87 Rx7 hood problems, ride height, emissions
 

I recently got an 87 RX7. It was a GXL, but has a jdm 88 Turbo engine dropped in. It has a Turbo II hood as well and S5 front bumper and tailights.

I have some quick questions that that I would appreciate if answered.

The hood doesn't close easily. It does eventually close by dropping it and I don't want to press to hard on the hood. Any ideas on why the hood won't close easily? Possibly because it was an NA converted to turbo??

Also I have adjustable cusco coilovers on the car as well. How would I go about adjusting the ride height? I need to raise the ride height because the car is slammed right and and the tires are rubbing on full lock turns.

Final question. The engine is 1988 JDM turbo motor. It has no emissions. Would it be possible to put emissions back on in order for the car to pass smog in California? The Engine also has an 89-91 intake and I don't know if that would make things more complicated with putting the emissions back on.


Thank you!

The original NA coupe hood would have been made of steel, but many TII hoods are made of aluminum. If the hood latch is intended for a steel hood, the spring tension will be higher, which means getting it to latch with a lighter hood can be a pain.

Yes, but with a JDM LIM (lower intake manifold) you'll run the risk of failing the visual. J-specs did not have EGR valves. S5s in the US didn't either, but the smog tech is going to be looking for '87 emissions equipment, which will include an EGR. The good news is an EGR is useless on a rotary, so NOx levels will be fine without it.

So J-spec motors won't have an EGR. Also I found out that the car is actually a 86 GXL when I gave the VIN for insurance. No biggie, just a year older than I thought. I assume the 86 RX7 Us Spec had a EGR as well.

Would it be possible to switch out the NA hood latch for a Turbo II hood latch?

I'm pretty sure the cusco coilovers are either zero-1 or zero-2. Pretty sure they are zero-1 since the previous owner said he paid around $1600. On the the real question, will adjusting the ride height be possible with just hand tools, for instance no specialty tool will be needed.

The ride height needs to be adjusted soon since the wheels are hitting the fenders. I can't even stick my finger between the tire and fender. Being "hellla flush" is cool, but its too much of a hassle to drive like a baby to keep it from rubbing while turning.

Once again thanks.

'86-'88 (S4) emissions equipment is the same, so an '86 would have had an EGR. I have an S4 J-spec engine in my '88 convertible, and what I did was buy a US-spec LIM so I could bolt an EGR onto it. It's not hooked up, but it looks like it is.

You can switch the latches, but I should point out that your best bet for finding a latch for an aluminum hood is from a convertible of any year. All convertibles had aluminum hoods, while only some TIIs did. There may be a model/year or two of the NA coupes that could have had them as well, but it's pretty random.

Can't help you with the coilovers, but I would expect ride height adjustment would require unbolting them from the car.

If you pay 1600 dollars for Coilovers they should also have a Spanner wrench to adjust them.
Most coilovers use a spanner wrench(pair of them ) to adjust the Height.
And ya,you can get a Hood latch from a Vert or any other Series 4 or 5 that had a aluminum hood,and that will make your Hood slamming problems go away.

^ Thanks for those posts. Forgot to ask the guy what tools were needed for coilover adjustment. I'll probably just purchase a spanner wrench. Should any spanner wrench work (ie most brands or an adjustable one)?

Also how would I position the spanner wrenches on the collar? Here's a photo to better show what I'm working with.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...f/IMAG0312.jpg
Which collars would I adjust. I'm guessing the bottom collars, but it doesn't hurt to ask and be sure.

I am also missing a wheel nut and a center cap. Honestly I don't know how the wheel nut went missing. I think it may of been missing it since the car was purchased I just didn't notice it (horrible on my part.) I doubt someone is crazy enough to steal just one wheel nut. As well as the wheel nut I am missing a wheel cap. I believe they are the stock FD wheel caps stripped to black plastic. Where could I get just one wheel cap (guessing the answer will be post a WTB thread)?
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...f/IMAG0303.jpg

Another question, how do you remove the door panels? I think the tracking for both my driver and passenger side windows needs to be fixed as well as I need to start working on the dent on driver side door.

Final question. I looked at the FAQ for FC's because my clock isn't working. The idiot lights still function correctly, its just the clock is completely off. Any idea, according to the FAQ I should check the fuse box or CPU solders. Only thing is I don't know where to find the fuse boxes ( I actually have a general idea, but haven't really checked) and which fuse would be the idiot light/clock fuse? As in what name would it be under in the fuse box.

With that I got a photo of the car. Blurred the plate b/c I am a bit paranoid. I dunno.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...icheif/rx7.jpg

Once again thanks. You guys posts are very helpful.

If they're stock FD wheels (looks like they're painted at least), you could get a replacement cap from a dealership parts dept or the classifieds.

Door panels have a number of screws and clips holding them on. There are 4 bolts along the armrest, one under the door handle surround & one in the corner by the air vent. After that it's just pull out and up, then disconnect the window switch and light.

The clocks fail because of poor solder joints in the warning light/clock assembly. No need to mess with fuses or the CPU. You could re-do all the clock joints, or ditch the thing like this: https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...0&postcount=10.

Waaaay cool clock mod. Found another electrical issue. Sometimes the voltmeter in the gauge works sometimes it doesn't When it does work it reads around 14 (that is the correct voltage right?)

Another thing I noticed. Some what of a slight squeaking noise when I press the clutch in. Sounds like a squeaky belt,but quieter yet still noticeable. I hope it isn't the throw-out release bearing b/c I was doing some reading and that might be the cause. The thing is after I drive the car for a while the sound disappears.

Called up local Mazda dealer. They want 54 dollars. For 1, count'em 1 center cap. That's waaaay to expensive.

One last thing. I plan to change out my front tire since they are worn (like inner area is staring to show the metal a bit). Currently I have newish (less than 2000 miles) 225/50/16 Falken Ziex ze-512 on the rear and the worn out Kumho's in the front. Since I'm replacing the front tire I was think of going 225/45/16 in the front since the smaller sidewalls (they would be smaller right?) would give me more fender clearance. The only thing I can see is that the tires in the back would be larger, can't rotate tires, possible handling issues.

Should I just stay with 225/50/16's all around?

Also Also, I have an s5 bumper on an s4 car. It came like that and the non-matching moldings are bugging the crap out of me. What is the best way to get them to match? Switch s4 side moldings to s5? Paint molding on front bumper black to match? Paint over the s4 moldings?

Also is okay to just keep asking more questions in the same thread? The question's I'm asking now don't really pertain to the title, but I don't want to make a whole bunch of threads for each question.

Once again thanks.

You know I had a similar sound with my 86 N/A.
It sounded like a low tumbling almost, I pushed in the clutch pedal and, TA-DA! It goes away. Let off the clutch and its right back to the rumbling. I bought a LUK OEM clutch kit and put in a new pilot and throwout bearings. I still have the sound so I wouldn't worry about the throwout. Car drives like a champ though! Possibly just a sound these cars make.