Man this rear suspension on the convertible sucks. I have to completely disassemble the back of my interior to get to the TWO BOLTS that hold the rear struts in. I haven't even touched the lower control arms yet. It looks like the front bolt that holds the rear lower control arm is going to not be able to be removed. Almost looks like it runs in to the body before it can be completely backed out

 

True... I have felt this pain before, and there isn't any way around it.

I had to drope the entire subframe and differential :/ took a little bit.

 

Eh. 2 hours later:





The right side halfshaft does NOT want to separate. It's soaking in PB blaster right now.

 

why did you drop the rear sub frame?

 

I'm replacing the control arm and stabilizer bar bushings, and installing new struts/springs. I'm also installing a pinion snubber as well. The front bolt that holds the lower control arm hits the frame unless you drop the subframe. I just went the rest of the way and dropped the whole thing down. No big deal... I've done worse things to my car lol

 

I guess I won't be seeing the car in the parking lot for some time. Lol.

 

I'm in off-crew now man! I saw you driving in to work this morning, you were right behind me. I'm using the "Rx7 recovery vehicle" for now. My '91 S-10

 

I have a Motorcycle as a second vehicle, I doubt I could recovery my rx7 with it

 

Gotta have a truck as a backup man. You can haul parts with it, tow the 7 when she requires "breakdown maintenance", and even though the engine is more than twice the size, it gets better gas mileage

 

I am thinking about getting a 4x4 ranger, but it has to be a manual.

 

I just bought a cheap piece of ****. S-10's are hard to kill, easy to work on, and parts are cheap. It's the inverse of the Rx7. It's a good offset to the 80's Japanese sports car. I've worked on all makes and models of vehicle and have noticed the fewest issues with the old box s10's. Import trucks are good, but just like the 7, parts can be difficult to come by, and a lot of their systems are unnecessarily complex. Keep in mind, the more features you get, the more stuff there is to break. 4WD is good, but that's an extra gearbox that can give you trouble. It's also highly unnecessary down here in the south. Also, you REALLY don't want twin I-beam suspension.

It started out rough, so I just spray bombed it flat black. I had it in my driveway like this on jack stands while the rims were getting tires. The ones that came on it weren't safe. Some redneck in a lifted F250 drove by my house and yelled "GO GATORRRS WOOOOO!!!!". I'm not a football fan... I just looked at him and stared. He yelled again "GOOOOOO GAAAAAATORRRRRSSS!!!!" as he came to a complete stop. I guess he finally realized that I wasn't going to dignify him with a response, so he just drove off kind of puzzled.

 

Well I want to do a little Off roading.

 

Does anybody have rear brake calipers and mounting brackets for the vented disks? Its an s5 gtu that has the solid ones. Napa sent me the vented disks. I think that's all they carry

 

The mounting brackets aren't the same? You could just replace the calpers with the vented ones. I personal am cautious putting used brake parts on.

 

Nah the vented rotors are too wide for the brackets i have now...unless im doing something wrong

 

I think the cailpers are different, but a vented cailper should bolt up. or just take the rotors back to napa since they messed up

 

Darn no upgrade. Oh well. I can't wait to get back on the road

 

I think the only think that is different between the two is the caliper and the rotor. You may want to just get new calipers that are for those rotors. How old are your rear calipers?

 

If you need any help I have monday off, I could stop by and give you a hand.

 

It's all back together now as far as it can go. I've already bolted everything together with the exception of the springs/struts. The struts won't be in until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, so I'm kind of waiting right now. As soon as I get them it'll be as easy as bolting them up to the strut mounts and control arms... easy enough. I'm also waiting on my turbo. I sent the rotating assembly to Evergreen Turbo down in Ocala. This guy seems pretty legit, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a successful rebuild.


What's really weird though is that I was never able to get the passenger's side axle to separate from the hub. I wailed on it with a 10# hammer, let it soak in a pool of PB blaster for a couple days, heated it with a torch, used a 3 jaw puller (and subsequently broke it) and it still wouldn't move. I even used the puller, torch, and hammer all at the same time, and this is after soaking in PB for 2 days, and it still wouldn't budge. I ended up mushrooming the end of the axle so bad I couldn't get the nut back on. I had to bust out the grinder and take some material off so I could get the nut back on. It's SEIZED in there. That's probably the worst seized axle I've ever come across, and I've seen my fair share of them.

 

Damn, Well maybe you could help me install my ebc, and/or mock up my v-mount

 

Probably the EBC if you want to stop by Monday. I'd prefer if you came by earlier, as I'm sure we're going to be heading out to do stuff later in the day.

Also, Canalla: Contact me, as I'm off from work until the 7th. I'll have plenty of time to come help with your surging idle

 

Agreen I sent you a PM

Just FYI some FC interior parts have drop in price and in ceased in availablilty thru mazda.

 

PM sent

 

Anyone know where to find or how to contact Norman, the ex-Mazda factory rotary engine rebuilder ?

Thanks,
:-) neil