great build! I love complete build ups like this. They're a great inspiration!

Hey guys, haven't painted the rear plate yet, will do that tomorrow most likely.

But in the mean time here's some pictures of what I did do during the day to get you by!

Basically I muscled my crossmember in and then started with the strut assemblies and replaced the bushings on the strut rods and put in new sway bar links. I couldn't find my pickle fork so I didn't get the old tie rods and control arms off yet.

This engine bay needs to be de-rusted and painted black to match the new crossmember. :)
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...pawn67/Bay.jpg

Hey, look! new wheels! Okay not really new, in fact they are junkyard wheels and I'm missing a center cap for them... But that's not the point, see how nice that looks now?
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...wn67/Wheel.jpg

and here's a picture of the other side without the wheel!
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...Suspension.jpg

There's been a small issue with the washer of the sway bar link rubbing some on the strut itself, but I think once I get the tie rods in and snug up the rest of it all it should go away.


BTW no one answered my question of what would be a good way to polish, or at least clean the aluminum housings nicely?

to clean aluminum I have some of this stuff thats just a huge wad of cotton or something with some sort of polish in it. It's called eagle one never dull wadding pollish. I've never got a chance to use it on housings but I've used it on other aluminum parts and it's AWESOME! You'll need to make sure they're really clean before you start polishing. And you'll know it's working when it starting rubbing off this black "oil". Then all you need to do is rub it clean with a dry cloth and don't forget to use lots of muscle! It will take some time but thats how I'd go at it. Good luck and I can't wait to see those housings shine!

So I didn't get all that much done this week. Had some personal stuff to get in order and then I had one of my CTI (Car Quest Technical Institute) classes on Wed and Thurs night. I have to say if you can set aside some to buy into the whole year. It is really a good investment, you learn a lot about new automotive technology and ways to use it in diagnostics and repairs. This recent class was on OBDII- Key Off EVAP Testing in various manufacturers and how to diagnosis and work on off the wall EVAP Codes.

Anyways, enough on the little rant there; I got the tie rods in and the gas tank snugged up under the car.

BTW anyone ever notice that the thread pitch for the gas tank strap bolts changed from 82 to 84? I ended up having to scavenge the bolts from the old GSL-SE Suspension bits. Weird little bit of trivia there I guess.

I finally started rebuilding the engine! Its going to be a bit slow on progress for this month because I will only have Tuesday night to work on the engine and then the week after I will be out of town visiting friends. I'll try to take some pictures and maybe do a little write up on the rebuild or something when I have the time on my Spring Break.

Also, if you guys have tips for cleaning aluminum nicely I would love them, I'll have to look into your stuff RisingSun. I don't need the Aluminum super bright or polished, but fairly clean and newish looking would be nice.

Okay guys, so Spring Break starts on Friday and I don't plan on being in town, so this will have to hold you off until I get some more work done.

I installed the new bearings from my kit into my rotors and stationary gears the other night, here's what the old ones and new ones look like:

Note- I had to use upwards of 15 Tons of pressure to actually "pop" them loose and about 10 tons or so to drive them out most of the way because they were sticking.

Lookie! new bearings maw!
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ewbearings.jpg

The Press on which we press the old out and the new in!
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...7/Thepress.jpg

The old Stationary bearing on the rear,
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ryGearWear.jpg

and the front:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...yGear2wear.jpg

The new Rotor bearing installed:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Rotorwear.jpg

Another side note: The FSM specifies to use their special drivers to remove and install the bearings, in my experience from doing this. It is not necessary to purchase the tool, the two black circular objects in the corner of the first picture are actually transmission bushings drivers and they worked perfectly fine.

Also something else to mention, thought I am sure you'd figure it out when you got to this point. The bearings can only be pressed out one way (with the gear side of the rotor facing down) and pressed in one way (with the gear face up and the notch lined up with the bearing's bent tab). When you press in the new bearings the bearing top rim should be flush with the edge of the inner rotor casting and the tab should be resting on the notch face.

I would also recommend that you wipe the inside of the surface of the rotor and stationary gears with a light coat of oil and a clean rag and then do the same to the outside of the bearing you are going to press in. It will help the rotor slide in smoother and prevent any dust or debris that get on the bearing surface from scoring the rotor.

Sorry for the fuzzy quality pictures, I couldn't keep my hand steady enough and I was using my cellphone's camera once again.

Oh, something I forgot to say!

Don't be afraid if you pump it up to 15 tons and it "pops" and then stops only half an inch down and you have to pump it up to 10 tons or so. It seems from the heat and wear the bearing was a little "sticky."

after you put the new bearings in, put em on a shaft, and make sure they are still ok. it sucks to be halfway thru assembling the motor and find out your NEW bearing is bent.

Its Rock Auto. I bought a radiator and radiator cap from them a few months back. the cap came first fit on the radiator that was in the car and broke. then the radiator came and the cap didn't fit. Luckaly I had a spare cap that fit and was all good. I called and complained and they told me that the radiator was for a rx7 made in the USA and my car came from japan. I thought all FB's came from japan? I'll be buying from them again but only for there dirt cheap prices. I got a proliance radiator for like 94 bucks + shipping. Good deals. BTW the rad fits. I think its for an AUTO because it has 2 output hoses that my old one didn't. I just connected them with a hose. Car runs less than 1/4 on the gage.

Glad to hear your getting your car put back together. You will love this one 100 times more than your last since you built if basicly from the ground up.

What's wrong with my Side Seals?
 

Okay, so I started assembling the engine tonight and I came accross a problem I am not happy with.

I went to install the side seals and found out that all 6 seals seem to be too long. and by too long I mean that when I try to seat them I have about 1mm over hanging onto the corner seal. I compared them with the old seals and sure enough they are longer by a small amount.

Is there a fix for this? I already contacted Dan Atkins about the problem since it was from my rebuild kit.

I will try and get some pictures of the difference, but my camera can't do such small shots.

my se has an a/t style radiator too. the 2 outputs aren't hooked into anything.

you have to buy a stone and some oil and hand grind them to fit make sure checking your angel is correct and spec is right.

What do you mean by that? The FSM says nothing about having to hand grind the side seals, is this a normal procedure?

I really don't want to fuck anything up after I spent a grand to get the rebuild kit and all this time to take it apart and try to put it together...

what exhaust r u running?? im guna sell my rb (non street port ) full exhaust n bonez high flow cat soon as a kit. I live in union city if ur interested. It was for my gsl-se

PM me

Bryan

Anyone else have any information on grinding the seals down or why they are off by a mm?

im also interested.. hmm i'll shoot you a pm

hope there's a better explanation

Okay then, so I got an email from Dan Atkins and he reccomends to hand grind them to fit as well. Something about it being a part that Mazda made as a companion or what not. Didn't quite understand it but what ever.

So I spend about 10 minutes marking the seals for how much I need to grind off. I did this by taking the old seal and pacing it on top of the new seal, squashing them flat against a white paper and then scratching the new seal with my pocket flathead. Now I am going to look for something to grind off the 1mm I don't need and tomorrow night we'll finish building.

i guess this is one of those things thats so old and basic they didnt write it down anymore. side seals come long so you can trim them to fit to spec. measure your side seal clearance with the old seals, if the gap is too big the old seals are too short (this is why you're replacing them!).

the side seals are important to engine sealing.

new seals are carefully sanded/ground to fit a groove in the rotor. the rotors do vary with time and mileage, so each seal gets fit to its own slot. if you look at the new seal, one end is finished, the other is not.

i use 400-600 grit sand paper, you want to try and get the angle right between the side seal and the corner seal.

measuring the gap is a bit tricky as the optimum is as tight as it will go without binding, or about .002"-.0025 on an NA. turbo is a little looser, as they are hotter.

like stated above its a very fine clearance so don't use any power tools lol
a good sharpening stone will work good with some oil. wouldn't copy the old seals either since they can wear .
this is probably the longest part of building a rotary .
good luck. really diggin your project to.
ill be rebuilding next weeked to check out my project
https://www.rx7club.com/old-school-other-rotary-63/going-old-skool-got-repu-653888/

So finally started putting the engine together, forgot to take as many pictures as I promised. Will take more when assembling the rear rotor.

Basically everything went on pretty well, the outer coolant seal kept popping off, but a small dab or hylomar here and there kept them snugly in place. The picture shows the intermediate housing on, but I had to take it off 5 minutes after the picture because I noticed the Front Plate to Housing coolant seal had gotten pinched. Now I can't get the damned intermediate plate on as easily as I did before! Grrr...

Well in any case, everything is going rather smoothly, oh and I found that a fine lapping stone works well for grinding the seals.

Here's the engine in the process of being built!
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...67/Engine2.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...67/Engine1.jpg

By the way, if you guys are wondering why there's electrical tape on my bench, I found it works pretty damn good for holding the Apex Seals in until you put the unit in the housing. Keeps them nice and snug and comes off very easily.

Okay guys, here's the progress I got done this morning, I took a good 30 minute break from my welding class and snuck over to the Engine's Lab where I built up the 3B some more. I needed some stress relief after pulling my hair on my SS TIG Welding (I am being super perfectionist on my TIG welding these days :( ).

So I got the fitting nicely once more, slapped on the Intermediate Housing and then placed the rear rotor housing on top of that. Part of the reason I was having such an annoying time with the seals is because as you can see I am building the engine on the table rather than on a mount. (We have an adapter somewhere for the rotary engines that some 2nd gen guys made a while back, but I didn't want to spend half an hour finding it when I started rebuilding the engine)

It has its advantages and disadvantages I have found...

Here's the double stack without the rear rotor inside:

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...oubleStack.jpg


Also something that I feel I should mention in case you over look it in your own rebuild process. Remember to replace the Dowel Pin O-Rings when you're assembling the engine. They look like this and are located on both sides of the Aluminum Rotor Housings in the upper corners by the Mazda Stamps.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...owelO-Ring.jpg

Also remember to put a light coat of oil on all the seals and chrome faces, not including the Water Seals as those you do not put oil on at all.


Well, that's all I got done today, but tomorrow night I am going to try and get the rear rotor in and the rear housing on. :)

BTW Anyone know where I can find info on how to make my Power Steering Box into a manual? I want to find some instructions on line routing ect.

"You need to loop the two lines together on the box, but that's it. Remove the two lines, cut them down to a few inches long with a hacksaw or tubing cutter, blow the crud out, spin the steering stop to stop a few times (tires off ground) and put the line-ends back on with a short length of hose connecting them. Very important, do not cap off, loop them together!"

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/converting-power-steering-manual-gsl-se-515697/ read this thread in 2006...

here u go guys. pix of the exhaust.

https://www.rx7club.com/west-sale-wanted-classifieds-195/fs%7E13b-gsl-se-rx-7-high-performance-exhaust-system-b%F6nez-high-flow-cat-bay-area-834674/

hey is that engine still up for grabs i have an 82 and its got 197,000 on it and the apex seals are bad and i was looking for another engine

Okay guys, I didn't have enough time to load pictures tonight so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

But I have the block assembled! mostly...

As for the 12A, yes it is still available, PMed you about it.

As promised, here's the progress on the 13B as of Tuesday night, I got quite a bit done and I am rather happy with myself. That said I also took plenty of pictures of the components and am going to do a small write up on how to assemble the rotor. :)

Here's the work bench I have setup, you can call the parts I am using and the lapping stone I use for grinding the side seals to fit, there is a small puddle of assembly oil on a clean spot on the table to dip and lubricate parts with.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...Rotorparts.jpg

First off, you can see the bearing and oil control rings have already been installed, the oil rings are rather simple to place in. The new seals and springs are color coded, white is the front of the rotor and blue is the rear. (i.e. for the front rotor the whit painted springs go on the side with the stationary gear teeth and the blue go on the other side) The bearing was pressed in using transmission drivers as I did not have the factory drivers, but it worked just as well. Lubricate the rubber seal and press it snugly into the C section of the metal control ring, then place the control ring with the indented side down (there are two small cuts out of one side of the metal rings) and firmly press them in place. Using the old control rings helps a ton IMO, all you want to do is to seat the ring firmly into the groove, you should barely see the black o-ring if at all when you are finished and when you apply firm pressure the seal should spring back up.

The next piece I put in was the corner springs and the corner seals, as you can see the Atkins Solid Corner seals are one piece construction and remember that the dished side faces out from the rotor. The 1993+ Corner seals are much stronger and retain their "springiness" better than the wire style from when I pulled apart my engine.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...alsSprings.jpg
I lightly oiled the corner seals and slipped them into the holes, lining up the opening with the apex groove and then gently pressed the corner seal into the hole. I firmly pressed the seal down to see if it sprang back up, about half the corner seals did not spring back up at first so I used a small flat head screwdriver to gently turn the seal side ways and lightly tapped it out of the hole using the apex groove. I used a small Exacto knife, the kind you would see for sculpting or fine cutting, (small aluminum rod with a fine blade on the end) to scrape the inside of the corner seal hole, it turned out that there was a lot of soot and residue that I had missed when cleaning the rotor. After cleaning the holes again, and then re lubing the parts, the seals sat snugly in place and had the desired spring to them.

Now lets move on to the side seals, this is by far the most painstaking process and very easy to mess up. I found that using the lapping stone with a little bit of oil was enough to grind the seals to where I wanted them. First I slipped the seal in the groove lightly, just enough so I could see how much I needed to grind off. I then used the lapping stone to grind one end of the seal (preferably the side that is square at the end) to the length I wanted and then I matched the angled cut on the other end of the seal. After placing the springs in the groove and the seals on top I found that I had the same issue I had with the corner seals and so I once again used the Exacto knife to gently clean the grooves out (Lots of gunk in those grooves so I would recommend you do this as part of the cleaning process.) and then placed the seals in place, once again you are looking for them to spring back up when you touch them and no bind.

Now here is the fun part! The Apex Seals, these little buggers come in many flavors and styles and the particular ones I got with my kit were OEM steel 2mm seals that were 2 piece rather than the 3 piece that came stock with my motor. The only difference is that the 3 piece is split laterally so that when the rotor moves in the housing the two halves will better seal the chamber, or at least that is the theory in the training manual.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...7/ApexSeal.jpg
I found it rather easy to slip this into the grooves and hold the at about 45 degrees and them slip the springs in before pressing them into the groove. Once again, any binding is not desirable and could mean that the groove is dirty and needs to be cleaned or damaged. I decided to stay with how the pictures in the FSM looked and made sure my corner pieces would always face the side that was open, rather than putting them in first and not seeing if they seated properly. I found that black electrical tape works as a good substitute in lieu of the factory Apex Spring Retaining Tool, its not very sticky but strong enough to hold the seals in place when stuck onto itself and easy to remove while in the housing.

Slowly slip the compressed rotor into the housing, over the bearing face on the Eccentric Shaft and rotor the shaft and rotor so that one of the apex seals is at the 12,3,6, or 9'oclock position as per the FSM. Then remove your tape and make sure the seals are fitting properly and not crooked or anything else. I found that when the rotor was in the housing already and the seals let to expand, the corner seals simply pressed in and did not pop out and cause any problems for me. I them used the included Hylomar to tack the water seals in the grooves and slipped the Rear Side Plate over the Eccentric Shaft and firmly pressed it in place, double check all your seals when doing this as it is possible for them to come loose and become pinched between the housing and plate which will cause problems down the road.

This is how it looks right now, I need to torque the tension bolts and stationary gear down and install the seal and then the flywheel and the rest will be close to any other engine assembly.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...inished13B.jpg

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :rolleyes:

Just a small update.

I got the flywheel on, the front cover (Yes I made sure to bolt the cover on vertically as to avoid crushing the torrington bearings. :))), and some small things. Its starting to come together and I'm getting pretty excited.

I also got the watts links off and pressed the bearing out of them, the problem is that I still have a lot of rubber bonded to the links, so most likely come Monday I will just borrow our cutting torch at school and cook the bastards out.

I still am intimidated by the giant box of wires in the back of my truck and haven't started cutting them up just yet, though Sunday I will probably start on it, I hope. :rolleyes:

Other than that there hasn't been much else done to the car, sorry no pictures this time. I was so excited and into rebuilding the engine I forgot to take a break and snap some shots. :dunno:

I just want to say that cutting up an entire harness to delete things like A/C, P/S, and all the other 2nd gen crap I don't need is a bitch...

:wallbash:

any parts for sale

PM me with what you are looking for and I will let you know if I have the part laying around as an extra. :)

Alright guys, not much in the way of engine work lately, I'm STILL scraping the gaskets off the intake manifolds and trying to debate how to clean them up with the least amount of dissasembly. That and I am starting to run thin on the greenbacks until my next paycheck.

Anyways here's some pictures of the lovely engine without the VHT FlameProof ClearCoat (I haven't decided at what stage of the rebuild I should clear coat it)

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...28-09_2110.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...28-09_2111.jpg

Shiny!

looks nice! clear it now

yeah i wish i had left the emissions harness alone. but i really have cut it down to size lol

just one other hint, if you want to drive the car this decade leave the main wiring harness alone, the 8 wires you take out dont weigh anything

Well you see the thing is that when I got the car it was missing the ECU because the Mack's bro used it for his 13B swap on his FB.

And I don't want to swap out the entire wiring harness on the GSL-SE to fit the S4 engine in. So what I did was rip out an ENTIRE FC wiring harness with all the modules connected; now I am going through that harness and trimming it so I have ONLY the wiring to run the S4 engine. I then plan on snipping some of the orginal engine stuff out of th GSL-SE so that if I ever plan on switching to another engine, the wiring harness has basically 2 sides to it, all the other crap and the egine side.

I don't know if that made any sense at all... :scratch:

Okay, quick update...

The engine is almost done, just needs vacuum hosing a new solenoid for the EVAP and maybe a header. The shell is now a rolling chassis and should be moved in front of my house by the end of this weekend.

IMPORTANT NOTE- The 12A engine, left over parts, and remaining shell will be scrapped by the end of this weekend, so if you want something (glass, engine, misc parts, ect.) PM me by Sunday and I see if we can set something up. After Sunday its all getting recycled.

I have a full gsl-se rb exhaust set up if ur interested. You can check it out this week end if u like.

The only problem I can see with that is that I am not sure if it will work with my 13B 6-port Engine :scratch:

I will write up a better update post when I get home, I am at work right now and didn't get the chance to offload my cellphone's pictures.

Its the same dude. even though its a 6 port from an Fc. It should all bolt up just fine.
The engine from the Se n FC 6 port are almost exactly the same
Correct me if im wrong.

but if you try to use some of the se components on an fc exhaust it won't work. i tried my cat on an fc... its like 2" vs. 2-1/8? i don't remember the ids

you're right... a 13b is a 13b....

But this is a whole exhaust system for a 13b in a first gen. Theres no other kits that going to bolt up unless ur going to go all custom. Ur adding 2 parts that aren't supposed to match.

i know, i was just saying you shouldn't try to mix fc with fb exhaust components. a whole exhaust will work. i still want to get a new muffler.

that might not be too bad actually, you'll end up with like 10 wires or so.

Righto then! As I promised here's a more detailed breakdown of what I have done so far.

My buddy and I finally got the rear end in, along with the fuel line routing, minus one line which I will deal with later. We also managed to do a good job on ripping off the transmission off the old 12A and I bolted that up to the finished engine. I still need to get an EGR gasket, and siicone vacuum hosing. but that's about it.

I haven't finished the wiring harness yet, though I have been flipping through FSM wiring diagrams and marking up stuff to keep and not to keep, I just need to sit down and actually draw up a 'custom' wiring diagram for the engine harness. In any case, as I said before by Sunday we are moving the now rolling chassis to my house where I hope to get her running at least.

This is a picture of the lovely 1/8" Custom Stainless Steel Radiator Cap Block-Off Plate I made for my thermostat housing.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...18-09_1056.jpg

This is the rolling chassis! It's actually rolling on four wheels now! Can you believe it!?

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...21-09_1554.jpg

What's left of the original car, may her soul live on in her new body.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...21-09_1555.jpg

So I was looking at a few things after we got the car moved out in front of the house and I was wondering, what the 6 Port assembly uses to trigger the 5th and 6th ports open...

So after a shit load of weeks going through the FSM wiring diagram and marking shit off and so on...

I have what looks like the wiring diagram that I was looking for. I am doing a connector view because its much easier for me to deal with rather than drawing up all the lines and such.

In any case, these should be the bare minimum amount of wires to run the engine with emissions:

Attachment 345916Attachment 345917

Update on the care, the wiring is turning out to be a nightmare more so than before. The FSM I am using seems to be about 90% accurate to what the 2nd gen wiring harness I have is like, but its that other 10% that's driving me nuts... I may have to start over and draw up a new harness wire by wire...

Anyone know who sells nice complete engine/emission FC Harnesses :3