E-shaft bolt removal in car
 

So my front cover on my FD is leaking oil. I found the gasket pushed out on one side. I had some trouble getting the E-shaft bolt out with engine still in car. I made a tool and thought I'd share how I did it.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...6ff49d0adf.jpg
I found an old oem pulley i had laying around and welded a pipe to it. I'm not a welder so don't judge the welds. It worked like a charm so I figured I'd share my solution.

be sure to wedge a piece of 2x4 or something between the seat and clutch pedal keeping it pushed in to keep pressure on the front bearing stack so none of it falls down when removing the hub. looks like someone installed one of those aluminum thermal pellets. hope it all goes back together with no issues.

^Actually the above advice doesn't apply to an FD, which is what the OP is working on. Below is the correct procedure, which I highlighted in red, courtesy of the MazdaTrix website:

Before we wade through this FAQ, the way to prevent the problem from happening in the first place is to, (BEFORE! you loosen the bolt):

1) If the engine is in the car (this DOES NOT APPLY for 93-95’s) do something to wedge the clutch pedal down — meaning a 2×4 or something like it, holding the pedal down and wedged against steering wheel or front of the seat.

2) If the engine is out of the car, set it with the flywheel down, front pulley up, the whole time you are working on the front of the engine. Do not roll the engine horizontal until the front bolt is tightened.

3) For 93-95’s you need to do something to wedge the flywheel forward – easiest we have done is a small piece of wood up through the inspection plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. With the wood between the pressure plate and the bellhousing. Do something to hold it there, because if you rotate the engine while trying to get the bolt loose, the wood will fall out.

What any of the above steps will do is to hold the rear torrington bearing in place against the thrust plate – keeping it from dropping out of place if the spacer moves forward.

Pete_89T2, This was the way I did it. It was more of a pain trying to figure out how to get the damn bolt out. No one makes a tool for this. I think it's recommended to remove the engine to replace the front cover gasket, though "doable" while still in the car. I've seen people trying to get these out with crazy powered impacts, etc...

Maybe I should CAD up a tool and throw it on our CNC at work. I think that would save a ton of people.

nope, didn't notice he said fd. so i'm guessing that the slave is a pull type?

By the way, the aluminum thermal end is not gnarled up. It's just a blurry picture with oil on the end so it looks chewed up. Again, I know this can be a tricky process, especially with the engine still in the car, so I just wanted to share how I did it because it worked so well.

No worries, but I'm not following what you did to prevent the risk of the Torrington bearing dropping out of place when you loosened up the E-shaft bolt. Since it's not an SA/FB/FC, the flooring the clutch trick won't work, so what did you rig up to push the FW forward & keep it there while removing the bolt? I see how your tool would keep the Eshaft from rotating to remove & reinstall the bolt, but that doesn't solve the T-bearing risk problem.

Wood door shims worked perfectly. The other end of the "tool" I made is braced up top so the motor won't turn and spit the shims out.

Gotcha, nice work!

so how would this be done on a 93 FD automatic? still have to wedge a block of wood in there?

I'm confused by all of this. Is there any reason you couldn't just put the car in gear with the e-brake on to hold the e-shaft from spinning while you used a breaker bar and socket on the bolt?