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I want to order some new bearing for my GSL-SE rear differential. I was looking at the rock auto website. Should I order the parts under " Rear; with Mazda Axle; with 7 IN Ring Gear" or the ones that are NOT 7 IN Ring Gear?
Looks like I need to order TWO Rear, Rear Outer and Rear Inner bearings right??
For the last few years my headlights would only retract if the stalk switch was set to the parking lights and the key in the ACC or ON position, even with the center console switch.
The parking lights come on automatically with the key in ACC so I thought it was a crossed wire somewhere. A bit of the wiring is a hackjob from when I did my first rebuild 13 years ago.
Today I found the fuse in the TAIL ILLUM location was burned out and replacing it makes the headlights go up and down without anything else switched on. Man, do I feel like an idiot.
I never checked it because the tail lights do light up with the parking lights. STOP HORN fuse does the brake lights.
Still gotta figure out the parking lights.
I wanted to remove some overspray. Tried acetone, no effect, paint cleaner, no effect, lacquer thinner, no effect, aircraft remover worked. Problem is the slightest amount will really attack the OEM paint much faster than the rustoleum enamel. I was careless about the over spray because I thought acetone would wipe it right off.
I wanted to remove some overspray. Tried acetone, no effect, paint cleaner, no effect, lacquer thinner, no effect, aircraft remover worked. Problem is the slightest amount will really attack the OEM paint much faster than the rustoleum enamel. I was careless about the over spray because I thought acetone would wipe it right off.
I would have tried a clay bar before any chemicals!
the overspray was on the glass so I could have used a razor blade, but I didn't want to risk scratches. Using the foamy aircraft remover spray is turning into a snafu. And the rustoleum looks like crap on vertical areas. This is embarrassing!
Ah yes, for removing those pesky aircraft. Tis a great product.
Sorry, I know what you meant but I read it that way a split second before it clicked. Hope you can get that overspray situation sorted out. WD-40 + heat is surprisingly good at taking off gunk. No clue how it would stack up against rustoleum, but maybe it would loosen it from the glass a little. Might be worth a shot even if only for kicks and jiggles.
I would initially try some polish/scratch stuff and elbow grease. If the surface underneath the overspray had been waxed recently, all the better for prognosis. If required, work my way progressively toward more aggressive rubbing compound.
Case in point, I ran my shiny new left front fender up against the latex painted lolly column in my garage, a pretty big face palm. It was close enough to smear the cured white latex paint over a 6"x6" area of the fender but not so close to deform the metal. I used some Zymol HD Cleanse and a microfiber and while took about 45 minutes, it removed it beautifully.
Got her all washed and waxed, ready for a long winter. From about 10 feet, the right light and a decent camera, she looks as good as the day she came off the showroom floor.
I also finally got my Antique plates! Now I can get rid of the factory exhaust. No more inspections for this RX7.
Started strippin it down! Next is the engine and the dash when I’m ready. Hopefully by the end of winter I can have a nice solid roller, ready for paint and partial reassembly
Current spec is a bastardized quasi stock port GSL-SE engine (maybe 170-180hp, it's slow and has no midrange) and 4.86 gears in the rearend. Tires were very, very old 62cm Dunlop mud and ice tires. I was told that sometimes an inside rear wheel would just stop spinning even with me on the power, this jibes with how weird the Locker feels sometimes on the street, like it is one wheel drive and then it bangs into engagement, so over the winter I'll be putting a normal clutch type diff in it.
Also the bridge ported mill is going back in, with new rotor housings, and the side housings have been resurfaced by Chip's, so it should be a real midrange monster, and I might knock the gearing down to 4.56 or so. The nice thing about having a Ford 9" is that you can throw a dart at any number between 2.21 and like 7.50 and someone makes a gearset in that ratio, and it's like $150 shipped, and diffs are rarely more than $400 for new.
Oh yeah, I won overall by a quarter second and had FTD by about .2 seconds. (Score is cumulative of all runs, not just fastest run like in autocross. Keeps you on your toes and promotes a kind of controlled aggressiveness, as you can't afford to make a mistake but you also can't afford to not try hard on every run)
Saturday turned out to be 70 degrees F (a change from the 50s and lower the week previous,) and it's going to be in the 70s all week, so I decided to scuff the epoxy primer and spray some high-build primer on the areas of the engine compartment that will be visible, to later at least do a pass at sanding and making those areas smooth.
Still getting the hang of the Harbor Freight HF gun that I modified to a larger tip (and was really too big for this particular primer, per the paint's instructions,) so got a few runs, but overall it sprayed nicely.
Hopefully I'll get some time to sand the primer this week or next weekend, and lay on some color.
Oh yeah, I won overall by a quarter second and had FTD by about .2 seconds. (Score is cumulative of all runs, not just fastest run like in autocross. Keeps you on your toes and promotes a kind of controlled aggressiveness, as you can't afford to make a mistake but you also can't afford to not try hard on every run)
I think I blew a rotor coming from the vote polling place. I remember walking to the polls in 2004 because I was in the middle of replacing the blown engine. 16 years ago! And the running/parking lights are out. A cop pulled me over, but didn't write a ticket!
Maybe I drive it only during the day , and on one rotor until the wheels fall off????
maybe 30,000 ? assuming 300 per oil change times 6 oil changes a year times 16 years (speedometer is broken)
I pulled the plugs and cranked the engine with the throttle all the open. The swooshes were equal! Noticed the bottom plug had a mysterious green liquid on it. And the radiator coolant was low. Time for Prestone coolant leak fixer? Any other suggestions?
And the parking / running lights are out. Time for cleaning the white square thingy in back of the combi switch with contact cleaner?
stuff is breaking faster than I can fix it, maybe I get a corvette but then I foresee the regret of missing the simplicity of the rx-7.
Last edited by midnight mechanic; Nov 4, 2020 at 04:58 PM.
Modified a FB 12A manifold to open the volume between the rear runners like a 79 manifold and the throttle ****** is pretty much gone. It really took to that mod well. I think that extra pull from the rear secondary port helps keep the air moving at lower speed. Don't know why I didn't check the manifold before.
Did 80 miles to make some room for fresh gas and stabilizer for the winter. The car is pretty happy right now.
