This (or rather, these):

 

yesterday I reinstalled header panel, hood, headlights, headlight motors, adjusted carb, adjusted timing, bent heat shield out of the way that's under the car (was rubbing drive shaft), re attached some vac lines, drilled a hole in my oil fill cap, and dropped it off for an alignment and new tires. Tonight pull diff and repair LSD. Tomorrow pull trans to replace TO bearing and scrub the heck out of the car. Thursday DGRR

 

cshaw, see ya there!

 

Recently I just finished:

1. Switching from sillycone brake fluid to hi pro blue with a 500+F boiling temp which means all rubber had to be switched out (MC, rear cyclinders, rebuild calipers)
2. New SS lines all around
3. HAWK pads up front
4. Vented front rotors (new bearings etc)
5. All MOOG steering parts (tierods, idler arms)
6. Adjustable LCA (bad ball joints)
7. Cut one loop off all the springs to lower things another 1/4-1/2 inch
8. Made new rear bump stocks (old ones missing)
9. Replaced fuel filter
10. Alignment

And now from sitting at low charge too long while I waited on parts and did all this, a new
battery will be procured tonight. Other wise ready to go to DGRR!

Hope I see you guys there this weekend. There an OGTA cabin right near the lodge where all
the festivities are happening.

 

Bought quite possibly the last Sumitomo HTR200's 215/50-13 on the planet. Fresh meat is Nice.

 

Divin', those look great! Congrats on your refurb. And you didn't have to go through nearly as painful of a process to restore the foam as you had expected.

Today, I stopped at Pierce Manifolds to pick up a tabbed washer to replace the one I lost. While I was there, I talked to Mr. Pierce himself about my Weber application. By the time I left, I'd committed to dropping my eBay Bucks (needing to be spent by the end of the month) on a new 48IDA.

When I got home, I put the tabbed washer on the carb, started her up (with no drama) and then, after some fiddling with the throttle nuts, got her to stay idling at 750rpm. Took her for a spin to get some gas in her as she was running on fumes.

One of the things I'd suspected since I'd installed the Weber was that WOT wasn't really WOT. There was a fair amount of slack in the throttle cable. I'd adjusted that a couple of days ago. Today I decided to romp on it and see what she had. WOW...before she'd go gangbusters and then kind of fall flat at about 5000 rpm. Now she goes and goes, all the way to redline. And redline comes noticeably faster! w00t!

fm

 

Congrats, sir!

As to the foam... the driver's side seat back is a complete new build-up from raw foam, in the traditional hack-and-glue style. The original cushion was literally in pieces and too oxidized to salvage. The other three cushions were repairable and are original.

I think they match pretty closely. I would have preferred the molded process to work, mainly just for 'style' points, but it was eating too much time and effort just now.

 

Divin', it's amazing what a skilled upholsterer can do with a meat carver and foam. I've had a go at this myself and it's not easy. Looks great!

fm

 

So tell us more how this foam works? Maybe a pic of the package we need to buy?
I think my seat will need the same treatment.

Looks great!

 

washed the widebody so am ready for DGRR.

 

Nice. I just washed the crumbling clearcoatbody, so I too am ready for DGRR!

 

Check it out. http://www.superstreetonline.com/featuredvehicles/1404_1983_mazda_rx_7_gsl/

 

^ I am more of a purist, but I am impressed. I'd rather have the F22C1 swap over a V8 any day. This reminds me of the guy in Japan that swapped an F22C1 into his EG Civic hatch. I read his write-up and *that* was a labor of love. It was a Civic only in outward appearance. The entire drivetrain was either Silvia or S2K. Congrats on the outside-of-the-box swap.

fm

 

Meh. I like being my own engine management system.

 

Are the old webbers for sale now?

I'm interested



Today I washed an waxed my new DD. Just gotta wait untill after my last final exam till I swap the gold car's Edelbrock over to the freeshly rebuilt Tii FB. (I don't like distractions durring finals)

 

Company by the name of Smooth-On makes a wide array of molding/casting materials for everything from Hollywood FX through concrete casting to museum replicas.

They have a line of pourable urethane foams; Foam-It for rigid foam, and Flex Foam-It for flexible foams. They come in a number of densities.

FlexFoam-iT!® Series Flexible Polyurethane Foam Product Information

Flex Foam-It V is just about right for the "stiffeners" that were molded into the original bottom cushions. It's a bit too firm for the general seating surfaces.

The FFI V is a 1:1 mix-by-volume ratio liquid that has a 50-second "pot" life, after which it rapidly expands and then slowly hardens. Basically, you mix it like a epoxy, but you only have 50 seconds to stir it & pour it before it 'lights off' & starts to expand. hardens into a rubbery foam in about 30 minutes, completely cured in a couple hours.

If you disturb it after expansion starts & before it hardens, it'll 'fall' & lose its foaminess. Makes a rubbery mess when that happens.

Essentially, for the side stiffeners, I scraped out all the old rotted foam (it's a grey color, where the 'normal' foam is a tan/yellow), masked off the edges, set the cushion up so that the space I wanted to fill was level, then mixed the foam and poured a limited amount in the void. Since the stuff grows to several times it's volume, you have to be careful about using too much.

There are a number of tricks to using it: If you can confine it in a closed space with only one 'vent hole,' it will be more consistent in it's expansion. Some materials (like the adhesive on packing tape, it turns out) will 'inhibit' it from curing and it never dries. It sticks to damn near anything so handling it takes some care.

Smooth-On's got a ton of useful info on their website about casting in general. I've learned a lot from messing with their stuff.

It's not cheap, though. Even the trial sizes of their products (which are often enough for small projects) can be pricey by the time they are shipped.

 

Went ahead and got the required chemicals for cleaning my tank and fuel pump.

Installed new fuel lines to and from carb along with a pre-filter before the carb. Replugged my vacuum lines with better vac caps.
Backed off my idle mixture adjustment so it does not die when cold at idle.
Lubricated hinges
Bought pcv valve to get the moisture from the oil.
Got wire to re-do the hardline in one long wire to fuel pump.
Probably some other stuff I can't remember.

 

Simple things matter most. I just pulled in for gas after 220 miles toward DGRR. The purring of the rotary is sweeter when headed toward the Smoky mountains.

 

Wish I was on the way there.

Planning phase on door panels complete. Lubed up the sewing machine & put a new belt on it. Finished up the seat hardware, & degreased the rails preparatory to wirebrushing and painting.

 

Something to plan for next April.

 

Mounted the Mazda badge I made on the GSL-EV yesterday evening. Here is what it looks like finally mounted on the car. I am pleased with the way it came out. I washed it last weekend but we have a cement plant in town and it rained just a little a couple of days ago. An observant viewer will notice the lack of exhaust pipes and the yellowing epoxy plugs in the rear hatch glass where the wiper motor was mounted.

 

Bought some vinyl and some carpet at lunch for the door panel project.

 

Do you want a wiperless hatch? I think I have a spare.

 

Thanks for the offer! I will probably just make some plugs that look like the black ones used to support the wiper motor and the strut attachment points for now.

I want a hatch that weighs a lot less than the glass one does. Do you know what that glass weighs? Ive been thinking about doing a 1/8" polycarbonate hatch. Have to make a carbon rim to keep it from flexing all over though. Big project.

 

today I lost my only RX7 key! FML