I`m starting to load up my tool box to get ready to rebuild my first 13b. Im anxious to get started but I know you need to have the right tools for the job. I feel I should do my first build by the book and check everything. Tools like a digital vernier caliper and dial indicator are already in the bottom drawer. Since I have no experience with the rotary rebuild I will be following a video, post or the manuals to get myself through it but I would like to know what tools you have used and loved for the job of rebuilding.... The ones that you have to have, and the other ones you use to do the trick better than another tool. Thanks in advance everyone

 

Sometimes you make your own tools...

For example, you'll need something to clean out the gunk in the grooves for the side, apex, and corner seals...
Thing is, you already have the perfect tool for the job right there in front of you.
Use the old seals.

Honestly, the engine is pretty easy to rebuild with basic sockets and wrenches and stuff.

 

You'll need a honing stone to clearance your hard seals. A set of picks helps with cleaning. A clutch alignment tool (cheap), big 3/4" drive socket and 3/4"drive breaker bar for the flywheel nut and a STOUT cheater bar (or BIG impact gun). I think the flywheel nut is 54mm (2-1/8"). I practically had to jump on my 3-4' cheater bar to pop the nut loose. Also helpful in that task is a flywheel stop tool. I hear it isn't absolutely necessary, but it's SO nice. Engine lift with load leveler, unless you'd rather save $50 and instead spend an extra hour grunting to push and pull your engine around, possibly breaking other ****.

 

Yeah getting the flywheel nut off is a beeyotch. When I did it, i had to stand on top of the engine to keep it from moving [with the oil pan and oil pickup, etc off so it sit flat] (it was terrifying, btw) while my dad practically hung off of the end of a 4 foot cheater bar slipped over the end of the 3/4"-drive breaker bar. FWIW, it would have been 100x easier with an engine stand. The engine we used that barbaric method on was complete junk (both rotors and housings torn up from apex seal failure, and severely overheated and warped), I'd never do it on a salvageable engine. Needless to say, I will be investing in a proper engine stand next time I have to do engine work.

 

The 3 passenger side motor mount bolts work perfectly as dowel pin pullers.

 

the main must have is an air compressor and decent quality 1/2" impact gun. the rest you can pretty much take apart and do with a bag of rags, a box of carb cleaner and a $30 tool kit.

 

I used my compressor extensively for porting and just a little bit for sanding off old gasket material, but I'm not sure I used my impact much at all. I did use an air ratchet, but either could work. I generally don't use the impact for tightening though unless it's on thicker bolts, unlike most of what's on the block. I did also have an engine stand with a rotary adapter plate, which did make things easier.

 

buy or make the rotary engine adapter... it makes things SO much easier.

 

My favorite do it yourself tool is an extra small pipe wrench with a hunk of pipe to go over the handle to bet extra leverage. Room allowing, beats any stuck nut or bolt every time even if you've already rounded it otherwise.

 

sandpaper will work. I did all my side seals with it. Picks are good. A die grinder with carbide bits is needed for porting. Dial indicator is most important for checking endplay on the eshaft. Some of the most important "tools" are a sharpie marker, some masking tape, and a crapload of ziplock bags to label and keep track of everything.

Oh and the rotary engine stand adapter is crucial.

 

Propane torch! Heating up the flywheel nut and crank pulley nut helps loosen them. I still had to use a 3' breaker bar with the extendable leg of my engine hoist(roughly 6' or longer)on it for leverage. I actually broke a Craftsman 19mm socket before we broke the torch out. Like others have said, rotary adapter for your engine stand is a great help. You will need a 2-1/8" socket for the flywheel. Flywheel stopper would be nice but not necessary(I used a screwdriver).

 

Ground down the open end of a cheap 14mm wrench to get the oil injectors out.

 

24inch 3/4 breaker bar and a deep socket set

 

idk what you people are talking about with the flywheel nut. my snap-on mg725 did it with almost no work. hell, im pretty sure that my mac electric impact would have worked just dandy. then again, i did use an oxy-acetlyne torch before hand.
the main bitch is the front bolt. ******* christ, that was retarded (brew is what im talking about), my s5 n/a came right off with the same process as the flywheel nut

Lloyd

 

Im like that also. I like to take mini wrecking bars and crowbars and grind the ends down on them. I`ll use it for whatever I need to at the time and always works better than I expect.

What about some pullers? I imagine I will need one of these. Has anyone built their own of am I better off buying one. (I dont mind buying at all but I also dont mind saving a buck or two here and there heh heh)

I already have a nice bluepoint 1/2 air impact that will sometimes kick the *** of the 1 1/2 half ingersoll rand at the shop where I used to work.. dont ask me how that makes sense I guess the rand may have been dropped a few too many times, still torques over 600 pounds though.

My compressor is decent.... in the sense it will give full power to the gun for about 10 seconds holding it then it turns on to fill back up. Really I should get a better one but I guess if after 10 seconds there probably is a little more effort required to take said nut or bold off.

Great to hear all the feedback from everyone! thanks again.

 

me and red87tll have a solution to the flywheel nut problem.....



actually, I have an electric impact i use nowadays.

 

Flywheel stop: Take a long flat bar of steel. Drill two holes in it that line up with two clutch pressure plate bolt holes...

Secure the bar to the flywheel with clutch pressure plate bolts.

Spin engine till the long end of the bar hits something. (Install a bell housing bolt.)

 

My side seals from Atkins were super long, I spent HOURS honing half of them, after which I broke down and just used a bench grinder to get them close and the stone to finish them.

I forgot the dial indicator, that IS important.

 

^^^ good idea. you can also use a bigger socket, the oil injector have 3 nubs that will usually grip well enough. it's like a 19mm or 21mm socket that you can use.

 

i had to buy a 22mm wrench and notch out the inside of it to clear the block to remove the fitting for the oil cooler off the block. i work on ferraris nowadays, so im always having to take shitty tools and either cut them, grind them, ive actually had to make a 23 1/2mm wrench out of 3/8th's steel. that was such a weird fitting

Lloyd

 

wow im surprised I overlooked this one.... torque ratchet.. thats a must im sure haha no sense in building something if you over-torque the **** out of it.. Maybe I forgot because i used to have one... cant remember who ¨borrowed¨ it.. damn

 

yeah that fitting sucks, I had to hack up something to get at it as well

 

Chuck that digital vernier. Get a dial type, it is VASTLY more accurate. And anything you're going to be measuring with a vernier isn't a "seems good" situation. A quality dial type like a mitutoyo should run around $80 and never need a battery or give you wavey readings. You'll never meet anyone who works on aircraft with a digital one for good reason (yes, this isn't an aircraft, but I've seen enough digital verniers give different readings on different days to recommend against them) And generally, people buy a digital one because it was $20 at harbour frieght/princess auto/whereever and the cheap ones are notorious for inaccuracy. A good digital one can be had, but it'll be as much or more then a run of the mill dial type.

But other then measuring equipment you really don't *need* anything. Some tools make life easier like dowel pullers (engine mount bolts), flywheel stopper if you don't have a strong impact and an engine stand adapter.........however none of these are required in the slightest. I've rebuilt kegs on garbage cans before out of necessity. Really there's no easier engine to rebuild as far as overall effort and tools needed.

 

I disagree with this. A harbor freight vernier is junk no matter what it is, but a good digital caliper is just as good as a dial type, and more convenient due to the metric/standard conversion and full range readout.

And, by the way, I work on F1 cars everyday, and use a digital as do most others at work, and have a good friend who is a professional airplane mechanic (factory service tech for CRJ type jets) who also uses a mitutoyo digital.

Do you also opine that machine tools with a DRO are 'VASTLY' less accurate than using the manual dials? Same technology, same advantage, same reason your statement doesnt make sense.

 

Dial indicator, feeler gauges (going down to .002 for the side seals), engine stand and adaptor, the flywheel socket and a long breaker bar with a piece of pipe and standard tools are about all you need. Flywheel stop tool is easy enough to make yourself.

Personally now that I started clearancing side seals "my way" I will never do it by hand again. https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...8&postcount=32

It only took me an hour or so to do all the seals and there is no risk of bending them or getting a weird angle on the ends with this method.