The GXL that is.


FBDrifter stopped by, and helped me with the car. The shroud was a PITA to get off. Stupid thing took atleast half an hour - to about an hour to get off. Damn those ***** snap-ons!

Well, after all that mess, we began to try and manually turn the engine....

As shown here:




Well, that didnt work by trying to push down on it (165 lb. of man there....)


So, he 'bounced' i guess you'd put it, or whatever... and that didn't work either.





Grrr! Damn thing won't budge.


Now... we've gotta take all the other crap out of the engine bay, and get to the exhaust manifold unbolt it and see if I can see anything.

Hopefully later on this week (or today) I can get part of that taken care of, and be ready to get the engine out of there to start taking apart.

Blah. Pain in the **** if you ask me. I just don't know what to do. What's the easiest way to get all that crap out and around the exhaust mani?



And here's a shot of the convertible.

 

If you're just pulling the engine, you don't need to remove anything from the engine bay. Remove the alternator and upper intake and disconnect the harness. Disconnect oil cooler lines. Disconnect coolant lines (don't forget heater hoses). Remove spark plug wires. Disconnect exhaust at manifold (from under the car).

Now, connect the hoist and remove the engine mounts. Slowly raise the engine.

No need to remove exhaust manifold.

 

we want to look in the exhaust mani for blown apex seals. just to know a bit more about why the motor wont turn. as for taking it apart..i think she wants to completely disassemble the motor anyway. so take the stuff off before hand will only save time.

 

The only reason I'm removing the exhaust manifold is to see if I can see anything - apex seal gone, carbon lock, etc.

The engine won't be pulled out probably for another week or so.

but thank you for telling me how I am able to pull out the engine as a "quicker" way.. than what I had planned on doing.

edit:

yes, what FBDrifter said. I'll be disassembling it on a later date anyhow, that's why i'm taking it it apart now i the first place. Sorry for confusion.

 

You also don't really need to remove anything to get at the exhaust manifold either. Disconnect downpipe/cats from manifold, and SOAK in penetrating oil (PB Blaster is god). Use an extension to reach under the lower intake (feel with your fingers) to get at the studs and crack the nuts loose (might need a breaker bar). Remove O2 sensor with special socket, then finish taking off the nuts and pull the manifond straight out and up. May take some wiggling, but should come out....You might have to remove the heater pipe.

Small girlish hands are very useful here.

My edit: You need to pull off the upper intake to remove the wiring harness, and you need to pull the alternator to get at the upper intake.

 

If you are unable to turn the engine most likely the apex seals were worn down to small, and one of them rolled in the rotor's groove that it sits in.

Also you can just unhook the engine harness from the ECU and pull the engine as a long block. I've never done it that way, but it will come out faster it you know what your doing. Although your just going to have to take it apart later, so it doesn't matter.


At any rate, make sure you get LOTS of zip-lock bags, and label ALL the screws, I make that mistake almost every time, and you think you will remember were they all went, and then you go looking for it, and damned if it hasn't grown legs and run away!

 

I believe I've already explained in-depth what most likely happened to it. Regardless of the cause, the effect is still the same...an engine that needs to come out, and apart. You're just not gonna save this thing, I would try to accept that. Unless you just have time to burn on your hands, I wouldnt fool with "looking" inside, etc. Just get it pulled out and go from there.

Here is a removal writeup. You dont need to remove anything on the engine.

www.rotaryresurrection.com/engremov.html

 

Yes, I know what you said, and I've listened. I have alot of time on my hands - as I don't do much anyway - and want to figure out myself what had went wrong...

The engine will be pulled out reguardless, but I just like to get off all that other stuff while I'm in hte engine.

Also, thansk for the writeup, I was surfing for a write-up.

 

The writeup seem unnecessarily complicated to me, but then that's just my opinion. For me, removing the upper intake is a lot easier then messing with the wiring harness and tearing apart the interior of the car (broken trim....). But it's 6 of 1, half a dozen of the other...

 

Christi:

I guess what Im saying is that a) you usually can't see much inside the exhaust ports (or anywhere else for that matter) with the engine installed in the car. Even with a freely turning engine, you can really make very few accurate conclusions this way. and b) since the thing wont even budge, what do you expect to be able to examine? All you'll see are faces of 2 rotors...

Aaron:

Most experienced people have their own methods. The writeup expressed mine, which I believe to be the simplest for most people. THis way, things on the engine dont get broken and such. Plus, it saves your back, not having to lean over the engine bay and disassemble stuff on the engine itself.

Finally, what if you wanted to swap a perfectly running engine into a different body, but you're not a really experienced rotary guy. IF you have to take the intake and such apart, and then get it back together later, chances are you're gonna screw something up, and the engine, which previously ran great, may not do so in the new body. Doing things my way, you can pull the whole thing and sell, swap, or whatever without fear or wonder whether or not you got things screwed up or not.

IF I pull an engine and it ran a certain way at that time, I can guarantee that if everything outside the engine is plugged in properly, it will crank adn run the identical same way again. You being an experienced person know, that no matter how good you think you may be, you can always screw up a small detail and cause yourself hours of headache and troubleshooting. My way attempts to help less experienced people avoid these pitfalls.

 

Help!

Where's the plug to drain the coolant?

I know where the one is on the driver's side, but where's the one on the radiator???

 

its in the middle of the radiator..u'll need a phillip screw driver to get to it, it wont be sticking out of the rad..but its there.....if u have a undercover, find a half dollar size hole and it should be ontop of there.....good luck

 

Yeah, we found it.

I have the front end of the car jacked up - went under her and started to unbolt the bolts for the skid plate. I couldn't fit the screwdriver in that hole and turn it.... it wouldn't fit properly.

I can only see half of the bolts for the skid plate - where are the others? (I only see about 4-5).

 

err they are there...just going to take some hunting. once the coolant is drained i'll be removing the top half of the intake manifold...

 

I wouldnt pull anything I didn't have to off the block with the motor in the car. You aren't going to be able to tell anything about what failed until you take the motor apart anyway and you are just making it alot harder trying to tear it down to a short block in the car.

 

Don't listen to all the naysayers. Just take your time. You'll do just fine. I never had any experience with rotary engines before this summer, but my dad and I managed to rebuild mine, and it's running pretty well now. The car is not running perfectly, but it's getting better. Nobody here was born with the knowledge they have. Everyone had to learn at some point. I do have to agree with them on one thing. It's pointless trying to see what is making the engine stick, as you really can't see anything. My engine was siezed before we pulled it from the car, and it turned out that the front rotor was carbon locked so badly that we had to take the front have of the engine apart backwards, and then carefully tap the rotor out of the housing. The rotor and housing were fine in the end, but there's no way we would have ever known that by looking inside the exhaust port.

 

if you have a good digi cam just take photos of everything you take off, and when you take a part off, put the bolts in a labeled jar, it will help. Removing the engine is really not that hard. It may seem intimidating at first, but once you start rolling there really isn't much. Aaron's quick write up covers everything. I would suggest pulling the tranny with it thoug. Alot easier assembling it on the floor, not under the car. good luck

 

from the other 9 threads, i gathered her engine was blown.....from this one.....ive reached the conclusion, the engine will be removed....i would've never thought....

 

lol..


btw zero, your engine is getting done as we speak. Im waiting on parts to arrive, it should be in and running by week's end.

sure you dont want a 5sp conversion while I'm at it??

 

hah, only if you throw in a turkey from bubba's farm.

 

Thread edited for garbage posts

 

thanks for the breaking news icemark.

 

Sorry. I didn't feel like bringing up old threads, esp when some where around the 3rd/4th page.....

Kevin - I've talked to my dad about allowing you to rebuild it, and he gives me those "unsure" type looks.... blah.

Wish I had the money to just hand you my engine and allow you to do it....


Right now, I'm just having the most bitchy time trying to get those bolts off the skidplate

They just won't......budge !

 

Problem is you missed the 20 posts above that.

 

i know this is kinda off topic ok WAY off topic but i am asuming your name is christi lol i named my 89 GTU the same name but different spelling i am kinda odd and name my cars. Krysti is how i spell the name of my car...i donno kind of and odd tid bit that didn't need to be said but what can i say....well nothing