etizz

lol no its a cell phone pic, its just the bracket for the brakes. and the spring is green because thats how they come.

etizz

ok so i was going to install my rear lowering springs today but i can't seem to get anywhere, and its about to storm so i had to come in but the shocks are unbolted from the top since i couldnt get the bolt off at the bottom, and the rear is just hanging there i dunno what i should take off next to get the rear to drop since this is my first rx7 or rear wheel drive car for that matter.

heres a pic of it with the lowering springs in front i got (not much difference if any, but its more stiff)


heres my interior i've been re doing


and heres where i worry, alot. how the !@#@ does this happen? is this common and can i just weld some steel in there to brace it or what? i sprayed some rust preventitive everywhere to stop the rusting thats why its black

slow5oh

oh, THATS why the springs are bright colored, the are aftermarket lowering springs, gotcha. as for the rear ones, ive never done rear springs on a first gen, however, the way i used to do mustangs (ive done alot) was to raise the rear end, support the car on the framerails, jack up on one side of the rear end which causes the other side to drop. that would get one side low enough to pull the old spring out and put the new one in. repeat for the opposite side, make sure you attach anything you had to take loose (shocks for example) and your done. I dont see why it wouldnt work on one of these.

etizz

hmm not a bad idea, i guess i'll give it a shot

slow5oh

like i said, works great on mustangs. you may want to get a strap or chain and run it through the spring and around the axle for safety sake just incase its got more load than expected on it. that way if it pops out, it wont go very far.

etizz

well that didn't work lol, i jacked up one side and the other one didn't lower at all. i need to disconnect the watts linkage i guess but i don't wanna remove more than i have to ya know?

slow5oh

yeah i know what you mean. like i said, i havent payed close attention to how the rear suspension is setup on the rx7, so ill have to look into it to provide an accurate way to change the springs. while we are on the subject, what kind of springs have you got, and what did they run you? ive been looking into getting some myself.

etizz

i got some made by progress, www.progressauto.com they were $157 before shipping ended up being like 170ish. I had these brand of springs on my 91 civic hatch with a b16 in it and the difference was amazing. I won't have any road time on this setup until i get everything straightened out but as soon as i do i'll update on that.

they have 160lb f/120lb r spring rates, it made the front alot stiffer with the bounce test but not too stiff, they were definitely a huge improvement over the sagging rusted springs that made the car bounce like a cadillac. they supposedly have a .75" drop but the ride height didn't seem to change in the front because the worn out springs were already giving the car a drop lol

74RX4

iTrader: (10)

Jack up rear of car. Place supports under the frame rails, so the rear end is hanging free. The shocks should come out easily. Springs will not be under compression. They can be removed with a 3' pry bar and some determination. Pry up on the bottom of the spring. The goal is to lift it onto the top of the lower mount, then slide/pry it to the rear until it pops off the mount and falls onto the ground. Do not get your fingers between the spring and the mount, use the pry bar. If you still can't get the springs out, put the scissor jack somewhere between the axle housing and the body and jack "up" to separate the body and axle until you can slide the spring out. Aftermarket springs will be shorter and should go on more easily. Match the indentations in the top and bottom mount with the ends of the springs.

etizz

thank you sir! worked like a charm lol i used a crow bar instead i literally did both sides in like 10 min after that!

Yellow '79

good job tackling that wiring. the new Cd player looks good!

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

That's the end result of "bin rot," I think. I think I remember reading that it's caused by sunroof drain tube leakage that accumulates in the "bin space" behind the seats.

Pretty sure people just trim it, weld it up with thick plate, and then rustproof the hell out of it. After fixing the leak.

In extreme cases those outside reinforcment brackets have to be replaced from junkyard parts.

etizz

thanks man! i tried lol i had to rig up my own bracket to mount it lol, that thing has alot of features i love like bluetooth so i can talk handsfree on my phone and the caller comes thru on my speakers, and a usb hookup so i can plug in flash drives full of music or an external hard drive if i had one. most people don't like the hugeness of it but i love it i like how it fills in the space


ok well how would i fix the leak? or would i drill holes in stuff to have them not hold water? lol

etizz

UPDATE! i sandblasted my wheels, so i'll post pics when i get a chance! w00t

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

You have to find the source first, but the most common ones are the tubes that drain the sunroof rim (the rear ones let out the side vents in the B pillars). They can rot or become disconnected. Replacing them involves removing a lot of interior trim, including the headliner, which requires care to avoid ruining it.

etizz

oh wow i always wondered what the vents were for lol, i feel dumb i didn't think of that. well ill go check it out, my hatch drain holes were plugged by cigarette filters which did nothing but make it leak more, so the PO was definitely not a genius....

etizz

heres the before and after i guess, you cant really tell but trust me the wheels were ugly beforehand lol

etizz

ok wow this is kinda back from the dead but figured i'd just keep posting here than start a new thread

anyways although many will hate me for this, my car has been running and driving with a v8 in it since about august of last year, which was my original plan from the beginning when i bought it, now looking back and after basically DISSECTING this car in and out in order to fix any issue (mostly wiring nightmares) and now that i have experience with carburetors i wouldnt mind experimenting with a rotary in the future.

anyways the story goes both times i went to look at this car the PO had this car running when i got there, always bothered me that i never could get it to even turn on and my warning lights on the dash were doing some strange things once i got it home. other problems included every bolt on the diff cover was loose, exhaust was holier than The Bible, rust on the rear brackets, headlights didnt flip up or work, lighting was dim, windows were slow almost inoperable, chassis and engine wiring were a complete nightmare (i can't stress that enough lol). Since then i've fixed all these problems, added sound deadener, and tried not to alter anything about this car that would make it look ridiculous (ie giant gauges/wings/ minitubs, cutting half the car up), i will post pics of the completed project once i'm done which hopefully will be this year.

so in my quest to make this a respectable rx7 even with having a v8 in it, ive stumbled upon something that was pretty damn comical to me and it also raised a question as well which is why im here. I was trying to find a spot to mount an msd igntion box on the inside of my car to keep the heat off of it and i knew where the ecu was located and decided to see if there was any room there for it. and this is what i found:


ok so whats missing here? and those harnesses have had to have been unplugged since i got the car this is the first time i've ever looked here lol maybe that was part of my issues. so my queston is what does this control and can i get rid of it for the space and wiring hole thru the firewall? that would be quite convenient. thanks again for all of your support up to this point i dunno where my car would be without it.

mark n

My 79 SA22 has a simular problem.I turned my lights on last All was working fine but something went and my dash lights and running lights wouldn't come on.The headlight door wouldn't go down .... the down only,it worked to go up, along with the high beam indicator light.If you can give me some details of what you did ,I may be able to find some where to start looking.I t sounds like that dimmer switch may be a factor

mark n

have the same issues .....sort of ...everything working one day, now light motor won't go down running lights don't work and dash lights gone.......If I crank motor for lights down the motor works and brings them up but no down motion

etizz

I believe to fix mine I found a thread about cleaning the combination switch, look for that and trythat out

JoeNoble

iTrader: (6)

So how's the 85 gsl build comin along. This post has me intrigued. Any progress?

etizz

ok back from the dead once again lol. to make a long story short its been a LONG project i've gotten myself into. did all kinds of things at once and ended up forgetting what wiring went where at the dash, i tried looking at the manual but im either tired or retarded cuz its not making sense to me when it used to work fine before. to make life easy i got a few pics of what i haven't connected back yet and wondering where they go, thanks

by the pedals obviously

this one is underneath where the heater controls sit

74RX4

iTrader: (10)

What are the wire colors in the first pic. I can only see that the main color is blue.

In the 2nd pic the 4 pin is H-10, plugs into Clock.
I'm guessing the other plug in pic 2 is AC related, but i can find no 3 pin connector with a Yellow/green wire in the 84 wiring diagram.

etizz

The top picture is green wires not blue sorry about that.