And since the more I get done, the more I want to get done, I bolted the new carb on. I still need to change the jets and E-tubes but just having it on top inspires me. So here's some Weber Rotary ****...


I'll be using a side-mount alternator bracket, so the top of the engine will always look "open" and uncluttered. Plus it will add more belt surface on the W.P. pulley.

Nom nom nom.

 

I needed a spare since I went to GSL-SE bolt pattern/brakes. I got a S4 Vert aluminum spare (Enkei) last year, and found a matching rim last month. Just got new rubber put on them - Firestone F- 560 in 135 R15. It's a weird size because it's a donut size, but also a hot-rodder size. It's a P speed rating, so good for 93 mph continuous use. Most donuts are 45 or 55 mph rated. I'll prolly never need these, but if I do, I'm stylin'.

 

And last but not least, I improved my coilovers a few weeks ago. When I had my T3 coilovers made I told them I wanted the front 1" lower than stock. Well their coilovers and a set of GroundControl rear springs had my car sitting a little nose- high. I really didn't mind because that was the style back around 1990 ("lower the rear to improve handling"). But it was noticeable.

I tried just turning-down the spring seat/collars to lower the front, but then the springs would be jangly-loose when I jacked the car up. I didn't like that.

Well now T3 has hyperco "helper springs" to make sure your coils don't loose contact with the tophats when your suspension droops. Sorry to sound like a commercial but I am really happy with these. They're super soft so they don't affect the ride at all (they completely compress under the car's weight) but they're strong enough to keep the main spring in contact with the tophat when the control arm is at full droop.

I also installed some motorcycle shock boots to keep the coilover rods clean. I don't think many guys think about this, but any dirty/salty water that gets up on your coilovers/struts is going to rot the oil seals in the coilovers. That's why the OE struts have those boots. So I tried 3 or 4 sets of motorcycle boots until I found a pair that fit well (I had to cut them a little shorter).

Pics-




The boots. I tried 3 or 4 different sizes and this one fit great.

 

Today I'm continuing on the rust-remediation and respray of all the black metal I took off the car. The "Tender Blue" body paint is 99.9% good everywhere, but every black piece I remove is covered in surface rust. Yesterday I worked on the trans mount, and today I'm tackling the Radiator support pieces.



I sprayed them with black Rust-Reformer spray, and will hit them with gloss black engine paint tomorrow. That's what I did with the trans mount.

There's a bracket for the overflow bottle that needed attention too...

I cleaned it / scuffed it as best I could and coated it with the rust-reformer. It's not pretty but it will hold off the rust until I get around to re-plating it. I want to take it and some of the fire-wall lines to a local plating shop and get them re-done. If they don't do that gold plating I'll just have them nickle'd.

 

Oh, and the radiator top-support and battery tray got Line-X coated. The top tray is where my wrenches sit whenever I'm under the hood, and the battery tray spends it's life getting abused. The Line-X guy said lots of the muscle car guys get these parts coated, so I'm not alone here.

 

It's called yellow zinc and really finishes off a nice build like yours.

 

Thanks Banzai, now I know what to ask for. I'm not going for a concourse resto, but I want everything to look decent and stop rust in it's tracks.

Are you the same Banzai as Banzai Racing?

 

Sorry, no connection. Just a guy who got the nickname when I raced motocross in the late seventies to mid eighties. Bought a new Rx-7 in 79 and the name just transferred and the cars first plate read: BANZAI

Still have the plate and car. Banzai is more the cars name now, but I was its inspiration!

 

Oh, so *that's* what my '79 is supposed to look like!

Can confirm that zinc plating with gold chromate is what you want. I've been doing it DIY for my '79:






That's only a few of the bits.
It takes a lot of work if you don't happen to be a business that does it day in and out. Parts have to be cleaned, stripped, degreased, somewhat polished, plated, then the chromate applied (which is just a dip, but if the plating isn't good, you have to do it all again.) Professionals have a formula or process that allows the parts to come out of the plating tank shiny, but they don't share that with the world at large, so us amateurs have to polish the part - they come out a dull grey - before chromating. You'd also need a pretty big tank for the firewall coolant pipes, so unless you're doing just a little, or a whole lot, I couldn't recommend DIY unless you're just into learning/doing.

My radiator side panels weren't quite as bad as yours, but yeah, that black paint they used is not durable.



I have a media blaster, so:


I highly recommend a media blasting cabinet if you have room for it and an air compressor to run it. Makes removing rust and paint so much nicer.

Here's that same overflow tank mounting bracket, but for a GSL-SE that includes a mount for the airbox, replated:


Line-X is a good idea on that battery tray! I had to weld up some rust holes in mine after media blasting, and repainted it. I found a plastic battery tray similar to the factory one to replace my cracked one to hopefully keep the acid off of the steel, but the Line-X sort of solves that.

 

As far as what I did in the last few days: rust repair.












I HATE HATE HATE rust.

 

Here's some updates from the fabrication shop.

Real expensive work here, so the progress isn't exactly the greatest. $3k to add in a rear sway bar design that I custom ordered to fit and didn't need modifications *oof*. Weldin' ain't cheap.

 

 

I repainted all the black trim on the car then entered it into it's first car show. It was really cool talking to some guys that had first gens in the past.




I finally tried driving the car home from my Grandma's house last night now that it has some good tires on it and it started bogging down bad, figured out the float bowls were emptying faster than they could be filled.

I took out the needle seats and found both of the little screens were clogged, cleaned them up and I'll have to see if it makes a difference. Only odd thing is the screens themselves don't look like any of the screens I've seen online, are these original or did the engine rebuilder put these in?

 

EPIC color! nice

Carb: if the screens are plugged, that prob indicates problems in the fuel system UPstream. Check your fuel filter - which MUST be changed once a year. If that is plugged up, then you may have issues in the gas tank. Not unusual if a car has sat unprepared for long periods...

Stu A
80GS
AZ

 

To avoid this all together just run a filter up top as well and change it out with every oil change ( you don't want to risk a fire if it becomes brittle and cracks) , You shouldn't see any build up but it 100% keeps your carb safe from any issues between the filter and the 12 ft of hard line and your carb!

 

Love that yellow!

 

Disassembled a spare steering box to prepare the column for MTheory's kit. Took way longer than when I did mine for the RE-Speed kit, everything was stuck with rust.
Turning the shaft inside the cover was like a rust pepper mill.
I tried to separate the shafts by melting the nylon collapsing pins like I did before but the shafts are rusted together. If an hour of hammering hasn't got them to budge I think I'll leave it at that.

 

I recently detailed the 7 and for the third time installed new fule hoses. The old set up was bending the fule filter . The new one is kink proof and no longer stressed the nipple.

Also bad news for all 84 and under owners .
Autozone has purged our car and it's parts from the parts catalouge .
The Rx7 no longer shows up on their in store computers and as of today the website gives us a error page not found.
Hopefully it's a mistake as the Rx3 and Rx4 still show up.. The guys at the store were almost hostile when asking if i had the " right" car.
Like yes a 1979 Rx7 is a car.

 

Thanks guys, I put another fuel filter on just before the carburetor, cleaned the float screens which were already dirty again and verified the float levels and it seems to be running pretty good now. I'll change out the filter at regular intervals to prevent it from getting too brittle.

 

You were smarter than me , I used the long style and had a few issues lmao. That bucket style seems smarter.

 

Rallycrossed the '84 for probably the last time.

 

Say it is for a honda prelude 82-89, suburu 86-89, honda civic 82-83, toyota land cruiser 81-87, mazda 626 83-85, or ask for a duralast ff3418dl ro purolator f20002

I've found most parts place clerks are in awe rx-7's because of the rotary engine.

 

All my life I have used the glass fuel filter and never had a problem.......

 

That's a great picture! Are you retiring the car?

 

Those are fine as long as you watch and maintain the rubber o-rings.