Square peg on eccentric shaft won't go in all the way
 

I pulled the eccentric shaft bolt to fix the oil thermo bypass pellet assembly which was stuck inside. I also pulled my rx7.com pulley as it was in the way. When trying to reassemble I can get the square peg (about 3" in length) to go in all the way but it stops short about 3/8" of where it needs to go. It's actually not truly square but tapered on one side. Any advice to get that square peg in all the way? I tried the both ends of it but one end is a little shaved and the other perfectly square - neither way would let it go all the way. Any suggestions? A rubber mallet didn't help and I couldn't find the answer in the FSM.

sounds like a bearing fell in its way

The key has to go through (front to back) the CAS gear, the oil pump drive sprocket and then the counterweight.

Sounds like when you pulled the key the counterweight rotated down so the weight is at the bottom.

So, put the key through the cas gear and oil pump sprocket as you have and then put the e-shaft bolt in temporarily to rotate the shaft with until the key way lines up with the counterweight.

Make sure not to push the clutch in any time you have the e-shaft bolt out of the front as this can cause the spacer/thrust bearing to slip out of place. When it is back together, check your end play to make sure you have not pinched the thrust bearing.

WOW, that is a GOOD idea!

When I replaced the OEM hub\pulley with a serpentine one; when pulling the hub the key slipped out with it and the counterweight rotated down.

I ended up pulling the front cover :icon_no2:

Fuck. I did push the clutch in with the eccentric bolt out. When I couldn't get this project finished I moved on to my next project flushing the brake and clutch fluid. I'll put the bolt in and try rotating like you said, hopefully that does it. If not, how screwed am I now?

You can check the endplay of the E-shaft which will tell you whether the thrust bearing has slipped. If it has, the front cover needs to come off.

Thanks for the help but now I have another problem. I was able to rotate the e-shaft and get the square key all the way in, it worked when I had the key at 6 o'clock. There does not seem to be any play in the e-shaft, at least nothing noticeable either sideways or in and out.

Now, the oil thermo bypass pellet assembly won't go in deep enough. The e-bolt will go in all the way but when I try it with the pellet assembly the assembly hits something and the bolt won't go in far enough to tighten down on the pulley.

Any advice? Thanks!

Remove the front cover and reassy the parts on the eccentric shaft. It is the ONLY way this is going to get fixed. Just a humble opinion. Not that difficult. It is a little time consuming though. Give it a full eight hour day and some overtime.

EDIT: Here is a jpg right out of the FSM. Pick a year FSM....it's there in two different sections, the ENGINE section and the Lubrication sections. It explains how to tell if things are assymbled right or not. Just compare your measurement with the .0961" in the article.

Shit. I was afraid that was the answer. I got a race coming up and other things going on before then.

I had trashed bearings and my car still ran fine, strangely enough.

I just hope my brand new thrust bearings, thrust plate, and washer on my rebuild are still OK... I didn't check endplay but I made sure there was some (just enough to feel).

Are you sure NOT to keep the clutch pressed in?

Before you take off the front bolt (19MM) YOU MUST make sure the clutch is pressed IN. Put a piece of wood or something to keep it pressed in. If you don't do this, your bearings will fall out of place and then everything has to come apart (in the front).