Starting off the new year with an engine pull!
 

Well it was time to get down to business. After having the 7 sitting around for 3 months and buying all the parts for the car, I was finally ready to tackle the job of pulling the engine. I've never done it before so it is a great learning experience and a lot easier than I thought it would be so far. I am going to take my time, as I am really in no rush to get it pulled, and I'm going to be entering my busy season which means 15 hour days.

On Day 1, all I did was removed the intercooler, radiator and drained all the fluids. I took lots of pictures and really just enjoying the experience. Going along with the rebuild, I have a bunch of other parts that I am going to install.

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WTF?

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Didn't even know I was bleeding until I saw bloody dripping on me

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Why use a band-aid when you can use tape!

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Stopping point for the day

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Hey Brian,

the key is to be smiling at the end of the year:)

good luck,

howard

How do you get that thing (blood, skin, hair, and sheenry) through CARB?

Might also be a good opportunity to cut the inlet off of the intercooler and smooth out that transition....

Good luck - I just finished mine and only lost two pints...

Thanks Howard! I'll keep you updated on my progression the more I start working on it. I don't know if I'm going to end up working on it tomorrow or not, if not then next Saturday.

Thanks! As far as CARB goes, I can tell you, but then I'd have to kill you :egrin:

Is that a 993 next to your 7 or is that a poster?

^ definitely not a poster, note the shadow on the ground.

Looks like the real deal. I love those cars :)

Hey good luck! I think this is a sort of an induction thing in this club. Utilize all the great posts and resources on this site. I couldn't have done it or attempted it without the input from the guys here. I found the rotary aviation DVD really helpful.

That would be a pretty expensive poster :lol:

Also have a Stage 3 400+awhp S4 as my daily driver

Did some suspension work on that a few weeks ago

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...4/DSCN1510.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...4/DSCN1554.jpg

Here is what the garage looks like

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...4/DSCN1524.jpg

nice choices, so who drives the Porsche (turbo)?

I like those 993 for their steering feel. One inconvenient fact is that there's an engine hanging out the back. Not turbo I'm guessing.

Those Audi S4 will eat through their engines in less than 50,000 miles if you drive them hard at 400 whp. There is a reason why Audi stopped offering the turbo S4 after what, a 2-year production run. How many miles on the S4?

Back to topic. Unless you're really good at lining up the input shaft of the tranny to the crankshaft while lying on your back, I suggest that you pull the engine with tranny together.

If you do this, I have the following notes:
- drain tranny fluid or you'll have a stinky garage;
- no need to disconnect the harness to the tranny connectors;
- remove the clutch slave from tranny but donot disconnect the line, lift entire slave cylinder up through the engine bay and zip tie to the brake master cylinder
- you can pull the engine with the down pipe in place;
- drain the PS fluid;
- the AC compresssor will stay with the car;
- mark the fuel line in the order from left to right #1, #2, #3 with white markers
- disconnect the oil lines using a dental pick to remove those clips, don't lose them;
- to pull the harness through the firewall, remove connectors inside the car first, wrap them in electrical tape to prevent damage, use a long-ass needle nose pliers from harbor freight tools to pull them through the firewall;
- take plenty of hi-res digital pictures;

Label everything. Every last thing.

Very nice garage of autos!! I have always loved the S4.

Hardhitter, good luck with the rebuild. I see the duct tape over the turbo inlet, if I may make a suggestion pick up a box of latex gloves. They work great for covering such opening to keep out dust and everything else as well as you can put some on and they work great for grip in areas too small to get a wrench into.

Thanks for those notes poman, I am about to enjoy this same fun experience. Right now I am just beginning to collect parts and wait on it to warm up here a bit...

Poman, thanks for all the tips. Yea Howard Coleman has been a big help and giving me a lot of hints and tips and helping me if I'm stuck somewhere.

I see you're in Silicon Valley, if you ever want to come swing by and help out, it would be great! Can never say no to meeting new people as well as having another helping hand. I can buy you lunch or some beer or whatever you want for saying thank you.

I'll keep you guys updated!

No air pump in California? How do you get by? Take it to a speed shop for inspection?

Just wanted to give an update. I was able to pull the map off my PFC after some problems (couldn't figure what port it was trying to read from) and sent it off to my builder/tuner.

I finally have some free time to get wrenching on the car again, so today I am going to work on getting as close as I can before needing an engine hoist to pull the engine.

My question is, should I pull the motor with the turbo/downpipe still on the engine or should I get these off prior to pulling the engine. I'm going to pull the tranny with the engine since I heard there is a little bit more benefit to doing this.

I'll update you later on today on how things went with some pictures!

wow we are going through the same process Montego Blue and all! We can be each other's support group. Is that the 500r already installed? im horrible at turbo ID

the single turbo with downpipe looks really tight but from crispy rx7 website, I believe he leaves them on.

http://www.reganrotaryracing.com/fde...ldoverview.htm

see photo below:

http://www.reganrotaryracing.com/extraction.jpg


From this pic, he might have removed the downpipe via a v-band clamp:
http://www.reganrotaryracing.com/teardown1.jpg

Successful day working on the car again. I am pretty sure I'm about ready to get the engined pulled!

Today I unbolted the downpipe to the midpipe, disconnected the vacuum hoses going to the wastegate, disconnected oil cooler lines, heater return, removed the belt in order to move the P/S pump out of the way. Disconnected driver side wiring harness, disconnected fuel lines, heater hose, throttle body, ground cable, and then disconnected the wiring harness from the ECU and pulled it through the firewall and just have it sitting on top of the engine.

I am pretty sure I have everything disconnected from the engine from the left side and the right side, but I don't know about anything on the back side of the engine. I think all I have to do now is remove motor mount bolts, the motor mount assembly, starter, transmission wiring harness, and then separate the tranny from the engine and I'll be ready to pull!

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If it was me, I would take off the downpipe from the turbo and the midpipe. When pulling out the engine it kind of gets in the way, much easier to pull the engine without it. In my personal opinion, it's in your best interest to remove whatever you think maybe be troublesome in pulling out the engine.

It has been over a month since I've last worked on the car because I have been working 13-14 hour work days and have had to work the weekends... well, I am free this weekend and I'm thinking this is the week it comes out.

The only thing I have left is working on the transmition. My question is, do you guys pull the entire thing? Engine with tranny still connected or do you just pull the engine?

From what I've heard, it's easier to pull the entire engine/tranny together? Any suggestions/tips?

as you know, you and i are both doing our builds. Im a little further than you, i have the engine back in. This will be the third time ive removed the engine from the trans pulling one or the other. If u have 2 other ppl and a cherry picker, just take the engine. watch out for bad angles or you will crush your pilot bearing.

It looks cooler to take out both, but i dont have experience with that. Keep it up, good luck :-)

Hey Hardhitter,

Well done for doing what you have so far, it gives me pointers for what I'm probably going to have to do, just as soon as I have discovered if I have an O ring failure.

Good luck and enjoy..I will keep watching to follow your progress.:icon_tup:

the engine pull I helped with we left the engine and tranny together, but we did remove the starter as it was getting in the way.

Alright, well it's a good thing I worked on it tonight but I'm stuck.

So I'm going to pickup an engine hoist tomorrow, but I was trying to work on disconnecting the tranny from the engine and for the life of me couldn't get it done.

From what I've researched there are 2 methods

Method 1:
Through the inspection hole, disconnect all the pressure plate bolts but taking out the spark plugs in order to turn the engine and be able to unbolt all the bolts. Then pressing the clutch in until it release

Method 2:
Through the inspection hole, press the small clip towards the engine. With that ring still pushed in you should be able to release it from the pressure plate.

Well I tried method 2 and I seem to not be able to do it. I took a screw driver, pushed the ring towards the engine (front of the car) and the ring wouldn't budge!

Any and all suggestions would be very helpful. I've done searches and it seems like these are the most used methods.

Maybe this will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPCi4RpGQCU

If you separated the trans from the engine slightly it might be too late to disconnect the trans from the engine in the tight space under the car.

I've watched that video many many times as it's been refered to in many of the threads I searched for.

What do you mean "If you separated the trans from the engine slightly"? I haven't touched the motor as I don't even have an engine hoist yet. All I've done is removed the motor mount bolts and the inspection hole cover to look into the bell housing.

Brian,

the transmission needs to be separated from the engine about an inch. it also must be supported so as to remove pressure from the input shaft so the ring will easily move forward.

it is all in getting the trans in the correct postion (rearward and supported). once this happens the ring moves smoothly forward to the clutch spring fingers and the throwout bearing is easy to unsnap.

any binding of any kind calls for repositioning NOT a bigger hammer or leverage.
i am looking forward to seeing the inside of your motor:)

howard

Great work man. These build threads get me giddy ;)

hey good luck to you bro. Im getting pretty eager to start on my little project also.

Thanks for all the help/support guys. I'm going to go ahead and pickup an engine hoist to rent today and then attack the tranny/engine again. Gotta remove the bell housing bolts and then try to position the tranny/engine in the perfect position to get it released. After that is released, the engine SHOULD be able to come on out :)

Well I worked about 4 hours on the car today taking my time and the engine is STILL in the car :(

I removed some things that I thought may get in the way (downpipe, turbo and turbo manifold) when I went to pull it. I then started on the bell housing bolts and everything was going great until I got to the last two bolts at the top of the bell housing. For the life of me, I couldn't get the tool to get to those two bolts. When I was able to get to them, I had no room at all to move in order to undo them. I even took off the UIM to see if I could get some more room and nope! I'm guessing I'm going to need to buy a new tool because I am absolutely stumped. Everything is so easy as long as you have the RIGHT TOOLS.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took during the day and the last two pictures are pictures of the two bolts I'm stuck on. P.S. Now I know why most people pull the engine WITH the tranny.

I pray that I'll be able to put all of this stuff back together haha :)

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Bolt on the passenger side
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Bolt on driver side
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I think you really wasted a lot of time doing it this way. You could've had this motor out by now if you had left the turbo and manifold on (downpipe off) and instead focused on getting everything out of the way so you can remove the transmission with the engine. Pulling the engine out without the transmission is not for beginners. Installing or removing a transmission from the engine like this can be very frustrating unless you've done it several times.

wow stuck bolts. that sucks. I just put those in probably valentines day or around there. They are normal bolts so make sure you have a 14mm socket and maybe a breaker bar. They were easy for me to remove because i removed my transmission only 2 yrs ago. I hate when a car project is held up because something isnt coming apart the way its supposed to. I was fortunate because ive separated them before.

Yeah when I pulled my tranny a few years back for a clutch those were fun to get too.

Like I said I too am in the middle of this but I am in no hurry. I went ahead and stripped the motor in the bay and I will pull it sometime soon. This is my first engine pull too so hopefully it goes smother that others are saying b/c I too am leavingthe tranny in the car.

Snap-on makes a shallow swivle head socket set that is awesome.

Find a snap-on dealer mention the shallow swivle head sockets & tell him your exact situation.

I think it was around 90-130 for the set, but well worth the investment.

I have not seen another company offer this type of socket.

I will take a look at it next week, I just thought about this but once I disconnect the tranny from the motor, the engine is going to drop forward correct? I'll need the lift and have it there to support the engine when I go to disconnect it or else it'll just fall forward without the weight of the tranny correct?

Yes the engine will go forward. The engine hoist keeps the engine from dropping as you describe.
Ever get those tranny bolts broke free? I used two wrenches end to end to break my bolts loose. Worked wonders.

I am going to attack those two bell housing bolts next week when I have a hoist because that's all I have left to do. Unbolt those and then try to release the tranny from the engine and I can start pulling!

the good news is...

you can still easily pull the eng/trans together.

drain trans.
disconnect elec sensors at the trans
remove midpipe
remove rear alum brace that runs thru powerplant frame (PPF)
remove (two 14 MM box wrenches and a screwdriver to lock DS position) rear DS flange,
push forward t clear rear flange and snake DS past PPF
remove front alum tunnel brace
remove shifter
remove starter and slave cylinder for the clutch
remove motor mt nuts
remove front nuts for PPF frame
lower PPF out of way
pull motor trans

(feel free to add if i have missed anything)

while it sounds like alot of work in the long run it is easier in and out

BTW, you absolutely should own a Mazda factory service manual. it is the single most important item to own if you have a modded FD.

it never ends.

good luck,

howard

Thanks howard, do you suggest for the point I'm at now to go ahead and get the tranny and engine out at the same time, or get those two last bolts and pull just the engine. I'm thinking ahead of which would be easier in the long run for putting it back in when it's time to put the engine back in. I would think it'll be easier to mate the engine and tranny while it's outside of the car and then putting it in all together, I just don't know how much more extra steps it will be to remove the engine/tranny together.

Thanks again for everyones help. This forum is full of valuable members and knowledge through searches.

I was gonna pull both at the same time too but decided I wouldn`t. I thought it would also help on reassembly of the tranny to the engine & then re-installation of everything back into the engine bay. One can do it one of 2 ways. Both options you have on the table. Some will say it is easier to do one vs. the other. You just have to decide which one you want to do. I will say this though, you can destroy a pilot bearing if you mate the tranny to the engine at the wrong angle. Replaced the clutch disc assembly once & this happened. When I yanked the motor recently for the engine replacement, I tempted fate again. That time, I did it right. Tranny in car, engine out. A tip. Helps to have the front nose of the car lower than the rear. Will make it easier to put everything back in if you go the engine only route. Another good tip I got was to use a load leveler. Some find it helpful to use one of those as well.

I have been under a car before trying to get the tranny & engine at the right vertical angle to insert into the engine bay. Both were assembled. I had them hanging over me while I was under the car trying to drop them into the bay. I guess I had 350 plus pounds of metal pointing into the center of my chest. Was a creepy feeling. If they had dropped, Hmmmm. I guess I would be having a problem writing this right now maybe?

Let me borrow your VMIC LOL!

It's best to pull the tranny if you're doing this at home by yourself. Lining up the tranny input shaft to the flywheel is no joke when you're on your back under the car and no tranny jack.

I have pulled a tranny for a clutch replacement but it is not a job for a first timer especially if you don't have a tranny jack.

There are more things to take off when you pull both tranny and engine together but less frustration trying to line up the tranny shaft with the flywheel blind hole.

Here are some pictures for your consideration:

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/y...g?t=1266892752

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/y...g?t=1266892754

Shit! Prices spiked...

235.00 for the set, or 40.00 a piece.

Still worth it in my opinion...

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/OBJECTS/20600/20510.JPG

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

take a deep breath, relax a bit... and then do yourself a big fav and pull them out together. no special tools needed... though you do have to either have someone tilt the motor or borrow an auto tilt. see above pic

are we having fun yet?

hc

It is the weekend and you know what that means! Time to work on the car :) Sadly I have to work this weekend until 1pm or so (hopefully nothing later) so I am going to get started on the car when I get back from work.

I'm going to start on removing the things for now taking the engine out with the tranny attached still. One of my questions is, when do I go and get the hoist? It is about $27 a day and I'm trying to get the car to the point where I know it'll come out once I get the hoist.

Also, if anyone could put up pictures of where and the things I need to remove, visual aid will help a lot when I'm under the car.

Based on Howard's post of what to do, I'm pretty sure I know where to drain the transmission fluid, the electric sensors at the trans are just the 3 clips correct? I have already removed the midpipe. Remove rear alum brace that runs thru PPF? After doing some searches I know that this is the PPF

https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3015/img2234ik1.jpg
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7115/img2241ew5.jpg

But will I be able to know what you're talking about with the rear alum brace? I'm guessing it's more in the rear of the car? (duh?)

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...hmentid=167100

Is that something?

Remove the rear DS flange? I'm guessing I can use this thread as guidance?

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...e+shaft+flange

push forward t clear rear flange and snake DS past PPF...what???

Already removed front alum tunnel brace (I believe?)

Shifter will be inside of car, that should be easy enough, couple of bolts and from what I've read, make sure to have a towel in the car as it's full of oil and when you detach it, oil my go all over the place.

Starter is already removed from the clutch, slave cylinder I heard is a little tricky? Something about making sure spines line up or I can't remember. In this picture, I only remove the one on the left correct? That's the slave and then the other is master?

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../rP1014478.jpg

Already removed motor mount bolts

Removing front nuts from PPF frame, I can reference the pictures above to know where the PPF is

and after that, all is good to go and pull?

Any and all help would be very grateful! Thanks!

Wear some Gloves.... Good Luck..i plan on doing this with Mine soooon...my engine is SUper dirty../dusty engine bay...

:icon_tup:

So I'm caught up on getting the draftshaft disconnect from the transmission. Any help on that? Does it just slide out?

It's a pull type clutch. This means that the throwout bearing is actually locked/retained to the pressure plate. So option 2 is actually the correct method. You need to get a good light and via the inspection hole you will see a retainer ring, you need to pry this aft. Once it disengages you should see the throwout bearing and fork release a bit.

Then you can pull the transmission back off the engine. Rather counter intuitive as most clutches are push type.