advise on pulling motor
 

Had everything disconnected, and the only thing that is holding the motor is the rear ECU harness. Any advise on it? Also, unbolt the tranny, I believe a total of 5 bolts holding on to the engine block, however, the engine for some reason didnt want to disconnect from it, any tricks or am I missing something? Much advise needed. ALso when I hoist the engine up, the tranny goes up w/ it..
thanks
Marco

ECU harness need to be disconnected from the ECU, remove the ABS heat shield. Have a friend help you wiggle the harness loose from the firewall and feed it through from the inside.
For the tranny, you will also need to remove the small bolts that is holding the pressure plate (there is 8 of them, I think), step on the clutch and the pressure plate will retract and disengage from the fly wheel.
Now you can use a hoist and wiggle the engine away from the tranny (an engine leveler is a life saver here).
Good luck.

I know there are small bolts holding the pressure plate in place, but, I am talking about removing the engine block from the tranny. When I remove all 5 large bolts which are holding the tranny to the block, you can almost see the flywheel through the cracks, but when I hoist the engine, the tranny goes up with the block. How do you unbolt the bolts holding the pressure plate when the tranny and block is only 1" apart from each other. Do you mean when you depress the clutch, the block should be deteched from the tranny by itself? Thanks

There's an access panel on the bottom of the transmission bell housing you need to remove to access the pressure plate bolts. The FD transmission has a pull type clutch so remove all the pressure plate bolts and you'll be able to separate the transmission from the block. If you don't have a factory service manual then you should get one.

You need to remove the pressure plate bolts from the tranny inspection hole (bottom of the car on the bell housing). Remove the cover plate from the inspection hole (it's rectangular) you can now see the bolts I'm talking about. Use a breaker bar and a 19mm socket on the e-shaft bolt, have someone rotate the e-shaft 1/8 of a turn (or what ever is necessary) after each bolt is removed, when all the bolts are removed, step on the clutch, the engine and the tranny should now seperate.

If you don't want to, you don't have to unbolt the pressure plate to separate the tranny.

Push the throw-out bearing to the pressure plate forcing the wedge collar all the way into the pressure plate. Then, use a screw driver and pry between the throw-out bearing and the wedge collar to separate.

Take a look at the video in the following thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-archives-73/dealing-pull-type-clutch-video-256126/

It will show you the mechanism on how the tranny separates.

I never remove the ABS heat shield when pulling the engine harness through the firewall...

someone has a mirror site with the video? The site doesn't seem
to respond.. and I could really use that video for this weekend, since
I'm pulling the motor out if everything goes as planned..

From http://www.fd3s.net/clutch_install.html

1. Remove the two inspection plate/service covers from the tranny. One is immediately obvious, it has the "Warning - this is a pull-type clutch" sign on it. The other is on the side of the tranny, to the left of the hole where the slave cylinder used to be.
2. Separate the clutch cover from the throw-out bearing [release collar].
   • With one hand, pull the release fork toward the back of the car (through the upper-left service hole). It should stay there.
   • The collar should be seated all the way inside the pressure plate. Pry them apart with your big-ass screwdriver.
   • The collar will snap right out. See the illustration below, as the only trick is getting the screwdriver in EXACTLY the right place.
   • If this doesn't work, you have to unbolt the pressure plate from the flywheel through the lower service hole. This is a pain in the ass. You have to do it criss-cross, which means slowly rotating the pressure plate back and forth, etc.

If you bought an aftermarket clutch to install like an ACT S/S clutch then try snapping the throwout bearing into the pressure plate and you'll quickly see how easy it is to separate the two.

When you snap the coller out, does it fall in the bottom of the tranny housing?
Is so how do you re-install it?

You don't snap the collar out. The collar stays in the pressure plate, the throw-out bearing is just released from it.

wierd...i've never removed my harness when I pull my engine. Might be better though.

It is WAY easier to remove the harness from the body rather than removing it from the engine while the engine is installed.

The engine can be dropped in the car with all belt driven accessories, pre-cat (or DP), manifolds, turbos, wiring, trans, starter, etc. It really makes the job pretty easy.

I can get the engine and trans out of a running/driving car in 2-3 hrs with only an impact wrench, no lift.

I definitely agree with all those that say to pull the engine wiring harness out thru the firewall....it is much, much easier. In fact, I can't IMAGINE trying to do it any other way.....

engine removal
 

Why unbolt the pressure plate when all you need to do is release the throw out bearing from the pressure plate ???/ Much simpler too. then the 5 bolts is all that is necessary. You'll also need to jack the tranny as high up in the tunnel as possible (short of lifting the whole car) for he motor to clear the engine mounts from the frame.. Jack

Everyone has their own ways of doing it! Pick and choose your own way of doing it!

JP

I release the throwout bearing when I pull the transmission too but this guy seems to be having a hard time understanding how a pull clutch works so I thought it would be simpler for him to just unbolt the pressure plate. I agree separating the throwout bearing from the pressure plate is easier if you know the trick.

I more than believe you because I know your work. I'm just interested in how... (if you don't mind) and I'm assuming that it has to do with it running is now you get it out of the bay? If now what's the difference if it's running or not... Again, I'm just curious... always interested in learning ways of engine work.

When I said running I wanted to say that the car was not "prepped" in any way.

The key is to not pull to much stuff off the engine.

The bottom of the car is actually a snap if you have an impact wrench. Remove shields, belly pan, braces, main cat (only exhaust part removed), 2 nuts on motor mounts, PPF and driveshaft. Drain engine, trans and radiator.

Inside the car remove the shifter and unplug the wiring going through the firewall then pull it through.

Top side, remove battery, IC and intake and crossbrace under them. Unplug the two grey connectors in front of the drivers side strut tower, remove the short ~6" power wire that attaches the two fuseboxes. Disconnect fuel lines (loosen fuel cap first). I always buy new radiator hoses for FDs so I cut all the coolant lines with a knife. Disconnect throttle cable and clutch line. Unclip oil cooler lines.

Hold the hood up with a long prop rod, it does not need to come off of the car to get the motor/trans out. I lift the motor an inch or two then I remove the motor mounts from the engine.

I might have forgotten a detail or two but basically at this point the motor and trans comes out:).

I think it is WAY easier to get the motor out of a FD than say a TII.

I see what you're saying... LOL, when I first read your first post I was thinking when you said lift, you meant hoist (I know, I'm retarded)... After reading that I thought "duh" to myself...:D

Its also a lot easier if you are single turbo, with no AC/PS, I think I spent maybe 3-4 hours removing my motor, not counting the time I spent on a stripped tranny bolt of course. That took another hour or so.:( I also pulled it without the tranny, was easier for me.