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Got another item on my RX7 "to-do" list done yesterday thanks to third gen member of the forum. When Scott from MTheory Inc came up to Indy last summer to fix the mistake the installer of my rack & Pinion kit made he had to look hard to find any faults with my car. He did manage to point out the sagging drivers door and give me a hard time about it. Finding FB door hinges (like many other RX7 parts) is difficult at best, and impossible at the worst. There is a write-up on the forum for rebuilding door hinges but I no longer have all the tools nor the skills to to do it. Couple that with the fact that most folks willing to sell hinges want you to buy the door too which doesn't work for me either. I put a WTB listing in the forum marketplace for a set of drivers door hinges and was surprised when I received a response. The seller took a set off an RX7 for me (thanks Trackdiaz) and I had them cleaned an powder-coated. I found a local family run body shop that was willing to install my new hinges and I picked-up my car yesterday and the sag is gone and it's a "thing of beauty" when the door closes now. One last thing on my to-do list on my car and I'm done.
FINALLY done with the brake conversion.
The new Protege master cylinder was a dud. Decided to go with a Miata one because of the way the brake lines are arranged, still has the same piston size.
Looking forward to no more brake bleeding for the rest of the summer!
Got another item on my RX7 "to-do" list done yesterday thanks to third gen member of the forum. When Scott from MTheory Inc came up to Indy last summer to fix the mistake the installer of my rack & Pinion kit made he had to look hard to find any faults with my car. He did manage to point out the sagging drivers door and give me a hard time about it. Finding FB door hinges (like many other RX7 parts) is difficult at best, and impossible at the worst. There is a write-up on the forum for rebuilding door hinges but I no longer have all the tools nor the skills to to do it. Couple that with the fact that most folks willing to sell hinges want you to buy the door too which doesn't work for me either. I put a WTB listing in the forum marketplace for a set of drivers door hinges and was surprised when I received a response. The seller took a set off an RX7 for me (thanks Trackdiaz) and I had them cleaned an powder-coated. I found a local family run body shop that was willing to install my new hinges and I picked-up my car yesterday and the sag is gone and it's a "thing of beauty" when the door closes now. One last thing on my to-do list on my car and I'm done.
replacement hinges
How does a door " sag" . I don't even understand how that happens and my dad has owned 70 year old cars .
The pins and bushings that the hinges pivot on get worn out after opening and closing a four-foot-long door for over thirty-eight straight years. With the length of the door, it doesn't take much wear on the hinge pins/bushings on the left side to result in a noticeable drop on the right side of the door. If you look at the hinges on the seventy-year-old car your father has/had if they were American-made you would probably see considerably beefier door hinges than those you will find on a Japanese sports car. I have also owned older American-made cars back in the day and they were prone sagging too, especially if the previous owners who had the tendency to lean on their open car door while carrying on a conversation. How a car is treated determines how well it will age, and if you do a search on the forum for "sagging driver’s door" you will see that I'm not the only RX7 owner to experience this situation, things are sagging on me too, it's called getting old. I took a video of the door closing with the new hinges and it is a thing of beauty but can't get it uploaded for some reason.
The pins and bushings that the hinges pivot on get worn out after opening and closing a four-foot-long door for over thirty-eight straight years. With the length of the door, it doesn't take much wear on the hinge pins/bushings on the left side to result in a noticeable drop on the right side of the door. If you look at the hinges on the seventy-year-old car your father has/had if they were American-made you would probably see considerably beefier door hinges than those you will find on a Japanese sports car. I have also owned older American-made cars back in the day and they were prone sagging too, especially if the previous owners who had the tendency to lean on their open car door while carrying on a conversation. How a car is treated determines how well it will age, and if you do a search on the forum for "sagging driver’s door" you will see that I'm not the only RX7 owner to experience this situation, things are sagging on me too, it's called getting old. I took a video of the door closing with the new hinges and it is a thing of beauty but can't get it uploaded for some reason.
Ah , I was envisioning your door becoming unlevel at the bottom , like actually sagging . I guess once the pins develop enough wear from.play you can't just realign the door any more without needing new pins . I oil my hinges with that white lithium grease if they start making any noise just as a precaution.
Got an alignment for the first time since switching from the RE-Speed kit to MTheory's kit.
What's funny is that I tightened the tension rods to the spec shown in the FSM (rounded up to 11mm), but one side had +3 degrees caster and the other -3.
Maybe I didn't reinstall the bushings in the same position? They're poly bushings that were on the car for about a year before I took them out for the RE-Speed conversion 10+ years ago.
I've got T3 camber tops but there's no provision for caster adjustment.
What made my day was that the caster was set at NTB. Usually they just set the toe and don't want to bother with camber&caster so I assumed I'd have to go to a specialist later, but the tech was an enthusiast who liked the car and dialed everything.
One more item off my "to-do" list was getting my A/C system converted to r134 and it wound-up being harder than it should have. However, I was finally able to get my system vacuum and pressure checked and converted to r134.
I was finally able to get my system vacuum and pressure checked and converted to r134.
Did you use one of the threads already posted here on the forum as a guide? Might think about posting one of your own. Always nice to learn from others 1st hand experiences.
Did you use one of the threads already posted here on the forum as a guide? Might think about posting one of your own. Always nice to learn from others 1st hand experiences.
^^yes, that please.
I need to at least flush my evaporator but I'm also going to be restoring AC in the near future. Though I've been saying that for at least 5 years now.
I can only address what I encountered on my 85 GSL-SE during this procedure I don't know how common it is for all the FB series cars. My plan was to replace the compressor and drier and then have it serviced, I got a new drier but it's almost impossible for find a replacement A/C compressor for your RX7 if you have the OEM Denso 10p13E compressor installed. Everywhere I looked they were "out of stock" or "no longer available." There are plenty of aftermarket replacement compressors if you have the Sanden compressor that was installed stateside but the Denso, good luck. I was able to find a Denso 10p15C on Alibaba that was a suitable replacement for $149.00 plus $70.00 for shipping so I ordered it and worked on getting R12-r134a adapter fittings while I was waiting. Two issue here to be aware of is one is that the both the high and low port fittings are 7/16 20 pitch thread, and two is that the fittings themselves are not removeable they are part of the the A/C hose connection plates that bolts to the compressor. This requires that you get set of adapters that "both" have 7/16 20 female ends, these adapters come with their own Schrader valves installed so you will need to remove the OEM valve stems from your fittings. Another is is that due to the larger size of the r134 fittings when you get them screwed-on the cap on the Hi-side can't be removed because it's up tight against the compressor mounting bracket. With the adapters installed, and the drier and compressor in-hand, another step I took was soaking the drier fittings and the screw on the holder for the drier with PB Blaster a couple days prior to doing the work, I went to see my friend who works in a garage to swap-out the compressor and drier and get it serviced and one issue I have that some won't is it required taking off the Racing Beat strut bar in order to remove the old compressor. Got the old drier removed with a minimum of drama and if you are going to replace the drier get some rubber you can wrap around the new drier because the are smaller than the OEM driers and it helps to make up for the smaller circumference of the new drier and you can get a tight fit in the holder. Got the old Denso compressor out and the new Denso compressor in but you can't tighten it down until the vacuum and pressure test are done and it's filled with oil and r134a because the adapters on the compressor need to be backed away from the mounting bracket in order to enable the machines snap-on fittings to lock on the compressor fittings. Got this evolution done and the belt on and compressor tightened down and fired the car up and turned the A/C on and the new compressor starts making a racket and it sounds like a washing machine with a bad bearing. WTF? No good deed goes unpunished it seems so I drove home and looked at my options, the return window is closed, try replacing the compressor bearing, or buy a clutch kit that costs $243.00 and may , or may not be the problem with my new compressor? The bearing I ordered can't be filled, and I'm not sure the clutch kit will fix the problem. At this point "discretion is the better part of valor," and to cut my losses I went back and had my A/C system evacuated and installed my original Denso compressor and re-checked the system, serviced with oil and r134a refrigerant and it works like a charm. So if anyone needs a boat anchor I have a A/C compressor they can have. I used my A/C rarely, mostly to keep the system lubed over the past twenty-nine years I've had it, the only reason I went through this "***-whooping" is because I'm thinking of selling my car one of these days and knew that it would be something a buyer would demand now days. I hope this makes some sense to anyone who reads this post, Banzai poked me in the eye about not writing anything up about this evolution, but I wasn't relishing revisiting ***-kicking I got trying to get this done. Hope someone gets something out of this. One last issue to be aware of, if your going to a garage or A/C shop to have your system checked and serviced you will have to ensure that all the R12 is gone and you have the new r134a adapters installed before you get there. The new machines no longer are capable of evacuating R12 refrigerant, that's on you.
New compressor/boat anchor New Drier OEM fittings OEM fittings Adapter fittings Adapter fittings
I'm very lucky the old compressor still works, but like i said I used it rarely mostly to just to keep the system seals lubed. During my twenty-six year career in naval aviation "attention to detail" is the reason every tactical jet aircraft ,or helicopter I either worked on, or released "safe for flight" came back in one piece. My RX7 is a gem Toruki, but It's a young mans car and I'm not that guy anymore. During my twenty-nine year journey with my GSL-SE I now have it as close to perfect as I can make it, and if it's maintained properly it will see another thirty years. Got the last thing on my "to-do" list which was getting a replacement VIN decal for my door jamb (it's funny how often things get added to that list.) I am considering selling it because I want another two-seater of some type as a project while I can still walk and chew gum, but I haven't made a decision one way or the other yet.
lol, I can relate. I got out of mine today, two feet on the ground and grunted as I stood up.
What did I do to my RX7 today? I confirmed there's no more oil leaking down the side of the keg. This pleases me to no end.
- I replaced the beehive pedestal o-rings and the banjo crush washers.
- I replaced all of the coolant hoses, having purchased the complete set from Mazda in 2021. The old ones were fine! Hardened after 40 (!) years but no leaks and no weak areas. I recall @j9fd3s saying the Mazda hoses just harden up and stay strong rather than failing catastrophically. I can attest to that.
- I replaced the factory fusible links with FLF type cartridge fuses (30A, 60A, 30A). They slide right in. I kept the old fusibles because I'm sentimental.
In the course of all the beehive work I did an oil change and a coolant flush and fill.
And as delighted as I am that the oil leak seems fixed, I very happy that it's now running like a top. It must have been months ago, but I somehow swapped the leading and trailing connections from the coil to the cap. Surprise, it was hard starting when hot, running rich, would start to break up at 5500 to 6000 RPM. I finally noticed the mix up, tested all the wires (great Ω readings), cleaned the cap and rotor, cinched the connections. Now it's back to its normal smooth running self, starts on the first twist.
Got the last thing on my "to-do" list which was getting a replacement VIN decal for my door jamb
Are you referring to the Federal safety and bumper label on the drivers door jam? I have a car that this label was masked over during some body work. When the tape was removed, it left the label but stripped out the fields of actual information. I've contacted a couple places that make replacement labels, but have had no luck. How did you replace yours?
When my car was repainted (long story) my VIN decal was taped over but when my friend pulled the tape, and cleaned off the tape residue, whatever he used melted the decal. J9FD3s was kind enough to do a check on my VIN number and was able to provide the required info to order a new decal. The company is called Auto VIN Stickers (see link below.) You can fill out an application online with the required information and they will contact for any additional information they might need. The decal is $119.00 and it's $10.95 for shipping and it was the last item on my "to-do" list before the car show I'm putting my car in next month. I'm detailing it this weekend while the weather is still nice here because next week is going to be a bitch heat-wise.
Oh, that’s cool! I haven’t looked at the sticker on my’79 in a while. Guess I should check it. I’m repainting, but may not need to do the door jambs. Handy to have if I do, though.
Door jambs didn't get painted because I wasn't changing the color of my car, but was taped to ensure it wasn't damaged however, it was damaged just the same.
Big month for my FB. '85 GSL-SE. First I had problems with alignment and knew it. When i went to the shop they pointed out thatr it needed wheel bearings. So the inner and outer and seals were replaced. Back to the alignment shop, this time they found a broken shock tower support and the passenger side was going too. So now I've ordered or already have the parts for;
Mevotech stock tower braces
New Mazdatrix slotted and drilled rotors, new pads and caliper rebuild kit.
New brake lines for the front, ( had these and bought them new and cheap)
I HOPE I don't need to replace the wheel bearings again! Have them anyway, JIC.
Previously had replaced all both sway bars with RBeats.
Previously had replaced all bushings with energy red poly type. Front and rear watts link set, all new.
Where do my weird camber adjustment bolts go (offset camber bolt)?
