Project(s) Update
05-09-08, 09:49 AM
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Project(s) Update
The 91 project This is a new one that my wife has mandated
She is levaing for a year in afghanistan and has mandated that one of the RX-7's be running before she leaves. I've come to the conclusion that I have a blown water seal. I get this from a couple of clues:
1 When the car is running, it wants to push all the radiator fluid out of the radiator cap.
2. It runs a little hot most of the time, but not overheating.
3. plugs are constantly fouled and moist.
4. sweetish smell and white puffy exhaust from the exhaust.
Even if it isn't a water seal, I still have to pull the engine 'cause the car just won't start so something is wrong. It started out as just being hard to start and has progressed...or regressed. So this weekend, engine comes out.
The 90 t2 project. Got the engine compartment all cleaned up and painted. While I was at it, I rebuilt the drivers side wire harness complety with new wire wrap and some new connectors. The were so many broken wires, cracked insullation etc that I had to get a Junyard harness that was still in good shape so I could replace the wiring with all new(er) stuff. The good news is that the harness is once again flexible and doesn't make cracking sounds when you bend it. I've started working on the engie (ECU) harness now.
The Front bumper cover has been repainted and looks great. I had to sand blast and replace some of the frame hardware that was completley eaten through in some spots, but the whole assembly looks brand new now. The other body work is ongoing and I hope to have it finished in the next couple of months. It's mostly cosmetic with paint not seeming to stick to the car, so I'm sanding priming and painting as I go. The underbody has been under coated and painted. Window seals replaced. All the engine and accessory parts have been sand blasted and painted and waiting for reassembly. The only engine work that needs to be completed before I start putting everything back together is to get the turbo rebuilt. It has a little to much shaft play to install it as is. I don;t want to go through all this trouble, then have to pull the turbo back out because I was lazy.
She is levaing for a year in afghanistan and has mandated that one of the RX-7's be running before she leaves. I've come to the conclusion that I have a blown water seal. I get this from a couple of clues:1 When the car is running, it wants to push all the radiator fluid out of the radiator cap.
2. It runs a little hot most of the time, but not overheating.
3. plugs are constantly fouled and moist.
4. sweetish smell and white puffy exhaust from the exhaust.
Even if it isn't a water seal, I still have to pull the engine 'cause the car just won't start so something is wrong. It started out as just being hard to start and has progressed...or regressed. So this weekend, engine comes out.
The 90 t2 project. Got the engine compartment all cleaned up and painted. While I was at it, I rebuilt the drivers side wire harness complety with new wire wrap and some new connectors. The were so many broken wires, cracked insullation etc that I had to get a Junyard harness that was still in good shape so I could replace the wiring with all new(er) stuff. The good news is that the harness is once again flexible and doesn't make cracking sounds when you bend it. I've started working on the engie (ECU) harness now.
The Front bumper cover has been repainted and looks great. I had to sand blast and replace some of the frame hardware that was completley eaten through in some spots, but the whole assembly looks brand new now. The other body work is ongoing and I hope to have it finished in the next couple of months. It's mostly cosmetic with paint not seeming to stick to the car, so I'm sanding priming and painting as I go. The underbody has been under coated and painted. Window seals replaced. All the engine and accessory parts have been sand blasted and painted and waiting for reassembly. The only engine work that needs to be completed before I start putting everything back together is to get the turbo rebuilt. It has a little to much shaft play to install it as is. I don;t want to go through all this trouble, then have to pull the turbo back out because I was lazy.
05-10-08, 08:42 PM
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Got the engine pulled out the the 91 today. I knew there was a problem when I drained out way more oil than I did coolant. When I started hoisting the engine out and it tilted backaward, coolant poured out of the exhaust. It'll be Monday before I start pulling it apart and I hope the worst I find is a blown water seal. I may be in the market for a housing, rotor and an iron or two. We'll see.
05-12-08, 11:02 PM
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Got the engine apart today and honestley I'm amazed the car ran as long as it did. The inner water seals had 2 and 3 inch pieces missing from them. Outer water seals were showing a lot of age as well. The good news is that the housings and irons look pretty good. The front housing has some flaking around the exhaust port, but other than that, they look good. Of course I still have to bead blast everything and check to be sure. The apex seals were WORN. Normaly anything less than 6mm and you replace them. The thickest one on this engine was about 5mm. One seal was broken about a quarter inch from the end but it didn't do the normal chew the housing thing. Both the 5th and 6th port actuator pistons were quite gummed up. I found some weird like melted plastic pellets cacked up in the water jacket. I have no idea what it is. It looks like someone melted a plastic fork into the coolant system. I also noticed the the rubber seal around the inner part of the thermostat was broken and pieces of it were floating around in the coolant. It was an OEM and only a year old, so I guess this will fire up the OEM vs Stant debate. I have tons of pictures, but not really sure about how to go about posting them.
05-14-08, 11:35 PM
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Got the rear iron, both housings and, the rotors bead blasted today and aside from a little pitting on the rotor faces, they look pretty good. The O rings were so worn that the oil control rings fell off. One of the corner seals was missing it's rubber insert and onother one was cracked. The apex seals were worn down to nubs. The biggest one was down to 5mm. The rear iron has a little darkness around the bottom of the face, but the whole surface is very smooth with no noticable grooving. One of the housing is iffy and the other one is shot. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of corrosion before. It's in one location and it looks like the aluminum melted and bubbled. it's in the same location on both housing, but on one, it ate completely through to the bolt hole. I think the other housing can be smoothed out with some JB weld. If I had to guess, the last time I had a coolant system flush, the folks didn't do a good enough job of flushing the system, so the heavier flushing chemicals settled in one spot and did their work.
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