ok, so after all day...and spending $130 on an impact that does 900ft/lbs in reverse, a 54mm socket, a timing gear puller, and to sooth the savage beast a 6pack of Grolsch and pack of Camel filters...I got the blasted thing off.

The biggest struggles were actually not the nut (that came right off with the right impact gun) but getting the flywheel off the shaft and the pilot bearing out. My flywheel was stuck fast and even the hammer trick from Mazdatrix didnt do damn thing. I used the puller but that just ended up wedged in the end of the "crank?"shaft. Once I worked out the right combination of bolts into the flywheel and socket on the end of the shaft I still couldnt get it off. But with a little tap from the hammer after the puller was in tension, it finally came off.


So, Im thinking I should replace the rear main seal since Ive come this far right? Even though it looks good and doesnt look like it was leaking up to this point? Yeah Im figuring the answer here is yes. Is there anything else I should do while Im at this point? The starter looks to be fairly new, the tranny input shaft looks ok and has minimal play, I already rebuilt the slave cyl. and I plan to put all new exhaust gaskets on when it back together. Anything I might be missing?

 

You're not hitting it hard enough.
I can get the flywheel off with 3 whacks of a regular hammer.
You need to wail at it like you're going to kill it!


-Ted

 

new clutch, pilot bearing, pilot seal, new pressure plate, resurface flywheel( or lighten), new release bearing, fork examination. thats all i can think of :/

 

I dont know, I was hiting it pretty hard with a home shortened 6lb sledge. I was afraid I was going to break something. Hitting a steel flywheel that had made me nervous. I was using a block of walnut stock against the flywheel so I wouldnt miss and ding the flywheel, maybe that was counter-productive. Either way it eventually came off without damage so its all good.

Ive got a new ACT 6puck going in. I wish I could have afforded a lightweight flywheel at this time but it just isnt in the budget for this car. Hopefully tomorrow I can find a shop to surface the stocker while I wait.

 

wait...pilot seal? I dont see a seal in there. Enlighten me where this is?

 

The important thing is that you got it off. Work done in the past doesn't count - you did very well, and now have a good impact gun.

Make sure the input shaft bearing is not just good, but excellent. Don't forget to grease stuff that needs it, like the pilot bearing. Check the FSM, just for review.

 

Yes, pilot bearing has a separate seal and grease the pilot bearing. Just last week someone here (on the list) had a problem because of this.

 

When I did my clutch I got a light weight flywheel, very worth it. But when it came time to take the old one off I fished out the biggest sledge the college shop had. On my way back to the car my teacher stoped me and asked what the big *** hammer was for, I just looked at him and said "the flywheel, I've heard stories...."

Came off in one hit

 

make sure you install the seal the correct way and drive that pilot bearing as far as you can till it bottoms out.

When reinstalling tranny remember to push engine forward by having someone lever it with a 2x4(what i did at least). It will lessen the time playing around with the tranny.

Its also very important that flywheels be resurfaced no matter what the condition. Unless you have the proper inspection equipment.

Make sure when you refill your tranny oil (check FSM for proper technique) attach the drive shaft and tie a rope around it and the tranny( so it doesnt fall out of the tranny.)

 

 

Excellent all, good advice and this is definately not my first clutch, just my first on a rotary.

Im still confused about this pilot bearing seal. Im digging through the EPC but cant see anything that looks like a seal and there definately was nothing that came out that looked like a seal.

I have the pilot bearing here in my hand and it looks exactly like what came out (except that what came out was in peices). Am I confused? we arent talking about the rear main seal are we?

Ohh, I think...is the seal inside behind the bearing? if so then I never took the old one out.

 

http://mazdatrix.com/getprice.asp?partnum=11-404A-1881

 

Ugh. thanks for the part number and pic. I definately didnt pull anything out that looked like that. I see in the FSM that it says to pull it with the bearing but doesnt show it in the parts explosion so I wasnt expecting anything like that. what exactly does it seal against?

I'll check my local Mazda dealers here in houston tomorrow and see if I can get one locally otherwise Im gonna have to rush order it.

but thanks for that I would have missed it entirely. And here I thought I was ready to reinstall tomorrow, bleh.

 

seals the grease for the pilot bearing in.

 

hmmm...ok so the pilot goes in first (packed with grease I assume) and the seal goes in on top of that? If thats the case then whoever did this clutch last did not put a seal in (or its completely and totally disintegrated) cause there was definately not one there. Im going to make a wild guess and say this is part of why the pilot was junk and in fact missing a couple of needle bearings before I even touched it.

Damn I hate HACK mechanics...more so I hate fixing stuff after hacks messed it up.

When I got this car, the wastegate was plumbed to...nothing. the hose was just laying alongside the inner fender with what looked like a copper water line close off valve in the end of it. The upper intake leaked like crazy, the vacuum lines were all messed up including the fact that the twin scroll actuator wasnt plumbed to anything, at least 2 vac lines were pinched to the point of being closed between the upper intake and I believe the fuel rail, other vac lines were just plain missing, the headlight actuator circuit was run off a switch in the cabin, and the stereo wiring looked like someone got the volume discount at buttconnectors-R-us. Not to mention the clutch master and slave came apart and left fluid that looked like it should have come out of ***** Wonkas factory not a hydraulic system.

I cant really complain for the price I paid, but ****, if you are going to attempt a repair yourself at least have a clue. The only thing positive I can say for the car is that at least he kept the interior nice and he did replace the turbo itself. For that at least Im thankful.


But this car is going to get theWeezL treatment and by this time next year will be a top contender. As an example of what I have done here is a pic of my last car the day I went to buy it:



and here it is after I was done with it:



So wont be long before this looks just as nice.



ohh yeah and one last thought...for me, its all about the journey and not about the destination. After spending about 6k on the supra and god knows how many hours. I sold it 2 months after that picture was taken for $6600. Its the learning process I crave so much.

 

I feel ur pain. Just like when i got my car the injector wires were crossed(1 wire from primary injector was on the secondary, and visa versa), the pilot bearing was junk, and they had a s4 turbo on a s5 car(i know its not bad but even so.).

 

Good luck man. You're probably already done putting it back together, but I jsut did my clutch the other day. I thought one of the hardest parts was when putting the flywheel back on, there's a key that slides into the rear of the shaft. When trying to put the flywheel back on, I had trouble keeping that key in place because the flywheel would just push it right out of its groove. It's such a tight fit. So I put a little glue in there to hold it on. May not of been the best thing I could have done, but it sure helped me get that flywheel back on. It's not like I won't be able to get the key out of I ever have to take the flywheel off again, so it worked for me. Just thought I'd share that with you.

 

i see your a member of the silver TII club ^_^

all i have to say make sure that clutch disk is PERFECTLY aligned, if it is the tranny will slip right into place with little effort, if you don't you'll be fighting it forever, i've dealt with the n/a's 5 times now and i'm doing my TII as soon as i get my RB flywheel machined and a rear main seal, then its party time ^_^ i'm hoping mine come off with only a few good whacks, kinda hard to get to under there i'm afraid to hit myself

- Jared

 

FWIW, I don't have the pilot bearing seal in my car. I threw the engine in as a temp fix until I could afford a rebuild. I had already destroyed 2 pilot bearings and there was only one in the entire county left. I got it in far enough to get the bearing in, but didn't want to risk putting in in any farther for the seal. Ive had it that way for 5k miles with no problems.

Also, it depends on the car how hard the flywheel is to get off. The first time mine came right off with one or two good whacks. On my parts car, I never did get it off, but it was an auto. I just unbolted the flexplate and put my RB flywheel on. I was wailing on that damn thing until my hards hurt and all it did was laugh at me.

 

Well thankfully houston is a big place and apparently a big warehouse location for carquest. I called the closest one and they didnt have the seal in stock and said they would have to order it...and it would be there by 4PM, lol. So I got the seal. Once I saw it I realized I did indead pull part of one out, but it was only the outer portion and no seal material was left. I had just assumed it was part of the bearing as that came out in pieces.

Got the flywheel surfaced, and back on new bearing and seal in place but the rain drove me back inside and it pretty much rained all day today as well. As for putting the trans back in its going to have to wait until after I replace my Turbo manifold as the one that came out was badly cracked and leaking pretty bad. I went ahead and pulled off the lower intake while I was at it and Im going to send off my injectors to be cleaned and serviced. I have block off plates for all the smog equipment.

On an otherwise stock tii, is there any mods I should consider doing while Im this far? Im not going to get into the rotor housings at this point. Port the manifolds? If so, is there any templates for porting the manifolds or should I just match port to the gaskets? I have air tools and have done some match porting before but nothing too extensive. Or should I just leave it alone? I was planning on running a couple extra pounds of boost maybe, but I was planning on leaving this motor pretty much stock and perhaps build another one later on. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

+1

Loosen the engine mounts on the frame side, use a 2x4 or large pipe (work with a partner) to tilt the engine back so the tranny goes in easier.

Another tip would be to have the tranny in gear with someone spinning the driveshaft slowly to make it easier for the input shaft spline to find the clutch disk gears.

 

Some pressure on the pry bar - and - "the magic dead blow mallet" - BAM!