hey everyone. I think i have decided to rebuild my 13b rather than go for the 20b at the advice of everyone on the boards and seeing all the work it would entail. Ive been getting familiar with the rotary components and studying the reference materials and as far as i can see im guessing that the previous owner of my car was correct in his opinion that the seals are gone. the car sat for about a year while he was away and when he returned the car would not start. He had it compression tested at mazda and they said that seemed to be the problem. I just wanted to pick the forum's brain as to the possibility of it being something else before I tare the block apart. also i have been checking out posts about the actual removal of the engine and found the good tips like having the nose slightly lower and removing the motor and trans together. but if anyone has any other bits of wisdom they would like to share i am all ears and i would greatly appreciate it. thanks!

 

Here's a pretty good quick reference for pulling the motor:

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/3r...eng_remov.html


When I put a new motor in my car referred to the factory service manual and this video:

http://wwww.rotaryaviation.com/R%20R%20Video.htm

I personally left the transmission in the car when I pulled the motor and when I put the new motor in I didn't attach the motor mounts until after I bolted the motor back on to the transmission. This worked pretty well for me and seemed simpler.

 

from a idiots point of view....
1. Bag all your bolts
2. LABEL LABEL LABEL (Wires, Bolts, Plugs, Connectors, Lines)
3. Have a factory service manual on hand
4. Take care of cleaning up your engine bay while it's out
5. Enjoy...nothing like taking apart your car and putting it all back together again

 

Taking a lot of digital pictures didn't hurt either when it came to putting everything back together again. A good torque wrench is necessary and the FSM has all the torque values when reassembling and installing the motor.

 

thanks guys i really appreciate it. once i figure out the boards alittle more i will post some pics up from the pull. wish me luck lol

 

Thank you for that first link! it made this a breeze. its 11:20 and i just finished the preliminary stuff, i just have to disconnect the PPF and take the shifter out and whatnot and out she comes, but ive had enough for tonight. and on a side note....who the hell made the design for the harness to come through the firewall right under the ABS spider...i would really like his/her name so i can punch them in the nose, what a bitch that was lol. well pics will be up soon. thanks again guys for all the input

 

be patient.

If I had the time I would have taken a close-up picture from each major part. Then bag and label the smaller pieces underneath each picture.

 

+1 fo sho...

 

After having someone show me how to do it the first go around, aside from rebuilding the motor, I should have no problem doing most of it myself next time. But again, that is with me bagging and labeling everything because I'm still learning.

I think it just takes more ***** than anything to just go ahead and do it yourself, aside from the common sense of being sure everything is re-installed properly.

 

Make sure you have plenty of shelf space when you tear down the engine to a short block. As you can see in this picture I underestimated the sheer number of parts bolted to that thing.

 

you guys werent kidding about the amount of parts and stuff to label. holy crap lol. it all went smooth except for one little hickup, i went to disconnect the lower power steering line thinking it would be a high pressure line and instead i heard psshhhhh lol yes i discharged the AC like a moron. I guess thats what you get for working on your engine at 11 at night after a full day at work lol. i think this is my 10th post so i can post up pictures on my next thread.

 

this is when i first got it from VA

 

best advise here

pictures, labels, and drawings! you will not regret it

 

whoops i think the first one had a bad picture link, guess you cant link from myspace pages. here is when i first picked up the car

 

alright ive finally got this whole picture thing down. here is my progress so far...

all ready to get rolled into the shop, once i finish up the mini



yes the pressure plate is still on, i didnt look hard enough to find the unlocking info. but its off now, thanks for the link to that youtube video guys

my friend grabbed this shot when i got my first look at the rats nest up close, the look says it all i think

saw this on the front cover and i guess wasnt too surprised when i found out my car had a rebuilt motor at 103k. also explained why alot of the bolts were not very tight at all

 

anyone know how i can track down the history of this motor?

 

oh, and mgoddard1....you were not kidding man, check this out...

this is a 14' long workbench filled with parts, and i havent even opened up the motor yet lol. im waiting for a 54mm socket in the mail and a pineapple racing engine stand adapter. when they arrive ill be posting up some pics of the internals. thanks again for all your help guys.

 

Looks like you have a broken check valve in your rats nest picture and it looks like the original vacuum lines. Check the function of every check valve and solenoid and replace those vacuum lines with something good like the hosetechniques.com kit. When I dug through my rats nest the first time I discovered I had 3 bad check valves and one bad solenoid which was doing a number on my secondary boost. You can test those solenoids with a mityvac vacuum pump and a 12v source to activate them and if you're gung ho you may want to test them at 'operating temperature' by putting them in the over for a while at 175 degrees first.

 

yeah when i was disconnecting everything all i heard was *snap* *crack* and a subsequent stream of curse words lol. I have never seen vac lines so brittle, but i guess with those under hood temps its to be expected, and like you said they certainly look stock which is strange to me considering this is a rebuilt but who knows. now as far as the check valves and solenoids, how much are they new? i mean is it a matter of like $400 to replace them all and not worry about it?

 

I'm jealous. Part of me can't wait until my engine goes.... and when I have a garage

 

Ok Ok i take the part about the engine blowing back. My new CYM would cry if her engine blew.

 

The picture with the rat's nest is classic!

So I'm considering doing this too. I'm moving into a place with a 2-car garage and my G/f says I can have it all to myself.

I'd personally want to go single.. i wonder how hard the single conversion is to add on top of the engine pull, engine rebuild, etc... (goes searching)

 

Call Ray Crowe for the check valve pricing, it's been a while since I did mine but think they ran around $30 each. Your solenoids are probably ok but I think they run around $100 each.

 

You can get the check valves from ray, but its cheaper (and better) to PM Daleclark, and get the viton check valves he sells.

 

thanks guys, good info as always