Finished dealing with the FC. Pulled the tranny and the coils for a couple of friends. Now the car can go away. Anyone looking for a rolling shell?

Went to put gas in the FB and the gas door wouldn't pop open. It used to. Tried the manual release. Nope. Doesn't even move. Looked kinda rusty. So I jambed and twisted several screwdrivers of increasing size in the manual release and it eventually moved the pin in enough to let me pull the door open. It was very rusty. So I wire wheeled what I could, then worked it in and out several times with some Slick50 spray and brake cleaner alternating. Eventually it freed up to where it pops in easily and consistantly every time. Reinstalled. Now it pops open with aggression! Wow.

 

Walked past it coming home, but made some plans and promises for the weekend.

 

I got to put some gas in it today. I pumped out what was left in the FC. Like 3 gallons or so. It should be enough for the first heat cycle!

Things still left to do: FPR, intake manifold and carb install. I can probably knock them out tomorrow.

 

Picked up a gt3546 for it. Now I need to get a huge fuel pump and fab up a nice exhaust manifold that will fit it and a 50mm waste gate... Can't wait!

22psi blow through, here I come!

 

^WOW! I'm thinking about picking up a GT35 with a p-trim hotside for mine after I swap the 4 port in. For now gotta do a few tasks with the 6 port first.

 

All this turbo talk makes me a bit jealous. Oh yeah? Well I was about to head down to Tashi station and pick up some power converters this afternoon, but my uncle needs me out in the fields servicing the moisture evaporators.

O well, next weekend.

 

 

Dirty girl needed a bath...



Proof that beauty is not just skin deep for my girl:



















Here's the chrome door pull garniche I made, finally installed, along with my half-made-half-bought Mazda emblem;

 

installed power window relays - way mo betta! the car feels so much more legit when the power windows arent whining and struggling just to roll up or down!



*droooool*

 

DivinDriver, that is a spectacular engine bay! But you knew that.

I had been putting off changing the fluids in the transmission and diff on the GSL-SE but it was such a nice day I finally got round to it. It wasn't the worst looking oil in the drain pan I have ever seen but it wasn't great either. The lube in the diff was probably the original and the transmission not much better (the service records show a clutch change about 15k miles and 12 years ago). Neither oil was rusty, so at least there is that. I will go do my soap box derby run again and see if that makes a difference in the rolling resistance.

 

What did I do? Well, a lot really.

+Lost out on a set of Meshy Enkei 92's early this morning
+((Not FB related)) Found that the fuel pump diaphragm sealing rubber piece on the 87 Suzuki Samurai was broken and allowing a huge vaccuum leak. Fixed that, but it still needs to be taken off at the intake manifold and given new vaccuum lines and some love. Will hopefully be putzing that thing around the yard with the FB soon - twas the vehicle I learned how to drive, and drive stick, in.
+Went through the entire FC to look for any parts that I might accidentally leave in there when it gets scrapped
+Met with another rotary owner, FC to be exact, and gave him a bunch of parts off the TII that I don't need and he gave me a set of Tenzo R rims with Nitto tires on them that I'm seriously considering getting wheel adapters till the full TII lug swap
+Trundled through my enormous pile of parts in the shed and need to go through a similarly-sized pile outside the shed as well
+Went through tons of parts and feel 100lbs lighter than I did earlier tonight

So today was pretty successful. Tomorrow I'd like to get the TII on the trailer and finish the final stripping to bring it down to the scrapper but we'll see since I was out there all day.

 

You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done. (we had this on laser disc back in the day)

 

DD your engine bay is looking amazing ...

look forward to feasting my eyes on it soon at WHiV6

 

Wow, Divin... I like the direction you took the color scheme this time. Mazda blue. It works.

ioTus, I'll be doing power window relays in mine next. I took it for its maiden drive today and it's just too hot inside.

Speaking of which, It runs! It drives! At first the Mallory FPR wasn't going below 5psi. But I'm using a Nikki. It'll flood. So I added a second trusted FPR and got it to 2.5psi. Grumble.

Anyway got it started and it didn't want to idle at less that 2k. Used housings and used OEM apex seals will do that. Let is fully warm up and got it adjusted down to 1500 rpm.

Progress! Took it for a drive. This car sat since 1997 so things like brake rotors are a little noisy when you apply the brakes. Still work ok though.

Got back. Checked heat. The oil was 220 degrees F in the pan, where the hottest oil is. I've got a compost bin thermometer for that. Poke it down the dipstick hole. Very convenient. I need a bellypan so heated air doesn't constantly recycle back to the GSL-SE oil cooler. This would be less of an issue with a 79 to 82 short rad and cooler combo. Oh well, on the lookout for a decent bellypan I guess.

Adjusted it down to 1000 rpm now. Much stronger idle. Took it for another quick drive. This time opened up the secondaries. Nice! Not as powerful as when this carb and exhaust were in the blue car, but considering it's a heavier chassis with bigger GSL-SE brake rotors, bigger rims, bigger tires, and finally bigger axles, plus it's got a fresh rebuild, I'd say it's doing ok.

Then accidentally took it up to where the tach makes an interesting noise. Fresh rebuild, remember? I think that's 7k in these right? Not bad for less than 45 minutes of run time. All used bearings and seals, of course. I wouldn't think about driving like this with new bearings.

 

Came home from a business trip and stripped apart the final 12A I have. The housings are complete junk. Overheated motor, judging by the coolant in places it shouldn't be, the grenaded apex seal that destroyed one of housings. There are striations along the water cooling passages on both housings that are most likely caused by overheating. Off to the recyclers with these.

fm

 

Seemed like a good day to take the boy for a ride on the Jamestown Ferry. A quick 170 mile loop.

 

Waxin' and polishin' time.

 

Had a little scare. Was out driving around and decided to get some cash at the ATM. Was waiting in line and noticed a huge pool of oil under the middle of the car. Turns out it wasn't mine. There was a trail of drips up to that point and one leading away. Whew!

Washed off the surface layer of crud at a wand wash and then applied these neat magnets. Design is courtesy of Ms. DIY.

 

DD that's some air cleaner! Next life I wanna be YOUR car... and to think I used to want to be MY dog.

 

Only if you want to spend much of your life stuck in the garage with your bits hanging out, ma'am.

 

Bolted the side mounts to the new Kirkey Pro Street/Drag seat. Took some noodle scratching and two templates to get the holes in the same place on both sides. Then I sat in the car thinking about how I need a smaller steering wheel and/or removable hub. Hard to get out of a seat that has such huge side bolsters. Waiting on Corbeau seat rails to finalize how it'll mount in the car, then find/borrow/steal a welder to fix the hole, or work out something else. Zip ties maybe.

Picked up some nutserts and bolts to mount aluminum door panels. Something I've always wanted to try. The puke green burgundy doors drove me nuts. Maybe I'll have the new panels powdercoated wrinkle black, then wrap the dash in Alcantara. Car is changing direction. No stereo (already out) no sound deadening, no carpet, fixed back seat. I'll keep the heater since it only blows warm-hot anyway and it does get cold here in April and October. It's only purpose now is to be driven. I'll learn to love it's squeaks, bangs, rattles and much louder than an RB exhaust. The neighbours will too. I have the MS6 for comfort... Also, I blew up the engine in the MS6 on Saturday. Yup, rod through the block.

 

Cleaning in the garage tonight. Organizing metals in piles for recycling. Next I need to clean all the tools I'd been using to disassemble the 12As. Once I get all the cr@p out of my garage, I can put the 6-port 13B back up on the stand and start assembling it.

fm

 

Not today, but....

Autocross season in Michigan started up last weekend. I missed Saturday's event, but when I heard that Miatas had taken all the top spots I determined that I would be there Sunday come hell or high water. We just can't have Miatas winning autocrosses in my neck of the woods.

But, I got beat by a Miata. He got me by 4/100s of a second. He did have a slight advantage though, in the form of an LS7 under the hood. Very nicely done too. Man, what a car! Still wouldn't trade my fb for it though...

P.S. I haven't been active on the forum for some time due to out of state work assignments. Hopefully that is all behind me now, at least for race season. lol.



.

 

I pulled the stock clutch fan off and replaced it with a BE COOL electric fan (sounds like a jet when i turn it on) today

 

You hung in there with an LS7 Miata? Bravo! I can't wait to get my suspension swapped.

fm