gonetomorrow

NA 1988 fc3. I've followed the pages of the owners manual for engine removal and have also removed the hood. The owners manual doesn't provide lift point locations for attaching the chain. It also says to remove the bolts attaching the tranny to the motor but I'm unsure how to break the connection between the two. I may pull the tranny as well (car not running when purchased and lower tranny drain plug missing in action) but figure it will be easier to do the pieces separately. I searched, particularly for pictures and looked at the faqs but didn't have any luck. Any pics, links or advice will be much appreciated.

RotaryVillain

If you planned on pulling them both out anyways it is much easier imho to pull them @ the same time. That way you dont have to deal with "rocking" the tranny out of the engine (until everything is out of the car that is, and Then it will be much easier to do outside of the car).If you pull them both @ the same time make sure you put a jackstand, towel, or something underneath the driveshaft so when you pull the engine/tranny combo out the driveshaft doesnt hit the ground hard and cause damage to it or you can just remove the driveshaft which is what i like to do because many times i find myself reinstalling engine alone and it is Much easier to just be able to install the engine/tranny combo And THEN reinstall the driveshaft RATHER then leaving the driveshaft on and having to Align it with the Tranny AS your Trying to put everything in(which is pretty much impossible unless you have someone else there to line up the driveshaft while you move the engine inward,been there and tried to do that by myself,lol).There Should be two hooks to pull one near the front of the manifold and one attached to the rear engine iron if i remember correctly (will try to go out to my fc and take pics later). The reason I say "should" is that perhaps the reason you dont see them is for some reason they're not there (like maybe the guy started removing stuff to try to diagnose the engine and forgot to reinstall them, which is common). Ive gotten project fc's missing the engine hooks before because of similar issues, luckily I have plenty of spares in the garage to use .

Baldy

Holy ramble, batman!



Pull the tranny and engine together.



The lift point is on top of the motor, looks just like a metal loop, not connected to anything, just bolted on top.

gonetomorrow

Not at all, not at all. Appreciate both posts. Looks like I'll put the lower tranny bolts back in and pull em both. Any benefit to removing the intake before said removal of motor? Seems like it would make it easier to see what i was doing. I'll take pics of the whole process and post them up.

j9fd3s

ive done a bunch every different way. pulling it out i find it easier to just unplug the harness from the ecu, toss it on top of the motor, unbolt the trans, and the hoses (fuel, oil and coolant) and pull it out.



no need to take the hood off, it opens plenty far.



putting it in, i like to put the engine in pretty bare, and put the intake/fuel/emissions stuff on in the car

gonetomorrow

It's funny you should mention the harness cause that's the one thing I couldn't get undone from behind the intake and, frankly, that's why I took the hood off so I could see where it was plugged in. Also, I chipped one of the injector plug housings pulling it off, so I guess that would have been better left on as well. How much does this motor weigh?

ColinRX7

If you pull them both make sure your hoist has an adjustable balance hanging off the main shackle..



I found some pictures from about 5 years ago...





Here's a pic of tipping the assembly on the way out (it's long, I suggest stripping the intakes off).

[attachment=44937:tipping.jpg]





Also a pic of the eyelettes to connect to the hoist hooks. You can see your primary fuel rail at the left, the oil fill and dipstick at the right. Dig, and ye shall find.

[attachment=44938:linkage.jpg]

j9fd3s

just the block is in the 250-270lbs range, with everything on it, its more like 350lbs



yeah the harnesses get crispy, although connectors can be replaced

gonetomorrow

Well, I went ahead and pulled it before I checked back here. I followed the pages of the manual for engine removal but there sure was more to do. I removed the alt, which gave me a nice hole to thread a bolt through for the lift chain. ColinRX7, I think I saw that hoist hook in the front but just thought it looked flimsy and didn't know what it was for sure. Thanks for the pic though. I'll use it next time.



Then I just went at the intake mani removing bolts and hoses until I could pull it off. The upper runners had a little carbon on them which didn't really surprise me.

[attachment=44970:upper_in..._runners.JPG]



The outside runners on the block intake were a little gunked up but the second one from the rear of the motor was real clean. Any suggestions why?



[attachment=44971:block_intake_mani.JPG]



So I stuck a bolt in the alt hole and also one in the PS/AC bracket and started lifting



[attachment=44973:lifting.JPG]



I felt the motor break free of the tranny (with the help of a pry bar) but then I realized that the rear lift hook hole is threaded! Opps.



[attachment=44976pps.JPG]



I undid it but then I realised the motor was rotating too far back and got afraid the chain might slip off the bolt if it went too far back so I fastened up the rear hook and ran the chain back to it and lifted.

[attachment=44975:tilting_back.JPG]

[attachment=44974ut_she_comes.JPG]



ColinRX7, glad to see mine isn't the only motor to come out with oil grim all over the pan and mounts.



I have to tell you that sitting on the floor it reminded me of a chicken heart with all the vaccum and other hoses sticking out. I'm tempted to remove the birds/rats nest but would rather run the car with emissions intacked.



[attachment=44972:chicken_heart.JPG]



I rotated the flywheel and it turned pretty easily, remember, this car hasn't been run in four years. I could hear the whoosh and goosh of the intake and exhaust cycles but couldn't identify a pattern, probably because I couldn't turn the fly smoothly enough.



So now the questions is what to do with the motor as I strip down the rest of the car. (Original plan, learn about RX7 by take apart and put back together and see if it runs.) I'm tempted to A. replace all fluids, clean sensors, etc and put back together and see if it runs. I'm a little worried about this because of the cats apparently having disintergrated and the air pump hose melting off and the oil cooler covered with oil (overheat victom?) B. Break down the motor and replace seals and gaskets with a kit from company; C. Ship the motor out to have it rebuilt with mild porting (I think some one on here does that for a reasonable fee, or, shudder D. Swap something else in.



Hole plan was to have as much fun and spend as little money as possible. Seems kinda silly to have the motor out and not check it for damage though.



PS Also, what is that hole in the back of the tranny housing to the left? Is that supposed to be there? Looks to symetrically shaped to be a break.



[attachment=44977:IMG_1102_1_1.JPG]



Thanks for the help. Now to go read up some more.

Baldy

It's an air vent or inspection hole, I'm not sure which, but it's supposed to be there.