TWiR 1986 S3 TWR

[KiwiDave]

It was a few hours well spent, so it was. I had a rather stern word with TWiR the night before and made her promise to play nicely!

And so she did, pretty much. There were a couple of tight nuts and a gearbox bolt that was very close to getting rounded off but nothing that brute force (Nik) and a hammer (Me) couldn't handle.

It was also good that there was no blood spilt either. A few instances of pain sure, but no blood. This bodes quite well for the future, me thinks?

So, big snaps up to Nik and Madame le Jo for travelling a not insignificant amount of miles to help me out. Favors to be returned forthwith.

Also .... can anyone recommend a tame welder type person to take care of a rather large hole in a chassis rail. Rather annoyingly, my name is not Steve A so this is not part of my skillset

[ian65]

that rot in the chassis rail looks like the suspension mount will need to come off as well to cut out all the rust and fix it properly.

[KiwiDave]

Yeah Ian, it's very close to it. Very rusty nuts too so I don't like the odds of getting them off intact. I should really take both sides off, drop the sway bar off too and get everything cleaned up.

[ian65]

I would Dave while the engines out and you've got the access...

[Ghostkls]

That's quite a serious rust hole you have there Dave. Any idea what caused it to rust there? Seems odd that the hole is mid way up the rail....

[KiwiDave]

That's quite a serious rust hole you have there Dave. Any idea what caused it to rust there? Seems odd that the hole is mid way up the rail....

There is a pre drilled hole in that location anyway. Not sure what has caused it to go all septic though ... it's fine on the other side.

[KiwiDave]

Had a bit of spare time so pulled some bits off the motor. It's so much easier when it's just hangin' on the crane!









Now all you have to do is wait for the inevitable 'how does it go back together'? questions

[KiwiDave]

Here's a few pics from yesterday. Mr Tool showed me the taking apart process. Not a lot of time today so just a short update and more to come later ....


This is what blocks up your water passages. I've only ever seen it in dry solidified form but it is, in fact, the consistency and color of baby diarrhoea dark brown! It filled the whole chamber and is seen here almost all scooped out



And here in a coffee cup for your viewing pleasue ... yum


With the sump removed, surprisingly clean


An early style oil strainer alonside the much smaller later 12a version


Front cover off


Once again, surprisingly clean!


This is one of the long bolts that hold the motor sandwich in place. Note the 'washer' which is, in fact, a seal and is replaced at rebuild time.


This is a special bolt and is marked with the old mazda 'm' to identify it from the others. The reason for the specialness escapes me right now. Ask Mr Tool and he will explain More later .......

[ian65]

Interesting Dave....have you determined the reason for the loss of compression yet or do you need to tear the engine down further to find out?
On my dead engine I put a boroscope in the rear rotor leading plug hole and I could see the damage to the apex seal and the rotor.

[KiwiDave]

Reason for compression loss found Ian, more tomorrow. I'm told that 'borescope' is the correct term although boroscope is accepted.