grandgarson

Been pretty busy working, but have had a chance to get a little bit of work done on my car. As you can see from the picture below I've started pulling parts off and one by one slowly cleaning them all up and painting them. It's my only car so I can't really take the time to tear it all down and paint it all at once, so for now I'm just painting things that I can take off the car and get done in a single day. Then I'll start cleaning up the rest of the body so that it's all ready when I get a chance to use a friend of mine's shop to paint the rest. The plan is to paint the car the metallic blue like the side mirror in the picture with black trim around the windows and on the bumpers. And I plan to remove all of the emblems and trim from the sides for a nice smooth look.

Had a chance to go out and take a look at some parts cars a guy I know has and felt like a kid in a candy store. He's got 3 SA's and told me I can have whatever I want off of them since he's just going to scrap them. So I'm going to get a front bumper off of one of them. I'm also planning to get a bunch of the interior parts to use for molds and try my hand at casting some carbon fiber parts. I'm also going to get one of the gauge clusters so that I can play around with it and see if I can accomplish the backlit gauges like I want without having to mess with the cluster in my car.

I got my order from Black Dragon today so I was pretty busy today replacing parts. I no longer need the pole to hold up the hatch I changed the oil, and when I did I notice that there is a tube coming off of the filler tube that isn't connected to anything. There's a picture of it below and if anyone could tell me where it goes and if it would be an issue to just cap it off I would be very greatfull. Also, got a new fuel filter, new rear brakes and new rear wheel cylinders that I'm hoping to get installed next week.

grandgarson

I've gotten an answer to what that tube goes to on the side of the oil filler. It originally connected to the charcoal canister, which no longer exists in this car, so I plan to get a short piece of tubing and connect it to some sort of breather so it will still be able to breath, but it won't leak out the side and it will keep dirt from getting in.

I'm hoping to get a chance to go pull some parts off of some parts cars I have access to so that I can start prepping them for making molds so that they'll be all ready when I get the money together for the carbon fiber supplies. I'm planning on redoing the entire interior and making new parts out of carbon fiber to replace all the vinyl and plastic.

Another thing I plan to do is get the headlights and wiring harness pictured below. I also plan to replace the alternator with a 105 amp alternator and get a better battery for it. With all that done, I should be able to see pretty well at night, and I should have plenty of power for anything else in the car. For anyone that's interested here are some links for parts and a how to I found on this forum for swapping the alternator.

105 amp alternator

Alternator Plug

How to swap alternator

Jimbo II

Cut springs.

grandgarson

Once I get everything else fixed up, I am thinking of getting a new set of lowered springs, but personally I would never cut the springs. I've lowered several vehicles and driven other lowered vehicles and I can say from experience that when you cut corners lowering a vehicle all you get is a car that has a lowered look, but drives worse than it did before. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone by saying this, but there is a reason why there are parts specifically designed for lowering vehicles. Don't get me wrong, if you have a pickup with torsion bars and leaf springs, then by all means go out and get some cheap lowering block (though your drivetrain will thank you if you pay a little more and get the angled blocks) and twist down your torsion bars and enjoy, but when it comes to a car with coil springs I'm just not willing to sacrifice the joy I get from driving my car just to make it look a little better.

And chances are, I'll probably leave it the stock height. I'm hoping that I can either find or make a front spoiler that I like on the car, and if I do that then I'll defiantly be leaving it the stock height, since it would end up just creating more problems than it would be worth in that situation. If I lived somewhere flat with no slope changes then it wouldn't be a problem (but then again I can't see myself ever living somewhere like that), but as it is just putting a spoiler on it could easily cause problems going up some driveways and things like that.

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

I definitely agree with the cut springs being a stupid idea. It in general just makes the car unsafe IMO. The Black Dragon headlight housings are awesome quality. I put a set in my FC and paired them with Sylvania Silverstar H4 bulbs, and it was a hell of a difference from the sealed beams. I'm going to do the same thing with my FB except I'm going to try the Silverstar Ultra 9003's.

grandgarson

I finally got the right bumper for my car I also got a lot of other parts today. I finally got a chance to go out and pull some parts today and I also took pics of the parts cars for anyone who is interested. Here's the thread with the pics of the parts cars (https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=759932).

Below are pics of the parts I pulled today. I was absolutely amazed that one of the cars still had a center console part that was all original. I plan to use it to make a mold so I can make carbon fiber and fiberglass copies of it. I'll make a mold of it completely stock and a mold with a 1 din opening for the stereo. The modified mold will probably be flat around the switches as well, since I don't really like how it sticks out there and since I'm making it out of carbon fiber I'd like to have more of a smooth surface.

Also, while I was pulling the window washer tank I noticed another tank next to it. Can anyone tell me what it's for? I'm assuming it is hooked up to the cooling system, but not positive. The engine in my car is from an 83 so don't know if it would even be for that engine. I was gonna pull it, since I figured it couldn't hurt to have it on hand in case it was something I should put back in my car, but it was being a pain in the butt so I just took a pic of it and it's the last pic below.

Experiment.Seven

Cold start assist.

You can remove it if you want. Although if you live somewhere REALLY cold i would keep it and make it operable.

Jimbo II

Ha yeh I know, been down that route and it only ends with shitloads of bump steer haha! Got some compressed superlows, the look and handling, bit stiff but meh.

blackdeath647

iTrader: (2)

hells yeah for dark metallic blue that's what mine's supposed to be, but i got lazy after me and dad painted my car i was sick of paint jobs by then so i haven't applied a good coat of wax on it, just a half assed couple lol...so it only shines when it's really bright outside and the car's just been washed haha...as far as the trim on the outside goes...i think it looks better without the molding that go around the lights and stuff...actually yours is an 80 mine's and 85 so the molding is a bit different, but i'd still take it off lol...that's just my opinion on that...here's a pic of it..idk how good it'll show up on the thread...btw i've been looking up some window tinting possibilities here lately, haha.

grandgarson

I still haven't decided on whether I'm going to leave the trim off the sides or not. My original plan was to just pull it and leave it off, but now I'm thinking that I might cast molds of the trim for the sides and bumpers and make some carbon fiber pieces to put back on.

Window tint is pretty easy. The back glass is the only tricky part (though 1st gens are mostly curved in one direction so it might not be too bad). I figure I'll give it a try and if it turns out like crap I can just take it back off and then have the back glass done somewhere. If you plan to do your own window tint there are two things I suggest to you. 1) Check your local laws on window tinting. They vary from state to state. For example: here in Oregon as long as you have two side mirrors you can tint the back glass as dark as you want, and you can tint the side glass on either side behind the driver as dark as you want, but the windows on the doors has to allow 35% of light to transfer through. 2) Take your time and use plenty of the water/detergent mixture when you apply it. There's nothing more frustrating than knowing it would have looked good if you would have just taken your time. By being generous with the water/detergent mixture it will allow you to move it around a little bit to get it just where it needs to be and will also give you more time to work with it to squeegee the bubbles out.

blackdeath647

iTrader: (2)

thanks, yeah i may do the side windows myself like you said and leave the back to someone else cuz that does look very hard...it's gonna be my first window tinting project so i'll see how it turns out :P

grandgarson

Thanks. I don't think I'll need to bother with it then. My Rx7 is my only car, so it's my daily driver, but it doesn't get too cold here in the winter. That pic wasn't of my car, it was of one of the parts cars that I was pulling parts from. My car doesn't have it in it, and I only noticed that the parts car did because I was pulling the window washer tank, that my car also didn't have.

grandgarson

Well, it looks like I may have some more motivation to get some of the carbon fiber work done on my car sooner than what I was thinking. The front bumper I got for my car is very clean and straight, but when I was striping off all the rubber from the bumper I found a lot of rust on the mounting plate for the front rubber strip on the bumper. It was rusted so bad that a few of the bolts broke taking it off. I'm betting that I could probably find one in decent shape if I pulled the ones off of the other two parts cars, but I figure there's no point in that since I plan to replace it with carbon fiber soon anyways. So hopefully soon I'll be able to get all the supplies to make the new pieces for the bumper, and in the meantime I'll get the bumper and grill all cleaned up and painted.

Once I get them made I'll be sure to post pics and I'll also be able to figure out prices of materials so I know how much I'll charge for them for anyone who would be interested in buying some. Looks like those will be the first things I'll be making out of carbon fiber, and then I'll do the rubber pieces on the back bumper as well, then the side trim.

I'm also considering the idea of making new bumpers out of fiberglass. One thing I noticed right away when I pulled the bumper off of the parts car is how heavy it is. I know that a fiberglass bumper is not going to hold up as well in an accident and I might make it with some carbon fiber or kevlar mixed into the fiberglass to add strength, but if I do make new bumpers I'll probably just go with fiberglass just because it will be a lot less cost. Besides, chances are the way I drive my car a lot of the time it wouldn't make too much of a difference if the bumper was metal or fiberglass as far as how much damage was done to the car if I was in an accident. lol

Anyways, I'm kind of wondering how much interest there would be in fiberglass bumper replacements to decrease weight, so let me know if you're interested and if I get a lot of people interested that will probably get me to actually make the molds. If I do it, it would completely replace the bumper and I would set it up to bolt right up to the bumper shocks just like the original bumper does.

blackdeath647

iTrader: (2)

that's a cool idea, i'd have to see pics, and price estimate first (being that the 7's brought my budget down :P)

djjjr42

Did you ever check to see if you still have the FMOC? It does do a better job of cooling than the "beehive" one under the filter.
In regards to the tranny, I think the tail shaft housing and shift fork can be changed over on some of the later '80 models to fit the FB tranny, which means that the tunnel wouldn't need to be cut.

grandgarson

I hear you on that. That's one of the reasons I'm planning to sell parts once I start getting molds made. I figure I can get nice parts to other 7 owners at decent prices and make a little bit to help me fix up the rest of mine.

An example of my fun fixing things up on it. Today I finally got around to installing the new rear brakes. I've had the new brake shoes and wheel cylinders for a couple of weeks. Well, today I spent about 8 hours at a friend of mine's shop (granted not all of that time was spent working on the car) and I ended up spending about $50 with a couple of trips to the parts store and I still ended up having to limp home with brakes on only 3 wheels. It's amazing that the longest length of brake line you can get is 60 inches long (at least at the parts store here and is the longest listed in Black Dragon as well), and it's not long enough to replace the line that goes from the rear driver's side to the rear passenger's side. Granted I wasn't planning to replace that brake line, but the nut on one side had issues and I ended up not being able to get it to tighten all the way, even with vice grips. I think any MacGyver fan would be happy to know how I was able to get the brakes to work to get it home. I went to Home Depot (all the auto parts store were closed at this point) and went to the plumping department. There I found a brass cap fitting and some Teflon tape. Then I went pack to the shop and capped the cylinder where it connects to the line leading to the passenger side. Then I used the cap like a bleeder valve to bleed the brakes.

So, tomorrow I'll be going to parts stores in a hope of finding a longer brake line, though I'll probably end up having to get a coupler and a piece of brake line to make up the difference in length. Then it's back out to the shop to put the new line on and bleed the entire brake system. Then once I get that all done I'll be putting the new fuel filter on.

On the plus side, even with just the brakes on 3 wheels working it was much better than it was before, so once I'm done I'm sure the brakes will be great. But on the bad side, when I was putting the new brake shoes and cylinder in the passenger side I found that the leading adjusting bolt is broken off just past the retaining nut, so I know of something else that I'll be getting next time I get out to get parts from the parts cars, since it is clearly a problem since the brake shoes on that side were very unevenly worn.

grandgarson

Finally got the brakes done today (except for the broken adjusting bolt) and I put the new fuel filter in. It's just amazing how much of a difference the fuel filter made. I thought the car was fun to drive before. Even better acceleration and it doesn't start to choke at the red line anymore (I just had to take it for a "good" test drive once I got it all done). The brakes are very nice now. Much better than before and stops the car great, but I'm still noticing the petal sinking further down some when I sit at a light for a while. Not as bad as before, but I'm guessing that the front may need a little work as well, or maybe I just didn't get the lines bled completely when I was done. I flushed all the old fluid out and put all new fluid in, so it's entirely possible that all the air may not have worked it's way down to the bleeders, so I'll be bleeding the lines again before I even think about tackling the front brakes (especially after the "fun" I had with the rear brakes). The best part is that the parking brake works awesome now. Before it was just enough that it would hold on a gentle slope if I left the car in gear as well. Now it works like it should and I don't have to worry about if it will hold.

Now it's time to concentrate on some of the cosmetic projects. I've got a new grill that I pulled off of one of the parts cars that I've been working on cleaning up to get it ready for paint. It hasn't been fun though. It had been painted very poorly, so it's taking quite a bit of time to get it cleaned up. I don't trust the paint that's on it at all so I'm sanding it down to the plastic with a fairly coarse sand paper and then stepping my way back up to a real fine sand paper, plus I've been sanding some of the seams out of the plastic. And with the grill most of it is a pain in the butt to sand (not that sanding other parts is fun). Then I'll be cleaning up the main part of the bumper and getting it ready so that when I get the money together for the supplies I'll be ready to make the carbon fiber parts for the bumper and then paint the bumper and put it all together. The only thing that is missing for the front end is the air dam. The one on my car has some damage on the driver's side, so I'll be pulling the one off of the same car that I pulled the bumper and grill off of next time I get a chance to go pull parts.

blackdeath647

iTrader: (2)

i couldn't find it maybe you said it but i missed it....did you replace the brakes with new "stock" parts or have or do you have predrilled discs and stuff...once i get some of that cash lol i'm planning on upgrading the discs, pads, calipers..all that good stuff. but i wanna check out my options first.

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

I run Royal Purple in everything, no problems and love it. I am quite **** with it and change the oil 2-3k miles. It is good for 5k from what they say. No OMP hooked up, premixed.

Good luck on the car! I always had a soft spot for SA's

grandgarson

I just replaced the brakes with new stock parts. Right now for things like that I'm just concerned with making sure everything is working well. Once I get everything working perfect, then I might concentrate on upgrading some things, but right now I just can't afford to really think about things like that.

grandgarson

I haven't been online in a while, but I have still been working on my car. I've started on the body work. I've started sanding it down and priming it. While at first glance it looks like the clear coat is just messed up, when you get close up you start to see all the little chips in the paint, so I've been taking my time making sure to sand out all the chipped spots. Once I get the entire car sanded down and primed I'll start working on smoothing out all the little dings. There aren't a lot of them, but there are enough to keep me busy for a while. Then once I get all that done it will be time for a nice fine sanding and paint. So basically it's going to slowly turn a dull black, then stay that color for a little bit then fairly quickly turn the metallic blue. Below is a picture of how far I've gotten on the body work.

Also, I've been slowly gathering more and more interior parts from the parts cars a friend of mine has, and soon I'll start getting those ready to make the molds from for the carbon fiber. I have no idea when I'll have the money to get the supplies to actually start making the carbon fiber parts, but I figure it can't hurt to have things ready for when I get the money.

grandgarson

I've gotten a few more things done on the car. I replaced most of the wiring from the battery since the battery decided to shift on me and short out a couple of wires. I highly recommend anyone that has the battery bracket that bolts onto the car by the radiator make sure that your battery has the posts facing away from the radiator. With that bracket if the battery shifts it's going to shift on the side by the radiator, and also with the posts on the side of the radiator the + post is pretty close to the hood when the hood is shut. Also, liquid electrical tape is awesome. Before I put the bracket back on I gave it a couple of coats of the liquid electrical tape so even if the battery shifts into it again it won't be touching the metal. Instead it will just be rubber that it bumps into.

While I was under there doing that I decided to clean things up and was just amazed at how many wires I had under the hood that went to nothing (finally figured out what the toggle switch under my dash was for, at one point it looks like the car had some driving or fog lights under the bumper), and how many wires were just patched together instead of just one wire the whole way. I also removed the A/C since it wasn't hooked up and I really didn't plan to hook it up. I figure by removing the A/C that will make up for the weight difference when I put the SA bumper on instead of the FB bumper that is still on it. Got a couple strange looks from my landlord before he finally just asked me what I was doing when he saw the pile of wires, hoses, and car parts next to my car that had obviously come from under the hood. lol

I'll get some more pics up soon, but just didn't get a chance to take any today when I got done with everything.

grandgarson

This may be a silly questions, but is it a good thing if I don't have the orange, white, and blue valves on the top of my engine? I'm guessing that it was done away with when the 83 engine was put in, and am I correct that it mostly had to do with the emissions? I've been noticing a lot of things that are either not hooked up or just not there in this car. Many of them I've been removing if they haven't been hooked up as I learn what they are, but as I'm noticing them I like to figure out if it's something I want or not. One that is not hooked up now, but I plan to hook back up is the hot start assist. I found that the cable was just tucked under the clutch master cylinder when I was cleaning up under the hood the other day, and I'm guessing that I'm going to have to get some parts to be able to hook it back up, but I'll have to see if the connection parts are there.

grandgarson

I recently learned a really cool trick for tinting windows and getting a really nice clean look to it even on concave windows. Have a hair dryer handy when you are applying the tint. Once you get it pretty well smoothed out and you start to get the fingers (long bubbles from the edges) just hit it with the hair dryer till it starts to kind of do a squiggly shape instead of the straight shape, then smooth it out. Basically it shrinks it to fit so that it won't bubble around the edges. I did this on the side windows when I tinted them and it made it a lot easier to get perfect.