Pics to follow, but long story short... battery slid back into the A/C.

3 years later... finally out of college, and out of the Persian Gulf, here I am, cleaning up the mess! BUT! While I'm at it...

1)Auto to Manual SWAP!
2)Large street porting job/rebuild... if I can figure out how to do it.
3)Strip/REpaint engine bay
4)Rats nest removal!
5)Take lots of pictures!

Status so far:

Pedals in!
Tranny OUT!

still need:
clutch master cylinder
hard hydraulic line & bracket
driveshaft

 

Bungee cord FTW.

 

+1 on the bungee cord, and tying your battery haha

 

I know what you mean. The PO of my old SA didn't have the battery tied down. Shortly after getting the car, I was driving in the rain and hit a pothole (covered by the water). Battery shorted out against the hood. Engine died, things started smoking. It turned my choke, hot start, and accelerator cables into resistors. They all melted and one sliced through my fuel line and started a fire. I got the fire put out, luckily.

Did quite a bit of damage. Cost me about $500 plus a tow to get it fixed. So tie your battery down!

 

the oem hold down works fine and looks a lot better thana bungee cord.

if you have questions on the auto to manual swap you can feel free to pm me. consult my thread on it if you like:
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/auto-trans-manual-trans-swap-part-ii-has-begun-783169/

 

I almost burnt a pinky off because one of my old RX7's was an 83 GSL that had been crashed and fixed, battery backwards and not tied down well. = Glowing red hot cable and burning finger flesh. It grounded out the pos on the body and I was like Oh let me just grab this wire here.

 

'Preciate it! if I EVER get off of the ship, I'll get to taking pictures of my rusted out (surface rust... i think so far) engine bay... and the swap progress...

my battery mount had completely rusted through though...

 

yeah mine was getting bad in a couple of spots, i finally broke down and took it out sanded it and repainted it hopefully it hold out a few more years haha...on a side note...that wouldn't have happened if you would have taken out the A/C :P

 

Do yourself a favor and securely BOLT your battery in place. If the stock tie down is missing, you can buy replacement hardware from the parts store to effectively secure the battery.

Oh, don't come to an autocross expecting to compete with a bungee cord holding your battery in place.

 

Here in Ontario, you will fail your SAFETY certification which every car needs before being registered if your battery isn't properly secured. That's 40 or 50 pounds under your hood. Can do alot of damage.

Just think of it this way. Anything in or on your car will be moving at the same speed as the car. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and if not secured WILL stay in motion. Hence seat belts to keep the idiot drivers from "motioning" right into the steering wheel.

 

Stock tiedown AND boots on both battery connectors.

Friend of mine in high school had a 240Z, didn't have a battery tiedown. Cruising the cratered streets of Omaha one Saturday night, he hit a chuckhole... and the battery shorted to the hood and blew a hole straight thru the sheetmetal. Sparks flying. Scared the **** out of him, literally.

 

this thread makes me feel alot better about having my battery in the back incased in a spec'd battery box with a HUGE bar holding it put.

 

Another thing to pay attention to is installing the battery with the positive post to the rer. A freind of mine bought a new battey, forgetting which way it installed, correctly connected the cables. When he closed the hood, the hood hinge hit the top of the positive battery post and shorted more than a few electrical parts out.

He finally brought it to me after replacing the alternator and fusible links. The battery kept dying on him. Turned out he had the wrong connector plugged into the back of the alternator.

 

pics are coming!!! about 30 minutes!

 

i just measured my old (1983) auto tranny and my new (1985?) manual tranny... exact same length! does this mean i can use the same driveshaft?

 

i'm waiting

just kidding