aaah now i get it. im at the garage now. wonder if i could take away the whole thing and replace it with lexan. i read a bit more about and its not too difficult material to work with apparrently i have no intention of using the boot anyway so it would be nice to get rid of that weight. maybe im just being obsessive about weight. and the end of the day i wont be competing with it but anything that makes it go faster peaks my interest =)

That would be "piqued", young padawan.

And yes, especially for a car that has yet to run, you are being obsessive about weight.

Just out of curiosity, how fast is enough?

Lookin good!

I stand corrected sensei =p i must admit, I only use my English on this website as I have only one english mate here whom I seldomly meet so my grammar, spelling and pronunciation are almost irreparably damaged. Im as surprised that my English has got this bad as I am surprised that I have learnt almost fluent Swedish in 6 and a half years. Basically, its a mindfuck.

Concerning my feelings about speed, I have a Nissan skyline r32 gtr with approx 370hp that I have about two months behind the wheel when it has been operational. That was "fast" for me. Then I have my daily driver. A 1 litre Nissan micra with 50hp that I drive all the time. Out of these cars, my rx7 is my favourite. There are so many reasons that I like it so speed is not that important because I love the whole package! The 80's look,the unusual rotary engine, the sound, the feel, ect,ect. I think that 250-300 hp would feel "fast" for me but I dont feel that its necessary because the car is so cool. Therefore I just want it to be responsive and relatively nimble. Am i making sense? =)

I make a real distinction between "feeling fast" and "being fast", because they are rarely the same thing.
I once watched a very young Freddie Spencer win every race he entered, competing against bikes with double the horsepower. He was on a Yamaha RD350 and was amusingly outclassed on the straights but he carried so much more corner speed that his lap times were seconds below the liter bikes he raced.

Unfortunately we do not live on racetracks, so the only dramatic demonstration of speed most of us get is the kick in the ass when goosing the throttle. It's a very simplistic and narrow definition of "fast". Any racer will tell you that the trick to going fast is not to slow down. Getting up to speed is just the start, not squandering speed in the form of brake heat is much harder and where the real talent lies.

You really can't have too much traction (tires), braking or suspension compliance but absent those three things, you can have too much power.

if my knowledge serves me correctly the yamaha rd350 was two stroke and quite fast for its engine size. i had no idea that it was entered into competitions against 1000cc bikes thats insane!

this is very wise advice and i when i think about it, i would be more than satisfied with a reasonably reliable, fun car for quite a long while before i get bored and decide to modify it further than i have already planned to do, so i geuss ill stick to the plan and just try to do everything properly and to the best of my ability.

yesterday i went straight down the pub so i couldnt put up any pics so i thought id do it today. i tidied up the harness that goes to the ecu which went relatively fast..
i also sprayed all contacts with electronics cleaner and then blew them clean with an air pistol

Attachment 667666

i then proceeded to clean the fan and the original air filter. ( i will be replacing the k&n filter with it basicly because it allows less crap into the motor and i get cooler air to boot) seems like when it comes to this, original is best.

all i have left really is to clean the parts i have left over and change the hoses. it seems like alot of hoses to change. i just wonder if the the information for the types of hose and diameters are anywhere on the net. it seems from a passing glance that i would only need approximately 4 types? :dunno: all i know is that i will be abiding by your earlier advice and replacing them all. how did you go about it?

then i have another litttle problem. i had a go at cleaning up the intake and it looks presentable,

Attachment 667667

but then i have this bunch of bits left to clean. i basicly want the components that can be seen to look relatively clean when i put them on to the motor so that it wont be a super big contrast between clean/crappy looking parts.

Attachment 667668
Attachment 667669

i could really use some tips as to how to go about getting these bits looking ship shape without shedding too much blood, sweat and tears =)

Unfortunately, blood, sweat and tears are exactly what's in store for you, sorry.

There is no magic bullet cure, it's all going to be drudgery.
As mentioned, you want to avoid having a shiny, perfect part nestled among crappy looking stuff because it just emphasizes the disparity.
Accordingly, I start with the worst looking component and make it look as good as possible, then bring everything else to that level.

Probably the most challenging part will be the throttle body...lots of corroded, rusty small bits on a complex aluminum casting. You really do NOT want to disassemble this because it's a bitch to get back together correctly. Depending on your resources (blast cabinet/dipping tanks), this can be relatively easy or, done by hand, very tedious.

One simple and (visually) advantageous move is just to replace all the hardware with new (or good condition) bits. I think I replaced 99% of the nuts/bolts/screws in my bay (thread chasing and anti-seize along the way) and that alone makes a big difference.
Even if things don't look top notch, at least they come apart and go together well and that counts for something.

Remove studs and sand flanges flat and true.

As you ponder just what you'd like the bay to look like, remember what will happen after you're "finished" (because you never truly are). Polished and gloss surfaces will require more upkeep than natural/matte ones...how much effort do you want to expend on beauty?
RobXX's vert has a stunningly presented bay but I think it would require more effort than I'm willing to expend in upkeep.

With the exception of the waterpump and housing, everything is pretty easy to remove later without major disruption. Do what you can now and just plan on going back later to touch up rough spots.
It's an ongoing process, not a "one-n-dun", so there's no need to unduly pressure yourself.

Getting her running is the Prime Directive, making her pretty is just for your benefit.

you were completely right about that! i was there yesterday and just picked a random component and just started cleaning it with soap water and bathroom cleaner (its got granules in it and it actually helped!) i have alot of assorted brushes from when i was cleaning the 13b so i just started scrubbing. this took me a couple of hours..

Attachment 667497

i only had a couple of hours at the garage yesterday so thats all i managed but now i know that its possible to get the parts not looking so shitty. its actually quite therapeutic sitting there cleaning parts in the sun and it actually feels like im getting somewhere!

i also had a crack at making the power steering delete look less john deerish...

Attachment 667498

im not sure how im going to solve the one to the left but im sure ill figure something out. today will consist of more scrubbing :icon_tup:

feel ur pain,thats a lot of work.

Thats what Always gets Me with this Engine. With the p/s, a/c and airpump gone there arent very many bits left over! Keep looking at them thinking "is that it?"

While on the subject, i am pretty sure that i have no further need of the large bracket the a/c and p/s were attached to. Am I correct in assuming that I can throw this away?

Remove it but don't bin it.
You can never tell...it might make the basis for a low mount alternator bracket or somefink.

On my alloy castings I used Purple Power and a brass bristle brush.
Worked well but I was planning on paint, so staining wasn't an issue.

"Natural" finish aluminum paint will make the cleaned casting look fresh from the blast cabinet.

I too sympathize with your pain, I'm just starting on the Z car and it's in worse shape than yours.

even though you have so much more shitty work ahead of you and im not to envious of that i cannot help but feel jealous that you guys are gna sort out that fairlady they really are beautiful cars. they have become extremely popular over the last few years among the younger lads (and ladys!) and owners seem to have cottoned on to that they arent just pieces of crap to be donated to the junkyard. if in good condition they can go for a pretty penny. and rightly so. its a gorgeous car!

ill just be trying to get them as clean as possible. no painting and as i do not have the good fortune to have any blast cabinet/dipping tanks ill will have to make sure i shall buy some elbow grease in bulk amounts :nod:. i decided as per your advice in a previous post that i don't want to have to spend more time polishing my engine bay than driving although i can appreciate people that do it, it does definitely look good.

continuing with my usual thousand questions, im also wondering if there are any parts i should avoid getting water on/in? i have avoided the airflow meter (just gave it a wipe it sits under the airfilter anyway) im mostly wondering about the alternator. it has a fair bit of oxidisation on it and is a very visible part.

I generally assume that if a part is in the engine bay it had better be able to take some water exposure, so I don't worry much about it.

Alternators aren't too difficult to take apart.
I'm lazy though and would just get a "new" one from the junkyard. Upgrade the output while you're at it, see Jackhild's Taurus alt writeup, it's very good.

cheers clokker that put my mind at ease. the closer i get to getting my engine back, the worse my paranoia gets. just dont want to eff this up.
as promised, i spent a good part of the day scrubbing and its a pleasure to watch the pile of yukky parts i put up earlier dwindle.

Attachment 667455

i know it doesnt seem much but it was proper fiddly. this was the best i could get them and i most certainly hope i wont have to do this again in a hurry. it takes AGES by hand..

i also finished off the blocking off of the power steering. i had left them open and turned the wheel full lock from left to right to make sure there wasnt any more oil being pushed out, then tightened them up and did it again and there were no leaks despite me managing to put a crack on the wajamacallit under the fitting furthest to the left.. huzzah! i geuss ill have to put something over it just to make sure it doesnt worsen. clumsy really..

Attachment 667456

okey! important question. is this thingumabob my acv? air pump is bye bye so as far as i understand i can take this off and block it off?

Attachment 667450

air pump controls 5th and 6th ports doesn't it?

Really good read, i'm going to be doing much the same as you are right now, but with a Canadian S4 so i'm happy to read all about what you're going through with parts, and what can / cannot be done.

Thank you.

Not on a S4.
And, to be obnoxiously pedantic, even on the S5 the airpump does not "control" the ports, it just provides the motive power.

this is exactly whats driving me a bit nuts. as i wrote previously in this thread, i know that i had disconnected the airpump and the car ran just fine. i really dont know what actuates them (it should be exhaust backpressure from what i have read but i had changed the exhaust then and i ran really well. i felt a power gain, not loss)
as pointed out by tomat earlier, the euro 6 ports have some minor differences when compared to the u.s ones it would seem. one example is that the euro six ports dont have port actuator sleeves, instead they have butterflies. thing is they are with the guy rebuilding my engine now so i cant even look at it. i spoke with him last week and he mentioned that i will have some blocking off to do and im pretty sure that it is the part i showed above. i only found one picture of it on here from another chap who was removing his air pump and it looks almost similar but his was from a t2 so it looked a little different. he was advised by members of this forum to take it away and block it off and that because he had an s4 it would not make a difference to anything. this airpump thing has proved to be the most confusing thing for me so far...

thanks man! if my blundering efforts to get this car sorted out helps anyone, then im happy! considering that when i got the car i know absolutely zilch about these things, it feels like i have learnt alot and being on this forum is like having a support team! its always nice to have someone to turn to when im really unsure about stuff =)

Thanks! Watch this Space ;)

continuing in my attempts to understand this air pump removal thing, i found this on another forum. does this make sense?

one thing that was positive about beaten around the noggin with a bible half my life was that even though i have forsaken "tha wuradah uv tha lawadah", some quite valuable principles stuck. in this case, it was "seek and thou shalt find".

im working all weekend but i have used the moments i get to myself to feverishly search for info about this bloody air control valve and (egr valve?) there even seems hope for being able to remove/cap off the rats nest completely (except for a few bits and bobs). the sheer difficulty of finding info on correct emissions removal on a 6 port s4 has made me come to a conclusion.

everybody else has absolutely no problem figuring this out, its just me that is mentally challenged. :dunce:
slowly but surely im getting my head around it though... i think.

This is absolutely true but now that you're onto it it's not as much fun.

hahahahaha i wouldnt worry mate i still have to put the engine in im sure the comedy value will increase then :lol:

i noticed in your build thread that you kept the rats nest. what were your reasons for this? from what i have read i have been led to believe that there wont be many vacuum hoses left after removing all the emissions stuff and it can be basicly bypassed. am i missing something important?

*DISCLAIMER*

i ALWAYS feel like i am missing something important.

[quote=meerkat8701;11519563]hello my neighbour from norge! cool build nice that your getting it all back to one colour again! you seem very quick at whipping engines in and out as well =) i noticed that you had block off plates on both of your engines. was that your acv? im really having trouble working it out from everything on the net cos i have a swedish-sold s4 n/a seems to have minor differences compared to the american versions. i put up a pic on my thread.

https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...1030202/page5/

any help is appreciated so that i can maybe get my ass over to norway and get left behind by you on the track hehe =P[/quote

Hi, yes it would be good if more rotarys came to "sommertreff" at Arctic circle raceway, but i don't think i will be leaving many people behind just yet, my car dies every time water temp hits 50C, so i need to figure that out before i can do anything.

I'm not shure but i think the acv block of plates might be different on the euro lim and us lim, but i made mine myself out of 2mm alu plates, 15min job if you got a drill and an hack saw.
Just take it off and make a template from cardboard and get some alu :)

The euro lim uses vacuum actuators to open the 5/6 port butterflys, if i where you i would get them to work properly, or leave them alone if they already do. Just wiring them open is not very good option for a wide powerband.

thanks for the tips pettersen! yeah man i really want to get on the track i have never had the chance to do it before cos none of my cars ever work haha.( im crying really) i checked out how long it would take me to get to the raceway its about a 12 hour drive. geuss i would need to bring a tent as well! its starting to look like ill just have to ask the guy whos rebuilding my motor what to do when i go to pick it up next week. if he doesnt know i would probably faint from shock =)
hope the cooling problem gets solved so you can get some time behind the wheel this summer before that lovely six month long night comes-a-knocking! ill be keeping an eye on your thread to see how your getting on.

I live in an emissions state and every two years must pass a visual and rolling road sniffer test, that's why my rat's nest is intact.

I've never spent the time/energy to determine precisely what is "emission" and what is "engine control" and everything works, so I left it alone.

Unlike Mazda, who had the grace to hide most of the emission stuff under manifolds, Nissan slathered their crude early emission crap all over the top of the intake manifold, so the Z is going to enjoy some extra attention and possible deletion in this area.

sounds quite harsh. there are loads of people on this forum that seem to be at the mercy of very stringent emissions tests. rolling road? jesus now i get it. from my experience here, they have never popped my hood so no visual test.
a friend of mine had a suspicious tester once open his hood and try to say that he had modified it. (which he had a little)
basicly my mate in a roundabout way challenged his knowledge of cars and then shot him down in a ball of flames haha. that was the end of that conversation!

they just drive it round the the testing centre to get it to what i assume is display the correct co2 values then they stop it outside and shove a pipe on to the exhaust and leave it idling for a minuite or two then they take that reading and thats what they go on. i havent failed one yet but i havent tried to "besikta" a rx7 yet either hehe. the proof will be in the pudding and there will be some ethanol in my tank too:egrin:

i hope you will be doing a build thread for the fairlady? i do enjoy reading your witty descriptions of what you do so if you are gna do so send me a link =)

tmrw i get a confirmation of when my motor is ready. got proper butterflies in my tummy:blush:

I have yet to find a Z forum to call home, so for the nonce I'll just continue on in the She Followed Me Home thread and see if anyone notices it's a Datsun, not a Mazda.

It's hard to appreciate just how good this forum is until you search for it's equivalent, the Z-car forums I've seen just don't compare.

So, once you get the motor back are you ready to drop it in?
Bet that's exciting.

This is true. The other forums i have checked out seem to have such low activity and the thing i love moat is that People are helpful, humble and have Good senses of humour. It is a proper pain in the ass having to read through some stupid argument to not even get the info you were searching for in the first Place. Tbh, i have the manual for my Mazda, both the Book and i downloaded some others, but i have hardly touched them because with a bit of searching, i find the threads here mkch more comprehensive. (i still need stuff explained to Me in laymans terms). I should certainly Hope People can Tell the difference between the two! Cool i look forward in anticipation to see you getting it looking respectable!

I sent a text to check his progress and he Said i can ring him after 20:00 tonite then ill get a confirmation. Feels like im gna get it this Week. Im pretty much ready to put the Engine in i cant really Think of anything Else i need to Do apart from sort out filters, New sparkplugs, oil (tranny and motor) and some New brakepads for the front. Super exciting!!

by the way on the subject of other cars, i wasnt idle yesterday, i remembered that i had a subwoofer in the cellar and the sound in my nissan micra is pitiful so me and my mate popped it in the boot. now i can terrorise the neighbours with some dub reggae basslines hehe :icon_tup:

Attachment 666742

five hours and 38 minuits till i get confirmation on my motor....not that im counting or anything..

I hope the motor happens for you.

The weirdest thing I've found (so far!) about the Z forums is how indecisive they are.
It was a remarkably long-lived platform (1970-1978, basically unchanged) and they've had 40 years to play with it but there is still no consensus on good mod paths.

For instance:
-Many complain about the puny wiper motor (I don't recall this being an issue for me, but whatever...) and there is a stickied "upgrade" thread that uses a Honda replacement.
However...the motor does NOT bolt in (mounting plate must be redrilled and slightly ground for clearance), it's shaft does NOT mate with the Z relay arms and when finished, intermittent didn't work. Seems like a downgrade to me.

-Everyone seems to know about the Toyota truck front caliper upgrade (It bolts on and gives you 4-pistons, much like swapping up to Turbo brakes) but no one says much, if anything, about booster/MC changes and what effect this change makes to the braking balance...remember, these cars have rear drums and the stock MC has residual pressure valves (which I don't really understand, just know they are there for some reason).
I'd have thought all this would be canonized by now but it's not.

Oh well, enough of my bitching, back to the saga of Frosty the Frozen Rotary.

Clubroadster and s2ki have always been awesome for me. I'm on rx7club and s2ki every day. I used to be in the market for an s2000 and never left the forum because I loved the community. Clubroadster was when I was thinking about a first Gen Miata.

What do you have left before the engine gets installed? Will the car be running/driving once you get it back?

thanks man me too!

i spoke with him yesterday evening and we have confirmed that next thursday he will be definately ready and i can go and pick it up then. yay!

thats what i love with rx7 club. things are very well documented and explained on here and its helped me a shitload since i got my fc. i even see it as a fun part of owning an rx7 its nice to be able to join a community of car enthusiasts because if it wasnt for them we would be driving lentil~driven fart-rafts by now.
gotta love petrol heads=)

i also mentioned to him my concerns with solving the acv. he said it was fine to take it away but i will need to do something to actuate the auxilary ports. i have seen a solution here involving an electric pump it seems like i might be able to pull it off.

plans are to get the engine running nicely. then im gonna have to have to get her through a safety inspection which it wont pass. this is because i have a crack that looks like a 5 yr olds drawing of a snowflake right smack dab in front of the drivers side so ill have to replace that. it wont pass but ill be able to drive it for a month and then replace it via my insurance company. after that im going to sort out some coilovers and widen the steel wheels i showed in post #52. then it'll have a bit of stretch/poke/ stance and ill leave it at that for this year. next year im considering going for a standalone and mapping. i have seen these megasquirt piggybac systems but it feels like i wouldnt have the first hope of adjusting them properly. the price is tantalising though in comparison with a standalone..

Wow!! I must say I just had the most enjoyable hour reading your build thread. I just started my own endeavor and hope I can be even just half as meticulous as you. I wish you the best of luck and can't wait to see how things turn out for you.

I forgot one thing, I remember reading you got the s5 tailights but they didnt fit. I remember reading elsewhere that they require a little bit of a modification to get them to fit right. Anyway I hope it helps! :)

thanks man! im not the quickest person in the world at getting things done but im trying to do this to the best of my ability. geuss i just want it to be reliable as i can get it. fed up of cars that never seem to work hehe =)

problem with the taillights i got were that they are a tad shorter than the american s5 tails (which in my opinion look best) the ones i have are like s5 vert tails. i dont now if they are from a vert or if they put these on the euro 7's to accommodate the longer licence plates we have.

luckily some heroic soul here in sweden has gone through the whole nauseating process of getting smaller licence plates allowed on rx7 (and rx8's) otherwise i wouldnt have been able to have them. i havent looked for any yet i have to order some soon =)

Juat a Quick update. Last few Days have been spent at work. I received an email now saying that my motor can be delayed even more! I am becoming almost buddah-like in my patience when it comes to waiting for parts. I have spent quite a while looking at piggyback systems. to be specific the apexi afm neo. It would seem that combined with the upgrades i have done, (Rb header, intake and exhaust porting) i should be able to squeeze a little bit more power out of my n/a without spending a small fortune. Any thoughts on this?

Zen-like patience is a real virtue when rebuilding a car.
Especially when you're dependent on other people to make progress.

It'll happen, never fear.

Cheers clokker i geuss ill just have to bide my time.. Now the Engine has to wait until the weekend, maybe even next Week. I have a Good friend of mine visiting from England right now so im just Kinda enjoying catching up with him at the moment. I geuss i can start putting together all the bits i need for the installation so that i can feel some kind of flow towards the final goal. I geuss at this rate, ill be happy if i can get it sitting pretty before the snow falls =)

I agree with you. It's the only way you'll bring out the full potential of all that you've done to the car so far. I can't say too much about the apexi but my opinion is that it would be worth the effort and most likely easier at this stage than later.

yeah because as i understand the factory mapping is quite broad so theres definately a few hp to be found down that road. im pretty sure i would leave it in to a professional tuner to do it though. i cant see myslef ever being able to figure that shit out. seems crazy technical.

on the subject of hp loss/gain, i was just perusing through hyperteks "pics of your engine bay" thread and i couldnt help but notice how many people seem to have open air filters with no sign of a cold-air intake in sight. i wonder why this is because rotarys definately give off more heat than conventional engines and it seems like theres hp being lost there. am i missing something?

i geuss ill just put some heat coating on my headers to reduce heat in the engine bay and then have the original air filter. the heat wrap thing is very heavily debated and seems to be more of a turbo application anyway.. hmmm...:scratch:

During my time with the RX I've tried multiple "cold air" intakes (all of my own devising) but last winter as I played around with some concepts for an even more radical intake, I "temporarily" fit a cone filter with no shrouding on a shortened intake tube. The AFM now sits almost directly above the exhaust manifold and the filter only draws from the bay.

Didn't seem to hurt me at all, in fact, Sigfrid claims the car has never run stronger.

Now, I'm not going to argue against science and it's certainly possible a dyno would show a loss but the butt dyno says I'm good, even in this unusually hot weather.

To further roil the waters, I've never found the plastic undertray to make a tinker's damn worth of difference in engine cooling.
Again, I understand why it should but in practice, I see no difference with it on or off.
Take this however you will, I have no explanation but stand by my experience.

Clokker,

That's interesting, so the way that you said didn't that make the air hotter going in the intake? Maybe I'm picturing it wrong. But does intake temperature really affect motor performance that much. It seems to me that the main benefit would be motor reliability.

It's good to hear that someone else likes trying out of the box ideas. I've been mulling a few over as well. Like strap on heat sinks for the exhaust header to help increase the lifetime of the exhaust. I know when I just took mine of it basically just broke apart... Maybe I'm just silly.

Btw I did manage to fit a cold air in my rx7 a long time ago. I'll see if I can find some pictures. But I can't really say its a true cold air. It simply relocated a KN filter away from the exhaust. Originally I was just driving with the filter cover off and the filter zip tied into the box..... Never again lol

this is whats bugging me. despite the fact that my engine really was about to blow and probably had quite bad compression, it seemed to run really well when we put on the rb exhaust and open air filter. it was a properly noticeable difference! and it had a really nice throaty sound. i cant see this project being "over" for a long time. seems like theres always something.. but thats whats fun about it!

No, I'm sure the intake air IS hotter...what I said is I couldn't feel a difference when I did that. It should run worse, what with the higher IAT, but it doesn't.
Least, not that I can tell.

it is indeed a phenomenon. because i had other things i wasnt sure about before, itll be interesting to see what differences i notice once everything is finally together and i can turn the key and hear some music by my favourite composer. (felix wankel:)) im also VERY curious as to what difference my lightened flywheel and porting will make. n/a maybe harder to squeeze hp out of but it is fun doing it =)

Clokker

Ah I understand you now. That is very interesting. I'm going to have to do some more reading on combustion dynamics.

Meerkat

I feel you man! I haven't heard that sweet symphony is a couple years..I can't wait to get her running again.

Me too! Nice 14hr shift today so ill be spending some time on here and casting about for New employment. Due to complications of the third kind ill be working till the End of the month and then I will be officially unemployed. I already have some leads so I probably wont stay that way for too long but I can use the time I get between jobs to install the motor/inevitable troubleshooting ect because I do not think I will have the opportunity to have as much free time as I had here. Aaah such is life...