You can allways get correl paint.


Eh... as far as mechanical ability goes I've been working on vehicles since before I could drive. Don't know a bunch a bout a little, but know a little about a bunch.

Mechanical ability for other things though: for the last 10 years I have been working for a company that rebuilds pressure equipment for Schlumberger Wireline Services. So give me a hydraulic ram that needs rebuilt and I can have it done in an hour or so. Its pretty cool also to work for a company that stocks just about every o-ring known to man.

 

Never encountered any technical problem i could not solve. Be it computers or cars.. And i have come accross some tough ones..


Do i think i will ever get stumped? No.. Because i unlike most people know where to look info up if i am at a loss.



So basically, i believe i can do anything. Not because i know everything though.

 

Similar to Moses I have started out with relatively minimal mechanical knowledge and am beginning to pick up on the basics, plugs wires, oil, also taking apart and putting back together dashboards along with a little electrical knowledge.



Thats what it looks like to me too!

 

I know a little, if it breaks, I learn about it and fix it. i'm the only one that works on my car. Cause I'm to cheap to pay a mechanic. For some reason no one else will touch it. I finally got off my *** yesterday and fix the headlight that would never go down only took me a year to get to it. Almost feels like I'm driving a new car with the lights down.

 

i would say i have the low end of mediocre expiriance compared to say a guy over at mazdatrix or pipeapple racing.

for a regular hobbiest
I do however have lots of expiriance (4 or 5 years) with nikki carbs, yaw carbs, and am very knowledgeable about the stock ignition or ignition with and msd thrown in.

I have removed and swapped suspension parts, rear ends, lsd's
engines and oilcoolers so i have a bit of knowledge on what fits what can be swapped and how hard it is.

Im awfull with electrical. I hate wires and wiring in cars.
I have learned to partially understand mazda factory wireing diagrams
but for the most part i ask for help when i have major electrical gremlins



I am certainly not an expert, i make plenty of mistakes and am still learning.

ive gone from stock 12a to a 14.9 12a to a 12 second turbo 13b in 5 years.

 

The filter goes *before* the fuel pump.

When you have a restricted-flow situation, the car will idle just fine and run at low power just fine, and it will take WOT for a few seconds just fine. The problem is when you use fuel at a rate where the carb bowls get drained faster than the fuel system can resupply.

Don't forget the little filter screens in the easy-to-break easy-to-gall-in-the-casting (so be careful!) banjo bolts on the top of the carb. Those can plug up. I had one carb where the passages between the banjo bolts and the needle & seats were plugged with rust. That one was fun, rebuilding the carb on the side of the road, good thing I had a box of toothpicks and some carb cleaner handy. (Also, I didn't use any screws to hold the carb top on, just the 14mm hex throughbolt that also holds the air cleaner on)

 

well. i guess i can say that i don't know. i'm not one to brag about any of my abilities, but there isn't anything on my 7 i can't fix. and on how well i know things. i'd leave it to those who i have helped out to rate me on that.

 

so true!

i would say that my mechanical ability is quite high, but i can still learn more.
i have basically rebuilt everything on my 1st gen, i have dismantled my car completly and put it back together. done a 13bt conversion, locked my diff, done rotary conversions to a gemini (similar to a chev of some description), done a 12a conversion to it and then a 13bt conversion. put a 12a into a 69 corolla and im now in the process of rebuilding a 12a turbo and im going to install it into the corolla.

 

I have always said that no matter what breaks one of my 7's i can fix it in a weekend. I have been put to the test a few times and not failed. I know my way around 1st and 2nd gens pretty well, I would like to get to know a 3rd gen a little better. I have gotten down to a 2 hour 15 minute clutch job without help, i'm proud of that one.

I'd say my real expertise is in holley carb building, modifying, and tuning. I have built 4 blow through holleys for rx-7's (2 for me), 2 for blow through mustangs, 1 for a vega, and 1 more for a little project i've got going for myself. They have all been solid carbs.

My weak point is wiring. Not because i'm bad with wiring, just because i hate it.

-Marques

 

ive been a rotor head for 10+ years now. I was raised turning wrenchs on my own stuff and never stoped. I have been doing my own thing with a mobile auto repair and service company for about 3 years now. I specials in rotors, but will turn a wrench on anything... boat, tractor, plane you name it.... My love is a fb... i am on my 3rd fb on the street and have a personal collection of 6 to rob parts off of if needed. I have built 20+ motors from stock to bridged, and done all kinda swaps on a fb even replaced a few rear floor pans thanks to the rear wheel rust.... got to love a wire welder

 

not quite godlike ... actually, nowhere near it
however, i don't consider myself a slouch either. i love to learn though. i build my own engines. i'm waiting to rebuild a tranny and my next large goal will be to learn EFI tuning for standalone systems (when i get out of school). i can only remember being stranded once and it was only because it was night and i had not learned to carry a spare fuel pump yet.

i can generally take one of these cars apart and put it back together ... and NOT have any bolts left over. how's that, eh?

 

It's amazing what you can do when someone hands you a 5-year sitting Rex and says "if you can fix it, you can have it". Then you proceed to eat, sleep and breath your Rx7 for four years and boom, here I am.

I would say that there is VERY LITTLE left on my car that I can't or won't do. Throughout my restoration I've worked on pretty much every section/system of the car and am fairly confident that if I tore the whole thing apart, I could get it back together again with no real problems. Things I won't touch : Springs (I hate spring compressors... they can kill you), transmission and rear differential (I don't know enough to rebuild one.. yet. But I can replace/swap them) and anything that I need an air-powered tool for, because I lack the tools and air compressor.

If it's an Rx7, where can I start? If it's pissed-on powered you'll get a "WTF? What is that doohickey?" look from me.

I tend to collect leftover bolts.. Why? Because things like "Hot Start Assist" and "Sub Zero Fluid Resivoir" don't stay in my car very long

Jon

 

I'm good enough that I'll do anything, and smart enough that I'll ask for help before I jump in to anything. Guess I'm about a six then, since a ten would never need help.

 

In my humble opinion their is no such thing as a 10 in any category except gymnastics,lol. Seriously even though you may have done something over and over does not mean you will not come across some strange new occurence. Example, had a driveability issue on my se, would die as driving, just shut off. Well
would check for fuel, ok, got weak spark. Car would not start, had to tow home. By the way the symptom had gone on for awhile. Tested compression,wires, ignitors, inspected cap/rotor, were only 3 months old. All electrical connnections as
were fusable links. Fuel pressure volume tests, grounds all checked, ecu, afm, etc.
Finally when i went to da a compression test i forgot to disconnect the coil wire to the trailing side, the car started and ran, like crap but ran. Put the other coil wire on and put plugs in would not start. Did the same thing, removed the trailing plugs and it started. Well after trying spare part after part and retesting i called
mazda trix, the guy there could not come up with anything. Finally the head engineer for them called me and we went over it. He had stated that in very rare
instances that he had seen the dist rotor ground to the dist housing thru the center and cause this. Well i'm thinking i have a 3 month old rotor made by bosch, never had a problem like this. Put in new rotor and it started. even though i have
owned and worked on my rx's for 20 years and alll self taught, i learned something
new. the only other time i have seen a problem with a dist rotor like this is on a
german car because they have exact resistance from the wires to the cap and rotor and aftermarket ones have failed almost immediately and caused a no start.
comradegiant, i admire your statement that you will try anything and know when to ask help. there are alot of people that will not even try let alone ask help..
everyone needs help once in awhile and sometimes when it comes to brainstorming 2 heads are better than one, lol. rx7doctor

 

If it wasnt for these forums, about a 6 on general mechanical skill. With these forums, about 8-9 depending on the tools available. This is why it's good to have a crappy 400Mhz PC in the shop with internet access.

 

As long as your not working on ignition wires, your all good

 

Having owned a 1st gen car since I first started driving, a lot of that experience is gained through trial and error. My first is an SA22C 80LS which I still have in the garage (needs a rebuild of everything!).

My daily driver is the 84SE in the signature line. It idles at 900 rpm most days, runs like a bat out of hell, and has 185k miles on the clock. I wouldn't be able to drive this car every day if I didn't know how to work on it.

Getting an SE to run correctly all year long is enough to add a few points to my 'mechanic skill' scale!

 

I would rate my abilities as an 8 out of 10. All wrench work i have done except the block itself. Exhuast, diff, suspension, interior, body and most electric i have done. Always lookin to learn. Not many places left in texas to learn good things though. Too many mustangs about.

 

Hard to say. From a raw mechanical aptitude standpoint (ie: the guys that intuitively absorb mechanical knowledge like a sponge) I'm probably about a 7 at best.

But where I make up for it is experience after over 1/4 century of being around things mechanical. I've done just about everything car related at least once, with the exception of painting one--- and even that hurdle will be taken care of in due time. My current career path is Aircraft Maintenance Engineer in training. Even at this late date I'm always learning new stuff.

 

Noob working on cars. I'm mechanically and electrically inclined, but don't have as much wrench time as I would like. Rebuilding car with my cousin who does have the wrench time. I have a decent understanding of how rotaries and turbochargers work, but he has a good understanding of the rest of the car.

 

I own a 13 year old BMW that hasn't been to the dealer since i have owned it for the last 7 years - nuff said (I get a LOT of practice)? ROFL

 

You brought back a 3 1/2 y.o. thread to share your wrench time. Okay....

 

I wrench better after a few heine's. Im a drunken master

 

overall car rating 8 out of 10 first gen probably 5 out of 10

 

hah.. this is my first car.. i had to ask how to change the oil and how to pull the filter off... now ive changed a clutch and replaced a rear end.. painted my whole interior and rebuilt a carb (that has hesitation problems /wrist).

but i still havent tried to change breaks.. go go being a 17 year old kid with a 83 and a 84 rx7 haha.