I've got a couple of days off before I head back to New York, so I decided to begin installing the Bell coolant reroute package that I've had lying on the bench, mocking me for the past month while I've been away.

I'll do a proper review later, but for the moment, one thing really surprised me. Upon removing the stock water outlet from the back of the head, I found that it was held on not by two bolts, but by a bolt and a stud / nut!



What manner of ------ry be this?

Needless to say it was in there pretty good. One of those situations where you have to lock the vise-grips onto it, rotate it about one-twelfth of a turn, release the vise-grips, and repeat. It fought to the last thread...

An hour and a half later:



Is this common?


Of course, now that it's out I find that one of the bolts supplied in the kit is way too long. I can't even get it into the hole with nothing else around (hits the firewall). If it were about 1.5cm shorter, it'd fit. Guess I'll be making a trip to ACE tomorrow. (I have no idea if they're even open on Sundays in this quaint little berg.) Either that, or the motor's gonna have to come out.

 

When i ripped apart my motor it was also one bolt and stud/nut, so i believe that is common/how it supposed to be from the factory.

 

Yep, 1 bolt and 1 stud.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

Yep, one bolt and one stud here too, the front water neck was the same way. Glad I didn't even try to mess with that thing, I'm sure it's a bear and not exactly in a convenient location either.

 

+1, nut and stud combo, front and rear.

I can understand maaaaybe having the stud for accelerating gasket alignment at the factory during assembly, but in that case why not just have two studs?

I just absolutely freaking hate those limited access fasteners where it takes ridiculous amounts of time to remove just one. It is the pinnacle of frustration in my opinion. I presume it had to be removed since the BEGI reroute is spacer-based; the stud is not long enough to accommodate the spacer.

I am glad I did my spacerless reroute while the engine was out.

 

Please tell me you fastened your belt in that manner for the photo.

 

Hopefully he has it like that to avoid scratching his car.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

So the bolt / stud combo is just how they are then. Gotta hand it to Mazda, they have an amazing ability to throw little "**** yous" into the design. Oh well, onwards we go.



Correct. Y'all don't do the same?

 

I usually don't tuck my shirt in while working on my car, and/or don't have a belt on.

 

ya, I'm just not one for tucking in t-shirts.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

I work on my car in the nude.

 

lmao!

 

Joe, a better way to remove a stud is to install two nuts, lock them together & use the inside nut to unscrew the stud.

The stud you need is an 8 x 1.25 x 62 mm and longer bolt is 8 x 1.25 x 45.
Yes Morton's ACE has them in stock!

 

Barbarians, the lot of you!


Yeah, I thought of the jam-nut method only after I'd properly buggered the threads trying to get it out with channel-lock pliers. Couldn't get a nut onto it afterwards.


I measured the thread engagement of the stock parts and found the stud to be about 8.5mm and the bolt to be 10mm. I then measured the stock-up of my spacer, water outlet, and two gaskets, and found that an 80mm bolt and a 60mm bolt gave me almost precisely the same engagement. And yeah, I got 'em at Morton's. (ACE is the place... for metric hardware.)


Pictures of install to follow. Right now I need some rum.

 

Looking forward to a complete write up! Have my box of goodies waiting too. I think I'll just use the plate supplied instead of a freeze plug though! Nice to learn from others mistakes. Sorry you had to be the guinea pig.

 

I'm not sure if it's so much the sideways belt as it is the fact that it's a super-sweet mid-eighties style leather web paired with some old-*** cammies. I think I wore that exact belt to a junior-high winter formal... and I was pimp.

 

oh, is that a blunt ur smoking?

 

Sam -

You still are...

- L