Okay thanks James and Barban. I'm out of money right now so I need to save up to get a new fpd. I need to find a job... haha. When they said fds were financial disasters they were right. I just have a quick question, after taking off the nest are the rest of the hoses easy to get to and won't require anymore removal of things? I had so much homework this weekend and couldn't get the nest off, but this question was on my mind.

So you removed your ACV, right?

I think that this is it. You'll be able to reach everything. Some won't be easy though. I seem to remember that a couple of the ones where the LIM meets the block are a challenge.

Still won't be easy. A good set of pliers, wd40, and patience will get you there. Seems like you've got the time on your hands. If you get real stuck, let me know. I'm just down the road.

Okay I get off school at 1 tomorrow. I'll try to finish tomorrows homework tonight so I can work on the car tomorrow. When you say you are down the road do you mean you live near by san jose?

Okay I found the two 10 mm for the vacuum chamber. I can't pull it off yet though because the engine hook(or something that looks like you can hold the engine from) is in the way. Is it safe to take that off? I think I see two 12 mm that hold it in place. Are taking off fuel hoses the same as the vacuum hoses? I broke the seal on the ones at the firewall covering the screws holding the rats nest. I can freely spin them in circles, but they wont budge to come off. Oh James I found out how to take off my bumper. Tell me if you still need to know how so I can take pictures to post it up.

You should be able to remove the pressure chamber pretty easily. You may have to remove the crossover pipe. I'm in the south bay.

The fuel hoses have to move over a bulge in the pipe that Mazda built into them. After sitting on the pipe for 20ish years the hoses pretty much lock in place. Take a look at the pics that I posted to see what you're up against. A set of the hose pliers that I mentioned a few posts back will help greatly. You can also elect to cut the hoses off and then replace them. I've removed them with normal pliers but it's a challenge.

I don't have the car in front of me but I'm fairly certain that you can remove the hook. It's for exactly what you guessed, pulling the engine out. If you need to to triple check, PM me ... I'll look when I'm home. The car isn't with me today at work.

derp. don't know what I was thinking lol

Well I managed to get the rats nest off yesterday =)! I'm so happy and mad at the same time. I broke another solenoid... It's not really broken though. It's the little black mount piece at the bottom. I'll post up a picture, I hope i can glue it and use it because(tell me if that's possible). I also have a question about the rest of the hoses. It doesn't look like there are any more or many hoses left. Do i have to dig down deeper or take out more stuff or is the majority of the hoses the solenoid rack itself. My hose technique kit came with some fat super wide hoses as well. Are those meant for the fuel lines?

http://i40.tinypic.com/29pdpy0.jpg
This is the solenoid part I was talking about that Broke off. The nipples are still good, but the mount piece snapped off. Is this still reusable?




http://i44.tinypic.com/30sah5i.jpg
Here's the pic with the nest off. I marked the hoses in red I think that need to be replaced. Are there anymore besides those? I have lots of red hoses left. I think i remembering reading there are about 90 hoses to change or something, but i do not see that many hoses.

If you drop something inside one of those holes you're going to be pretty bent. Be safe and cover them up.

Make sure to clean your ground points.
You also currently have really easy access to your thermo-switch and thermostat(both good things to replace). The FC thermoswitch brings the fans on sooner.
And, your AIT is on the underside of your UIM(can be replaced with a more accurate sensor)

I don't see any lines you've missed.

Barban is right ... cover the LIM holes up :nod:

I would go after the hoses on the other side of the LIM ... on top of your turbos. There are a few there and it's easier to replace them now.

Also, there are some hard lines that go down the front of the motor behind the air pump. These control the waste gates. Anyway, there are hoses at the bottom of these that you should replace. Just be sure to check for (two of them) pills in them. If you have these (I forget which years do / don't) you'll need to cut them out and push them into the new hoses.

Hmm ... maybe take a good look at the lines from your OMP to the oil injectors. They are visible now, with the rat's nest removed. Make sure that they aren't leaking. Also, check that the oil injectors pass air in but not out of the engine.

What about the hose that connects the MAP fuel vapor filter to the UIM and then hose that connects the vapor filter to the MAP?

Here's a (link) cheap way to cool things off before shutting the car off. It's get you by until you can replace that thermo switch. Even with my thermo switch replaced I use the mod listed here all the time. It's a great way to extend coolant seal life.

Oh, and the solenoid is fine. Superglue the bugger. Worst case if the glue doesn't work, just zip tie it in place. It'll be fine.

Okay I covered up the holes with a towel. I can't believe i never thought about that haha. I would have been screwed. I just finished all the hoses on the nest. I'll tackle the ones you mentioned, James, sometime this week if I don't have much homework. I have enough money for the fc thermo switch and thermostat Or just the fpd. Which would you guys advise to get first? I also came upon this post about bad mazda thermostats. https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/poor-quality-mazda-thermostats-893950/page2/ I was wondering if you guys had this problem and if the thermostats are fine now.

If I had to choose, I would choose the FPD replacement. Largely there are workarounds to the thermoswitch issue as pointed out by James. Also, if you upgrade to a powerFC the thermoswitch becomes largely irrelevant.

Wow ... that OEM thermostat issue is a bit worrisome ... I just replaced mine.

Spend your money on the FPD. The thermostat will cause your engine to overheat if it fails. The FPD will cause your car to burn up.

The fan mod that I mentioned earlier works great. Just kick it on 60 seconds before shut down and it will drop the engine temp from 220F (Where the stock ECU kicks the fan on) to sub 190 (where the thermostat starts to close down).

Oh, and search for "stock temp gauge linearization". I did this to my first FD's temp gauge. It works great and will help you keep a watchful eye on engine temps. If that t-stat goes you can catch it in time.

Hmm ... I think that I PDFed the instructions for doing this temp gauge mod. If you can't find it PM me your email address.

OH yeah I do plan on getting a pfc in the future so i guess no thermoswitch for now? I hope your oem thermostat is fine, I was kind of worried about it too when i ran into that thread. I'll probably just do the fan mod as it seems a lot easier than the linearization mod. I found mahjik and your pdf on a different thread and the linearization mod looks pretty complex. I Bought a greddy temp gauge off the forum for 50 awhile back I just need to find it and use it. I was hesitant because it was green and did not match my amber greddy boost. If the gauge doesn't look good I'll probably do the linearization. Did you guys just call malloy mazda for the FPD? I think I'll pick that up sometime this week. Oh James I think you mentioned something about adam's cheap bastard mod. Did you ever have that on your car before? It looks like it's really good and cheap too, But I don't know about cutting my airbox. I was thinking about buying polished pipes, K&N filters, and making the heatshield from damians blueprint.

Yep ... Ray at Malloy Mazda is the man. Best OEM pricing, service and know how ... it doesn't get any better.

I did the linerarization mod because I didn't wan't to clutter my dash with another gauge. This time around I picked up a PLX gague. It will display 4 parameters so I went ahead and set temp as one.

I can't speak to damian's blueprint but AdamC's shield works great. He provides instructions and a bolt to mount it. There's not much to it. I will say that it's nice to have a piece that's cut and bent well from the start. Depending on your year and if / what aftermarket radiator you have you'll have to customize the shield. This takes time / patience. I was glad to have the piece cut and bent from the start. It was enough work to modify it to fit with my fluidyne.

Here are (link) some pics of AdamC's Cheap Bastard intake in my car. I've since cut a bit more of the airbox. Also, see how it fits very snugly around my radiator hose? This is about 3 hours of my time with a ball-peen hammer. I love this intake. There is now a blow off sound from the stock valves that is fun. Also, I had to significantly dial back my boost in the PFC. It's shot up to dangerous levels ... definitely evidence that this works. Oh, one other great feature for those of us that deal with CA emissions testing. The shield is totally stealth.

Oh do you just call and ask for Ray and say you are from the forum? I just clicked on the PLX link and those look crazy. I'm kind of confused though. So the gauge is 100 but the sensor modules are separate. so does that require different modules to run the 4 paramaters or have multiple gauges on one gauge? That would be a little pricy. Wow if you had to lower your boost from the adamC's mod that would mean it's beast! Did you do his plate option or just the cheaper template option?

Now that I think about it, I've always emailed Ray: "Ray Crowe" <hmkparts@aol.com>. I don't think that you'll go wrong phone or email though.

Yep, it's a bit pricey but there are lots of features to make it a good value. The DM-100 gauge face is customizable, it warns me if temp is over 215 (or whatever you set), holds peak values, is USB logable, interfaces with the Datalogit on my PFC ... there's a lot for the money.

Honestly, any good cold air intake will do what Adam's will. He's been selling it for years so it's as good a fit as possible, is discreet and is cheaper than most aftermarket gauges. My boost rose because I have a cat back, DP and intake. With more than two mods it's bound to happen.

Hmm ... any COLD air intake. Some of them suck hot under hood air. I'm talking about the ones that draw air from somewhere other than under the hood.

"You can contact Ray at (703) 490-8263 or email him at HMKParts@aol.com"
from
https://www.rx7club.com/group-buy-center-69/malloy-mazdas-2011-spring-sale-big-ray-back-vengeance-951273/

If you call and ask for rx7 parts, they'll send you to Ray if he isn't the person who answered the phone.
I've picked up number of parts from Malloy overt the years, actually drove my car from the bay area to Malloy one time.

Is it worth changing the fpd even if it's still working or not leaking at the moment? 130 is a little pricey to replace something that seems to be working still. James and Barban did you guys changed it out right away?

This was one of the first things that I did. At a minimum, be sure that you are carrying a fire extinguisher. it's good insurance even if you do replace the FPD.

Oh alright I'll just replace it. I need to save up though haha. Do you carry at fire extinguisher at all times? Like those mini ones? I was thinking of doing that myself.

I have an older Halon one ... about 1 foot by 4 inches in diameter. These are crazy expensive now as Halon isn't manufactured. I'd look into "cold fire" if I were going to buy one now. Cale Clark started a nice thread on this. (link)

One of my zipties dropped underneath under my harness and between and(i'm guessing) my lower manifold and my engine housing. I can't seem to get it out. Would leaving it there cause any damage in the future when my car is running? I probably also have bits of the old hose i cut around there too, from flying out.

I think that you'll be fine. About a month after I purchased my car I tore the rats nest, UIM, LIM, Turbos and more than I care to remember off. There was so much (plant matter, oil, screws, etc.) stuck in the area that you just described, I was amazed.

At some point you'll need to get to that area again. You can always pull it out then.

Even if it fell in the other side of the LIM, between the LIM and the turbo it will just melt. If this is the case, you'll smell it. Keep a close eye on things to be sure that it doesn't cause a fire while it burns off.

Now, if you think that it fell down your LIM, you've got a big problem. Just about anything will cause damage to the engine and / or turbos if it falls in here and is then forced through when the engine is running.