look like the smoking i have been getting and the coating of the underside of the car....oil hits the exhaust and burns up in smoke into the cabin through vents....had the car checked out definately the front cover gasket and a few oil cooler lines

all shops in my area want around 1k to fix this issue

how hard of a job is this to do myself, what tools are required (anything special like bearing pullers or something?)

i figured basically remove radiator, airpump, water pump, power steering pump, alternator, intercooler, air hoses, a/c compressor....then take off the pullets and cover replace gasket and reinstall....how many hours am i looking at with small air compressor and jack stands w/ basic sockets and new oem gaskets / oil hoses

 

make sure when you take the front pulley off you don't let the thrust bearings slip:

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm

becuase of this i wouldn't let a shop do the repair unless they had worked on 13bs before or knew to take this precaution.

you probalby have to drop the oil pan too.

 

You will also need to remove the water pump housing, oil metering pump and the oil pan. The latter is the biggest pain of the entire project. As far as the power steering and the AC compressor, there is a bracket they ride on that can be unbolted from the side of the block that allows you to just swing them out of the way to give you more clearance. It will save you having to unhook AC lines and PS lines. If your oil metering lines are old and brittle, then you will need to remove them as well which means going under the UIM. Removing the eccentric shaft pulley hub will involve heating the bolt as it has been "loctited" on. In short, it may be worth the $1K if you are not deeply committed to auto mechanics.

 

bump

 

so begin by removing the oil pan first? jack up the tranny pull the mounts and drop the oil pan out then remove the other stuff? when i get to the drive pulley...what exactly needs to be done...seems like that faq is showing more than just removing the front cover

 

^^The e-shaft pulley bolt is secured in the e-shaft with loctite. You will not be able to simply burp this off with your air gun. You will need to heat the bolt with a torch for about 5 minutes first and then hit it with your impact wrench. Make sure you do not catch anything else on fire.

 

Worth noting - you only need a few hundred degrees to break a loc-tite bond. Using very high heat increases the fire risk unnecessarily - just use propane and patience, and heat the whole way around the nut.

Dave

 

did you even bother to read it? the pictures of the assembly are outside of an engine to better illustrate how the problem can occur and what the resulting damage is. if you want a guide to doing this service you need to look at the fsm or figure it out.

 

May want to take a look at this.

http://www.rotaryheads.com/modificat...asket_mod.html

 

yes, i did read it.

- i do not understand how to remove it without moving the bearing forward? what are you NOT supposed to do when you loosen the front bolt to the pulley (this is the one you heat?)

 

would it be easier to just pull the damn motor?

 

from the mazdatrix link

 

I'm not sure I understand your concern either. The thrust bearing should not shift in this process. He is not going to be unbolting the collar on the front side plate to change the gasket.

 

well im gonna print out the fsm and go to work...if i get stuck ill tow it somewhere, how many of you guys have done this for the first time following the fsm, anything different to do that the fsm doesnt mention

 

in order to take off the front cover you must remove the main eccentric shaft pulley. the pulley, when tightened by the front eccentric shaft bolt, holds together the entire front assembly (besides the oil pump).

when you loosen this assembly, a spacer/thrust bearing can slip out of place. then, when you tighten it all back down it will crush the thrust bearing because it's overlapping it.

 

this needs to be a sticky or added to the faq...i dont see anything on the searches for front cover job

 

^^Well, I will assume that Mazdatrix has enough experience to know of this problem, I just think unless you get real crazy with this that it shouldn't happen.

 

i dont own a propane tourch...anytthing i can do to avoid renting a tourch

 

bump?

 

you can get cheapo ones at an auto parts store.

 

I suggest you purchase a can of 'The Right Stuff' Gasket Sealer/Silicone for imports and use it liberally instead of the shitty stock paper front cover gasket.

 

This is a better fix IMO than globing the right stuff on the front cover. It was only $15 bucks through Malloy.

 

I wasn't aware you can retrofit the rx8 gasket to fit on the FDs. There is also a metal front cover gasket available through mazdacomp that is a perfect fit IIRC.

 

Two things:

First - changing out the front cover gasket while the engine was in the car was the worst project I have ever done. I will pull the engine next time I have to do it without 1 seconds thought. I'm not sure if it is "pay someone 1K" bad but I have had alot of days in the garage with my rx7 and this one was by far the worst.

Second - If you use a sealant instead of a gasket you have to do something with the oil channel that goes to the front cover or you will end up blocking it. I recommend the metal gasket (the one made for the rx7). If you go the other route let me know and I will dig up some pics of the procedure for drilling that oil channel.

 

I did mine with a lot of research using this forum and nopistons.
Take your time and double check everything specially during disassembly.