how hard can it be?
05-30-09, 12:59 PM
#1
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how hard can it be?
famous last words.
it was suggested i do a write up on my adventures, so here it is
picked up an S4 TII in an FB project that had gsl badges but gsl se registration (this is important later) thinkin "this should be fun". i suppose that depends on how you get your kicks :P. It had an obvious oilpan leak and a few other things that seemed small at the time. first i downloaded, studied and even took notes on the wolf 3d that was in the car at the time.
first things first, i installed my wideband and noticed my AFRs were alll over the place, checked the timing and noticed the stud that locks the distributor down was broken off, the dizz was floating. Bolt Extraction #1 took place at this point. i also couldnt make much sense of the wolf so i decided to skid it and install a haltech i had in a box for another project. spent an evening doing that only to discover fuel leaks at both rails, no spacer for primary rail, alternator not quite lined up and not bolted on properly (needed new bracket). also fixed a few vac leaks and replaced most vac caps cuz they were shot.
i skidded the 2gendfis rig that was in the car added a CAS and coils from an FC id owned, fixed what i could at the time, got the haltech wired in an began my tuning odyssey (you may have read bits of it in the haltech forum). eventually i got the car to run reasonably well with safe AFR, but noticed i still had fuel leaks, the oilpan wasnt sealing itself and the turbo appeared to be leaking as well, the suspension sounded like it was coming apart and the wipers stopped working. i had a decent 84 shell i was going to put a 12AT into, and decided that the thing to do was swap the TII into the 84 and worry bout 12AT later. this would give me a chance to reseal the oilpan, fix fuel leaks, rewire etc.
engine pull went fairly smoothly. pulled oilpan, ultra black'd it, aaaaaaaaaand 2 of the bolts in the front cover, side by side, were stripped. on the hunt i go for something just a shade bigger then the original bolts i can tap threads for. took an afternoon but i think i got it sorted.
swapped the fuel system over, found leaks at fuel pump end of things as well (car was a timebomb as it turns out) got that all sorted out an swapped over.
notice we cant get the downpipe off the turbo, turns out 2 of the studs are trashed. takes the better part of an evening to get em out via heat n elbow grease, and off we go to source new studs. notice a couple of other loose bolts on turbo, had to work em out n chase the threads with a tap.
go to install engine into new shell... imagine that the 13B doesnt fit into car i just peeled 12A out of. took much searching to discover the subframe is a lil different on a GSL-SE then on a GSL but the motormount is the same, so i order "13B into 12A mount" from racing beat. that does it. drop engine in.. start hooking things up, just hooking up wiring and plumbing when i drop a nut down one of the intake runners. couldnt fish it out with a magnet sooooooooooooo
off come the lower manifold and turbo, i retrieve the nut, and notice the coolant O rings between the LIM an engine are mashed. luckily i had replaced em in my NA which had turbo housings and it was close by so i peeled and replaced those. then in the process of bolting the turbo back on one of the studs that hold the turbo manifold to the engine broke, and looked like it had been waiting to a while.
drill and smack an easyout into the bolt, twist, SNAP. now i have a broken bolt with a broken easy out. unhook everything, pull engine, try to drill beside easy out... SNAP, and yes once again drill snap. till i had a bolt with an easy out and 2 half drill bits in it. spent 2 days and much money boring that hole out, ill spare the details. eventually managed to get a hole i could put a new stud in, hell its almost where the original was
at some point the brackets that hold the oil cooler beneath the rad came apart, a lil jb weld an some love put em most of the way back together again. added a dual pulley to the alternator. replaced all 4 injectors with cleaned tested ones, new rubber, new fuel lines, new clamps. fuel system leaks no more. resurfaced the UIM/LIM mating surface cuz it was thrashed. replaced TB and elbow cuz they didnt mate properly, modded and fitted with haltech TPS.
turbos probably going to go next, has a fair bit of play on the shaft front to back. not sure how bad that is, or how bad it can get, but im sure ill find out.
oh and i had new struts an springs sittin around for the front so i installed those, finally a voluntary task :P
i cant even remember what all else we have done, but ive been at it for about 3 weeks (like 10 -12 hour days) and hopefully will fire it up today. ill add more as it comes to me, or comes up depending on situation i guess. my response to the question "how hard can it be?"...
HOW HARD DO YOU WANT IT!!!!!
im not complaining tho. all in all its been an awesome learning experience, mildly more expensive then planned, but with luck should be a fast little car. thanks to this forum, RX7 Specialties, an my homie Brent for all the help along the way. Ill see what i have for pictures an throw a few up later. Also thanks to the previous owner who was pretty straight up about what state the car was in when i bought it, i probably wouldnt have checked or noticed some of this stuff otherwise.
Would i do it again? Probably. i get a kick outta this ****. but if ur thinkin of buyin a project or creatin one of your own keep in mind that its probably not going to go smoothly, an unless you have the luxury of 4 previous 7's worth of parts to help you out its likely going to cost you a lot of time and money. My only beef is they wouldnt put "love" as the fuel type on my registration.
Tox
it was suggested i do a write up on my adventures, so here it is
picked up an S4 TII in an FB project that had gsl badges but gsl se registration (this is important later) thinkin "this should be fun". i suppose that depends on how you get your kicks :P. It had an obvious oilpan leak and a few other things that seemed small at the time. first i downloaded, studied and even took notes on the wolf 3d that was in the car at the time.
first things first, i installed my wideband and noticed my AFRs were alll over the place, checked the timing and noticed the stud that locks the distributor down was broken off, the dizz was floating. Bolt Extraction #1 took place at this point. i also couldnt make much sense of the wolf so i decided to skid it and install a haltech i had in a box for another project. spent an evening doing that only to discover fuel leaks at both rails, no spacer for primary rail, alternator not quite lined up and not bolted on properly (needed new bracket). also fixed a few vac leaks and replaced most vac caps cuz they were shot.
i skidded the 2gendfis rig that was in the car added a CAS and coils from an FC id owned, fixed what i could at the time, got the haltech wired in an began my tuning odyssey (you may have read bits of it in the haltech forum). eventually i got the car to run reasonably well with safe AFR, but noticed i still had fuel leaks, the oilpan wasnt sealing itself and the turbo appeared to be leaking as well, the suspension sounded like it was coming apart and the wipers stopped working. i had a decent 84 shell i was going to put a 12AT into, and decided that the thing to do was swap the TII into the 84 and worry bout 12AT later. this would give me a chance to reseal the oilpan, fix fuel leaks, rewire etc.
engine pull went fairly smoothly. pulled oilpan, ultra black'd it, aaaaaaaaaand 2 of the bolts in the front cover, side by side, were stripped. on the hunt i go for something just a shade bigger then the original bolts i can tap threads for. took an afternoon but i think i got it sorted.
swapped the fuel system over, found leaks at fuel pump end of things as well (car was a timebomb as it turns out) got that all sorted out an swapped over.
notice we cant get the downpipe off the turbo, turns out 2 of the studs are trashed. takes the better part of an evening to get em out via heat n elbow grease, and off we go to source new studs. notice a couple of other loose bolts on turbo, had to work em out n chase the threads with a tap.
go to install engine into new shell... imagine that the 13B doesnt fit into car i just peeled 12A out of. took much searching to discover the subframe is a lil different on a GSL-SE then on a GSL but the motormount is the same, so i order "13B into 12A mount" from racing beat. that does it. drop engine in.. start hooking things up, just hooking up wiring and plumbing when i drop a nut down one of the intake runners. couldnt fish it out with a magnet sooooooooooooo
off come the lower manifold and turbo, i retrieve the nut, and notice the coolant O rings between the LIM an engine are mashed. luckily i had replaced em in my NA which had turbo housings and it was close by so i peeled and replaced those. then in the process of bolting the turbo back on one of the studs that hold the turbo manifold to the engine broke, and looked like it had been waiting to a while.
drill and smack an easyout into the bolt, twist, SNAP. now i have a broken bolt with a broken easy out. unhook everything, pull engine, try to drill beside easy out... SNAP, and yes once again drill snap. till i had a bolt with an easy out and 2 half drill bits in it. spent 2 days and much money boring that hole out, ill spare the details. eventually managed to get a hole i could put a new stud in, hell its almost where the original was
at some point the brackets that hold the oil cooler beneath the rad came apart, a lil jb weld an some love put em most of the way back together again. added a dual pulley to the alternator. replaced all 4 injectors with cleaned tested ones, new rubber, new fuel lines, new clamps. fuel system leaks no more. resurfaced the UIM/LIM mating surface cuz it was thrashed. replaced TB and elbow cuz they didnt mate properly, modded and fitted with haltech TPS.
turbos probably going to go next, has a fair bit of play on the shaft front to back. not sure how bad that is, or how bad it can get, but im sure ill find out.
oh and i had new struts an springs sittin around for the front so i installed those, finally a voluntary task :P
i cant even remember what all else we have done, but ive been at it for about 3 weeks (like 10 -12 hour days) and hopefully will fire it up today. ill add more as it comes to me, or comes up depending on situation i guess. my response to the question "how hard can it be?"...
HOW HARD DO YOU WANT IT!!!!!
im not complaining tho. all in all its been an awesome learning experience, mildly more expensive then planned, but with luck should be a fast little car. thanks to this forum, RX7 Specialties, an my homie Brent for all the help along the way. Ill see what i have for pictures an throw a few up later. Also thanks to the previous owner who was pretty straight up about what state the car was in when i bought it, i probably wouldnt have checked or noticed some of this stuff otherwise.
Would i do it again? Probably. i get a kick outta this ****. but if ur thinkin of buyin a project or creatin one of your own keep in mind that its probably not going to go smoothly, an unless you have the luxury of 4 previous 7's worth of parts to help you out its likely going to cost you a lot of time and money. My only beef is they wouldnt put "love" as the fuel type on my registration.
Tox
05-30-09, 07:18 PM
#4
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nah not quite running, have to finish a little wiring up first an fill it with fluids, but so far everythings goin well finally. couple of pics of what it looks like.. dont have any of how it started.
05-30-09, 07:28 PM
#6
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nah racing beat springs an KYB struts in the front, same for the rear is on order. need sway bar end links too now that i think of it.. end links were broken both front n back on the shell im using, should give it an interesting feel till i get it fixed. anyone driven an FB gsl without sway bars hooked up?
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05-31-09, 09:29 PM
#9
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ITS ALIVE!!!!
im almost shocked.. i might have actually pulled this off after unknown hours, chronic and dollars worth of effort an the combined parts of 4 or 5 previous 7's i have resurrected the beast. Now a few little things to touch up, differential needs love suspension as well, but the engine is a happy lil bugger. dont even need to be in the car.. reach in, turn the key, fires up. turbo still leaks as well but i kinda expected that, all in all im nearly proud of myself givin the fact that i really dont know what im doing an the amount of reefer burned during the operation, things have gone well.
Much thanks to my man Brent for all the help, if yall see his white FC with the mazdaspeed badge on the back give him a wave.
far as bushings go ill likely be down for that, at least the fronts. probably just shell out to mazdatrix for the rear links and such.
im almost shocked.. i might have actually pulled this off after unknown hours, chronic and dollars worth of effort an the combined parts of 4 or 5 previous 7's i have resurrected the beast. Now a few little things to touch up, differential needs love suspension as well, but the engine is a happy lil bugger. dont even need to be in the car.. reach in, turn the key, fires up. turbo still leaks as well but i kinda expected that, all in all im nearly proud of myself givin the fact that i really dont know what im doing an the amount of reefer burned during the operation, things have gone well.
Much thanks to my man Brent for all the help, if yall see his white FC with the mazdaspeed badge on the back give him a wave.
far as bushings go ill likely be down for that, at least the fronts. probably just shell out to mazdatrix for the rear links and such.
06-01-09, 10:24 PM
#13
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took it out for a burn finally, no leaks no fires.. a strange ticking noise which im hopin is the alt or maybe an injector, but otherwise running damn well. pulls hard enough to leave a nice #11 off the lights in its untuned state, all in all a successful swap/resurrection. now to get the body back in shape an it should be a slick little go kart.
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