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I had to fill the oil filter pedestal with a quart or so of oil and the front hoses. Finally showed oil pressure after about 5 minutes of bumping it over periodically.
Took my car out of storage, (actually an SA not FB) a 1980 LS, and took it for a short drive to get a feel for things. I was pleased the car started right up and ran strong. I pulled in the garage to change the fluids and when I raised the hood I noticed antifreeze all over the catch pan below the radiator and the front of the A/C compressor. I was a bit surprised because I didn’t smell the antifreeze. I found the radiator to be leaking at the joint in the left top corner between the top stamping and core seam. But instead of changing the coolant I spent the rest of the day on the interior applying Armor All to the plastic and Lexol to the leather components; I did change the oil. Now I need to look for a new radiator. The original 35 year old existing radiator may be fixable but I think it best to get a new replacement. I see several places offering radiators and would appreciate any comments or experiences when replacing a first gen SA radiator. I’ll change the coolant when I do the radiator. I stopped by the local Mazda dealer and asked if they could service the car but basically they all looked at each other with a very confused look and said the parts are no longer available…have a nice day. Anyway here’s a picture of the interior.
And I bet the chances that those are still available through the dealer are almost nil.
Available from Rock Auto, though. I even have a discount coupon at the moment!
Originally Posted by Jeff20B
Hmm, you sound like the type who uses his parking brake every time you shut off the engine. Even when parked on level ground.
But that would require two changes in habit, because I don't leave the car in gear when parked - - as I tend to forget to take it out of gear before starting it... [*LURCH!*]
The old cables made it 35 years, if I swap them I'm guessing I'd be unlikely to have to change them again in future.
i do the same as divin, i leave it in neutral, and most of the time use the Ebrake. i do occasionally come out in the morning, and find that the car just sat overnight with nothing (!), looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...
the funny bit, the old house was on the biggest hill in sunnyvale, like 3 feet. and my friend, who was a mechanic, didn't live on the hill, so there were numerous times that he'd work on a car, bring it over, and it would be across the street the next morning. its funny because the hill is so small, it wont even show up in a picture...
I got tired if looking at my spare 83 12-A motor (from my old 84). Took it apart and found that the original housings are still in good condition and the low compression was from flat apex seal springs. Im still happy that considering that i rebuilt this motor using the best junkyard apex seals/springs and side seals, it ran good for apprx 75k miles lol.
Tonight was the last bit of preparation for staring the new engine. Coolant topped off (no lagoons in my garage, thankfully), spark plugs in and HT leads hooked up, carb velocity stacks back on, and slicks off and "street" tires wrapped around Dukes of Hazzard wheels on (in anticipation of a break-in).
Drove my car 2 hrs away from home following my friend to get his microtech fi 13b tuned. He made 174hp on a conservative tune. I think i am sold on fi, it was too easy to install and 1 hour of dyno and tuning time.
Guess its time to sell the yaw carb and rb holley and go fi, goodbye carbs
Last three days:
Installed water barriers in the door panels, road-tripped to Vegas, got rained on, cleaned her up in the hotel parking lot, attended WHiV8, was honored with a three-peat win in 1st Gens, went for a gorgeous cruise through the Red Rock area with more than a dozen other rotaries, had tons of fun with a bunch of great people, had a barbeque, learned to play Ladder Golf (badly), then zoom-zoomed it back home yesterday... and got 25+mpg at better than 80 the whole way.
So, not your typical weekend.
Car needs a serious wash, I need some serious rest, and I have every intention of returning again next year.
Oh, and my brake cables arrived while I was gone.
Still daily driving it. Broke 8500 miles as an electric today. The reason for this update is because I replaced the rear hatch seal, not because of exhaust as I don't have any of that but because of wind noise when on the highway drowning out the stereo. I may need to come up with some way to seal the tail lamp assemblies as the original seals are almost crumbly and don't seal anymore. What are others doing for tail lamp seals since they don't seem to be available? I've been thinking of using black silicone rubber if I can come up with a way to apply it without making a terrible mess.
Last three days:
Installed water barriers in the door panels, road-tripped to Vegas, got rained on, cleaned her up in the hotel parking lot, attended WHiV8, was honored with a three-peat win in 1st Gens, went for a gorgeous cruise through the Red Rock area with more than a dozen other rotaries, had tons of fun with a bunch of great people, had a barbeque, learned to play Ladder Golf (badly), then zoom-zoomed it back home yesterday... and got 25+mpg at better than 80 the whole way.
So, not your typical weekend.
Car needs a serious wash, I need some serious rest, and I have every intention of returning again next year.
Oh, and my brake cables arrived while I was gone.
I may need to come up with some way to seal the tail lamp assemblies as the original seals are almost crumbly and don't seal anymore. What are others doing for tail lamp seals since they don't seem to be available? I've been thinking of using black silicone rubber if I can come up with a way to apply it without making a terrible mess.
I wonder if a replacement could be made out of a rubber gasket material of some sort...
im using the pineapple racing large streetport template, heres a before and after. The after of course needs finishing up but you can see the difference in size.
its real easy to port an engine, this was my 1st attempt.
I took some video will probably post it up on youtube, just to get an idea of how to
Examining and evaluating how to get the rear axle out somewhat safely
4x4 status, trying to get the rear axle out
Dad and grandpa helping strap down the car on the way to the scrapper
The shell weighed in at 1,200lb after weighing the truck and trailer at 9,540lbs with it on, 8,340lbs unloaded with just the bare half ton Chevy truck and car hauler.
So the front SE struts, front brake calipers, front wheels, rear wheels, rear brake calipers, and the rear axle assembly (complete) were all removed from the car before it was scrapped.
At DGRR I notice I had lost about 1/4" of fluid from the master cylinder reservoir. I did have
someone tell me they saw some smoke pour out of one of my rear wheels earlier. I did a quick
check and didn't see any leaks or other issues and continued along until I got home. Figured
the rear drum cylinders must have dumped a load of fluid. Also my brakes were now squealing
again but it sounded like the rears now.
Fast forward to last night. Haven't touched the car since getting back from DGRR. Put it up on
stands and pulled all the wheels. Pulled the rear brake drums and had a look at it. The shoes
showed some wear and also some weird wear on the leading edges. Also the right rear
had what looked like a substantial amount of foreign substance baked iinto and caked on it,
Plus it was a lot dirtier than the driver side. I do remember that going to DGRR I didn't adjust
the drums, that plus the wear and the hard use caused the fluid to appear low. I suspect that
the adjusters loosened up a bit and then that caused the cylinder to push far enough out that
it could seep some fluid as well under hard braking.
Anyway, still have an almost new set of shoes, so those will go on after a thorough cleaning
and check of the rest of the brakes this weekend.
I also want to replace the battery cables. Are the 4 gauge replacements you can get at the
autoparts stores ok to use? The SA cables are definitely NLA at this point. I hate to replace
them with cables that don't look original but I suspect they are old enough to be causing extra
voltage drops I don't need on the starter and else where.
Last edited by t_g_farrell; May 22, 2015 at 10:15 AM.
I also want to replace the battery cables. Are the 4 gauge replacements you can get at the
autoparts stores ok to use? The SA cables are definitely NLA at this point. I hate to replace
them with cables that don't look original but I suspect they are old enough to be causing extra
voltage drops I don't need on the starter and else where.
I went with 0 or 1 size with built in battery ends. About four four for both. I also bought a two foot negative and tagged on the the negative terminal and ran that to the driver-side stuck tower. I also have the second gen fuse-block conversion for the fusible links so I ran a 1 1/2 or 2 foot positive cable to the main fuse of the second gen fuse block.
we started tuning Fungus Mungus's car. its pretty intense, i've been thinking it would be like a yellow labrador, but its definitely got something else in there.
Installed my se rotor after packing the bearings with grease and installing the races front and back of rotor onto my gs strut housing, everything went fine until i tried to install my se caliper onto my gs backing plate and realized it wont work. Guess i didnt read the thread in the archive that well. Now im on the lookout for an se backing plate, goodluck lol. Or if i hit the lotto i can build my own machine shop and start fabbing my own parts
Last edited by rotaryjunkee; May 25, 2015 at 06:28 AM.
Installed my se rotor after packing the bearings with grease and installing the races front and back of rotor onto my gs strut, everything went fine until i tried to install my se caliper onto my gs backing plate and realized it wont work. Guess i didnt read the thread in the archive that well. Now im on the lookout for an se backing plate, goodluck lol. Or if i hit the lotto i can build my own machine shop and start fabbing my own parts
Oh man, I almost did that myself. That sucks...getting a backing plate is not going to be easy...most people want to sell the whole strut tube assembly.
Originally Posted by j9fd3s
we started tuning Fungus Mungus's car. its pretty intense, i've been thinking it would be like a yellow labrador, but its definitely got something else in there.
my tuning notes are funny.
the starting idle jet was 70, and it says ok.
start
70 ok
65 angry
80 happy
And now for some reason it's not so happy with the 80s...at least on one venturi. Still tracking that down, but I've given that a break. The mains work pretty well. The car really wants to GO now. It's going to be quick once the break in period is over. It's so much louder now. Snarly, rowdy, and as j9fd3s put it, "wants to chew my furniture". I started her up last night at around 10:30pm and let it idle outside. I felt really bad for my neighbors. And my poor 5-year-old daughter came into the garage today with her hands over her ears because she thought I might start her up.
The evening I took a break from annoying the neighbors and took my dash out. Took about 2-1/2 hours. j9fd3s said it's only 11 bolts and unhooking some wiring. Yeah, well, that wiring was a friggin' pain in the @ss. Every time I thought I had it, there was something *else* still hooked up I had to chase down. The one that had me going for awhile was that damn manual cable-controlled heater. Oh, and it turned out to be way easier to get the dash out after removing the shifter and the steering wheel and turn signal assembly.
So yeah, now I have a car that looks like a theft recovery. Yay for me.
fm
Last edited by Fungus Mungus; May 25, 2015 at 11:30 AM.
