The other freeze outs looked fine, but this one is screwed. You can see the corrosion clearly.

 

All right, man...You did good...

 

:o)

 

Can you gain good access to it without removing the oil pump drive/chain & counterweight?

I'm just thinking you might as well, so you can take a look at the bearings, since you're almost on top of them now...

 

I can get to it without removing anything else.
Which bearing are you referring to?

And if you know, what is the list of gaskets and such that i will need before i can start putting it all back together?

 

I'm curious if it's even possible to remove them with the front iron bolted up? I bet you're happy that it's not a toasted engine.

 

I am very happy, as long as I can get it all back together.
I figured the engine was okay, being it would fire right up easily, and had good compression.

 

Are you referring to the t-bearing?

 

Yeah he's talking about the thrust bearings. But as long as your clutch pedal hasn't moved, there's not much need, as they'll be held in place.

 

Yeah, that's what I was hopeing.

 

That's OK, you don't have to get to them if you don't want to, that **** would keep me up at night though, wondering if one got lodged behind the spacer...Not trying to scare ya though

SonicRat-everything left is keyed to the e-shaft and the oil pump, as long as you take everything off in order, and reinstall in order, it shouldn't be a prob...All ya got left is the oil pump gearing/chain assy (one lock washer & the nut), the accessory drive gear, the counterweight (both keyed, so they're murphy-proof), the two thrust washers, thrust plate, spacer, and the two bearings. You'd basically only have to take that one oil pump drive nut off to get the rest of the stuff off, as long as the keys stay in place (no big deal there).

I'm not trying to twist your arm, but compared to the amount of work you've done so far, getting to those bearings is nothing...

 

I'll think about it. That doesn't sound too bad.
Right now I'm having enough trouble getting that damn plug out. The center part of the plug came off, so I'm trying to get the edge of the plugs out.

 

The problem is, once you take that all apart, and take the bearing out again and then set it on the spacer, there's no gaurantee it won't fall out while you're attempting to reassemble it. This is why I suggest not taking it all off. What holds the bearing inplace right now is that it's being pressed against the plate, not that the spacer. So once you remove it all, putting it back together becomes a pain in the ***, since you have no way to hold it in place anymore, or gaurantee it stays there. The whole point of applying the clutch pedal is to force the bearing to be 'pressed' against the plate so it can't fall down once the spacer moves forward, and as long as the clutch isn't released, it's not going to go anywhere. So, *shrug* It's upto you, just good luck seating it if you take it all apart, I'm 0 for 2 on that one!

 

Yeh, maybe I'm just overreacting a little

Gnome, my engine's always been out of the car when I'm "playing" in this area, so it was easy enough to verify bearing placement as she was going back together, and I think SonicRat's got more experience doing this while the engine's in the car, so it shouldn't be a prob following his advice...

Whatever course you take, good luck with her

 

i pulled my T-bearing out to check it and as i saw, it would stay in place nicely after reassembly, infact i will check it again if if have to pull my front cover. if you reset it on the spacer it should stay up nicely.

 

Okay, I got the remnants of the Freeze plug out, and checked the bearing (the upper gears will moce a little to allow view of the bearing)......it looks to be in place.....

 

 

Now I just have to get the parts to get it all back together.

 

I know I need the following:

Oil pan gasket
Front cover gasket
Of course the freeze out
Another sensor for the water pump housing

Ummmmm.......anything else I need to replace at this point?

 

Front cover o-ring for the oil passage...

WTF? I don't remember being able to see the bearing with the countershaft on...Shouldn't there be a thrust washer over that thing? Or is it stuck to the back of the counterweight?

Most guys these days don't use a front cover gasket- they just RTV it on with a thin layer on both sides, taking care not to plug up the oil metering pump passage at the 3 o'clock position or so (viewing from the front). Rtv'ing it on allows for more pressure on the front cover o-ring to keep it in place, since it has to put up with the main oil pressures. You might want to read the writeup on this subject on the Mazdatrix website, to absolve any problems you might have with this o-ring...

Let's see, what else? Water pump housing gasket, water pump gasket, thermostat gasket (if removed)...

The oil pan can also be RTV'd, make sure all the contact surfaces are VERY clean, and run the RTV bead to the inside of the bolt holes...

 

I'll check for that washer to see if it's was stuck to the weight.
Is there an online place that sells all these gaskets seperately?

 

I'm partial to Mazdatrix myself- great guys, and they'll answer any question you can think of, along with making sure you don't buy something you don't need...

Take a quick hop to their site- mazdatrix.com

 

No there wasn't anything stuck behind the weight, the t-bearing was sitting flush up against the wall on top of the wasker.
Is that o-ring inside the front cover that the shaft comes through?

 

Thanks.