Looks like my thrust bearings are shot
 

So I picked up a FD a few weeks ago that was running but not driving. It would start and run, but make noise when pushing the clutch in or putting the car in gear while running.

First thing I did was pull the trans and inspect the clutch area. The flywheel had to go because the previous mechanic stripped all the pressure plate bolts. I installed a new flywheel, bolts, pilot bearing, and after reassembling everything it still made the noise.

So today I pulled off the belts and checked the eccentric shaft. It has a lot of play in and out. So I take it I need to pull the front cover off and replace the thrust bearings? I haven't done that before, any suggestions or other things I should look at?

If you need to do anything else major at the same time (ie, turbos are bad) you may want to consider just pulling the engine out. Not a fun job with it in the bay, you'll have to remove the oil pan as well.

The engine was supposedly rebuilt 10k miles ago so nothing else needs to be done (yet).

If you have to do anything in the front cover, just pull the engine. I've done a number of jobs under the front cover in FC's, and you're WAY ahead of the game just pulling the engine.

You can leave most of the upper part of the engine together, just pull the oil pan, water pump housing, and front cover.

Dale

In this game every FD has a low mileage rebuilt engine. There's also plenty of non-qualified knuckle heads out there that do very poor rebuilds. I would suggest bringing the car to a qualified place to be checked out immediately...

FYI if the engine is .0016-.003" endplay you should just be able to hear the endplay and only by trained eye see movement. Watch-out for excessive endplay, it usually means something's terribly wrong. One of my customers made a thread a couple months ago with a "rebuilt engine" that had the thrust washer installed backwards and toasted all the bearings. Check it out...

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ghlight=jkep21

There's much more movement then that, so I'm thinking a full rebuild now...

Pull and rebuild, you will likely find internal damage as well. Plus trying to leave the engine in to pull the front cover isnt terrible, but good luck resealing the oil pan especially if it has a gasket on it now.

Ya, just now to convince my wife :( plus I need to pick who to rebuild it before autocross season.

pull the motor, it will be much easier to inspect and repair. Front cover work with the engine in the vehicle and the vehicle on jackstands has a lot to go wrong

Send the engine out to IRP in NJ, there are 15 RX-7s there now but the shop always welcomes another engine to rebuild :nod:

www.IRPerformance.com for more info :icon_tup:

Im not taking work or I would offer to help, send it over to Rich(goodfella) and Ihor at IRP. They will get you squared away. Go with ALS seals while the enigne is apart, you wont regret it. If you have doubts just research my user name along with ALS seals. A lot of guys out there making big power with little worry and not eating housings.

Sounds like a twin or triple plate clutch
 

Do you have a twin or triple plate clutch? I have the HKS twin clutch in my FD and it makes a rattling noise when my foot is on the clutch. Since there is no pressure on the plates when the clutch is pressed the plates basically "rattle around" until you release the clutch and the plates are sandwiched together. Just a thought...

Single. It's the motor though, I can literally move the eccentric shaft in and out.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm gonna pull the motor and take a look at the front bearing area to see what the damage is. Worst case is it needs a rebuild and I start down that road.

Update - I pulled the motor and rebuilt the damaged part of the front stack. One of the bearings was shot because whoever rebuilt the engine installed an extra thrust plate in the wrong location :icon_no2: So that part of the car is fixed and running, now to nail down the remaining list to get the car fully streetable.

Truth be told lol. Previous owner told me the motor had 10k on it from rebuild... over the winter break everything in the motor had to be replaced and nothing looked new. :icon_tdow


That's good to hear you fixed one of the problems, OP.