Valkyrie

I've started pulling the engine! I've still got the harness, oil cooler, and the exhaust left to go, and then to pull the engine/transmission out, of course. (plus the hood is still on)

I did drain the coolant (except that in the block, I just didn't feel like messing with that...), oil, take off the radiator, fan, and shroud, and unplugged most of the wires/hoses that I had to (plus the P/S stuff).

I've still got a few more hours worth of work...but I don't think I feel like working in the dark, even with a lamp, since it'll probably just make it that much more of a pain.

Plus I think I'll have to take off the VDI relays off to move the harness out of the way, and that looks like a pain.

Valkyrie

Engine is pulled!

Two days of work and only one broken bolt (manifold heat shield)... not bad for a one-man job (except for the last few hours, when my cousin helped). Especially considering I've never done it by myself before

I didn't even realize there was a transmission bolt under where the starter goes on... very tricky

Too bad my parts won't be here till next Wednesday... guess I gotta get the engine apart now... I think I'll clean up the engine bay as well...

I noticed the right-side engine mount hole was much longer than it looked like it should be... like someone had drilled part of it out. Is that normal?

I'll post pics once they're resized.

NOPR

pics will help for the bolt thing you're talking about, and a stupid heat shield bolt wont matter. as long as it hangs on there. good luck with the rebuild'n'****.

Valkyrie

Engine is now stripped to a shortblock... I have a 2 1/4" socket and a BIG breaker bar, but I don't have a flywheel stopper! Crap...

I degreased the intake manifold peices (except for the part that's bolted to the throttle body), as well as inside the bell housing...

Also, one of the OMP lines snapped when I was taking them off... crap. The one that goes to the lower-right plug and is bolted to the rear rotor, I think.

The water pump looks kind of rusty on the inside...

One more thing, the exhaust manifold was full of coolant... and when I turned the flywheel, it spurted out more liquid...lol. I felt inside the rotor housing and it was very smooth (what I could feel), so its probably not rusted out...

I've got pics, but like always I haven't resized them yet.

Also, I started working on this at around 4-5, and finished around 12 AM (midnight).

Hopefully it won't take me more than a whole day to put this bitch back together, and more than two days to put it back in the car.

But now I need a new OMP line, all new crush washers, and a flywheel stopper of some sort.

kyleaudio

iTrader: (22)

good luck with the project man, sounds like its comin along well.

Valkyrie

A few things I forgot to mention:

I had to hold up the exhaust with a zip tie, since the hangers won't even attached to the body...sigh.

I also noticed that the pre-cat was replaced with a resonator... also, the main cat isn't even connected to the air pipe (hey, I care about the environment somewhat...).

But now I have to clean up the mess I made with all that degreaser, motor oil, coolant, and power steering fluid

Valkyrie

It's been three days or so since I've started trying to get the flywheel off, and still no luck.

So far my flywheel has cockblocked four different impact wrenches, two different compressors, broken one 1/2" drive ratchet, and a 1/2" drive breaker bar (good thing they were Craftsman... they weren't mine either), and even after chiseling at the nut (put a few gouges in it...) it still won't come off. And I think one of the compressors was with 200 PSI or so...

I guess I'm gonna try a tire place or machine shop tommorow, and possibly the new Mazda dealership if the others fail.

I think there must have been a brake leak in the engine bay, since the whole drivers side of the engine bay has f'ed up paint all over it, and is gunked up too... Plus I swear the brake resevoir went from full to nearly empty since I've had the car, although I filled it back up. Not to mention the clutch fluid is kind of black (and a little too full), although I siphoned some out and put some new fluid in it, but that didn't help the blackness much. I couldn't confirm any leaks in the bay while pumping on the pedals, and the pedal is still very firm.

I also put some new electical tape on some of the wiring (some of which had been done with duct tape, which was rotting...), and a few spots on the harness, etc...

Now if I could just get that tail light aligned...it's sort of portruting out a bit, but I can't find any bolts on the other side that needed to be tightened.

Also, the boot on the steering rack is seriously torn up (the middle one, not the left or right), so I wonder if I need to replace it...

GodSquadMandrake

Nice project. The car and the engine don't really look that bad, I bet you can fix it up nicely. Either way you got more than what you payed for.

Valkyrie

You might have already noticed, but for everyone who hasn't, I now have pics of the long block hanging on the hoist on my photobucket album... I'll have pics of the shortblock up soon.

The shortblock is very clean... it looks new, although I did clean it up a little bit.

My right engine mount on the other hand was covered in about a quarter inch of black gunk, when it's supposed to be silver... My bell housing and engine bay are quite a bit cleaner than in the pics, as well.

I've already gone through about 5 cans of degreaser...

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

Looks like your project is coming along pretty nicely. I purchased an FC not too long ago, on christmas day actually, for $601 (outbidded the highest offer by a buck). It has 97k on the odo, the engine runs beautiful, tranny and clutch in good order, and passed smog easily. Now.... for the bad part. It has no Power steering pump, the tires were bald, has no A/C, the radio and the console that goes with it was gone, the center console gone, the dash really needs to be replaced, and the Interior is pretty ugly, it's a faded red color. It's primered black and ready for paint though. Doesn't sound like a bad deal eh? If I were to do anything to the car off the top of my head, it would be to replace the interior heh.

Valkyrie

I got my flywheel off! Just had to hit on it from the backside with a pipe and a 5-pound hammer...

I took my rear housing off so now I can see my rear rotor... I can also see where the coolant seal was broken (snapped). The good news is that the insides aren't all rusty or torn up... I felt the side housing and couldn't feel any wear at all, at least.

Now I get to finish dissasembling and then rebuild it later when my parts arrive...

But it's also a race against the clock to see if I can get her running before the 8th

GodSquadMandrake

Alright good news! Keep going

Schmitty

iTrader: (11)

Sweet Deal! Sounds like you got alot for the money. I paid $400 for my first FC about this time last year and rebuilt the engine over the winter. Good luck on the project.

Valkyrie

Engine is now disassembled to the front housing, intermediate housing, and eccentric shaft... I didn't want to fight with the e-shaft to get the intermediate side housing off, so I just went the other way and took out the front housing and rotor instead...

I have my apex seals held into the rotors with rubber bands... hope they don't snap like one of them did putting it on.. lol

One of the apex's corner peices came out of the front rotor when I was taking it out, but I couldn't read how to put it back in there so...I hope I can find it when I get back to work...lol

I had a hell of a time getting those rear dowels pulled. Well, the lower one that is. The top one came out pretty easily with a bolt and some pliers (after a while it started turning as I turned the bolt, so I just worked it out...

After getting the top one out, I just wiggled the side housing until the lower one popped out (along with the housing).

My side housings seem a little worn... but I think they'll work. Side housings have little wear besides that you can only see.

Once I finish disassembling (which will take about 5 minutes...) I need to go buy some carb cleaner to clean up my crap, and then I can start rebuilding it.

Valkyrie

BTW, apparently I forgot to order a pilot bearing (got a seal though)... so I'm probably gonna have to order it (along with a thermostat and the three middle shift boots...) with express shipping...gah.

I already went and bought some female bullet connectors for my Zenki-use coolant level sensor, and I already wired it up to my car and installed the sensor into the radiator (which is in my hatch, lol). I also installed the hood stay clip that I bought...lol

Valkyrie

garrrrrrrrr..... god damned outer coolant seals!

I fought with the front rotor/housing/side housing for HOURS to get it on right (not to mention have to fight with the apex seals, springs, and those damn side peices as well to so do), since the first time I got it on right, I remembered that I forgot to use sealant on the bottom of the housing where you're supposed to (which probably wasn't that big of a deal), and then I had to take it off AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN (no exaggeration) because either the coolant seal would keep it from closing right, or something else would fall out, or I'd realize I did something else wrong.

When I FINALLY got around to installing the intermediate housing, the outer coolant seal once again cockblocks me so it wouldn't go on all the way... and when I tried to get the coolant seal back into the line, well, long story short is I had to take it ALL the way back apart, so now I get to start over from scratch tommorow since I'm frustrated and tired as hell.

I also lost my side peice for a while into a crack in my driveway, but I found it... Hope I didn't scratch anything up.

Also, yes, I did try to hylomar the seals in place. My tube of hylomar also burst on me... crap.

Valkyrie

Well, I lost another apex side piece for about 2 hours (after I finally got the front rotor and rotor housing assembled to the front housing)... and just when I was about to give up hope, I found it... lol

Now I have to go try to get the intermediate housing on properly...

and I should probably move the part of the block that I've assembled off the garbage can I was using and onto my metal bucket...lol

Valkyrie

Engine is now assembled to the short block (minus the oil pump and the water pump...), but I had to spend my whole damn day trying to get the old pilot bearing out... Basically I ended up having to dremel the old race out (and took about 1/16th an inch of my e-shaft out with it...), and now I still have to install that (a new pilot bearing + seal) and then get the flywheel torqued to spec...

sigh.

(and I think there still might be a bit of my old pilot bearing left inside the shaft...)

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

lol, sounds like you're having fun there, do you have a pan or something so you can put all your parts in? so you don't lose em? hehe

philiptompkins

iTrader: (4)

wow, ur doing good. i just read this thread after a day of rotary fun of my own. it took me 3 days to get mine pulled the first time, i did it today in just under 3 hours. keep you fingers crossed that you won't have to do it again though haha. But i was also wondering about those coolant seals.... has anyone superglued them in place. i mean just tiny drops around the edges and whatnot to told it there. could there be any negitive effects in doing this?

KeloidJonesJr.

iTrader: (8)

Good work

Valkyrie

argg.... one of the little filters on the solenoid valves broke off... crap.

philiptompkins

iTrader: (4)

do those things matter? i was wondering that... i'm sure a ghetto substitute would work just fine.

Valkyrie

Probably not, but it annoys me.

The fact that it's cold as hell in my garage is also slowing down my process...

I got my oil pump, front cover, and water pump bolted on last night, with new gaskets, but I can't find one of my water pump bolts, and I snapped off one of the bolts holding my e-shaft pulleys on since I adjusted the torque wrench too low, causing me to overtorque it.

So now I've gotta go get some more bolts...

Dom_C

Great job man, Hope it works out well. What did you get for new parts? just soft seals or did you do apex seals and all that good stuff?