coming together. possibly finishing tomorrow.

 

Tackled the rear links last night, will drive it to work today and see if it feels different. These were original and had 40k miles on them. I just went with all OEM replacements. Sway bar end links are beckarnley though. I couldn't find rubber center bushings for the sway bar so I left those for now, and will try the energy suspension poly bushing I bought later.

 

Rebuilt my AC compressor. Installed a new aftermarket power antenna. Did a safety check for track day

 

In 1993, I replaced the master clutch cylinder. The new one leaked. Wonderful genuine mazda parts. It was from the dealership that bragged about being there for +20 years, located due east from LAX. Went back, the dealership was shut down. How cheap *** do you have to be to screw someone over a master clutch cylinder, something that is a bitch to put in?? I hate car all dealerships!!!

 

quick mock up. don't worry... I tilted the unit upright to balance the weight after I took the picture.

 

Shiny !! How long with a buffer?

 

for the transmission about an hour or so. Most work was done with a pneumatic 1/4" chuck angle grinder with a 2" buffing pad.

 

Today finished my new and rust free moonroof mounts. Someone was making deep scratches in the glass so i built a more modern looking mount. More big so you cannot see the scratches anymore.

 

nice..

 

Neato!
I need to fabricate one of the latches for the glass roof for my '79. Unfortunately, that's a one-year item, and they don't work the same way as the FBs.

 

Finally got the correct belt length and completed my side mount alternator installation. Franklin Engineering side mount kit on a 12A.

Perfect fitment, running an S4 alternator (plug and play). As a precaution, I ran a 10awg ground wire to the factor negative cable grounding location on the driver side shock tower. Was not sure how well the anodized aluminum hardware would conduct to the front iron.

Had to grind down the OEM alternator mounting bolt so the nut would not interfere with the oil cooler line.

Really like the clean engine bay look. Next change may be to run an aluminum water pump housing and grind off the OEM alternator mounting lug.

 

That looks great tommyeflight89. I just looked at Franklin's site and it looks like a nice piece... I like the way it mounts where the AC used to be (mine is removed already). Other than the ground cable, did you have to lengthen the other alternator wires? Also what belt length did you end up with? I went through many belts trying to find the proper length for my Bonzai Racing Alt. bracket (the size they recommend was too short).

 

turned this...

into this

 

Looking good! Couldn’t help but notice no boots on caliper slide pins.
You can use FC rear caliper boot kit to source caliper slider pin seals. Mazdatrix has kit for $28.80.A little pricy for the two boots you need out of kit.
I would spend some time and shop for possible cheaper after market sources.
Look at pic of my disassembled caliper parts and you can see what slider seal looks like.

 

Did you refinish them yourself, or use a service like GoldLine in Port Orchard?

 

I recently installed new racing beat coolant hoses on my car. Due to my old hoses looking like they where about to burst. Now my car is running warmer than what it did before. I'm pretty sure I have some air in the coolant system. I already tried the whole funnel thing letting the car reach operating temp, revving the engine, squeezing the lower and upper coolant hoses to burp the coolant system. And it's still running warm on me. Any tips or tricks that might help?

Thanks

 

Turn heater temp all the way to hot. While engine still somewhat cold,position car uphill as much of an angle. Be sure rad full and coolant catch tank up to max . Run engine at a fast idle 1800 rpm til good and hot with heater on full blast til your cooling fan is running for @ 5 minutes.
Shut car off and leave in that position to get cold. With car in that attitude,radiator is in highest position and any air bubbles on shutdown will make their way up to top of radiator.
You will know you got air out of system when engine next run to temp as coolant level will have dropped down a bit as it replaces the volume originally occupied by air.
I do this by setting two front legs on my lift and raising car @3'in the air for this process. Look at level of coolant in catch tank before starting and after reaching operating temp. Cold level should be a bit lower than hot level. If there is no change in level of coolant in bottle there is an air leak in cooling system and engine is pulling in air as it cools down.

Be certain fan is cycling on and off at set temps. If still running warm,remove and check opening point of thermostat in boiling water with a thermometer-or just put a new one in. I prefer oe for this.
Just noticed,did you paint that radiator at same time hoses replaced?

 

Also, make sure that your lower radiator hose (suction) isn't collapsing at speed, and restricting flow. That's a possibility if it doesn't have a reinforcing coil in it.

 

What he said...

 

Got my factory tape player/radio working on the SE. Couple of cold solder joints fixed and a new fuse and voila!

 

Thanks for the advice GSLSEforme

I tried the whole listing the car up method. My coolant level stayed the same. I am still having the issue where the car rises temp on me. It doesnt get to overheating bad but it's not at normal operating temp.


This is the temp my car was originally operating at:


This is to what the temp rises to:

 

That temp looks fine to me. Unless it's very cold out, mine usually sits just below dead center in 60 degree or warmer weather. It will go higher if you start to overheat, anything past 3/4 is bad news.

Although not necessary for the Rx7, a lisle funnel is a great tool. They usually stock it at auto parts stores. It comes with various spouts, o-rings, and radiator cap sizes so you can mount it right to the cap and overfill the radiator. Start the car and let it go through it's warm up cycle all the while squeezing the hoses and running the heater on full. If there is any air in the system it will bubble out. When you start to see the coolant steam, shut it off, let the coolant cool a bit, then stick the plunger in it to avoid spillage. Replace the radiator cap and top off the overflow and you are good to go.

 

Are all the coolant hoses hot,hot air coming from heater? Did you test the thermostat as described in last post,is it the correct type thermostat?This is the part that controls operating temp of engine. Is your fan cycling on and off at idle or running steady. Can you override it to run constant to see if it will pull temp down. Before you start tearing anything apart,suggest you rent/get an infra red thermometer to get an actual temp reading at thermostat housing area and temp differential of upper and lower hoses.
On a "tight" cooling system,the level of coolant in bottle will be at a lower level when engine is cold, Min mark. Once fully at operating temp,the level of coolant in bottle will rise as coolant heats up it expands and pushes the coolant out of radiator into coolant bottle,Max mark.
As the engine cools down coolant contracts and again a tight system will pull back into radiator what was pushed into bottle. This is how the radiator stays full. If you don't see level of coolant in bottle go from low to high and back again to same level as engine goes from cold to hot to cold again,you have a leak somewhere in system.
Put the car back on ground and mark low/cold coolant level on bottle with a piece of tape before starting engine. Remove radiator cap and coolant level should be right at top of radiator neck right under cap,replace cap.Once engine warmed fully,mark high/hot level on bottle The level should change @1/2"to 1" or more. If this level does not change,the cooling system is pulling air in thru a leak instead of coolant cycling back into radiator as engine cools. Cooling system pressure test needs to be done and test radiator cap to be sure it's holding rated pressure and vents beyond that pressure to allow coolant to move to overflow bottle.

 

I heard a "ting" as I was bolting the thermostat top on while installing a rebuilt engine. The water pump housing bolt hole cracked. I found another one on the internet, good thing too since welding cast iron is almost impossible. Anyway I installed the new water pump housing without checking the thermostat. The engine ran hot. What happened was someone put a thermostat in that didn't have the little bleeding hole for air to escape. The coolant never contacted the thermostat, so the thermostat never opened up. Installing the original thermostat which has that little hole solved the problem. THe hole needs to be at the highest point.

When the thermostat opens, there is a very turbulent flow in the radiator. You can see it with the radiator cap off.

 

I was not aware of this. Not sure I did it right, but my car isn't having cooling problems. I'll remember that for next time though!