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Unfortunately I missed the chance to enter the car into Rotary Revival. Which is tomorrow
So I've told myself that it's time to pull the finger out & this weekend the car WILL be dropped on the ground to be ready for a tow truck.
I got my Old Man around to help me with some of the more fiddly stuff while I worked on the Wheel Hubs. He went about making an intake from my old 3"stainless exhaust. The thing needed a good clean Inside to remove the old **** and but it came up really neat.
He also fabbed up some Dash brackets for me which incorporated the Bonnet Latch. I'll paint them black and re-install when I get the chance.
Lately I've been addicted to watching #Mickeyspec build his FD on the youtube channel Throtl, so I thought I would follow suit and try and "Mickeyspec" the LCA's, Hubs & Stub Axles.
While my old man worked on the fiddly stuff I got my hands dirty on these wheel hubs. The things were absolutely filthy... 30 years of grime and bullshit caked on all over them but I got stuck in with a toothbrush and scourer pads to try and bring them back to life as best I could.
Next up was a thorough clean inside of the hubs, wheel bearings and castle cap etc. Once they were clean I would put them aside on a fresh towel and covered them to avoid any dirt/dust getting in.
Assembly and re-packing I decided to use the Palm-F*&k method and created an absolute Mess! hahahah There has to be an easier way of packing wheel bearings
But all in all it was a good experience to learn how the Mazda hubs are put together and I can rest easy knowing they are fresh now.. Weird that you can't replace the races without modifying the hub itself. I guess Mazda wanted people to buy $1000 worth of hubs everything they needed replacing.
Nothing like a solid weekend working on the car!! Just a great time to button up all the little things I kept telling myself were easy jobs and they could wait.
Got on to installing the fresh hubs this morning. Seems even though they were pressed in as straight as possible, they still needed a bit of persuasion to fall into place. grabbed the Torque Gun and some throw away nuts and rattled the studs into place.
Went to re-install the brake calipers and noticed the old bolts were all cross threaded and cut down way too short, only hanging on by a few threads.... FFS the Previous Owner was definitely on the spectrum with some of the mods done to this thing... Off to Repco to grab some 8.8 Bolts, cut them down to correct size & re-install.
Note: Calipers definitely need painting but they can wait till the car is tuned.
Next up was just fiddly stuff. Finalising Intercooler clamps, Front Bar Install, Piping brackets and all the small stuff that needed doing prior to getting back on the road. But God Damn it feels good to have it back on the ground and knowing that I've gone over everything. I've ordered some Mishimoto Open Ended Nuts and they should arrive end of the week to replace the interim ones on the car.
Next step from here is to call my Towie and organise a drop off time for Dyno and boost. Not sure on his schedule but hopefully I can get it done in the next month.
Last edited by Reckless_Panda; 10-21-18 at 02:57 AM.
Thanks to the solid advice from Scott, I ordered some new spark plugs.
Seems there is a lot of evidence from bumpstart, and the forums in general to use BR9EG, BR10EG when using a Microtech ECU to limit noise and mis-fires at the top end.
So I used 2 x BR9EG in leading.... 2 x BR10EG in trailing and gapped them to 0.7. (At $25 each for the 10's and $14 each for the 9's they better be good! hahahaha)
Also over the weekend I managed to just give everything one last tidy up / check over prior to tuning this Sunday. Next post you see from me will be after the Dyno Time.... Wish me luck
If I had to describe the weekend it would be "A little bit good, A little bit ****"
Edit: Just noticed this turned into a fkn novel so cliff notes = Engine ran great, sounded healthy! Got to drive it home but having massive overboost issues with no way to control the boost, suspected non-functional actuator and also have a dead aeroflow FMIC which I suspect was always broken. Car made around 230hp at 7psi so there is plenty of potential
Spent most of Saturday doing the boring stuff, mostly just to keep myself busy! Final checks on the car, packing tools (because Dyno Time never goes to plan) loaded up the back seat with Jerry's and gave the car a wash and vacuum.
Come Sunday, Car was strapped up to the tow truck and made the journey East to Diversion Garage.... Just wanted to say 'All Kind Towing' were awesome.... super gentle & careful getting the car over to Diversion garage.
The last time I remember being this anxious was when my wife went into labour …. I throw the keys to my tuna and just tell him to send it! Haven’t come this far to muck around… On a funny note, I’m about 5’8” and set the car up for me… He is around 6’4” so it looked painfully awkward for him to drive my car… Sorry Matt…
All pre-checks & loading looked great, just going through the motions the car was doing everything it was supposed to do ….. then it came time for Boost…. And Holy **** did she boost. LOL OK… no drama, might have rigged up the boost controller wrong, so we fully disconnected the 3-port and try again… Same thing. Just sends the boost sky rocketing with no way to control it…
Seems we may have a problem with the turbo setup.. My guess would be a non-functional actuator or a modified spring as even 15psi wouldn't move it. If anyone has had similar issues with a S5 High Flow Please feel free to respond as I'm about to buy a Turbosmart Universal 10psi
While it was cooling down we decided to do a boost leak test and see what pressure the actuator actually moves and by doing that we found a few leaks, one in the UIM that one of the previous owners had blocked off unsuccessfully… (Easy Fix) but the worst one was my aeroflow which has never seen any boost, had a hole in it in one of the cores… Really disappointed with that as it was still pretty much brand new. We added some smoke and sure enough, it just pisses out the top of the Intercooler. FML..
I know I sound defeated but on the whole this was a massive win for me. No electrical gremlins this time, the car was happy idling and playing the dyno game boosting away, and I even got to drive it home… Car made approx 230hp (170kw) at 7psi so It has potential......Although that alignment and balance was TERRIBLE hahaha
After chatting to several suppliers yesterday and them offering little to no advice on a bolt in solution for an S5 Wastegate Actuator (Which still baffles me as these cars have been around for 30 years) I got home to find mine is already dead straight. Winner... I'm guessing mine has been modified before as the stock ones have a definite kink in the rod.
So I'm just going to order the Turbosmart Universal 150mm with a 10mm Clevis Extension & a 10psi spring. Fingers crossed it does the job.
Just a small update but Aeroflow are sending me a replacement Intercooler free of charge. This speaks volumes to me from a local company, especially since I made the purchase 18 months ago. That saves me a lot of cash and I can get the car back to the Dyno sooner than expected.
Nice updates mate! The IWG75 will get you out of trouble! and hopefully that cooler will be good! I will be interested to know what your AIR temps are...
Nice updates mate! The IWG75 will get you out of trouble! and hopefully that cooler will be good! I will be interested to know what your AIR temps are...
Thanks mate.... Sooooooo close to being 100% ish... Air temps in QLD at the moment wouldn't be ideal hahaha Bloody heatwave, 43 degree ambient temperatures. Bring back Winter!!
Wheel Alignment and Balance this weekend so should take away that god awful steering feeling.
I wanted to get the vibration sorted in the front end.. The munted bushings would only cause a slight knocking in the steering. My guess was wheel balance but after getting it to the shop it seems the 22mm of total toe in at the front was the main culprit I guess eye balling the alignment at the dyno wasn't the greatest idea! Drives nice and straight now and the steering wheel isn't totally skewed when driving!
Next up was the Intercooler... Aeroflow wanted to see it destroyed before sending through the replacement... I could have gotten creative with how to break it but went with a trusty old hammer.
Last on the weekend to do list was ripping off the old actuator... **** easy as I have nothing left in the way of my setup.. although the little circlip went flying and it took me 20 mins to find it! hahaha Measure up confirms the 150mm Turbosmart will work.... Fixed up the Bracket so it's ready for when the parts arrive!
That one time when parts arrive well before they were expected! Managed to get the FMIC and the Actuator all buttoned up yesterday!
Actuator was an easy install... I went with the 10PSI IWG75 Turbosmart Universal Actuator 150mm and the 1/4"long, 6.3mm DIA Clevis Extension. Top Tip - Use your bike bump to extend the arm for a super easy install. All looks good and it starts to move around the 10psi mark.
Note: This combo will need slight bending, cutting down thread and modifying to work but nothing crazy. I have a gut feel that my original actuator may have been operational, just forced into position when installed, unable to extend when it was jammed where it was. The main bracket had to be opened up from 90deg to around 110. and the Clevis had to have a slight bend as well to mate up. Only around 10 deg. If you are new to installing parts like this, just remember the actuator clevis should be a straight shot to the Turbo otherwise it puts pressure on the diaphragm and rod.
FMIC was supposed to be the easy one but the threaded boss centres were different between the two coolers. 10mm difference in centres meant I had to slot the mounting bracket. Easy enough but still a pain for the same part number. Got it installed though and it's all ready for it's finishing tune over Christmas Holidays!!! Time for proper boost
The car is still in my possession, I’ve just been giving her the silent treatment for the last few months. It was either that or it was going up for sale as scrap parts as my patience was wearing thin. Between the Wastegate, The alternator and hulk smashing old brittle window switches, it was enough for me to need a relationship break! Big thanks to Scott & Aaron for talking me out of selling.
The tune end of last year was cut short again due to the wastegate flapper now hitting the dump pipe…. But it was really my fault as I should have checked the FULL actuation prior to putting it back on the dyno. I’ve been working up the motivation to put her back on stumps to take the dump pipe off and see what the hell is going on..
The alternator has also been playing silly buggers & annoying the **** out of me especially at night! I test at the post and at the battery, everything is fine but after getting up to operating temp and below certain revs it stops charging and the Microtech reads 12.5 downwards to 11 at some points. So bloody frustrating but I’m not sure if it’s a gilmer thing with the revs at idle or if it’s the Alternator on it’s way out? Either way I managed to purchase a High output 120A alternator so I’ll install that ASAP and hope for the best.
On a good note, it made 18psi with no hesitation so it’s making plenty of boost! If I drive it, I have to be careful not to go over 10psi… It’s honestly a big tease, like sex without the climax…. So I don’t even bother driving it as it sits! hahaha
After chatting to a few friends, most cost effective and least painful Plan of attack to fix my boost issue (Sorry Scott, No GTX for me yet :P )
1. Dump and Turbo off 2. Measure Up and lasercut back plate to create an S5 HT18 flange 3. Port out S5 IWG holes as much as possible 4. Cut flange off current dump 5. Bell Mouth current dump pipe to allow full actuation. 6. Pray to the car gods it's enough to control the bloody boost!!!!!!
Been a while since my last post and I haven't made much progress since buying the alternator. Work & Life getting in the way these days!.... MUST MAKE TIME FOR RX7 BEN!!!
Aaron and I managed to get the turbo off the car to inspect the actuator & turbo flange. Honestly I don't think the poor thing has even been hot enough to seize up any of the bolts, they came off the block easy. As for the rear flange... take your time... Holy **** these bolts have swelled up an insane amount. Spent a good half a bottle of CRC, and just like making sweet love, backed the bolt in and out very gently until I managed to pull out.
Looking at the flange and dump, Bloody hell this can't be OEM Mazda... the actuator only moves a tiny bit and then contacts the solid flange really restricting the flow. I imagine Mazda figured these turbos would only ever run 6psi or something stupid. I've had to slightly bend the flapper arm so at least it can articulate to 90 degrees without contacting the casting.
I've also done a measure up & DXF of the rear flange, sending out a modified version for lasercut. The modified version will be a hollow flange allowing for a bellmouth fab up & full operation of the flapper.
And while the turbo is off the car I'm going to hedge my bets and do some porting on the turbo as well. just going to dremel it out to the full extents possible without welding on a new cover. Fingers crossed that does the trick!
On another note, it seems my build has been going on for way too long as my fuel is now discontinued! WTF Caltex! Lucky I have one last tune to finish this bitch off so I'll have to move to United E85 now!
So it would seem I have learned a valuable lesson this weekend.... and Scott has the permission for a few "I told you so's" :P But I had to try..
Figured I would finally get on top of this turbo and the boost creep issue. Put aside Saturday for the dis-assemble, iwg porting and re-installation of the Hi Flow S5 Turbo...
But it would seem 30 year old parts just aren't worth investing time & money in any more because as I pulled it apart I found a nice big crack in the rear housing. I'm sorry to anyone reading that was as excited as I was to bring an old T04E hi-flow back to life....but the crack was big enough for me take a step back, cry a little and then come up with a new strategy for the turbo setup.
As luck would have it, I still have a stainless Manifold from when I bought the Engine and Gearbox. And on top of that I have some very generous friends in the TA scene who have parts laying around. (They went bigger and better) HUGE thanks to Dan, he has a fresh rebuilt GT35R & a 45mm External Wastegate ready to go for my engine. This setup is WAY more than I was ever planning for but this project has it now crossed the threshold of "basic street car" and entering the realms of stupidly quick street car & fun track car.
Just means I have to revisit the Oil & Water lines, Intake, Intercooler piping and Fab a new dump pipe! hahahaha ******* Deja vu with this car
Last edited by Reckless_Panda; 08-04-19 at 03:12 AM.
For some reason this car broke me last year. I hope some others here can relate, because after pulling the turbo and trying to hunt down a restored one it dawned on me how draining it was and how much energy I was investing in this car with no reward except for pain and constant heartbreak.
Sure she looked wild & made all the right noises under the covers.... but the love was gone. I honestly couldn't bear to let her go like a man either, so I did the only thing I could do.... and ghosted her. That was almost a year ago now.
Yesterday, just casually doing a clean up of the car port and like an old Ex-girlfriend after a nasty breakup, time seems to have healed all wounds. She looks happier, been doing pilates with her friends and just seems way more confident. Dayummm I think it might be time to give this relationship a second chance!!
10-20-18, 04:26 AM
Not sure on his schedule but hopefully I can get it done in the next month.
Few more weekends to do a bit of tidy up and final checks then it's booked in for dyno time on the 25th November. Exciting times! 
I'm sorry to anyone reading that was as excited as I was to bring an old T04E hi-flow back to life....but the crack was big enough for me take a step back, cry a little and then come up with a new strategy for the turbo setup.
