mj can't you just swap the entire rear end in, if it is in good shape? That might be easier. Even swapping it in without brakes and then transplanting yours might be easier than pulling out the axles. Otherwise Dave's suggestion is the way to go.

Thanks for the tip on the cat 82transam, I like that idea. Yes I have the single street unit that goes to a single presilencer. Essentially you're saying just replace the RB presilencer with the magnaflow cat. It would mean fabricating a connection after the magnaflow tubing to the power pulse muffler, but that shouldn't be to bad, I'll check it out this evening.

Dave I'm working on a response to your signs, at our house if the dogs don't get you the goats will.

Incidentally, 85_rx7_12a is Michael, this guy in the middle, who has been a great help to me lately.

 

Ray, I had figured the system was "the dogs get you, then the goats dispose of the evidence."

 

ray I would swap but the watts link is busted and one of the axles is bad. I will be looking for a slide hammer after work today. Hopefully that'll take care of it

 

Autozone and Advance will loan them to you with a deposit.

 

Ray, yes just put the cat in place of the presilencer. I might have missed it but does this car have headers? My system is a RB header/collector, the catco cat, stock midpipe to a RB muffler. I had a RB presilencer on in place of the cat initially and honestly I like the tone better with the cat, its a tad louder, and gives it more of a "growl" the presilencer was almost too quiet and close to stock.
You should be able to use the RB muffler and midpipe off your other car and just make the needed length adjustment to the cat's piping so you don't have to cut up a midpipe. That way you avoid messing with the hangers etc..

 

Yep I've got the header too, it's bolted straight to the RB presilencer. So you are saying cut the magnaflow cat out of the system that's in the Silver One now and add flanges so that it has the same dimensions as the RB presilencer, then just swap the presilencer out. I even have a friend who could use that presilencer. Clever, I like that.

I wonder which would give better performance, if any, the magnaflow cat or the RB presilencer?

DD, our goats are strict vegetarians although I'm not sure what they might do if they had too much beer



Dave, here's the only real defense we have against Jahova's Witness's at our house

 

With too much beer, they probably do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg

 

nice sign Ray!!! i think thats pretty funny and creative! why dont you just use the RB system from the white car? it'll solve all problems with the exhaust as its been a proven setup.

 

also was going to ask, what are the goat's and dog's names and what are the breeds?

 

This is what I do when the administration starts chasing after me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg

The sign is my wife's idea, I wanted that parking spot but she got it and put up her sign. Goats are Jackson (beer), Jethro (white boar), Arcade and Argent (little black ones, Arcade now likes beer). Dogs are Hannah (shepard), Darla (shorthair) and Pia (afghan). Horse is Star, cat is Minou, Bantam chickens are Ozzie, Harriet and June. Guinea's and goldfish remain unnamed.

I paid ~$800 for the RB system, so I probably should use it. But I sure like the way that cat cleans up the exhaust. It's weird, the aftermarket magnaflow cat doesn't have an air tube to it, it just plugs in there inline. If it flows as well as the RB presilencer, why not, even if it is a little noisier? It's that friggin' borla tin can muffler I can do without.

 

thats an awesome collection of animals Ray!!

i've got two cats, Lion and Pete and a choc lab named Duke. Lion is my daughter's cat but for some reason since she is kinda rough wioth him, he takes to me more. here are a couple pics of Lion when he was a little younger:

 

Now that is cute Dave, if they stayed that way I'd trade you a red leather driver's seat for one!

 

he's cute..but he's getting bigger and more agressive, lol. he's a snow lynx/bengal mix. so part wild cat part domestic cat. he's getting declawed as a preventitive for my furniture and our flesh, lol.

 

Awesome cat Dave lol, funny sign too Ray

Ray: As for the exhaust yes, just put flanges on the cat and put it in place of the presilencer that way you don't have to modify anything else. I've been running that setup for many years with no problems, goes right through the smog sniffer here in NJ too.

 

Last Silver One update before I take out the magnaflow and borla

 

Sounds like its running pretty good, but yea shes a bit loud lol

 

i'd definatly use the RB setup from the white car. better for highway cruising.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the exhaust guys! I pulled the RB system from the White One yesterday, it's in great shape after a year and a half and 30,000 miles and I touched it up with a little heat paint to make it look new (because I want to be ready for folks who crawl under my car admiring my work).

Today we'll be pulling the magnaflow/borla exhaust from the Silver One to get it ready for the transplant (Michael and Brett and another OGTA friend from over in Carolina, another Michael) will be stopping by to help with this and have a general FB repair clinic (Brett is doing his idler arm bushings, finally!). I'll also be installing my new Moog idler arm, which Fedex finally delivered late yesterday afternoon, just in time!

I like 82transam's idea about adapting the magnaflow muffler in place of the RB presilencer, I'm going to look into seeing if I can get that fabricated by a muffler shop somewhere. It might be too loud, as Dave suggests, but that would be a trade off to have a cleaner exhaust. I'm trying to decide which would be easier to explain to the police:

"Officer, the exhaust is loud because I had to install a catalytic converter in place of the presilencer"

or

"Officer I had to remove the catalytic converter and install a presilencer because the cat was too loud"

Dave maybe you could lend a perspective on this. Probably I will have to try both and see what works best.

With a little luck the Silver One will be taking up her commuting responsibilities early this week.

More pictures coming, of course.

 

I don't really have anything to take video or else I'd post one of my car, it's not much louder than with the presilencer in place, just a different tone.
Ray can you weld or can someone in your "crew" weld? It's really just a matter of putting a 2 bolt flange on one side of the cat, and then getting a short piece of pipe to make it the appropriate length, welding a flange on that and then welding it to the cat.
Since you're not running the air pump (and you said the cat doesn't have the air pipe anyway) you avoid that extra work (not like its much more anyway)
Good luck, either way you're making good progress
-Sean

 

Hey Sean, thanks for the feedback on the cat idea, I guess welding is one of those things I'm putting off until I get older. Doing the simple swap in of the RB system (which I paid $800 for a little more than a year ago) turned out to be the expeditious thing to do (see below)

So a bunch of OGTA’s came over today to help with the exhaust switch and idler arm, these guys do fantastic work. Here’s the Crew (left to right are Cathy, Nichole, Michael the Younger, Greg the Elder, Michael the Elder and Brett):



I took one last video of the magnaflow/borla exhaust, it does make a great video but it was just too loud, no comfort zone for the daily commute. I’ll post it later when it finishes uploading

Then we commenced to cut out the borla because whoever put it in welded it in place. Michael the Younger did it with the saws all, notice the nice angle cut





Out with the old noisy borla system, in with the new and sweet RB system. Michael the Elder and Greg the Younger did the RB install.

 

The Michaels installed the Moog idler arm



Michael and Brett also replaced Brett’s idler arm bushings and fixed a few glitches in his Nikki







We did a brake bleed on Michael the Elder’s FB that felt good at the time but according to the latest reports it's gone mushy again. Anyway, Michael's FB has a really hot Old School 13B built by him with a sweet Holley carb. I took it out for a test drive. It's very, very fast





(For comparison here’s Greg the Younger’s set up)



Then we took the cars out for a test drive





Here we are at the gas station



There was one minor mishap, I accelerated a bit too fast and threw the battery, which wasn’t tied down yet, into the coils and wires. This caused the car to run very badly. And I was thinking the problem I’d had with the rear rotor had returned, so back to the plans about the 12A rebuild. But I nursed it back to the house where we discovered the misplaced battery. So that was an easy fix.

The Moog idler arm tightened up the steering a lot and got rid of the front end rattle you can here in the video where the borla is still installed (to be posted below) but the steering doesn’t match the White One. So I need to check for any more loose parts in the linkages and do an alignment, which I think is most of the problem (time to get out the strings).

So the Silver One is running strong, mostly cosmetics from here on in. She should be ready for her Maiden Voyage into Atlanta in a day or two.

 

Ray, I see you giving a lot of credit to what everyone else did, but what did you do? Were you just the beer man today?

I had Collin come by today for a part, and we took apart a REAL 12A (Twin-dizzy, 6mm carbon seals, top-mount starter). That 12B stuff looks a little too simple by comparison.

 

Dude I took the pictures. What's a real 12A anyway? "Twin-dizzy, 6mm carbon seals, top-mount starter" sounds like an airplane engine.

PS, here's the last video of the Silver one with the Borla exhaust, it was fun while it lasted

 

cool thread. i just read it all the way through. it makes me want to move to GA. nice work with the cars.

 

glad to see yo uinstalled the RB system Ray!!!! i wanted to comment on Michael the Elder’s mushy brake problem. you may want to suggest he replace the brake hoses with braided stainless lines. i was having the same problem with my 85 S and then i replaced the hoses with the SS ones from RB and the pedal has never felt better! the old brake hoses tend to show their wear by expanding under braking, causing a mushy pedal. eventually they'll start collapsing and there goes the brakes wish you were driving a flinstonemobile so you could stop and avoid running over santa claus..

you're lucky to have such a devout group of guys where you live. its just me here..maybe i should move to GA.. the wife wouldnt go for it. it makes me appreciate you guys in the first gen section though. i've been arguing for days with FC guys in this thread https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-non-technical-pictures-198/oldschool-fcs-only-797496/ (page 9-10) about originality and definitions of old school and appreciation for the RX-7. all they want to do is slam my stock 7. bunch of dicks. i considered locking the thread but i've since stopped drinking and my mind has changed..for now.

at any rate, sweet update! i'm looking forward to more pics and videos of the silver car!