Hi, so with a 13BT S2 with no interior and about as brutal as it gets sitting in the stable I got an itch to have something a bit more comfortable for those days when the girlfriend wants to come and play.

A weird sequence events which saw a Hilux bouncing off the front of the S2 and forcing it's temporary retirement meant I got the chance to buy an S1 that I'd always stared at longingly when going to my local rotor engine builder. Here's how she was when I would visit lol.


Anyways, a deal was done and home she came.

On Friday I spent the day cleaning 12 years of grime off her, then new plugs, leads etc and believe it or not after a fresh battery and fuel she fired up. Secondaries needed freeing up but apart from that all good.

Some pics looking a bit more loved



Future plans? Well the usual brake rebuild and general electrical connection clean up as we all know what happens when a 7 is sat for that long, a lot of the electrics work intermittently at present but all things considered I'll take that.

These wheels will be going on...



Will update as I go but first aim is to get her registered (Swiss origin) and enjoy her and see what happens from there.

 

Interesting as always to note the subtles differences between the S1's in your part of the world and the ones we got here. Like the placement of the license plate lights, and the differing colors of the tail and marker lenses.

Good luck with her!

 

Hey DD, thanks. Always admired your SA and your attention to detail. I prefer the US front markers, the fully orange look.

On a side note, in the same deal I took away a RHD UKDM model and there are subtle interior differences also. Exterior wise she is almost identical though if you ignore the horrendous TripleX sunroof that's been cut in - an unfortunate fad of the 80's over here. This shell has rotten rear sills and bad rear arches but aside from that is actually quite solid so will be kept will have to wait it's turn.




Note the rear spoiler - have you seen one of these before? We believe it to be an early Elford effort - they were a UK based company who back in the day used to retrofit turbo's onto a handful of 1st gens.

 

nice find ... if you were closer I'd swap lenses with ya

 

nice car, and it'll look great with those wheels and flares

 

looking good man! i'm surprised the paint is so nice after sitting all those years. must have been well cared for before it was stored.

 

Cheers guys, yeah I think it was pretty cherished for the time it was on the road - and only has 20000 miles on the clock which must attribute to her general condition. Gonna swap to internal regulated alternator at the weekend so will have to search on here how it's done, I hear it isn't too bad a job.

 

Congrats! I do like that one piece rear spoiler. Looks like it belongs.

Although looking at a bunch of Elford Turbo Pics, I don't think that spoiler is one of them.

I like yours better.

 

Looking great, really nice finds! I'm really liking the wheels you've picked out.

 

Cheers! I'm not sure I'll swap the spoiler on to the LHD as I quite like the bare assed look on first gens and as all UKDM 7's came with one (S2 onwards anyway) it'd be nice to be a bit different even though some guys here are removing them.

 

Got a bit done today, removed front suspension for inspection and removed calipers ready for rebuild. All is solid anyway so happy days - got the lad wire brushing to remove all the flakey **** ready for a lick of paint and POR15.

And statutory beached whale photo. Rain stopped play tonight but got plenty to get on with on the bench.

 

Slight update.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLb7k...ature=youtu.be





Just awaiting registration.

 

Nice 7 you got going there, like your gauge set up as well. Will be watching. . .

 

Can I have your garage with everything in it..great looking sa..

 

Maybe time for an update lol. Enjoyed a couple of years of trouble free driving but the inevitable happened from 3 years of abuse for a keg bought unproven off a container floor. Started drinking water until it was just a pain in the *** and would require a refill every outing, so bit the bullet and pulled it. Now considering it still started on the button hot or cold I had high hopes of a soft seal swap and back together in no time. Wrong!

Stat bearings shot
Rotor bearings shot
Apex springs flattened
Signs of blowby on housings
Chrome deterioration on housings
And the predicted non existent water seals

So it was fate, or something like that - and I decided that while it was apart it just as well get some port work. I went with a large streetport, sold my existing TII hybrid turbo setup and went for something with a little more pizzazz. A GT42/51 and turbosmart 38mm external gate.

Some mint S5 housings were sourced, and mazda OEM bearings and seals were bought and after it was all lapped and cleaned up together it went.


That brings us to this weekend, trial fitted the turbo and manifold - which all seems to fit sweet.



And today I had all the unused VAC nipples on the LIM removed and welded up including the OMP ports. Now am waiting for downpipe to come back with the lamda bung in it and section to mate up to my existing system.

I'll keep y'all posted.

 

So my friend returned from the US with my 13b RB flange for the turbo manifold which was duly welded on..



Next up was cooling. I had toyed with V mount but ditched that in favour of using a similar set up just with a new radiator so I bought the nearest size available for what I needed. Problem was it only had 32mm outlets, no pressure release cap and no inlet for heater return.



It does now.





It will sit like this, still not eliminating heat soak in traffic but a lot better than before - and a cut down FC top hose works perfectly. Just mounting brackets to make.



Also built the fuel system, adapted the rails to eliminate the firestarter and stock fpr and pressurised for leak check.



Next up, fit this...



And pictures of the downpipe to come - it's nearly finished.

 

That looks great man! I can appreciate good welding, and the header and radiator look freakin' awesome! Did your friend to the welding or did you do it? Either way it's a fantastic job.

 

I wish it was my welding, but alas it is my mates. Talented guy.

Thanks though!

In other news...

Downpipe tacked up for test fit - can't do it by myself though so will wait till Saturday



And tonight I cracked out the remaining jobs in the bay

Alternator on
Coolant lines to turbo
Turbo oil drain and feed
Oil filler neck
Engine earth strap
UIM blanks
VAC blanks
FSE Fuel pressure regulator fitted

So that just leaves

Mount radiator when matey has done brackets
Finish exhaust
Fluid up

 

Well nearly achieved running status today but was KO'd at the final hurdle. Before that, here the radiator all mounted up properly.


This deemed her ready for water so cracked out the new drum of deionized and got on with it. First issue was a small river running down the front cover, this was annoying and even more so because it couldn't be solved by cranking it up tighter. What had actually happened was the far right hand stud hadn't gone in far enough so when I went for 'murder tight' on the internal torque wrench it just stripped. The only solution, pull it all off and waste the water and then re-tap the thread. Good job I got 5 gallons.

With that sorted and watertight status achieved, in went the oil and frantic preparations for firing up. It wasn't to be though, after thinking I'd flooded it after the undeniable stench of fuel filled the air I was about to give up. I lowered the base pressure to stock and tried again. Nothing apart from some enthusiastic hiccuping so after counting to ten and rubbing my temples I enlisted the help of the wife and after removing the UIM it was pretty plain to see the problem.



Caused by this


So that was that - scuppered by an O ring.



:roll:

 

I sorted an O ring the following day, and achieved fluid tight status.

The last week has been flat out with this



So little time for the rotor, but the time I have had has been spent chasing a gremlin that has been sending me round in circles. It would crank and try to take, which in turn would fire the pump but just wouldn't go. I tried various base maps but to no avail, so today I just thought "sod it" and went for the tow. It wasn't the slightest bit interested so I knew then that something more was amiss. What struck me as I was sat there being towed around an industrial estate is that with the motor spinning at 3000rpm the pump wasn't kicking in. CAS I thought. :!:

Correcto. By chance I had a look at the plug at the ECU...



Did an on the spot hickory temporary fix and the rest is history, fired up straight off the key. 8) 8) 8)

Got back home intact (half a mile) and let idle for half hour - pleased to say, no leaks and just one annoying little exhaust blow that I knew would be there as there is an open pressure reference port on the manifold that needs welding up.

Couple of these also arrived -



So they can be slapped in when she's run in and ready for tune.

Time for some mileage

 

Nice car and good progress but I'd leave that clean body alone and not put any flares on it. Maybe downsize your tires a bit but for heavens sake, don't cut up a clean body like that for fender flares.. Just my opinion....

 

Fair play dude, we're all entitled to an opinion.

So the new radiator hasn't really lived up to expectations and has really struggled to manage the heat from the rotor. Old setup would sit around 82°C on cruise and hit a max of 88°C in traffic, the new one settled at 90°C stationary so meant the fans were running flat out and creeping higher on the move. Some clever shrouding and ducting may have helped but for the minute I need to break the motor in so I've swapped the old cooling setup back in for the minute.

Back to the drawing board.

 

Nice!!!

 

I love your build men! Will be sure to follow!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunKOOh7GoM&list=UUtx2C7FnzB0DBsD62WXzwqA

301bhp at 7psi - no boost control so had to make do with spring pressure.