The White One Rises again
 

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...rgreen/c-2.jpg

The Fat Lady is singing and she sounds pretty good. As you know, the White One has been through some ups and downs lately (https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=748071).

She was 2 hours away from going up on blocks for the summer, awaiting a rebuild of that bad apex seal or side seal or whatever it was.

But with the expert assistance of forum members (Jeff, Mike and Crit come to mind, others lost to Alzheimers) the White One has risen again.

These guys have helped diagnose, in succession, a stuck shutter valve, a leaking coasting valve, a bad leading ignitor and an exhaust leak. All fixed, no bad apex seals, I'm happy. Here's the movie, after a 200 mile road test:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...een/th_A-2.jpg

Here's my favorite part, the recycled stock muffler from my first '84 GSL, the Tan One (RIP):

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...57_13_full.jpg

A mere 150,000 miles on that muffler, now it's getting a second life. (Thanks to Firebirdslayer for noticing the throaty exhaust note on my earlier video).

I just love that stock tip look.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...endpost003.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...endpost004.jpg

Driving to the OGTA meeting last night. I was in traffic no hot rodding, my favorite buddies Gwinett's finest are serious about that turf south of the 85/985 merge.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...een/th_B-2.jpg

The White One hasn't missed an OGTA meeting yet:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...rgreen/6-4.jpg

So thanks for all the help from you 1st gen gurus. Jaime, if you're still a moderator, you can archive it now.

Good to hear its all working good for you Ray. Keep on racking miles on that thing - Happy motoring!

Good work Ray. Maybe you should change the eblems from Mazda to Timex :D.

who does the lotus belong to? Congrats ray!

Freakin sweet man! I hardly get to drive mine much, and it plays with my mind. Good thing it wasn't the apex seal... Now thanks to your thread all hope is not lost!

Congrats on it again man!

I know what you mean Stu, I was in total rotary withdrawal for the ten days that the White One was incapacitated. Now that she's back to doing that 110 mile daily commute I'm feeling much better.

Yetterban, the Lotus belongs to Tim, who likes to show up at the OGTA meetings in a different exotic car each time. Usually he brings a rotary, but I have to say I could live with the Lotus, what a machine!

Do 12As ever die?

I know we've got a big turnover Ray, but give me some credit here! :D Glad to see that the white one is alive and kicking. I'll send this off to the forums and clean up all the extra posts. Probably later tonight. :bigthumb:

Jamie

Ray,

You forgot to mention the stuck side seal too. :)

Kent

yeah the lotus is nice but everything i have read said they are cramped and the foot pedal layout is not friendly to taller people. Congrats again!

From the original post:

"She was 2 hours away from going up on blocks for the summer, awaiting a rebuild of that bad apex seal or side seal or whatever it was."

Kent, you aren't reading closely enough, what am I putting you guys to sleep?

Yetterban, that lotus is a tight fit, it has a side rail you practically have to jump over to get into the driver's seat, but I tried it out and it's a nice fit for me at least, though I do run a bit on the small side. Tim wouldn't let me drive it but I suspect with the small size and rear engine it drives something like a go cart. A very high powered go cart.

Just sharing in the Joy, the White One has been good to me. A Timex emblem might be just the right thing.

I saw that..but just thought you should add it to the list of all the stuff we helped figure out. So it should be :) :

These guys have helped diagnose, in succession, a stuck side seal (Seafoam FTW!), a stuck shutter valve, a leaking coasting valve, a bad leading ignitor and an exhaust leak.

Lot of stuff to fail at once, but sure beats a rebuild any day. :)

Ok, so you are paying too much attention. gsl-se addict, FTW.

yeah i have seen the cockpit on one of those and thats exactly how snug it looks. i bet that thing is a rocket ship they are only like 1,900 lbs and have the dimples on the floor pan and everything.

lol here is the body :P
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/lotus-elise-15.jpg

This would not work for me at all lol
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/lotus-elise-16.jpg

Your keeping that engine awfully clean Ray. Sounds good too! Leather seats appear in great shape. Congrats!

Congrats on keeping your car healthy!! My white was looks exactly the same as yours... hopefully it's playing around on the streets soon!

I'm 6 ' 4'' and sitting in an elise is not fun... i was looking directly at the top of the wind screen and getting out was more of falling out of the car... i have a video, i just rolled to the left and fell on the ground.. it was the only way to get out....

Mickster, the red leather is an upgrade from the original red velor interior. This is what it used to look like.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...57_93_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...57_92_full.jpg

First I added the red leather steering wheel, purchased in great shape for $20 from a forum member out in Arizona (already installed in the pictures above).

Then I upgraded to leather seats I won on ebay for $150 in the Atlanta area:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...7_100_full.jpg

As you can see I kept the velor door panels, I think they look pretty good with the leather so I'm not looking to replace them anymore.

The key to a good leather interior is always be on the lookout for a good leather driver's seat. Forum member Crit recently gave me one in mint condition, which is what's installed in there now. And I have three others in pretty good shape for back ups (but I have two GSLs with red leather interior, so I can always use another, if anyone out there have one!).

swbtm, let's see that video of the lotus!

Sweet leather upgrade! And for $150!! Score! Smart to stock up on the high wear parts that over time can be replaced to keep your collection of red interiors looking great.

Thanks Ray for posting the before pics.

how's the car been driving Ray??? those seats look excellent!! it would be nice to find a nice set of oem leather seats to replace the ratty seats in my 10AE. like Mike said, great idea to stock up on those seats!

Yeah I love the leather. Lot's of comfort and class.

I've gone through a couple tanks of gas and the car has never run better. Along with fixing the exhaust leak this recent round of repairs has the car running like new, a real rocket out on the highway.

I might even be getting better gas mileage than before the shutter/coasting valves problems, it looks like I'll easily top 350 miles on the current tank. This with the coasting valve blocked off with a cork:

https://i259.photobucket.com/albums/...rgreen/6-3.jpg

So maybe everybody else in the world is right and I'm wrong about the shutter valve, maybe it really doesn't do any good?

But if you send me a good one I'll still try it out!

Ray, i'll be sending you two coasting valves!

Cool Dave. You know how I love stock.

very nice i love the cork with the W on it.

It's the little things that make the car, thanks Damien.

Not sure i've posted in many of your threads, but I've seen you post about it quite a bit, its in awesome shape, and its even cooler that you drive it so much! Good luck with it, and glad to hear its still treating you as well as you treat it ;)
IMO the shutter valve is useless, glad to see you have it plugged :)

Thanks transam, the car just keeps getting better and better the more I drive it. And work on it.

Here's an update - I'm so appreciative that the White One decided not to throw an apex seal and set me back several weeks and a thousand or two dollars that I bought the White One a 24th birthday present - a complete RB system, header, presilencer and powerpulse muffler.

http://racingbeat.com/photos/16410.jpg

The old stock header/bonez race pipe to stock muffler has worked well for 7 years and hundreds of thousands of miles but it's time to move on up.

Of course I'll need to post photos and videos so I'll do it here.

Nice! I just got done sandblasting my entire racing beat setup... it was completely surface rusted :)

Did the powerpulse muffler come as part of the kit or are you buying it separately?

I'm trying to figure out where my muffler came from... the only markings it has are "CSC made in Italy" but it looks exactly like the one shown in the pic above huh?

Great to hear your car is going to be even happier than before!

It's a "kit", $710 plus $60 shipping includes everything except the midpiece - header, presilencer, powerpulse muffler and all the gaskets and hardware.

I think I read on the Racing Beat site that their powerpulse mufflers where "hand assembled in Italy by skilled Italian metal artisans".

Does anybody know if you can adapt a pair of large bore chrome muffler tips to the stainless steel ones that come on the powerpulse muffler so it will have that cool stock look?

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...endpost004.jpg

Yea the RB muffler is made in italy and Ray you'll love that system, for a street car is awesome.
As for the tips, the RB muffler looks very close to stock. If you really wanted to you could cut the RB tips off and adapt the stock type ones, but I personally wouldn't....

The RB tips aren't bad, several friends have them and they look great, but they are stainless steel and smaller in diameter, not "awesome" like the larger chromed stock ones. I'll take a closer look when it comes in, but what I'm thinking is removing those stock tips in the photo above, cleaning them up and seeing if I can mount them over the stainless RB tips.

Ray, trust me, you'll like the RB muffler's tips. i was skeptical at first but they really do look nice. very good quality. if you want i can post an up close pic or two

Post away Dave, you can never have too many pictures. How does the stainless hold up, it it really "stainless" and can it keep a shine?

But you are right, I should wait till they get here and give them a chance. I guess I'm getting a little overexcited.

I was like what? Ray is getting an exhaust?? No way... Then I read the last post on the first page.


Nice Ray! I can't wait to see/hear it! Seems like you are moving further away from stock... so when are you getting a Sterling? :tonque:

ok i'll go take a couple of pics and post them . see you guys in 10 mins.

here are the pics. bear in mind this system is nearly two years old. still looks great if you ask me. i keep up with the maitenance and try and keep it clean. here are the pics:

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/DSC07052.jpg

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/DSC07053.jpg

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/DSC07054.jpg

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/DSC07055.jpg

Looks good Dave!
Ray, I'm not sure they are true stainless, but they are definatly chromed really well, mine went through a number of winters and would always shine up nicely in the spring with some chrome polish. The rest of the muffler will start to rust but its so thick it would take many years for it to rust all the way through. Whatever you decide to do with the tips you'll love the sound ;)

Yup I'll be keeping the the Power Pulse tips "stock". Very nice, thanks Dave, those look great. And if the sound is as good or better than my bonez race pipe, I'll be more than pleased. I'll take movies and sound takes of course, before and after the RB install.

Stu, you know how I love my rat's nest. It's all about performance and in my case that puts an emphasis on drive ability and fuel economy, which, I've found by trial and error, are helped by the rat's nest (and maybe even the shutter valve, won't know till Dave's present gets here).

Sterling certainly does a nice job but isn't he essentially just replacing the jets with big ones to deliver more fuel and more power? Sounds like a good way to increase your gas bill and shorten your rotor life (ask Sam).

But a low resistance exhaust system, that has to be all good. I should have it this week and in by the weekend!

Hello, I'm not sure if my muffler is an older model, but they are slightly different than the ones shown by Dave. My tips were chromed and have a back taper to them, about 30 degrees. Just letting you know so you aren't too surprised if they are a little different than Dave's

Enjoy!... If you want to hear what the header, presilencer, and muffler sounds like click on the link in my sig and scroll down... there are two movies with it running :)

Can you get us a photo of the tips swbtm? (the whole sandblasted system if you can). I'd like to see these chromed tapered tips.

And a photo after you sand blast, is there anything you can do to inhibit further rusting? Is there any kind of paint or finish that will hold up to the heat?

Here's a close up of the Power Pulse from Racing Beat, it looks a lot like Dave's. But I see it is for 83-85, maybe they are different for different years?

http://racingbeat.com/photos/16432.jpg

The slant tips are from an older RB model. Back then, they called the mufflers Primaflow instead of Powerpulse. Otherwise basically the same thing.

Uhhhh, ...no.

Quick pics Dave. The Powerpulse tips look way better than stock imo.

Just checking to see if you're out there Sterling. I'd love to have one of your carbs someday!

Wasn't there some other difference internally with the older RB mufflers? I remember someone saying they were reverse-flow type mufflers, but the newer ones are actually a "stright through" design that snakes around in the chamber to keep the noise level down.... I could be wrong, but I seem to remember something about that....
As for the sterling carb, great power but not great gas mileage ;) No offense Dennis :) How have you been anyway, been a long time since we spoke...

Very nice Ray! You make me want to get a stock 7 again.

I lurk around here & there. ;)
I've been good, Sean. Still doing work that I love, so I can't complain. It seems the older I get, the more I hear guys my age moaning about how they hate their jobs, so I feel quite lucky.
Recently started a part time welding job. (For the first time.) I love it!
My daughter just turned five, and she's smart as a whip. Wife is happy. I turn 40 this tear. :puke:

But my beloved RexRod... Alas it has fallen victim to the rust gremlins. It's beyond repair, I believe. I could start anew with a rust-free shell for what they want to fix her. :(

Ray and everyone...

I have the pics of my older style tips pre and post sand blasting... I just finished painting them last night with some POR-20 High Temp aluminized paint. I chose this stuff because of it's claim of 1400 deg and high corrosion resistance... eg. salt, dirt, and other nastiness. I'll be wrapping the headers with some header wrap as well as probably spraying the wrap as well with some 2000 deg protection paint from jegs.. :) i'm gonna try like hell to keep my bay cool.

I'll be posting up the pics soon, probably monday night. I'll let you know.

So far the paint looks pretty good... not shiny chrome mind you.. but it should do the trick for protection

You can see the tips in my video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgTbCoSKfN4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUheUV7WWRA
The second one has a close up of the tips... poor car :(

Good things come to good people. Especially ones that upgrade Nikki's.

We need to get you guys some stock GSLs to modify, I'll be watching in the northeast Georgia area, wonderful rust free 7's around here.

Nice looking White One there swbtm and the video is fantastic, love the smoke. I had to watch 2/3 of it before the smoke had cleared enough to see the tips, I was wondering where I'd seen those before - so that's the old Racing Beat muffler? Similar to the tips I had on the stock muffler that I just pulled from my White One, but they were $5.95 each at Autozone:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...7_270_full.jpg

Maybe you can get Dennis to take a look at that first video, I'll bet he knows how to adjust that whatever it is carb you've got in there.

Looking forward to the rebuilt Power Pulse or Primaflow or whatever it is.

Ray, the carb is a 465 holley... i'm sure anyone knows more about it than I.... I'm lost right now on how to tune the thing... i'm even looking at the colortuner thingy that black dragon sells!!!

Anyways, here is the pic of the blasted and painted exhaust... check out my link to see more pics... I don't want to fill yours up too much :)

I also have lots more pics that I haven't posted anywhere, just close ups of pieces... nothing that isn't shown already... Enjoy!

RB exhaust system arrived:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...n/may19004.jpg

They even included the block off plates!

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...n/may20005.jpg

Looks like the tips are chrome, not stainless. Cool!

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...n/may20008.jpg

Power Pulse, Made in Italy.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...n/may20012.jpg

Looks like they accidentally put the four rotor sticker on my muffler.

Keep them tips and header shiny!!! Looks good man, I bet you will love the increased power.