J5Sense's Turbo II Restoration **Lots Of Pics**
 

First off, a little about me.

My First love with the RX-7 was back in high school. In gym class a classmate and friend was talking about a car he just got. I was huge into imports (years before fast and furious) and asked him about it. He had a 1987 Mazda. He didn’t know what model but was bragging about the "helicopter motor" it had and it didn’t have pistons and it revved really high.

I got on AOL and searched for it. RX-7. Now back in the day the internet sucked so i saw one for sale and went to go see it. Long story short I borrowed $4,000 from my girlfriend’s step-dad to buy it.

I now had a 1989 Mazda RX-7 GTU. (Black on Black) nice shape too. It also survived Chicago blizzards, and worse, myself, a teenager who had a heavy right foot and inexperience with working on cars. I knew enough to get me into trouble. I was going to automotive school (UTI in Glendale heights IL) and was learning, but I was in the "breaking it" stage. I beat the piss out of that car every day and it held out. Only thing i did to it in the 3 years I owned it was tires and a clutch. I installed myself as well as a cat pipe and electric fan and lastly a k&n intake.

One night at the local car hangout a truck backed into the passenger door and hit it so bad it tweaked the body totaling it out. since then I’ve owned

-1990 Honda CRX SI (5speed) black on black
-1995 Honda Del-Sol SI (5-speed) black on black
-2003 Eclipse GS (5-Speed Silver/gray (bought brand new) (totaled it-Flipped her)
-2007 Ford Ranger Edge 2X4 (5-speed) Red/tan
-1997 Honda Del-Sol SI (5-speed) black/black (had very low miles got for so cheap) (Rear ended dumb ass lady stopped on interstate - totaled)

-1985 Nissan 300zx GLL (5-Speed) blue/blue This was my baby I’ve built from the ground up. I owned it for many years and ended up selling it because the thing just sat in a garage and I needed money for my first house. Check out my build---------> http://www.88hybrid.com/forum/viewto...it=hendrick301

-2004 Ford F-150 4 X 4 Extended cab XLT (auto) Green/Tan good truck big tires exhaust intake chipped. Sucked on gas so I sold it.
-2007 Honda Accord EX-L 4door (auto) silver/gray this car was my uncles. He died of cancer and left it to me I always took care of his Hondas maintance and services. I will own this car till I die.
-2008 Honda cbr 600RR graffiti edition. (Guy blew a light and t-boned Me. i made it- the bike did not)
-2005 Honda S2000 (6-speed) Black on black sold when i bought my first house.
-2009 Honda Cbr 1000RR Repsol edition. Best motorcycle ever promised the wife i would sell it when she wanted kids.... it gone...

I am a 10 year Honda Master Tech. working at a dealership still. I have a talking parrot and a little dachshund puppy. I also am married to a very understanding wife who accepts my car obsessions.


After I sold my last toy (Repsol Motorcycle) I was looking for another car project. I was actually looking at a muscle car build. But after looking at a few cars I decided I didn’t want to do bodywork and Interior work again. After about giving up I found an ad for a "1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II 64K Miles California car- no rust).

I called on it. The kid said it’s his uncle’s car he is selling it because of an illness and It turns over but does not start. It also has been sitting for the last 9 years.

I drove an hour with the wife to look at it. Just seeing it brought back memories of high school and rotary fun. It needed some work. The compressor was locked up belts vac lines and fuel/coolant lines are shot tires dry rotted.

But it was stored in a garage with a cover on it for 9 Years.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem1.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem2.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem3.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem4.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/oem10.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/eom6.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem5.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem7.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ck301/oem9.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/oem13.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/oem11.jpg



But the paint and interior was damn perfect. no rust underneath either. So I offered fewer than 3k and towed it home.



http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/031-2.jpg

My Plans For the RX-7:

-Stock looking with some modern upgrades
-Racing beat downpipe and exhaust
-Remove emission crap (keep in boxes)
-Find a factory cd player with equalizer and install it. (Missing radio now)
-find factory fog lights
-port polish rotor housings
-89-90 tail lights
-headlights (Brighter, no HID)
-boost gauge? Unsure yet.

These cars are so fun to drive and it getting near impossible to find unmolested or still clean. I want to keep that stock factory look.




I spend the week putting in fresh gas, checking the fuel pressure, spark plugs, and she then fired up and idled.
Fuel pressure was good, but no power when you rev it up.

Found this......


http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/036-2.jpg

Cracked turbo air inlet. So dry from the heat of the turbo. Duct tape fixed it up well enough to seal it for testing.

So lucky I work with a guy who worked at the Mazda dealership back in the late 80's early 90's. He said to test the compression. I had no compression on the back rotor.

So i started tearing apart the motor.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/025-1.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/007-1.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/006-1.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/003-2.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/004-1.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/005-1.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/022-1.jpg

I Have soo many pics, but most of them are reference for when i put it back together.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/023-1.jpg

fan shroud off

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/027-1.jpg


PITA to remove.... most vac lines and fuel lines instantly cracked and broke when I touched them.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ick301/047.jpg

looks like a bad ground...
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k301/032-2.jpg

Intake (upper)
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ick301/048.jpg

Turbo... Great shape! Thank God! no free play spins and keeps spinning . no leaks.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ick301/058.jpg

Oh and thank god for no rust and 64,000 miles.... bolts for the turbo and exhaust came right off!

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ick301/061.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ick301/064.jpg

Motor Is out right now as I’m typing this. So far I have 8 Hours into it.... gimmie a break my first rotary engine job!
I’m just praying the housing is good and all it was is carbon build up from sitting for 9 years... More pics tomorrow when I get the motor apart.

What a find! Body looks fantastic. The interior looks great too but OH GOD THAT COLOR. 1980's, what can you do?!

Mind my asking... what did you pay?

Edit:
sat for 9 years but somebody tried something. Look at the oil cooler lines.

I paid $2,900 yeah the oil lines are new. I ran a carfax and the car had its emissions done and passed in 2001 at 64,137

lol the color. its looks darker in person. my 85 300ZX was blue interror and dash so im used to it :-)

Great find. Looks to be an excellent project car. Congrats.

b

typical rust from the leaky abs in the engine bay.

yeah im gonna clean that up... any fix forthe leaky abs unit? i have a soft pedal and blead new fluid through all the lines no luck.

dude great story.. I like how you went through a lot of cars then eventually went back to that first one... one day i might go back to picking up a 240sx since that was my first car but not with the way those things get stolen left and right now.

I honestly think that is way too clean to mod, keep the S4 tail lights on it. I think s4 with s5 tail lights just looks wierd. Once you get it running, it will be nice.

Im looking at your Z31 tread right now. I secretly want one of those but i just know I will get borred of it due to no aftermarket for it.

OK! thats why i started this thread... i like peoples opinions on how it should look. thanks... ill loose the s5 lights..

Amazing! Completely worth $2900 in my book. Hell, I paid $1800 for an S4 sport with 136k that wasn't running. Body and interior were about in the same condition too.

I wish you the best of luck with it though, looks like a keeper. The fc is really a perfect daily driver. And its especially fun during winter;)

any problem with pulling the vac pump?

I took a greyhound 4 states away to pick up my blk on grey t2, had 100k but I drove her home. Still running strong @ 140k.

How does such a low milage engine (especially one garaged for a decade) get so dirty!? Glad all the bolts are being cooperative though.

Nice find! I wish mine was as rust free, but mine is all undercarriage, no engine bay. Finding a TurboII in europe that isn't a conversion is next to impossible though.

I would personally go with the S5 tails, they're so much cleaner and still have that slight retro feel to em.

As for the factory fog lights, you should check out the finish line accessory thread. The factory fogs for the S4 are just a couple of rectangular lights mounted to the bumper, they don't really flow with the rest of the car. S5s got the cool driving/fog lights.

Subscribed...definitely want to see where this goes :)

Great looking car. I can't stand that "porno red interior"(as my roommate calls it) that mazda used in the 80's, and wont have another one with it.

Sunday update....

Got the motor out, oil pan off block stripped.

Hit a wall with that 2 1/8 in bolt holding on the flywheel...

I might have one in the shop. ill check tomorrow.

the local tool shop harbour freight has a cherry picker for sale for $239.00 and a engine stand for $49.99 hmmmmm would be nice for future projects (hopefully not on my car) but i will need the rotory engine attachment $90.00

Great to see you getting back to your roots! Looks like great fun.

Looks like an awesome project. The really clean stock looking cars are becoming harder and harder to find. There's nothing wrong with mega power builds that deviate from stock in large amounts, but I'm a subtle, modest kind of guy.

You gotta love 1980s red interiors! That definitely helps date the time and age these cars were produced in.

im soooo jealous. but after all the time ive put into mine, its finally paying off, my last tokico shock comes in wends then ill have my tien lowering springs on. no more bouncy bouncy.

sweet find! keep it s4. is the radio surround crack free? if so, that is amazing.

Update/// Monday night

Ok so i started cleaning up the intake manifolds and turbo housing. Looks good so far. I also borrowed a HUGE air compressor from another tech at work. So tonight i brought home my impact guns. I will try first thing in the morning to get that flywheel bolt off:fingersx:

The air compressor will also help with cleaning up the gasket material from the manifolds with the super soft 3m pads on my sander

I ordered Block off plates and the rotory rebuild and porting videos from mazda trix today as well. I feel confindent in rebuilding a rotory for the first time but more experenced information always helps/

I plan on sending out the injectors and ordering the poting templates and silicone vac kit on wednesday.



The radio surround is crack free. However I am missing the radio brackets.

Anyone know if the radios are interchangable? i want a factory cd player to go with the look. i have no radio now and a cut harness :-(

Honestly I think everything at Mazdatrix is way over-priced. all the small interior things are especially too much. $50+ for a shift boot and $350+ for power window regulators? Not a chance that they will get my money.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the fresh motor though, got a buddy with a ~26k mi Mazdatrix rebuild on his 10th AE. Very smooth and well running engine.

Parts such as that are brand new OEM components from Mazda, thus the cost. Mazdatrix is comparable in prices to the dealer and it just all depends on where you live on whether going to the dealer or ordering from Mazdatrix is the better buy.

Mazdatrix was cheaper than pineapple racing or racing beat on the block off plates. I get mazda parts at 10% over cost because of where i work.

The videos i am buying because of there experence in building rotory motors. something I dont have so i want to learn.

yes. you need to pull it apart and replace the O rings. since there is no "kit" you need to go an FIND the orings at an O ring supplier.