What's the toughest part to take on or off? I vote that the #1 toughest part to wrench is the upper bolt of the clutch master cylinder. Man..... was that a bitch. A close second are the ones under the water/oil cooler.... and good riddance to that POS.

 

the wheels, man those lugs nuts are hard as hell to get too, i mean seriously mazda, what were you thinking? sheesh

 

hmm... rearmost lower intake manifold bolt when the thermal reactor is on, conversely... the upper rear bolt on the thermal reactor is a bitchass too. Basically, you need one off to get the other off, its kind of a vicious cycle.

also one of the bellhousing bolts is a pain in the *** when you have the water/oil cooler in... allthough that thing is a pain in the *** in itself. I may just use that spare tranny cooler i have lying around and have fittings welded on and make my own oil lines just so i can get rid of that and all it's headaches.

 

I agree.The location is pretty damn inaccessible.. but with the proper tools (some universals and a small hand to help u out) it's not as labor intensive as ~~~>mating the tranny with the engine when the car is on ramps and jackstands, well especially if you are doing it yourself. Dropping the tranny is EZ.. but lining that sucker up while bench pressing it up from your chest is a pain. My tranny's synchros are pretty shot right now, even tho I have a spare tranny to slap on, I'm prolonging that task...

AL

 

anyone else notice that all but 3 screws holding the storage bin sheet metal in are easy as cake. but the other 3.... im just glad paalo got a snap on impact screwdriver, cause they would have never come off. its been like that on all 3 different cars ive taken em out of.

 

yeah, except my car didnt have storage bins... it had, and still has the sheetmetal covers... and some of those screws just will NOT come out.

 

#1 - Upper thermal reactor bolts.

#2 - The nuts that hold the oil cooler to the bottom of the radiator.


There's a trick to the slave cylinder bolts. Either you swap to an air/oil cooler long before you have to yank the tranny, or you drop the transmission crossmember and get at the bolts from underneath the car.

 

JESUS CHRIST DONT GET ME STARTED ON THAT ***** !!!
Yeah, wtf is up with that? I do know that some PB blaster on them a little before hand, like spray them before you take the other screws out, will help A LOT.

~T.J.

 

Oddly enough, I had no real problems getting the clutch master cylinder off. I'm very flexible and have small hands, so that probably helps. But that top rear thermal reactor nut has to be the most inaccessible sucker I've ever seen. I've never had that much trouble taking the thermal reactor off an RX3 or RX4. I did finally come up with a way that worked, though, using a 9/16" short u-jointed socket that had been ground down so the wall was fairly thin, then I just put an extension on it and ratcheted it out.

 

Oh, crap, I've got a clutch loosing pressure, i might have to change that *****!
For me it was the drain plug for the tranny. I finally gave up and went to jiffy lube! What's the trick on that thing??

 

I got a tip for you guys....






























BUY THE RIGHT TOOLS!

Most of the stuff you guys are cring about are esy jobs,if you have the correct tools.

SlaveCylinder bolts,12mm swivel socket 3 min job.

Take all the bolts of the bell housing including starter,
10 mins the one by the oil cooler I used my swivel head extra long 3 /8 wratchet.

Banjo bolt 24 mm?I think if im right.

I had the flywheel nut kick my *** if it wasnt for the RB tool,it would be close to impossible to take off with the tool I can get it off in about a min or so,Thats why im getting my own this week sometime.

I broke 3 wratchets tring to take off a front e shaft bolt,liek 2 days ago..Thank god they were Craftmans.
If they were my SnapOn or Matco I dont know when the hell they would be replaced.

 

Okay smarty-pants. What tool works best for the upper master cylinder bolt? I managed with an open-ended 12mm wrench .... but just barely.

I agree, the slave cylinder is no biggie at all when you don't have the water/oil cooler in the way.

 

SoRRoW

who is the one to say what tool is right for the job....ive taken off parts more than once...using more than one tool...its the way you go about the task at hand, and how your weight hight and hand size makes a difference..dont be so fast to tell someone they are doing it wrong.

Stepdaddy

 

I cant remeber when I changed mine if I used a 12mm stubby or 12mm regular wrench I might of even used my swivel socket on there..(I wil check tomorrow)

I changed mine about 7 months ago.
I bougth a GSLSE master even though im running a GS brake sytem right now..It grabs better

 

Of course im not going to sit there with a 12mm open end wrench and take out a clutch slave ,Thats why I use my 6in long extention on my 3/8 wratchet and 12m swivel socket..

Would you take off metal brake lines with a regular wrench?Thats why they get rounded off thats why there are line wrenches..

I have turned wrenches as a profession for about 8yrs now,Thats why there are things called 'specialty tools" theres no other tools you can use to do certain jobs,its either you have it ...or it cannot be done..

I wasnt saying they were doing it wrong,I was saying if they had the right tools.it would be less headaches and less time consuming..
If im wrong ..prove me then plz

 

Ok, I know the basic tools, but I need to know more about just what it is you guys are talking about to remove the slave cylinder on an SE. I think I'm about to be tasked with that job. I got a regulat 12mm wrench, but a ratchet wrench? Sears got it?

 

12mm socket + swivel joint + 6" extension + rachet wrench ... that should do it. And yes, go to Sears and get Craftsman tools, this way if you bust 'em you can get them replaced for nuthin.

 

SLAVE CYLINDER hose

 

Should point out that the clutch slave is vastly easier on the pre'83 cars due to the fact that there isn't an enormous grimy oil cooler and its coolant hoses blocking most of the access.

Fortunately I've never had to do one on an '83-85 12A car... yet!

 

SLAVE CYLINDER hose


What about it?

 

17mm open ended wrench . But.... if you intend on replacing the hose then get yourself some 6-sided open-ended brake line wrenches. I think 10mm is the size you'll want. DO NOT, use anything but a 6-sided wrench or you'll round-off the nut and really screw it up.

 

I just took one off like 2 days ago and got a stainless steel one made I cant remeber what I used,BUT I know I used my line wrenches...Dam I love them ..

Heres the specs on the braided lines I get made locally,

Stainless steel,Teflon lined
4000 psi rated
500 degress fire rated

reuseable fittings..

they are nice..

 

What about the carby? Lets not forget about the left side nut closest to the firewall. Sure, it's easier on the earlier 1st gens, but it's near impossible for me on my 84 GSL. That is, without that special carb nut wrench from snap-on. Cost me 40 bucks, but that nut comes off real easy now. Well worth it to me, carb comes off in about 15 minutes.

 

flywheel nut.

I had a puller (that wasn't really the right size for the job), torch, deadblow hammer, breaker bar etc. etc...

It took a couple occassions before finally came loose.
The second one I did was easier

Surprised nobody mentioned that one nut on the carb, not so hard to get off but takes some practice to get back on

 

The damn fourth nut when trying to get the Nikki carb off was a pain in the butt. I think Mazda played a cruel joke by building the carb AROUND that last nut. Other then that I really can't think of any nuts or bolts that were to difficult.

I just asked my buddy and he says the fly wheel nut is the hardest nut he has tried to get off.

-Error402