Hey guys, I'm in the process of preparing to restore my 3rd FD that I'm buying from a forum member. I was wondering if any of you guys would be nice enough to post some pics of your cars with an empty/stripped engine bay.

I'm trying to specifically get pics of the cross brace in front of the main crank pulley. It has holes on its side facing the front of the car and the top side of it as well. I'm trying to see how it bolts up to the chassis

I've pulled motors plenty of times before, but being that this is my first time getting into the bay of an FD with this intensity I want to make sure its done right. So any engine bay pics would be helpful, be it half empty or empty.


Appreciate it guys

 

Are you talking about the brace that supports the intercooler? It's labeled Lh and Rh if so. Rh being passengers side.

 

Found a pic. Its that black metal brace right in front of the crank pully with the circular holes in it. Anyone have any insight as to if this piece just bolts up, or if its welded on from factory?



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It is bolted on the far right and left sides. Easily removable.

 

Two 10mm bolts on either side IIRC. Sometimes the end beneath the battery can be a little sketchy.

 

Not sure if this helps.



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it comes off pretty easy. (4) 10mm bolts, 2 each side. I took out the battery/tray to make it easiest. Wear gloves taking it out, mine had some sharp edges on the bottom side.

 

Actually yeah that did it. I appreciate the help guys. in terms of engine bay and restoration, how do you guys keep track of where everything is supposed to go once you have everything removed for such a long amount of time?

I've always just done removal & reinstall on engines in a short enough time frame it was never really an issue.

 

^^Use a digital camera and take pics along the way. Particularly of harness connections, vac lines, and anything else you even have an inkling of an idea that could give you problems on reassembly. You can upload them on your computer with specific titles and notes.

And there is always the FSM that can be referenced, but I found digital pics are great. They really come in handy if it is going to be a few months before it all goes back together.

 

You can buy different colors of electrical tapes as well and mark connections that way or write on blue masking tape with the name or a symbol.

 

I don't. I just use the FSM when needed.

 

I used my digital camera when I started ripping all the vacuum lines apart and started adding wiring for stuff. When I start messing with wires I like to use a wire labeler like this one: http://www.wiremarkerprinters.com/pr...LabelMaker.htm

 

All really good suggestions. But what about if the motor has been half taken apart for awhile and some things are missing? worst case scenario that may be what I am going to be dealing with.

 

*The FSM
*A knowledgable fellow owner
*Another owner in your neighborhood with a complete car for reference
*A rotary specialty shop

 

A friend of mine actually does have his car I could look off of and match up. Might go that route.

 

During the removal process, I put mounting bolts in ziploc bags, then stopped every now and then to label the bags using a sharpie marker and blue tape (hard to read sharpie against a clear bag). For instance, one bag may have contained 'airbox bolts (2x short 1x long), y-pipe nuts (4x), IC mount bolts (4x)'. That bag would go in the same cardboard box as the airbox, y-pipe, and intercooler.

It definitely added time to the removal process, but installing things later was much easier than trying to pick the correct bolt out of a very full 'engine bay bolts' jar. Added bonus was anyone who wanted to stop by and help with re-assembly could actually do something useful rather than ask me what goes where.


Also, take photos every 15 mins / 30 mins/ hour, or whenever you encounter something you think might be easy to mix up later (fuel lines, vacuum lines, etc).

 

I like this too and do it often with masking tape and labels. Heck, when I am running electrical lines now I even label them in the car so that I know at a glance what it is.

Easy...FSM.<--can be downloaded on here for free.

Maybe a rebuild dvd.

I completely agree. During my rebuild last year I used large baggies for bigger items and used one of those multi-drawer parts/bolt storage things available at lowes with labels for each accessory. I also cleaned every bolt, bracket, etc on its way into the drawer. I also organized my shelves with the accessories themselves to make reinstall very stepwise and organized. Definatley makes deconstruction take a long time, but the reassembly was relatively easy and quite painless.

 

I did this during my tear down and single build.

*Labeled ziplock bags
*Group items together
*Digital pictures
*FSM

Should do it...