Osker24

I have a 94' rx'7 and I'm more than sure its about that time that I replace the turbo hoses due to the fact that my car is due for it......My "?" is where can i take it, should I use silicone hosing? how long will it take and also HOW MUCH?! is their any shops near me I can take it? i stay in the Inland Empire, CA (909)..or maybe someone can lend me a helping hand.....any help would be appreciated thanks guys..!

cewrx7r1

iTrader: (2)

Do it yourself.

Osker24

What do I need to do it myself and is their some sort of diagram or instuctions I can get from online?

Flybye

It's a lot tougher than it looks. It is a mistake to take this project lightly. Be prepared to have your car off the road for a while. Also, be prepared to do all the damn hoses, because the two that need replacing the most are also the most devlish to get at.

Make sure you have plenty of hose -- 30' of the 4mm for sure to do all the replacements in the engine bay and about 15' of the 6mm hose.

Subassemblies that need to come off the car to do the whole job: intercooler intake pipe/throttle body/extension manifold; air control valve (on the intake manifold below the extension); air pump; alternator; ignition coils in their mounting tray; and the solenoid rack.

The bad news: not removing the solenoid rack leaves four hoses inaccessible. They are:

the hose on the back of the pressure regulator control solenoid (the solenoid closest to the firewall) which dives down, makes a short turn and connects to a pipe on the block.


a hose that comes off the hard pipe right above the secondary air bypass valve (the solenoid second-closest to the firewall) which dives down out of sight and connects to a vacuum actuator below the solenoid rack.
These first two were rock-hard with no elasticity left in them at all -- the first stage of Terminal Vacuum Hose Disease. They are a must-replace item in this job.



The third is a longish 4mm hose run from a hard pipe on the solenoid rack to another vacuum actuator on the back of the intake manual, wedged right in front of the firewall.


The last one is a 6mm hose that comes off the downward-facing elbow on top of the turbo. It tucks behind a short water hose and heads back along the top of the engine well below the solenoids, then turns sharply downward and connects to a pipe on the engine block.


The real trick in this whole process is removing the solenoid rack. It is held in place by four short phillips-head screws at the front and three at the back. They are also secured by a medium-strength Loctite-type material. You will only get one chance to get these screws out properly. If your screwdriver bit cams out of the screws and strips the heads you will be one unhappy camper. Use the proper size screwdriver and make sure that you're putting a lot of pressure DOWN on the screw head as you're turning in order to prevent cam-out or slipping. I used a regular screwdriver on the front four -- easy because the alternator was out. On the rear three, I used a 3/8" drive Phillips bit with a sparkplug ratchet, which allows the handle to gimbal around the drive head. This allowed me to get the bit straight in relation to the screw heads and angle the ratchet handle out from under the firewall. Here's the bad news: getting the rear screws back in is actually harder than getting them out.

Make sure that the short 180-degree runs of hose don't kink on you. Extra hose length is the solution here; and watch out for a low spot on the underside of the extension manifold that will pinch a poorly-routed vacuum hose shut when you re-install it.

Don't get ahead of yourself, do one hose at a time, and make sure you put everything back nice and snug. You'll be driving down the street grinning like a bandit, knowing you mastered the most diabolical system on the whole car.

DamonB

I just did the silicone hoses on my car. I consider myself to have above average auto skills and it took me two whole days to do the job. I also replaced every coolant/heater hose while in there. I recommend doing the two at the same time, the coolant hoses are easy when you have everything off.

First test drive I was loosing boost on secondary; once I plugged the pressure chamber into the y-pipe it all worked like it was supposed to.

hawaii rx-7

what gaskets do you need to replace you're doing the job? if someone could list the part numbers and aproxmite cost, that would be helpful.

thanks.

7-sins

http://rx7.voodoobox.net/howto/vachose/vacjob.html
http://www.zeroglabs.com/rx7/reference.htm -diagram

You probably wont need all the hose he listed. I got away with 35' 4mm and 10' 6mm (still had extra). Also the only two gaskets I see needing to be replaced are the Air Control Valve and the Intake Manifold Gasket. I only replaced the manifold gasket, works fine. Leave the throttle body on the manifold, that way less to worry about. The two parts I kinda struggled on were the hoses off the TCA and the hoses around the secondary turbo. Everything is cramped up and its hard to fit tools in there. Some of the hoses are hard to fit on.... if you need.. dip your finger in oil and get some on the nipple. That helped me out a few times down by the TCA.

If you get stuck feel free to PM me. I might be able to help.

frankadelic

if you are attempting to redo the rats nest this is a bitch..6-8 hours of work if you know what you are doing also zip tie and glue all hoses and most importantly do NOT use silicone hose in this area..it collapses far to easily in hot situations...but don't ask me ask the pros at M2 or intense ms or anyone who does this for a living

Osker24

to tell you the truth i dont think im capable of doing it......

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

One guy in my rotary club said that he would'nt touch it, if the car was running and driving fine, because of all the broken solenoids that usually occurs I was thinking about it for awhile, but then decided i'd pay one of my friends to do it. I don't mind doing bolt-ons to the car, and maintance. But i don't feel like screwing with something like that, when i only drive the car about 1k miles a year, and want it to run right when i do drive it. CJ

Hyperite

My feelings are: Do it when you have problems. Most of my vacuum hoses are still original (except around the wastegate control area) and they'll stay that way until something doesn't work right. BUT at the first sign of trouble that i can't figgure out otherwise, I'm gonna do the vacuum hoses. Also, there's some type of hose that's like....Quasi-Silicone. Starts with a 'P' perhaps? Supposedly less susceptible to collapse and heat. I'd use that.
~Tom

Osker24

well the reason i want to re-do the whole hose job is because of my turbo leaking from one of the hoses I TIED to an Rsx-S and since I've had the car which isnt too long ago....well it doesnt feel as fast as it looks......is their any shops in my area that will do it and does anyone know for how about how much? I stay in San Bernardino County area (909) but am Willing to drive to the L.A. area just to get it done ...thanks (come on guys i need to make my friends RSX my first kill!!!)

BrianK

I heard that there was a shop in the Riverside area, but I can't think of the name. Other than that, there's tri-point, which is NW of L.A. and lots of stuff in the Gardena & Long Beach area.

Personally, I recommend Rotary Power in Gardena (310-516-9959). They are at 18111 Harvard, 90248 (look it up on Mapblast). It's a long drive but they are awesome - they do really good work, they know their stuff, and they WON'T rip you off. REDLINE was just down there for a hose job not too long ago, maybe he can give you an idea on price. Both he and I go there (about 45 min. drive each way for either of us) for all the service that we can't do ourselves - totally worth it.

Want2race

I HIGHLY DISAGREE WITH YOU GUYS!
Dont do it unless you get no boost or have some problem of some sort!

I did mine to a working FD and then paid someone $400 to get it workingproperly again! not to mension the few $$ in gaskets!

DONT DO IT UNLESS YOUR CAR IS FUGGED! Just cabletie the stock ones!!! The stock rubber is perfect. Once its hard it shouldnt crack!