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/