Therx7ist

Hey guys. I'm half way through installing my new ACT clutch and just had a couple of questions. When I took off the bell housing, There was a decent amount of oil coating the inside of it, Shouldn't this be dry? Also, any info on the pitfalls of re-installation would be helpful. Today I'm going to try again to get the flywheel nut off. That thing is a bastard!

HuggyBear

was it around the shifter?

Therx7ist

It was basically spread around the bottom of the bell housing

Spawn VII

i have two of them outside my house (tranny), and one is dry-coated, one is wet-coated... looks like something is leaking on the wet one

Therx7ist

One more question. Can the pilot bearing be removed without removing the flywheel?

kristopher_d

Either with a puller, or if you search, you'll find a thread explaining how to use bits of wet paper towel, a wooden dowel, and a heavy hamer to remove it. After a week of fighting with various other issues, I had Hayes Rotary finish my job, so I couldn't tell you how the paper towel bit works.

Therx7ist

I have a resurfaced fly wheel but that damn nut is impossible to get off. The flywheel thats on the engine is smooth with no high or low points , should I just leave on the old flywheel and change the pilot bearing?

rxseven

If you don't have an impact wrench, it's going to be very tough. Leave the flywheel alone if the surface looks good.

Supermac 7

You will thank me for telling you to get the acutal mazda Pilot bearing removal tool. I grinded on the thing for 2 hours, with no luck. The pilot tool took me under 10 seconds.

yes, you can remove it without removing the flywheel.

As far as removing the flywheel, I highly suggest getting a good impact wrench, you will need it. I am certainly glad I had mine.

Tilt the engine back a bit on its mounts to aid reinstallation. there is a bolt at the top of the engine that you have to thread the tranny onto, a PITA when you cant see it. Have a friend help you.

Jameson

DC350

Hey, i just completed the task. I took of the flywheel to have it resurfaced. If there are, Blue marks and scoring, then it should be turned. If there are not very many blue marks perhaps one or 2 you should just take some emery cloth and rough up the surface. In order to get the pilot bearing out you need to have the flywheel off. I think, well anywhoo it's a heck of alot easier I took a metal chisel and i beat the crap out of the pilot bearing (be nice to the eccentric shaft) make sure it doesn't get to harmed. I took a die grinder and a bit and just drilled the sucker out, it's so hard to get off!

And out of alot of transmissions i have seen a coat of grimy oil and crap, which is okay. Its just highway dust, mixed with a tiny bit of oil and what-not. To get the flywheel nut of i tried building up the nut, using air tools with a bigger socket :P: If you get a nut somewhere and an airgun you should have that thing zipped off within minutes. option number 2.

Go to the mazda dealer ship, hope they are nice, give them like 100 bucks for there breaker bar, and a flywheel stopper as a deposit. This should work. The flywheel is torqued onto 250+ ft lbs. So give it a GOOD tug, dont be scared if you rip the flywheel teeth off. It happened to my, just get a ball peen hammer, or a hammer and nail it back on. And when putting the flywheel nut back on, just install the flywheel stopper (if you have one) I got it from mazda for a bit. and yank on the flywheel nut to tighten it as hard as you can. But, if your REALLY REALLY strong, dont yank on it to hard. You can rip the engine out of the engine bay before you over tighten that nut. The tool that mazda gave me was a big socket and a 4 foot breaker bar. So you should be good to roll when you get these tools. If there is anythin else. Let me know

Supermac 7

There's actually a chance you can harm yoru engine mounts when you have the breaker bar, i highly suggest an impact wrench instead.

Jameson

Therx7ist

Ok Update.

I opted to leave the current flywheel because of my lack of an impact gun. The pilot bearing came out with the flywheel still on however it was a small pain in the ***. I used a generic pilot bearing puller and it worked great. I first tested it on my spare engine and the bearing popped out on the first try "Whamo!". The one in my current engine took about 45 minutes to get out and was reduced to a small pile of metal after repeated shreddings. The bearing puller just wouldn't keep it's grip on the outermost edge of the bearing. However even without the close to perfect performance of the puller, I suspect it was a much easier method than what you guys had to go through. I got one at a regular auto parts store in the Bronx. The tranny is also back on and I need only to connect my drive shaft and exhaust system. I hope everything works when put it all back!