Starting the Year with an Engine Build + "Oh Crap" x2
 

So I decided to start the assembly of Zhe's motor today. Things were going smoothly until an apex corner piece decided to break and pop into one of the water jacked. This was on the rear rotor already and was near completetion. After attempting to turn the engine upside with the help of 2 other people to hold the parts together, that failed as the parts moved almost instantly. So began the emergency dissassembly all the way down to the front iron again, turned it over. It popped out easy enough.

After getting the rotors and irons ready again, started the assembly again. This time everything went much quicker and tension bolts were torqued. Hurray! Engines assembled and problem averted. But wait lets see if it turns over smoothly. It turns over just fine and i hear the wooshes (spark plugs were out). Start assembling to test end play, get to the 4th bolt and as the torque wrench was about to click, instead it decided to SNAP. The bolt snapped! WTF!!!! Pictures to follow...

Any ideas guys? Help :(

thewird

thats wat u get for drinkin too much last night >.>

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9256/img1711x.jpg

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7232/img1722io.jpg

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9537/img1720t.jpg

a drill + easy out will get it out. and if it doesn't, drill the bolt out and put a heli coil in.

I would take a small diameter drill and drill right thru the middle of the bolt, then get a close sized allen head wrench, hammer it in, get a torch and heat it as you turn.

or start off with those bolt extractors...but those dont come in good enough range in sizes and i think they might be too big and may damage the treads in the housing....

beat me to it...lol

Try a sharp punch or small sharp chisel....try to tap it loose, if you can get it to move it should come out very easy...if not you will have to drill it and use a easy-out

son of a bitch.... jims idea is good u got some material to work with, this will help then use the easy out, u should be fine.

note: double check ur torque settings and replace all those bolts.

hybrid

Yah I'm gonna get what I need tomorrow. Torque settings were good. Set to 17 foot pounds and was unchanged from the rear stationary gear bolts. Also was the 4th bolt that broke. Once I get it out, going to get 6 new bolts. Thanks guys.

Everything was going so smoothly too, sigh :(

thewird

double on what jim said, once it starts spinning it'll come out real easy

Thats what she said!

Are those threads under tension? Shouldn't be now so it should spin freely unless it's threadlocked. Another option is to use a dremel with a small cutoff wheel and create a notch in the bolt. Then use a philips scredriver to remove it.

All depends on why that bolt broke. If it broke from metal fatigue that piece will come out really easy. Try drilling it out with a left hand drill bit and it may just walk itself right out. If the threads were damaged you may have to drill right through and use an easy out and maybe some heat to get that out. Snap on has a nice easy out set that comes with left hand drill bits that works really well. The easy outs are really long and tapered. I would suggest getting a set of tap sockets to go with that set though.

Once you get the broken piece out, make sure to run a tap through it, to make sure the threads are clean. As others are saying, if it was metal fatigue, you shouldn't have to drill it out, just tap it out with a small chisel. If it is due to threads being screwed up/dirt, etc., your best friend is a set of left hand drill bits. Don't even try the easy out crap... you will just get yourself in deeper when the easy out breaks in the bolt...

Easy-Outs are nothing but problems.

Get a reverse drill.

If that isn't available, then try using a punch to tap out the remaining thread.

If that doesn't work, use a grinder to grind a slot then try a slotted screwdriver.

Failing that, grind it flush then center punch, and VERY carefully begin drilling it out one size at a time. As you get very close to the threads, it should start to come loose. Then run a tap through to clean up the threads.

Worst case, HeliCoil.

Oh, and Super Glue your apex seal corner pieces in the future. :D

I did super glue them... the glue broke as I was inserting the springs and like a blackhole the water jackets sucked it in to make me go :(. On the second round of the assembly I broke all the corner peices off so it wouldn't happen again and installed it without them glued.

thewird

Anyone know a mazda dealership that would likely have these bolts in stock? I looked for the part number and its 9080-12-825. Is that for 1 or a set of 6 bolts? Also, need a new lower intake manifold gasket (913-111C-N3A1).

I'm taking a break today so haven't tried to take the bolt out yet.

thewird

GOOD NEWS. After Bwek offering to come take a look I went over to Zhe's place, I decided to try wacking lightly on it to pass the time and it started turning almost immediately once I hit it in the right spot at the right angle. Here are my custom tools I used to perform this professional extraction... a flathead screwdriver piece and a wrench since I didn't have a metal hammer (only a rubber mallet). I put an unbroken bolt just for reference. Happy times :D

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7598/img1724ir.jpg

thewird

Happy Days Are Here Again.....weee!!

Glad to hear you got it out.. I had a similar problem with one of the two bolts that holds the front engine lift point, and last time reinstalling the engine me or a friend put too much pressure on it the wrong way and it broke.... used a set of the mastercraft "easy outs" whatever they are called, and it worked great... Mind you the bolt was a bit larger in diameter so that helped a bit too...


J.

As for the bolt, just hit the fastener store. There really isn't anythin special about the bolts and they probably cost 10x as much at the dealer.

Interesting time setting end play. For some reason I had 8 thou clearance for end play with brand new rx8 bearings. This was a C bearing so I couldn't buy another bearing that would remove 6 thou clearance. I grinded it down and now have ~1.9 thou clearance. Torquing that front bolt to 200 foot pounds is plenty of fun. But not as fun as torquing the flywheel nut to 300 foot pounds while still on the engine stand >.<. Ended up putting the engine sideways and sitting on it, the bar that is.

thewird

I got mine torqued by myself lol
I rachet strapped it to a pallet then had another strap goin to a riding lawnmower to keep it from flipping over. it worked lol

I did by myself too cause Zhe was still sleeping lol. I think what made it hard was the fact I had to hold the nut in place and torque it at the same time. If I could just put weight on the bar, would be much easier.

thewird

Good save !.

Did you clean all the threads before the assembly ?, I found that makes life easier and the torque settings are truer.

Ive gone as far as tacking a tapered bolt on a vbroken stud (trust me, it was a last resort) but it worked... and plus one for getting fasteners at a general store... I broke half of my brand new pressure plate bolts and ended up getting better grade for a lot cheaper then what the stealership would of charged... still not sure why my new bolts all broke... i even half torqued all of them before full torque, but all broke right before the click. :(