Sorry for the ramble, but I'm quite happy with myself right now...

I'm not a wrencher. This is fact. I'm a pampered little computer programmer...

My family was into cars, but I wasn't. My dad's a body man and my grandpa has been a mechanic since he worked on B52 bombers in Saipan during WWII. I could have learned a lot, instead I partied, very hard (no regrets).

Several years ago my wife and I bought our first houses (2 next to each other, about 110 years old). I then became Bob Villa's protoge. And it worked, and quite well (sold the houses for a 70% profit over purchase price).

Now I have an FD. And I will do the work on it, or so I have told myself. I've done very basic things like alumninum AST and basic maintenance.

I can say that chaning plugs isn't basic (and damn it's easy to drop the lower nuts for the elbow and UIM into the engine bay). Although I did pull it off without touching the oil fill housing. The only real problem was after I was done the idle was rough as ****.

I knew my order and placement of the wires was right as I quadruple checked all the connections before reassembly. So I re-seated all of the boots with a little WD40, maybe there was air trapped in there, and there's no way to "burp" the thing once it's all back together.

Still very rough idle, and I was getting worried. I sure as **** didn't want to disassemble everything again, no way.

Then I noticed a pot (valve thing with a nipple hanging off) hanging loose around the line that connects to the back of the elbow. Staring into the area for five minutes (and trying to stick it everywhere I could find a hole), I noticed a tube with nothing connected to it hanging from the Sensor-Boost thing (that's what is says on it).

I hooked the pot up to that, and whallah. She's purring like a kitten. Took her out for a short jaunt to warm her up, and still, a kitten. Revved it in idle at WOT (to about 5k), still a kitten (more like mountain cat to be honest).

Now I'm going to take a shower and fall asleep (I will be sore tomorrow...).

Next up, the downpipe. Then the rat's nest, which I will enlist local help for...

Any my question, what is the Sensor-Boost thing mounted near the firewall directly behind the back of the intake elbow?

Again, sorry for droning, but it worked. And because of that I'm amazed...

Thanks.

 

Ah the Ye' Old Map Sensor. The killer of all newbie FD owners. My hose fell off the first time I drove it after I bought the car. I thought the motor was shot and I was scared shitless.

 

My hose fell off with my foot on the floor at Summit Point Raceway (road course in WVA). No idea what happened, limped around to the pits. Fortunately it was a Mazda event, and John Duff (!) trotted over and said there's hose down there which belongs up here. Don't burn yourself. Right. Live and learn!

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Good job turp182.

I did the same thing. The first time I ever removed the UIM, I forgot to hook back up the map sensor.

Don't worry, you only forget once.

 

Save yourself a lot of hassle next time and change the plugs from underneath. Either on ramps, or up on jackstands, it's a LOT easier working through the suspension than all the stuff on top of the engine.

It becomes a ten minute job. Except for that damned front trailing plug...

 

I'm about to do the plug & wire changes over the weekend, it looks easy to put the plugs in, is it easy to change the wires as well from underneath?

 

You can't change the wires from underneath, which is why I came in from the top. The upper manifold basically covers the non-plug end of the wires.

I certainly plan on doing plug changes from under the car.

 

If you are changing the wires it is just as easy to come from the top. If you are not I would definitely come at them from the bottom.

 

Great timing on the tips guys, am doing my plugs this w.end .. onto the stands she goes.

 

Ok guys, if I'm not able to change the wires from underneath I'll be using Rob Robinette's sparkplug wires instructions to go from up top.

I know I should know this but what is the "constant radius" arm mentioned on step one.

 

I used this guide: http://home.covad.net/~f2racer/plugs.../plugwires.htm

The Robinette site example didn't have cruise. And the link above has a ton of pictures.

 

Cool, thanks for the extra site (I love visuals) turp182, I'll be using that along w/ robinettes site as well.Thanks.

 

Welcome to the world of manly men, who diy! We ALL have hair on our backs!!

(Oh, and just a little tip: WD40 is NOT what you want to use to slip those boots on. You want dielectric grease.
WD40 can attack polymers (your boot "rubber".) The "d" grease actually helps conductivity, prevents oxidation, and makes it nice and slippery as well. No one likes a dry hole)

Oh, and we ALWAYS use anti-sieze when we put new sparking plugs in, right OK?

Your grandfather would be proud. B-52's, cool.
Maybe we can give them one last workout in Iraq, and - what the hell, Iran is just another few hundred miles away - A twofer!

 

Yes, change your plugs from under the car. Much easier. Of course I don't have it 1/2 bad, I don't have an AC or PS pump to worry about.

 

Those are two very important suggestions.

 

Oh, and I'm curious turp182, what was the condition of your old plugs and how many miles were on them?

 

All four exhibited some blackened area, but not too bad (30-50%). Not sure how many miles, bought the car 400 miles ago, just taking care of basic maintenance.

 

LOL...I'm glad I'm not the only one who forgot this! Live and learn...and boy did I learn

 

im scared....i know nothing about this stuff....but im still gonna get my rx7 in october....im gonna be to scared to use how-tos and do it my self...im gonna be a ***** and prob take it to Rotary Performance in garland every week....lol..im so happy its near!!!!

 

Don't be scared. I have no mechanical aptitude what so ever. The only things I do on my car are check the fluid levels, tire pressure, state of couplers, suspension, tires, and wash+wax her. I am lucky to live within 20 minutes of two good mechanics (Rick's Rotary and Ivan). If you're not good with the wrench, you just need a little patience and money. I've got enough of both to go this route. Of course, when my warranty runs out, I will start doing some basic things myself -- like changing plugs, oil, etc. I'll still take the big stuff to the mechanic.

I bought this car to enjoy driving it, not to enjoy working on it!