Sniper_X

I have spent 6 hours trying to remove this DAMN THING!

Lets get back to basics, someone tell me:

• Which way do you turn this damn thing?
• Has anyone reading this ever actually DONE THIS THEMSELVES? ( <-important!! )
• Where is the previous owner of this car so I can rip his head off?!
• Why did I have to spend 2 hours chasing squirrels out of my basement today?!
• How much does it cost to repair what is apparently 3 days of squirrel gnawing to my basement studs and insulation?!
• Where am i?

Sniper_X
May stop tinkering.

Suparslinc

You are talking about the large bolt in the center off the main pulley?
Or the six smaller bolts around it? Forgive me but its been a while since I did this on my 12A, but I'm sure its about the same.

Umm, for the main bolt you will need to put an impact gun on it I believe. This is how I got mine loose. The engine was out of the car at the time and I hauled the whole thing down the street to a buddy of mines.

Try and put a driver on one of the smaller ones to hold it, and you will snap the smaller bolt head off before you get it loose.

It turns off counterclockwise looking at it from the front.

You are talking about the big bolt in the center, right? About 17 or 18mm? I just know that its a bitch to get off.

Sniper_X

YES The center one.

i would never use the smaller bolts to wedge it.

How can I wedge the flywheel?

maybe that would work.

and no, putting the car in gear wont work, i tried it.

I usaed an impact air driver. (i think my compressor is suspect though, ill change it tomorrow)

I still need hel people.
Please help me fininsh this this weekend!


ALL THIS BECAUSE I HAVE TO CHANGE THE DURN FRONT COVER GASKET!

HAILERS

Piece of cake. Get a 1/2 inch breakover bar and put a 19mm socket on it. Put the socket on the bolt. Rest the breakover bar on the frame on the drivers side frame, structure, whatever you want to call it. Put the key in the ignition. bump the starter over. The nut should be loose now. Sometimes because you don't rest the breakover bar at 90 degrees to the centerline of the eccentric shaft, the breakover bar will fall to the ground when you bump the starter. Do it again. Would help if someone held the bar firmly against the frame while the starter is bumped. I always do it by myself and succeed. Any of the above you do not understand write back immediately. Also consider how you are going to put it back on later. I have a solution for that also. Have fun. P.S. I think its 19mm, could be 17. I'm sitting down and ain't gonna get up to find out which.

HAILERS

Six hours? My MY. Anyway I'm bored so I'll tell you how to torque it back on . Next to the clutch slave cylinder there is, you will notice just in front. a thin sheet of metal held with one 12mm bolt. Remove the bolt and slide the cover plate off. Now you see the flywheel teeth. Over there hanging on the garage wall is your crowbar. Have someone hold or jam the crowbar b/t the teeth so the flywheel will not turn (no force required here. Just keep the bar b/t the bellhousing and the teeth and the flywheel will not turn.) Now torque the 19mm bolt. Don't forget to make sure the copper washer is in good shape and also apply a touch of rtv around and on the washer(hey, its in the book) and then torque it . I've used rtv around the copper washer and locktite on the threads. Have fun. Tree rats in the basement? My, My. Potential dinner there.

Sniper_X

So there IS a flywheel inspection plate on 2ND gens!!!

Hmmm

Could the starter be this powerful?
Could I damage the flywheel by stopping it somehow and also loosening the bolt like this?

Its a 19mm bolt.

I was able to put the lug wrenh of a honda on the bot as a breaker bar. What luck.

I havenet tried all these suggestions yet, but i'm gonna ASAP.

Must sleep now to get up early enough to return the compressor and GET MY MONEY BACK FOR THAT LOCKED UP SORRY *** THING!

Sniper_X
Might not give up tinkering yet.

Keith

Hey Sniper-X. I took off the eccentric pulley bolt on my '87 TII. Keith used a 1/2 inch drive ratchet, I used a chain wrench (after removing all the pulleys). We torqued in opposite directions, and it came free no problem. Tightened it the same way too, except used a torque wrench on the bolt.

There are 2 grades of Loctite. One is red (permanent), the other is blue (removable). If the previous owner assembled this with red locktite, you may have to remove it with heat. Hopefully not, my bolt had blue locktite on it. I never tried one with red.

Oh yes, and if you do not want to risk dropping the back needle bearing (torrington?) off its spacer, I would suggest jamming the clutch pedal all the way down somehow. I used a 4X8 against the front seat. If the bearing is ok, you will have some front-back lash on the eccentric shaft after reassembly, otherwise the bearing fell and you have a lot of work to do (you cannot run this way for very long without doing major damage, but the good news is it does not require an engine pull). Good writeup on the Mazdatrix site on this problem.

Irv, Keith's dad

flubyux2

does this mean, the moral of the story is;

keep the clutch pressed all the way while the main pulley is not installed, otherwise, Eshaft will walk towards the rear of engine, and unseat bearing?

just clarifying.
chris

HAILERS

Sniper. Trust me. If you have a craftsman 1/2 inch breakover bar and rest it against the structure and turn the key the bolt will loosen with no sweat. Won't hurt a thing. Same with jamming the flywheel teeth. Of course this violates the jam the clutch rule but your taking the cover plate off anyway and once thats done there is nothing to repositioning the needle bearing. Most important, there is in you free download of the fsm, in chapter one under assembly, a measurement you can make b/t the pulley boss and the eccentric shaft (Protrusion limit: .0961) to tell if the bearing has dropped. In fact while you have the cover off just pull the oil pump off along with the balance weight, bearing and spacer just to see what your dealing with. Remember that there are two needle bearings. The first you encounter is not the problem child, its the second one. You'll enjoy this exercise. Yeah. Breaker bar and crank the engine. 12 volt impact gun supplied by Mazda. Chain wrenches work too. FLUBYUX2.....YES AND NO. Its not a big deal if your pulling the cover anyway. IS a big deal if your not pulling the cover and just pulling the pulley. Very big deal then if you do not want to pull the front cover.

Sniper_X

Well I am pulling the front cover to re oring and re gasket it.

Thats why im doing all this.

I'm getting started on this now.

Sniper_X

The starter did not break it loose with a 5 foot breaker bar.

I pinned it against the floor. and the starter would stop turning each time I tried it.
Its on there WAAY too tight.

this thing wont budge.

Am I going to have to remove the intake AGAIN to get to this plate to seize the flywheel?

Will even THIS HELP?

what the HE** am i goign to do?!

flubyux2

jam the flywheel w/ a block of pine wood. its soft, and the teeth will dig into it easier. and then use a BIG long 1/2" craftsman breaker bar. actually. you can get a piece of 2" conduit, the metal stuff, and get a 4' piece, slide it over the handle, and now you can multiply ur torque by a factor of 4. hehe.

trust me, THAT will work. i used it to remove the rusty, seized up Ubolts on my Blazers axle/spring perches. however, i had to spray it down w/ WD40 every 2 or 3 turns. and by the time i got the nuts off, they were HOT, and it would burn off the WD40 as soon as i applied it. but this long *** breaker bar was the ONLY way id get something so seized up off.

good luck
chris

Sniper_X

I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT !!!

REMOVING THE RUBBER PLUG AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FLYWHEEL AND JAMMING A PRY BAR IN THERE DID IT!

Whew!

I put my 1/2 inch craftsman on it and a breaker bar and CRRREEEAAAAKKKKKK!!!


HAH AH AHA AH AHAHAHAH A HAHAA!


Im actually i'm a bit high on brake parts cleaner right now....
(from cleaning the new gasket surfaces..)

Thats for all the urgent replies!

Snipper_eks
Hallways blinkering

HAILERS

One small step for man, one large step for mankind... great! Did they sell you the right cover gasket? Darn starter trick didn'twork, eh.

Sniper_X

Yes, I got the right gasket, but got the wrong OMP gasket, they sent the one for the OMP lines, not the "O" ring.

(and i forgot to install a new o-ring in the front cover before i bolted it down.)

The old front cover o-ring is still installed, but i did put sealant around it on the gasket.

I use sealant sparingly, (just a bead about the size of a wd-40 spray tube.

I had thought that I never got the front cover o ring, but it was in the bottom of the bag rolling around.

All the other gaskets were in thier own baggies!

I never saw the little bugger.

Ryde _Or_Die

Man I am just tryin to figure out how to get the Main pulley off so I can get the water pump pulley back on. I did not have to remove any other pulley but the water pump one to take the water pump off, why won't it go back on? **** right now I am so screwed.

Sniper_X

Your lacking information about the pully.

Important info I realized about an hour into trying to get it back on and i felt..... DUH!!!!


The pulley is a timing indicator too, so it only goes on ONE WAY.

the holes are spaced oddly to only allow the pully assembly in one direction.

Look carefully and if you cant see the front of the pully, turn the engine to a known timing direction and then assemble it.

Remember you can turn the engine and dont have to worry about the bearing problem if you dont remove the main bolt on the eccentic shaft.