My RX-8 Rebuild/Project Thread

R

RenesisKing

That thing got a hemi??
:
2004 Mazda RX-8 GT
So my engine just randomly s*** the bed on me before Christmas last year, so as you can imagine, I was quite thrilled at my early Christmas present. The thing that bugged me the most is that it wasn't my fault. If it was my fault, I'd take the blame like a man. Anyway, I finally got my car into my garage after having it sit at my friend's shop and in my driveway for a while. The car is completely dead, no battery power or anything. I took some of the stuff off and here are some pics.


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Pulled out the battery and the cover for the ECU.
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Factory ECU
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Electronic Steering Control Module
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These wires and connectors were a pain to pull out. Broke some tabs unfortunately but can always get new ones.
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Whatever I took out, I somewhat put them back together so that I have all the bolts in the right place and know where everything goes.
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I think I will get some colored electrical tape so I can properly mark where things go and what they are connected to. I need to properly label things.
 
A little more progress today. I got the bumper and hood off. I got two trays today for draining my coolant tomorrow and two jacks to raise the rear up.

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nice man, if you ever need any parts let me know. I part these cars out so i have tons of parts.

I have a nice 2011 4 port RX8 motor with 10k on it waiting to see some boost haha
 
Thanks guys! Fatti03MSP, you wouldn't happen to have any 3-rotors sitting around would you?

mymmeryloss, I am trying to go with a 20b but we'll see how it goes. I need to see what is wrong with my engine first.
 
So I drained the oil from the pan and the two coolers. As much as possible that is. I also drained the coolant and as much of it as possible as cleanly as possible. Thank god for the huge drain pan. Next step is to remove other connectors, fuel lines, and make sure nothing comes in contact with the brake distributor thing.
 
RenesisKing said:
Thanks guys! Fatti03MSP, you wouldn't happen to have any 3-rotors sitting around would you?

mymmeryloss, I am trying to go with a 20b but we'll see how it goes. I need to see what is wrong with my engine first.
Click to expand...

i wish lol, it would be going in my 2nd rx7 haha.

if you ever need some help on taking it apart let me know. I have stripped 8 or so RX8s so far
 
fatti03msp, I could use some advice and tips. I drained as much of the fluids as possible, I'm trying to figure out how to drain my fuel tank so I don't have fuel leaking all over the place when I pull the engine out. I need to follow the fuel lines and figure out where I can disconnect them. I have about a half tank of fuel still in there.
 
Here are some more pics. I am having a little trouble figuring out how to unhook the clutch cable and how to detach the other massive oil cooler hoses that are still connected to the engine. The left side of the engine bay (right side of the car) is completely unhooked except for the engine mount. The right side....thats another story.

Here are two fuel lines that I unhooked. I can only find two of them though when the car has four....:idk:
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These are the damn oil cooler hoses that go from the engine to the oil cooler. The left side of the pic is where they come from the engine and the right side is where they go to the one of the oil coolers.
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Unbolted the Starter Motor's power.
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Unbolted the catless test pipe. Needed a little WD40 but got that done easily.
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Unbolted the V-Band Clamp but its going to take a bit more coaxing to get it out. No rush on that part.
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After I figure out the oil cooler lines, I have to worry about the main brace that runs from the diff to the transmission and the cross beams and the transmission brace that I added on for stiffness. Its going to be fun dropping that transmission.
 
For some stupid ass reason, my SD card slot is not working on my laptop. I drained the clutch fluid which was a total **** job. It leaked everywhere and got all over the paint in the engine bay (near the master cylinder) so the paint is slowly coming off. Its a bit less red as the rest of the engine bay. I had to drain it so I could get the clutch cable out.

I damn near blew my hand off when I was taking off the AC coolant lines, I thought I relieved all the pressure but it built back up apparently and it was like a damn gun shot.

I cut my little finger on my right hand open pretty good trying to take out another heater line (I think) going into the fire wall.

I finally got the damn clips out of the oil hoses that go to the oil coolers and removed the clamps.

I just have to get that one hose out, and get some sockets and a massive wrench to get the nuts/bolts that hold my transmission and diff in place and I can have my engine out by this weekend hopefully!


Took out the air pump.
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Took off the drive pulley and belts so it can clear the cross member.
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These are the oil hoses that were a pain to take out. I got them finally, thank God!
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This one went underneath the cross member. The picture was taken upside down.
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This is the fitting where the AC line goes into the fire wall that I nearly blew my hand off on. I can't get that other tube out!
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This was biggest pain in the ass ever. The clutch crap.
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This was the result....
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I'm doing it wrong? I'm trying to pull out my engine and transmission. Not just the engine. I took out just about everything he did.
 
RenesisKing said:
I'm doing it wrong? I'm trying to pull out my engine and transmission. Not just the engine. I took out just about everything he did.
Click to expand...

You do not need to remove the AC lines, you just dumped about 3 lbs of refrigerant into the atmosphere (thanks). You do not need to drain the brake fluid (you called it clutch fluid), you do not need to remove the ECU, power steering module(everything in that black box stays where its at). Did not need to remove the coolant tank ( I hope you drained the block :/), did not need to drain the oil out of the coolers (much easier to do later). You do not need to drain your fuel tank, there are essentially 3 other fuel line connections you can remove those when you pull the engine. The main red one you pulled is for the fuel tank...

Also if I read correctly your car wouldn't start so you decided the engine was bad? Did you have a compression test performed by Mazda at all?

I'm sure I could go on you just haven't detailed everything, I'm not trying to be a dick it's just coming out that way.
 
Thats fine, I'm not taking any offense.

I'll start with the AC. The AC unit is on the engine, and with my car sitting on the jack stands the way it is, I can't get at it any other way. I needed to remove the ECU so I can unplug all the wires that are connected to the engine. My power steering rack fails on occasion so why not pull the PSCM out while I was at it? Coolant tank had a leak, might as well take it out and get a new one. Coolant is drained from the engine, as is all the oil. The two fuel lines need to be disconnected to pull the engine out. No I did not have a compression test done, I had it towed to my friend's shop and he put a socket on the crank and tried to turn it. Didn't turn so I'm guessing its an apex seal that broke and is preventing it from turning.
 
RenesisKing said:
Thats fine, I'm not taking any offense.

I'll start with the AC. The AC unit is on the engine, and with my car sitting on the jack stands the way it is, I can't get at it any other way. I needed to remove the ECU so I can unplug all the wires that are connected to the engine. My power steering rack fails on occasion so why not pull the PSCM out while I was at it? Coolant tank had a leak, might as well take it out and get a new one. Coolant is drained from the engine, as is all the oil. The two fuel lines need to be disconnected to pull the engine out. No I did not have a compression test done, I had it towed to my friend's shop and he put a socket on the crank and tried to turn it. Didn't turn so I'm guessing its an apex seal that broke and is preventing it from turning.
Click to expand...

Power steering rack issues are most likely due to the coolant overflow hose, which drains directly onto the PS connects (Stupid design from Mazda). There are many ways to go about it, from the looks of things you went the extreme hard way. But you clearly have a plan and have some other things to sort out.

Your theory about the apex seal is way off, was the car in gear and on the ground when you did the test with the socket?

The housings are made of aluminum and Apex seldom fail in the renesis 70% of the time its form side seal wear/shrinkage causing low compression.
 
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