Karniv04

Alright so here's the story. I bought this baby from Texas Ace who has been workin on her for quite some time and I plan to finish it and hopefully make it ready for car shows comin this summer or next year.

Right now the only problems I'm having is the drivetrain is a little slopy due to the tranny mounts and LSD being shot. I was given another diff from Texas Ace, which I think might be the open diff or another LSD? I drained the oil and found minimal metal shavings that you would expect from normal wear and tear.

So what I plan to do is swap the diff and replace the driveshaft since the U-Joints could be bad. Then basically rebuilding the old LSD or outright just replacing it. I have pleanty of $$$ to start this baby off right so of course I'll have alot of questions. I'll be restoring her to its fullest potential with upgrades.

Other than that it seems the motor is running great as long as its maintained, so I have no worries with that at the moment. Right now I plan to just start replacing suspension parts and upgrading as much as possible for a nice v-8 swap.

After reading Texas Ace's previous thread for a couple hours now.. WOW.. I know where I'm sittin at with her. Here is a quick pic to let you guys know what she looks like



Just have a few questions for Texas Ace at the moment. The diff that you gave me - is this the open one or a new LSD? and what do you think about the tranny? rebuild or replace? of course along with the mounts. and besides the OMP line being cracked what other things that could be replaced would you think of?

Here's a little history on what been done.

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Welcome to the wounderful world of the 2nd gen RX7!

The other diff you have is actually the stock diff that was in the car to start with. It is an open diff, that is why i said it is perfect to hold you over until you get an LSD.

It is quite though so it will get rid of the whine from the worn LSD that is in it.

As for fixing or getting a new LSD, i would not do either if it was me until you decide if you are going to swap out the rear end for a TurboII. If you swap to a TII rear end then it will have an LSD and be stronger to boot.

The driveshaft that is in there, is a replacement, it came from my parts car, so it should be good to go, i would not worry about another one. Plus ditto above about waiting for the TII rear end.

Tranny has been fine to me, never had a problem other then the bad syncros in Reverse but that didn't bother me at all.

I would (and was planning on) running the tranny as is for now. It is working fine so why change it? later if it pops, get another one, they are cheap, an NA tranny can be had for under $100 and a turbo tranny for under $250.

Run this one till it pops, then when it does go, swap in a full turboII rear end, tranny, driveshaft, diff and half-shafts. That way it will be ready to bolt on a turbo to the engine as you said you might do.

Other then the OMP line there is nothing else i know of that needs to be done other then getting the idiot cluster panel for inside the car. Everything else i fixed last year. Just keep running per-mix until you get the omp line fixed and you should be good to go for a long time.

I would get the aux ports working though, a free 25hp is just waiting for you. You could hook it up to the exahust like stock but that will just mean more trouble down the road when you start turboing it. There is a write-up for making them eletronic for under $50. That is what i was going to do. I will see if i can find the link to it.

If you so wanted you could just block the OMP off all together and run pre-mix, lots of people do this and say it is better. Up to you though, i would personally fix the line and then run mild pre-mix as well.

Oh, yeah. One thing i don't think i mentioned when you were here, you have to replace the spark plugs in these cars a lot more then normal cars. I replaced them 3 times since i got the car but 2 of those sets were when i first got the car and it was flooding out. Generally you want to change the plugs whenever you change the oil.

Karniv04

Awesome, thanks for the update. I'm just gonna go ahead and replace the drivetrain with the turboII. As for the clunking sound in the back, that would be the tranny mounts right?

I'll be postin pics and updates as much as possible. Right now I plan to hold off on the paint job until I finish the interior and everything else. (suspension and drivetrain)

need RX7

iTrader: (4)

Nice. Looks like a good starting point (I'm jealous )

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Yes, the clunking sound is the tranny mounts (the sound tricks you into thinking it is coming from the rear), though if you are hearing that then you need to work on your shifting some. When i drive it, it would never clunk unless it got spirted with the shifting. Took me a few days to adjust but after i adjusted it drove better as well and was a smoother ride to boot.

Really, rather then swapping the diff right now, unless you really need it quiter in there, i would drive it as is and get a turboII rear end to swap in all at once. That way you don't have to do the same thing twice.

The suspension is done unless you want to get coil-overs (good idea but they cost $$$$ and are far from needed, it would be just for looks). The shocks and springs i put in there are really good IMO and will do pretty much anything you want. Coilovers would just allow you to level out the rear end.

Only thing the suspension needs are the rest of those bushings i gave you replaced.

What do you plan on doing to the interior? install a radio i assume?

Karniv04

pretty much for the suspension I want to upgrade sway bars and of course put in the bushings. As for the interior I plan to redo it entirely black/seude along with a system and some other small things.. show quality basically. Like i said, I want to rebuild this baby to its fullest potential.

m33p0n3

iTrader: (1)

Wow, I can't believe Texas Ace would sell it after all the work. Either way, you got a good start. Make it nice

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Honestly, i can't either. I am still not sure i made the right decision.

But I have this MR2 sitting there just begging for an engine. I then started looking at this car and relized that if i kept it, i would most likely drop a V8 in it and i could not bring myself to rip apart an RX7 in this good of a condition.

On the up side, i already found the engien for the MR2 and will pick it up next week.

I am also looking for another RX7 to work on, i had my eye on a 1st gen for $500 today, but the owner won't awnser my calls (talked to him yesterday and said i would pick it up today). Needed some work but at least i would have a rotary, plus i need a car to get around with my trucks battery being dead for the next week until they send me a new one.

Karniv04

As for the aux port do you think it would be the solenoid or the actuator that could be causing the problem? and will it not open or is it stuck open?

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

The ports work fine, i had to take the entire intake off to free them up to they better! lol

The pipe that goes from the solenoid tot eh exahust was not connected by the PO. so it has no pressure to open them with.

They open fine with an air compresser.

If you are going to turbo it though, are you going to be changing out the intake to a TII intake? if so then you won't even have the aux ports any more so don't worry about it.

If you will be using the stock intake then just set them up to work eletronically. That way it will work no matter what you do to the engine or exahust. Plus you can tune exatly when they open.

Karniv04

Yup, I just read a thread about the aux ports being removed if I'm going to put a TII intake on. So I won't worry about it.

Seems like alot of work to turbo an NA, lol.

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Nah, it's not that bad. a good weekend worth of work and you will have it running.

Really you just pull the stock exahust manifold and intake off, and then install the new ones. The hardest part from what i have read is tapping the oil lines, or if you can get a front cover swapping that out.

Once you pull the engine apart once though, you will forever feel much more comfortable working on it, i know, thats how it was with me.

Karniv04

alright! so here is what i plan to do this month or for the next couple of months lol. I just got a parts car same year to strip out and swap parts with for around $400. here is a pic

Once I get everything stripped and parted out I'll be donating it of course and then I am also buying a complete S4/S5 Drivetrain that includes Flywheel, Clutch plates, Tranny, D-Shaft, LSD Diff, and Half-Shafts for a heck of a deal. So once I finish puttin everything in, it will tighten up and smooth out the drivetrain and also be ready for a turbo!!! yay

Other than that I've got hatch struts on order since the current ones are inoperative, and also I'll be swapping door panels with the S4 or S5 ones with powered window switches. I'll be converting the car to powered windows and keyless entry soon. I've also got a decent stereo system that I'll be puttin in as well with 3-way speakers and just 1 sub for decent sound quality (not really a car system freak). So I'll be postin pics and progress and then I'll probably sell some of the parts from the other car. Can't wait!

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Thats a nice find for that RX7 parts car. Whats wrong with that car? I assume a blown engine?

If you are smart and careful you can swap the parts out and still keep the parts car in complete form. Then after you are done with it, sell it complete and make some of your $$$ back.

need RX7

iTrader: (4)

It saddens me that some people's parts cars are cleaner than my main car Good luck with the resto though. It's always nice to see someone bring one of these cars back to it's former glory.

dawicka2

Damn.....you guys are finding some great deals lately........car is def clean for a parts car. 400.00............... Couple of verts purchased recently on forums too, for 500.00. Is the value dropping on the fc, or are these just rare cases that just happened all at once?

John NY

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

I think it is the ecomomy. Most of the cheap cars i have seen are ones that either need a lot fo work to get back on the road or are hopless. So people are selling them to get some quick $$$ to pay for things. I know i have talked to a few people with this same story.

Running RX7 prices are still pretty desent at around $2500 - $5000 from what i have seen around here.

Karniv04

Whats funny is, is that the engine runs fine except that it smokes real bad out the exhaust. I'm not sure what color but I'll find out tommorow when I pick it up. BTW, I'll be towing it for legal purposes so no worries there.. lol.

workinprogress80

my fc was $200 and I drove it home. :-)

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Really? It still runs, that is aheck of a deal then!

Depending on the smoke, it might be an easy fix or it could be a blown engine. In which case you have a choice, have fun blowing th engine (always wanted to see how long a rotary can redline, not like that ebay vid where there was no coolent but with a somplete engien). Or do you leave it alone, swap parts then sell the car for possibly a profit.

Texas_Ace

iTrader: (18)

Now that is luck.....

Karniv04

lol, not sure yet. I'll see whats wrong with the engine first and then decide if I want to rebuild it to sell for a profit or blow it to bits, I'll let you know if I blow it so. I'll post a vid or you can come with me, lol.

indeed that is luck... wow $200