1986 RX7 base model resto-mod project

[need RX7]

Well, I figured it was about time to start this thread since it might actually start going somewhere soon.

A little background; Pretty much ever since I bought my first FC in Febuary '08, I was looking for a cleaner shell to build up since the first one was fighting a losing battle with rust.

Fast-forward to March/April-ish of '09, I found a car on this very site that I really liked. A 1986 base model, with not a spec of rust on it, non-running, for only $500. The catch was, it was located in Texas (roughly 1300 miles from where I live). After a few weeks of researching shipping companies and contemplating spending hundreds of dollars to ship a $500 car, me and my dad decided to road-trip this bish.

We arranged to pick up a rental dolly from a U-Haul store in Texas (conveniently located minutes away from the seller's house). We had to tell them we were towing a 1965 VW bug to get them to let us rent it, but we got it . We then started our trip. Long story short, the car made it home without incident in 3 days... Well, pretty much without incident. We did have a chain break and drag on the ground, throwing a shower of sparks for miles. By pure chance, this was witnessed by another forum member.

Who said XJs can't tow?

Only thing done to it is a trans cooler. (that's my dad in the pic, BTW. Taken somewhere in IL)

We arrived home about 11pm on the 3rd night


A couple shots of the cars together:

(Old on the left, new on the right)






In the next episode, we'll learn the true nature of the car's non-running problem.

[need RX7]

From what I can gather, the car was bought non-running and the PO was chasing after electrical problems. I switched around a few parts (pressure sensor, TPS, etc) from my other running car once I got it home and still no dice. I decided to do a compression test, and found 0 psi in the rear and very very low in the front. Blown. Honestly, I really didn't even care. Usually, you'll see shells in similar condition for sale for the same price with no engine or transmission even installed in the car. Plus, I planned on doing some sort of engine swap in the future anyway.

I poured oil into the combustion chambers and made it start a few times. It smoked like a bish (hint: foreshadowing )
.
After many failed attempts to borrow a cherry picker from my friend, I bit the bullet and rented one, $40 for 24 hours. Out of sheer boredom in the previous weeks, I had stripped basically the entire engine bay, so the engine and trans came out in less than an hour.


That's me in the foreground, looking on in wonder. My friend Andrew on the right.

A somewhat lulzy picture of the transmission detachment process.



I've heard all the horror stories of the flywheel nut, but it still sucked 100x worse than I was expecting. It eventually came loose with me standing on the engine and my dad leaning on a 6-foot cheater bar on the end of the 3/4" breaker bar. Biggest PITA ever.


So then the teardown began. I used the bucket method, since I'm too cheap to buy an engine stand right now . (but I'll probably buy one soon, if my diabolical plan works out )

The rear iron came off first, I was expecting carnage since the rear rotor was at 0 psi. The motor delivered.



Obvious apex seal damage. ouch. I also noticed that the coolant passages were extra cruddy and the coolant seals were deteriorated to basically nothing. So, so far we have a double apex seal and coolant seal failure.

Pulled off the middle iron and had a look at the front rotor. The apex seals were in much better shape and slid out easily (I stuck them back together with red loctite and kept them as souvenirs) However, one of them did have a small chip on the end.


As for the front rotor and housing, they obviously didn't have any major apex seal gouges, but they held some hidden secrets. And the coolant seals were grenaded here too .

While inspecting the front rotor, I noticed these weird carbon wear patterns on the rotor tips.



I bet the experienced builders know exactly what was going on just from looking at those poorly taken pictures, but in my noobishness, it took me a day or 2 to figure it out.

With the front iron and housing still sitting on the bucket, I reinserted the rotor and e-shaft so I could entertain myself by spinning it around. I noticed that it would get really hard to turn when the rotor reached a certain position. Upon closer inspection, I finally figured it out. Remember those failed coolant seals? Well I guess they caused the car to overheat, and the housing expanded into the path of the rotor, causing the tip to smack into the housing on every rotation (thus explaining those wear patterns on the rotor and the slightly warped apex seal slots.)


So that's basically where I stand now.

[need RX7]

d

[need RX7]

d

[FC3S Murray]

mnmmmmmmm S4 goodness!

[need RX7]

Originally Posted by FC3S Murray

mnmmmmmmm S4 goodness!

Thank you, they are quite delicious when they're not all beat up. I need a new rear bumper .

I'm so bummed about that donor car getting sold . I feel like I could actually start crying over it. It was a battered old GTU, with a full TII conversion (rebuilt engine, full TII drivetrain and all TII electronics), and it had the full 5-lug setup I need. All of that for $1100. I was planning on buying it, pulling out all the TII parts and 5-lug parts to put in my base, throwing the 4-lug back into the donor car and selling it as a 4-lug n/a shell for a couple hundred bucks. The only downside to the whole thing is the seller ported the engine when it was apart, which made me kind of nervous without actually seeing them. I was going to most likely buy a set unported irons from japan2LA for a little over $300 or so (judging from prices I saw in his old threads), and a gasket/o-ring kit from Atkins for $290 and reassemble it in stock format. (I already went over all of this, didn't I )

But I guess I didn't move quick enough. I went and looked at it last Sunday, it all seemed pretty solid. I planned on coming back, but... such is life.

Damn it, typing all that out made me depressed again .

[need RX7]

To add insult to injury, the donor TII car was given for free to a guy who has no idea about the car at all.

[Silver86]

Originally Posted by need RX7

To add insult to injury, the donor TII car was given for free to a guy who has no idea about the car at all.

wtf?!

[need RX7]

Today was a much nicer day than we've been having around here lately (sun was out and it was actually a little warm), and I decided I needed to do something to this car. So after I finished mowing the lawn (20 dolla, wut?), I threw the front end in the air and looked for something to do. My front subframe has a ton of surface rust, and is just generally crusty and in need of cleaning. So I went at it for a while, and about 2 hours later ended up with this:



It was just getting dark as I was figuring out how to move it around, so I'll leave it out for tonight (rolling it into the garage is not an option ) and go at it tomorrow. I figure I'll start out wire-wheeling and painting the subframe (unless I can find an inexpensive powdercoater locally with an oven big enough for it) then I'll pick up some nice new bushings for the front suspension. Hopefully I'll also be able to source a 5-lug swap before I put it all back in. This will also allow to get more thorough coverage when I paint the engine bay.

I do have a question, where should I put the jack stands now that the subframe is gone? I currently have them at the front of the 'rails' on the underside of the car, but to be honest, that spot makes me uncomfortable as hell. Also, how do I jack the front end up and down without the subframe?

[NoDOHC]

There is a thick place right where the underbody turns up (multiple layers of lapped metal) This is where I support cars without a subframe. I typically jack them up from the subframe as it is typically installed while the car is on the ground and I am intending to reinstall it before letting the car back down.

[need RX7]

I think I know what you're talking about, I have them a couple inches behind there. (why didn't I put them there in the first place? )

I also did some independent research on the other forum and found a post from our very own TitaniumTT that said:

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

It's a piece of cake. All the bolts are easily accesible. The hardest part is supporting the car.
...

There are good supports where the bumper mounts as where the sway bar mounts.

That does make sense, maybe I'll move them up to the sway bar mount area.


Either way, I'll throw the bare subframe back on tomorrow after I get all the suspension bits off to establish a lifting point and figure out what to do.

[need RX7]

Guess who just bought an S5 n/a short block with dynamic chamber and extension manifold . Supposed to be here on Monday, coming from SC.
It'll still be a while before it's all together, but it'll be great to have a non-hypothetical engine sitting around. Maybe it'll motivate me to actually do stuff to the car . I need to get my hands on an S5 LIM asap, though.

I also dropped off my water pump housing, water pump, and WP pulley at a stripping/blasting place yesterday, to get rid of all the crud and poorly applied paint. I figured they should look nice, since they sit front and center in the bay and all.

I've also decided that I'm going to embrace the 4-lug setup, rather than fussing over 5-lug swaps all the time. I'm sure the single-piston calipers are enough for an n/a, and the tires on the phone dials right now are actually pretty decent (and new).

[project86]

ha! im not the only one rebuilding and s4! base models +1

[need RX7]

Yay:

^^Weird, the trailer came from Texas, as did the car that the engine is going into.


S5 n/a engine courtesy of AcidShock from RX7club. Came from SC in 4 days, and for much cheaper than I expected (Yellow Freight FTW) .

It's basically just a short block, though I did receive the S5 n/a dynamic chamber and extension manifold. I'll be posting up a list of small stuff I need once I give the engine a good once-over and take inventory of what I need.

Getting closer!

[djmtsu]

Nice!

I almost bought a few things from Acidshock, until I spun a bearing and parted out the FC.

He seems pretty legit, so I imagine the engine is good!