eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

I just put my front cover back on, and I'm curious on how to re-tighten this bolt. Anyone know how?

Thank you

BTW, this question stems from associated problems presented in another recent thread titled "uh oh: freshly rebuilt--no oil pressure...?" If you're willing to help me troubleshoot, you're a P-I-M-P.

Corbit

AHH righty tighty lefty losey 95 ft. pounds. Did you have a bad seal ?

eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

well, problem is that it just spins the E-shaft... So does anyone know a trick to tightening it? When I put it in gear (to lock the motor etc.) it didn't feel very solid and I didn't want to yank on it and break something.

ddub

Is the motor inside the car? If it's outside the car you just need to use a flywheel stopper, or a bolt stopping the flywheel, and then torque it down.

eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

It's inside the car...

hornbm

if its in the car, just put the thing in gear and pull the ebrake. That will keep the motor from spinning

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Impact wrench y0.

Oh, dont forget the loctite on the bolt.

Tighten it well above spec...you do NOT want that thing coming off at speed, or you lose the engine in 1 minute. I've seen a lot of botched front cover/front pulley replacements result this way.

Spec is around 100ftlb, but I have to exert closer to 600ftlb plus heat to get most of them off.
I put them back on with the loctite and 400ftlb. This does not seem to affect endplay spec adversely if it is otherwise properly set.

eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

So I don't have to worry about breaking anything when I go to torque the bolt? Like, I put the torque wrench on the bolt (with it in 1st gear) and it wasn't like immediately 'locked' when I began to apply force... It got tighter as I kept putting pressure on it, but it felt to me (n00b) that it was "straining" against the tranny, flywheel etc. If I continue to put pressure on it, will it stop "straining" and actually lock up and tighten without causing any damage? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

thanks

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

I have no freaking clue about the babblings posted above. ALl I know is that you put the bolt in the hole a couple of threads, put the impact on it, and hold it for about 3 seconds with the torque setting at highest. And you're done then. I do this about once daily with rebuilds.

If you have no impact, then you'll have to rely on the drivetrain to hold the engine for you while doing it...and you can apply significantly LESS torque to the bolt. If doing this way you will encounter about 1/4 of a turn of the e-shaft (if your e-brake works very well) of "slack" before it finally binds up. This won't hurt anything at all. I would really strongly advise an impact for this job...this is the bolt with the most torque in the whole car.

ddub

Can I ask why you're doing this while it's in the car? Do you by chance have the clutch being pushed in some way? If you dont have the clutch being held in you risk having the needle bearing drop and later getting crushed causing the pulley to wobble. Holding in the clutch prevents this. Just fyi.

Kevin, you use an impact wrench? A local guy I knew screwed 3 engines or something supposedly from impacting the front bolt causing the bearings to get crushed or something. That was all speculation though because he could never get a real asnwer as to why the engines got effed up. But apparently that must not be true Good to know.

hornbm

yeah I believe we both kno what guy your talking about, interesting though. You learn something every day. Hoestly I dont think if thats the case then we are ever going to know the truth to that story

ddub

Guess it was something else, oh well. Maybe just bad luck?

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Sounds like he was screwing up the spacer/bearing install around the thrust plate. The same thing you try to avoid when doing a front cover job in the car, per mazdatrix' writeup.

Ask yourself, if a 600 ft lb gun will barely/not remove a BONE STOCK front bolt, why then would applying 450ft lb to the same bolt on the way back in cause any problems?

Obviously after this step you check endplay and provided everything was assembled right with the proper spacer then it'll be good to go.

eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

Alright, I just needed to make sure that I could trust the flywheel/tranny and brakes to hold while I tightened the front E-shaft bolt. I've spent too much time today trouble-shooting, reading old posts and posting on this forum my brain is overloading, lol.

ddub

Very true, which is why I am glad to hear it's okay to do.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Note that depending on the condition of your ebrake, it might not be enough to hold the engine from turning against this kind of torque. IT won't hurt anything, but you might find the car creeping toward you as you force the bolt to turn, if the power overwhelms the ebrake.

Corbit

what was your lack of oil pressure problem from?

eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

I'm doing this in my car because I attempted to prime the oil system and got no oil pressure. So after some troubleshooting and info from people on this board, I figured the next step would be to remove my front cover and see if I had dropped my E-shaft key. So after checking this (and finding it to be in place), and making sure the pump rotated with the engine, I'm now in the process of putting it back together.

I wasn't told that I needed to depress the clutch (learned that about 45 minutes ago), so now I'm going to again remove the front cover to make sure that the bearing hasn't "dropped".

I am unbelievably cracked out right now... You guys are all pimps, thank you.

eriksseven

iTrader: (6)

VERY good question... I still have no idea. The pump, chain, key, pick-up tube and OPR are all in place and look good to me... Maybe I didn't crank it enough to get sufficient oil pressure???

I have no idea.

Corbit

I'm stumpped , I pinched the o-ring on mine but that caused low pressure not no pressure.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Now, again, we're not talking about the ESHAFT key, which is quite large. We're talking about a MINIATURE key no bigger than 1/8"x1/4" that goes on the oil pump itself, to keep the chain driven sprocket in time with the pump. You have to remove the nut to inspect that...take a flashlight and shine it in the keyway, you should see the key. IF in doubt, remove the sprocket, or the whole oilpump, and examine it out of the car. Also be sure the oilpump and pickup (visible underneath) are tight during reinstall.