|
Small update today! As usual, it's dark and cold in the evenings, and I only have about 3-4 hours between getting home and having to go to bed. I lifted the engine off the stand and using a nice pair of digital vernier calipers borrowed from work, spent about 2 hours measuring the distance between every bolt hole to the crank, and to each other, along with various other measurements. The next step is to plot these on AutoCAD and produce a bellhousing adapter plate which can be laser or water cut.  Bolts placed in the holes act as a handy place to measure from.   At the end, I'm left with pages of measurements, some of them repeated in various forms. I can plot these as fixed-length lines and see where the nodes end up. Any errors will show up as I've measured around 3x the number of points which I need, and unless every measurement works out perfectly, I won't be letting this be made into a plate. 
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2017 00:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 18:43 |
|
|
CAD time! I've never really used CAD software before, so this took a few hours longer than it needed to :p The first step for me was to plot all of the measurements taken previously. I plotted these as circles, knowing that the intersections would be my hole centres. I made a number of "check" measurements, to ensure that my original measurements were correct (and it turns out that some weren't, and had to be re-measured).  From there, it was a simple task to find the hole centres. Blue = Jag motor, Yellow = RX8 transmission (coordinates stolen from someone else's build thread).  It looks as though the flywheel will just-about-fit! fortunately, it will likely be spaced past the adapter, so this shouldn't matter.  Next up is a mockup in thin aluminium, and then time to think about starter motor placement and designing the outer rim of this adapter. Apparently the weather will be good tomorrow, so I will throw the V6 back in and see if I've managed to get it closer to the transmission now that the firewall has been clearanced. I'm aiming for a maximum of 20mm sandwich plate, and I'm hoping to get by with a 10mm plate. That's a lot to ask for - it means digging the engine at least 40mm (probably more) into the firewall. My ultimate limit is any item in the heater box that can't be moved (ducts, etc can be reshaped). If I can get the engine to 10mm to the gearbox, it will be a freaking miracle, but would be the perfect position to help with the front clearance. Any closer, and there would not be enough material to thread for the mounting bolts.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2017 23:27
|
|
|
I ended up having a somewhat uneventful weekend. I managed to get the engine in the car and within 10mm of the transmission (woo!). This required some more serious chopping of the firewall:  Some bashing of the subframe was also needed:  The engine is still really close to the steering rack. It's not looking positive for the harmonic balancer. My current options are 1) move the steering rack forward or down, fabricate tie rod ends, mounts, etc. I don't want to do this, because then I could have just fitted a V8. The main reason for using a V6 is to not move the steering rack. 2) chop off that bolt on the steering rack. The rack may be fine without it 3) cut the balancer down to 4 ribs only and run a 4PK belt. This is a good option as the AC compressor is already on a 4-rib, and the alternator/water pump won't care. 4) fabricate a new balancer 5) fabricate an adapter to accept the smaller, 4-rib RX8 balancer 6) a combination of the above?! With that done, I used my CAD (cardboard-aided design) skills to transfer the edge of the engine and bellhousing mating faces onto thin card, which I then overlaid and photographed, imported into some real CAD software, and traced out.  I printed this today and cut it out of a piece of Dibond (aluminium composite). I tried it on the engine and transmission and...it fits!!!    There is some tweaking to do around the parts which mask the voids in the engine block, but that is easily done in CAD. I'll print an updated plate tomorrow, test fit it, and if it works, I'll have it laser-cut in steel. Next issue - the clutch master cylinder want's to back itself up into where the engine is. time to replace it with a CSC or a different slave cylinder.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2017 23:43
|
|
|
I have one of those 12" mitutoyos and an 18" that also doubles as a personal defense weapon
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2017 01:23
|
|
|
Pomp and Circumcized posted:1) move the steering rack forward or down, fabricate tie rod ends, mounts, etc. I don't want to do this, because then I could have just fitted a V8. You know what you need to do. I know they aren't very good, but didn't you just generate a spare UZ a few days ago, too?
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2017 01:35
|
|
|
See if you can find an underdriven pulley for a mazda 6. Odds are it fits, might be a bit smaller.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2017 01:56
|
|
|
Raluek posted:You know what you need to do. I generated a 2GR-FSE a few days ago, which is much better! News on the Lexus - it's been totalled (might have mentioned this before), but it wouldn't be AI if I didn't buy it back and attempt to fix it in 2 days off work. It arrives tomorrow. I've already sourced most of the parts. New, temporary, project incoming. Cop Porn Popper posted:See if you can find an underdriven pulley for a mazda 6. Odds are it fits, might be a bit smaller. Thank you sir, I'll have a look. I'm not against having any pulley put on a lathe and machined to spec. I am a little concerned about the harmonic balancing aspect of it, though, especially on a V6 which is pretty lovely at being balanced at the best of times.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2017 20:53
|
|
|
Pomp and Circumcized posted:I generated a 2GR-FSE a few days ago, which is much better! Oh, huh. I didn't know the IS/GS/whatever used a V6 at all; I thought it was UZ V8 or JZ I6. Learn something new every day
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2017 23:12
|
|
|
The "performance hybrid" models got the V6. I think that now, any xx350 Lexus now has the 2GR-FE 3.5l V6. Toyota are stuffing those motors in everything (though the FSE is better :p). Although you're correct - back in 2006 it was 2?JZ or 3UZ until the GS450h came out. Edit: Update, finished revision 3 of the bellhousing adapter and drew the parts to make up a cute build-your-own 54mm socket for you-know-why (rotaries  ). It's time to talk nicely to the man who runs the laser cutter at work.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2017 23:43
|
|
|
Pomp and Circumcized posted:The "performance hybrid" models got the V6. I think that now, any xx350 Lexus now has the 2GR-FE 3.5l V6. Toyota are stuffing those motors in everything (though the FSE is better :p). I just bought a used 2-1/8" 3/4" drive socket at a swap meet tool vendor, and a 3/4"-1/2" drive adapter. It's close enough, when they're that big. Mind you, if I still had access to a waterjet, I would have cut the hex out of 1/4" plate and welded it to a couple inches of pipe and a a handle, like the one Mazdatrix sells. Still, the used socket and adapter were under $20-25.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2017 01:22
|
|
|
Wikipedia posted:The 2GR-FSE is a 3.5L engine used in the Lexus IS, GS 350, Mark X and Crown incorporate Toyota's latest D-4S twin injection fuel system. This system combines direct injection (949cc/min injectors) with traditional port injection (298cc/min injectors).  That's... loving impressive.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2017 19:38
|
|
|
It's one hell of an engine. Put a 200hp electric motor behind it and things start getting interesting! 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, and 40mpg highway. From a car that weighs 2 tonnes (and costs £4k used). Here's a nice review: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/lexus/lexus-gs450h-hybrid-2007-review/ Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Feb 22, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2017 22:43
|
|
|
I love that Toyota every now and then almost remembers how to have fun, like the Blade Master: It's a Corolla hatch with a 206kw 2GR-FE shoved in it. Then they gave it soft suspension and an auto, but still. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 06:41
|
|
|
So uh, what's it like doing spark plugs on the firewall side in that? Or a valve cover gasket?
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 06:45
|
|
|
That's Japan only isn't it? I imagine no one other than Toyota techs can answer that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 08:01
|
|
|
Also what do the Japanese care anyway, by the time the plugs need doing they long ago flogged the car to one of us South Pacific suckers.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 08:40
|
|
|
Re: the 54mm socket, this 50mm socket is available locally in 3/4", and it's like 11 quid. With your access to a machine shop, would it be possible/feasible to get that, and then machine off 2mm on each of the six faces, abusing the "round corner" design a bit? E: fuckit, I have a somewhat busted one you can *have* if you want.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 09:18
|
|
|
BuckyDoneGun posted:Also what do the Japanese care anyway, by the time the plugs need doing they long ago flogged the car to one of us South Pacific suckers. Welp, already had a quick search on TradeMe.co.nz. 12k for a decent example seems ok for the fact that you get Corolla reliability + 200hp at the wheels to play with, but it's still a 10 year car. Was hoping they where down in the 8-10k range. Then again VW GTI MK5 (manual), VW R32 (DSG) and 130i (manual) are still 15-18k so it's a tough sell when for a bit more I can get something a lot less plastic fantastic. Sorry for the derail, been thinking of getting a 5 door hatchback (with some power behind it) later on in the year and didn't know the Blade Master existed till now. 90% I'll probably go for the Mazda 3 turbo. Though AI option of K20A Honda Edix + supercharger kit makes up the other 10%.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 09:40
|
|
|
bolind posted:Re: the 54mm socket, this 50mm socket is available locally in 3/4", and it's like 11 quid. With your access to a machine shop, would it be possible/feasible to get that, and then machine off 2mm on each of the six faces, abusing the "round corner" design a bit? Thanks for the offer, and yes that would probably work, but amusingly it will be easier for me to have the profiles laser cut, and then I can just weld them together.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 09:54
|
|
|
BuckyDoneGun posted:I love that Toyota every now and then almost remembers how to have fun, like the Blade Master: Wow did not know about this! So cool!
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 17:31
|
|
|
OK, time to put the Mazda on hold for a short while, because it's time to work on a new and previously unexpected project. Meet The WREXUS  Time to survey the damage! The UK is being battered by storm Doris (lol) today, with 90+mph winds and heavy rain, so progress was limited. I managed to get most of the damaged parts off, though. Headlight is properly fuckeroonied:   No cutting or breaking of bits, no unbolting of bolts needed, I just unplugged the wiring harness and this is what greeted me   Fortunately, I have a good relationship with my local Lexus dealer, who hooked me up with a replacement. I removed the wing/fender and the front bumper, was glad to find only minimal damage to the uni-body. The metalwork here on the left is meant to be straight up/down.  This was easily-ish massaged back into place. When the new fender arrives, I'll be able to finalise the position. The car had a strange steering issue. The steering would feel 'lumpy', and would become much much worse when the power steering was turned on. I removed the tie rods and narrowed it down to the steering rack.No pictures of this, because of the HOLY-poo poo-ITS-RAINING-SIDEWAYS-ness of the day. I pulled the rack to pieces to see what had happened.  These racks have a spiral groove cut into them, which runs on a recirculating-ball bearing inside the motor.Turns out that the tracks for the balls had been damaged, likely by the power steering trying to re-position the rack during a prolonged collision/scraping with the associated wheel.  I found a used rack locally for a reasonable price, and have ordered it, along with tie rods, and one steering knuckle (the knuckle on the 'bad' side is slightly twisted, and the ball joint isn't loving life). More tomorrow, when I measure up the geometry to see if the control arms are bent!
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2017 19:18
|
|
|
Apologies for the not-so-interesting updates - however this is the only car-related thing that I'm working on at the moment. The fog light (£150 part) had some damage to its mounting brackets. Time to weld those back on with a soldering iron and some plastic from the headlight! The headlight has proven to be a great source of black plastic.    I forgot to take a picture, but I was able to mount this back in the bumper. The number plate holder got the same treatment- I'm sure I'll replace this in the future, but this will do for now.  With the bumper off, I was shocked at how there is no damage to the car itself considering the force of the impact. I'm fine with that.  I 'welded' up the cracks in the bumper, cleaned the rubber and paint transfer off, and refitted the bumper as best as I could for now. The fender got some 'massaging' back into shape, so that it could at least cover the exposed parts of the car and make it slightly more waterproof.   (The string is just there to hold the bags on the brake rotors - to help stop them from rusting in the rain) I found a bent steering knuckle on the damaged side of the car, so have decided to replace the rack, tie rods, both knuckles, and the lower control arm on that side. The hub and upper arm both look fine. Headlight is currently being
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2017 17:36
|
|
|
Wow, this thread has been stalled for almost two months. Time for an update! Firstly, I quit my (recently acquired) job, which gives me a combination of "loads of time to work on cars whenever you want" and also "no time to work on cars for weeks at a time". I've been able to fit work in here and there, but nothign really update worthy. Here's what has happened in March/April! First off, the Wrexus: The front Right headlight took most of the damage from the collision. Sellers on eBay wanted "too much" for a second-hand unit...Lexus was able to deliver me a new unit for less than many of the used items found online. Granted, the used items included lamps, wiring, ballast, etc....but mine were fine, all I needed was the plastic housing! The box this thing came in is huge!  Added my wiring, lamp, and ballast, and ready to throw in!. Surprisingly this assembly includes the up/down and left/right motors...I was expecting to have to re-use mine. Thanks, Lexus!  Installed, and looking good! I had to beat the dented fender/wing back into shape before I could mount this headlight - this picture shows about 4 hours of work!  All that is left for this car is the damaged suspension components. I ordered a replacement control arm from a breaker in Lithuania (yeah.....that was the closest one I could find), and a steering knuckle from some guy who was breaking an IS220d. That should be all of the damaged components replaced.   One of the decorative plastic "spokes" on the GS450h-specific wheels had sheared from its mounting. Some JB weld (we have to import this stuff from the US, lol) sorted that. The newly-JB-welded wheel was left to cure and the rebalanced. The JB-welded part is purely decorative, so this repair doesn't concern me too much, however I made sure that the wheel was balanced with the extra weight of the JB-weld.  Finally, I took some time to clean the floor mats. My procedure is: 1) Apply liberal amounts of carpet shampoo with a sponge.....2) pressure-wash the poo poo out of it. This seems to be an all-round great method - I've used it on carpets and mats for years. You can see the difference, top = before, bottom = after.  On to the Mazda!! I spend £way-too-much on a refrigerant recovery machine (  ) and some suitable containers, to let me evacuate the cars AC system in an environmentally-friendly manner. When I came to drain it, the system was empty! It had been full the year before- either the seller had topped it off before selling it to me, or I had managed to damage a line/fitting somewhere. Ugh. I stripped down the Jaguar wiring harness to recover useful connectors. I forgot to take a picture (more will follow!), but I decided to de-solder the connectors for the "drivers door module", as they had enough pins of the correct gauge to re-use for my ECU. I recovered the suitable connectors from the harness, along with all the connectors which I could find both the male and female halves of. Within an hour, I found myself deep in this:  3 hours later, and I'm left with:  This should be more than enough to provide me with necessary connections and wire for the whole project, plus plenty to spare for future projects. Next up, time to get the engine fitting properly in the bay. I'd spent days trying to get it to fit without cutting too much into the car, but decided that since this engine was going in this drat car, it's time to just make the fucker fit.# First step is to loosen the steering rack and let it fall out of the way:  Next, put the engine in, mark out any interference on the front subframe....  ...and chop that fucker. Now, I can get the engine in and out of the car with no difficulty at all.  Next up, ancillaries. The external water pump clashes with this front-ish crossmember. The crossmember was rusted out at the bottom, and it's been a pain in my rear end for the whole project. As far as I can tell, it's only there to mount the battery and airbox. Time to cut it out. I forgot to take a photo, but it's now gone.  Next up, the alternator. The alternator was mounted low on the right hand side of the engine. It took me a while to work out where the mounting threads were, until I realised that the lower holes were on the loving oil pan...the oil pan which I had to replace as it wouldn't fit in the RX8. Also, since this is a RHD car, the alternator wouldn't even come close to fitting in that location any more without hitting the steering shaft..   At this point, I spent about an hour trying to figure out if it would be possible to keep the AC in this project. I eventually decided to ditch it, because....
I decided to mount the alternator on the left hand side of the engine. This originally housed the PS pump and AC compressor. The alternator is larger than both of these, and will occupy the space taken up by both original components. I test fitted the alternator in the car to make sure it fitted:  And then pulled the engine onto a stand to fabricate an alternator bracket. I ended today with the block-side and alternator-side parts of the bracket fabricated. Still to do is the link between them (it's hard to see from the photos, but the bracket must slope down towards the block to meet the alternator mounts).   And finally, I learned that a MIG welder and an engine hoist make perfectly viable garden tools! 
Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Apr 23, 2017 |
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2017 21:20
|
|
|
Screw air conditioning, you don't need it when you've got speed. Lots of good work here.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2017 04:38
|
|
|
Seat Safety Switch posted:Lots of good work here. Thanks! I've got this week of work as well so should be able to make some progress. Towards the end of last week, I ordered the bellhousing adapter plate. I had originally planned to have it laser cut at my (now previous) work, but they ended up messing me around for 6 weeks and not actually getting it done. In the end I sent my CAD drawing to a popular laser cutting facility and paid to have it made. It should be done by the end of the month (they are very popular, and have quote a long queue at the moment). In the meantime, I can get some other things done on the project. This plate is holding me up, as my plan was always: get plate fabricate motor mounts (finalise placement) patch firewall, patch/reinforce subframe, replace front crossmember, replace/relocate steering rack, replace swaybar mount water pump, idlers and alternator adapt flywheel at some point mount fuel rails, oil filter relocation parts fabricate exhaust and intake manifolds wiring fuel and cooling systems re-route brake and clutch lines design ECU circuit boards more wiring programming more wiring and programming put car back together done Much of that is not necessarily in order, and many jobs could be done at the same time (for example, working on the car during the day and programming/designing the PCB in the evening). However, without the plate, I can't put the engine in the car, which leaves me with many unknowns. While waiting for the plate, I pulled apart the least-valuable computer from the Jaguar that had enough pins of the right thickness on its connectors. I chose to sacrifice the "drivers door module". Here's the pair of connectors from that module:  I spent a few hours with a digital caliper and mapped the pin locations in EAGLE (my chosen PCB design software). This will let me integrate the connectors into my PCB design for the ECU (as a reminder, the ECU is a Speeduino 0.4.2, passing through a PCB of my own design, which integrates the Speeduino and other engine sensors with the RX8 CAN-based systems). Anyway, here it is, printed. The box around the connectors is the total size of the PCB which I am designing (edit: It's not all on the picture...it's 16cm wide by 10cm tall). This needs to fit two microcontrollers, a power supply, power transistors for the throttle motor, a whole host of related components, and a connector to the Speeduino. I'm still mid-way through designing this, and it's proving to be a pain as I'm still not 100% sure on exactly what I will need from this device (e.g. I only decided to cut the AC last week, which removes my need for a compressor clutch output, three-stage fan controls, and inputs from the pressure switch and compressor rotation sensor).   This doesn't look like a lot, but between the desoldering of the connectors, the stripping and sorting of the looms, and the CAD work, this was the best part of a full day's work. Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Apr 23, 2017 |
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2017 00:55
|
|
|
Pomp and Circumcized posted:Anyway, here it is, printed. The box around the connectors is the total size of the PCB which I am designing (edit: It's not all on the picture...it's 16cm wide by 10cm tall). This needs to fit two microcontrollers, a power supply, power transistors for the throttle motor, a whole host of related components, and a connector to the Speeduino. I'm still mid-way through designing this, and it's proving to be a pain as I'm still not 100% sure on exactly what I will need from this device (e.g. I only decided to cut the AC last week, which removes my need for a compressor clutch output, three-stage fan controls, and inputs from the pressure switch and compressor rotation sensor). Oh, anyone who has dabbled in this poo poo knows that's not trivial to do. Hell, I spent an entire night designing an FDM part to replace the sliding rear window switch in the overhead console I bought to replace the basic one in my truck. 5 revisions, ending with something that actually fits, and doesn't look awful.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2017 16:17
|
|
|
sharkytm posted:5 revisions, ending with something that actually fits, and doesn't look awful. This. I must be on my 4th or 5th PCB design already...each one is closer to the finished product than the last, but every time I change one thing I end up having to change a hundred smaller things, essentially putting me back to the drawing board every drat time. Today was spent finishing the alternator mounting bracket, and verifying that the engine fits with the water pump, alternator, and all belt tensioners, etc, in place. First off, some CAD to work out the engine-side of the lower part of the bracket:   With that in place, I was able to tack a temporary piece in to hold the whole lot together to make it to the bench. The alternator was positioned 'precisely' using chocks of wood, and an impact gun weighing down the serpentine belt to stop the carefully-balanced alternator from falling over.   An hour or so later. More cardboard templates were used to create the joining pieces, which were welded in. gently caress the guy who created the "grinder and paint...." saying, these pieces looked so much nicer before I tried to grind them down.  I plan to join these two pieces together later on, once I'm 100% sure that I'm going with this. I'll do it when I weld up the engine mounts, so I can paint everything at the same time. This thing is rock solid. Holy poo poo, that alternator isn't going anywhere.  Time to see if this thing actually fits in the car. My only 'proof' that it fits was me sticking it up in the bay form below, and waggling it around and noting that there was *some* clearance to the frame rail.  Holy poo poo this thing only just fits. There's about 15mm around it in most directions, which is going to have to be enough.  I tried to place the ABS module back in the usual place, but it gets in the way of the dipstick, so, just like everyone else, it will need to go where the washer fluid bottle once was. On the plus side, a UZZ32 washer bottle will fit next to it perfectly. I knew I'd be able to get a Soarer part in that bay somewhere   I'll trim the awkward corners from the bracket in the future, as well as grind it a bit more to make it look less rough. The rest of the day was spend clearing my garage and tracing wires for both motors. Exciting stuff.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2017 22:39
|
|
|
Not much has happened this week - I'm still waiting on my adapter plate which should arrive next week, unfortunately I'm now working for the next two weeks so won't get a change to fit it. Once the plate turns up, it will unlock a large amount of work which I can do on the car. Most importantly for me, I can weld up the firewall, and then replace the dash and interior. I can also fabricate the motor mounts. Once the engine is "in" for good, I can start on all the other areas (fuel, cooling, electrical, intake, exhaust, etc). I fitted the old serpentine belt to see how it works with the new alternator, and to decide on the length. Unfortunately, due to the new alternator placement, the tensioner works to loosen the belt, not tighten it. I will need to fabricate a new tensioner from scratch. How exciting.  I bought a Mondeo ST220 fuel rail and injectors, in the hope that they would fit on the Jaguar engine. It's a nicer design, with a metal fuel rail and a front entry. The Jaguar fuel rail has a port in the back for a pressure/temperature switch which will collide with the firewall in the RX8.  Unfortunately, the rail doesn't quite fit. I would need to modify the lower manifold by grinding off some mounting tabs and drilling replacement holes. The fuel inlet also hits the Y-shaped water bridge for the two cylinder heads. The ST200 manifold is taller, and heavier than the Jaguar one, so I guess I'm stuck with the Jag unit. I fitted the Jaguar X-Type coils (these have built in igniters, much easier than buying or making my own igniters, and cheaper too!), and re-fitted the Jaguar fuel rail, after cleaning up the top end of the engine somewhat. I will need to fabricate a blanking plate for the missing sensor.  Finally, I found a local steel shop that were able to sell me some off-cuts of steel, to use for the engine mounts, and to repair the front crossmember.  That's it for this week, hopefully I'll be back sometime next month with plenty more progress!
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2017 21:30
|
|
|
Xp sick thread... come back to us cs goons. Also, pretty sure the 2GR-FSE is in the RC, IS, and GS 350s while the ES gets the FE, same with the Avalon and V6 Camry. Gristley Bear fucked around with this message at 17:45 on May 24, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 24, 2017 17:42
|
|
|
Hey bro! Yeah, the 2GR motor and its variants are popular today throughout the Toyota and Lexus range! No CS (or PC anything) for me until August - I'm away from home until then. This also explains the lack of updates. I do have an updates-worth of stuff to post, but don't really have the time to do so...I'll try to do so at some point...
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2017 00:13
|
|
|
I've had one day at home in the last month. I was greeted by the bell-house adapter plate when I got home, along with the parts needed to build a 54mm socket to remove the RX8 flywheel pulley.  The socket componenets stack up like so:  It took a few hours to countersink and enlarge/tap the mounting holes in the adapter plate.  But the drat thing fits!!! All of the bolt holes line up...something I'm very happy about.  It even fits on the transmission!  I mounted the plate to the engine, lowered it into the car, and bolted the drivers (right hand) side of the plate to the transmission. Unfortunately, to get the engine to mount flush to the transmission, a lot more metal will need to be cut from the firewall. You can sort-of see the engine facing slightly to the left in this image:   After this setback, I decided that I wasn't able to properly verify that the transmission and engine were properly aligned, and decided to remove the transmission to verify this alignment. These transmissions are a pain to remove, and I ran out of daylight and had to return to work before I managed to get the transmission out. In the mean time, I assembled the socket:  I'd heard that these nuts were a huge pain to remove, yet the impact driver removed it in less than a second.  However, I was unable to remove the flywheel. I tried using a pair of M8 bolts to push it off, but this didn't work, and ended up cross-threading inside the flywheel, destroying the threads on one of the holes. I tried using a brass hammer to knock it free, and ended up denting the front surface. Not great!! Any suggestions? I was thinking of drilling the removal holes out and tapping them to M10x1.5, but I guess this would affect the balance. Though I guess I'd be looking at re-balancing or replacing this flywheel anyway. It would be great to find a flywheel that fits on the motor without an adapter...modifying an RX8 flywheel sounds expensive and time consuming - but it's the last big question mark on the build - everything else should be straightforward.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2017 19:48
|
|
|
I built a puller that was as simple as a plate that spans the two bolt holes and presses on the center but ( installed loosely on the end of the e-shaft). You tighten the two bolts progressively to pop it loose. I don't thing the two bolt holes are to push the flywheel off like a brake rotor, just to anchor a tool to pull it off. I believe that the official tool has a center screw like a gear puller, but mine worked. Usually, hitting the flywheel with a soft faced hammer all around the perimeter (unintuitively, toward the engine) will pop it off the taper. Thread the nut on a little to keep it from falling on the floor. There are videos on the web.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2017 20:34
|
|
|
Thanks for the info, that makes sense. It did seem that the bolts weren't able to push on a flat surface behind the flywheel. I guess I'll retap the holes and use a piece of flat bar to help remove it. I've tried hitting it with a brass hammer many times, all I've done is left marks on the flywheel.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2017 21:19
|
|
|
I'm kind of surprised a brass hammer marked a cast iron flywheel. I used a plastic dead blow hammer when I tried it. I honestly don't recall if it worked, though. I think it didn't, which is why I made the tool.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2017 22:40
|
|
|
Here's the tool that RB has: http://www.racingbeat.com/RX8/Flywheels/22002.html Tutorials on removal without the tool, or rather, with a hammer, just in case you missed something in your technique: https://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/flywheelremoval.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erXefDbfrLA http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2ndgen/tech_flywheel_remove.html I can't claim any expertise - I've only removed one flywheel, and I used my home-made puller, which works more or less like the RB one. The general consensus seems to be sometimes it's easy, but sometimes it's a pain.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2017 22:52
|
|
|
This is the video I followed. I took some serious swings at it, but nothing! I was thinking about heating up the flywheel and trying to beat it off that way, but don't want to risk damaging a rear main seal or other component, as I'd like to sell this running engine.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2017 21:33
|
|
|
I'm back from work - what was meant to be a few days away turned into 6 weeks away from this project. Before deciding that the engine is in it's "final" position, and using that position to fabricate mounts and weld up the firewall, I wanted to be sure that the adapter plate was able to centre the input shaft of the transmission to the centre of the crankshaft. To do this, I decided to pull the transmission. This is a bit of a pain on the RX8, especially when everything is rusted in place. The "powerplant frame" didn't need to come out, but once the transmission was unbolted, it really wanted to.  With the PPF, carbon driveshaft, exhaust, and various other rusted-in brackets out of the way, the transmission was easy enough to lift straight out of the engine bay.  Here it is mounted to the engine for the first time. It appears that the two line up as expected.   Before replacing the transmission, I wire-wheeled and painted the PPF, the exhaust heat shield, and my previously-fabricated alternator brackets.   While waiting for those to dry, I had a look at fitting the clutch slave cylinder. I knew this wouldn't fit due to the way the bleeder sticks outwards.   I removed the bleeder, notched the adapter plate, and adjusted the hard line slightly. Somehow, the drat thing fits!   The final job is to reattach the bleeder. This was welded back on in a different orientation.   Unfortunately, I may have hardened the metal while welding, as I've so far managed to blunt 3 new drill bits while trying to re-drill the bleed hole into the chamber. I'm not sure how to proceed with this - my current plan is to bore out the bleeder to a larger diameter and fit a remote bleeder - which is more work than I fancy when all I really need to do is drill a small hole. Transmission goes back in tomorrow, the engine will follow, the firewall will be clearanced for the final time, and hopefully I'll have time to start making engine mounts. Flywheel is still firmly attached. With the dented surface and damaged thread on the bolt hole, I'm not sure if I want to be using it any more. Thy flywheel is still the big item that can cause problems in this build - it's the one item that will need attention from someone else. There's also some Soarer updates on the way! Pomp and Circumcized fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Jul 17, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2017 01:45
|
|
|
Cobalt drill bit and a shitload of lube.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2017 22:51
|
|
|
By drill a little hole you mean drill a hole, thread, and cut a tapered seat, right?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2017 22:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 18:43 |
|
|
DJ Commie posted:By drill a little hole you mean drill a hole, thread, and cut a tapered seat, right? I welded on the original part that has the thread and tapered seat, I'm now trying to join this back up to the slave cylinder :p.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2017 01:05
|
|