Engine removal
 

Is there some almighty power thread that I am missing on basic engine removal? I've taken out engines before but not injected ones and the only wires were the grounds pretty much. Is there something major to watch out for when pulling it or is it pretty straight forward? Any sort of time frame for a beginner? I'd like to slap the turbo stuff on it now but its dirty and needs some bolts in the bottom half, so pulling it would be simplist approach. Please help :bowdown:

if you dont have to dont pull it. you can do everything while it's installed.

however the removal is simple and straight forward. remove the electrical harnesses, intake, fuel, heater hoses and radiator hoses, unbolt from the frame and lift.

dont have a writeup, but these pics should help:

http://www.boostedmiata.com/blown_engine/bad_rings/

I don't think anyone has done a writeup if that is what you are asking for. Some people prefer removing it with the tranny and some separate. There are different issues with both. I do have two suggestions though, if you can:

1) label all wires so everything plugs back in later. while most plugs are easy to figure out, it doesn't hurt.

2) it's much easier to get to the top two tranny bolts as well as remove the engine, if you don't mind taking the head off first and then removing the shortblock. my 2 cents.

I've found the easiest way to get at the top two trans bolts is to drop the driveshaft and separate the tranny from the PPF. then tilt the trans down to remove those two bolts. I have never left the trans in when pulling the engine but I didn't like the difficulty of getting it back in with the trans attached so I remove/install separate now.

I have pulled the tranny by itself, and I have pulled them both together twice now. I hated working underneath the car so much that when I blew my tranny a couple of weeks ago, I pulled the entire motor/tranny out instead of trying to dick with just the tranny.

It's pretty simple, though. Label E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, and take photos of any areas you are not intimately familiar with (like the back half the motor behind/under the intake manifold). A quick list of what must come off before/during the process; I'm sure I've forgotten a few things:

-Radiator, fans, headers and stock downpipe, both front wheels, and the front sway bar
-4 grounds, 2 behind the IM, 1 behind the header and 1 next to the throttle body
-all the vacuum lines off the IM (label them)
-starter/alternator harness
-coil packs
-CAS/O2 sensor/coilpack harness
-various connectors behind the intake manifold
-CLT sensor
-2 heater hoses (pull them off at the motor side, NOT THE HEATER CORE SIDE)
-speedometer cable
-reverse switch and something else's wiring on the tranny (2 connectors, 2 bullet connectors)
-Clutch slave cylinder and bracket bolt (one of the 11 holding the motor and tranny together) unless you intend on removing the line and re-bleeding the clutch after you re-install

Drop the 3 bolts out of the PPF on the tranny, drop 1 out from the diff, and loosen the other one at the diff. That will let you slide the PPF out of the way. Once you have as much of the harness and vacuum lines disconnected as possible, drain the tranny oil (you can leave the motor oil if you aren't touching the internals, but it'll be the easiest oil change you'll ever do), remove the 2 14mm nuts holding the motor into the subframe, and start lifting. It'll be a balancing act of lift, move forward, disconnect wires and shit, lift, etc. Go slow and check religiously for taut wiring harnesses and/or vacuum lines. Label/photograph everything and go slow.

which vac lines are absolutely necessary to the car's opeation? It looks very clustermuffed under the hood and thought i'd weed out what i could while it was out. thx for the write-up savington and everyone's help so far :bigtu:

If you don't understand what they do, they are all essential to the car's operation.

well i know i will have to leave the ones for idle and cruise control, but don't some deal with emissions and shit?

i bought this book

http://cgi.ebay.com/MAZDA-MX-5-MIATA...QQcmdZViewItem

it actually helps me out alot when im going to pull my engine lots of use full information

As with most other manuals I use the enthusiast manual to pad the top of my jack and for torque specs. That's about it.

If you something needs to be removed you remove it. You put shit back on where it came from. It's not that hard.

one thing id like to mention is that there are two connectors/wires on top of the tranny that are not easy to see (or at least on my 94 1.8) other than that i pulled my first motor by myself in less than an hour...its really not hard at all, just use common sense and your there