This weekend I finally got motivated to start working on the wiring that needed to be done. Luckily I still have my old NA engine because the steps to rewiring the alternator call for referring to the pin outs on the NA engine harness.

Attachment 544852

I pulled my passenger carpet back up shoved the harness back through the wall and started trying to find the pins required. I was using the guide on rotaryressurrection to do this. On my old harness I found the pins which the black and white wires coming from the back of the alternator go into one of the large orange connectors on the harness.

On my turbo harness however it was more confusing than I had expected. One wire was going to the wrong connector which was as expected, but the other wire was going to three wrong pins on the wrong connector. It's very likely that these three backfed pins are the cause of my car not turning off when I remove the key.

Attachment 544853

As the instructions said I ran two new wires from the back of the alternator and soldered them into the pins to match the NA harness. I protected the new wires with some plastic loom and zip tied that along the existing harness.

The second step is to rewire the coolant temperature sensor so that the gauge inside the car works as Mine does not currently. I had trouble understanding these instructions because it asks you to find two wires on the engine side and jump them to fix the connection. I couldn't find the second wire so instead I found which pin lead to the coolant temp sensor on the harness connector side and jumped it to the correct pin as is on my NA engine. As my car doesn't actually start yet I don't know that this works. Oh and of course I sealed off all the wires I had cut that weren't being used anymore.

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I forgot to mention that when I installed my new starter, the bolt holding the positive lead from the battery stripped. It was holding it tight so I ignored it. When I went to take the starter back off though to test it outside of the car a month ago I had completely ruined the bolt so I brought it to a starter rebuild shop and they gave me a new starter solenoid with bolts intact.

Attachment 544856

After I finished rewiring the alternator and coolant temp sensor I installed the starter with the new solenoid and went to try turning on the car.

FINALLY when I turned the key to off everything actually turned off! It was the first time since installing the engine that I didn't have to pull the EGI INJ fuse to turn it off. A big thanks to Satch for working with me step by step to figure this out and get to this point.

Another mysterious fix came from this too because when I turned the key to ignition it didn't short out anymore? Possibly because of the rewired alternator, the new solenoid, or maybe the third starter wire just wiggled back into a position where it worked. Not sure where but I am so happy that I don't have to cut apart the harness to find the short.

I tried cranking the engine and it sounded like it was starting to catch but then just got more and more flooded. I kept pulling the EGI INJ fuse and cranking to deflood it but it didn't help, still couldn't get it to start. I assume it actually attempted it at first because it had a month to dry out, then just got more and more flooded as I tried.

We also assumed that the battery being low could be the cause of It not starting so we threw it on to the charger and got to work on other things that needed to be done to kill time.

Since I'm in Ontario and it's getting colder, and also because I'm back less and less frequently with school getting busy I decided to take off my gold rims and switch to the red winter rims I had on my prelude. Although I'm not planning to drive the car in the winter I don't want to store it on my gold rims and two of my stock rx7 rims have flats meaning the car will be on the floor at the end of winter.

Attachment 544857

We also re-bled all the brakes because a little while ago I had to take out the new brake master cylinder and add Teflon tape on the pressure sensor at the bottom. (I forget if that's what it senses).

Attachment 544858

Then I soldered the connector for my fifth gear sensor that was female to female when connecting the NA wiring to the turbo fifth fear sensor. However, when I put the car in reverse later my reverse lights weren't turning on anymore? Not sure what happened there as it was already working and I didn't touch the second connector which I assume was for the reverse gear sensor. I'll try later to disconnect the new connector or play around with the connections until it comes back - not important right now.

Attachment 544859

We were determined that with the charged battery the engine was going to start now so we rolled the car outside as to not make too much noise starting in the garage at night. Unfortunately though it didn't make any sign of starting and a bit of fuel was starting to leak under the turbo/Downpipe area so I assume it was still flooded from earlier and only continued to get worse. At least I got to see the car with the lights on outside at night.

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You can see my bent license plate mount from when it got all pushed up against the engine hoist haha. Also I haven't had a chance to remove the bumper and detach that hose which used to connect to the air pump which the new engine doesn't have so for now it's just zip tied up out of the way

I was trying to think this morning of reasons why the engine keeps flooding and there is so much fuel that it is leaking from the Downpipe. I got suspicious of my fuel injectors which were switched out at the last second before I bought the engine.

Attachment 544863

I posted up this photo I had taken a while ago when I was trying to figure out the fuel lines which shows the injectors. The feedback I got said that i have the incorrect injectors for my ecu and that they should low impedance not high impedance as these are. Just another problem caused by the engine seller that has wasted my time throughout this project. I purchased the correct injectors and hopefully they'll be arriving next week.

I don't actually know how the injectors work but I assume that the ecu sends a current pulse to the injectors to tell them how much fuel to inject and I assume that a low current means to inject more fuel, and a high current means to inject less fuel. As I currently have high inductance injectors in my car with higher than designed resistance, the injectors are getting a much lower current and are injecting maximum fuel into my engine which is just flooding and getting dumped out the exhaust.

I'm hoping that this will be the last step towards getting the car finally running. And the last few hundred dollars I have to spend this year to finish the car. I'm very excited now and can't wait till they get here.

Glad to see things are coming together for you. I know the feeling of rushing to get things done before winter, I am right there with you there. Luckily I am running fine, and winter is going to be house project time for me vs car stuff this year.

Thanks man and good to hear it. When winter comes my cars going to be stored on one side of the garage with another car and all of the tools moved inside. I will basically have no room to work on it.

in that big garage? what are you parking in there, a full size pickup? Time to get organizing. lol

Did a compression test this weekend on my engine as it was a suspect in why I can't get it to run. I was really worried there when it was suggested to me as I could have wasted months of work. But I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Compression shows that the seals are like new! Videos below:

Rotor 2 holding the release valve
Rotor 2 release valve closed

Rotor 1 holding the release valve
Rotor 1 release valve closed

I took off the UIM to check for sure that fuel injectors were the wrong type and they were in fact all high impedance injectors. So I put it all back together and then deleted the resistor pack by cutting up my second resistor pack for it's connector.

Tried to start the car didn't seem to make a difference. Still seems very flooded.

Attachment 545174

Attachment 545175

The new injectors came in which are 550 cc and 2 ohm but I don't think I'm going to install them for a little bit since the engine is already constantly flooding with the 460 cc and I've removed the resistor pack so they should work.

Attachment 545224

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Attachment 545226

I also resoldered my CPU on the weekend because of a lot of the features don't work sometimes like the horn. When I reinstalled it though I didn't notice any changes.

Then the next day I turned the car to ON and all the warning lights turned on and a two beep warning signal came on and I mistook it for alternator failure and arbitrary engine speed signal. Meaning that the engine thinks it is on when it isn't. But then Satch told me later that all the warning lights are supposed to come on with key to on and the engine off (just like every car) and the two beep warning signal is just for door open haha. These features had never showed up before so I guess I fixed it?

I stored the car for winter a little while ago as my parents started to complain about needing the garage when the first snowfall came for Toronto. So I drove back one evening and washed the car up so it's nice for spring. I moved the engine and drivetrain components to the shed and I got a new shelf for the basement which now has all of the fluids and rx7 parts I racked up throughout this year. I also put the car on winter tires a little while ago because I don't want to potentially get flat spots on the tires for my gold rims. Still need to get some old carpet to put it on as I did last year.

Overall the year was very successful for me. I learned a ton of stuff with help from everyone on here and did a bunch of things I've never tried before. As I've mentioned before I bought the rx7 to learn how to do an engine swap and it's about 95% done now haha (as a result of the many problems that arose this summer). Thanks to everyone who helped me out.

I have to say some things were pretty scary such as the small engine bay fire that happened due to the starter burning out and sparking the leaked fuel, and when I had the engine running at 3000 rpm and couldn't switch it off. But I did have a number of days where I had the engine running and revving which was very rewarding.

From what I've learned in a few of my help threads, the car still needs an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator which I didn't originally plan for. Once the vacuum leaks were fixed and TPS was set, the engine just kept dumping fuel making it impossible to start. As well I'll need to run a new starter wire because it is currently shorting out. I am not looking forward to finding that at all.

I've just remembered I bought a new relay to fix the missing wiper speeds so maybe I can do that sometime. As soon as I parked the car I immediately came across another potential beater to replace my Acura EL because it is BORING and I've almost finished repairing all of it's problems. Only problem is this car is going to need some work before i can get it registered. So hopefully I'll have my hands full again, it seems I like to be kept busy.

Hopefully I'll be cruising my turbo swapped fc this summer. For now I can only dream and wait for the winter to pass.

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Okayyy time to start checking back in here. The weather at the end of this week it's looking to be in the positive so I might start getting my tools back up and maybe thinking about how I am going to diagnose the problems I left in September.

The car has been sitting in my parents garage where it has taunted me everytime I've gone home through the winter. It's quite a different feeling having a sweet running car that you've purposely parked to get it out of the harsh conditions compared to one which you've failed to solve the issues with.

Quickly thinking through the last few months regarding the rx7 I got an aeromotive fuel pressure regulator and gauge for Christmas, and I have yet to look into buying the fittings for it. This will solve my fuel regulation issues. I plan to run it in series with flex fuel hose in order to save costs on that job. I believe I have s4 rails so I'm hoping I can disconnect the stock regulator and get a fitting in there. Not totally sure if I should do this before or after I fix the starter shorting issue? My concerns revolve around the steps for setting up the pressures for idle or whatever else if I can't even run the car.

Attachment 556307

As for the wiring short I haven't done any research into that but I'm probably going to post up in my other thread to try and get some help with that.

Also got a full new socket set and fire extinguisher for the rx7 to help my fear of fires from last summer haha

Attachment 556308

I've been keeping busy despite my lack of work on the rx7. I'll try to keep this part as short as my emotions will let me. When my Prelude was totaled in May I bought the Acura EL from my uncle but I can't say I was ever super interested in it, it is just a point a to point b car. So in November an opportunity arose and I bought a 2001 BMW 330i automatic sedan with 280,000 kms for $500. There were issues I knew of and my plan was to repair it and be able to sell the Acura to clear the cost of the BMW plus repairs.

Attachment 556309

I basically bought the worst maintained BMW ever. It's a sweet car, when it's working, but I've had literally a problem every week since I've owned it. To list it all at once, I replaced: the valve cover gasket, front right control arm, front control arm bushings, downstream o2 sensor, rear springs and shocks, disa valve, another downstream o2 sensor when the first one shorted out, fuel filter, and have had the rear drivers tire go flat on me a few times leading to nearly crashing in the snow.

About a month ago I was driving it back to school and I noticed there was so much smoke behind me that I couldn't see the other drivers. I pulled over, found that there was no oil, filled it, the smoke didn't stop so I ditched it there and came home the next day to tow it back to my parents house. Through research I tracked down the problem to be the crankcase ventilation unit and breather hoses (ccv, essentially PCV in other cars). Last weekend I spent 8 hours replacing it and the damn car is still smoking. So it's currently still left at my parents house and this weekend I plan to do a compression test on it and hope I didn't dump all this money in it for three months of use. I learned a lot from the rapid repairs I did in the last three months but as I haven't been able to sell the Acura my money's way in the negative and now I've got both the rx7 and the BMW taking up space at my parents.

Attachment 556310

Anyway there's the update since September, I'm sorry it wasn't all rx7 related, but it was automotive and has helped me to develop my skills and patience regarding cars : /

I'm going to post up in my other thread regarding the fuel pressure regulator and the starter wiring short.

gosh, a bmw and an rx7? You will be a master level mechanic in no time.

Haha thanks man it's pretty frustrating, definitely a lot of forced learning under pressure

Finally got started on the car for this year. Had a buddy come by to help try and diagnose the starter short I'm having. Got all my tools up in the garage and started to take components back out of the engine bay

Looking at the Haynes manual wiring diagram, we checked continuity at the starter relay B/G wire and it had continuity with both key to off and key to ignition with the positive battery terminal. We did this without the battery in the car. Not sure if it should have had continuity in both cases, but this was what we found.

I have some weird relays and wiring which are cut up in my car that I've ignored until now.

One is this one:
Attachment 556733

It had a wire running to the main fuse and another wire running into the car which tapped into one of the lines in the large blue connectors under the dash. It also had two black wires running out of it which were cut. So we got that shit out of there.

My buddy also found another relay under the dash which appeared to be stock but wasn't. It tapped into two of the lines on the circuit opening relay. It also had two blue lines which were cut. Previously I found a switch on the foot rest which also had two cut blue lines. So we removed this relay and resoldered the line on the circuit opening relay that it tapped into.

Random relays and wires going nowhere:
Attachment 556734

Disconnected the fuel pump connector and cranked the car. It didn't short, but this doesn't prove much because the short before was intermittent.

Then I pulled out the intake, fan, fan shroud and power steering pump to get at the wiring harness which runs everything on the drivers side of the vehicle.

Went under and disconnected the connectors for the reverse and fifth gear sensors, other transmission sensor which I forget, maybe neutral, starter positive and battery terminals, starter connector from the relay, oil pan level sensor?, oil pressure sender, the sensor on the clutch slave. Disconnected all of these so that we could pull up the wiring harness and check for shorts on the starter wiring area. Didn't appear to have any shorts after tearing apart the old plastic and tape wiring looms covering the wires. So at this point I won't run a new wire from the starter relay to the starter yet. I'm going to add a new connector thoygh because the old one is a bit melted from the fire.

I don't have my Haynes manual here so I can't reference this, but it showed a ground on top of the transmission although one isn't listed on aaroncakes's guide to proper grounding procedures. I'll probably add one anyways because it can old help.

Still not sure of what was causing everything to switch off when I tried to start the car before? The battery was always fully charged. Short on the starter, voltage drop over the whole system? I don't know.

Attachment 556736

I just priced how out much it would be to run parallel fuel setup on my car to get my aeromotive FPR installed and it's NUTS!

In order to run the setup that is on fc3s pro, with some other modifications such as using 6AN to 5/16" female spring lock adapters to attach the steel braided hose to the return fuel line and the fuel filter my total came out to $723 Canadian!! And that price doesn't include the FPR which I already have making the total fuel setup cost to be $1000! How is that reasonable? Does everyone go through this? Are there alternative ways I can get my fuel pressure regulator installed?

I think I'm going to be forced to just run with flex fuse hose and adapters in series fuel setup

I ordered fittings from Jegs to run the fuel system in series with flex hose. I figure I can always convert it in the future but right now the priority is to get the car running.

Very nice work!

Thanks, means a lot!

look at my build thread, i went solid fuel outta aluminum and bent them and used tube nuts, didnt cost more then 150$

Finally beginning to assess the plans for this season
 

Well the app I usually use to browse the forums and post up photos hasn't been working for the last month so I haven't been able to come on and post my thoughts for discussion and what I've been doing. Also repairing that damn BMW really took up a lot my weekend time with exams filling up the week.

Attachment 625582

I made a PVC pipe replacement for the intercooler based on a photo I had seen somewhere online so that I can adjust the idle whenever I get the car to run. I found it really time consuming in the fall to remove the intercooler, adjust the screw, replace intercooler, start the car, check idle, and replace so now I can adjust it easily when the time comes. I of course won't run it with this pipe in place actually just for the initial settings.

Attachment 625583

My dad got me a late birthday present of a new toolbox to hold the 400 piece mastercraft set that I got from my girlfriend so that was sweet, was more organized now than just having the trays out on a table

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So heres everything that came in either now and including what I didn't install in the fall:
4 x 550 CC low impedance injectors
4 x connectors for the injectors and one for the coolant temp sensor which is chipped
intake manifold gasket set
5/16" flex fuel hose
water pump gasket set
two sizes of vacuum hose
two sizes of plastic wiring loom to redo the front harness
vacuum hose t's and connectors
Aeromotive A1000 fuel pressure regulator
Aeromotive fuel pressure gauge
Fittings from summit racing:
M12x1.25 to 6AN adapter
2 x 6AN to barb fitting
6AN to 10AN adapter
10 AN plug
6AN to male barb fitting

Attachment 625585

Still need to get:
fuel hose clamps
copper crush washers to fix leaks on 4 small oil metering pump hoses
positive battery connector on the starter and insulator cap (melted)
insulator cap for alternator to battery connector (missing)
connector for starter solenoid (melted)

I spent this weekend tearing apart more of the front harness (which connects to all the engine components on the drivers side and looking for melted wires. As mentioned above the positive battery connector and wiring on the starter is melted at the starter from the fire as is the starter solenoid connector. Not sure exactly how to replace wire of that gauge size. Everything else is looking okay though. Going to buy bolts to replace that common 10 mm bolt which is used on most things including the grounds to get better grounding on the engine.

I was also trying to figure out where the heck to put the fuel pressure regulator as with the gauge it sticks out so far. I think I'm going to have to go with the side of the driver strut tower as AaronCake did but he didn't have AC or PS which take up a lot of space.

Here is how I planned it out
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Opened the garage door and realized I had worked straight into the morning which was funny since I hadn't made any real progress, mostly just looking over everything. I've got barely any room since my 3 cars are here when I'm working, (two of which aren't running) and my parents 2 cars. They're starting to get pretty upset about that as well.

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Also two items were pissing me off since they were all rusty which were the brake booster metal line which runs across the top of the bay and the bracket which holds the AC line so I painted them with some paint I had already.

Attachment 625591

Other things I have to do are to replace the copper crush washers on the four small hoses on the OMP as mentioned above because they are leaking since I fixed a previous leak. Install the water pump gasket and pull off the whole water pump and reseal behind it because I think it is leaking coolant from there again although I fixed it. Finally there is an oil leak I believe on the oil cooling line on the bottom of the turbo. I hope I can take this off without removing the turbo or two many other items as it is hard to see underneath where it is. Oil cooler is either cracked or leaking at one of the fittings but that was since I bought the car so I can go over that later without the engine pulled apart as it is now.

There is a rotary meet in Ontario for rx7club and rx8club at the end of May so I guess that is my goal to finish this off. I don't know if I'll be able to but I have the next four weekends to try and pump it out.

nice work!

Thanks man!

I went to Mazda and BMW dealerships today to order in some other parts which I wasn't able to find online.

from Mazda:
4 copper crush washers and the x-shaped gasket for the four small OMP lines that are leaking oil.
3 gaskets for the turbo oil cooling return line which are all leaking oil
the thermostat housing gasket between it and the block which is leaking coolant

from BMW:
flex fuel hose clamps because all mazda has are the spring type fuel clamps so in order to use some OEM spec I just went with the ones that I saw on my 330i

3 week completion challenge
 

Good progress this weekend. Awesome weather here so I rolled the car out with the intention of taking apart the fuel lines so that they could spill not in my garage. However, I ended up getting distracted with other stuff that needed doing

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Since most of the front harness connectors are still pulled up from the previous weekend I could see in direct light how badly melted my starter wiring is.

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I realized that the only way to fix it would be to just pull up the whole front harness so I can rip it apart and replace those wires. I hope I can remember how to put it back properly.

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I also installed my two painted parts and replaced a bunch of mounting bolts and ground bolts with fresh ones which looks way better and will function better

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Started to get the water pump housing off so that everything could dry so that I can replace the gaskets. Unfortunately this is the second time that I've repaired these leaks without any actual driving of the car lol

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Got the front harness out on the workbench and unwrapped all the gross 28 year old electrical tape. The good thing is that everything other than that one connector and the positive battery wire looks good. So this week I'll try to get a good replacement so that I can rewrap everything and reinstall the harness. I think its going to be hard to wrap everything the same way with the mounts in the right positions so that I can bolt it back in the right spots to the chassis, especially the negative lead ground bolt. I've never repaired a harness before so its kindof fun to have it all apart and it will be good to know that everything inside is fine.

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I was trying to find a good spot for the fuel pressure regulator and I settled on this spot (although I have changed my mind since). My concerns about this spot are that its so close to the trailing ignition coil pack. However, based on my replies on instagram I think I should aim to mount it on the engine so that if I ever track the car I don't have any issues with regulations. My new location I think will be just below the engine oil fill spout and to have a bracket coming down from it to hold the regulator. Of course if there are leaks, it will be dripping down right into the spark plugs and wires area.. but I feel better about the location overall. Though, it will be hard to see the fuel pressure gauge through the power steering pump but I can still see it for setting it up initially. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take a photo of the location I am thinking of.

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Today I cleaned up the water pump, water pump housing, turbo oil cool return line and the 4 OMP lines. Annoyingly, when I started spraying it with carb cleaner the paint began coming off and I had to use paint thinner and a lot of scrubbing to get that crappy paint off. I didn't paint it that way so I was indifferent to losing the paint and more annoyed with wasting all the time scraping the paint.

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Installed the gaskets and the parts and I really hope this is the last time I have to do it. Last time I repaired the three leaks I had a tiny coolant leak still behind the water pump housing, OMP lines started leaking, and there was still an oil cool return line leak at the top that I hadn't seen since it didn't start leaking until the engine actually turned.

Attachment 625390

That's all for this weekend. Next weekend I hope I can rewrap the harness and reinstall it, and then mount up the fuel pressure regulator and working on the fuel system. Three more weeks until the rotary meet I'm trying to attend. Of course if I do get it running I'll still have to break in the rebuilt engine and monitor everything really well, but its good to have a goal =p

nice work. The FPR would work nice where that black bracket it currently mounted on the firewall to the left of the booster. I have seen a few guys run it there.

This thread popped up today. https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...stion-1083308/

Found it relevant for you

Thanks for looking out for me man, I would love to mount it with a bracket on the UIM bolts but then it would be right above the exhaust which would scare me. I also would like to mount it in that location with the AC line bracket but then nothing would be holding up the AC line haha, maybe I could move that bracket to the left and make a new support, and then put the FPR in its place. Not sure but I've got to decide soon.

Instagram progress clips
 

I realize most of you don't use instagram and wouldn't have seen the progress video clips that I posted at the end of last year so here they all are. I still plan on compiling a full video but the current one I have going is 30 mins long and 20 gb haha (over 10,000 photos) so I need to get around to compressing that further eventually. The other problem is that none of my youtube accounts will allow me to post videos nor am I allowed to make a new account. I don't know what the deal is with that haha

These clips are all 14 ish seconds of photos taken at a 30 second burst rate. The videos are usually a mix of a some initial progress and some further along progress

WARNING: they are loud.

assembling engine bay and installing coilovers

very beginning of the project and removing the heat shield and drive shaft

replacing the brake master cylinder and my buddy removing the ECU as I replace the clutch master

disconnecting the ps/ac, my dad and I's first attempt at putting the engine and tranny in, removing struts, and replacing the fuel pump

installing engine mounts, and replacing the fuel lines with flex hose to fix leaks

dropping the rear subframe and swapping out the axles

installing the gauge and pulling the NA engine

installing gauge wiring and draining fluids

removing the fuel pump assembly and disconnecting front harness connectors

installing the rear subframe and installing the new exhaust

summary video of all of the videos to show just how much work went into the whole project last summer

I got some work done on the fuel system a few weeks ago but I was moving and my new place doesnt have internet yet so I didnt get to update

My last post left off redoing the coolant system gaskets and then taking out the front harness. Since then I was working on replacing the wires which were melted starting with the positve battery wire to the starter. I replaced this one with a 2 gauge wire and terminal but wasn't able to find a proper rubber insulator and was forced to reuse that one.

Trying out the new wire with a bent terminal to try and match the original
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4978f22551.jpg

new wire with reused insulator compared to old melted wire
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c5cfb0c930.jpg

testing out the new wire and insulation
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c62b34b4c1.jpg

Last time I posted I was trying to find a good location to put my FPR. I was going to mount new the trailing coil pack but I wanted to mount it somewhere on the block. I finally found an unused bolt on the throttle body which I could make an angled bracket off of and still read the gauge. This is it installed with a very flimsy bracket at first
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b46a31c2f8.jpg


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ec32ea5fe1.jpg

That first bracket was way too flimsy so I made a second one out of a thicker steel. This one wont vibrate like crazy as the other one was
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...2e9d58dfb0.jpg

It sits in an empty area just below the intercooler which I think is perfect. Theres enough room around it that I can fit all the lines onto it without making any crazy bends
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4ae8e12be8.jpg

I started on the second big task of removing components to install the fuel pressure regulator and new injectors. Removed the UIM and throttle body, then unhooked the fuel lines under the car to drain them, then unhooked the lines at each rail and took the rails out.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3cca71eb03.jpg


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7286522e46.jpg


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...fa0f67a5d5.jpg


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a57a85c33d.jpg

Unfortunately I've got s5 rails! So I'm not going to be able to use the 6AN to M12x1.25 adapter that I bought for the s4 rails. Since my engine is a hybrid of s4 and s5 parts I wasn't sure which parts I had until I took off the UIM.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a30cb9c21e.jpg

Since I have s5 solid fuel rails and not s4 like I originally thought, I tried to improvise getting my fittings attached. I cut the fuel pressure regulator off trying to leave one barb fitting exposed but that didn't work. So I cut further and all that was left was a thin rectangular plate. However, this diameter is too large of a hollow tube to tap and add the much smaller M12 fitting.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a30a91dd8c.jpg


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...37c65c6c24.jpg


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...81c0ee028f.jpg

Theres the new 8 gauge alternator wiring. I had to reuse the connectors on both sides because I couldnt find ring connectors that fit a large enough wire. I just sanded them down in order to try refreshing them.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...cad142b7be.jpg

The front harness is ready with new positive battery starter wire, new starter activating wire to the solenoid, and new alternator wire. I haven't wrapped it yet so that I can test it in the car first. Then I can wrap it once I know it is good. I don't really like the idea of fitting it all back in then having to remove it to rewrap it again so I have been lacking on putting this back in for a bit.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...49769a03cc.jpg

Here is the secondary fuel rail with that end ground out. My buddy made me a fitting to weld onto the end but we are having some problems with the tapping.. I bought an M12x1.25 tap just as the fitting is supposed to be. However when we tried to screw the fitting from summit into the one that he made it just doesn't match up? Then we tried to screw the summit fitting into a 1/2" thread nut and it worked? I called up summit and told them of the error and got them to send me another fitting since the one they sent me was 1/2" not M12.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...8c6aebfc8c.jpg

Sorry I know photos are jumping around amongst topics but they are going progressively through time as I work on them haha. Its the different areas of the car that I am juggling right now. Since I already took out the front harness and redid some of it, and since I have to solder on new fuel injector connectors, I decided just to remove the engine harness as well and remove all the tape and inspect it. Having a lot of the wiring out of my car is getting quite overwhelming and Ive had it out for a few weeks so I hope that I can figure out where everything goes back.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...d8a5fdba90.jpg

Got some items in the mail. A turbo s4 N318 boost pressure sensor. Somehow I didn't plan this out when I was buying the engine last year?? When i was reviewing some engine swap guides I read this again in the list and was like how did I not remember to buy this? Then I panicked and started to review a lot of guides and all of my components but I think this one is on its own. I think that I must have thought this sensor would come already bolted to the engine and that I wouldn't have to worry about finding it on my own. Technically since I bought a full ready-to-swap engine it should have but it didn't. I got this along with a fuel cut defender to get me started on not hitting fuel cut. I can apply better means in the future. I also ordered a shifter return spring from mazdatrix because I replaced the bushings but the shifter feels weird not having anything to throw it back to the middle
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...caee3ba130.jpg

Just a bunch of confusion in the engine harness. Tons of wires that are cut off related to emissions and just loosely wrapped in the harness. I removed all the tape to get a good look at everything. Also with some quick continuity checking i found that the primary and secondary fuel injector connectors were flipped! I can't believe the guy I got the engine from was so bad at knowing his way around this engine. I know I didn't just remove them and label them wrong because two of the injectors are round connectors, and two are square connectors. I will be replacing them all with GM quick release weather resistance square connectors. He also put in high impedance injectors of the wrong size thoguh my car should take low impedance but I already ranted about that at the end of last year. Found a melt in the wiring that I need to replace as well.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...175e2d86c2.jpg

The other reason I've been slacking on progress is because I have been talking back and forth with summit every week to try and get this fuel fitting figured out. Well I mentioned earlier that the M12x1.25 fitting didnt fit into the newly tapped part that my friend and I made so I had summit send me another earls fitting. When that one came it didn't fit either so, frustrated, I had them send me a russel part instead hoping that it being a different brand means theres a less likely chance of me getting another wrong part. However, after receiving the third 'wrong' part from summit I have to admit my ignorance and say something is wrong with the part that we made. I just don't see how it can be wrong because I bought a brand new tap to make the fitting and everything on both ends should be M12 x 1.25. Super frustrated with this.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...53984f3fc1.jpg


I did a few other things at this point since I was just killing time thinking about what to do with the fittings. I added some new vacuum hose from the gauge to T into the side of the UIM. I also added a vaccum hose from the engine block to the line going to the charcoal canister and capped off the upper oil filler neck hole. Then I capped off all the openings on the UIM since i still have it off. I went to check the TPS again becausse I've been meaning to do this. I found that it swept pretty well from 1-7k ohms (i know its not supposed to go above 6 but at least it was consistent here) but then when it was at zero throttle, the resistivity would jump all over the place all on its own! It would go 3k 17k infinity 5k 2k 0k .. and so on. So I may try swapping the TPS from my old NA engine after I test it.

I finished deleting all the wire for the emissioms components and fixed the melted wire. I brought the engine harness back up to the car and put it in to see how it looks. I noticed that there is about 2 feet at the end of the harness where the primary injector connectors, ground, coolant temp sensor and some other sensor wires are that I feel could be cut short. It doesnt seem necessary to be 2 feet extra in length and to just be bundled up getting crushed below the UIM. I am tempted to cut it up and solder it shorter but I don't know if I shouldnt be getting into this. However, since I still have to replace the fuel injector connectors I will be already cutting some of it, I just want to know if I can cut the others down.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...241051116f.jpg

nice progress man! Its really shaping up.

Spoiler: engine running and idling!
 

Thanks man! Wait till you see how the last few weeks have went =P

I can't believe I haven't updated for a month! Last I left off I was in the middle of replacing wires in the front harness.

Well the fuel rail fitting that my friend and I had made was not working with any of the fittings I was getting from Summit so I purchased used s4 turbo rails from White Charisma and those came in so I really had no excuse to not move forward with progress haha.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a7d64c0b17.jpg

While installing some new vacuum hose I broke my newly purchased boost pressure sensor and I had to fix it with JB weld -_- I'm pretty sure I managed to fix it without disturbing the vacuum connection. I really hope not anyway, tried my best to keep JB weld out by using a thin copper wire of the same diameter to stick inside of it. I also tried to repair my clock bezel for the second time using JB weld but it didnt work so I dont really recommend that..
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...effb2361df.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4606a3bac6.jpg

A little while ago I tested my TPS and it was just allllll over the place so I pulled one off my old engine, replaced it and tested it. This one seems to move smoothly from 1k to 4.5k ohm which I'm not surprised because that engine only had 83,000 kms when I pulled it.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...208ae18241.jpg

I vacuumed capped all the holes on the intake manifold and zip tied them properly. Also did the same with my vacuum T connections coming off the side of the intake manifold going to the boost gauge, boost pressure sensor, and bov.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3eba4551b8.jpg

I had taken out the engine harness before and it was in really rough shape. There were a bunch of lines that were cut off and just loose presumably for emissions. The injector connectors were hooked up wrong by the guy I bought the engine from so that secondary and primary were flipped which could have been a huge contributor to my engine not running and flooding I think. Also the ecu ground had three melts. One injector wire had a melt. The knock sensor was plugged in where the o2 sensor should be. I installed my new injector connectors, cut all the previously cut lines shorter near the firewall and shrink wrapped them, fixed up a bunch of poor solders, and added new connectors for the ecu ground. I put the harness back in place before making all the changes to see how much length I had to work with (apparently, two feet in excess in some areas).

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0a5087d01c.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...6ad378f486.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7fcfd1cdaf.jpg

Then I took it back out again, made the changes, put it back in the car again, made a change to the coolant temp sensor being too short, wrapped half of it, put it back in the car, confirmed everything, and finally wrapped the remainder of the engine harness. It was a long and tedious process.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0cd7ed9be3.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7fd7d05f1b.jpg

Installed the fittings onto the used s4 turbo rails I bought, as well as the fittings on my FPR. Prior to that I had loosely cut new fuel lines and vacuum hose for the FPR and put on new clamps so with the engine harness in place, and the fuel components installed, I cut the fuel lines to the appropriate length.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...6aa76355cf.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...96641272bd.jpg

Since the fuel components were installed, and the engine harness was newly rewrapped and in place, I had to finish up the front harness I had started on weeks before.

I had the front harness loosely in place to make sure all the wire lengths were good and to try and figure out where the brackets should go because it was a bit confusing once it was all taken apart. I had to take it back out and then I finished wrapping it up and installed new ground bolts and brackets to replaces the super rusts old ones.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...29bd48893d.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3e2d927cdd.jpg

With both harnesses installed I could finally hook up the battery and see how my wiring ability would hold up. Upon first connecting the battery I freaked out a bit when the headlights started to move up and the wipers began moving. I was like OH NO I wired something wrong and its shorting everything out! Then I remembered my friend had been sitting in the car previously and was playing with all the knobs and had left all of them on -_-. Turned them off, hooked up the battery and let it sit. No fires started and nothing else crazy was happening so for now my wiring had passed!
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3bf0fea18c.jpg

After that I had to check the fuel system for leaks so I had the upper intake manifold off and jumped the yellow connector on the passenger strut tower. As my friend watched the fuel pressure regulator gauge I turned the key to ON and he watched as the pressure rose. Very quickly however, the s4 fuel secondary rail I had purchased sprung a leak and started to spray onto the FPR. Turns out the surface of the rail where it connects with the banjo bolt to the primary rail had an uneven surface and could not make a clean connection with the copper crush washer. We swapped crush washers and tried again but the notch was too big. I just couldn't use the fuel rail. So that was a bit of a waste of a purchase.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...02e42ed62b.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b102872662.jpg

Anxious to keep moving forward, I had my original s5 secondary fuel rail fabbed up with a nut to attach my new fitting and put that in place. Retested for fuel leaks and everything held up to the pressure!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a17307298b.jpg

First crank of the year
 

With my engine harness and front harness reviewed and fully re-wrapped, and the fuel pressure regulator installed and checked for leaks, I could finally try starting the car.

My patience and work was rewarded and on the first try the car started up and began to idle at 1000 RPM with a few kicks of the throttle! We quickly turned it off and checked everything and started it up again. Again it continued to start up and run and holy crap it was loud. I could finally test out the wideband gauge for its AFR and boost pressure and it appeared it be working properly. The intake manifold gasket hasn't been installed yet and I was running just PVC piping in my place of my intercooler not clamped in so I expect it hurt the idling a bit. We raised the idle up to 1500 so that it could stay on. Its running pretty rich and I can hear a lot of misfiring in my exhaust video but its not enough that its not staying on. Also I never really let it properly warm up and I don't think my coolant temperature gauge is working properly because it also never warmed up. The coolant was spraying a bit but thats just from an improperly installed hose clamp. Also the thermostat never opened, but it should, because it was off my old engine (I need to buy a new one). The tach wasn't working so I jumped the bullet connector from the trailing to leading coil pack, same as I had to do last year. Not really sure what's going on with that.

Also, it was leaking a lot of oil, and smoke was coming off the turbo/exhaust manifold as if something was burning. So much so that I didn't want to try driving at all (also the power steering pump lines were all open and not installed)

Overall, super rewarding to get to this point. I don't know how I am ever going to drive anywhere with the exhaust being so crazy loud at the 1500 RPM, but I will drive it anyway haha.




Just a video showing the smoke coming off the turbo area

oil leaks and residual oil burning
 

It's been confusing to try and find where the oil is leaking because it all drains down new the oil pan and falls off the back of the subframe. However, I think I tracked it down to two areas being the OMP and the turbo oil return line which is unfortunate because I already replaced both seals.

In my previous post I put up a video showing the smoke coming off the turbo and that I believe is one of two things. One is that I may have put ultra gray on the gasket and as it started to heat up it could have been burning off. I can't remember if I put it here or not. Also, oil is still leaking out of that gasket so I need to buy another one, clean up the area even better, and install it again. Hopefully that will solve the smoking and oil burning from this area.

As for the OMP, I believe when I pulled it off there was ultra gray holding it to the front rotor housing/oil pump/front cover area so I replaced it with new ultra gray. However, after removing the OMP from my old engine, I noticed theres supposed to be an o-ring. So I bought this from Mazda as well as new copper crush washers and this past weekend I installed them all. I started the engine for maybe 1 minute and I didn't notice as much oil streaming down, and no more oil from this area. I really hope that solved that problem, I would hate for the oil pan to be leaking which was my first worry. I used the OMP off my old engine because it looked to be in better shape once I cleaned it up with a wire brush and some brake cleaner.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f5661fa1d1.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...9aa3da5d2f.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0ff9556f7d.jpg

Currently how the car is sitting. Got the intercooler roughly put back in place because I still need to put the new intake manifold gaskets in once I know that I don't need to touch anything underneth there anymore. Not looking forward to having the scrape off the old gasket without letting it fall into the manifold because it seems to be pretty stuck well on there. Still got my stupid bmw which is no longer working at all and is now just stuck in the way.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...db523cce59.jpg

putting in work brother! SOON!

Backwards
 

Thanks man! I would've liked to say I got the lean misfiring idling figured out but I've taken a step backwards. I installed a new UIM gasket to try and stop the misfiring and now all the engine does it flood and not run. I've been doing some diagnostics to try and find the problem. I found that my primary throttle valve was shut during idle so I opened that up as per spec but it didn't help.

My call for help thread is located at https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/installed-uim-gasket-now-my-engine-wont-run-1087988/

Update
 

Time to get caught up!

Last I said I was swapping out the OMP from my NA s4 engine, and then I posted without much information that I had installed a UIM gasket and that I couldn't get it to run again. Lots has happened since then so I'll get right into it.

I was trying to deal with all my leaks and I finally got it sorted by replacing all the little gaksets for oil to the turbo, (feed line, return line below the turbo, return line middle section gasket, return line gasket at the oil pump) and after doing a couple of them twice I finally got it to stop leaking oil and stop producing smoke when I idled.

Hoping to get less misfiring when I idled, I added an O2 sensor because I realized that the knock sensor was plugged in where it should be. That didn't seem to change to much (while idling anyway)

I was still having trouble with it leaning out while idling and pushing the throttle a little bit, which I was hoping was related to a vacuum leak, so I added the upper intake manifold gasket which I hadn't done. Once I finished that, I couldn't get it to start anymore.

In attempts to correct the problem, I smoke tested multiple times, found leaks at the air intake ducting near the turbo, from the secondary fuel injectors, and from the thermowax (which I later found out was stock) and patched all of them. For the fuel injectors I ordered new seals which for some reason had not come with my new injectors.

I also pulled apart the throttle body once or twice, and reset the primary and secondary throttle plates to spec.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...e8861264ab.jpg


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...bba7f2f8ae.jpg


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...e0260b133f.jpg


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4819770596.jpg


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...01c0c1140d.jpg

flooded engine
 

I kept back tracking my steps to see what I could have done to prevent the engine from starting but looking back I guess it was just heavily flooded.

I tried every step at once to get the engine going, new spark plugs, ATF injected, oil change, and a fuel cut off switch. Finally I got it to run again and now with the switch I never have a problem with running. I still need to set it up on a relay though. Also need to find a good place for the switch. Temporarily it is just hanging


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4b4c8e4ac3.jpg

Tweaking idle and small repairs
 

Although I got it finally running it was just too loud and I was trying to find a way to decrease the idle. I modified my throttle cable bracket so that the cable would be closer to the throttle link things and there would be more slack because when I tried to decrease the throttle stop screw it just tightened up on the throttle cable.

I got new accessory belts, and a bunch of other parts to install in the future like thermostat and gasket, new rad hoses, gage temperature sensor, fuel filter, and the new fuel injector gaskets. I installed the new gaskets to fix the leaks but now that I am writing this I think they may not have been as tight as I had hoped. I'll have to do another smoke test later to see if they did seal it up properly.

Im still having idling issues at this point ( and still now) and spent a long time learning how to adjust the idle stop screw, the variable idle mixture resistor, the throttle position sensor, and learned about the initial set coupler (which I doubt does anything since I don't have a BAC and am thinking about implementing one)

weird idling

despite my fixing the gaskets the turbo continues to smoke when warmed up a bit

I've tried many RPM adjustments (followed by variable resistor, TPS), and all while warmed up but can never get it to stop misfiring for some reason no matter where I put it. It does have a hard time idling below about 900 RPM.

After all the RPM tweaking I accidentally stripped my idle set screw and had to order a new fine thread bolt and learn how to tap.

Breaking the idle set screw really put a stop to my tweaking as I couldn't keep the car on without holding the pedal
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...fc1225fa8e.jpg

first drive
 

FINALLY I went for a drive
I was basically like screw it, I've had enough sitting around and tweaking, I don't even know if the transmission or differential work, its time to just go.


I drove once around the block and everything seemed okay. Of course, the engine was still misfiring, and while driving it was very hesistant, but it drove! huge step up in progress for me and I was very happy.

I stopped updating my build progress because the amount of work I did piled up and became too hard to keep track of, but I didnt quit trying. Engine finally ran properly Sept 2016. I continuously update the work on instagram as I'm always working on something and its easier to upload pics from my phone. The final problem with the engine misfiring ended up being that the CAS had been stabbed improperly, so that it appeared correct even with the timing light when in reality it was about 75 degrees off.

I just got a new set of direzzas and finally had an alignment to get all my adjustable suspension arms and coilovers adjusted. Heres the car as it sits today:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a14ca71e55.jpg


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...2c3e4fcb29.jpg