How to: CX-7 Spn on oil filter conversion

[Raider]

Hey guys, I wanted to start this thread with detailed pictures, but unfortunately, I have a broken wrist so it was too difficult for me to do this. My cousin on the other hand is a kick ass mechanic and he specializes in anything Japanese, he's been in school a long time for this. He put the adapter himself but I saw him do it, and I remember everything perfectly, I did take a few pictures of the finished product, so here it is.

Before anything, run your car for 5 minutes, let all the oil warm up, so more can go to the bottom and sit at the pan once it shuts off, that's what he told me, then let it cool down.

1. Drain your oil, obviously.

2. disconnect the negative terminal from your battery, pump your brake a few times to remove any residual charge, this will completely shut off your computer.

3. Disconnect the oil pressure sensor that sits on the side of the cartridge holder, it should be in green color. be careful not to rough it up, it is pretty brittle, after you disconnect it, remove the bolt that holds the sensor, you should see a nice thread in there, make sure you clean the threads with a wire brush, then put new teflon tape back on.

4. You may choose to either removing the black plastic case on the bottom of the cartridge holder or just leaving it as it is, my cousin didn't remove it, he didn't see a need for it.

5. At the top of the cartridge holder there is a big ugly black block with a bunch of hoses attached to it. that is your oil cooler, at the top of the cooler there is a pretty big bolt, remove that, the bolt goes right through and attaches to the new spin on adapter.

6. Once you remove the bolt, move it to the side the best you can, this will allow you more clearance to remove the four smaller bolts that hold the cartridge holder (BE VERY CAREFUL, DO NOT REMOVE THEM WITH A HOT ENGINE, YOU WILL NEED THIS BOLTS TO SECURE YOUR NEW ADAPTER.

7. Once all 4 bolts are removed, wiggle it a little bit and the holder should come out nice and easily, remove the old gasket, clean the area with a clean dry cloth.

8. Use a tiny amount of clean oil, the one you will put in the engine, and put a very small film of it on the new gasket that comes with the adapter, this will ensure that there are no air pockets and will also ensure that the gasket doesn't move around while you torque the bolts back in.

9. Inspect your new adapter and make sure there is no dirt or loose stuff around or inside of it.

10. Put your 4 bolts back in, you may need to find out what torque you need to apply, my cousin did it, I forgot to ask him, but I trust him.

11. Put your cooling block on the top of you new shiny adapter, put the bolt back on top, you may need to move it a bit to get the bolt in place right.

12. Screw your oil pressure sensor back on.

13. Connect the Oil pressure sensor connector back on

14. Fill up your oil filer with oil.

15. Put your new filter on, in my case I got a K&N HP-2009, the guys at Protege Garage can send you a smaller K&N filter with your adapter for another 7 dollars, or an OEM mazda filter. I decided to go with the HP-2009 because is bigger, and is more filtering surface available, there is no clearance issues either, unless your car is an 8th inch off the ground.

16. Screw the oil drain plug back on.

17. Fill up your car with oil, with the bigger filter mine took a full 6 quarts.

18. Connect your battery terminal back on.

19. Start your car and do the whole shebang to get your windows working properly again.

20. TCS light will blink for a while, don't worry about it, your DSC will also stay on temporarily.

21. Drive your car with a big grin on your face and enjoy changing your oil from now on.

Pictures of my new system

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