Back in the rotary world: RX-8

Ranger:

The car wasn't designed to have the engine removed without dropping the front subframe. It is possible to do so, but the way the cross-member is designed you have to have the car on the lift in order to remove the engine and transmission together as a unit. It doesn't LOOK bad until you actually get into the car, but you have to tilt the engine at about a 60 degree angle to get the front of the oil pan to clear the subframe/big electric steering rack, and at that steep of a departure angle, the transmission is going to hit the ground unless you're at least three feet up, probably more.

The picture a few posts back of the engine coming out of the car shows it angled back DOWN towards a more 45ish degree angle to keep the exhaust manifold from catching on anything.

I realized I had made a newbie mistake and also figured out why I couldn't get the engine and transmission to mate together at the same time. A pilot sleeve stayed in the engine from the donor car and one stayed in the transmission in the same spot in the engine that is in the recipient car. So, there was no way it was ever going to work.

When I bought the donor car, my initial thought was to swap the transmission from the donor car into the car I'm keeping since it has 60k fewer miles and I know one of the synchros in the transmission in there isn't all that great. This just makes the decision for me. I'll change the oil in there, too.

Edit: dowel sleeve. That's what they are called.

Alright.

I had to remove the engine, get the extra dowel sleeve out, and put the engine back into the car again but...

The engine and transmission are mated together and the engine is resting on properly torqued engine mounts.

All that remains is to hook everything back up. I'm pretty happy, this has taken forever.

I have about 15 days to have it running before the inspection expires and I have to register it again.

More work on the car today. The little rubber spacers for the radiator are not available through mazdaspeed, so I'm faced with either getting them from the dealer or trying to fabricate some out of a nut, bolt and PVC pipe.

I'll probably go with the PVC pipe idea.

Pictures! We need pictures!

I'll post pictures when it is all buttoned up and I'll take a video of the first start with the new engine.

I finally used my Mazdaspeed membership. I found out that Mazdaspeed has a lot of parts that are not on the catalog online, but if you know the SKU number, you can get them. That helped me get one of the heater core hoses that is unobtainium outside of Mazda. Apparently Mazda used odd sized fittings for their hoses. YAAAAY!

Then it is on to the suspension.

For future reference about how long does an engine pull or install take with your method?

So I got kind of a short laundry list that you might be able to help me with if you dont need them off the parts car. The pictures aren't loading for me at work because of firewall but I assume they are from a S1 rx8.

1. Clutch fork for throwout bearing
2. slave cylinder w/ hose
3. shifter assembly
4. Possibly starter but I honestly think a t2 one will fit. going to test that theory in a few weeks.

In reply to bgkast:

Now that I've done it twice and know some of the snags, I think that working solo from a car just delivered to me, I could probably do it in 4 hours if I wasn't worried about saving any hoses and just cut them and otherwise kept a steady pace.

The first time it probably took 8 hours.

In reply to fidelity101:

I'm keeping the parts you mentioned except possibly the shifter assembly. How much of it do you need?

Drove an RX8 on Monday, my want/meh meter is all confused. Would love to come check your project out sometime.

In reply to Brett_Murphy:

Well starter I might not need right now but the othersI would like. BUT I'm not in any hurry right now. I found a BNIB rx8 s1 trans locally that someone wants to sell to me for 1000, but I won't be able to pick it up until March. I have extra t2 trans output yoke (bolts up to rx8 trans) So I will be putting this in my rx7 instead of rebuilding the t2 trans.

Sure thing, Storz.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Sure thing, Storz.

Shoot me an email or PM sometime, I am always up to help wrench and wouldn't mind learning more about the triangles. I keep going back and forth on getting an RX8 for my next car...

The weather has been less than helpful in regards to getting this finished.

Well, the clutch pedal now stays glued to the floor after the first time I pushed it in. I guess I buggered something up when I was getting the engine in.

The Optima battery somehow discharged with a trickle charger on it, too. I'm going to go and see if I can use the regular battery I have tomorrow.

It started. Now to just finish buttoning it up.

Now it sounds like I'm running on one rotor and the matrix for the catalytic converter broke and shot out of the exhaust.

This thing is being a huge pain in my ass right now.

Every time I think i want a rotary, I reread this thread.

Im pulling for you. Even if the magic spinning triangle is doing its best to stay dead.

Keep in mind I bought one that was mostly dead and tried to fix it on the cheap. That tactic is going to wind up costing more in the long run, most likely.

So... how about that V6 Camaro swap?

the one I was working on in the s10? or the one proposed into an rx8 shell?

Brett_Murphy wrote: So... how about that V6 Camaro swap?

I assume you were joking here. But in all honesty, if you're going to swap a motor in, just go straight for the V8. I doubt the cost would be much different, the V8 swap is much more documented and supported, and, well, TORQUE.

If thats the case I'm still tempted in your misc clutch and shifter parts then for my potential project...

I was joking. If any non-stock engine swap happens it will be a 13b-REW with a single turbo and some sort of aftermarket management.

I noticed today I left a HUGE vacuum leak when I was trying to get it buttoned up. I've fixed that but I didn't start it back up. There is no way I'm running the engine into a busted cat, so I have to get that off first.

for whatever reason rx8s EAT cats compared to rx7s, worse than alf.