meerkat8701

litlle update so you know that im still alive..
well first off this happened..it was almost a relief, this weather was wierding me out. (emphasis on almost)



then my daily driver decided to betray me by getting a case of intermittent start motor failure.
basicly i can only drive somewhere if theres a hill to park on otherwise im buggered.
be sorting that out tomorrow. without my dd its a real pain in the *** to get to my garage.

otherwise i have been reading a bunch on here and between the forum and the fsm i think i may have worked out why i wasnt able to adjust the idle on the seven. according to the fsm, im supposed to connect a jumper wire to the terminals of the"initial set connector", and then adjust the idle with the air screw on top of the UIM. while trying to sort out my dd i had a litle look for it and i think i found it so i went and took a piccy. the only thing is that in the fsm it looks like it has only two holes whereas mine has three? hmm..



its the one with my cumberland sausage thumb on it. could anyone confirm that this is the right one?
concerning my work situation i have been able to sort out some work at my old job (glad i didnt burn that bridge) which should sort me out with enough money to tide me over until i find something suitable and most importantly, enable me to continue with the project.

robban hasnt been idle and sent me a picture of his progress. ill put them up as i recieve them.



hope i can get some tempo going with this project. i havent been getting anything done and its starting to wear at my usual good humour...

GeenIdee

I wish we had snow over here.... Havent seen any of it this winter so far..

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I find snow to be best enjoyed in the abstract rather than in person.
Besides, Geen, wouldn't the extra weight drive your country even further beneath the waves?

meerkat8701

your just trying to making me jealous man

couldnt agree more. the 15 minuite walk from work the other nite was enough to have me picking ice out of my beard. the weather has been holding steady around minus five and though its been much colder in previous winters, it just FEELS colder. im no viking thats for sure..
the last two weeks have been rather annoying to say the least. as i mentioned before, my daily driver has been playing up, but intermittently, making it a bit hard to work out the problem. at the beginning of this week the start motor didnt seem to work. though tempted to just take a chance and buy a used start motor, the fact that i suck so much at electronic troubleshooting bugged me so much that i forced myself to sit down and read about it and do it properly. turned out that it was the start motor in the end so now im mobile again and have learnt something in the process. i also changed my rear shocks. theres still a couple of things to to on it which i shall have to do soonish considering i have a road safety test coming up in february. well at least im mobile.
i still havent got anything done. i really need an extra pair of hands with me to sort out the idle because the car dies before i can make it round to the engine bay and none of my mates are currently available to help out. hopefully i can get someone to gimme a hand next week. i finally got the cash together to order some bits from racing beat. complete hyperflex bushings set, competition engine and transmission mounts, and a rear camber adjuster will be making the long journey from sunny california to this snowy wasteland in which i reside.
im hoping to sort out the idle and timing next week and then ill be having her up on jackstands and getting down and dirty (literally) with the suspension. from the traumatic tales i have read about on here im not expecting an easy ride. even changing the rear shocks on my micra proved to be a right bastard so im expecting this will be a whole lot worse.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Do you fear the suspension in general or the bushings in particular?

meerkat8701

according to the fsm it looks quite straightforward in terms of components so i would definately say its the bushings that are making me a bit nervous. im wondering whether its unnessecary worry though. joels younger brother works as an apprentice in the workshop at a rather large volvo dealership here and according to him they have all the proper stuff for removing and installing bushings. he said he was more than happy to help. im assuming that that means that i just have to remove the various parts and then just give them to him with the bushings right? i have never done this before so i really dont know what to expect.

one things for certain. im not doing any more with this bloody engine until its a bit warmer. i was there yesterday and just wanted to have a last bash at getting her to run right. i couldnt find the spacer for the alternator bolt so i cut a peice of copper pipe i had lying around to size and used that instead.
this time i managed to make it round to the engine bay after i started her and kept her going. she sat steady at 2500 rpm which is of course way too high. it doesnt seem to be the cold start system because when it was up to temp the revs didnt go down. i had put a jumper wire on the initial set connector but turn ing the screw didnt make a difference. im pretty sure i had put the jumper wire wrong.
here it is as shown in the fsm..


and then how mine looks as i showed in a previous post..



i had put the jumper wire in the two bottom holes closest to my hand in the picture. this is what makes me a bit confused. as my wire has only two ends and the connector has 3 holes, should i put one in the top and then just take one of the holes at the bottom or should i split one end of the wire and put it the two bottom holes while the other end sits in the top hole?. sorry for the thousand questions anyway, i had a look at the timing. (i had zeroed the engine and re-stabbed the cas just to make sure that everything was as it should be)

when i stabbed the cas, i could only get the bolt hole to line up furthest out to the right of the plate that is attached to the cas that the bolt goes through. the timing was way off btdc (that is to say roughly 90 degrees to the left of the pin) when rotating the cas counter-clockwise. i had to rotate it all the way just to be able to see the markings and even then they were still about 20-30 degrees btdc and the fuel was igniting in the exhaust. i dont now if the fact that i had her running at 2500rpm when doing this is the cause for it being so off. i could lift the throttle a bit and then the revs went down but then she wants to cut out. when not touching the throttle, should i be able to move it upwards? i checked for obstructions around the bottom of the rod that goes down from it but i couldnt find anything. its very wierd. thing is i havent touched anything with the throttle whilst removing and installing the engine. i just put it back as it was. i dont understand what could have changed so that it does not behave as it should when following the fsm's guidlines. i know that i was told to look at the tps in an earlier post but i have no idea where it is and cant seem to find it either.
the worst of all is that whilst trying to figure this out im freezing my *** off and cant feel my tootsies which severely hampers my concentration and willingness to be there more than a half hour. its inhumane.

so even though its bugging the hell out of me im going to have to leave it until the weather at least allows me to be outside for a while without running the risk of frostbite. my usual paranoia keeps making me think that maybe there is something seriously wrong and im going to fix everything else only to find that i have rebuild the engine again or something equally depressing and have to go another summer without getting to drive her which is an unbearable thought.

im just waiting for a confirmation email from racing beat that my stuff is on the way, (they have taken the money anyway) then i thought i would get started on the suspension. from what i have read, i thought i would get her up on jackstands again, and start by spraying all nuts and bolts i will be removing with penetrating oil and let that soak in for a week or two with frequent visits to the garage to spray em up. is this exaggerated? i really dont want removing the suspension to turn into a battle for middle earth.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Don't worry about the bushings, it's just work.
What I mean by "work" is...
Some jobs require thought- like your situation with the idle- others, like bushings, only require muscle. How you apply the muscle depends on your tooling but the end result is the same- old bushing out, new bushing in.

I did the FD (twice!) using a shop press and the Z just with hand tools on the patio.
Neither was particularly fun but not awful either.
It's just applying force usefully and there are a lot of ways to do it.

And yes, I'd consider multiple applications of penetrating lube to be excessive...one or two shots should do it.
A trick that sometimes works when a bolt is frozen is to try tightening it.
At this point you don't really care what direction the nut moves, you just want it to move somewhere. Once it starts to break free (loosening or tightening) you're home free.

Usually.

meerkat8701

thanks for the tips clokker! that definately sets my mind at ease. looks like im going to have to wait until i can meet richard at the garage so that our cars can swap places. i would prefer that his is in front of mine before i make my car harder to move. im also going to have to invest in a creeper since im going to spend more time under the car. will be nice not to have to lie on the slab of ice that is the garage floor and further exascerbate my lower back pain.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

+10 points to Gryffindor for the use of "exacerbated".

Well done, Hermione.

meerkat8701

you crack me up mate

clokker

iTrader: (2)

-10 points for spelling it wrong.

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

This may help you with your timing issue. Line the yellow notch on the crank pulley up with the tit on the front cover, pop the cap on your CAS and see if it looks like this picture:

meerkat8701

thanks molovman! the problem is that i have a euro-spec 13b which has some minor differences which include the cas. i cant even find pictures of it on the net so ill have to take a picture of it and show you what mine looks like. i have no idea why mine is different. whatever reason mazda had for making these changes to the euro 13b's, 26 years on its made things complicated. there seem to be so few people out there who have real knowledge of these and i cannot for the life of me seem to find a euro spec manual. im not even sure if that would help either. i might swing by a mazda dealer and see if they have an old one knocking about. considering they dont even seem interested in rotaries anymore, (especially the fc) it would be nice to get a hold of this information if it would help any others that wind up with one of these models.

i have spent the best part of this week fretting over why i have not received a confirmation email from racing beat saying that they sent me my bits and bobs. well, i received an email yesterday and my stuff has already arrived at swedish customs! considering i ordered them last friday it went extremely fast! aahh the world is really getting smaller

looks like i can get cracking sooner than i thought. i have a few days off next week so i will be getting busy with the bushings then. now i have to find some money for the coilovers. (at the moment it would have been nice to literally "find" the money) i think i might have to sell some stuff. or sex. whichever brings in the moolah faster

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Do your newly resectioned wheels work with stock shocks or no?
Still have the stock wheels/tires?

Point being...it would actually be better from a development standpoint to do the bushings separate from replacing shocks/struts. That way you'd be better able to evaluate the effect of the bushing replacement without confusing the results with all new dampers added into the mix.

Unlike the Z car, FC shocks/struts are easy to swap, so there's no real disadvantage to doing it in stages.

meerkat8701

according to my calculations the new wheels will work with the shocks i have on there right now. the previous owner had changed them to some kind of patent "slightly better than stock" shocks. i think the only thing you could adjust on them was the hardness. im pretty sure i have the stock wheels and tyres but i had the gtr wheels and tyres on while the seven was still functional.

this is a very good point! i have'nt received anymore progress reports from robban so i'm imagining he wont be ready with the new wheels for a while and i have to get some dough together for the new shocks and tyres so it looks like that that will be the order in which i shall be doing things anyway. it would be very interesting to see what affects what in terms of handling/feel. this reminds me that i havent even ordered the s5 tails yet. i really want those and they will be the last thing i will need to order from abroad for the time being.

i should get quite a good paycheck next month so i should be able to put some cash aside towards these last bits that i need. i just hope the flow of work i have been getting this month will continue. it would really suck to delay the project because of insufficient funds...

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Ah yes, the vicissitudes of a build project, bathed in the ebb and flow of capital.

Fortunately, there are a billion little things you can do that require no cash, just a lavish expenditure of effort. You'll probably hate it at the time, thinking it's just makework but will appreciate it later.

The trick is to not let the project languish for want of a single part(s)...just ooze into another area and carry on.

Or you can sit in your perma-dark igloo* and weep into your Spendrups Julöl.



*Lacking any knowledge (and the will to wiki), Americans just assume that all northern peoples live in snow forts with their reindeer and that the sun barely rises.
This would totally explain Nordic Death Metal and Volvos.

meerkat8701

hahaha apart from the housing quality, your not far off man! dont forget the high suicide rate and of course...saab

speaking of öl, my mate is having his birthday this evening so very soon ill be imbibing a couple of litres of the stuff. gotta live right?

your absolutely right though clokker. im going to be at the garage as much as possible next week so hopefully ill be able to get some things that have been bothering me. mostly things in the engine bay that make it look a bit shabby overall. the black rubber and plastic parts mostly. would be nice to find something so that they look a bit cleaner. i know a whole bunch of other stuff will come to me when im there..

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I clean both rubber and plastic with Purple Power, followed with hot water/dish soap and a hot water rinse.

Then it depends on how it looks and how much effort you want to invest.
If plastic parts are in good shape but discolored, it's probably easiest to just give them a quick shot of satin black Fusion and call it a day. A few light dust coats should even out the appearance.

Rubber is another story.
Rubber oxidizes much like aluminum and if you can remove this thin outer layer, it looks pretty good again. If done manually, Scotchbrite pads work and I have used a very soft bristled brass wire cup brush in a drill as well.
The best way is to sandblast 'em.
You don't want uber high pressure or very aggressive media, but get it right and the rubber looks brand new.

So it can start oxidizing all over again.

I dislike the obviously artificial (and impossible to maintain) high gloss protectants like ArmorAll and find Mother's "Back to Black" to be much nicer. It leaves a more natural clean satin finish and holds up pretty well.

On interior plastic/vinyl my first choice is plain ole petroleum jelly ("vaseline").
Can't say I've tried it underhood but the big corrugated intake tube would be a perfect subject.


It occurs that I've been terribly American in the assumption that any of the above cited brand names would be readily available in your remote outpost.
I realize it may be months till the next trading caravan is able to reach you and of course, nobody trusts the penguins.

I suppose you'll have to work with locally available materials, presumably walrus blubber and whatever aromatics thrive in hell.
I'm sure it'll be fine.

meerkat8701

even though i live in the capitol, it sometimes feel like im far away from everything that i want, apart from peace and quiet (by that i mean unbearable boredom). theres alot of that here. though im sure someone from umeå would probably have something to say about that statement..
apart from the purple power, i can get my hands on the other products you have mentioned and i should find something similar to it here. concentrated moose stomach acid or something to that effect.

since my last post where i claimed that i would be free this week, by the time i had awoken after my nightshift i had a 16hr shift lined up for yesterday. (im at the 12hr mark as i type) fortunately one of the little perks of this job is that you get to catch some z's on the night shift.

my stuff came today and my lovely swedish assistant (my girlfriend) was kind enough to go and get them for me while i was at work. i only got a picture from her but it looks like everything is present and correct. good news and sucky news. ok i give ya the good news first. i was a bit unsure what i would get from racing beat due to some confusion whilst ordering but it turns out that i had ordered radiator hoses! they are superduper blue though. im not sure what effect this will have on the contrast in the engine bay but i have convinced myself that (1). its not a fashion show. (2). at least i dont have to worry about unexpected leaks from the 27 yr old ones that are in place now. and (3) i wont have to faff about cleaning the old crusty ones



the sucky news is that the bloodsucking bastards at swedish customs made me fork out 900 kronor (140 dollars) to get my hands on my stuff. considering the price i payed for my stuff thats almost 30%!!! i resisted the urge to ask if they wanted a pint of blood and a pound of flesh with that (because they probably would have said yes) and tried to focus on the positive side of things.

i got a couple of phonecalls in the beginning of my shift yesterday. one from robban who is putting what time he has over at work on my wheels.



these are the rears. he has a little bit of slicing and dicing to do but its moving forward quite nicely. he said that he will be calling his contact tomorrow to see if he can get some barrels fabbed up and welded. he did say that he was a bit worried as to how he would be getting everything to line up straight when he welds it all up later but i just think he is being a bit hard on himself tbh. i have full confidence in his capabilities so im sure he'll figure it out.
the other phonecall was from my mate richard. i wanted to see if he had any plans of moving the v70r in the near future before i make the seven harder to move. turns out he has had alot of work on as well so he hasnt had time to tinker with it and he said he would be waiting for it to be a little warmer.
this means i have nothing hindering me from starting! fääntastischt.

on the subject of volvos, ill leave you with this. this kind of stuff is pure comedy for me.. Want A Good Sleeper? Try A Brick-Shaped Supra | Speedhunters

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I love the idea of Volvo sleepers, An Amazon 122 for me, please.

Here's a rather amazing build thread for you:
Ferrari F40 LM Restoration | Build Threads

meerkat8701

couldnt agree more my dear chap. i wouldnt mind desecrating one of those with a nice rb26. (if only i had the money and knew how)

nice thread! i wanted to read it properly so im about halfway through. money didnt seem to be an object but who cheaps out on cars like those? (apart from the previous owner haha)

burning with ambition after my last post, i went to the garage after work, got her up on jackstands, removed the wheels and sprayed up all the nuts and bolts i intended to fiddle with. richard even got the heating fan going again and i left it on overnight.

the next day, (thursday) i woke up with a hangover. when i remembered that i havent had a drop since saturday, i soon realised that i had the flu. headaches, aching muscles and a raging fever. the whole shabang.

its perfect timing like this that requires one of these..


on the positive side, the penetrating oil is sitting there working away whilst i lie in bed feeling sorry for myself.

helvete..

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I used to think that the point of your godless socialistic medicine was to grow a crop of neo-Aryan warriors but I rest easier now knowing that the system can barely keep you functional.
Just like War of the Worlds, exposure to a simple rhinovirus brings the fearsome Swedish juggernaut to its knees, begging for Kleenex.

It's possible that all your car needs to run is a shot of vitamin B12.

meerkat8701

the brotherhood keeps ignoring my letters of application. i cant imagine why

i finally shook that nasty virus today and promptly went to the garage. (probably infecting some poor unsuspecting people with the remnants of it in the process)

managed to get the front suspension down and it actually went swimmingly!



this of course made me suspicious and so i went to have a look at the rear suspension. and my suspicions were confirmed. definately not as straightforward. i was in a very amiable mood and with the "i have started so i will finish" attitude, i then proceeded to remove the sublink. which was kinda stupid because the bushings for that were not included in this "master kit". in fact, there were a frickload of bushings that werent included and i had to check off the list to see what i actually had. turns out i only had the bushings for the rear swaybar, contol links and one for the trailing arm. not complaining though.. its my fault for assuming that "master kit" was synonimous with "complete". with the amount of work involved to remove the trailing arm for one bushing, i sincerely hope its worth it cos in my honest opinion it doesnt look fun. not fun at all...

ill be down there tomorrow for more fun with the rear suspension. and i havent even begun with the engine and transmission mounts. its going to be a busy week. considering last the mind-numbingly boring 5 days i have just undergone, it doesnt sound that bad tbh..



*disclaimer* i have noticed my appalling lack of correct grammar, spelling and punctuation throughout the entirety of this thread. i regret to inform you guys that i will be continuing to document my thread in this fashion..... because im a lazy bastard.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Wait just a minute here.
You seem to have blithely skipped over the bit where you relocated the front wheels inside the frame rails.
Seems like the sort of thing you'd have mentioned.

meerkat8701

its my new super cool drift setup

i cant seem to remove the bolt on the trailing arm fork furthest out. there doesnt seem to be enough space to pull it all the way out. i mean the bolt that goes through the toe adjustment part. any tips?

*edit*

looks like im going to have to loosen the sub frame...