wow! looks awesome! I write up on how you clean and polish the pieces would be awesome, i too would like to know what you did to straighten those IC fins

 

im definitely down for the polishing write up! What grit paper you used and ect. It looks like you have alot of little tricks up your sleeve!

 

wow, extremely nice work but I am sure that took forever.
wouldn't mind trying it though... I am subscribing, hoping a DIY is posted in here.

 

that motor is going to look brand new after you're finished with it. good job and keep us posted.

write up is a must. it will give me something to do next winter.

 

god, the more I look at the airpump, the intercooler, and the TB, the more impressed I get, you've got some real skill man, those parts just simply speak for themselves.

 

Just a few more things I'm working on ...

HKS Downpipe (used) before:


HKS Downpipe after:





SS Goodridge OMP Lines (used):




Thermostat (old):


Thermostat (new):

 

Greddy Oil Cap (new):



Fuel Rail before:



Fuel Rail after [fuel line recall kit and injector cleaning]:





Engine Bracket after [black engine paint]:


PS Pulley (new):



That's it for now. I'm in the process of gutting out the engine bay. Everything is going good. Just didn't expect the wiring harness to be so brittle. I will probably end up retaping it. More to come ...

 

If its brittle, replace it and save yourself more time and money and risk of failure down the line. They get more expensive every year.

Nice job cleaning and restoring everything. What products did you use to clean the air pump and such and how did you do it?

Thanks.

 

Great job with the polishing, i did the piping for my intakes and it was a PITA. I'm not sure i'd have the patients to do all the stuff you have.

 

wow that is some work you got going on there, great job! replace all the hoses with silicone hoses as you don't want to be going through this process again after losing vacuum pressure.

 

I am going to change all the vacuum lines. It's on the list and I already have some platinum cured blue silicone hose and some viton check valves.

The air pump is supposed be oil-less but when I looked in mine it looked rusty. I'm assuming this is why a lot of people have problems with them seizing up. I tried pulling it apart but it seems to be sealed permanently. I used some engine degreaser (sprayed it in both the inlet and outlet), let it sit and then rinsed. I did this a few times until the rinse water was clean. I then did the same with WD-40. Rinsed it out as well. It is supposed to be oil-less and some of the WD-40 will stay in there anyway. I then let it air dry over night and painted it. If you want to paint it be sure to wash the outside with a little bit of soapy water, rinse well, and let it dry fully. Try not to get soap inside the air pump, it will rinse all the WD-40 out. Now it looks and spins like it's band new. Tip: Use a drill with the appropriate hex bit to spin air pump back and forth while cleaning.

The wiring harness isn't that bad. All the ends are good and there no breaks in the lines. It's just the type of covering they use from the plugs to the main harness is not made for high heat. Over time it will become brittle. The main wiring loom is still in good shape with no cracks or breaks. It still has good bend to it as well. I plan on cutting off all the brittle coverings and re-taping with rubber (silicone) tape. I did look into buying a new wiring harness but there not cheap. The RX-7 shop we have locally only carries them for LHD and they’re made with the exact same materials. Over time you'll be in the same boat. I think if I did buy a new one I would end up recovering it myself anyways.

 

I always thought the only way the air pumps looked good was gone. I was wrong. Looks great!

 

Are you an amateur/professional photographer?

 

That is the cleanest engine bay I seen with twins still in there.

 

looks amazing, you must be blessed with an amense portion of patience
keep upp the good work
i think im going to go out and polish my R1 strutbar now

 

"courage" would be more appropriate

Just posting to subscribe

 

The polishing looks amazing!! I polished alot of my engine parts when I had mine out and yours look waaaay better!!! That is some serious time you've put into polishing. You are going to have a very clean engine bay once it's all said and done. I've used a couple of dental picks in the past to straighten out cooling fins.

 

please post a polishing write up. ive never seen polished parts as clean as yours

 

I just went through this post again and thought I would answer some of your questions ...

I'm too busy right now to do a polishing write-up. May be after I'm done. I actually just followed the write-ups of the other guys on here. I need to get this thing back together again by the middle of next month so I can get it tuned. I still have a few things to do in the interior as well.

The aluminum radiator cover I got a while back off of ebay. I think it was $50 or something like that. Wicked deal in my opinion. I'm probably going to polish it as well.

I'm not a professional photographer. My wife is. She actually just started doing it last year. She did the first set of pics and showed me a few tips. Now I have to do them myself. I did all the ones after the air pump. I'm not as good a she is but her equipment is pretty good so my pics aren't too bad.

The SMIC fins ... ahhhhh. I'm glad someone noticed that. What a PITA. It took about a hour and a half of watching Barney with my son straightening them out one by one. You can buy the tool from Wal-Mart for $2 or steal one from your wife. I'll post some pics of it.

So the engine is totally stripped. I cleaned it up a bit and now I'm ready to start trying to put it back together. Thought I would post some pics of it bare. It's nice to see what's underneath all that ****.

Engine bay:











Special Fin Tool (tweezers):

 

hahaha...special fin tool.

 

Nero, that is a nice job. It's good to see a fellow calgary boy with a clean car. We should meet up sometime in the summer, aren't too many FD's left out there.

 

Oh Jesus, now you just planned my next 2 months me.

Thanks.



The air pump is superb.

Was the gray part painted or media blasted?

 

Gets better and better every time I come into this topic haha.

 

no kidding, I actually have some tweasers, never know when you'll get a sliver, or some bent IC fins!

 

WOW, VERY nice work!!