I got a convertible 88 rx7. I got a 73 rx-2. I wanna engine swap with the efi and all. Going from an auto to a stick. heres my dilemma... how? I know the question is broad in nature. but I have the 7 in the garage and I only have a one car garage. I need to strip the 88 but I need to know what I need from the donor. I want to retain the efi and all the bells and whistles. I am not too familiar with the second gen. nor with efi. I need step by step advice. help!!!!!!!!!

 

Are you familiar with carb's? If so, I would stick with a carb'ed setup rather than the EFI. There's alot of options to choose from for a carb and not alot for EFI.

 

Megasquirt it.

 

The search function will be your best friend. Here's one of the best threads to start of with https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...highlight=crit

 

Remove engine and remove right and left side engine harness ( right side harness goes through firewall directly to ecu), with all componants off right and left fenders from donor... I recommend keeping all componants connected to the wire harness as you go, if you have to remove something LABEL it on tape in permanant marker and keep all attach hardware in a plastic bag attached to that part of the harness or componant (label both sides of connection or componant), and take pictures, the more pictures the better and make sure you show some of the surounding area as well, for better location reference..., this will help out a month or so down the road when you forget were some part was located or you are trying to find something the RX-7 schematic is referencing... remove the entire under dash harness carefully as well and agian label and picture all... most of the harness will be stripped away and you do not have to use the stock instrument cluster if you do not want to...

next... parts needed to swap engine to RX-2... the 86-88 swap is not too bad if you source a GSL-SE front cover and oil pan (try Mazdatrix or some of the mazda salvage companies), this makes it the easiest, other alternatives can work if needed. You will also need a flywheel assembly from the engine of a 86-88 manual trans equipt car to keep you engine in basic balance... you can use an after market header that is meant for putting any 13B into the RX-2 chassis but you will want to have an O2 sensor bung welded onto it (18mm X 1.5 I think but can check on later when you get to the point)... if you want to run an A/C compressor, find a manual rack equipt 86-88 RX-7 and it will have a bracket you will need (without the P/S pump)...

Once to this point, prepare to spend quality time with the harness, starting with laying it out on the floor about the same way it came out of the car... (Note: at this piont there are several different avenues you can go down so PM me for these otherwise the rest of this just covers the basics)... OK start at the very front and start unraveling the electrical tape and plastic harness covers, the goal here is to strip out all the unwanted stuff like head and marker lights, horn, aux fan harness etc, wipe down the wires to get the glue off them and then just wrap a small band of electrical tape ever 12-18 inches just to keep the wires from tangling... the bonus of doing all this is that you can now get to all the wires so if you do not like the location of something or do not want to use a componant (like the RX-7 fuse block, or a relay etc), you can splice in or reroute the wire to were you want it... also another benifit will be you will become very framiliar with the electrical system once you are done, so future trouble shooting should be real easy...

other parts to keep, the front and rear spindle and brake assemblies ( incase you want to do one of the brake and/or bolt upgrades which is my favorite), brake booster and master cylinder, A/C parts, seats, in tank fuel pump assembly etc... early chassis' with late model upgrade are fun... there are more benifits to keeping the EFI rather than going back to carbs...

This is a basic outline and there are a few other details that can help smooth things as you go, like choices in OMP, oil lines, water pump, fuel pumps, trans options, front mount mod, exhaust choices, etc... that can be picked up after you get the donor stripped and start mocking up the new install...

The end result will direclty reflect the effort you put into a project, regardless of the skill level you start with...

 

GORacing how much is involved in doing a front brake swap from a 2nd gen to a rx3 ? can this be done retaining the four lug or does it need to go to a five with a wheel change?---MadChad.

 

Forgot to ask ... The donor was sideswiped and it ran great before and now it still does but now when I start it, it stays accelorated and redlines. I don't think its anything major but I don't know what it is. Starts fine and stays on fine. The cables are free and clear as well as the linkage moves freely. Any ideas? I would like to clear this up before I take the motor out. When I turn the key the car turns on and its like I have my foot on the pedal. The car was hit on the drivers side. On a side note... It seems that I will have a heck of a time making the trans fit.

 

Will i be able to use the 3rd gens pedals or will I have to find some from another Rx2. PS. Mine is auto.

 

Pedals are pedals honestly. I would just worry about fitment and it looking right. Do some experimenting and find somebody with an FD. You are in Chicago it seems, there's plenty of FD's around there.

 

Just for clarity, the 4-bolt patterns used on the RX-3 and the 2nd gen are different... so we already have a problem... if keeping the bolt pattern but going to a larger diameter rotor is the goal, then read option 1.

Option 1: The RX-3 front hub and rotor are two piece, so an adapting brake rotor hat can be custom made to fit onto the stock hub, then just about any diameter aftermarket rotor disc can be used (brembo, baer, wilwood, etc), once the disc diameter is set then the next step is to fabricate a brake caliper mounting bracket, calipers are not really a problem as stock mazda calipers fitting up to 13" rotor dia. can be sourced... problem is the fabrication and aftermarket rotor discs cost, unless you can do most of the engineering and or the work yourself...
So keeping the original bolt pattern can be more expensive that other options even with the cost of new rims...

Option 2: If you want to keep your original bolt pattern but want to do a simple front brake upgrade for better cooling and fad resistance then try swapping the 79-84 1st gen strut and hub assembly (81-85 units are prefered but require a brake line fitting change at the caliper), this will get you the same diameter rotor as the RX-3, but they are vented instead solid rotors... Note: this mod will drop front ride height, and the use of a camber adjusment plateset, and/or lower control arm spacers are suggested to keep front alignment specs (See RESpeed for parts)...

If just keeping the overall 4-lug "look" is ok with you, but pattern size is not a problem then GSL-SE brakes are the answer as they are the same 10" diameter, and bolt pattern, as the 4-lug 2nd gen, this swap is fairly easy, and again see note above... Side note - the RX-3 rear axles and drums can be redrilled by a competant machine shop to match the new front pattern...

If the the 5-lug pattern is ok but your really wanting 11"+ diameter rotors and 4 piston calipers then a first gen strut swap with one of the RESPeed big brake kits and a set of donor 5-lug hub and brake assemblies would get you windshield face planting performance

Roldawg - If I remember right the RX-2 has a strut assembly simular to the -3 so these mods should also work, need to ask the -2 guys for sure...

rx3club.net

 

I think you meant to ask about the 2 gen clutch pedal assembly interchanging... the actual RX-2 pedal bracketry is there regardless of manual or auto so only the actual pedal arm need to be installed... at this point I am not a 100% but if I remember (been 25+ years since actually did the last auto to man swap), you will need to remove the entire pedal bracket assembly to be able to pull the pivot shaft bolt out anyway, at that time you can try a first gen clutch pedal arm or the 2nd gen pedal arm ( i do not expect the 2nd gen to work due to them being alum and the bushing housing width issue, but...), otherwise these arms are not hard to have made as all the dimensions can be measured from the bracket (PM me for more details on how to measure for correct pivot locations and leverage)...

 

Sounds odd, pull the elbow off the throttle body and see if the throttle plates are stuck open KEEP in mind that, niether the primary or secondary blades have to be open that far to make the engine go to high revs, if they appear to be ok try opening them all the way and using a light make sure they are not bent (should be flat)...an alt chance that there is a large vacuum line that may have been knocked off or damaged, or a internally damaged brake booster, BAC, EGR valve sticking open, just have to be thorough....

Trans- trade it for or find a 80 or earlier trans... other wise you need to modify the tunnel to fit (do not hack out the hole, there is a better way to do it and still keep it sealed and somewhat stock appearing)

Wait, did I miss something... is the vert also auto, or were you talking about the rx-2 or both?

 

the 2 is auto and the vert is stick.
I really want to keep the 88 trans if at all possible so advice on whats needed and mods I have to make is more what I am looking for.
P.S. I will be trying to post a pic or two of the 88 soon.

 

Ok, read back through and did not find were you distinguished which one was which, so disregard the flywheel change over and tunnel mod comments, all the other comments still apply.
The RX-2 tunnel mod is not going to matter because the auto shifter hole is still odd sized as opposed to the manual trans hole, so make a block off plate for the existing hole and bolt it into place with some windshield sealant which I found works best (from the bottom side spread the sealant along the edges into a nice radiused seam to prevent water, oil and road grime from working it's way into the seam and developing into rust... Now measure from the front of the bell housing to the center of the shifter, take this measurement and with the engine in place in the car measure back and mark the trans tunnel, this will be the center of the new hole you will have to make... If I remember right it will be back about 5 inches from were the original would have been... the benifit you should see from having a chassis meant for an auto is that the auto rear mounting crossmember should be about were the new 5-speed crossmember will need to be, were as the 4 speed car would have been too far forward...

 

this is what I'm starting with
before any tools
and where I stoped today
space is at a premium at my house

 

How much for the old schwinn hanging in the rafters? kidding aside, great project please post progress pictures---MadChad.

 

both those lowrider bikes are sick!

 

1966 orange fast back with the stik
1969 apple Krate with the stik
1971 manta ray with the stik
1972 or so sting ray with crappy china schwinn parts but a custom paint job that the kids love
and a 52 phantom

 

just started selling some parts that I took off on ebay. headlights are gone... If theres anyone nearby that needs the passenger side fender well you can have it. its in decent shape.

 

sent the car out to get touched up and painted ... this is what I got back. It was supposed to take 2 weeks and this took 5 months.

 

did you yank it back from them?
i hope you didnt pay a cent, and if they insisted you did
- please post up the company/ individual details, for the "excellent" service

 

wow...that ******* sucks on the paint job or whatever was supposed to happen there...

where are you with the swap?

Go with the megasquirt setup those bells and whistles are a whole lot better then the stock ****. All you would need is the motor minus the harness and your golden... Mega squirt sell a few different kits that you the buyer can have custom built from them and sent to your door...A complete stand alone with only the things you want to be controlled with the MS. Check it out...save yourself the headache

 

Just Got It Back. No Progress On The Swap. Gotta Start Off By Gettin To Work On The 88.
The Guys Who Did It To Me Was A Friend Of A Friend ... Made The Mistake Of Giving Some Starting Money And Supply Money. Something I Normally Wouldn't Have Done, Got The Paint And Some Supplies But Yeah.... $1000 Loss. Doesn't Work In A Shop... Does It Out Of His House And Is Usually Good At It, This Is The Way He Makes A Living For The Past 30 Years, I'm The Dumb *** Though. Live And Learn.