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Stolen, burned, third times the charm? 1987 TII Build
The veteran members here may remember me, my SCCA presence, and my builds, but its been a while since I've been in the RX scene and for a couple of reasons:
#1. My built-up Red Rocket was stolen a while ago.
#2. My FB burned up in a friend's garage fire, right as it was about to receive some much needed restoring.
See Attachment...warning, graphic death of a RX7.
#3. I was diagnosed with Cancer, and have been dealing with that for a while now. So, toys (Like the AE) get sold, life gets put on hold.
However, I've found and purchased a mostly original 1987 TII in great shape, that needs a rebuild.
Everything in this car works, including the stuff that rarely ever works after it leaves the dealership, such as:
The sunroof opens and closes without giving it any help at all
The rear wiper functions as it should, including the wiper fluid sprayer
Both power windows go up and down at a normal speed
The AC is cold
The original radio and tape player works and sounds great. (Glad I didn't get rid of my cassettes)
The keyhole light works
The entire interior has barely any noticeable imperfections
The Bad:
Needs a rebuild and other misc repairs, was repainted at some point, but it has faded over the years, missing the FTP Lenses, but no body damage at all.
I'm on the fence about quickly rebuilding the engine myself with an Atkins kit and throwing it back in, vs buying a good used engine, and being able to put my time and effort into a really well built keg. I've located multiple low mileage (Reputable US - Non JDM importer) engines in the US with...warranties. < Key word there. So I'm leaning toward buying one, running it til the warranty expires, then hopefully by that time have the other keg rebuilt...and then the fun begins. I'll then have the stock keg as a good back-up engine. For now, I'm going to get it running with a basic set of triangles, then plasti-dip it for the winter to preserve the paint when it's not covered or garaged, then strip it down in the spring to have it painted. I happen to have a friend with 2 gallons of white plasti, so she'll look like my old 10th AE for a while.
The car was owned by an older gentleman that took care of it, but was also a rotary nut. So, it has some tasteful upgrades as well.
They are as follows:
Complete REV TII Racing Beat Exhaust
Rtew 1.7
^ 720cc injectors
Walboro 255
KnightSports Turbo (similar to BNR)
Full adjustable suspension (Has adjusters on top/bottom, and adjustable springs, but haven't peeked my head up under the car yet to see the brand, however, he did say it wasn't cheap)
So nothing too crazy, and all upgrades I would have done myself.
Proposed underhood upgrades:
Repaint the car. Leaning toward Mazda's Soul Red
Rtek 2.1
^ 720/720, perhaps 720/1000
FMIC
Rats nest delete
Street ported keg w/ the typical internal upgrades and 3mm rotors
Won't be a crazy setup, but she'll probably be pushing around 13psi, temps permitting, (Would go higher, but the rtek is limited to 14), and hopefully lay down around 300bhp.
Took a peek under the car today, found it has the original plastic skid plate/cover, and the coil over suspension is a full Megan Racing Street kit. They look to be midrange quality, and have great reviews.
Tenitavly bought a new engine for it today. A newly rebuilt, ported S5 block, with new clutch, flywheel, and with S4 accessories already on it. It was going in a s4 vert, but the owner went a different direction with the project.
I pick it up next week.
^ Two of the three apex seals are missing from the rear rotor. I'm hoping when they popped, they didn't damage the hotside wheel in the turbo. The rotor has large apex seal dents on its faces, and I'm assuming the housing and perhaps iron is just as bad. Glad to be getting another complete engine. It's not as easy as it used to be when it comes to getting good used rotors, housings, etc.
More headway was made last night. Removed most of the electronics and resoldered all the pads I could get to. The previous owner had issues with the tail lights and dash lights, so spliced a switch into the loom, however very crudely; so I cut back to good wire, soldered on new wire, and re-pinned the connector. After that I basically did Icemark's headlight fix, and repaired the headlight switch. All is well now.
I noticed the factory boost gauge was spotty, so I removed the cluster and re-soldered all the pads, removed the boost gauge, and re-flowed the entire board. After that the gauge was working, but the needle wasn't calibrated right, so I recentered the needle on the motor so that it lines up with 0 with the key on.
The clock was barely working, so I removed the idiot cluster, resoldered all the pads, and had to take some wire and fix a cracking tracer. Now it's working like new.
The door/seatbelt/etc chime was really faint, and not chiming at the right speed. So I removed the CPU, reflowed the board, cleaned the solenoid contacts, and replaced 2 capacitors. Also working like new now.
I didn't take very many pictures since I was sorta in the zone for most of the night, but I took some afterthought pics of my progress and repairwork.
Finally, I took it outside to wash it off then cover it up until next weekend when she gets the new keg of ported angry doritos.
My copilot
Wires stripped back to good wire and ready for solder
Typical case of overheated headlight switch
Repairing the butchered harness with new wire and heat shrink.
Today I worked on the esthetics. I removed the seats and shampoo'd the carpets, washed all the interior bits.
The driver seat's left thigh bolster's foam had come apart internally (like they all seem to do after nearly 30 years). So I removed some hog rings, pulled back the fabric, stitched the foam together, applied upolstry spray glue to my seams as added protection, then added a few rings of wire inside the foam to keep it from slumping over again. When I had it all in place, I pulled the fabric back over and rehog ringed it. Much better now. I'm a smaller guy, and it actually conforms to my body really well now. Feels really secure sitting in the seat.
Forgot to take pictures of the aftermath of my cleaning, took a few during though.
Only rust ive found so far, and its from the seat mounts.
Still thinking about the best way to fix this one...
Foam relocated over the internal support bar, and wired in place. Just about done.
Damn!..sometimes you wish the guys you chat with lived like 2 miles from ya!
if that interior is Grey..I have seats here that I can't sell even cheaply.
They would have been yours for a coffee.
No expense spared on the internals, a culmination of S4, 5, and 6 parts. I'll go into detail on the motor later, but suffice to say she's damn near brand new, and has a really nice port job. Should reach my hp goal with it no problem.
Engine provided by a fellow RX7CLUB.COM member too.
Damn!..sometimes you wish the guys you chat with lived like 2 miles from ya!
if that interior is Grey..I have seats here that I can't sell even cheaply.
They would have been yours for a coffee.
Would graciously take them, and I'd happily pay for more than coffee. I'm currently working on getting all the stains out of these ones, but the rips I'll never be able to fix perfectly.
I've noticed us RX owners are starting to get fewer and fewer each day. Last time I was active here, I could barely follow a thread before it would be on page 2 or 3 that same night.
Work done over the weekend. (Coilovers, cleanup, Emissions delete)
Decided to lift it up on the rack over the weekend and address the ride height and preload issues. Before adjustment it was riding low, and hard as a rock...not something I want to live with in a street car. Then I moved onto cleanup, and then emissions deletion.
As mentioned before, it has Megan Racing Coil-Overs front and rear, and they were fairly easy to adjust.
They were set to nearly the lowest ride height, and the springs had a considerable amount of preload turns.
I raised the car up nearly an Inch and a half (About factory height), and I set the preload to 0. Then, paint penned the settings and collars for indication of them turning themselves from vibration.
After that, it was onto the under carriage. For a nearly 30 year old car, it was in pretty good shape. The usual rubber bushings will need replacing, and it had oil caked here and there, but no rust was found under the car either. (Other than light surface rust that easily wiped off)
The RB resonator has a dent most likely the result of it being a low rider. It's a pretty small smooth dent, so I'll probably be able to pop it back out.
The rear end cleaned up fairly nicely, and all the factory painted parts came out looking a little glossy after a good cleaning. The rear diff really cleaned up.
Next thing to do was remove the smog pump muffler and tubing, the pump itself, and plugging lines at least until tomorrow when I pull the engine and complete the delete. I still need the engine to run for at least another day, otherwise I'd add the block off plates, pull the intake, etc. etc.
Pictures of the fun: (Both our Lifts are "Rotary" Brand. I always get a kick out of lifting up a rotary engine with a rotary lift)
Lifted up to eye level to remove the tires and tackle the coilovers.
Coilovers set to 0 preload, stock height, and marked.
Coilovers set to 0 preload, stock height, and marked.
Coilovers set to 0 preload, stock height, and marked.
A little overspray on the RB mufflers that I'll strip off sooner than later, then polish.
I have a leaking fitting on the oil cooler. I'll throw some dye in the new engine and really pinpoint any leaks down the road.
The dent I'll pop out.
A little brake cleaner, a brass wire brush, and a rag can do a long way.
Picked up the new engine on Monday, and I'll be installing it over the weekend. Check back for updates, a "Final Start" video of the original engine, and a real "First Start" video, smoke and all!
Welcome back! You're the one with the digital warning cluster idea, right? That's going to be interesting seeing it in this car. She looks beautiful! That engine is immaculate. And I've always loved black Shiba Inus, haha.
Get well! I've got an S4 T2 Rtek 2.1 with your name on it. It'll be great to see it boosting 13psi
Welcome back! You're the one with the digital warning cluster idea, right? That's going to be interesting seeing it in this car. She looks beautiful! That engine is immaculate. And I've always loved black Shiba Inus, haha.
Get well! I've got an S4 T2 Rtek 2.1 with your name on it. It'll be great to see it boosting 13psi
Yup thats me!
Aaron raised a good point about the alternator using the bulb as a rising resistor, so I have to reverse engineer that part, but as soon as I get all the bugs worked out in it, I'll start working on the Digital Conversion. Should be pretty slick when it's all done.
PM me some details on the 2.1! I saw one for sale in the classifieds but I was too late in getting it. I'd love to pick up where I left off with my old Rtek 2.1 setup. Still have my Palm Zire 71. In fact I dug it out last week, charged it up, and loaded Rtek onto it in anticipation of getting a 2.1 sometime soon.
Absolutely Love my Shiba. Definitely not a dog for first-dog-owners, but I've got her trained better than most, and...she can hunt better than my friend's dedicated "Hunting Dogs". It's pretty comical.
Well, 12 hours later, and she running. I did indeed make a first start video that I will upload to YouTube in the morning. More pics and details to follow as well.
I got a set of cheap FTP lenses that were missing bolts, were scratched, and faded. However, I was able to work some magic on them, and they came out pretty nice.
Left side of the lens is during the polishing, right side is after wet sanding with very fine paper. I think I used somewhere around 2000 grit.
And the result! There are a couple deep scratches and pits that weren't able to be removed, but overall, the lenses are now see-thru again.
All the bolts were on the verge of breaking. So I epoxied all of them fairly liberally.
I trick I've done in the past is take this heat shrink to create a pocket for the epoxy to fill in, otherwise it would just run down the mount.
Same goes for mounts that are partially missing or chipped.
This one was missing more of the mount.
And here's a top view of the pocket that the wrap made to fill with epoxy.
The rate in which you work puts me to shame. Took me a week to get the engine down to the block and the transmission out. Clearly that cancer (If it's still there, fingers crossed otherwise) isn't slowing you down! The epoxy trick is pretty genius
08-30-16, 05:39 PM
i hope everything goes well with youreself and your car. Please try hemp oil, that chemo kills. At least give it a chance.
