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Index > @ the Pickup Bed (General Topics) > Thread: my REPU runs!
Thread: my REPU runs! [' This thread is 2 pages long: (1) 2 ']
Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 17, 2004 08:04 PM

my REPU runs!

i rebuilt the engine, this is my first time, no guidance(other than the order u torque down the 17 bolts that hold my motor together) and a schematic showing how the stuff on the front of the motor around the balancer up front there goes... anyways yeah i rebuilt it myself! got new housings from atkins, got a new rear rotor, new apex seals, a few new corner seals, new springs for everything, put it all together, finished it sunday, had compression on all sides of each rotor, put it in today, and took it on a short drive! and it was beefy up to the 4000 rpm i didn't exceed lol... i didn't even gas it a lot, it just was beefy... i did some work ont he already street ported ports, and i ported my own exhaust ports... i'll be showing pics soon of the exhaust ports, no pics of the intake ports, but i did some real nice stuff to em... but i had an issue on the drive:( my truck got stuck in 3rd gear.... wouldn't come out, so i cut it, tried and tried to get it out of 3rd... couldn't do it... so i took my foot to it... it came out of third.... right into 4th... theres no neutral now, just 3rd and 4th if i kick it... so i need to pull the transmission tomorrow and tear it down... figure out what happened there and assess where i am with it, whether it will be more worthwhile to replace or repair... yay for me... my truck runs so well, yet i can't drive it cause of another issue:(

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rotarydave


Hauling
Posts: 108
posted March 17, 2004 10:27 PM

Awesome, I know I felt great after finishing my first ones as well so congrats i hope it holds together for a long time.

I am not sure what to say on your tranny, but i have a feeling that you might want to check your shift rods and the ends on your shift rods, you should be able to check this and only have to pull the tailshaft housing off to see them, this is probably where your problem is but that is only a guess.

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Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 18, 2004 12:30 AM

That's great that it runs strong already. Too bad about the tranny. I've never messed with the tail housing, so I'm of no help on that.
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7

       
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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted March 18, 2004 04:19 AM

I wonder if its not clutch related.

Can you access other gears or is it JUST into 3rd and 4th becasue of the force you have to exert? Does clutching disengage the trans?


____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 18, 2004 05:50 AM
Edited By: Elysian on 18 Mar 2004 05:51

quote:
I wonder if its not clutch related.

Can you access other gears or is it JUST into 3rd and 4th becasue of the force you have to exert? Does clutching disengage the trans?





definately not clutch related... now it won't even shift out of 3rd anymore, and the shifter is cock eyed... i can't even put it in neutral other than pushing in the clutch... so yeah i'll check out the tailhousing this afternoon, and if i don't find anything there its on to the rest of the transmission

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roaddancer


Hauling
Posts: 127
posted March 18, 2004 07:17 AM

My 74 pulled this trick, but it was an early Rx7 5 speed that did it. The shift fork had passed the end of the stop and gone behind it. New shift fork is the cure, if available, or some very careful welding.
Exact same symptoms. Followed a hard shift to third, the first time it locked up. You can guess what I was up to...I was able to force it back, and for awhile it was able to be shifted, but would lock behind at random intervals, til I took it apart. Not a major job, if parts are still available. Use lock-tight, so nothing can get loose.
____________
formerly
rx2/3/4/cosmo,repu,94 rx7,

       
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Klaus43


Rotorhead
Posts: 1259
posted March 18, 2004 10:38 AM

Congrat's on your build!

...and remember to put Amsoil gear lube in your tranny, when you've fixed it's current issue. Your transmission will thank you... :)

       
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Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 18, 2004 11:50 AM

Tom's green truck did that once. It was a tranny out of an RX-3 or something (basically the same inside). He had Ken's old shop put a NOS '79 5 speed in it. That tranny's 2nd gear synchros started getting scratchy pretty quickly from fast shifts at 8k. :)
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7

       
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brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 18, 2004 01:47 PM

Glad she runs Elysian!

My 81 626 gearbox jammed in 3rd after a HARD downshift from 4 to 3 @ the end of the front straight @ willow springs raceway. In the rx7. The 3rd gear shift rod went too far and stuck. Almost went too far and sheared the gears apart.

We pulled the trans and machined a groove on the shift rod. Put a C-clamp on there to prevent the shift rod from moving too far.

We did try welding a washer on there but then we couldn't assemble the trans so we cut it off.

Brad
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 18, 2004 05:48 PM

well this transmission had been sticking in 3rd before, but i just had to give it a little bit of gas and make it accelerate, then it would slip out into neutral, i was used to this, but when i tried to give it more gas to pull it out, this time it didn't go... i've got the tranny apart, it seems like either the syncro's or the rods that move the syncros... i think its the rods.. one of them moves a little bit but not enough to change gears, and the other doesn't move at all... what kind of welding is involved? i don't think any parts are readily available or affordable for me... i'm going to try and pull the tranny all the way apart, see if i can't figure out what happened, everything just looks perfect in there...

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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 18, 2004 08:02 PM

well.... i unbolted the forks from the shaft.. with them unbolted i could move the shifter around its full range of gear positions no problem(until one locked up i'm guessing from the lock pin...) so now i'm starting the disassembly of the tranny, i gotta get all those damn snap rings off, broke 2 of em even using the snap ring pliers, so i gotta replace those now too... yay for me... this transmission is pissing me off... if i can't figure it out/fix it cheap i might look into putting my Turbo II tranny from the junk yard in it

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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 19, 2004 07:39 PM

i am the luckiest person ever! i mentioned on rx7club that my truck needed a tranny, and this guy i know, who goes by icefd3s on the club, messaged me on aim, told me he had 2 tranny's he'd give me, one broken, one missing some bolts, which were in the broken one... only if i'd help him get his tranny in... i picked up the 2 transmissions today, and sunday i go to help him put his tranny into his FC! i compared the 2 tranny's to the REPU tranny, and they are all the same lengths etc except the shifter... even the mount is at the same place! the shifter is where it is on a FC, so i can cut a hole and make a new spot for the shifter... i'm thinking of putting a console in there too... tomorrow i install the complete tranny! yay for me i rock

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Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 20, 2004 09:57 AM

Why not move the shifter forward? You can make the rear shifter holes line up with the front tranny holes. The rod thing needs to be shortened too. It's supposed to be a fairly easy mod to fit a newer tranny into an older chassis.
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7

       
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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 20, 2004 04:57 PM

quote:
Why not move the shifter forward? You can make the rear shifter holes line up with the front tranny holes. The rod thing needs to be shortened too. It's supposed to be a fairly easy mod to fit a newer tranny into an older chassis.

no need, took care of it... the transmission installed almost effortlessly... lined it up and it just slid right on... everything is installed, i test drove it, it works very nicely, but i found i have a hole in my radiator, so i had to patch that, and i had to adjust the clutch since, i think since i used the throwout bearing from the new tranny, not my old one

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Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 20, 2004 08:40 PM

Ah, good. I soldered two REPU radiators recently.
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7

       
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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 21, 2004 07:51 AM

i'm worried the motor might have seized when it died yesterday... i tried to push start it a little later and it just locked up the tires, even if i used 2nd to push start it... i'm gonna find out this morning, i'll try turning the E shaft with a ratchet... if it seized up it was due to lack of coolant and the rotor housings expanding... not lack of oil... got plenty of that, and primed the system properly... god i'll be pissed if it seized

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Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 21, 2004 10:12 AM

You mentioned before something about the rotating assembly getting too tight when you put the front cover on.

One of Tom's rebuilds failed from incorrect end play. One of the thrust bearings burned up. The engine was able to lock up the tires in 2nd. I was able to rotate the engine very slowly by using a long screwdriver against the starter ring gear. When we got the engine apart, the thrust spacer was welded to the thrust plate. It was either a lack of oil or a lack of end play that caused it.

Also, my first rebuild failed due to no coolant. The engine still rotated though. Basically, the exhaust would build up in the waterjacket and force coolant out of several openings in the radiator seam. The temperature got up to 230ºF. This is the engine I just recently installed in the white truck and have been breaking it in. I still haven't rebuilt the other one with the bad thrust assembly (I'm a little worried I won't get it right).

There's life after an engine failure.
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7

       
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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 21, 2004 04:23 PM

quote:
You mentioned before something about the rotating assembly getting too tight when you put the front cover on.

One of Tom's rebuilds failed from incorrect end play. One of the thrust bearings burned up. The engine was able to lock up the tires in 2nd. I was able to rotate the engine very slowly by using a long screwdriver against the starter ring gear. When we got the engine apart, the thrust spacer was welded to the thrust plate. It was either a lack of oil or a lack of end play that caused it.

Also, my first rebuild failed due to no coolant. The engine still rotated though. Basically, the exhaust would build up in the waterjacket and force coolant out of several openings in the radiator seam. The temperature got up to 230ºF. This is the engine I just recently installed in the white truck and have been breaking it in. I still haven't rebuilt the other one with the bad thrust assembly (I'm a little worried I won't get it right).

There's life after an engine failure.


well, i fixed the leak in the radiator, and it doesn't appear the motor is seized up, i can turn it with a ratchet.. i think i need either a new starter or new cables going to the starter, maybe ground it directly to the battery instead of grounding thru the tranny... i fixed the thrust bearing problem already, i salvaged the thrust bearing from my 88 TII's motor... right now the truck is all ready to go i just need to get it started... i can't get traction on those tires in 1st, but i can in 2nd, but i can't get it going fast enough to start, so i need the starter to work... thats one thing i'm not happy about on the truck... the tires... they were in very poor shape... usually when i sell a vehicle i make sure the tires and breaks are in good working condition, at a minimum... the tires on the front i replaced, but i couldn't afford to replace the rears, and they are cracking and seem like they are seperating... they are so worn out probly mostly from age they cant even grip when i let go of the clutch in 1st... and i gotta feather it in 2nd to get em to grip

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Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 21, 2004 10:07 PM

You shoulda seen the brakes on my red truck. I had to replace everything. The rear tires were worn down to slicks in spots with only 5% or less tread in others areas. The fronts were worn into a cone shape and also would rub the sway bar hardware when turned fully to either side. The engine was also locked up.
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7

       
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Elysian


Revvin Up
Posts: 60
posted March 22, 2004 05:26 AM

looks like the truck won't be ready for the mt st helens drive this weekend... nor is my 84 GSL roadworthy....

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