Oh yeah - if you are rebuilding the engine, also have one GREAT looking housing and one with just a tiny pit in it at the bottom - smaller than the spots in yours.

 

decided to try out another cheap restore. some semblance of progress is always nice.







used a hobby resin meant for lakes and such for tabletop models. it has a few tiny airbubbles in it but the bottle says that they will remove themselves naturally during the 24 hr cure.. so i guess ill see what i wind up with tomorrow.

 

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:oops:

 

winter and other cars getting in the way slow things down but still not stopped




sweet 13x7 wheels front tires are 175 70 rears are 185 70

 

Those Libre's look great on the 2

 

that turbo kit is freakin' rad. i love me some vintage hot rod parts.

 

Awesome car! I'd love to have a project like this one day

 

yeah its a fun project. its frustrating that its so cold here right now. usually i can work all winter in the garage but i havent seen a temp above freezing for over a month.

 

Thats the color mine was when I got it, in.......1984. Loving the turbo set up. I've never seen one of those.

 

yeah its an interesting deal i found in an old shop near the train tracks.

engine is a fb turbo efi 12a that someone put this garrett turbo/hks/carb setup on. took some work to make fit in the bay but it should be some good motivation if i can learn how to tune carbs.

 

cut the remote shifter down on my 12a trans.


been working too often on other cars. goal is to have this thing under its own power by june.

 

no pictures at the moment but i have been working on it.

i ended up going with a shortened s4 12b na transmission.

welded in a turbo drain line and resealed the oil pan. installed clutch and transmission and slid it in the car.

turbo still hits the frame rail even after i raised the holes on the engine mount and added a few spacers on the motor mounts. i also flattened the frame rail about 1/4". seems like it hasnt gone anywhere.

clutch fork is hitting the trans tunnel so i need to massage that area too.

good news is that the trans mount is super easy. just a pair of L brackets out of 3/16" strap steel.

still need to cut the shifter hole back a few inches but i think i can get away with the stock shifter location on the center console.


question. when 12v+ straight to the starter motor lug. should it spin? i thought it only lit up after the solenoid was engaged but my motor will spin as soon as it sees power.

 

I know that an SA transmission bolts right in with the shifter in the right place for what its worth.

You can use the stock drive shaft and it puts the starter where it should be. You can even use the stock trans mounts.

If you need any brake parts or struts / shocks - PM me. Have those and some other parts from my wrecked and rolled LeMons RX2.

 

so i was really really dreading cutting in to the frame to fit a dumb turbo but i really couldnt work a solution. so this weekend i figured 'what the hell'. and started chopping


after i peeled off the top layer, i saw 40 years of dirt and dust nearly brim full in there. completely dry and frame rails are just surface rust which i treated. but it was kind of cool to take out a brick of dirt.

in an attempt to reintroduce rigidity to the frame, i added a couple bulkheads and welded them in


then i made a top plate


and welded it in



and finally i made the rear piece and welded it in, shot it with rust preventative primer and then a coat of semi gloss black to further help seal it and hide my bad bad welds


im not a welder. in fact, this is my first time welding anything more than a random spot weld every few years. im satisfied with the results as ive seen far worse, but ive seen better too. still have to tackle the wheel well and not quite made a decision as to how but thats for next weekend.

with the engine in place, i could finally start making a trans bracket, except now the engine had a 15* tilt. so again.. contemplation on cutting into my baby.. i had to do it now..


and then i reused the factory boot cover. probably going to replace the metal up front although i know most people dont do that.


and finally, this is how it lines up with the console. im not sure if i want to bend and cut the shifter to fit the console, or mount the console back an inch

 

Looking good looking good , and weld is a weld if it penetrated then is good lol looks aren't everything lol I say that cuz I do suck welding but hey I'm welding and is practice

 

been busy with motor and trans mounts. those are complete but i didnt take photos.

next step was fuel system.
i tried taking the hatch cover off but it was so rusty that it was obliterated as soon as i touched the bolts


the gasket is still soft and pliable though probably worthless since its checked pretty badly


underneath, i removed this cool louvered panel


and was greeted with another stockpile of 40 year old dirt to the face


all nekkid


and if you recall, someone clipped all the wiring back here when they swiped the tail lights so i have to run a new pump wire


2 gallons of this was in the tank



and now for the part where i need help/advice.
i know nothing about carburetors or fuel requirements for them or turbo setups.

what pump should i get? what regulator should i get?

my friend was looking at the carb and asked me if it was internally regulated. i have no idea so i took photos in hopes that someone can shed some light.


also can anyone tell me which fuel lines go where?



thanks for all the help!

 

so i got the engine running over memorial day weekend and was just dialing in the idle. it died and upon further inspection, i found that the engine was seized.

this was the final run. you can hear it bog down then it dies.

pulled the engine and started tearing it down. found a few strange things about it


looks good


from here it looks good.

upon closer inspection

plugs in upside down and apex corner seal is really short. ive never seen this before
also all the apex seals only have a single spring instead of two. anybody have any insight?


looks good

from here, the center iron doesnt want to move. the eshaft is stuck and wont allow for the rock so i flip it over and pull the stat gear bolts, plate and remainder of the stack.

greeted with shavings


after some deliberation, decide to pound the eshaft out and end up with this

stat gear bearing is frozen, locking the rotor onto the eshaft. when i muscled it apart, it slid off the stat gear.

so now im on the hunt for an eshaft and stat gear. im glad i opened this up though. i wouldnt have found the other issues otherwise.

 

frame rails are better than mine. sandblast, treat paint. done

 

freed the rotor from bondage today




good news is that the engine the car came with has good stationary gears and bearings and these rotor bearings are still good. im really lucky to only have to be replacing an eshaft.

im going to upgrade to fd corner seal springs though and use pineapple water seals.

and unfortunately, i think ill start cleaning up the outside of this engine too. cant be doing all this work and not touch it. i really wanted to keep the patina and age but i cant bring myself to not beautify it.

 

just a mock up but i really like how the aluminum on the manifold ant carb came back to life.



as soon as my seal kit gets here, it will be ready to go back together.

 

Nice job. I can't wait to see it all done. I love restoring and modify old Mazda cars. I have a 63 chevy impala and its easy to buy part an bolt them on ,but on a Mazda you have to made parts fit and that's is more fun then bolting part on. Good luck on your Rx2 build and Keep up the good work.

 

 

picked something up to help my project out a little

this was inside it. thought it was neat

 

Oaktree is still open, too. Pretty cool.

 

Another bit of progress. Busy days, slow to get to my own stuff.

I picked up a parts car for all the little things I couldn't find. As luck would have it, I scored way more than expected.

Found some seatbelts but not sure if they're correct.


Found a horn button to go on my sa wheel

But not sure if I want to keep that our go with the originally planned nardi

Also got sun visors and rear view mirror


Badges, maker lights, windshield wipers and a whole bunch more but no photos.

Pretty excited and the rest of the coupe is heading to Australia.