Project Old School - 1988 Mazda RX7 Convertible - with added turbo!

yuuuup that's an odd one

 

Either a vacuum lock or airlock is the only thing I can thing of.....but vacuum should have been released when I put in the fuel.

 

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars...3b/1164446685?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

jen are these worth anything?

 

Actually they are going up in value for a restored one. That's a somewhat ok price for what they're selling, provided you could fix the body, and being a GSL-SE, it has the FI engine - much easier to mod.

 

Got some goodies from Atkins!
New OMP lines, new coolant temp sensor, new water temp gauge sensor, and new coolant level sensor, new gas tank sending unit gasket and other odds and ends.




Was looking under the car and found another fuel pump plumbed in to the feed line from the tank - wiring wasn't hooked to anything. Since I have upgraded to a Walbro 255, I removed this over the weekend and routed the line straight from the tank. Was part of the Cartech turbo kit.



Got some upgrades going to the air to water intercooler setup - a Bosch cobra pump and a Cobra heat exchanger are going into the car - got some of the mounting done for this on Saturday, going to finish it up this week and clean up the welds, etc.








Next I'm upgrading the ground wire from the block to the firewall, checking the grounds at the strut tower, re-installing the UIM and fuel rails, installing the intercooler pump and all the hosing, and try running it again.

 

New OMP lines installed!


New Bell Housing > Firewall ground, and fixed the ECU ground


Finished mounting the Intercooler heat exchanger




Mounted the pump, working on plumbing and wiring...




AAAAAND bought a new project/toy:

 

Body looks really good

Can't be a Nova Scotia car

 

Haha there's one rust spot, and a little surface around the wheel wells where they rolled the fenders. Car is from NB!

 

I got some more done this weekend - nothing super pic worthy.
Traced all the rats nest of wires under the dash and removed anything unnecessary, took out many feet of wire, re-routed things, etc.
Next I need to re-think the supply line for the intercooler pump - it needs to be moved to the bottom of the tank and the pump moved down to get more of a gravity feed on it.

 

Ordered up an aluminum tank for my Intercooler system that may be able to act as a mini ice box, plus all the fittings/bungs to customize it for my application. Hoping it'll be here next week.

 

Put in a switch for my intercooler pump and my eventual LED fog lights


Driver's seat is in - need to finish the passengers seat


For the first time since I bought the car 3 years ago this month, it drove outside under its own power!


Loaded up and heading out to get pretty - getting the body vinyl wrapped, bumpers and trim on, sideskirts, diffusers etc.


And my new tank came in for the intercooler setup! Just need to modify it a bit.

 

Tank is now modified to fit where I want it to go and have some options for fittings:

 

Tank is ready to install in the car, just need to put teflon tape on the fittings and tighten them all in!

 

Well its September did this thing get on the road

 

It's been sitting at the shop waiting to be vinyl wrapped since July 22.

 

I was starting to wonder what happened to this

 

I'm bummed - I missed the whole summer. Hoping to take it to the US in the spring, but it needs to get done so I can get some miles on the engine before that happens.

 

The blue smoke is normal for a newly built rotary - also, the fuel had a significant concentration of premix in it - it smokes much less now. haha

 

oil burn is pretty normal for a rotary anyway is it not?

 

Yup! They're designed to burn it - there's an oil injection system in the engines plus I (and many other folks) run 2 stroke oil in the fuel for added longevity.

Newly built rotaries smoke EXCESSIVELY due to the assembly lubricants, etc burning off and everything getting seated in. Like...can't see the car through the smoke.

 

Progress!! The body is almost all wrapped - waiting for trim, mirrors, bumpers, etc now.

 

That's pretty amazing. I can't tell the difference between wrap and a good paint job anymore.

 

The quality of the vinyl available now is amazing. I guess the old catch is it'll last 6-10 years.

 

Paint can last longer, but 10 years - that's fine.

 

Working on a little more of the wrapping. Did all the trim last night and half finished the mirrors. Next is the front bumper...Car is still "some assembly required".

 

More wrapping progress!

 

Covered up some flaws in the Carbon Fibre diffuser!

 

Finally getting the garage all cleaned out after the winter and ready to work on things.





Finishing the intercooler tank and installing the rest of the system is now done!






Installed an oil pressure/temp gauge:



Then Marco came down to Halifax for a tuning session. Of course, that's when I had a dead wideband sensor, aux ports that were jammed up and required me to take off the LIM and work them on the bench. Also, an LIM stud broke and had to be replaced. Then, we had a cracked coolant neck top (the plastic part) and had to replace that because the car was heating up too much.

Finally, we got the car on the dyno and got it tuned so that it's driveable! The half bridge was spooling the turbo super quick, and the wastegate is not adequate - it's got a 9lb spring, but was consistently boosting to 14lb with no signs of stopping. I also need to do a little ignition upgrade, but overall, the car is INFINITELY better after this weekend and I can start assembling some final pieces to enjoy it this summer while I finish those last things up!






Overall, a successful weekend!


And now, some video:

 

YAY!

 

That wrap job is awesome. Saw it on FB and thought it was paint.

 

Getting the bumper vinyl wrap fixed up and mocking things up:



Tail lights installed with vinyl wrapped centre piece:




Getting the bumper on the car - almost done bolting it on!




Getting ready to make an aluminum cover for these relays:

 

man that thing looks amazing

 

Bumper is bolted up, mirrors on, door handles in...



Lexan headlights are made....


Vinyl wrapped the rest of the back bumper:


I think the car may be a little low though....might have to raise it up a bit.

 

if you're on fairly stiff suspension should should be ok with 4", that's about what this old thing had in the front which was generally fine for most road use (not recommended for farm use)