NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

This thread is going to be about my TII's continuing progress after getting back on the road. I had a previous thread about the major work done to get it road worthy and freshened up a bit.

Check here for the restoration and build up.
'87 TII Overhaul - From Bouncing Idle to Engine Refurbishment

I just registered the vehicle two weeks ago and dropped it off at the shop today for Inspection and some exhaust reworking.

How bout some pics for anyone who's not familar with the car?








I'd like to take the time to outline a few major goals as of today.

1) Fix Rear Differential - the rear end whines/screams under throttle, I have new ring and pinion gears that need to be installed.

2) Finish the Suspension - the KYB AGX's are great but I need to get the Racing Beat Springs as it's currently resting on the old stock springs.

3) Improve Shifter/Trans Feel - I have a supposedly low mileage (35K) J spec trans, there was no shifter in it when I got it so I installed a short shift kit. It works well, better than my old trans and shifter, it's much more solid and tighter but I still have some trouble getting it into certain gears at times. Like it's hard to find the gear at times, and it grinds a little bit every so often going into fifth.

I need to make sure the drive train is solid, I will start with the diff but I'm already looking into getting the trans completely rebuilt.

Here's the new ring and pinion gears.


Some 8000K HID's I got for free, I'm going to try them out with a few different housings and see if I can get a decent pattern.


New Rims -

Tires will get bought in the next two weeks.

Please feel feel to comment on anything, I'm espically interested in any info relating to the installation of the ring and pinion, like which particular pieces I should replace when swapping the ring and pinion gears.
I'm already buying the new crush collar and lock nut but what else do I need from Mazdatrix Ring and Pinion Set-Up Pieces?

Thanks guys!

1revin712488

very nice.....post the after pics when ur done

i like the rims .

i hope to have money one day. lol

Force Fed

What rims are those?

Ex-Eg-Driver

iTrader: (1)

Very clean engine bay. Tastefully done.

I want to see updates with the HID's...as I might do them myself.

Just need to know which housings are the best ya know.

jay-red

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Im gonna go out on limb and say sport max 962's

NJGreenBudd

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Thanks for the compliments guys!! It was a lot of work to get it this far but we're getting closer and closer each day. I did enjoy redoing the engine bay though.

I'll keep you posted as far as the HID's for sure.

And yes the rims are 962's, I like them a lot.

fonzi581

iTrader: (1)

I have been following this journey since the beginning of the first thread and I would like to say "good job." It takes a lot of work to do as much as you have. I have no comments on any of the parts you have recently bought but I would like to know what happens to the rear end when you get it fixed. I bought a turbo rear end and im planning on getting it rebuilt this summer hopefully and I want to get an idea of what price range Im looking at and what all work goes into doing it. Good luck.

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

Fonzi, thanks a lot man for the good words, it's been a project alright.

As far as the rear end, I'll post the results, maybe even a new video to compare how it sounds after the ring and pinion are replaced. As of right now I'm waiting to hear from the shop thats doing my inspection, hopefully the car is done by Friday afternoon.

I have another question though, I replaced all of the OMP lines, and the associated vacuum spider, when I redid the engine bay a while ago and it doesn't look like there is any oil in the lines yet. How long should it take for the oil to make it's way through the lines? The engine has only been driven a total of less than 1 hour w/ the new lines and I'm taking it easy so far, I will start premixing a bit when I get it back from inspection as a precautionary measure but I am curious why the lines still appear clear.

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

Just got her back, it passed inspection and is good for two years now. They welded a catalytic converter right onto the Racing Beat Downpipe which was a bit unexpected but thats okay, I plan on replacing all of it sooner or later with new RB Rev II stuff.





I actually really like the way it sounds now with the cat installed, its just a tad quieter and overall less raspy and buzzy, they also redid the hangers and got the exhaust sitting better and solid.

My only problem is that the way it's setup right now, the air pump is messing up the Wideband reading. I kinda want to keep the cat but I need to be able to see the true a/f ration coming out of the motor as well. With my ACV gutted it's dumping a ton of air into the exhaust.

The emissions were pretty well below the limits, I'll post the exact number when I get the papers out of the car.

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

Okay just messing around a bit, I'm going to try to get teh HIDS in soon but wanted to try some different housings. The new housings came with new halogens in them.

Here the old ones-






New Ones-






Those are all on low beams.

They seem a bit better but they don't look exactly the way I thought they would, the "projector" thingy in there doesn't seem to help so much. We'll see what it's like with the HIDs in each housing and go from there. I might end up getting some Hellas or something if these don't cut it.

Any input is welcome.

RX-7tII88

iTrader: (1)

Car looks great. How much time has it been to get it from start to now. I'm rebuilding this summer, and I am a perfectionist and want my engine bay to look as good as that. Great work.

NJGreenBudd

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Thanks a lot man. It's been three years since I bought the car and a little less than 1 year since I started the major restoration.

RX-7tII88

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Didn't you have a front mount that you got off ebay and decided you were not using? If so, would you be interested in parting with it, do you have any piping?

t24todd

iTrader: (7)

wow i wold have been pretty pissed for them welding in a cat just like that..if those hids dont work out ill be happy to continue the experiments with housings for ya should change the whole look of the car installing wheels and springs..best thing that i did for mine and kept me from selling it at least for awhile. what size rubber you mounting on wheels? wheel dimensions 17's? like the rear lip going on too. keep us posted as always

rx7fan1903

wow those headlights look bright!!

Keep posting, this looks really interesting! I'm interested in your shifter fix, so make sure you post lots of stuff on that when you get to it.

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

Well, I already sold the FMIC w/ piping kit to another forum member a few months ago. You can find the same thing I did on ebay.

As far as the cat welded onto the DP, it's not so bad, except now the whole exhaust is one solid piece of steel, like 10 ft long. It's gonna be a pain to remove the exhaust frequently. I'll probably just take it out with a torch at some point and replace it with the full Racing Beat system or something custom.

My only real problem with the cat it that it needs the air pump, and the air pump is messing up my wideband bad.

The HIDS are going in tomorrow hopefully, we'll see how they work in either housing. I'll post the progress with the lights as it happens.

I'm going to be picking up the Racing Beat lowering springs within the next two weeks, then get some rubber and mount the wheels on. I was planning something like 225/45-17and 245/45-17 for the 17 x 7 up front and 17 x 9 in the rear. and yeah, I like the lip too - keep watching for pics soon.


rx7fan1903, yeah and those were just some random halogens they threw in with the new housings, I didn't even expect them. The Xenon HID's are going to be brighter.

But seriously, this thing is finally coming together. I have a few paid days off, so I'm going to try to get some stuff done. Unfortunately, I'm waiting for the next check to get funds and the next couple purchases aren't cheap (tires, differential rebuild, springs, etc..). I'm voting for tires right now, but its going to look funny not being lowered isn't?

AmviciousRav

iTrader: (5)

damn part 2 already? I'm still reading part 1 haha

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

This morning I decided to try and improve the shifter feel, I checked it out and this is what I saw.






I knew the white piece was broken, i broke it putting it in cause it was too big, but I think it got worse, not to mention I had never filled the shifter housing piece with any gear oil. So i cleaned it up a bit and added some gear oil. The black plastic shifter groove thing isntt wide enough for the peg on the short shifter adapter thing, this is what happens when you get a cheap kit.





So I topped off the coolant and oil and went around the block, car seems to be getting better and better, the shifter is noticeably smoother. The plastic groove thing looked like it was getting crappy so I cleaned it up a bit and made it smoother and more open a bit but I think the gear oil probably helped the most. I'm going to look into some different shift kits, or just try to find a new white piece and the springs from Mazdatrix.

I have been trying to track down a minor coolant drip as well, I knew it was dripping off of the oil pan but didn't know where it was coming from. I thought it was leaking from the LIM initially so I tightened those bolts but it's still dripping. It was hard to tell where it was coming from but eventually I found the source of the drip. The coolant house that goes from the Rear Iron to the Throttle Body, there's no clamp on the hose where it meets the iron.









I also put a the last nut on the DP.



This guy was watching the whole time. He's copilot.


I'm dieing to get tires on those rims, I get paid next Tuesday so that should do it. And I'm getting another $250 that was owed to me, so that will cover the springs to drop it.

AlexG13B

iTrader: (7)

i had the same leak but opposite. it thought it was that hose so i removed and capped. i keep having the same minor leak where i had to top of coolant every 3-4 days cuz the low coolant buzzer would go off. it was the LIM leaking the hole time. *shrugs shoulders*

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

I tried out the HID's today, swapped them into the "projector" housings. It was a smooth install, nice quality kit, the ballasts were nice and easy to mount with provided brackets and everything.

Just took out the H4 Halogen and put the Xenon in there, rigged up the wiring and bam HID!





















Also cleaned up the plastics on the headlight.

Ex-Eg-Driver

iTrader: (1)

In the first HID pic. Is the right side really brighter?

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

nope, just the angle.

NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

Okay, I have been driving the car around and the only major thing bugging me is the screaming noise coming from the rear differential. So today I removed the differential in preparation of having the ring and pinion gears replaced. I just ordered the new crush sleeve and pinion bearings and seals and lock nut as well, I wanted to take a peek at the gears before i took it to the shop.

This is what it looked like inside the rear end-







It doesn't look that bad to me, it looks just like the new ring and pinion as far as I can tell. I was expecting to see a big difference in the wear but they look similar, but this rear end whines loudly all the time under throttle.

We'll see what the shop say about it soon.

RX-7tII88

iTrader: (1)

Where are those wheels?!

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

Looks like the pinion was set too far into the ring gear. You can see where the inside of the ring gear turned blue from the heat. Are you going to set up the gears your self or have it done?