Rob's Weekend Special (picture heavy)
 

Three years ago, I sold my 240 Coupe (in the pic below) and bought a 89 FC N/A for 3k. My reasoning....because rotary. The car was unmolested. 30,000 on the original clock. It was well maintained, rocking a failed MOP, stock interior, and freshly overs-prayed with a new coat of white paint.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/E_L_I_A_N/1.jpg

I got to drive the car a total of once before I got handed my orders to Japan. So for two years the FC sat in my old man's garage while I spent my time playing with this beauty, a 94 Pulsar GTiR. (I will post videos and pictures from my time in Japan eventually)

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As I got near the end of my tour, I started getting the itch. I started to feel like I had abandoned my FC while I hooned around the mountains in the GTiR. So I started buying parts. The basic stuff for tune ups first. (Spark plugs, fluids, hoses, belts, etc.)

Then things got real: PaceSetter Headers, Corksport 2.5 cat-back exhaust, Powered By Max Coil-Overs, Turbo-II 4 pot front brakes, and Corksport strut bars (front and rear).

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2.5 Test Pipe (muffler man special)

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I then got my orders to Cherry Point, NC. With two weeks of leave, my wife & 5 month old daughter, and extended family; I found myself with almost no time to prep the car for the 13.5 hour drive to NC.

So my best friends and I set to many cold/long nights:

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We removed the air-pump and EGR with the exhaust and sourced a double sheaved alternator pulley from Racing Beat.

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It took us till the eleventh hour, but in the end we got the FC ready to roll and I made the 13.5 hours in what felt like a brand new car.

After getting to NC, I started going about bypassing the failed MOP by picking up a RTek 1.0 from pyrod27. I followed this up with a headlight motor from 00xtremist to fix a winking problem the car developed during its 2 year slumber.

Then I got my gear from Japan and picked up a HKB hub kit and Sparco quick release hub so that I could fit the Imola RS steering wheel from my GTiR. At which point meximan was kind enough to provide me with a steering surround after I destroyed mine during the hub install.

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Next an upgrade to the rear brakes came courtesy of brapdashdbrap. Turbo-II calipers to match vented rotors.

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This is how she currently sits awaiting the arrival of a set of vert rims:

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Very clean car man! And 30,000 miles, nice find... Can't wait to see what you do next!

Those pinstripes though.

Clean find

Not much of an update this weekend. I spent some money on new oil pan and gasket via Mazdatrix. Also scored a NRG magnetic oil drain plug off a guy at work.

I'm going to try to get some Himni Polyurethane Motor Mounts before the oil pan get here, considering I have to lift the engine up anyway; might as well replace the stock mounts.

Great build, nice start!

PM'd you about motor mounts.

The next set of packages have started to come in. My Mazdatrix package isn't due in until next week, but I at least got my magnetic drain plug.

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After a week of snow days (2 inches and NC shuts down apparently), I got a Friday morning surprise when all of my mail arrived.

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I might just be able to get some work done this weekend. Hopefully my job doesn't decide that another weekend of 24 hour operation is a good idea.


*Note: Also I've realized I'm being a total knob by not scaling down the pictures posted directly from my phone. I will attempt to make things a bit cleaner in the future. Sorry to all of the low desktop resolution guys out there.

Just scored a set of front control arms (plan on doing all new bushings and it's easier with them off the car) and front hubs. I plan on sending the hubs off to be modded by either PBM or someone here on the forums. Both of these parts are courtesy of Rotary Resurrection's Ebay Store.

*Pictures are potato quality from Ebay

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/E_L_I_A_N/_571.jpg

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Can't see the pics but from what I read it sounds it is going to be a nice build. :icon_tup: I am just starting a build on my 90 vert. Look forward to more!

I would of rather seen you pick up a spare set of s4 FLCA. Why? Replaceable ball joint. But looking good so far brother.... well, that pinstripe though.....

I am kicking myself for not doing the research on this one. Well it was only thirty dollars mis-spent. Still hurts in the long run, but now I am on the hunt for some S4's.

I know. I know. I plan on taking care of that eventually.

Didn't have time to pick up RTV for the oil pan, so I opted to just replace the motor mounts.

Attachment 651942

Solid mounts are solid.

Sweet ride

This is what happens when I get the day off work and

Attachment 651885

Purple oil pan is really purple.

great build so far love it

Scariest day of my life: due to circumstance...my wife is driving my FC to work until next Friday. :'( I have never been this tense in my life.

The new oil pan is on and the cold start system has been deleted. Now it's time to wait for my next box from Powered by Max to arrive. :blatant foreshadowing:

Looks good man. I'm halfway through writing up a bit of my decade w rotaries and mostly through my vert build.

I would HIGHLY recommend changing all of the driveline mounts. If your motor is more solid then the rest of it the. Things will move at different rates making stress higher in places it should. IE motor is solid but trans is stock and floppy - so there will be a lot of stress between the motor and trans. Not good. Plus new mounts (even stock) make a big difference after 2+ decades.

That's the next job on the schedule.

I finally got my hands on a set of S4 LCAs; As well as some solid trans mounts. Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, I am going to a local import yard to strip rear end off of a S4 Turbo II. Might even rip out the heater core to replace mine and get myself a working wiper switch!

I got my PBM box yesterday, just not the one I was expecting. :/

Attachment 651198

I had a little bit of time to poke around the engine bay last night and I found the unmistakable drips of oil pooling on the MOP. So a quick jaunt over to Banzai Racing has netted me a MOP delete plate and banjo bolts.

so what are you doing for aux port and vdi actuation without the air pump to pressurize the solenoids?

Absolutely nothing at the moment. :o: I have seen threads explaining that you can utilizing a S4 intake manifold that uses exhaust back pressure at high rpms. I also know that I could feasibly "jam" the ports open, but that will cause the low end to suffer.

With my summer rebuild looming on the horizon and my plans to boost the engine post-rebuild, I have not given the issue too much thought. It is my understanding that the "extra" pressure from the turbocharger will be enough to activate the solenoids.

The N/A lim is considerably bulkier than the tii unit, if you're going to turbo the factory turbo and exhaust manifold wont clear the na intake. The stuff thats designed to make the n/a work better really become moot after a turbo is slapped on anyway. I vote just use the tii intake setup ported for 6port blocks. Any moderate turbo will spool quick on a 9.7:1 engine anyway.

My S4 LCA came today. Thanks 1NSIGHT, you came to my rescue after I bought S5's and realized that was a complete waste of money.

S4 arms are where its at all day long.

Polyurethane trans mounts and OMP delete plate came in today. If I am awake enough tomorrow I will be installing them around noon.

Wake up sunshine. I've been up for almost 5 hrs now (since 2AM) there's no excuses for you! :p

Took a weekend off from the build and went up to VIS for Drift Your Pants Off. Had a great time.


The Bad News: I drove to work yesterday just fine. No strange noises. Parked the car at work and when I went to drive home: Loud click from the starter...Engine won't turn over.

Exhaustive searching of the forums has returned stater, battery, ignition switch, engine grounds, or clutch switch as the culprit. So I did the following last night.

1. Checked/Tested/Replaced Duralast battery with Red Top Optima. (Been meaning to for a while)

2. Noticed there wasn't even minimal spark when I connected the new battery. Am I right in thinking there is a ground fault based on that?

3. Pulled starter. Hooked it to the Optima directly. Clunked. Starter gear spun but did not move into position fully.

Can't work on the car until Thursday because of the weather. So here I sit; waiting for a new starter to arrive so that I can troubleshoot the issue further.

Finally got everything grounded properly. Now I have to work out how to build my grounding set up.

I actually remembered to grab my vert rims on the way out of the house this morning. Checklist for the today:

1. Get the FC started
2. Swap rubber of OE rims to Vert rims
3. Return old starter for Core.
4. (If there is time) Clean up Garret T28 and remove GTiR Manifold

Or complete none of this. It would appear that I have fault in the harness somewhere. I have checked all the voltage and resistance levels on the starter. Only clear indicator is that the battery drops to 10 volts when I engage the starter. All my engine grounds are good. Clutch switch and start cut off relay are working.

I found this while searching last night:

RX7 refuses to start and makes funny noises at me (video)... - RX7Club.com

Run a 12v straight from the ignition switch to the starter.I know it's a post about 3rd gens but the principle is the same.

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I know that is a simplistic diagram, but this is what I am proposing.

What I do when I am not banging my head against a wall trying to source this gremlin.

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The FC is down for the count. After spinning the motor by hand after the starter died, the motor now refuses to budge. Used a scope and it appears the rotors have carbon locked to the housings. That's all she wrote. Going to look at an S4 tomorrow night as a staging platform for continuing the build.

Dude that sucks brother! Sorry to hear that! Hopefully the S4 you're looking at will get you what you need!

Never give up, never surrender! Time for a JDM swap!

Carbon locked? Not enough redline mannnn

Don't give up on it, work to free it and make it live, at least till your able to rebuild the motor

The photos from VIR the other weekend? I missed the event saddly :(

I know. :( And I thought I was being too harsh on the motor. Turns out it wasn't enough.

The current plan is to drive the S4 while I rebuild the S5 engine. I had a bit of cancer on the floor pans and frame rails of the S5 from its time in Michigan. Depending on the state of this S4 I may do a full swap over and sell off the bits of the S5 I don't need to recoup some money.

It was a good time. Hopefully I will be able to do a bit of sliding next time. I don't mind playing photographer, but I wanted to go out there so bad.

We had something at piedmont dragway in greensboro this past weekend, and silverdragon had a event at ncccar also.

fuuuuuuuuuuck rust. lets see pics of this new ride now.

The S4 is Super clean in the rust department. Paint and interior wise a little rough.

Pictures will be up tonight.

If the s5 molding and stuff is good, you could convert the s4 to s5.. maybe even swap in the interior?

That was option 1. But I also have been enticed by option 2: Combine the best of both into one balls out drift car.