Alright, so I went to do the oil thermo bypass mod the other day, which involves removing the front main bolt and pulley.

I did this with the engine out of the car, lifted with an engine hoist, completely horizontal. The washers I had wound up not fitting, so I put the main bolt back in, with no loc-tite, and zipped it on with my impact gun, and dropped the engine and tranny in the car.

I just read a bunch of stuff about the thrust washer falling out, and if ran destroying some internal engine components.

Needless to say, this engine has not been ran, e-shaft has not been turned. What I'm worried about is the fact that there doesn't seem to be ANY endplay right now (spec is like .0015-.0028, according to Mazdatrix). Also...it has not been torqued down. Just zipped on with a gun... zipped meaning a quick trigger pull or two, and left alone when it stopped going any farther.

I still have to take the main bolt back out, to do the oil bypass mod anyway, but what I'm really asking is...

How fucked am i? Is there any way to see if the bearing has fallen without pulling the front cover? I'd rather not pull this engine out again, but if I have to... then I will.

Thanks,
James

 

Pull the front cover and get it over with. You probably smashed whatever dropped(bearing/thrustwasher/both) Its not worth the risk of turning whatever got a "little damaged" into hamburger when you rev the engine up.

 

Werd. That's what I'm going to do.

Since it's still basically bare block, I'm just going to pull the engine back out of the car and do all work with the engine out.

James

 

And this time make sure its with the front pulley side facing up, but I'm sure you know that from the reading.

 

I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about.

Make sure "what" is with the front pulley side facing up?

 

hey james good luck with that. SO your just going to remove the engine this time. Anything else that needs to be inpsected while the engine is back out do it, dont wanna take it out again for something else.

(help after xmas , if you still need it)

Jason NYC

 

Thrust bearing is fine.

Would any of you recommend putting thread locker on the bolts for the front stationary gears, or no? When I took them off, they felt a lot tighter than the 12-19 lbs the Haynes says they should be torqued to.

Thanks,
James

 

When the engine is out of the car, the front of the engine needs to be facing upwards. This way gravity will keep the thrust bearings/spacers in the right place.

 

Werd. Alright, thanks.

I made sure this time, lol.

Thanks for the info,
James

 

There is an easy and accurate way to tell if the bearings fell or not. It's mentioned in the FSM in the assyembly section. With the bolt out, measure from the hub to the front of the eccentric shaft. The MAX dimension is .0961. If it's that or less, then alls well. If it's over, its not correct.

 

Well, he said he had zero engshaft play, which I think is a pretty good sign the bearings fell.

 

Is the thrust washer between the main pulley bolt and the oil thermo bypass valve?

 

Its late and I'm not quite thinking right so can't explain it, but here is what we are talking about with the bearings: http://mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm
You can see where the thrust plate is in the pics.

 

i'm going be swapping my front covers this weekend, would setting it down on the flywheel be the best idea?

 

Yes. That's a bullet proof method. That said, I've remvoved front pulleys without pressing the clutch etc and never had a torrington bearing fall down. I just check the .0961 before reinstalling the front bolt with locktite and a torque wrench.

And for what it's worth, it's NOT the thrust washer that falls down, it would be one or both of the needle bearings that fall down off the spacer.

 

If the washer has fallen, your front pullly alignment will look like this:

 

why didnt they just make the washer part of the bearing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

If you look at the front stack, you will see how it is nearly impossible to make the assembly one piece. Also, multiple pieces and a spacer are used because engine tolerances vary in manufacture. Without being able to swap the spacer, you won't be able to set the appropriate amount of eccentric float (endplay).

 

This thread is full of information regarding this issue.

If you want change the thread to thrust bearing instead of washer, or needle bearing. My bad on that.

And thanks for the information guys. I'm gonna post pics in my build thread when I get a chance so other people will know what's actually involved in checking this, if they've never done it before.

Also, I got my front cover off and most of the front stack off, to find the thrust bearing in tact, and exactly where it should be.

James

 

good to know. i'll be attempting to remove my front cover soon for an S5 swap into my 10AE and i'm reading all i can so i dont jack it up. good thread!

James, if you can, keep us updated on your progress and any pics you would post would definatly be helpful to others!!