brianbat420

Whats up! I am the proud owner of a newish to me 86 NA Rex with a Jpsec TII swap. I will start this out with the fact that I know nothing about rotarys except they run on triangles! I got the car because I wanted a project car and something Turbo with RWD. After driving the car a bit it is def the platform I want. It needs work but I will get into that with a good/bad section.

Good:
REX!
Turbo
RWD
5 speed
Even not running the greatest it wants to drift
White
Sun roof

Now the Bad:
Jspec swap not complete, **** everywhere, don’t know what the previous owner completed swapped
There are a lot of missing connections interior has been rewired and I am going to have to start from scratch.
Engine running warm and because of the swap not everything works (Spedo and temp gage) or at least I think it is warm. Intercooler hot to the touch and intake manifold. Not burning skin hot but pretty dam hot. I know roto’s don’t like heat so working on some stuff.
Tranny is rough and I am going to have to do something about it. When in neutral it makes noise and sounds like it is spinning with the engine? Very tough shifts not crisp at all (May be a Rex thing?) I am pretty sure the syncros are gone on third gear. When shifting into third gear there is a slight grinding unless I double clutch it. when I was driving it home (Long drive) 5th gear started making a weird noise towards the end of the trip. Hard to explain, but sounded like something in there was free spinning even though in gear?
The interior is red! I hate red and looks like booty
Right front wheel is squeeking when driving straight and turning right. Think the bearings are bad.
Don’t know if the Diff got swapped to an LSD and don’t know how to tell the difference.

Aside from all the bad stuff I like the car. I am Military and being in the car reminds me of being in Japan driving my Skyline  I like to work on cars but because I don’t know anything about roto’s it is a daunting task. I have the Chiltons manual and downloaded the Mazda service manual but still trying to make sense of it all. When I read the boards people abbreviate everything and makes it very confusing. Maybe someone with the knowledge can make an acronym FAQ (Or maybe I just haven’t found it yet).

What I plan to do with the car:
Front mount E-Bay special $400. I know everyone will blast me because of it but I will report after install (Ordered)
BOV (Ordered)
Intake, weapon-r crazy looking style. It is a shorty but I am going to fab a heat shield and air duct. (Ordered)
TII hood, the car is a conversion so has the regular hood and HEAT HEAT HEAT.
I am going to wrap the entire hot side of the exhaust in the lava rock wrap. Some will say bad idea but the fact that heat is the biggest killer of roto’s far outweigh any negatives with using it.
E-Fans, because I like them.
Remove all the emissions stuff (If it is there, I cant tell to be quite honest)
Turbo timer because these motors are dyno only and don’t want the oil cooking with the added heat of the wrap.
Gauges. Boost, temp, and something. Maybe Spedo if I cant get the dash to work
Replace radiator, pulled the cap off to check it and there was quite a little bit of rust.
Flush all the fluids. Don’t know if/when they were changed.
Rip out that interior and either leave it metal or replace as much as I can with black. Def do the carpet and I don’t know what I will do to the console and other red plastic but I dislike the color a lot.

I am a complete noob to ALL of this and will be asking a lot of questions in the coming future so deal with it! LoL. I will do my best to take pictures and create a log from the eyes of a noob. A lot of people have been playing with this for so long that they don’t remember what it is like not to know squat.

Comments? Help with the “Bad” section? Advise?
Batman

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

Yikes! you like to dive in head first don't you? Recon? lol

Try to find out what series S4 (86-88) or S5 (89-91) motor you have in the car. Pray its the same series, it will make your life much easier. If not that could be the reason for non-working gauges and missing/extra plugs.

As a general rule, the first "mod" should be a properly running car. Until you have a solid platform, the only thing modifications will do is add something to the list of potential sources of your current problems. That being said, the things you have planned so far don't seem like too big of a problem.

A metal interior will get old fast, interior pieces go up for sale here quite often and usually quite cheap. I just swapped my interior this weekend, and you can do the whole thing in 2 days, (dash, carpet, seatbelts, all panels and hatch). I even have a good condition grey interior (except front carpet) for sale.

Good luck!

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

Well most of the time threads like this start up before the jspec motor is acquired, and is filled with question about what goes where? and why doesn't X line up with Y? Your job is easier...or more difficult ; we shall see. At least its already running, which is good. However you don't know what was done right and what wasn't, which means essentially checking everything.

There have been plenty of jspec swap threads but I'm not sure how thorough any one of them are...hopefully someone will start posting links. ...

87 t-66

iTrader: (133)

you need to get a turbo hood or front mount intercooler asap. the car and engine are s4

brianbat420

Yeay my thread is back and I dont have to type all that over again!

I have a little update here:

https://www.rx7club.com/new-member-rx-7-technical-256/vacuum-nightmare-921481/

I will get the pics loaded here as soon as I take some. The FMIC was a nightmare to install with no directions and it IS possible to put the dam thing on upside down!