^Nice work! The compression #'s are looking good and will likely improve as you put more miles on it. Look forward to meeting & seeing your FD at Deals Gap!

 

Car is nice and clean and ready to head out to DGRR on Thursday.

I did one more compression test today to have another reading before the expected 800+ miles that will happen to/from/during DGRR. The additional mileage sine the last test was only 106 miles.

"Corrected values"
R1 was 99 98 86 (previously was 89 99 99)
R2 was 106 106 105 (previously 103 107 101)

R2 is consistent. What's odd about R1 is that the value that was low before (89) is now improved (99) and the 3rd value (99) has gone down (86). I assume still nothing to worry about?

So far so good with this NOCO battery. It's spinning my starter for these test at 300-310RPM. Assuming it continues to perform well, I think I found a steal of a lithium battery for $200 that weighs 5 lbs.

 

you’re misreading that; the tester has no way of knowing which rotor face is going by at any given time

you get three readings not necessarily aligned to the previous or following three readings in other testings. The engine starts cranking and the tester reads compression spikes in multiples of three. To do otherwise would require the tester to also sense timing to know TDC and then correspond compression to each rotor face, but the tester we use doesn’t have that capability, or cost.

in all likelihood; the lowest face reading on R1 for this test is the same one as before. I question whether several psi delta means anything other than they’re still about the same within the measurable tolerance level of this type of device.

I’m also not a big believer in compression improving over time. It may go up some as carbon etc. builds up, not really the same thing in my book. It is what it is at this point imo. Hopefully you’ll get many years of satisfactory service life from it.
.

 

Will be good to check out the car at DGRR, stop by and say Hi if you see me around

 

cool. How does one identify you? I’ll be there Thursday afternoon probably around 5ish. Staying at the microtel.

 

AH. Ok. Makes sense now. 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

Great seeing this car in person at DGRR! It's come SO far!

Dale

 

After seeing the FDs at the car show, mine felt so unfinished!

Great to meet and see everyone. The Dragon was definitely a good shake down. I found out I had an exhaust leak and this awful screeching sound showed itself when there was lateral load or motion. I was amazed by all the help I got Saturday night. People were wrenching on my car from 10pm-2:15am. We narrowed the exhaust leak to the Wastegate and possibly my turbo manifold. The sound got narrowed down to wheel bearing or diff. We changed the diff oil on my car, which had never been done since I had the car (oops!). It looked like Hershey syrup. That didn't fix the issue so we suspected wheel bearing. I drove there car Sunday to @seckerich shop and he helped rule out bearing and diff (yay) and that it was likely a brake issue. On my rear passenger pad, the channels on the pad were so packed in dust, they formed a ridge which could have been dragging on the rotor. He also thinks I might have a warped rotor as the sound didn't completely go away but got much quieter. He also helped confirm the exhaust leak was at one of my wastegates.

Yesterday, I pulled the rotors off and put new ones on. I had spare blanks I bought from Rock Auto for $22. Turning a rotor at my local auto parts store was $25 so I went the easier route. I also pulled apart my rear passenger caliper and found the piston wasn't turning well. It was binding on the rubber boot so I took it apart and re-lubed it. I also go under and adjusted my wastegate and hope to take the car out tomorrow and check it all out.

Also wanna compression check the engine but it did great! It's got 1100+ miles on it. More than my last two motors combined...

 

.

 

GRRRRRR

New rotors, same screeching noise. Rarely happens in a straight line but I can “activate” if by slow speed swerving (like racers who try to warm tires). A buddy is gonna help me diagnose on Wednesday. Maybe half shaft/CV? I dunnno. But it’s driving me crazy. Zero noises for years but crappy engine issues. Now my engine is solid but I got this weird noise. Only happens when the car is moving, never at idle.

Gonna get the car on jacks Wednesday and put it in second and see if we can replicate it even though I can’t put lateral load on it. Maybe pull the wheels off and do it….

Ugh. Any other ideas?

 

So you get a screech when you have the wheels loaded in a turn?

Possible bad wheel bearings. Also make sure the brake shield behind the rotor isn't touching the rotor or close. Possible it's REALLY close and when you push it the wheel bearing is flexing enough that it hits.

If that is the case, easy fix - bend the backing shield out and done. Long term may need to look at wheel bearings.

Dale

 

Dumb question, but I assume you changed pads too? Anti-rattle clips or low pad warning screamers/scrapers can do some weird stuff. IMO pads should always be changed with new rotors. Also what dale said a bent or deformed brake shield could cause it.

 

May be a dumb question but how close is your tire/wheel to spring/suspension components clearance? I've seen a couple cars running very tight specs that rub the inside of the tire on the coil when under a load because of sidewall bulge or the inside of the wheel just touches a spring or control arm due to slight play in the wheel bearing under different loads.

 

I'm betting the squeal resolves fairly simply one way or another. What happened with the exhaust leak?

 

@seckerich and I checked the brake shields at his shop and I checked them again. They look fine and have clearance.

 

Normally I would change pads but these pads might have 3k miles on them, if even. I'm nowhere near low pad warnings. I made sure to grease up all the right spots to make sure the pad was moving freely. I'm trying to find the problem before throwing money at replacing things that might be it (but aren't). I just tossed a set of perfectly good rotors thinking that might be the issue. They were stuck on pretty bad so I had to hammer the back of them out. The rubber mallet wasn't getting it done...

 

Everything is set to I think 25-26" ride height. It's been the same setup for the last 3 years and has seen four track days with no issues.

 

I removed and tightened the vBand clamp on one of my wastegates,but not before snapping the bolt on the clamp from overtightening it. The WG was not really accessible easily with a hand tool, esp on jack stands, so I had to use an extension on a drill and I had the clutch set a little too high and when I went to tighten it, it snapped the bolt. $40 later (TurboSmart does use a standard size), I got it back today which allowed me to test drive. I still hear what I *think* is a faint leak but honestly didn't spend much time trying to track it down because of the bigger issue with the rear end screaming.

Also...my AC compressor went out during DGRR (worked the entire 5 hour drive up though). I tested it (still installed) and there is no continuity across the thermoswitch on the compressor. If I bypass it, the clutch engages. From what I've read so far, it's not replaceable so I'm going to have to ask around for used compressors so I can pull the part. If my engine continues to hold up and this rear end gets sorted out, then I may eventually do the JP3 kit and convert to RX8 Compressor but that's probably a $1000 project I'm not doing until I have more faith in the drivetrain.

I noticed when I hit the AC button, my fans don't turn on but they are supposed to. I don't think they are tied to the clutch being activated. Nelson told me the button behaves like normal OEM settings. I need to check the real time data tomorrow to see what signals change when I hit the button on the Haltech software. They still do come on with the thermostat opening.

 

I have a compressor available if you need one. Was working when I took it off the car. Which system do you have, mana or denso?

 

All compressors are the same, MANA and Denso FYI.

High pitched screeching is almost always something rubbing. Get the bright flashlight out and look. Many times you will see a shiny rub spot or something.

If it's in the rear, that helps out a lot and narrows it down. It's not going to be the diff itself. Possible the driveshaft is hitting something like the exhaust or something else. Also look at half shafts.

Sucks on the V-band clamp. I HATE those things, they are always a pain to deal with.

With some thin wall stainless downpipes you will get noise that could sound like an exhaust leak but is not. Easiest way is to have someone start the car stone cold and feel around, you will feel the exhaust leaks. You have to act fast before it warms up, though.

Dale

 

It was nice meeting you at DGRR, car looked great.
I was the guy standing with you in front of the LS swapped car while you explained to me that the swap ruins the car and throws the weight balance and handling off... (not realizing it was my car we were standing in front of)

 

haha. Hopefully I didn’t offend you but that’s how I feel about LS swaps. The great thing though is that it’s your car so do whatever makes you happy. Given the engine woes I’ve had, maybe swapping was the better option for me 🤷‍♂️😆

and I would say not ruin the car so much as the soul. The wankel, for better or worse, is the soul of an RX7 (in my very biased opinion)

 

We did this at Steve’s shop and in the parking lot of the Microtel. Both times we suspected wastegate and saw some soot marks. Rich Farrell thought I might have a cracked manifold but since it was wrapped in heat wrap, it wasn’t easy to see. If it is a leak, it’s small. I have zero issues making boost.

 

For OP- I hate this car.

:P

 

if only someone had told me to pass on this car …