Congratulations on the hell of a deal on the the mtx-l. The transmission looks awesome

 

I totally agree, but it's the easiest place to find the parts I was looking for quickly in this instance. No way I'd ever pay that much for each rotor!

Thanks man! The transmission was a ton of work but I think it will be super sick once I can get it in the car, it'll probably get painted before going in.

So I went to two events here in MN today, MN Cars and Coffee at 7am then Boost for a Cure (aka Boost for Boobies) put on by Modern Automotive Performance (commonly called MAP).

At Cars and Coffee I saw this Pantera again (super awesome car), although this time something else caught my eye about it...








Anyone else notice the matched barrel and lips of the wheels to the main body color? I'm kind of tempted to do mine like this as well if I can pull it off well.

Then I saw this at Boost for Boobies later in the afternoon - bone stock Cosmo by the looks of it. Such an awesome vehicle in person!


Lastly, I was able to save another first gen from the crusher for a friend.




That's a GSL-SE with no suspension, engine or transmission installed. It'll be used as a donor in Daryl's build since his chassis is pretty much not salvageable - this will be a much cheaper and easier replacement for him.

I got another cool rare part that I'll take some pics of tomorrow morning since it's been a super long day.

 

On a side note, it's amazing how awesome the rotary community is. I met a whole bunch of new rotary guys today - Ryan (Black FB), Ryan (CW FD), Dave (MB FD), Nik (White FC), Robert (BB FD & FE), Shawn (FD), Ricky (all rotary) - those are the 7 right off the top of my head. Then if you add Nick (20b FD), Daryl (FB's and FD) and Tanner (L33 5.3L V8 swapped FB) - that's 10 rotary guys I saw just today. Just from two meets in one day, that's how many guys I got to hang out with that have been into these cars for varying lengths of time. Some of them have been around much longer than I, some the same length of time, and others are relatively new.

It's a huge motivator for me to finish this build up and get to the point where I could cruise with these guys soon. It's just amazing to me that there can be such an awesome group of guys all out there with the same passion in the same area as I. I have to get some meets together locally so we can all meet more new people and share the love of the rotary.

 

Another shot of that GSL-SE chassis. Unfortunately due to time restraints and lack of funds I couldn't hold on to her, but I'm super stoked to see the chassis going to someone who can actually use it! I wish best of luck to Daryl and the build! Plus the extra cash is going to help me compile parts for my potential build this winter.

It was awesome to meet you Austin, and I totally agree. I love the RX-7 community here in the state. We should try to get some meet going on maybe later in the summer, when hopefully some of these guys will have their cars running. Otherwise it's no big deal!

 

I'm glad that Daryl will be able to make good use of it as well, I hate seeing these cars get scrapped. It didn't go too terribly with all 5 of us there!

Yeah man, it's awesome getting to meet new people with the same passion for these old cars. Sometimes it can feel really lonely since you don't see many of them on the road around you - it's good to know that there really are others out there. And the truth is most of ours are in the garage being worked on

Ryan (FBorDie) also hooked me up with this GSL-SE gas tank - a huge thanks again man!

For those of you who don't know (*cough*...FD owners...*cough*) the GSL-SE was the chassis with every single option available in the FB chassis - and the only one with a fuel-injected N/A 13b engine. Since the SE had an EFI engine, Mazda was smart enough to make a baffled tank with a slosh cup tack welded to the bottom of the tank to prevent fuel slosh and lean spikes while turning with little fuel in the tank. The 12a tanks (every other FB tank besides the SE's) don't have baffling and a flat bottom to the tank which could be a bad time with an EFI engine. I planned on initially putting the FC fuel pump hangar, mounting plate and slosh cup in a 12a tank. But with the addition of this tank I think I'm going to leave it unmodified for now (it's truly in immaculate shape) and run an in-line fuel pump system for the time being. This tank will get POR-15'ed on the inside with their fuel tank restore and seal kit for about $80 so I don't have to worry about it corroding over time. Then I'll paint it to make it look as good as possible and throw it under the car. I think it'll be a great addition to the car and I'm stoked to have it!











So my main question now is - what to do with the fuel system? I could just run an inline pump and be safe enough for the time being with an EFI setup. But I'm wondering if I shouldn't just do a surge tank while I'm at it?

 

Check out the aeromotive phantom stealth 340lph intank pump with sump cup. I'm running one and love it.

 

That looks awesome!

Phantom 340 Stealth Fuel System - Aeromotive

I am running a full aeromotive stealth system based on 15gal fuel cell, had I known about this I may have used the stock tank!

 

Contact Elwood of Coachman Perfomance. Coachmanperformance.com. Im running one of his ISTs in my 80 for the SE 13b. No issues at all. Reasonable price.

 

austin, this is where you start asking yourself if you have the budget to upgrade now or put it off later. not trying to persuade you in either direction...just trying to make you think.

 

X2
If you decided to upgrade everything all at once it will be overwhelming. From my experience, if you decided to upgrade everything then your car will be sitting for over a year (unless you have money to do it all at once). The longer it sits, for me, makes me think of what money I could have saved not doing things to it Ahhahaha.

 

+1. i would just run a fuel pump now, and if you need to, adding a surge tank won't be that big of a deal, and can be done without major surgery

 

That setup is pretty gnarly, I had it recommended to me by another FB guy as well. If I was running the 12a un-baffled tank I'd definitely consider that setup...and if I had a lot of money left over

I did actually see his stuff when I was searching the forum and Google and have a PM from him that I need to respond to ASAP. His setup is amazing! That's probably the #1 setup I'd go with in a 12a tank. Since I'd have to cut into the tank I won't be using that setup on this build since I want the SE tank to be unmolested as much as possible.

I hear ya, I was just asking for opinions - and I got 3 of you to bite! Since I want the SE tank to be uncut, untampered and unmolested I'll be running the stock pickup in the SE slosh bowl to an inline pump. That setup was safe enough for an SE 13b and I think it'll be safe enough for a turbo 13b in my car as well.

I'm already upgrading everything all at once, remember? This car will be sitting for the next 12 months un-drivable and won't even run until next spring. That is mainly because I'm running low on build funds but have an abundance of time. I want to take my time and do it right the first time rather than having to come back to it later. I'm already having those thoughts of what I could have bought and it's purely destructive for me...so the next thought I think of is, "No matter what else I would have bought with this build money, I'll be the only guy with a badass FB exactly the way I wanted it." There's much more time for me to get street bikes, big trucks, an FD, dirt bikes, all that stuff - so why not keep building this car since I already have it? I'm learning to be content with what I have and stop constantly wanting more and thinking it's a necessity. I need to get through school and get out, and this car will be my therapy during the next few years. I'll always want more, to be better, smarter, stronger and wiser - but that will come with time and patience, not by rushing it and trying to push.

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Jim Shockey, a writer and hunter:
"It's odd how salvation and self-destruction are often found on the edge of the same abyss."

If I wanted to, I could let this hobby destroy me. I'm trying to learn from it at each step and better myself with each small project during the process of the build. I wouldn't know much about cars if it wasn't for these crazy little Japanese contraptions, and I'll take every learning experience with them I can get.

Sounds good man, I appreciate the input! I know a surge tank wouldn't be too hard to fit in there, mainly would have to watch out for the Watts link when I look at pictures of other people's setups. I think one inline pump will be enough for what I need this go-round and I'll upgrade it if I ever get this car over the 450-500rwhp mark. Then I'll probably need a new rear end too...and all sorts of other upgrades to support that much power. Ah well, that's not for many years to come

 

Transmission shifter rod modification last step - shortening the tube for the gear lube to get to the selector:






I ended up shortening it about 16.5mm but I'd recommend someone else to shorten it about 18mm to make the installation a little easier on themselves. It's really snug in there and doesn't want to go anywhere so I don't think it'll leak any fluid though - so that's a good sign.

Both of my stupid shifter return springs are broken so I'll need to order one of those at the same time that I order the shim for the bell housing.


Speaking of the shim, it's a 0.2mm one. I had to pick up a new digital caliper today in order to measure it correctly - I'm glad I did and can tell it will be super useful.


Bell housing primered:


One coat of Rust-Oleum "Red" engine bay paint...wait a minute...


Color comparison


Color comparison


That's like super orange!


Best comparison shot I got - you can tell the paint is way too orange to match the body color. The paint must be for Chevy valve covers or intake manifolds or something.


So, needless to say, I'm going to be painting the engine secondary color different than that orange-ish red I have now. I'm thinking I'll go gold, it should really pop in the engine bay and be a good contrast with the black and red that will also be present.

This is my buddy Bailey's secondary color besides black - it's a Copper color by Duplicolor and I'm digging it. I would want a much more gold color though so I'll start shopping for that. The shinier the better!

 

Time for some gas tank action!

GSL-SE gas tank as it came to me.


I had to drill and tap the fuel level sender unit flange to a 6mm bolt size because two of the screws busted off in there. I'm going to have to run sealant around the flange because to tap the holes I had to puncture the tank with the drill bit, allowing the tap to run all the way through. So that kind of sucks, hopefully I can find a good sealant that's made for gas tanks in black. Anyone have any suggestions?


Wirebrushed the crap out of the tank and cleaned it off in preparation for paint:


First coat of semi-gloss laid down on the tank, looking mighty fine.


Second coat after quite a long dry time, was an awesome day to paint. Humidity was low and temperature was just right allowing the paint to dry extremely quickly.


Pile of other parts that got painted today, all rear axle arms, fuel pickup, fuel level sender, bell housing and breather:


Notice how the bell housing and breather went back to primer color? I'm not using that orange-ish red again for this build

 

i use my caliper on everything. so funny story, there is no 0.2mm shim (actually there probably is a bulletin somewhere) the 0.1 is 9996-36-910 and the 0.3 is 9996-36-930. list is under $4

 

Ah, come on! Ugh. Well, some of the readings I was getting were almost .25mm so I think I'll just go with the 0.3mm one and call it safe - since anything installed properly in there is better than what it had

Seriously though, what witchcraft do you use to pull up part numbers so fast? Tell us one of your many secrets...

 

oh well i was a parts manager for a while, but nowadays i use counterfeit Ukrainian parts catalog, it is literally the same as we had at the dealerships MAZDA
its neat, as it does the US (cwa), ebpotia is europe, and then the neat bit, phonor is japan... bill bartok is the middle east

the odd part is that when Russia invades them, the site goes down...

 

That's so stinking cool! Oh man, now I'll be researching all sorts of parts purchases, thanks for the tip!

I'm going to have a hard time seeing the cars that Europeans get and we are barred from, but it'll be interesting to research for sure.

Ugh, it's not like they need the servers for defensive purposes. They just let them walk right in anyways!

 

My buddy's 5.3L V8 Vortec with a T56 on the dyno at MAP last weekend - pretty impressive for a tired old motor that needs a rebuild!

 

Out of curiosity, are you a person representing map now?

Only reasoning is because you have your introduction for a car at MAP lol

 

i think putin might shut em down? i dunno, it is the first international event that has effected me directly. although it is weird, as its like people from new jersey invading new york, most people would have a hard time telling the difference

 

No, I'm not representing MAP. The first page is about his car, then I do give MAP a shout out in the video to promote the Boost for Boobies event. I just figured it would be cool to help them out a little bit and help clarify where the dyno was taking place - in case someone recognizes the place or the car. I should ask for royalties though, shouldn't I?..

Crazy! Haha yeah, it would be hard to tell if NJ invaded NY - no offense Sean

 

 

 

whats up... this is John castro