1976 rx3

WE3RX7 · 04-01-2013, 09:09 PM

Thanks man - I'll keep that in mind... I'm hoping the other housing is good this weekend so we can get this engine together and wrap up the rest of the car before DGRR... otherwise, it'll probably get a 13B or a stock port 12A since those are both on hand as well...

Don't think a REW with a haltech fits the budget unfortunately, because we've got that on hand too, What fun that would be in a 1800lbs beer can...

one320fc · 04-02-2013, 07:25 AM

Yea I think we can head up their this weekend and take a look..sucks we dont have more time we could pull the engine out of the 79 as well hell the repu has a 12A in it also!

2gslse · 04-02-2013, 10:34 AM

I'll look around some this week but I've got something pretty important to do also.

WE3RX7 · 04-02-2013, 01:59 PM

Don't give me that " I need to go get my FB line..."

WE3RX7 · 04-12-2013, 07:26 PM

So.. small update, but the two "new" housings we acquired are also no good. They too fell victim to coolant jacket failure.

This leaves us with two options, drop in the 13B EFI setup from the other donor car we have (and if we can sell some parts to fund a turbo setup... we may go that route) or sell a few items to acquire a running stock port 12A which is known good and ready to go.

So what should it be? 13B EFI with a potential turbo setup, or stock port 12A to get this thing running?? Both have pluses and minuses (time vs performance)....

WE3RX7 · 04-27-2013, 07:07 PM

Well.. went to my mother-in-law's place where the car has been sitting all winter. We've had a terrible start to spring in VA so I haven't had a good moment to get started on the rest of the project until now. We were hoping the engine would be completed through the winter to drop in right now, but as you can tell from earlier posts.. that was a no-go.

We've decided to go 13B-EFI. We're going to pull the running stock 6 port 13B from a GSL-SE and run it as is, no rebuild right now. As much as it would be nice to go through everything, if we get the engine to run well in the GSL-SE, we're just going to yank it and drop it in the RX3. No time for anything fancy now. After November... that's another story.

For now, here she is all washed up and ready for completion. I brought the exhaust back home to fix some cracks in the headers and replace the old glass packs. Plan to bring the car home next weekend as well so I can start fabbing the new dash and finish repainting the interior bits.

2gslse · 04-27-2013, 07:20 PM

Man we need to get some stickers on that thng the HOA will love it just wait till the 2am start time

WE3RX7 · 04-27-2013, 07:59 PM

I'll order the mazdacomp stuff soon... but I believe GRM will provide the rest of the decals required for the event.

The RX8 is sitting in the driveway now (where it probably live for a while during the RX3 build) so I'm sure I'll already be on the "radar" as it is. Oh well....

On another note.... fixing the headers is proving to be more difficult then I expected. Each radius has multiple repairs, and the cracks are were its REALLY thin. I may have to cut out and replace the entire radius, or give a try at one big patch on each...

WE3RX7 · 10-05-2014, 07:59 PM

This thread is ice cold, but here are the cliff notes to try and catch you all up...

May 2013, brought the car back to the house to begin the next phase of the build which would involve swapping in an EFI 13B and the interior overhaul.

Here's a shot of the interior prior to the overhaul. Basically, everything that wasn't already removed, got taken out and everything got a bath.

Then some repainting would begin to match the exterior and give the car an overall fresh appearance.

While repainting commences, a new dash cover is also contstructed, this brings us up to about August 2013:

Also, during August 2013, we test fired the 13B donor car after it sat in MC's woods for the last several years. Fired right up basically.. easy win! We let the engine warm up, checked all vitals we could and pulled it out.

Brought the engine home and had it await the install:

After going through a few different clutches, we pulled the best disc and tossed it on. OEM flywheel and OEM clutch setup for now. Modified the front engine bracket and dropped it "right" in:

Fast forward to September 2013, attention was once again turned onto the interior to finish it up in order to setup the mounting idea and wiring setup for the ECU and new return fuel line, etc.

It started feeling like a car again:

I know Brian can appreciate this, but this is how many hours in the garage looked while working on this thing. We had to mix the previous harness setup and the new EFI harness setup to get it squared away:

Punched a hole in the firewall for the new harness and mounted the ECU:

By October 2013 the engine wiring was mostly completed for the purposes of test fires and idle time, but we needed to address cooling. The radiator was reused and a new 10" electric fan seems to be doing well of keeping it cool. The issue with this setup is it leaves no room for a traditional pull config, so for now, its a front mounted push fan:

Out back we needed to address the trunk paint and fuel system as we now needed a return system:

JL1RX7 · 10-06-2014, 03:02 PM

Looking good Billy!

04-02-2013, 07:25 AM	#17
one320fc one Apex @ a time Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Culpeper VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 272 Rep Power: 17	Yea I think we can head up their this weekend and take a look..sucks we dont have more time we could pull the engine out of the 79 as well hell the repu has a 12A in it also! __________________ 1983 Limited Edition SOLD 1977 Mazda REPU I will work on it one day I sware!! 1987 T2 um after the repu is done?? 2013 Chrysler 200 DD 2009 Dodge Journey 94 Volvo 850 N/A The slowest car I have EVER owned!!!

04-02-2013, 10:34 AM	#18
2gslse Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: front royal va iTrader: (0) Posts: 440 Rep Power: 17	I'll look around some this week but I've got something pretty important to do also. __________________ ____________________________________________ 1976 Cosmo needing lots of work 1993 Rx-7 410 RWHP single turbo toy 1985 Rx-7 toy/project car 411HP stoplight terror 2001 Dodge ram 4wd.parts hauler 2016 Ram 2500 cause its a hemi 2006 VW TDI commuter __________________________________________ I guarantee there's a pregnant redneck teenager somewhere in a shitty trailer park that thinks "Ebola would be a lovely name for their child"...

04-27-2013, 07:20 PM	#22
2gslse Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: front royal va iTrader: (0) Posts: 440 Rep Power: 17	Man we need to get some stickers on that thng the HOA will love it just wait till the 2am start time __________________ ____________________________________________ 1976 Cosmo needing lots of work 1993 Rx-7 410 RWHP single turbo toy 1985 Rx-7 toy/project car 411HP stoplight terror 2001 Dodge ram 4wd.parts hauler 2016 Ram 2500 cause its a hemi 2006 VW TDI commuter __________________________________________ I guarantee there's a pregnant redneck teenager somewhere in a shitty trailer park that thinks "Ebola would be a lovely name for their child"...

04-27-2013, 07:59 PM	#23
WE3RX7 RCC Addict Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 1,812 Rep Power: 18	I'll order the mazdacomp stuff soon... but I believe GRM will provide the rest of the decals required for the event. The RX8 is sitting in the driveway now (where it probably live for a while during the RX3 build) so I'm sure I'll already be on the "radar" as it is. Oh well.... On another note.... fixing the headers is proving to be more difficult then I expected. Each radius has multiple repairs, and the cracks are were its REALLY thin. I may have to cut out and replace the entire radius, or give a try at one big patch on each... Last edited by WE3RX7; 04-27-2013 at 08:30 PM..

10-05-2014, 07:59 PM	#24
WE3RX7 RCC Addict Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 1,812 Rep Power: 18	This thread is ice cold, but here are the cliff notes to try and catch you all up... May 2013, brought the car back to the house to begin the next phase of the build which would involve swapping in an EFI 13B and the interior overhaul. Here's a shot of the interior prior to the overhaul. Basically, everything that wasn't already removed, got taken out and everything got a bath. Then some repainting would begin to match the exterior and give the car an overall fresh appearance. While repainting commences, a new dash cover is also contstructed, this brings us up to about August 2013: Also, during August 2013, we test fired the 13B donor car after it sat in MC's woods for the last several years. Fired right up basically.. easy win! We let the engine warm up, checked all vitals we could and pulled it out. Brought the engine home and had it await the install: After going through a few different clutches, we pulled the best disc and tossed it on. OEM flywheel and OEM clutch setup for now. Modified the front engine bracket and dropped it "right" in: Fast forward to September 2013, attention was once again turned onto the interior to finish it up in order to setup the mounting idea and wiring setup for the ECU and new return fuel line, etc. It started feeling like a car again: I know Brian can appreciate this, but this is how many hours in the garage looked while working on this thing. We had to mix the previous harness setup and the new EFI harness setup to get it squared away: Punched a hole in the firewall for the new harness and mounted the ECU: By October 2013 the engine wiring was mostly completed for the purposes of test fires and idle time, but we needed to address cooling. The radiator was reused and a new 10" electric fan seems to be doing well of keeping it cool. The issue with this setup is it leaves no room for a traditional pull config, so for now, its a front mounted push fan: Out back we needed to address the trunk paint and fuel system as we now needed a return system: Last edited by WE3RX7; 10-05-2014 at 08:35 PM..

04-01-2013, 09:09 PM	#16
WE3RX7 RCC Addict Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 1,812 Rep Power: 18	Thanks man - I'll keep that in mind... I'm hoping the other housing is good this weekend so we can get this engine together and wrap up the rest of the car before DGRR... otherwise, it'll probably get a 13B or a stock port 12A since those are both on hand as well... Don't think a REW with a haltech fits the budget unfortunately, because we've got that on hand too, What fun that would be in a 1800lbs beer can...

04-02-2013, 01:59 PM	#19
WE3RX7 RCC Addict Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 1,812 Rep Power: 18	Don't give me that " I need to go get my FB line..."

04-12-2013, 07:26 PM	#20
WE3RX7 RCC Addict Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 1,812 Rep Power: 18	So.. small update, but the two "new" housings we acquired are also no good. They too fell victim to coolant jacket failure. This leaves us with two options, drop in the 13B EFI setup from the other donor car we have (and if we can sell some parts to fund a turbo setup... we may go that route) or sell a few items to acquire a running stock port 12A which is known good and ready to go. So what should it be? 13B EFI with a potential turbo setup, or stock port 12A to get this thing running?? Both have pluses and minuses (time vs performance)....

04-27-2013, 07:07 PM	#21
WE3RX7 RCC Addict Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 1,812 Rep Power: 18	Well.. went to my mother-in-law's place where the car has been sitting all winter. We've had a terrible start to spring in VA so I haven't had a good moment to get started on the rest of the project until now. We were hoping the engine would be completed through the winter to drop in right now, but as you can tell from earlier posts.. that was a no-go. We've decided to go 13B-EFI. We're going to pull the running stock 6 port 13B from a GSL-SE and run it as is, no rebuild right now. As much as it would be nice to go through everything, if we get the engine to run well in the GSL-SE, we're just going to yank it and drop it in the RX3. No time for anything fancy now. After November... that's another story. For now, here she is all washed up and ready for completion. I brought the exhaust back home to fix some cracks in the headers and replace the old glass packs. Plan to bring the car home next weekend as well so I can start fabbing the new dash and finish repainting the interior bits.

10-06-2014, 03:02 PM	#25
JL1RX7 Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Front Royal, VA iTrader: (1) Posts: 487 Rep Power: 17	Looking good Billy!