Over the last week, I've been tinkering with my RX7. I attempted to repair the cigarette lighter which intermittently cuts in and out (makes using a bluetooth FM transmitter a headache).

I diagnosed why my fuel door solenoid worked intermittently, Turns out it was because its shaft was painted when the car was painted, so it was sticking to the latch. A wire brush, a little fingernail scraping, and a dab of silicone grease and now it works every time. Unfortunately, I discovered some rust on the wheel well behind the bin so I'll have to decide what to do with that.

Currently, I removed the bracket mounting the Carter fuel pump to add a vibration insulator between it and the frame to try and deaden the noise a bit. Going to clean up the ground the previous owner added a bit, because it looks like it could have a poor connection due to corrosion on the ring terminals.

 

Got some revs out of the 12a bridge.
It's like music to my ears.
Still need more tuning and tons of body work left, but it's moving.

 

Been busy plating lots of carburetor bits the past couple days - mostly fasteners.











In that last photo you can see a screw in almost every step of the process, moving left to right. Some folks might also notice that the fuel rail is back; didn't come out as nice as I'd hoped last time so I gave it a touch up.

When I first 'finished' this carburetor - which is close to a year ago at this point - there were a lot of things I skipped over, particularly when it came to plating bolts. While I'm still not going to re-plate the throttle cable bracket (it's just too much of a pain to even begin to contemplate; so many nooks and crannies...), I am fixing up just about everything else.

 

Just got a GSL-SE my first one

 

Got an alignment after installing t3 control arms, rb springs, and koni yellows a few weeks ago. What a difference between old broken rubber bushings! Also first time driving the car on the freeway lol.

Then washed the car for an extra 10hp.

 

Great color on the car. Is that an aftermarket sunroof?

 

I assume it is, as i learned on this forum all the factory sunroofs were body color. It was installed by the 1st owner (friend of my wife's uncle), so it's been on there since new. Not sure if they were a dealer installed option in California?

 

as the factory roofs did come body colored, i think the glass roof was optional. but the best way to tell is just how big it is to the top of the car. those after thoughts are way smaller. i hate seeing sun roofs put into the origial hard tops.

 

Atkins rotary has some too I saw.

 

Finally washed, clay bar and wax today. All cleaned up for summer.
Can't wait till I can lose the ugly front plat at the end of the year!

 

Do you ever get down to Charlotte anymore Chris? Car looks amazing!

 

I hope to, I want to come for a cars and coffee if they start back up. The one here is lame, they never get their dates right.

 

Replaced the idler arm bushings on my son's '85 12A.

I am not expecting these plastic bushings to last very long so I took measurements to convert the unit to metal bushings or tapered bearings in future.

 

Alternatively, Moog makes an idler arm with balljoints on both sides.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mog-k9369

 

^ what he said. it's what we all use as a replacement. got mine from rockauto.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...idler+arm,7328

check with local parts places with that part #. may find it cheaper.

 

Reinstalling the AC I took out back in 2007 in my 80 SA. It was a factory install, so I'll probably write it up once I'm done so folks and see how the plumbing works from the firewall out to the condenser.

 

Definitely makes a huge difference on when you can drive, especially in the south east.

 

I don't know about the '80, but the system in my '79 was garbage. It used flare fittings rather than o-rings, so was almost impossible to seal. I swapped over the entire system from an '84. It's all modular and Mazda never really changed the placement, or the interface to the evaporator box, so it plugged right in. I might have had to change the connector on the compressor plug, but I don't think so.
The entire car is disassembled right now, and the condensor I swapped in turned out to be clogged up, unfortunately, so it only ran enough to blow the high pressure hose on my gauges, due to the clog! At least I know the compressor works.

 

all my plastic idler arm bushings last about a decade
what metal are you going to use? brass, aluminum, or soft steel

 

Mine is a factory install, so very much the same as a modern AC system in most vehicles today. Just got the new hoses and they are sweet. Can't wait to get it all hooked up and pull a vacuum on it.

 

Exhaust parts arrived last night



Ordered these three months ago (thank you covid...) and now they're finally here. Getting pretty darn excited.

 

I envy you! Is that stainless?

 

Haha. My wallet sure is worse for wear though, particularly when including the other components I've had to/still need to pick up.

And yeah, both the muffler and presilencer are fully stainless. The individual piping is thick-wall mild steel.

 

I'm fixing to do the 2 year repack the front wheel bearings. Trying to get pumped up with pre-workout, and by coming in here. Waiting for it to cool off. That sun is so bright!

 

Wow, how many miles are you putting on that thing? Mine only got repacked when I replaced the rotors and new bearings. Now, I only put a few thousand miles on it each year, so I doubt I'll need to do it again any time soon.