Build thread

[speedjunkie]

Last night I cut the ends of the engine harness terminals for each rotor housing ground and put a connector on there, then made a little harness for the grounds.
2018-08-27_12-12-18 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-27_12-12-33 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-27_12-12-47 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I also ground down some excess material off the turbo compressor housing, just where the halves of the cast were joined and any other excess material. I plan to get it polished sometime soon.

Tomorrow we're driving to Broomfield to drop off the suspension hardware at Colorado Cadmium Plating and hopefully I'll get them back soon so I can start getting everything back together.

I was going to get a Ron Davis radiator, but I started wondering if maybe my mounts were causing the radiators to start leaking over time, and considering Ron told me it would be almost $800 and take 4-6 weeks to make, I decided to change the mounts and use a cheaper radiator just in case it ruined it again. So I ordered another Koyo tonight, but this time I ordered a single pass since it's going to be changed to dual pass when it's modified for VMount anyway.

[RX-7 Chris]

Colorado Cadmium Plating does small batch stuff?

[speedjunkie]

Small enough I guess haha. I was hoping to take some parts from someone else too so we could split the price and have enough parts to make use of it, but I didn't think to post about it until last night.

I didn't do much tonight. I made the other part of the newer heat shield idea and that took me a few hours.
Test fitting...
2018-08-27_11-26-05 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

And the final product.
2018-08-27_11-25-24 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-27_11-25-10 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I put some heat tape on the bottom side of the front end of the coils too since that part isn't protected from the heat.
2018-08-27_11-25-42 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I also got something else today. The speedo has only one more wire now so I need to figure out which stock wire to hook it to. I'm going to test it first to make sure it works before doing the final install. And I have a few things to do with removing the dash anyway.
2018-08-27_11-24-46 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I decided I should probably swap out the spark plugs while they're easily accessible but I only have three so I guess it's another trip to the store tomorrow. A few years ago I saw someone mention putting anti-seize on the threads of the plugs, but I never had one seize before so I never did. I did this time just because, but I'm really hoping it doesn't have the opposite effect for whatever reason lol. I also inspected the plug wires and added more dialectric grease.

I guess I'm going to start trying to get the door plastics changed over to look like 93 plastics so they match the new dash plastics. I have aluminum door pulls for the inside too so I'll swap those and reinforce the driver's door so it's actually functional like the passenger door handle. And I want to try rare earth magnets on the window motors and if those don't work I'll wire in the converters.

[speedjunkie]

I tinkered with the window motors today but didn't get very far. I got the passenger side door panel off and temporarily wired in the power converter to see if it would work, but I didn't adjust the potentiometer (I forgot about that part lol) so nothing changed. I tried the magnets first and didn't notice a change on that either. I did notice that both windows can rock back and forth kinda far, so I'm going to see if there is some kind of adjustment for it. I'm also going to follow this post to clean the tracks out and relube them and then lube the rubber tracks for the glass. Then I'll see if I need to wire in the converter.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation- ... ce-910274/

I hooked up the gauges today because I had a hunch they weren't right. Le sigh. So I guess I'll be sending those back.
2018-08-28_10-50-30 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Now for the part that pissed me off the most today. I called Precision Standard this morning to check on the status and I was told that I was missing a couple parts for the one they're supposed to be building. He said I'm missing the output shaft and the cluster gears. Neither of those were given back to me a year or two ago when I needed to get parts to replace the broken ones. When I got them back I put them in my shed and they didn't move until I took them back to the shop a couple weeks ago. I checked again in the shed just to make sure and they weren't there, so I called the shop and let him know I definitely don't have them and never did. He said he'd look around the shop again to be sure but that he'd have recognized them and gotten them back to me and he never called back today so I'm hoping that's a good sign. I doubt it though, and if that's the case, I'm going to be super pissed that I bought the new parts needed for $430 and can't even build the tranny again. I called Ray Crowe just to see what the cost would be for the missing parts. One is $600 and the other is $250. SO pissed. I asked about the leaking one and he said it looks like an easy fix.

Now on a really serious note, one of the rotary guys in the North Carolina group I used to hang out with passed away Sunday afternoon. I saw it on facebook first thing this morning. So sad. His name is Greg Stamper and he was really into playing guitar and he had a red FC, I believe a GTUs. He was a really nice guy and the world is definitely worse off for losing him. I'm not sure what the cause of death was, but I'm going to try to find out. RIP my friend.

Today was just shit overall.

[RX-7 Chris]

Are you going to try and get that alarm fixed while you have everything pulled apart?

[speedjunkie]

I've been planning on putting a switch on the alarm system haha. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be functioning that way or what, I don't imagine it should arm with the car unlocked though. I don't feel like digging into it too much, but I probably should while it's apart. Ugh. lol

[speedjunkie]

I sent back the gauges today and worked on the window situation, cleaning and re-lubing the tracks. It helped the driver side but the passenger side was still slow rolling up. They're both pretty quick rolling down but the passenger side only rolled up quick when I wired in a power converter and bumped it up to 18v. The glass on both sides rocks back and forth a good bit since there is excess space between the glass and the track on both sides, but I don't see a way to fix that. And I think the passenger side has a voltage issue because it seems to be dropping to 9v or so while rolling up.

I'm working on making the 94 plastics look like the smooth 93 plastics. I sanded off the texture on part of the broken cluster hood and then painted it with bumper/trim coating. It didn't turn out as good as I'd like. After sanding the texture off I scuffed it again and then cleaned it with acetone. I'm wondering if the acetone didn't completely dry or something, because this coating seems to work great for others.

[speedjunkie]

Here we go again...

2018-08-30_11-28-41 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I took my radiator to Denver this morning to drop it off with Brad so he can modify it for V mount. And my hardware was plated today so I'll hopefully pick those up on the same trip to get the radiator. And I called the transmission shop today and they said the tranny that was leaking is ready for pick up, and the other one they're buying the missing parts for and building it. I clarified that they're paying for the parts and the guy I was talking to said he believed they were covering it. So that will be awesome.

I laid the fiberglass for the airbag pocket insert and reinforced the center console also. I only laid two or three layers on the insert and I'm kinda worrying that it won't be enough, but it really doesn't need to be since it's not structural or anything. The only part that needs to be strong is where the ethernet tuning cable port and USB port will be mounted, and I laid a couple extra layers there. The center console reinforcement is just several scrap pieces of fiber cloth laid in there as much as possible. I have a block of dense foam that I bought several years ago for something else that I'm going to cut and put under there too, that way I can put pressure on the center console and not have it crack again. And this is a much newer console too so all the mounts are good.
2018-08-31_10-14-49 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-31_10-15-05 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-31_10-15-20 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

My dash is so jacked up, cracked and broken in so many places. This part is where it bolts to the chassis in the top middle of the dash and it was broken into three pieces. I superglued it but I'm gonna wrap some fiberglass around it and possible a piece of metal in there under the fiberglass too. And you can see where one piece is missing right next to it. Ugh, this drives me crazy but there's not much that can be done.
2018-08-31_10-15-35 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

This is the SPAL fan I got with the kit last week or so, and the other fan I ordered from American Volt. I was running them at the same time for a comparison and I made a video, but I messed up so I'd rather not post it haha. The SPAL fan was pushing more air, but then I realized that was because I was using 10 gauge wire to that fan and the other one was hooked straight to the fan wires. Once I would remove the wiring for the SPAL fan the other fan picked up a lot more speed. The AV fan can also be bolted up without needing to make mounting brackets, it's only slightly heavier than the SPAL, it didn't get as hot as the SPAL fan, it's about the same height, and it's probably half the cost of the SPAL fan. So I'm going to order another one for the other oil cooler. I just hope they last a long time. If it really doesn't pull as much air, I'll have two anyway so it won't be a big deal.
2018-08-31_10-15-59 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-31_10-16-10 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-08-31_10-16-37 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I ordered a different power distribution block for powering all the switched power stuff in the dash and I was thinking of running a 4 gauge wire from the battery to the relay, then from the relay to the block, but I'm not sure I'll be able to find spade connectors for it to go to the relay. I haven't thought much about amperage and making sure wires are sized correctly. But they've been working so far haha.

I've also ordered some connectors for redoing the wiring for the gauges, that way I only have one connector to disconnect if and when I remove the cluster again.

I've been tinkering with refinishing the door plastics so they match the 93 dash plastics I'll be installing. People have said to try bumber coating and Plastidip. The bumper coating always had a weird finish, it looked cracked. And the Plastidip had a great finish but it looks purplish. So the other option is SEM Landau Black, looks like that's next. Although I've thought about just leaving them as is until the coating on the 93 plastics wears off, then do something like the Spirit R.

[speedjunkie]

This is what I got accomplished in two days lol. But it really only took about 45 minutes to make it. This USB charger comes apart way too easy and I ordered a new one and a different one, but I misplaced them and looked for a few hours a couple days ago and can't find them for shit. Really ticks me off. I was hoping the fiberglass insert would work for mounting these, but that area of it wasn't wide enough to fit them. I think I'll still trim it down and put it in or I'll make just the bottom part out of an aluminum sheet and maybe put some felt on it or something.
2018-09-03_12-14-35 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-09-03_12-15-01 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I actually got a few small things done today. I started looking into the AC issue since I have the dash out and will most likely be putting it back in soon. Although it was a wasted effort since I can't do any troubleshooting with the engine and dash out. I didn't see any connectors not connected or bad wires or anything though.

The gauge lighting dimmer switch harness had a couple bad wires so I soldered in some lengths and some wires that branched off for my gauge wiring.
2018-09-04_01-10-38 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I bought this USB charger/aux input from Niche Motorsports (I think that's the name). They were one of the companies some of us talked to about reproducing interior plastics. I wasn't sure I was going to use this but I decided to add this and move my low water/meth level light to the gauge cluster. Although I'll be swapping this piece, I just wanted to see what it looked like and how it fit. I like the idea of the USB port being more easily accessible though.
2018-09-04_01-10-56 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I gave up on the fiberglass insert. I don't know why I keep trying to do fiberglass pieces lol. I would have had to cut too much and do too much to make it look a lot better. Then I realized I could much easier make an aluminum piece just to cover the bottom and then cover it in felt. Easy peezy.
2018-09-04_01-11-09 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I spent most of the day running errands but I was able to knock out the harness to wire in the power converter for the passenger window.
2018-09-04_11-09-30 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
2018-09-04_11-09-45 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I didn't mention last night that I added the power converter only on the passenger side because the driver's window moves quickly now and because I can't find these connectors anywhere to make a harness.
2018-09-06_12-53-55 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I went to Denver today and picked up the hardware from plating (this isn't all of it), the radiator from Brad, and some more brake fluid from 3zero3 Motorsports.
2018-09-06_12-54-12 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I got the front subframe all bolted up, put all the bolts back in the front suspension and brake calipers, bolted down the steering rack (never did after replacing the bushings the other day), and installed the calipers and front sway bar. When I was installing the sway bar I noticed the end links were adjusted to different lengths, and after making them the same I noticed the bar was hard to bolt up once one side was already bolted. So I'm really hopeful that it's not going to ruin the handling or anything else.
2018-09-06_12-54-29 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I worked on the car yesterday for about 14 hours. I got the rigid collars put in the rear subframe, and while it was very easy to drop and put the collars in, getting the subframe bolted back in was an absolute BITCH. Trying to get it all lined up with the collars in there was ridiculous. I had to pry one of the front "wings" with a prybar and put most of my strength into it to get it into the right place, and I dented the hell out of the floor of the car. But at least it's all done. Now to see if I can actually tell a difference in the rigidity of the car haha. Probably not noticeable.

I also got the engine and transmission in and all bolted up. Everything under the car is finished other than putting the exhaust in and one of the cross braces, making sure the transmission oil is topped off, and bleeding the brakes. I have a lot of the stuff on the engine bolted on or attached too, other than the wiring harness. And I still have a lot to do in the engine bay before it's ready to drive.

I haven't test fit the radiator yet, but it looks like unless I want to do a lot of work to make it work the way it is, the inlet will need to be changed. I'm still waiting to get my gauges back and I'm waiting for the second oil cooler fan. Other than that, I don't think there is anything else holding me up from finishing it. I need to do some plastic welding or something on the dash, super glue and JB Weld haven't been working. At least I'm almost finished with everything but the interior.

Today I went to Swink, CO, down by La Junta, to help Sean Douglass install his new EFR 8374 kit on his car. He's pretty close to being back on the road too.

[speedjunkie]

I forgot I had these pics of the rigid collars as I was putting them in the rear subframe. I put copper anti-seize on them because that's what was suggested by the guy I got them from.
2018-09-09_11-08-41 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

These were the ones that were a real PITA.
2018-09-09_11-08-53 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Last night I got the exhaust back on, which was way easier than I thought it would be. And I installed the upper intake manifold and got the engine bay pretty much ready for everything but the radiator and IC. I got the second oil cooler fan so I installed that too. I test fit the Improved Racing strut bar but it still doesn't allow enough room. So I'd like to get a new strut bar and maybe put some bumpers on them to hold the hood up enough to where it won't make contact with the UIM.
2018-09-09_11-07-39 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Today I bled the brakes and clutch, put the wheels back on, verified the transmission was still full of oil, made a bracket for the new oil cooler thermostat, and I was going to start wiring the oil cooler fans but decided to call it a night. I wasn't planning on using a fuse, but I think it would be a good idea. And in some research I saw some people used a relay on the system too, I'm not sure I'll go that far though. I don't think I need to. But I'd like to see what others think. I'm planning on running power from the fuse block that normally attaches to the battery (trying to use switched power), run that power to the temperature switch, then run the power wire from the other pin of the switch to each fan, and then ground each fan. That should work, but maybe there's a better way.

Here's the bracket and thermostat.
2018-09-09_11-07-25 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Here's one of the oil cooler fans mounted.
2018-09-09_11-06-22 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I sent pics of the driver's side window switch connectors to Corsa Technic and they found the ones I need, so I'll be able to wire in the power converter on that window too. And I'm going to get the connectors for wiring in the converter for the HVAC blower too.