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It's nice to see more and more guys painting their own cars. Great job on all the custom fab work. There is nothing more satisfying then seeing a project car run!!!!
With 5 coats of clear those runs don't stand a chance.
I can't wait to fire it back up and drive it around again. This time with a windshield and A/C.
Before I do fire it back up I have some "betterments" to make to the engine. I don't like those Atkins solid corner buttons, and I reused some trash rotors. So I'll be putting in better rotors (N/A rotors if I can source them).
Also, I got a laser alignment tool for belt drives. Hopefully I can align my alternator a little better.
Finally, I want to make a better starter motor. I don't like the current connection between the bendix and the extended bendix; I have an idea, I just need to implement it.
But paint first. The concept of this car driving is proven. Just gotta make it look better than it was at DGRR25.
I had to make inner fenders.... One you can see the top of the wheels from the top of the car. Two, because of "one" rock will come flying out of the holes. THREE, the outter fenders have NOTHING protecting them from rocks. FOUR why not?
^^ I just layed the rear inners right on the mock up cardboard. I'll wet it down and grind/sand off the cardboard.
^^^^^the fronts got a different treatment. I made a plug formed on the car and covered it in foil. I layed 1 ounce mat on that.
^^^^^ Here is the front installed but not trimmed or painted.
^^^^ Here is the plug from the front and the somewhat finished product. ITS LIGHT
^^^^ here is the rear. also, installed but not painted.
The body I got from RX7parts.com didn't come with provisions to mount a top.... So I had to come up with a solution. I should be done with the plug this weekend and then I can make a mold and pull out parts. I got a buddy with the carbon fiber fetish. I don't have this affliction, but it seems right here. Carbon fiber??? Yes or no???
^^^^ the negative I pulled off another car's top.
^^^^ the plug I pulled out of the negative.
Well the mold turned out nice. Pulled a test part out of it without issues. I gotta wait for my clear gel coat to come in and I'll give CF a try.
In other news. With all (or at least most) of the painting finished I can turn my hands back into greasy paws.
I checked the alternator alignment with my laser tool. Seems like I was pretty close before. I'm not gonna mess with it. Just send it.
Now to address the starter. I had the starter return on its own spring before, but now I want to drill a hole through the bendix and cram a roll pin through it. More or less permanently attaching my extended bendix to the starter motor. BUT>>>> Starter motor gears are HELLLLLLa hard. I might have to send this to a machine shop.
Other than that the engine/trans are ready for re-install.
Little image dump. I'm mostly just waiting for my machinist to mill that starter gear down the way I want. I don't own a mill, but I'm really thinking about making the purchase. This is the second time I've had to borrow my machinist's milling service.
Finished installing all the front bits and I pulled vacuum on the a/c system. Gonna go get some gas tomorrow and see how well the 12vdc a/c works.
I made my instrument cluster. I have space for the temp gauge and the "possible" speedo. I'm using a bicycle speedo, and its different from bike speedo's I've used before. I don't know if it will play well with the magnetic pickup I'm using.
I also put on one of those UTV street legal kits. Flashers and a horn. Man that was stupid easy. Just power it up and everything is self contained.
Finally I covered my roll bar with felt. I think it looks ****.
Looks more like a helmet/skull crusher to me at least with those seats.
Interesting build though, not sure why I didn’t see the thread sooner.
.
Dunno, same height as the Boxster or 996. They're oem 986/996 seats with an oem 996/986 roll bar.
I don't plan on wearing a helmet in this car.
I'm trying to avoid the humiliation at a tech inspection. They'll take one look at that adaptor plate and literally start rolling on the floor laughing.
There was nothing really wrong with the old flywheel adaptor but I made a better one. This one bolts directly to the automatic CW from the S4 engine. Then the Porsche flywheel bolts directly to it.
The old adaptor just uses long bolts that thread into the CW. I didn't like that setup.
So, I got bored of waiting for the machine shop to drill some holes for me (I didn't trust myself to drill these holes strait). The machinist told me "you have a lathe, just make your own tools". He was right.
So I turned out a little bushing to hold my drill bit in place while I drilled out the holes that mate the Porsche flywheel to the adaptor. I did the same thing for the Mazda CW and the adaptor.
^^^^^^
Turned down the "bushing"
^^^^^^
Used the "bushing" to align my drill bit.
^^^^^^^
Perfectly drilled holes. The old adaptor is to the side there. The new one is a million times better.
Now I'm just waiting for some specialty fasteners to hold this conglomeration together.
Naturlly I put the key on the left side... It is a Porsche after all.
So I had fouled spark plugs. SO like any sane person I bought a pro built engine with lightened and balanced rotating assembly, three window oil bearings, three mm apex seals, RB peripheral port housings, and....... a set of plugs.
There is a LOOONG build list for this engine, but those are the parts that matter.