![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
btw- you guys should thank me for getting this sorry a-- thread to 5 pages so it looks like it actually has some s--- in it! thanks. I also drive an RX7 Turbo II. this s---'s a joke!
Unnesessary statement. There is no need for that in our community.atlantamx3 wrote:Just because you didnt have the smarts to take the tranny out WITH your engine, doesnt mean that other dont.
If I remember correctly, you tried to half-a-- it and got screwed because of it.
1. Place car on a flat, level ground.
2. Turn off car & pull E-Brake.
3. Take key out of ignition.
4. Open driver side door.
5. Exit vehicle.
6. Reach back in, Pull hood popper. ) Located on drivers side of dash on the lower half.
7. Walk around to front of car.
8. Open hood.
9. Get a buddy and a 14mm wrench.
10. Locate 4 bolts holding the hood on the hinge. (2 on each side)
11. Make your buddy hold the hood while you remove the passenger side bolts.
12. Walk around MX-3, remove other 2 bolts.
13. Remove the hood an store in a safe place
14. Grab your jack
15. Roll it under the drivers side of the car, just past the wheel well, and on the ridge of metal under there.
16. Before you jack it up-- take the time to loosen your lug nuts on your front wheels.
17. Jack the car up.
18. Place a jack-stand under the drivers side.
19. Move to passenger side of MX-3, bring jack with you.
20. Roll it under the passengers side of the car, just past the wheel well, and on the ridge of metal under there.
21. Jack the car up.
22. Place a jack stand under the Passengers side.
23. find release buttons for rear seat (should be placed under seat at about 1/3rd and 2/3rds of the way along, near the shelf) and remove seat cushion
24. start the car, and unplug the fuel pump connector that is revealed. After car stalls out, try starting it a couple times to empty out the fuel rail a little more.
25. Eject whatever CD you have in your head unit... I forgot, and my Velvet Revolver CD's still in there! Damn! Razz
26. Unhook battery holder, unplug and remove battery.
27. Unbolt battery tray. I believe they are 10mm bolts holding it on.
28. Unplug all engine harness connections. Hardest ones to get at are the ones on the back of the engine, everything else should be a piece of cake. There are 5 connections there on the back, I believe. Hard ones follow...
28a. The plug on the alternator is annoying... take a flat bladed screwdriver and push the little locking blade in, pulling at the same time to pull the connector out. The other connection on the alternator is much easier. Just flip the little black cover off, which will reveal a 10 or 12mm nut which you have to remove to pull the ring terminaled wire off. Screw nut back on so you don't lose it.
28b. Next hard to reach connector (hardest I should say) is the oil pressure switch plug. It should just pull directly off. It's right next to the oil filter. You should be able to feel it, it's just a single wire. I braced my hand against the intake manifold and pulled after pushing it off the engine a little with a flat bladed screwdriver.
28c. Next comes the starter motor wires. There is a push off plug on the starter solenoid, and then another wire below the solenoid, on the motor itself. I'm not sure if it's a ring terminal or a push off (anyone remember?)
29. Drain the coolant. Nobody can find out where the hell the drain plug on the radiator is, it seems (many people said it had broken off) so the best way of doing this is to put a bucket below the lower radiator hose, and unplug that from the radiator, draining into the bucket. Once that's stopped draining (once it starts dribbling, just remove the tube altogether, and plug the radiator and engine with a paper towel. Do the same with the other radiator hose. At the back of the engine, there are two coolant lines for the heater. Remove these. The plastic connectors have o-rings and stuff like that inside of them, so it's best to just remove the tubes from the plastic connectors, rather than pull the connectors themselves.
30. Remove your fuel lines, marking which one is the send and which one is the receive with masking or duct tape (make sure the markings stay on... gasoline has a tendency of reducing glue to liquidy gunk Very Happy) Best way of getting them off (really the ONLY way) is to take a toothed wrench or whatever, and twist it back and forth, pulling it away as you do. Have your buddy block the end of the tube and rail with a paper towel. Fuel shouldn't shoot out, but it'll drain a little.
31. Unhook the vacuum hoses from the top of the engine. There should be two I believe, but I'm not entirely sure. There's the brake booster line, which is on the side of the intake manifold, and another vacuum line, on top of the manifold, which leads to the firewall. I think it's for controlling the PCV system.
32. Unbolt the power steering pump and A/C compressor. These are a pain in the a-- to get at. I believe all the bolts are 14mm. Move the P/S pump out of the way of the radiator pipe. Tie both up to the chassis with wire or rope or something so you don't strain the lines.
33. Remove your wheels.
34. Find someone with a powerful pneumatic impact wrench (or if you own one, even better), 250 ft/lbs would be pushing the lower limit. I got a 600 ft/lbs wrench for this. It rules. Buy a 32mm axle nut socket.
35. In the axles, there are dimples that the locknuts lock into... smack these out with a hammer and a small rod thing. With your buddy on the brakes, blast the suckers with the impact wrench. Don't worry if they don't come off immediately. Depending on your vehicle's age and the strength of your gun, they might take 10 seconds each to who knows how long. They should come off EVENTUALLY though.
36a. (Manual transmission only) Get under the car, and locate the shifter rod and shifter stabilizer bar. They're not too hard to find, if you have no idea what to look for. They meet up with the transmission near the bell housing. The stabilizer bar is held on by a 14mm nut and a washer. Once that nut is off, just push the bar off, it should swing away easily. The shift selector rod isn't quite as easy. Remove the nut (it's a 12mm nut) and hammer the bolt out with that small rod you used with the axle locknuts. Once the bolt is out, the shifter rod should swing away easily.
36b. (Automatic transmission only) The automatic transmission has a shift control cable, and a throttle cable as well. I don't own an auto MX-3 though, so someone else will have to help with that.
37. Remove the axles! To be honest, this is the part I'm working on right now.... in the snow... and an overcast sky.... how emo. Razz I'm not entirely sure what has to be done... Gro Harlem had an article on his site about how to do this. The link is http://www.projectmazda.com/howto/rightaxle/ I believe the process for removing the axles should be similar for both sides, although as I haven't done it yet, don't quote me on that.
38. (Manual transmission only) Unbolt the clutch slave cylinder from the bell housing. Make sure you don't unscrew the bleed valve by accident! The bolts for removing it from the transmission is on the side. I'm not sure of the bolt size off-hand. Unbolt the brackets holding it onto the transmission.
39. Remove the speedometer gear from the transmission housing. The bolt holding it down is a little hard to spot/reach with a wrench, but it's there, on the passenger side of the gear.
40. Unbolt exhaust manifold from the downpipe. There are 3 14mm nuts holding it on. Near the bottom of the engine (I think it's right above the oil pan) there is a bracket holding the downpipe to the engine. I believe there are 2 12mm bolts.
40. Hook engine up to hoist, making sure that the chain can't slip (mine did when I forgot to check everything, and the engine dropped about an inch... freaked me out) and remove slack from the chain. Put a little pressure on it.
41. Get under the car and unbolt the engine mounts holding the transmission onto the engine mount member. There should be two groups of two bolts, not sure of their size.
42. Remove the main mounts! The bolt on the passenger side mount is a pain to get at. I removed the bracket that held the AC line in place, and pushed things out of the way with my wrench as I removed it. The driver side mount is easy enough.
43. Correct me if I missed something guys, but I believe at this point the engine is ready to be lifted out. Take it very, very slow (you'll probably have to, as most engine hoists take unbearable amounts of pumping to move much Razz). Have your buddy hold the end of the transmission and guide it along.