We got some more here too. It's been warm during the day and cold at night so we've been getting a lot of freezing rain and ice. At least it's not -30C haha.


Thanks. I always fond that watching a video helps much more than pictures.


Thanks. I try to get one out every Saturday if I have something to work on.



I'm still waiting for some parts to show up. Mainly the fuel filter. It's been two weeks and I haven't heard anything about my order so I'm starting to get a bit worried.

In the mean time, I decided to restore the lights on the car. The headlights and fog lights weren't too bad but the DRL and the taillights were in very bad shape with a lot of fading.

I've been curious about this for a while and have been wanting to give it a shot.

The pictures & video really don't do justice to how well the lights turned out in the end.

Front & back taped up
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psdhzhelql.jpg

Headlight after sanding
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps6s69eujp.jpg
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pstfghkhzd.jpg

Tail lights after gloss
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psp2zrhday.jpg

Finished headlights
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pspynqtg8z.jpg

Finished rear (The dim lighting in the garage doesn't do it justice)
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pseqblnlmo.jpg

Video

First off, I've been REALLY enjoying your videos. As soon as one is posted I'm watching it. Keep up the good work!

For the front turn signals, instead of masking off and everything you could have just removed them from the car - 1 screw and one connector. I like to remove parts to paint as much as possible, overspray is a bitch.

Oh, the fog light lenses are glass, not plastic - sanding them enough to get tooth to accept clear coat might be tricky. Also, if you need to do more work with them, it's one screw, pop to the side, then unplug, they're really easy to remove.

Read my 20-minute fuel filter change writeup before doing your fuel filter, hopefully it helps.

Looking forward to the next video, and looking forward to seeing you DRIVE the car! It's 70 deg. and sunny here :)

Dale

Thanks. I didn't realize that is was so easy to remove many of the lights. I also want to do a '99 tail light conversion at some point. I've read through your fuel filter thread a few times. Its helped me a lot to understand how to change the fuel filter.

I can't wait to drive the car either. It's barely above freezing here during the day so we're getting a lot of melting snow and a lot of rain, which freezes over night. I hope that the roads will be good in another month.

Got some good news from work today. We got paid for one of our little projects. That puts enough money in my pocket to finish off the first part of the build and get everything done. I also found out that I'm getting quite a bit of money back from taxes, which will all go towards the new roof. So... final budget update:

Stage 1: get everything running by spring
Budget $10,000
car $5500
Title transfer $735
Gauge cluster $158
Brake rotors 7 pads $300
Downpipe $100
Door handles $105
Apexi Intake $110
Koyo Radiator /RB Hoses/ Blitz NS exhaust $822
O2 Sensor $58
RE-Amemiya AST $178
High flow cat/midpipe $254
Two exhaust gaskets $54
Fluids $166
Motive Brake Bleeder $107
Spark Plugs $63
Fuel Filter $35
FC Temp Sensor $23
Power FC + Magnacore Wires $800
Ebay Intercooler $267
Boost Gauge $110
Boost controllers $65

Remaining $-44


Stage 2: Wheels, tires, suspension, etc.
Budget $3000
Advanced Design Coilovers - $1075Improved Racing Sway Bar Links $261
Remaining $1664


I went $44 over budget on Stage One to get everything ready by spring. I'm really not that mad because I was initially planning on using Stage One just the get the car through inspection. The DP, high flow cat, Power FC, intake, intercooler, radiator,radiator hoses, AST, Boost gauge, boost controllers, temp sensor, and Magnacore wires were all supposed to be part of Stage Three. I'm glad that I was able to do so much on such a tight budget.

The total spent on the car (no including registration) is $10645 CAD or about $7800 USD. I am very happy with this.

Now I'm going to get the rest done and sign up for the East Coat tuning session in Halifax to get the car properly tuned. Should be a fun time.

Looking good. Glad to see your planning on attending the tuning session. Spring is almost here.

Spring might be around the corner but old man winter isn't letting go without a fight. We got 15cm yesterday & today and are getting another 20cm on Monday, hahaha.




I changed the fuel filter this week. It's the only parts that's come so far. I have a box full of parts scheduled to come next Wednesday / Thursday, which should keep me busy.

Changing the fuel filter was not very difficult. I followed DaleClark's guide and the whole process took me a little over an hour. About 20 minutes of that time was spent crawling under the car with the camera. The differential had enough room on each side for me to get my arms in there and use both of my hands. I could probably do it in 20 minutes if / when I have to again.

I haven't started the car with the new fuel filter yet because it's been cold & snowy. We'll see if the new filter makes any difference to how the car runs.

Video of how to change the fuel filter.

got my ebay intercooler today. I know that it's just a generic cheap Chinese intercooler but I'm still pretty impressed by the value and the quality.

package. This box is HEAVY!
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psu696gshk.jpg

Packing
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psmikn7iug.jpg

Intercooler box
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps4rxgm5ni.jpg

Both boxes
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psc4ktznhy.jpg

Intercooler
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psfxlxycm7.jpg

Pipes & couplers & clamps
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psrxutrcqq.jpg

Fedex dented the package right on the corner
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pstgg8w7xz.jpg

dented the intercooler too (I'm not going to complain. It's a small dent and doesn't affect any vital area)
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pszkebojyo.jpg

Good stuff, sounds like you had better luck than me on the fuel filter change. I read Dale's guide but still spent a lot of time cussing while trying to get the fuel lines off.

Sucks that intercooler is bent but like you said it small.

Keep at it.

Hahahaha, I edited out all of the swearing and all the spitting from dirt falling on my face.

All the parts that came this week. Just a couple more things to come and that'll be it for parts.

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pswfluez5z.jpg

Where did you pick up the plug wires?

bought them in the for sale section along with the PFC.

I haven't had a chance to do much on the car but here's a quick update on all the parts that have came last week.

Broke the pressure tank on top of the engine. The vacuum lines are as hard as a rock.

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps3ddgst5w.jpg

Got the rest of my parts this week.
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pstlu0aqik.jpg

My shelf is starting to fill up. time to get to work.
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...psjgbx0dgh.jpg

I haven't done much on the car. I wanted to change the spark plug wires and put in the FC thermo switch but found out that I had to remove the UIM to get it done. I also broke the pressure tank and some vacuum lines while removing the pressure tank. The vacuum lines are rock hard and will have to be replaced. I had already planned on replacing the vacuum lines this summer so I'll do the spark plug wires and the FC thermo switch at the same time.

Also, this pretty much means that I won't be making it to the tuning meet in Halifax in May. I don't have time to re do all the vacuum lines before the meet and I don't want to show up with a car that has problems and waste everyone's time. Guess that I'll have to go to New Hampshire at some later date.

Sorry to hear about the broken vacuum chamber, I think I have one if you need it. You have 4 weeks til the tuning session, I hope you'll be able to tackle the vacuum lines and take advantage of the opportunity. Good luck.

Worked on my car ALL DAY yesterday, came in at the end of the day and was stoked to see the new video!

- You can do the thermoswitch with just removing the alternator and pressure tank. It's a little tricky, but you can get a wrench on it from the side and break the thermoswitch loose.

- You're gonna need a good used pressure tank. That has to hold boost pressure, and even a pinhole will bleed off pressure and cause issues. With the stock vacuum lines, heat them with a candle lighter for about 3-5 seconds to get the rubber soft, then remove or slit them with an Xacto knife.

- For the plug wires, you can JUST remove the throttle body to do the plug wires. It's not too hard to do. But, if you are planning to remove the UIM to do a number of things later, and your plug wires aren't shot, you can stand to wait.

- When you do the vacuum lines, you don't necessarily have to do EVERY SINGLE line. The lines that are baked on and solid aren't going anywhere and are doing their job, leave them be. You can just replace the lines that aren't on good, are easy to get to, or are loose. 20 feet of 3.5mm and 10 feet of 6mm from boostcontroller.com will be plenty for the whole car. Also, PM me for a set of my Viton check valves to replace the stockers.

Still loving the videos!

Dale

I hope that I cans till make it. The new pressure tank should arrive this week.



Thanks for the website Dale. I went to a few local places and they had never heard of silicone vacuum hoses. I'll send you a PM when I need to get the check valves as well.

I'll do everything at once. I don't see the point of disassembling a bunch of stuff just to have to do it again in a few months. The stock spark plug wires are still in good shape and should last a long time.

I got my replacement pressure tank today. It took six business days to get from the UK to my door. That's super fast! Faster than mailing a letter from one province to another within Canada. And shipping was half the cost of mailing an equal sized package within Canada. Canada Post get your Sh*t together.

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pskdkmo5g8.jpg

I put my Ebay intercooler in. It took a bit to get everything to fit properly but things worked out in the end. We'll see how well it performs with the custom duct that I've made for it.

I went for a spin around the yard this morning to warm up the car for the Power FC install. Not a far drive but it's working. The exhaust sounds mean!

sounds good bet it was exciting driving it around the block.

looking fwd to seeing how u do your duct.

It was really good. The engine had tons of power and pulled HARD. I turned around when the road got too bad but it was great. There was a little squeak in the back but it was just the brake shield making contact with the brake rotor. The brake shield was a bit bent so a couple of minutes of rebending sorted it out.

The duct fabrication video will be up next Saturday. It took me about 1.5 weeks to make the duct. After a 20 minute drive with some pulls the intercooler was barely warm while the hot side pipe was HOT. It seems to work well.

I'm happy to see the intercooler is working great for you :)

I finally got around to uploading the video of my custom fiberglass duct. I widened the inlet hole to allow more air to be pushed on to the intercooler. The whole process took about 1.5 weeks from start to finish and was quite fun. I had never used fiberglass before and wanted to try something new. The end result turned out better than I expected and the intercooler stays cool while driving. I'm definitely looking forwards to making more things out of fiberglass.

Here's the video of me making the duct fro. Start to finish.

Beautiful.

Thanks. I'll clean it up a little in the future but I'm happy with the duct.



I went to Speed Sport yesterday and took some videos. I'll put them up as soon as Premiere Pro stops crashing. We parked at the back of the parking lot and took a walk around because the line up was 150+ people long. Saw some R32 GTR's, S14's, RX8's, many Subarus, and lots of neat stuff. I hoped that the line would die down but it was still long after 45 minutes. Inside were many nicely restored muscle cars and classic cars with a small stance section in the back.

I even saw another RX-7 FD3S on the way home.

I was a little sour that I couldn't take my RX-7 but the insurance company took forever to get back to me. I should have insurance sometime this coming week and then I'll get plates and an inspection. Then it's finally time to drive.

Got everything ready for the car. Got my insurance on Monday and got my license plate and safety yesterday. I drove the car home from the safety inspection, took it down the road, and nothing... I was at 6000rpm in second gear and the engine shut off. I coasted to a stop and tried restarting the engine. The car wouldn't start and I had it towed home.

At home I did the usual trouble shooting. I checked electrical (all good), checked vacuum lines (line had broken off on the vacuum tank), tried unflooding the engine (wasn't flooded but didn't hurt).

I don't have a compression tester, it was getting late, and the stores were closed. So, I pulled the leading spark plug from the front rotor disconnected the EFI, cranked the engine and heard psss psss psss psss psss psss like it should sound. Then I repeated the steps for the rear rotor and heard .... nothing. There was no psss psss psss. Just a hollow sound. I guess that's why the engine turns over but won't start. No compression at all on the rear rotor.

I guess that I'm going to do a rebuild now. Really not what I wanted to do at the start of summer. I was hoping to drive all summer and then work on the car come winter.

Such is rotary life I guess.


Some more bad luck to report too. Yesterday morning I found out that my credit card got stolen and that someone made a $1700 purchase on it. I've had the worst luck over these last two months. It has to get better soon.

That is terrible news man. Sorry to hear about your misfortunes.

Now it's time to go single turbo and never look back. :nod:

Hahaha, I wish. I can't afford to go single right now. My house needs a new roof more than I need a bigger turbo. Being grown up sucks.


...And for anyone that's interested. I drove the car 19.1Km (11.9 miles) before it blew. I think that's a record of some sorts.

Used set of stock twins and go non seq? :)

Trying to diagnose that rats nest, no thanks. I rather get punched in the balls by Mike Tyson

Sorry to hear of the bad luck. I hope the bank will go good for the credit card theft.

Sorry for the bad luck, dude. Head up, eyes forward. You will overcome.

Thanks guys. It can only go up from here, haha.

Began tearing down the engine this afternoon. It's slow going but this forum is a huge source of help. My friend is coming up on Saturday to help me get the engine out. I want to get everything ready by then so that we can just pull it out. Then I'll disassemble it and assess the damage. I'm hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

Fuck eh! When you think shit cannot get worse it does ...

We are here to support you bro ;)

Dang man sorry to hear, keep at it.

Sorry to hear man, hope the rebuild goes well and not to much damaged.
Keep up the great work with the videos, very helpful!!!

Iunno I couldn't stop thinking about you....even tho I'm married...lol gotta laugh a bit

Don't gave up man !!!

I hope your going to keep those video in he process. It'll be nice to have it documented the way you do it. It would be sssssww-eeeeaat.

I got a feeling you got a apex seals stock in the housing which destroyed the other two , the rotor and the housing....

Once the turbos out you can see tru the exhaust port with a flashlight to see some damage,
If apex seals are shatter...don't forget to check the exhaust wheels on the turbo....

I'll get everything fixed asap. I want to drive the car this summer and canadian summers are short, lol.

I'm pulling the engine tomorrow and then tearing it down. I'll know how bad it is then.

I'm glad you like the videos. I enjoy making them.

I got the engine ready this week and we're pulling it out tomorrow. Of course there will be videos. If I forget where something goes then I can watch the video and see what I did. It's kind of weird listening to yourself talk, haha.




I've been planning for the worst and have been calling places to get a used engine (and rebuild it). I have not found one single place that has a proper working engine. Most places are trying to sell me blown engines for $2000+.

One company sent me a video of the compression test after I instructed them how to do it with a regular compression tester. The needle jumped between 0psi and 30psi on the front rotor. They wanted $2400 for the motor and refused to talk to me when I told them that the front rotor was blown.

I'm mostly worried about the housing. I can get a good condition rotor for a reasonable amount but I don't know where to get a new housing. If the housings are still in some what descent shape then I might send them to Goopy to have them refurbished.

Anyways, that's enough talking about what could be.

I went Speed Sport last weekend with my friend. It's the first car show of the season here and the crowds were nuts. I don't like people and I can't stand crowds. So, I decided to walk around the parking lot to prepare myself for the chaos inside. I have one of the videos uploaded and I'm still working on the other one. It should be up in a few hours or tomorrow at the latest.

I also have a couple more videos of me finishing the RX-7 before the engine blew. I'll upload those during the next two weekends when I'll be waiting on engine parts and won't have time to work on the car due to my work schedule.

Here is 2016 Speed Sport Video #1. These were some of the cars that caught my eye inside. My favourite was the green corvette (I don't know the year because I don't know much about cars).

I guess I won't be uploading the second Speed Sport video after all. My hard drive died while the video was rendering. It also took all the footage from the last three days where I disassembled everything in the engine bay to get the engine ready to be pulled.

I was SO STOKED to see the intercooler duct video. That's something I have wanted to try myself for some time.

Could you give a breakdown of what fiberglass/resin you used?

Also, you can get rubber weatherstripping at the parts store that can go on the edge of the duct that touches the IC so it seals to the IC. Will help with an airtight seal.

Just realized I wasn't on the last page, saw the news about your engine. Man, I'm so sorry to hear that! It happens, though! We're here if you need help rebuilding it better than ever!

Dale

For the fiberglass I went to Canadian Tire and bought a package of fiberglass and resin/ hardener. It was in the auto section for body repair. These are the links to the two products that I bought:

Fiberglass (I bought the biggest fine pack and had lots left over)
Bondo Fiberglass Cloth/Mat/Tape | Canadian Tire

Resin
Bondo Fiberglass Resin | Canadian Tire

The total material cost was about $55-$60 CDN.

I will finish the edges of the duct when I get the car fixed. I didn't have much of a chance to test the duct and intercooler combo (about 20 minutes) but it seems to work fairly well from what I saw on my way to and from the safety inspection. The AIT were 45C during slow driving and some stop lights and 35C while driving 70Km - 80Km on the way home. I'll want to do a lot more testing with the combo when things are back together. The total cost would be about $300CDN ($200 USD) for the intercooler and duct.




Some good news. I got my hard drive working again. I have no idea what was wrong with it. but I switched some plugs and it finally spun up. I make backups to a second HDD after every video but I don't make backups of the footage because I usually edit it right away. That's why I'm relieved that I was able to recover all the footage from Speed Sport and from the engine prep.

Here's the second part of Speed Sport. We walked around the parking lot on Saturday afternoon and checked out some of the cool cars. I thought that the parking lot was better than the inside. Much more variety.


Here's my computer in its current state. It never had a chance.
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pso9lbeduw.jpg

I've got two more videos to go before I get in to the engine rebuild. This time around I finished the engine bay and made a block off plate and battery tie down. It actually came out pretty well. Too bad that it didn't last long, hahaha.


I pulled the engine and disassembled it last week. I'm going to take the keg apart this week. I've got most things ordered for the rebuild and just need a few more gaskets. I should have the car on the road by June if the parts arrive on time. The longest part will be waiting for parts.

My housings came this morning. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. The person that I bought the housings from told me that they were ported and new. Not only are they not new, they are damaged and he sent me two different housings. He sent me one S4 housing and one S5 housing. I'm trying to get a hold of him to see what he says.

Both housings side-by-side (S5 on the left, S4 on the right)
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps5jt41pfz.jpg

"New" S4 housing. Yeah right!
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pslzzclrqo.jpg

The other "new" housing (S5)
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...pse3ppdkqp.jpg


So, now I have a few questions for the more experienced members:

- Are either of these two housings even usable? I've heard of chrome flaking but I don't know how much is acceptable. Personally I wouldn't use them but Rotaryresurection's wear guide says that this amount of wear is acceptable and will still yield descent compression

- Can I use an S4 and an S5 housing in the same engine? The leading spark plug holes are different. The S5 housing would run regular timing and the S4 housing would run advanced timing? Or am completely wrong on this?

- Can I use the S5 housing with my good S6 housing. The leading spark plug is int he same position but I'm not certain about the exhaust port. The S5 housing has a ported exhaust while the S6 housing has a regular exhaust port.

I talked to the guy that I bought the housings from. He's agreed to refund me my money when I ship back the housings. He said that he had bought them as new housings from Rotary Specialties in Calgary and those were the ones that they sent him.

Rotary Specialties sending old, resurfaced, mis-matched housings as new. Not going to be buying anything from them.

PM'd

You are sending them back (good idea) but you can't mix S4 rotor housings in. The spark plugs are in different spots in the housing, so one rotor would have the spark timing off by quite a few degrees. That's a recipe for disaster.

Dale

The S5 housing has also a "exhaust divider"
I mean the NA one are pretty much identical to the S6 for the exception of stronger material.

IMO , it should affect it if one is to be used in a S6 *stock-ish rebuild.

Single taugh...not too sure...

I mean they were made for 140rwhp -ish
Don't need to tell you the multiplied number people put on the S6 housing.

Running two different housings didn't make sense to me either. I can see running an S5 and an S6 housing because the spark plug distance is the same but running two different timings in one engine just didn't make any sense to me. I figured that tuning the engine would be impossible so I sent the housings back.



The NA housings have the exhaust divider. The turbo housings have an open exhaust port like the S6 housings. I think the S5 housings are identical to the S6 housings except the chrome coating on the S5 housing is a little weaker and they have 4 oil injectors.




This was the last video before the engine blew. I installed the Power FC and went for a drive. At one point I got up to 6000 rpm and everything was running fine. Even the over sensitive knock sensor didn't show anything on the PFC. Then, a week later, I got gas from a different gas station and the motor lost compression and died.

As a note, a few years ago the company that I got gas from this time was involved in a scandal where they were selling 87 octane in 91 octane pumps and were also selling watered down gas. Usually I don't get gas there but my needle had been on empty and it was the only gas station around.

That's why I think that bad gas or the broken vacuum chamber hose had something to do with the engine losing compression.