Stredrotors RX4 Coupe "Project 20b"
 

Ok, I thought I better get a thread started on my car. I've lifted it off the Ausrotary site if wondering why progress is so fast.


It's a 1974 RX4 Coupe bought it late 2007 from Melbourne and sat in my sister-in-law's garage untill I got my new shed built. With my wife working most weekends and having to look after my two kids, dosen't leave much time to work on the car so bear with me.
To get things started here's a few progress pics

When I first bought it and the old wreck of a shed in the background
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/5...pefrontmg4.jpg
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1...peseatsjw6.jpg
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/3...upereardr6.jpg

Now with the shed up I have made a start.
Pulling the crossmember out to replace the bushes.
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2619/img0218qv4.jpg
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/2366/img0220jp9.jpg


I have got a few things organised though, the engine has been dummied up and I scored some 12mm plate and made my exhaust flange for the turbo manifold and bought some steam pipe bends.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/818...tflange.th.jpg
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/78/steampipebends.th.jpg

I also lashed out and spent my performance bonus from work on these two. :D

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1379/newwelders.th.jpg

A Lincoln Electric 180c Mig and a CIG weldskill 170HF Tig/stick :twisted:
Now once the 13b is sold I can go about fitting the 20b and fabricating engine/ gearbox mounts and a turbo manifold.

I got a awesome bargain the other day, a bloke at work tipped me off to some 16 inch F90 Simmons at a second hand shop. A bit of bargaining and these were mine for $140. :D

https://i28.tinypic.com/2s6lymd.jpg
All 8 inches wide.

Picked up a Microtech LTX12, coils, loom and Eboost from Sam, aka "GTLimited"
https://i30.tinypic.com/2zi901g.jpg

Just got the engine in place to work out the engine and gearbox mounts
https://i30.tinypic.com/28mnss4.jpg
https://i29.tinypic.com/25rcrqs.jpg

Time and cash is really holding me up at the moment. I have lost all my overtime in the last 6 months and this was funding the project. My wife is having to do more weekend work so I am looking after the kids which stops me putting as much time into the project. Things are starting to pick at work, so hopefully might get some overtime in the next few months but at lest I kept my job, there was 280 of us that didn't :( .


For Fathers Day I asked for some kid free time to work on the Mazda, so I got around to doing the old shorten shifter housing mod......
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...nedshifter.jpg

Modified the gearbox cross member to suit the old RX4 one.....
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...arboxmount.jpg

Made some plates to mount the engine off :D ......
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...nginemount.jpg
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...nginemount.jpg


Now I just have to install the engine and box and fab the mounts off the suspension crossmember.

RH engine mount now finished
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...ginemount1.jpg
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...ginemount2.jpg

And test fitted.
https://i227.photobucket.com/albums/...ountfitted.jpg

Should be strong enough :!: :D

Got the left hand mount completed, sits quite nice 8) .

https://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5561/lhmount.jpg

Man i wish there was nice old school rotarys in America like there seems to be in Austrailia. and do you guys have 20b's growing from trees!?

time for me to move down under...

I see you took my advice! Your build is better off in this section you'll see. I still want/like those wheels, give me a price :) GL with the build...looking forward to the finished product...without those wheels! Just giving you a hard time, I know your not gonna sell them.
Ricky

Wow man too cool! Can't wait to see this all finished up!!! I'll be checking back often, have fun & good luck

No worries:), and your right the wheels are to good to part with;)

Chris.

nice work 20b will be fun. what kinda setup will u have?
btw your motor mounts are upside down not that it matters:)
tail shaft mod is the way to go i cut 7 1/4" off myn to fit in my repu.

cheers
chris

I don't know if there were more sold per capita than in the States or more just survived the seventies. It would be interesting to know the figures.

20b engines still aren't that hard to find over here just have to fork out around 5 - 6 grand.

It sure will be fun:D

The mounts in the photos are off my 13b and the threads were a bit shabby on the other end and I wanted to be able to put the nuts on by hand.

At this stage the engine will run standard ports ( might swap the exhaust sleeves ) and I'll see if I can get away with factory injectors, 3mm Mazda apex seals ( rotors machined to suit ), GT42 sized turbo and water to air intercooler due to space issues.
Just going to run a S5 RX7 gearbox and see how it holds up twin plate clutch and eventually a Toyota Hilux or Mazda B series diff.
There's a couple of places that make front brake upgrades over here, looking for around 280mm to 290mm disk rotors and S5 or S6 calipers.

And that will do for a bit so I can have some fun with it. I'll leave the body for later, God knows what sins lie underneath the paint work:dunno:.

what did you have to do to shorten the trany to fit i have an s5 turbo trany im putting into my rx2

The easiest way to do this is what I did and that is to cut the shifter housing enough so that the rear two mount holes on the shifter housing are then bolted into the front two holes on the gearbox. Hope that makes sense:scratch:.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6...nedshifter.jpg

Step 1
remove the cover on the side of the shifter housing and remove the roll pin from the shift linkage. Just punch it out carefully, the pin will foul on the other side of the housing if the shifter in not in the right spot.

Step 2
Once roll pin is removed, remove the gear stick and unbolt the housing from the gearbox. So from memory the housing should slide off the tube that goes to the gearbox with a few taps from a soft hammer. Don't worry if the tube comes out of the gearbox instead as the tube is the same both ends.

Step 3
Measure the distance between the front and rear mount points (103mm from my dodgy memory:scratch:) This measurement is what you shorten the tube and the shaft by, also how far forward from the original roll pin hole a new hole is to be made. Use the shifter block (where the roll pin went through) as a guide to drill straight through the shaft.
Remember measure twice, cut/drill once:icon_tup:

Step 4
Cut the front of the housing off like in the above photo.
On my gearbox shifter housing there were small dowels on the underside, the rear one did not line up with the front dowel hole, so I ground it off.

Step 5
Now all you need to do is put back together.
Put some silicone sealer around the tube where it was cut to seal it in the housing.

Phew, looks a lot when you have to type it all out.

You can shorten it even more if drill new mount holes in the housing flange and/or weld some lugs to the rear. As long as distance moved forward is the amount you cut the shaft and tube.

Here is one that is shorter than mine.
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/160...2009295lr8.jpg

Hope this helps:icon_tup:

Chris, Is the Toyota Hilux an entire dif that fits perfectly like the stock dif or is it just gears to give the stock dif posi-traction.
Thanks
Ricky

main things were how ever much you shorten the shifter rod same thing goes for the tube. heres some pics of myn for refernce myn is a little shorter..
also heres a pic where i screwed up with the pin and had the shifter in the wrong position i had to drill the housing to remove the pin haha to much :weed: that night:)


https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1257829749
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1257829749
oops fd up lol
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1257829749

hope that helps too..

cheers
chris

Dude You don't have to go far for 20b's... at tiger japanese auto parts LTD.com they have them for $2,790 and shipping to Florida is $210.:icon_tup:

but my warning to you is that even though they are low mileage engine's... i recommend a rebuild so that you don't have pull your hair from a failed first start.:rolleyes:

here's the link..http://www.tigerjapanese.com/index.p...mart&Itemid=26

You use the entire diff housing and all. You have to find one that is around the same width (they got wider from the first model onwards). Then chop the spring hanger mounts off a fit some RX4 ones. You will also need to change the stud pattern and the tail shaft yoke.

I haven't gone that far down the track yet, might run the RX4 13b diff and see what happens.:)

dont ever buy from tiger japanese...


they sell more broken motors than anyone out there. theres a thread on here from about 20 people who got screwed by them...

I also have already bought a front clip with motor from them before. i would never go with them again.

I am well aware of there reputation and have read from the thread you were talking about. but most if not all of them complained because they did not bother to inspect the internals or do a rebuild for that mater,and dropped in a used motor of unknown conditions.and then at first start BOOM:icon_tdow:dunno: there pulling their hairs and come on this site to weep and complain about their miss fortune that they could have prevented in the first place. so their complaints on this site i take with a grain of salt,and the buyers know that buying a used motor is russian roulette to begin with. but i guess i was lucky with my first purchase and might have a change of heart on the next one but yet again this is russian roulette that is tiger japanese.

R/H side mount installed.....

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...a/IMG_0943.jpg

...and L/H

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...a/IMG_0942.jpg

Getting there

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...a/IMG_0941.jpg

My latest purchase 60mm Tial waste gate and a GT42, ball bearing, water cooled A/R 1.06 exhaust. Now have to get in and make the exhaust manifold.:)

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...a/IMG_0940.jpg

it's the same thing i did to an fb tranny to fit in the 808 i had. i can assist if u need.

nice work there stredrotor.

Dang CC cola, there is a God.

i would be VERY pissed if i paid 2,800 for something that needed a rebuild!!!

A year ago that same motor was at $3500. a big discount don't you think?? heck even at $3500 i still would call it a big discount because there are places that are selling them at $6000 and keep in mind those are used motors...Let me repeat, those are USED MOTORS...and without checking the internal condition it's a guarantee KABOOM on first start.:icon_tdow And i'll be reading your thread on how Tiger japanese screwed you over or what ever....it's the usual sad sap story on this site.:pity:

Stredrotor,Excellent Job your doing Keep up the good work:icon_tup:, and i look forward to your results..:bigthumb:

i have bought lots of used motors and NEVER had a problem with "kaboom" on start up... frankly if you do then you got screwed!!! sorry