This is some old news since it happened towards the end of November. My car is officially down
I was driving behind a coke truck on the highway back to my hotel in Tulsa for work, when I started noticing a misfire / stutter when I pushed in the clutch. I was like "uh-oh" that's not right and started looking for the nearest exit. I pulled off the highway and as I exited the motor just died. I knew right off the bat that I have some big time motor issues.
I had my tool box in the back that I never took out during the Eureka drive and pulled the plugs to listen to the compression pulses. And as I suspected not all the faces sounded the same. :cry: Needless to say I spent most of the day getting the car home on the trailer and trying to figure out what to do.
In all honesty I'm not to bummed out for it going. I have to maintain a glass half full outlook since this car was originally sold to me as having a blown motor. But through some researching, examining the car and fixing the bad parts I think I got a good year and a half of daily driving and fun out of it.
That being said I never really trusted or felt truly comfortable with the motor in it. Every other day I was checking the coolant and topping it off since I could smell the sweetness in the exhaust when first fired up and also noticed a few drops of coolant coming from the bell housing area when ever I would get underneath the car. The oil pan leaked ever since I owned it with 3000 miles, which is always annoying and among other things.
So, the FD is going to be down for a while as I gather parts to put the car back together and actually do the stuff I have always wanted to do. It'll be easier now since the motor will be out of the way. But I thought I might share with you guys and don't worry I'll still attend the events sans rotor...... FOR NOW :twisted:
I've determined that the project name is appropriate. Some friends and I pulled the motor out and discovered how shitty it was assembled and yet astonished how long it lasted considering it's construction. Here's some pics of the tear down. The motor didn't blow up as I first had thought. The best way to describe its demise is that it pretty much gave up and fell apart.
And now the motor is out and here is when the big problems become apparent. Look at all this silicone! None of its suppose to be there, including the tension bolts. Who ever built this knew they screwed up and decided to cover it up with silicone. Which is now an ongoing joke at the shop if something happens. "just cover it with silicone!"
Regular RTV Silicone oozing out between the housings and plates
Well there's my leak i've been looking for!
The reason for this is because of the improper coolant sealing techniques used and improper torquing of the tension bolts as well as a misalignment of the added "dowling"
The rotor made some slight marks, it's hard to tell in this photo but it's there
The damn ORIGINAL water seals were still in there from when mazda assembled the motor, and this was suppose to be a rebuild!
A continuation of the rebuild progress that is being made with the motor. Before I start I just want to say thanks again for my buddies in teaching me the steps to rebuild my first motor. Like a majority of us know, 2/3rds of a rebuild is cleaning, but damn it's really amazing on how much there actually is to clean! And I'm 100% sold on pre-mixing/ water injection if it helps out in keeping the insides clean 8-)
Here are some pics of the rotors in the tank being cleaned up, this is actually after they were sitting in a bucket of hardcore chemicals for a while dissolving the carbon and making it EXTREMELY easy to scrub off. So it's a multiphase process. I must also say that I scored a low mileage REW motor which is what I'm using to replace the one that broke.....
This is after they were pulled from the tank and needed to be wiped down.
I took this pic of a dirty rotor and the cleaned one to compare the difference. The one on the left is a 12a rotor while the right one is a 13b.
Here is a pic of the plate getting ready to be cleaned and after the porting has been done.
Clean rotors FTW!!!!
An uncessary thing, but I decided to try out the water cooling mod. It took some time to do and a steady hand. After I finish this then the housings will be put in the tank and cleaned. <---catching on to a theme here
Next up assembly!!!! Stay tuned :twisted:
Since I'm taking the time to do this; as is the case with everything I seem to do, I had the housing powder coated chrome.
Cleaned and pre powder coated
And the end result
I managed to get half the motor put together but had to stop cause the remaining side seals that we had were to far out of spec for the rear face of the front rotor. Some new ones are on order. No question the motor will be fully assembled this week as just a few more hours of work needs to be done. Then once the tax return comes in I can place my full order of parts and the install process can begin!!!
New seals and gaskets, this is what should of been done the first time when the motor was rebuilt.
2mm RA Super seals FTW!
Oil control rings, lubed up ready to be put on the rotors
Oil control ring springs
Front cover with cleaned up stationary gear installed
Look new water seals with hylomar! <---- This was not the case when we tore apart the motor that came out of the FD
Front faced Front Rotor with Atkins corner seals and everything installed....
Random picture of my buddy Greggs RX-3 sitting outside while I was building the motor
Project: Weeeelllll Sh*t (56k) BEWARE
I remember that.... same thing happened to me with an extra dowel pin o-ring in CA..... stupid Mazdatrix
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