During the down time of the transmissions tear down, I had down a few things in the mean time to upgrade "while I'm in here" type of decisions were made. We've all been there at some point. I'm a sucker for that line.

I upgraded the Starter from Banzai Racing, as well as the aluminum drive shaft, and chromoly rear axles. New seals were installed into the differential. The clutch was removed for a new ACT monoloc as well.

 

 

Purchased the Racebred 3 In. splitter with quick relase mounts. And a friend sold me the Z1/twinz design motorsports rear diffuser which fit perfectly.

 

Taking care of hear business, I peeled and sticked a tunnel shield. Easy to install, stickier then a fly trap, and easy to cut with tin snips for the shifter.

 

I replaced the old midpipe with the same exact brand. Older unit had several thousands of miles and when I would drive, you can hear it rattle.
But the day came when i received my transmission back from Liberty Gears. Though it was short lived. I tried to put the transmission in with some local friends and we discovered that the clutch release bearing was installed backwards. Oh boi i was frustrated after spending time figuring out why the transmission would not go in. Once re-orientated from quick chat with IRP and another friend, we fixed the problem. Thank you. But we ran into a few more road blocks. The Transmission would not seat in. We would be half an inch from output shaft locking into the clutch but it would not move any further. We tried unhooking the motormounts, used a motor lift, jacked the oil pan to tilt the motor with a 2x4 wrapped in a plush beach towel and could not get the last inch to move. We went through all the methods people had suggested until we walked in the transmission star pattern into the motor slowly tightening the bolts. Then it "Clicked" Transmission was in.

 

I quickly installed everything back together with some friends and man it felt great hearing the first start up in 8 months. Once more, we encountered another hurdle. Upon driving it around for a shake down, 3rd gear was not locking in place. It would pop out into neutral once you let off accelerating. Boy, I was angry. The amount of time it took from start to finish and the work I had put in let alone my buddies who assisted me. I drove it around some before I tore everything down. Winter was coming which means I would have to store it away. I just didnt let off 3rd gear and said to the moon with it. Anyways, I took everything off once again and drove to Detroit, Michigan.

 

Nice work G, did you have any gears changed in the trans?

It's awesome to see you back, beautiful car as always!

 

I didn't take any pictures, but I was told that one employee did not shave down third gear to fit the new shaft. Like at all. Forgot to do it. And Libertys Gears has a trust system within the procurement process and the process was missed. So, I received the transmission in November '22 and waited until January where I had to get the car running again. My tags needed to be renewed with a safety check inspection in February. Locals helped me quickly install the transmission back up and bolt all the accessories that had to come off. And What do you know, Third gear worked as well as every other gear better then oem. It was smooth, clicked into gear with the C's short shifter, and it was sturdy. Upon the safety inspection, I installed rx8 horns to replace the broken fd honks. Inspection was smooth. I didnt know the shop I had made an appointment had an employee who also had a FC rotary. And I waited for them to honk my horns in the process.They didn't even do that. The shop opened up the hood and just stared while checking off boxes on the inspection paper.

 

Thanks! I thought about Dog boxing 3rd and 4th gear like another member on the site did but after we chatted privately, I wanted to remain stock sequential for the sake of driving on the street. I truly believe I made the correct choice.

 

I was able to cruise around in February and March of '23 with the lows being in high 30s and the highs being in the high to mid 50s. But it was slowly warming up and it was getting stale inside the cabin. It was time to address the AC system.

 

I purchased the AC lines from JP3 Motorsports as well as a new rx8 condenser and compressor. I wanted to stay cool and I saw no other way to perform this updated retro mod. And It works phenomenally. I cleaned out the evaporator as instructed on JP3's youtube channel which made the process smooth. Wow!

 

Continued ac install. IRP supplied me with a heat shield for the ac High and Low ports. Thanks again fellas.

 

I have a brand new Mana compressor and compressor lines that I wasnt able to use. But I'm sure in the future, someone will want to do a full oem restore on their rx7 and will need these parts. Into the box you go. With the rx8 lines I planned to cut for the condenser fittings and everything else I've accumulated.

I took the car to a local servicing shop that is close by. And had the car charged with freon. WELL, I was super please with my install and JP3s videos. Pressure held! Only one minor issue. The compressor was not kicking on. Great.

After Jp3 talked with me over text to check the fuse, we discovered that it was probably the relay. So off to Autozone I went, installed the relay, and She finally kicked over and I officially had working, cooling, high cfm restored, ball chiller cold air. So cold

 

I addressed why my hood had a gap and how it would lift on highway pulls. Its rather unsettling when my imagination of the hood flying up and smacking the windshield would replay over and over again. The problem was too things. One being that the previous owner I purchased the strutbar from rounded the strut mount hole larger then normal. Which caused the strut bar to sit in a position that would hit underneath the hood. I also tightened down the adjustable nuts as far as I could to lower the bar in addition to holding the strut bar mounting foot so that it appeared to be where it should naturally sit. No give.
I then played with the hood latch by moving up and down, left to right and I was getting somewhere but the strut still made contact under the hood. I gave in and replaced the oem strut bar for a Garage Alpha Titanium Mazdaspeed style Bar. and it is a BEAUT. Hood shut better and both sides of the hood where it meets the fenders are equal gaps.

 

I have begun my heat management process with an already installed Iconel Shield from Turbo source to reduce intake temps on the cerakoted Excessive Lower Intake Manifold and made the first step to having Water/Meth AI for cooler temperatures. Sakebomb Garage's rear windshield fluid tank.

 

With all the work I've accomplished over the last year, Jeanne and I are able to drive in the car as comfortable as it can possibly be. We've driven to Iowa for an Easter Celebration and Nashville for vacation. The car wasn't so bad with cool ac and a transmission that was smooth like velvet. We used the JP3 motorsports drink holder. convenient when I'm not using the laptop mount for logging. Also, I realized how badly I needed to replace the gas rear hatch struts from removing luggage and bags from the trunk on our trips. I looked silly removing the luggage with the hatch resting on my head lol. JP3 again with the parts.
Returning from Nashville, TN I needed to replace the windshield wipers because I normally do not drive the car in the rain. And it RAINED most of the 5 1/2 hour drive back home. So I looked for oem blades I had found because I LIKED the air scoop they had on them.

 

I wouldn't call it an autocross but an introduction to the sport, A local charity was hosting an unclassed fun run no work autocross event that I stretched out a bit on. I replaced the red stuff brakes for a more track introductory level brake pad. This will be a temporary transition to a BBK in the future since I am signed up for the same charity events track day at the World Wide Technology of Sports race track. I'm a green horn with track and will see how I enjoy it in July to move to SCCA track nights.

 

Brand New from Mazda, 96+ taillights

 

Installed new front L/R fender liners. I've never rubbed before but driving around as much as I have and having fun as caused the older liners to rub on the tires. Its all fixed and zip tied now and the fender liners are secured to not move. I believe it was because of not being fastened down at the bottom. They probably flexed being older at higher speeds or taking awkward angles in the city out of garage lots.
I discovered that my radiator reservoir was near empty and I wasn't aware that the fluid level had dropped. I had know visual leaks on the garage floor and I didnt smell coolant. It worried me a bit. Then a buddy, Jake, told me to get a pressure kit from autozone. What do you know, I was leaking out of the main radiator hose because the worm clamps needed to be re-tightened. Ive had perfect temperature readings on my haltech as well. So I wasn't alarmed. And I did reach operating temperatures on the highway during my travels so though it was cooler out side, grateful it wasn't even more discouraging.

 

Colten in the Beautiful Mazdaspeed Edition CYM and Jacob with the S2K taking pictures for us.

 

The car has great parts, Gerald. Thanks for the updates.

 

Holy update batman! I wondered what happened to your build, glad to see this update. Your builds have always been some of my favorite and was bummed when you left Florida because I hadn't gotten a chance to autox with you with your old car but that was years ago. Car is looking amazing, doesn't look like you are sparing any expenses. CW has always been my favorite color and you are doing it right.

 

Looking great, Gerald! Hope to see you and the car up at DGRR again in the future!

I cringed when I saw the pic of the trans before it went in with the throwout bearing on backwards Saw that one right off the jump, but at least that was an easy fix!

Dale

 

Charity run autocross.


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