JAB Motorsport

Looking for some advice with the front cover gasket/o-ring on a 12/88 production Convertible. According to the FAQ on Mazdatrix it to me this motor has the late model front housing. My confusion is it did not have the teflon spacer associated with the late model housing.





I ended up ordering the o-ring and a teflon spacer with the late model gasket. But as you can see in this picture, comparing new gasket to the old, the front cover boss would not have any support for the gasket.



Am i mistaken to see the front cover as a late model and should use the early model gasket without the teflon ring?

AlexG13B

iTrader: (7)

looks like early model to me. if the nylon ring fits inside of it and supported all around then its late model. but ur pix looks like only oring is supported

JAB Motorsport

Ok, i thought it was a late model housing due to the size of the boss relative to the freeze plug. I see the late model as being larger then the freeze plug while the early is about the same size. Do all late models come with a larger depression for the o-ring and teflon ring?
I guess it doesnt help the pictures are 160x120...

Now are there anything things i should be aware of if i were to just use the o-ring and RTV without a gasket?

SpooledupRacing

clean it very good, put the o-ring on and use rtv then put the gasket on and bolt it down...

Looks like that cover don't need the spacer.

JAB Motorsport

Well the gasket i have is defiantly not the correct one. So i was going to use the FAQ suggestion of no gasket or spacer with RTV on the whole cover. Thoughts?

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

You should be able to use the 12A front cover gasket, o-ring, no Teflon ring.

JAB Motorsport

Any chance you have a Mazda part # for this, last time i was at Mazda they told me there was no such gasket...

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Not off hand. Maybe there is a parts catalog in the 1st gen FAQ?

HAILERS

None of my business, but it appears the feed hole for the OMP is clogged with RTV/goop/stuff. See attached jpg.

JAB Motorsport

No, thank you for pointing that out. Here is the high-res version of that pic
http://oksubaru.com/gallery/main.php...g2_itemId=8702
It was just nasty old oil, this appears to be the original gasket and there was no RTV anywhere on the front cover.

Here is was it looks like after cleaning the old gasket. What a pain in the butt...

http://oksubaru.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=8836

Since you bring that up it makes me weary of using RTV in place of a gasket due to the high-probability of it getting clogged with RTV.
I think ill just get the old style gasket and call it a day.
Thanks for everyones help with my n00bness to this!

freemanrx7

I used a product called HONDABOND. You can buy it at any Honda dealership. I have the same cover and just did this for the first time a few months back. I didn't use a gasket just Hondabond. Make sure you use just enough bond around the small hole and it won't clogg. Also make sure it is a factory O-ring cause they have a special treatment that lets them resist high heat!

Also if you haven't done it yet get rid of the oil pellet thing. Replace it with a custom metal one or use some spacers to leave it open.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

So that's where the oil leak is coming from on my car! I cant believe youre the first person to say something about that.

JAB Motorsport

What oil pellet thing do you speak of? There was nothing between the front cover and the front housing around the OMP feed hole when i removed it.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

He's talking about the oil thermostat behind the main front pulley bolt, it's reccomended to replace it with a pellet that always allows oil flow.

HAILERS

OMP feed is as shown in the attached jpg. Travels thru a internal passage in the front cover (the raised tunnels on the cover), enters the bore of the OMP drive gear and enters the OMP as shown in the second jpg. It really has no real pressure as it enters the OMP because it exits at the area colored BLUE in the second jpg and falls in the oil pan. The OMP itself makes omp pressure by itself.

Just FYI, nothing more.

JAB Motorsport

Oh ok, like the plug below #11 here https://www.mazdatrix.com/b5.htm or something else? Is this just to ensure oil is always flowing through the eccentric shaft?

SukMy7

Wow!!! Good eye HAILERS!!! and to the OP did you give mazda the VIN# for the car? and if so what did they say about the gasket and O ring? just out of curiosity

freemanrx7

Thats the same part I used(#11). I also bought the Oil pressure regulator from Racing beat since I had the oil pan off. It ups the oil pressure to 85lbs. You might want to do this mod also if you plan on increasing the boost.

Make sure you use a factory gasket for the oil pan.

JAB Motorsport

Yes i gave them the VIN and they said they didnt list either parts. So i called later with the part #'s and they said they couldnt get them.

This is an N/A convertible im helping a friend with, unless the stock ones are troublesome i cant see him needing it.

As for the oil pan, there was only RTV when i pulled it. I was planning on just using RTV on it. Any reason to use the gasket instead?

SukMy7

odd because i just picked up a front cover gasket and O ring from Mazda thursday no teflon seal though. weird

RETed

If the engine is stock from the factory, it's supposed to be a Zenki 13B motor.
Zenki = 1986 - 1988
Recommended it to use NO gasket and just use the o-ring.
I use RTV in place of the gasket.
Screw the Mazdatrix FAQ and don't worry about the build date.


-Ted

freemanrx7

JAB-It's kinda of a crabshoot on using just RTV for the oil pan. It may not leak but it also could. If you use to much RTV then you run the rist of clogging the pickup tube screen. I used RTV only and it leaked. I also found when I pulled the oil pan off the first time the screen had some bits of rtv clogging it(no gasket was used by previous owner). I don't think if was enough to lower the oil pressure but I like to be on the safe side. If you can, spend the $35 it cost and use the gasket and a little bit of RTV.

HAILERS

The 11 is a Thermostat. Oil will flow thru the crankshaft all the time, whether or not this item fails or not. What that thermostat does, is keep oil from being sprayed into the rotors internal parts during warmup. INstead this oil is dumped back into the pan. This is to help the engine warm up faster. Once the oil warms up, the thermostat closed off a passage that allows the oil to go to the pan, and now the oil is sprayed into the internal parts of the rotors to cool them. There's a couple of Oil Jets on the eccentric shaft that do this spraying.

It's said these items fail, the thermostats, so what happens is you lose a little oil pressure because it never shuts off the oil flow even after the oil is warm. When cold, this oil is dumped back into the oil pan. ONce warmed up the thermostat closes off the passage to the oil pan.

That's not explained very well. See the online Training Manual for a better explanation. I've never had one fail. But.......

HAILERS

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...3&d=1177454726