Friday night we met up with a few other locals and got to chat for a few hours. It's really nice to bounce ideas off other locals and see what they are doing. The car on the far right is a simple carbed 13b with a recent RX8 6 speed swap. Very cool car. Then my car next to it, (recent 626 lip installed on the front). Next to the left of my car is a bone stock 84 GSL. Clean car with 140k miles on it! And to the left of that is a friend with his 4th FC...Three others with non running engines...Bone stock 91 NA.

If anyone in the Delmarva / PA area wants to join, I will be hosting a rotary/RX7 BBQ in a month or so once we are settled in the house!



This makes me very happy...I should have the other side filled with the red one this weekend!

 

Let me know next time when you guys are meeting up

 

Will do Anthony! Probably in a couple weeks.

Picked up the second car yesterday. Once we get in the house and the dust settles i'll start working on this thing.

Here's a couple photos.

 

Two of the same car!??!?! Hoarder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Slow slow progress. Been putting in lots of work to the house so we can get moved in by August 1st. Every single wall had spackle slapped on it and never sanded down. We hope to have the upstairs walls fixed and painted by the end of the week Things to do include: interlocking tiles on the ceiling pulled down in favor of drywall, dog **** deodorizing being sprayed all over, and thorough cleaning in every room. Eventually we need to upgrade the wiring on the second floor but that can wait.

Onto the car, I received a passenger fog light for the red car. Lucky enough he only had the side I needed. I really want to dig into this car and start cleaning or organizing but the house is taking precedence over this. I am sad panda.

 

Saturday I met up with a fellow named Larry. He owns Rotary-engine Compression Tester System and sells some really nice compression testers. The point of meeting was he had listed a bunch of parts for free pickup. The drive was roughly 2 1/2 hrs, 160 miles each way, but I cant say no to free...and my wife's TDI gets 45 MPG so my total cost in fuel was roughly $25. Forgot to take photos cause I was tired but I got a brand new RB turbo downpipe, Full set of TII brake rotors, Full set of single piston calipers and rotors, T2 sway bars, RX8 sway bars, stock shocks and springs, a passenger T2 fender, black rear shock tower carpets, ABS pump/computer, NA middle and front iron, and a FSM. Well worth the drive in my opinion!

 

Picked up some more freebies from a guy in southern Delaware. Got a S5 radio surround, factory radio, Fan shroud, oil cooler and stainless steel oil cooler lines.

A few days ago I ordered a compression tester from the post above. The unit will pay for itself with all of the rotary owners I know in the area that want theirs tested.

As for my car I am going to try and get it ready for a track day event october 4th. The vmount needs sealed up a bit, a second oil cooler added, and the coolant shroud needs fixed since its too restrictive.

For the red car I have been acquiring engine parts. I've acquired the irons housings and rotors. That leaves small stuff like hard seals and soft seals once everything has been cleaned and clearanced. Any tips for cleaning parts?

The house is taking longer than expected, not much we can do about that. Hardwood floors are being refinished and limiting our ability to work upstairs forcing us to move all our gear to the main level and start scraping and spackling. We are so ready to move in.

 

when I rebuilt my engine I went out and bought a harbor freight parts washer.

20 Gallon Parts Washer with Pump

They also make a smaller one:
6-1/2 Gallon Parts Washer

I used this stuff which worked pretty well:
Simple Green 128 oz. Pro HD Professional-Grade Heavy-Duty Cleaner-2110000413421 at The Home Depot

I was planning on converting my parts washer to use an oil filter to filter the cleaner and a 5 gallon drum as a reservoir instead of the actual sink part... but I haven't gotten around to it yet... there are a lot of good parts washer threads on garage journal:
modded HF 20 gallon parts washer
modded HF 6.5 gallon parts washer


I also got one of these which is awesome:

 

Thanks for posting that Eage8. Going to do this

 

That looks really good. I'll have to stop over and pick one of those up. The filter mod looks like a really good idea and I'm glad they mentioned that solvent because I was concerned whatever I used would be bad for the aluminum. Thanks!!!!

I wanted to add....has anyone done drive by wire throttle?

 

SOrry a little off subject but is the megasquirt load axis in kPA?

 

Yes sorry for the long overdue response! haha. Been busy working on the house making it a home...recently rescued two barnyard kittens. And The red car is going away this coming week. Selling it and picking up a running S4 GXL for $200 more! I'll post pics when the car is picked up...

 

Sunday cant come soon enough.

 

Craigslist ftw! Guess the miles.









super crappy on the phone...but looked good in person. Wife is super excited!

 

A better shot of them

 

68,594? lol

 

You don't even need a second set of plates

 

Dont tell me that!!!! I would be stupid enough to do it.

I drove the whole 2 hour drive with no tags. We get about 5 miles from home and I tell my wife, lets hop off the highway, theres two spots coming up that the police like to sit. So we get off the highway, get off the ramp and turn on another ramp to get on the quiet street to take us home. Well just as we get onto the second ramp an unmarked caprice gets behind me and pulls me over. My wife couldnt stop laughing. Talk about a backfire trying to avoid the popo! haha

Brett its got 206k miles!

Sadly the cover is covering an ugly sun beaten dash.. I was hoping for a real nice red dash. Oh well. I have a whole black interior to drop in when ready. The car is a Early 86 car with the orange odometer, clock and the early washer bottle. PO did poly bushings, shocks, altenator, water pump, wheel bearings, fluids etc etc....I dont see a reman badge on it, and there are no hot start issues. I need to do a compression test and find out where its at! I am super curious if it was all highway miles and the engine is still in good shape? It still has the fuel pulsation dampener on the rail so I really think it could be the original engine.

 

Fixed the warning cluster last night. None of the cluster was working. Upon inspection all the pins going into the cluster were broken basically. Some fresh solder added and voila.






Here she is as of last night. Swapped out the GXL wheels for the vert wheels.



Things to do:

Adjust TPS, on-off throttle is too touchy and sometimes the car jerks if not gentle on the pedal.
Rear wiper inoperable, probably the switch. I have a spare I will attempt to repair and toss in. Will a S5 switch fit a S4 car?
Find drivetrain vibration, Signs are pointing to u-joints in the driveshaft. vibration comes during acceleration, goes away while coasting.
Fix gas tank, during emissions testing the gas tank would not hold pressure. I was informed its probably the hose going to the filler neck.
Replace cat, failed why 2000+ HC at idle. oh joy Also the stock replacement catback is in GREAT shape, minus the muffler to y pipe flanges being rusted. Those need cleaned up and the pin holes welded.

 

Exciting progress! I ohm'd out the TPS while warm and found it to be at 500 ohm, not the 1000 Ohm that is should be. I turned the TPS screw 4 full turns to get it to 1000 ohm and the car now properly cold starts and idles wonderfully!

I repaired the clock and found out that the washer bottle light is on constant. This I have yet to track down. Any ideas?

The "STOP" light would come on when I hit the brakes. I hadnt had someone else around to help out until a friend told me "hey do these have 3rd brake lights?" I checked and the bulb and the bulb holder were completely GONE! Found one at a junkyard today and now that is resolved.

The passenger window was inop until this afternoon. I took apart both window switches and cleaned the contacts. Both windows work better than before! A relay kit will be ordered soon to prevent future problems.

The horn CPU had cold solder joints causing no horn. 15 minute job and now the horn works! wonderful news and that means I will be able to do the same in my turbo car now.

I ordered a replacement catalytic converter off of rockauto for around $100. drop in replacement. Should be able to get the car to pass emissions here soon.

Had a friend tell me they were capping off the wrong hose for the gas tank pressure test. Going to have that tried again...

At the junkyard today we also grabbed a passenger door trim piece. We just need to find a way to carefully remove the current one without destroying paint.

Vibration has not been searched yet. Junkyard yielded no success but I do have a lead on a friend with a 60k mile trans.

Catback is rusted at the muffler flanges. I have a buddy who welds and I hope to get that patched up soon. It is really weird being in a QUIET rotary!

put my old tornado silver hood on the car...for some reason it doesnt line up very well

 

That is my 88 gxls twin, it is IDENTICAL, color and interior color.

Cept mine only has half the miles lol

 

Not shabby, plenty of life left... I had a tornado silver S4 n/a make it to 274K on the original motor! When they have that kind of mileage, it's like a game to see how high you can take them

 

Iduley it wont be indentical for long. The interior will be out before thanksgiving to be sent to Landon303 in FL.

Brett I've been draggin my feet on this compression test but I will find out in a few days. 274k on an original engine. That has GOT to be a record???!

I took some time tonight and soldered up BOTH CPUs. Both now have working horns AND the "beep beep" when you have the key inserted. Success! I was informed there is a broken wire somewhere as the door sensors should make the car beep as well. In time that will get sorted as well.

 

Well a car popped up on craigslist that may get purchased and parted out....and a friend may have a car for free for pickup this weekend....Guess we shall see.

 

.....help. They keep multiplying