Right on!
I think you could also make a jumper harness down under the seat at the connector there, near where I spliced in my relays. There would be a couple wires that just pass straight through, but that should work. It's been a long time since I did that, and my pictures are low-res representatives of the time.

 

Got nearly 20mpg (233mi, 11.8 gal) including the rallycross. Looked like about 26-27mpg highway.

 

I was going to do the air pump belt today. I've had a new belt laying around for +20 years, so I thought I was covered. Guess what? The +20 year old belt had cracks in it. It dry rotted. Can you believe that crap ? ! ! The alt belt went in 2006, so the other belts are +15 years old. Time for a change! RockAuto had a close out sale so all the belts were $1 plus change, I ordered 2 of everything. Wonder if those belts are cracked too? What would Brian O'Conner do?

 

Changing the wheel bearings in the front and waiting for bushings to tackle the suspension. the fronts arent too bad but the rears are shot haha, on an SA not an FB though.

 

Re-plated another batch of bolts, including one of the oil cooler hose banjo bolts:


And the springs and one bolt from the clutch/brake pedal assembly




And the AFM/airbox brackets (I'm mounting GSL-SE stuff into the '79):

(most of the stuff in those baggies will need to be redone, or at the very least cleaned up.)






I also did the bracket for the windshield washer tank. I removed the bracket when I started working on the engine bay to get it out of the way. Weirdly, it's spot welded in, though it clearly has mounting holes. I put threaded rivets in to remount it later. I'm glad I removed it, as it had started to develop a little rust behind it.



It cleaned up OK, though:



I'll have more pics in my thread, if anyone wants to see more detail/steps/explanation. I'm *trying* to be brief here.

 

Those look great!

 

My trans rebuilder is building me an S3 5sp with Miata gears. When I ordered the trans he told me he didn't need my '85 core because he had 2 good cores. Well he called me last night....

He has the gearset and got the custom input shaft made, but when he cleaned up the cores they both were unusable. One had a crack and the other... IDK. So he needs my core, from my currently running car, so my build can continue.

So what I'm doing tonight through the weekend is pulling my engine and tranny and getting ready to ship the tranny early next week. Love the progress but I'm working 6/12's so, I might be late to work tomorrow.

 

That's a serious schedule! Good luck! I can't believe he couldn't combine parts to get one good donor.

 

IDK, something about a cracked case and 2 bad tail housings. IDK but it's frustrating, just like everything about getting parts for 1st gens. Always double any time-frame that anybody gives you for a rebuilt motor, trans or rear end.

Here we are at 7:30 pm on Thursday (I removed the battery and took the choke cable loose last night). Let's see how fast a tired old man can pull a motor and tranny in his spare time.
Note - I haven't changed a motor or tranny in over 20 years.

 

Are your stands not tall enough to remove just the transmission?

 

Yes but I have a new motor that I'll install with the new tranny. I'm planning to remove them together and install the new ones together.

 

11:02 pm and I'm quitting for tonight.
*Drained the trans, engine oil and coolant
*Removed fan, radiator and all tin ducting
I'll hit it harder tomorrow night when I can drink some coffee and stay up late.

 

Took the intake off. NOW I'm calling it a night.

 

Making great progress!

 

Didn't get much done Fri or Sat but today I got the engine and tranny out.

 

I put some of this:


Back in here:


And blasted and painted the sway bar:


Also redid the clutch pushrod. The clevis was fine, if a bit dirty, but the pushrod itself was nasty.


Better:

 

Frankenrex, that looks great! I'm looking at my newly-uncovered crossmember and 36 years of crud and rust.

Yesterday I shipped my tranny to the rebuilder.

 

Found the dead pedal I left in my parts closet, like 10 years ago.

 

Put my drive shaft back in. New U-Joint on the spline end. It's an 83 with staked u joints. Had a guy do it for me, brought the part:
The u joint for the '83 is .867" cap diameter and the distance between the outside of the new, inside-style c-clips is 1.515" The Rockford 430-10A and the PTC one from Amazon are the right part. This thread from 2006 was instrumental in understanding the process
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...joints-517657/

I only did the spline end as I was not sure about how it would balance out wasn't sure about the fit. It turns out it's great. And the diff flange end was in great shape anyway.

Before:




After:

 

Just renewed my collector car insurance policy on my 1985 RX7GSL-SE and was pleased to noticed that it's "appraised value" was increased to $16,750 this year. That just made my day!

 

Got my flares today. Exciting!

 

Changed oil, steering gear oil, rear differential, clutch and brakes.

Only things left are coolant and trans oil, but those are on my fall list.

Returning the 7 to daily duty, so I'm sure there's gonna be fixing in the near future. I know it needs a clutch, but hoping it holds out till the fall when I won't be driving it as much.

 

Went 323.1mi before feeling like I should probably add fuel. Not familiar with this gauge yet. The pump shut off at 12.48 gallons. Carry the one, divide by zero... that can't be right, that's mixed driving!

Jeez, stock 12As and Nikkis are awesome!

 

the tachometer died, so I replaced the t-ignitor with one that I had in reserve since 1998. and the speedometer died, I verified that it was connected to the instrument cluster. is there something else to check before I buy a new speedo-cable???? do new speedo cables for a rx-7 fb exist anymore? would a miata speedo cable work??

 

Yes...you can buy new speedo cables...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/360568281757