New Mbr fm NorCal - '83 FB Rx7

[Ben_]

Greetings and Salutations! I hope to gain a lot of valuable information from this forum, and get the Rx7 back on the road after sitting in the garage since about 2002, or so. It was parked when the stationary gear in the engine failed and it was making a noise similar to a rod knocking in a piston engine. I am preparing to install a rebuilt 12A.

Prep includes going through the fuel system, brakes, cleaning the engine bay & parts, etc. I thought I did a good job of marking parts, etc. when I took stuff apart; but, I am finding out how much better of a job I could have done at photographing, marking, tagging, organizing, etc. as I search for parts that have been moved around the garage by me (and others) over, let's say, a 15+ year period.

But kind of like Maya Angelou's saying, something like: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” Except, I probably knew I was slacking some at the time, but figured I could "remember" where parts went on the car & where I was putting them for storage (which was only supposed to be short term).

Thanks in advance for all the sage advice & encouragement!

Ben

[t_g_farrell]

Welcome. Any pics?

[speedjunkie]

Welcome! Yeah hindsight is 20/20, and you probably could have remembered if you were able to rebuild it when you wanted years ago.

[FC Zach]

Welcome! Hope you get it together without any fuss.

[Ben_]

I tried to post photos but failed. I searched for instructions on how to post photos...and again, failed. I do not have, nor do I want, to post photos on the web except on forum boards or in emails to friends, etc. How do I put photos in my posts here? What are the limitations on photo size, etc.? Thanks, Ben.

[Ben_]

Originally Posted by speedjunkie

Welcome! Yeah hindsight is 20/20, and you probably could have remembered if you were able to rebuild it when you wanted years ago.

For sure the odds would have been better

I bought a rebuilt 12A around 2002; and, then life got in the way and it has been on an engine stand in the garage ever since.

Another casualty of time, was a pretty sweet '87 Honda Goldwing Aspencade with 23k miles on it. Just got it back on the road before starting on the Rx7. It runs better than it ever has. Changed the timing belts and discovered that one of the two timing belts installed by Honda at the factory was off by one tooth. Now, it's smooooooth.

[FC Zach]

Originally Posted by Ben_

I tried to post photos but failed. I searched for instructions on how to post photos...and again, failed. I do not have, nor do I want, to post photos on the web except on forum boards or in emails to friends, etc. How do I put photos in my posts here? What are the limitations on photo size, etc.? Thanks, Ben.

Use a photo hosting site like Yahoo's FLICKR, from there click the lower right "share photo" arrow. After clicking the arrow it's important to select the proper link type, click "BBCode" then "copy" the link.

Helpful tip: For the love of all things holy, please choose the appropriate size image before copying the link! Don't be that guy who uses an image so large that you have to scroll for miles to view it! EDIT: Some forums automatically size the picture but not all do so this is a good thing to keep in mind.

Example:
4538024205_0aa97ef602_o by Zach Moore, on Flickr

Lastly, you can clean all the redundant garbage off the link by simply removing everything but the image tags and obviously the link within (img]link[/img), like this:

[FC Zach]

As for the appropriate size image, the size I chose for the above picture was "Medium 640 x 426". You can choose larger, just keep in mind that on some forums people will have to scroll to view the oversized image.

[Ben_]

Well... I just spent several hours to finally get a photo posted. I used Drop Box after resizing the photo using MS Paint to resize to 640 x 425 (Thanks FC Zach for your guidance and caution warning).
This photo shows the engine bay just prior to starting the task of cleaning the dust, grease, road grime, etc. off of it.



BELOW: I used POR Marine Clean followed by de-ionized water rinse to clean the engine bay. I sat several plastic oil drain pans on a thin oil drip tray to catch the liquids. Blow dry with compressed air and polish with NuFinish (to the right side of the tape line.)



BELOW: Replaced the gas struts to hold the rear glass open. Boy is that sucker heavy when they don't work right! Also, getting ready to drop the fuel tank to clean it (inside and outside).


BELOW: Fuel tank out, after siphoning about 7 gallons of skanky fuel that was about 15 yrs old using a "shaker valve" siphoning hose (worked great).



I will try to find a place to open a thread dealing with my project...BUT, thanks to you guys for the "welcome aboard" and guidance re: photo posting. I got "scared" of using Photo Bucket, when it appears they charge for 3rd Party Hosting (Drop Box does not.)

[FC Zach]

Originally Posted by Ben_

I got "scared" of using Photo Bucket, when it appears they charge for 3rd Party Hosting (Drop Box does not.)

Neither does Flickr and with that it'll resize for you so you're wasting too much time using Dropbox/MS-Paint IMO.

[Ben_]

Originally Posted by FC Zach

Neither does Flickr and with that it'll resize for you so you're wasting too much time using Dropbox/MS-Paint IMO.

O.K. Thanks. I'll check that out...definitely sounds like it would be less time consuming...and, more time for the garage.

[FC Zach]

Really, if you are using a host site to add images (unlike attachments below) you don't have to resize. . It's just good practice. I'm sure you've seen some threads with cutoff images that you have to either scroll forever or right-click/view-image.

Anyways I would check that out, it's much less time consuming! I've tried other ways but the links die over a period of time and I would then have had to go through all my old threads and update links. . . I learned my lesson the second time.

Nice looking 7 BTW!