the water pump and the front water pump housing together as a full assy) , then you need to remove the E-shaft pully via the 19mm bolt, then there are the regular 12mm bolts that hold the front cover. Also to remove the front cover the oil pan has to be off or at least the bolts that go into the front cover from the oil pan... By the way the OMP needs to be off too

Once you get the front off, you need to be careful with the oil pump, nut, the keyway, chain, chamfer, needle bearing etc. Not to loose them and have a book handy that has the exploded view so you put it all back together...

 

alllrighty then.

any suggestings for removing the 19mm bolt for the ecentric shaft pulley?

I have the Haynes manual but it was all screwy for this part, it had the main pulley off when it was time to take off the water pump (step 12) and then like step 15 was how to remove the main pulley wheel, it was a little confusing.

thanks for the info.

cheers'

 

OK... take my word on this... do not remove the center bolt if at all possible! Set the engine to one of the timing marks, then see if you can remove just the pulleys by taking off the four 10mm-head bolts.

The problem with removing the entire pulley assembly is that in doing so, you risk the thrust bearing falling down. See Mazdatrix's FAQ here.

If that is the only way to go, a good way of removing it is, first of all, to have a BIG breaker bar and a GOOD socket. I broke a quality 4-way lug wrench trying to remove the front pulley bolt once! Once you have that squared away, you need a way to keep the engine from rotating. A good way is to put the car in 5th gear, handbrake set extremely firmly, chock all four wheels, and then try to loosen the bolt. After you crack it loose (and I do mean CRACK it loose, not turning it very much), then you can follow Mazdatrix's recommendations. (IE use a big block of wood between the seat and clutch pedal to hold the clutch down while you have the pulley assembly out)

 

Tilt the engine up on its flywheel if its out of the car, or wedge your clutch pedal down if its in the car. If you don't do this, you risk letting the front torrington bearing drop down and trashing it.

Use an impact if you have one to zip it off. If not use a large (1/2'' drive or larger) ratchet/breaker bar and someone holding the flywheel still to get it off. It really really sucks removing that bolt by hand.

 

It took me 3 minutes to type that? WTF?

 

I post mad quick, yo.

 

Doh! I musta been granny posting when I should have been double posting

Anyway, if he wants the front cover off he'll have to pull the center bolt, won't he?

 

Oh, he's pulling the engine APART, okay. I thought he was just changing the water pump.

Do not take the front pulley off until you get the flywheel off. Here's my patented E-Z-Kwik method of flywheel/front pulley removal.

Step 1 - Get a 2 1/8" socket and 3/4" drive breaker bar from Sears, and while you're there, get a 4'-6' length of 1" angle iron. Also, get a 3/4" drive 19mm / 3/4" socket (I think Craftsman only makes SAE-sized 3/4" drive sockets, anyway 19mm is so close to 3/4" that they are interchangeable) and the biggest soft-faced (MUST be soft-faced!) dead blow hammer you can find. A 3lb will work but a 5lb is preferable.
Step 2 - Drill holes in the angle iron so that it will bolt up to two of the pressure plate boltholes in the flywheel. Bolt to the flywheel.
Step 3 - Put the socket/breaker bar on the Big Giant Nut, slip your floor jack's handle over the breaker bar, and loosen the nut. The angle iron is there to keep the engine from turning.
Step 4 - With the angle iron still attached, and the Big Giant Nut still loosely threaded on, put the 19mm / 3/4" socket on the 3/4" drive breaker bar. Put that on the front pulley bolt, slide the floorjack handle over the breaker bar, and crack the bolt loose. Do not remove it, or loosen it even a 1/4 turn!
Step 5 - Rotate the engine so the angle iron can be easily held with one hand while standing up. Use the other hand to smack the face of the flywheel as far outboard as you can with the soft-faced deadblow hammer. It should only take a couple hits. You will be able to tell when it comes loose.
Step 6 - Remove flywheel, remove E-shaft pulley, continue disassembly.

Method to the madness - You do not want to hit the flywheel with the front pulley bolt out/loose or you could screw up the thrust bearings. But, if you have the flywheel nut loose, using the flywheel to hold the engine still while you crack the front pulley bolt loose will help free the flywheel from its death-grip.

It works WONDERFULLY. But you must use a soft faced hammer. If you use a hard hammer, throw the flywheel away.