OK....I have an 88' vert that has had the tII transplant.....My oil pan/front cover i leaking oil pretty bad...I want to take care of this soon...I want to know how hard is this to do? I there a write-up anywhere to fix this leak??? Is there a gasket you have to buy or do you make your own(silicone)?? I have the ability(tools/knowledge) to accomplish this task, I just want to know are there any precautions/warnings that anyone can tell me? Any special tools I amy need???

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

I think the pan can be removed without raising the engine up, but if not a jack would take care of it. Just remove the nuts on the motor mounts, and lift under the transmission. There is an oil pan gasket, or you can make your own with lots of RTV.

 

With the oil pan, just be really careful when you remove the bolts because they can break easily. I made the mistake of trying to remove them with an air ratchet to save time. I ended up breaking 3 (engine was out of the car) that were for the front cover portion of the oil pan. I ended up just getting another front cover.

pulling the front cover off has a number of potential problems if you don't take appropriate precautions. You've got the front cover o-ring which could blow out if you're not careful. You've got the thrust bearings on the e shaft that could drop and get crushed. And then you have the normal problems that can occur with setting timing etc. Do some searches and you'll find out more.

 

these are all true.

you have to be careful when removing the front pulley hub so as not to disturb the thrust bearings, they can easily be dislodged be become crushed when reassembling, resulting in either you having to tear apart the front again or tearing the motor apart if you run it in this state. torsen bearings and stationary bearings don't mix...

 

Thanks for all the info guys....I am still looking, but I don't see a write-up anywhere on how to replace the front cover gasket...I have done the oil pan gasket before, it is just the front cover that I want to know more about before I pull it apart.....I will keep looking....It is bound to show up somewhere....

 

Here is the information regarding the front torrington bearing issue when removing the front hub:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm

As for a writeup, there isn't really much to it. Grab a copy of the Haynes/FSM and look up the front cover. Remove the pulleys, hub, oil pan, metering oil pump, any brackets on the cover (power steering/AC), water pump, water pump housing then the front cover.

See this for info about the o-ring issues:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/oring.htm

 

removing the oil pan is optional. just cut the seal with an exacto and slide it off. make sure you clean it up really well and put on a ton of silicone and you should be good.

 

It's not really optional if you don't want oil pan leaks. The FC oil pan is such a chore to seal anyway that it will almost always leak if part of it is disturbed.