Will's GXL build
01-06-14, 03:26 AM
#1
Will's GXL build
As this being my first build thread, i think its very appropriate to give a brief history on this project before I just star pilling on the details.
My car starts life as a blue 1990 GXL automatic. I bought it from a guy in my squadron for 800 bucks back in 2010. Now I must come completely clean and state that I bought this car without ever hearing it run. I simply met him at the dorms where it had been parked for about a 1 year and half. Took notice of the little details that I could notice from a quick look around. The battery was beyond dead so it wasnt going to start no way. Nothing looked out of place so I gave him a check and took the batt for a replacement. This being my first true project car and first rotary car I had a lot to learn. At this time i didn't know anything about apex seals, coolant jackets or OMP.
So after buying a new battery, I came back the next day around 10pm to take delivery of my new car. Popped that battery in there and cranked it over. Great news, it actually starts but not without a very loud buzzing sound. It was the add coolant sound. I didn't know that at that time so a quick google search on the smart phone told me that. The wire was just broken so I grounded it and let it warm up. checked for leaks and crudely checked the brakes. I wanted to get it home so I can inspect it more throughly so with much fear i started to drive the car...wait a sec I'm leaving the detail about the flat tires. Of course since the car had been sitting for many many months, the tires were either low or flat. I used my trusty pump to get them in up and ready for the very short 2 mi drive home.
The drive home was actually great and uneventful. No open exhaust sound, no clouds of smoke, no lost of brakes..smooth. I go it home and that was that. A this point i still had no idea what I had. The previous owner had even less of a clue what it was than I.Yes i knew what an Rx7 was, my uncle owned a 85 SE. but i had never owned one, let alone had to work on one. The next couple days I began cleaning the car out, and doing a more thorughal inspection. At this point it just looks like an 20 year old car. oil leaks, but very clean and nothing missing.
I don't remember how I discovered it, but the alternator went out , or was already out. So i did what most no informed backyard mechs do, head to local autozone to buy a reman one. This was the first part ever changed on it by me. With that done I continue to drive the car and guess what, I found a new problem. Came outside to find all the coolant on the ground. The water pump had sprung a leak and instead of just trying to reseal the old one, i decided to buy a new pump and put that in. I must have screwed up because since that day the car never ran right.
this isn't no brief is it?....
The revs were lumpy and no longer as smooth to red line as it had been before the change. The truth is that I don't remember if this was a problem before the water pump or not. And to make matters worst, a completely new symptom shows up shortly after this while I'm troubleshooting the engine. Smoke. The car starts smoking, then some more...then some more....then its gets to the point where people began to call the fire dept on me at malls.
so after doing a little searching i discover that my car needs its motor rebuilt. sad day. So I park it in the garage for about an year and an half.
After I was done with school(2013), I decided it was time to either **** or get off the pot. I had done a lot of research about the rotary by then and knew a lot more as to what to expect. I started to collect all the parts needed for a basic rebuild. This was very tough as I didn't know what condition the engine's internals were in . With it in the garage the tear down can begin!
My buddy Jake had been talking about me rebuilding my rx7 for a while and even what his new car was gonna be. He gives me a call one night and ask me if I was free to go to Iowa in the morning to buy a new car. What was he buying? An FD. I didn't know much about the car before we got there driving in his eclipse. The FD was a series 6 92* touring red with tan interior. Vmount, stock twins, complete fuel upgrade, complete motor rebuild with less than 1000 mi on the clock with upgraded internals, Power FC, apexi, etc...serious FD. I got the drive it at the dealership...Its the only JDM car that I can say scared the **** outta me.
The long ride home gave me a lot to think about as concerning my rx7 build. I had to go back to the drawing board. No longer can this just be GXL auto...it needs to be a turbo GXL. I wasn't about to half *** it either but I didn't know what i was about to trek upon either.....
My car starts life as a blue 1990 GXL automatic. I bought it from a guy in my squadron for 800 bucks back in 2010. Now I must come completely clean and state that I bought this car without ever hearing it run. I simply met him at the dorms where it had been parked for about a 1 year and half. Took notice of the little details that I could notice from a quick look around. The battery was beyond dead so it wasnt going to start no way. Nothing looked out of place so I gave him a check and took the batt for a replacement. This being my first true project car and first rotary car I had a lot to learn. At this time i didn't know anything about apex seals, coolant jackets or OMP.
So after buying a new battery, I came back the next day around 10pm to take delivery of my new car. Popped that battery in there and cranked it over. Great news, it actually starts but not without a very loud buzzing sound. It was the add coolant sound. I didn't know that at that time so a quick google search on the smart phone told me that. The wire was just broken so I grounded it and let it warm up. checked for leaks and crudely checked the brakes. I wanted to get it home so I can inspect it more throughly so with much fear i started to drive the car...wait a sec I'm leaving the detail about the flat tires. Of course since the car had been sitting for many many months, the tires were either low or flat. I used my trusty pump to get them in up and ready for the very short 2 mi drive home.
The drive home was actually great and uneventful. No open exhaust sound, no clouds of smoke, no lost of brakes..smooth. I go it home and that was that. A this point i still had no idea what I had. The previous owner had even less of a clue what it was than I.Yes i knew what an Rx7 was, my uncle owned a 85 SE. but i had never owned one, let alone had to work on one. The next couple days I began cleaning the car out, and doing a more thorughal inspection. At this point it just looks like an 20 year old car. oil leaks, but very clean and nothing missing.
I don't remember how I discovered it, but the alternator went out , or was already out. So i did what most no informed backyard mechs do, head to local autozone to buy a reman one. This was the first part ever changed on it by me. With that done I continue to drive the car and guess what, I found a new problem. Came outside to find all the coolant on the ground. The water pump had sprung a leak and instead of just trying to reseal the old one, i decided to buy a new pump and put that in. I must have screwed up because since that day the car never ran right.
this isn't no brief is it?....
The revs were lumpy and no longer as smooth to red line as it had been before the change. The truth is that I don't remember if this was a problem before the water pump or not. And to make matters worst, a completely new symptom shows up shortly after this while I'm troubleshooting the engine. Smoke. The car starts smoking, then some more...then some more....then its gets to the point where people began to call the fire dept on me at malls.
so after doing a little searching i discover that my car needs its motor rebuilt. sad day. So I park it in the garage for about an year and an half.
After I was done with school(2013), I decided it was time to either **** or get off the pot. I had done a lot of research about the rotary by then and knew a lot more as to what to expect. I started to collect all the parts needed for a basic rebuild. This was very tough as I didn't know what condition the engine's internals were in . With it in the garage the tear down can begin!
My buddy Jake had been talking about me rebuilding my rx7 for a while and even what his new car was gonna be. He gives me a call one night and ask me if I was free to go to Iowa in the morning to buy a new car. What was he buying? An FD. I didn't know much about the car before we got there driving in his eclipse. The FD was a series 6 92* touring red with tan interior. Vmount, stock twins, complete fuel upgrade, complete motor rebuild with less than 1000 mi on the clock with upgraded internals, Power FC, apexi, etc...serious FD. I got the drive it at the dealership...Its the only JDM car that I can say scared the **** outta me.
The long ride home gave me a lot to think about as concerning my rx7 build. I had to go back to the drawing board. No longer can this just be GXL auto...it needs to be a turbo GXL. I wasn't about to half *** it either but I didn't know what i was about to trek upon either.....
Last edited by manual123; 01-06-14 at 03:32 AM.
01-06-14, 07:58 PM
#2
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Should be an interesting build, are you planning on just swapping in the stock TII powertrain or are you going to do a little more? Getting the manual transmission to work properly might take some effort
01-09-14, 01:19 AM
#3
So I gets started on the first step: engine rebuild. Now I'm no stranger to working on my cars, doing my own work with very minimum help and assistance and I knew very well that this would be a solo project. But I have never removed an engine before, so this would be the most challenging task in cars that I had ever embarked upon. I had expressed my plans with my uncle a few times over the months and one day he tells me he's buying a plane ticket to help me remove the motor. So thats where my second very seasoned hand came from when the first leg of this build starts.
We removed just the engine at this time since the auto to manual swap was planned way ahead in the future without me doing even the most basic researching on whats to be done.
While taking a break right before we remove the motor i find a Rx7 S5 manual transmission with all associated equipment for sell my Rotary Resurrection. Best part of all, it was cheap. 200 for everything needed to do a proper swap. I bought it.
with my uncle gone and the motor out, its time to tear down and see what all needs replacing before i invest anymore into this project.
I was extremely happy not to see any damage to the rotors or housings during the tear down.
Carbon covered Rotors, yum!
Transmission arrived!
Time to pull the auto..(Very heavy btw)
Inspecting parts
prepared for paint
...meanwhile time to actually convert the auto to manual stuff.
There should be more on this topic later. It was a lot and a big part of this stage of the build. Its also no complete yet so more to come.
Don't go away, still much more to go!!..
We removed just the engine at this time since the auto to manual swap was planned way ahead in the future without me doing even the most basic researching on whats to be done.
While taking a break right before we remove the motor i find a Rx7 S5 manual transmission with all associated equipment for sell my Rotary Resurrection. Best part of all, it was cheap. 200 for everything needed to do a proper swap. I bought it.
with my uncle gone and the motor out, its time to tear down and see what all needs replacing before i invest anymore into this project.
I was extremely happy not to see any damage to the rotors or housings during the tear down.
Carbon covered Rotors, yum!
Transmission arrived!
Time to pull the auto..(Very heavy btw)
Inspecting parts
prepared for paint
...meanwhile time to actually convert the auto to manual stuff.
There should be more on this topic later. It was a lot and a big part of this stage of the build. Its also no complete yet so more to come.
Don't go away, still much more to go!!..
Last edited by manual123; 01-09-14 at 01:25 AM.
01-09-14, 04:50 AM
#4
Im gonna do a 6port turbo. And this build thread is really behind whats actually been done. I have about 400mi on the auto-manual swap so far. I wanted to keep the car N/A while i break in motor and complete car shake down before i start throwing new problems at it. Once i reach 1000mi with no problems then ill start the turbo build. I got all the parts already. except boost controller and a wideband
07-11-14, 05:57 PM
#7
late update Jul 11 2014
Its been while since my last update...which was already an update that was way behind the actual work that had been done up to that point.
The original motor has been rebuild and is back in the car. Along with the manual transmission I picked up from RR. I bought a OEM clutch disc and PP but kept the flywheel that came with the trans. As of right now, there about 1000 miles on the car since then. It hasn't been a completely smooth 1000 miles. I had to learn a lot fast. Along the way my plans changed once more. Now I am not going to make a 6 port turbo but build a proper 4 port with 3mm spec seals, street port and for right now stock ht-18. Since turbo II hood are fairly expensive to ship and I have a perfect hood already, I'm just gonna do a from mount intercooler.
So for right now, the car is still S5/NA with manual swap. Its undergoing some body work and paint at the moment. Things got put on ice a couple months back as I bought a house and had to deal with moving and setting things up here.
The original motor has been rebuild and is back in the car. Along with the manual transmission I picked up from RR. I bought a OEM clutch disc and PP but kept the flywheel that came with the trans. As of right now, there about 1000 miles on the car since then. It hasn't been a completely smooth 1000 miles. I had to learn a lot fast. Along the way my plans changed once more. Now I am not going to make a 6 port turbo but build a proper 4 port with 3mm spec seals, street port and for right now stock ht-18. Since turbo II hood are fairly expensive to ship and I have a perfect hood already, I'm just gonna do a from mount intercooler.
So for right now, the car is still S5/NA with manual swap. Its undergoing some body work and paint at the moment. Things got put on ice a couple months back as I bought a house and had to deal with moving and setting things up here.
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