FD3S engine removal begins

[Wav]

Thanks for your kind comments I\'ll try and put a list of things to do and in what order over the next couple of days for taking the engine out. The strip down order was a bit more random to be honest, we basically just un-did things as and when and if we found that one thing wouldn\'t come off without taking that off first, then that\'s what we had to do. I do have a large collection of photo\'s of the strip down and in the order that we did it, so I guess i could also try and do an order thig with piccies aswell. I think I\'ll have to start another thread with that one. Leave it with me and I\'ll try and get round to doing it as soon as I can:rolleyes:

Cheers, PauL

P.S. We weighed the block (rotor assembly) after strip down and it weighed in at a total of 77kg. So was about £140 return for excess baggage with BA:bandit

[Wav]

Ok I\'m now going to prove that I/we managed to get the flywheel off:rollin  

Block without flywheel:

[Wav]

Flywheel by itself (make sure you don\'t loose your woodruff key ):

[efiniste]

OK, here goes. This is the order I removed things in. (as per the Bruce Turrentine video)

Remove:
undertray
Air box top half
battery and tray
air intake pipe (the one that goes to the upper intake manifold)
Intercooler top mounting brackets
AST, pipes and brackets
Intercooler pipes
Bottom half of air box
Intercooler
Cross member (the intercooler and air box are bolted to this)

Split the oil cooler lines

Remove:
Water pump hoses (from radiator)
Accessory belt (the one that goes around the PS and Aircon pumps)
Power steering pulley
Power steering pump
Loom-Fuse box wiring + 2 grey connectors on the passenger side inner wing
Air con pump wiring
top air con pump bolts
Fuel lines (x3)
Heater- block water hose
Vac line to boost sensor (on bulkhead)
Throttle cable
Brake servo line and ground strap

Unplug ECU
Pull wiring through bulkhead into engine bay

remove transmission splash pan
Unbolt engine mounts
Raise engine a couple of inches and remove the engine mounts completely
lower the engine onto the subframe
remove starter motor
Unbolt downpipe from cat/midbox
undo transmission wiring and pull up into engine bay
remove cat air pipe from engine

open transmission inspection hatch (2 bolts underneath)
undo the 6 bolts holding the clutch pressure plate to the flywheel (requires someone to turn the engine over via the front pulley with a spanner/socket of some description)
Pry pressure plate off flywheel (you can see the lugs it needs to come off)
Remove the 5 bellhousing bolts
Raise the engine
Remove the remaining 2 Aircon pump bolts and pull the pump to the side.
Support the gearbox with a jack
Wiggle, swear at and pull engine until it\'s free, then lift and remove.

Assembly is a reversal of the above process

I found that I had to remove the downpipe when the engine was half out as it was catching under the car.

Also, bag EVERYTHING you take off and label it. I\'ve just put mine back in and it\'s amazing the number of little things I didn\'t mark up from near the very beginning of the removal.

best of luck!

Steve

[Wav]

Cheers for that description:) Was about halfway through writintg mine, but yours is better anyway

Just to add, make sure you have the correct tool to remove the power steering oil pump pulley, as the pulley is made from a bakelite brittle material, not metal like i first thought. And yeah I also found that we didn\'t really start labelling things up properly until the later stages of engine removal. Lots of different coloured insulation tape and zip ties were used, so hopefully the pipes and wires etc should all match up when we put it back:rolleyes:

Cheers, Paul:)

[mikeeech]

O.K. now I\'ve been following this with some interest and since I need a new engine have been digging around on some of the issues in this; for instance;

Shipping the engine in legally (i.e. paying import duty and not taking it as excess baggage)
The realities of not getting a warranty with a new engine then finding it doesn\'t work!

On the shipping front, a friend has just had a small block chevy engine shipped in after buying it on e-bay. The shipping was free anywhere in the us. He\'s found a company (run by someone in this contry called moving-parts.com who shipped this small (550lbs) engine (40"x36"x38") for £325. Duty was taken care of semi-legally by the engine supply company providing a second invoice for shipping purposes. hmmm - interesting

As for the warranty stuff. I\'ve heard that american engines are perhaps not the best - this would be a generalised comment of course. I\'m sure there are good and bad. What are the opinions
of my esteemed collegues on this forum! Who would be considered the best engine suppliers? I\'ll certainly post this question on a US forum and see what response I get.

I know you pays your money etc but my 1.0 polo is getting me down and i\'m getting desparate and I\'ve only had it two weeks!
Mike

[Andyp]

wow thats a real good price to ship to/from America, that\'s kewl! good idea for a business too.

Don\'t know anywhere that does them other than the the rx7store  which do the lot

I know some people don\'t like them but i\'ve never had a problem with them

[ScuttleRX]

RX7.com do them, heres a link to their engine page

Have dealt with them b4, got my c-west kit through them and can recommend, had no trouble

[ScuttleRX]

oops, think they are now called Rotary Performance, not rx7.com, link is correct though

[g11ary]

That is a very good price, to buy a knightsports ported engine costs 3.5k in japan and then needs duty and transport, BUT how are you going to get on with warrentees. Have you not looked at some of the uk engine builders, anything goes wrong its gona get sorted.

Bloody great thread by the way, as I am a total mechanical novice.

[Andyp]

Have dealt with them b4, got my c-west kit through them and can recommend, had no trouble [/B]

*me mails to see how much c-west headlight cover is* hehe

[Wav]

Yep this is a tricky one. If it were my car and engine I would of bought a master kit from Rotary Aviation and had a go at rebuilding it myself. But seeing as it wasn\'t  I let Faheem choose what he wanted to do. He is still awaiting for the engine to be rebuilt out in the US :rolleyes: and he has decided to pay a surcharge on the engine ($750) for not giving an exchange engine back and then to simply sell his old block here in the UK, thus reducing shipping costs etc.  His Uncle owns a garage in New York so he will be sending it from there direct to East Midlands airport (approx. £180) with a knocked down reciept from his Uncle\'s garage and the real reciept sent in a letter via another means;)

Regars to warranty, i\'d be worried too, I think your best bet would be to take the engine out and strip it yourself then get a UK specialist to rebuild it and give you a warranty. That way you\'ll still save alot on labour cost and you\'ll still get a warranty aswell:)

Good luck, Paul:)

[mikeeech]

I have to admit that saving £1000 on labour by doing it myself is a tempting thought and an easy discisuion to make now I hva emy vw polo.

I\'ve spoken with rotechniques who will supply an engine ($2500 std against the link above £1915 ported with 3mm apex seals!!) and will warranty it "so long as it\'s fitted properly".

So here\'s a really, really nieve question, in fact I\'m almost to embarassed to ask... What could go wrong?

After all there is no cam belt, I guess plug leads need to go on in the right place (how do you tell where TDC is on No1 cylinder on a rotary?) Does it matter?

short of putting everything back from where it came from what could go wrong?
Mike

[Andyp]

my impression is that they are never new engines and are remans of others, so the warrenty protects you should anything go wrong...bit like the dealerships giving away warrenties with the cars they sell... so confident nothing will go wrong etc

[Mb3d]

You don\'t need the special service tool, just pop 2 drill bits or like in to the holes in the pulley, and then a long jack handle thru between them and then use your socket/spanner to loosen the nut....worked fine for me, same goes for re-fitting it.