Ok, so, the weather was georgous here today (bethlehem, PA) so I decided to go ahead and start to clean 20 years of crap out of my cars engine bay. This is not an easy task, and I still have far far far to go. I probably spent about 7-8 hours in total, maybe a bit more. I went through half a role of paper towels, destroyed a toothbrush, and killed about half a can of nevr-dull. And it hardly looks like I did anything. BUT, when I uncovered the "13B MAZDA" stamped on the side of the engine under about (literally) a centimeter of dirty oil and crap, it was like finding a priceless painting. This car is still new to me, and I had no clue that it said anything on the engine. THEN I went to clean off the other side and AGAIN, there's that "13B MAZDA" stamp. So the bloody hands, and dirt that is lodged so far up my fingernails it's kinda scary, is all worth it. I still have rust everywhere, and nothing is particularly shiney, but it's getting there, and I am just so friggin happy that my car kicks so much ***.

also, as you will see in the last picture, I found two hoses on the back of my engine that have apparently been cut off. This MIGHT be because of the exhaust that was installed on my car (custom stuff from the previous owner) and maybe these hoses were attatched to the cat converter (which I no longer have) or something... anyway, if they ARE supposed to go to something kinda important, please let me know so I can try to fix it... (I circled the two hoses, and pointed to where the big one is attatched)









new e-brake handle doesn't quite fit... and i'm painting the plastic pieces, so they aren't there either, but here's my interior so far...



I think that this next pic just looks sweet, and you can see my trusty maxima station wagon in the driveway too



and here is the hose I was telling you guys about...

 

Cool. What technique are you using to clean it? Whats Nvr-Dull?

 

the first stage I call "get massive amounts of crapola off by hand" it involves a lot of elbow grease, paper towels, blood, and cursing. later I might try to steam clean it or something, I'm not really sure. Stage 1 is going to last quite some time. nevr-dull is a GREAT metal cleaner/polisher. We sell it at the store I work at when I'm not at college to clean the knives. http://www.chesapeakeknifeandtool.com It's really great stuff and I think u can order it from that web page.

 

A clean engine bay is a nice thing to look at heres mine:


People wonder howa 20 year old car is so clean. The best time is in between an engine swap... when that 13B (or 12A) is out just jump into the engine bay and scrub scrub scrub away...I dont know why more people dont do this then. I dont mind driving my car in the rain or on a dirt road, and its beginning to see more track time again.
Once cleaned its easy to maintain and keep clean.
Keep up the good work kiker14

 

that looks REALLY good racerx. I don't plan on having my engine out any time soon as there's only 95k miles on her... and I probably won't replace/upgrade until there's about 100k more (my n/a 87 went 210k before I crashed it...) what all did you use to clean the things like the rubber hoses and such (the dirt disappears when I get it wet and rub it, but seems to magically re-appear once dry)?

also, anybody know what's going on with those two hoses? I KNOW you guys know where they go to/what their function is. I don't have a manual yet so I'm not sure what they go to (or are supposed to go to)... help!!

 

RacerX7fb, is that strut tower brace a custom made one?

 

also, anybody ever try this stuff...

http://www.partsamerica.com/PartDeta...egoryCode=3228

unless somebody has a good reason I shouldn't get it, I'm gonna buy some and try it out tomorrow...

 

Kinda hard to tell from your picture...the bigger hose on the left appears to be the one which is supposed to be attached to the split-air pipe that goes down to the main catalytic converter, the smaller one looks like the 6-port actuator hose which is normally attached to the split-air pipe. You had a Series 4 FC, it has those as well, but it looks like they arent there on your SE... you dont have functioning 6-ports! What kind of exhaust system do you have?

Rubber that appears clean when wet and dirty when dry is actually surface deterioration of the rubber itself. I used a stiff nylon brush with a biodegradable cleaner like Simple Green to scrub it off then rinse with water, kinda like exfoliating your skin then rejuvenated it with a trim and tire shine.. repeating process.
Ive never used it myself but that citrus cleaner looks like itll work well...Im cheap and use mostly Chemtool stuff and Purple Power for degreasing.

Yes the strut tower brace was custom made.

 

Thats is perfectly clean. awesome

 

I have a completly custom exhaust, essentially header to straightpipe to muffler, no cat converter... so I am assuming that is why both of those hoses go to nothing. So I guess maybe I don't have functioning 6-ports? But I can still rev/drive higher than 3800 rpm just fine, which as I recall was when the secondaries kicked in on the FC, and I would assume it's the same on this car...

 

Here is another picture looking down at the hoses from the top of the engine, I'm holding onto the smaller one which leads to nothing

 

That small hose is your '6'-port actuator line - it comes from a one-way valve that's also attached to the larger of the two.

Looks like someone had a problem with that one-way valve and decided to chop it out of there. Alas, you have no '6'-port actuation, and are probably losing both top and bottom end horsepower.

If you replace the smaller line to the backpressure sender on your exhaust system (if so equipped), you can get your '6'-ports up and running again. That, or perform a search for 'AirPump aux ports' and you can set yours up to run off of airpump pressure - assuming you still have an airpump in there.

GET IT FIXED, you'll be impressed...

 

after a LOT of searching, I got this from kevin landers (rotaryresurrection.com dude) tell me if this looks right to you all and if a newb (i still considermyself a newb as I've never done any real BIG projects by myself, aside from installing a system and exhaust on my other car)...



Airpump 6pi actuation:
Basically you're gonna get some aquarium parts for this a brass part that joins 2 airline hoses together (union) is used to tap into the air pump supply. Use a small drillbit to make a pilot hole in the hose exiting the rear of the air pump, and insert your brass tap with hose (vacuum hose) on it. You're gonna get an aquarium air valve, one with 1 inlet and 2 valves/outlets on it. Ill explain why in a minute.

Run your airpump supply to the inlet of this valve. Run more hose from one of the outlets to the 6PI nipple on the motor. Open this valve about halfway, and the other about halfway, open-air vented. The reason you must vent/dump some air constantly is because the airpump is always generating some pressure. Since the 6pi system is (supposed to be) airtight, once theyre pressurized (open), they wont want to return shutsince the airpump is still spinning some pressure on them...having an air dump allows the pressure to bleed quicker and allows them to shut more normally.

IT WILL take some adjustments of both valves to obtain a decent working setup. Opening the 6pi valve more makes them open quicker, and opening the dump valve more makes them close quicker, though having them both too far open makes neither work well...it'll take you 20-30 minutes of playing around to get it decent. Grab the throttle and rev the car up to see what happens with each adjustment. You want them to open fairly quickly (1-2 seconds) after reaching 3500-4000rpm, and close fairly quickly (2-3 seconds) after releasing the throttle. You can never obtain a fast/precise operation this way, but it's cheap and a lot better than relying on your exhaust to do the job. IT's also better because you can open them in neutral (as opposed to only under load) and watch what happens for testing/adjustment, and the actuation will be the same in all gears (air pump rpm, not exhaust backpressure).



sound good? Should I give it a try?

 

i've read that way will make a loud noise coming from it...

i say set it up the way it was meant...through the exhaust...our cars actuate under neutral...not under load...

also, how are your brakes? that booster looks like it just about had it...

i did a cleaning on my engine bay during the winter...here's the link...

http://hroman.slac.com/rx7/project-clean/

i followed what brownmound did on his page to a degree...i didn't go as far as he did...

http://www.godofredo.com/mound/home.html

good luck!

 

can't with my exhaust because I have no cat converter, just a header to straight pipe to muffler. The brakes are fine, but I will eventually change that out too, I think it's just rusty on the outside, the internals seem to be fine. I bought some degreaser today, but it's raining so I'll get to it once the weather gets nicer

 

A quick one I took with my cell phone (Nokia). Just got the car back fromt the paint shop. I got them to do the engine bay aswell. Color is VW Satinsilber.

It's a 1980 SA22 getting a S5 13B with all the goodies.



--
frode

 

Thats gonna be nice. cool turbo. what kind is it? When are you planning to have it running?

 

I think it will be running in about a months time (maybe) . The turbo is a turbonetics 62-1.

 

sweet. post pics of your progress. that looks great

 

Nice clean engine bays.

 

wow, you guys are making me jealous. I'm now considering doing an ENTIRE clean, i.e. take everything apart and clean it so it shines But at the same time, I want to be able to drive it home in a few weeks, so I'll probably wait till then. In the meantime I'll clean what I can get to without taking stuff off. Also, does the s4 alternator bolt on easily? I actually have two, one from my 87 and one from an 86... would this be an upgrade, or are the base model alternators from an s4 the same as an 84gsl-se? Thanks!

 

Mel,, tell the truth,,,, you don't even drive your 7 in the rain, on dirt. WTF.. and what, it gets driven on weekends or an autoX event. In the garage under a car cover, if my car had a life like that, it would look like that too.. get over yourself,,web buddy. lol

the best thing i like about your car is how solid it is. no rattles. i say re-install the A/C, leave the cruize off

the sad part is that clean engine is toast,, an over heated rotory even running with block weld is a time bomb. it is only a temp fix, like mine,,,,both of mine lol.

now if the TuRD were as clean as the 7, then maybe you might have it going on,,,,hard !! Lol you know what i'm getting at .

 

thats how you should take care of a 7

 

ok, so I decided new vaccume hoses is a must... I went to mazdatrix, and I wanna get the red silicone ones, but what size, and how many feet (aprox) do I need?

 

i got mine from this guy...he gave me a great deal...
http://hightempsilicone.com/

looking under vacuum hose you can get the mini kit and it should be enough...hell...i still have some left over.

here is my post about it...
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=247401