Red RX7 Resurrection

[DKWW2000]

[quote="seaglen"]Last day of holidays. Nice swim in sea followed by work on car

Sounds like life could not get much better

I am not at all envious, temp here is 4 degrees C

Great work on the car & good pictures, they will be nice to look at in years to come when you are sitting on the beach having just driven there in the 7.
I guess you will have a BBQ as well & just to rub it in

[seaglen]

Went to have the BBQ no gas in bottle and bottle expired (over 10 years old) so no luck.

Just a better daylight shot of the cross member and engine mount.

daylight

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I've also finished fabricating the plate to bolt on where the water pump goes to test the water jacket in the engine. The pressure gauge will attach to the hose connector and the air line will go to the connector on the right which will have a valve fitted.

This costs $185 on Ebay !!!!

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[TOOL]

Yeah, but it only costs US$40 from Pineapple Racing

http://www.pineappleracing.com/coolings ... rcspt.aspx

[seaglen]

Looks a lot prettier too !

[seaglen]

I have opened up the fuel tank. The modification I made to fit the S6 fuel pump isn't as rough as I remember. The flange on the fuel tank pickup fits the hole I cut pretty well. The fuel pump was secure in the tank and the seal made with fuel resistant silicone before screwing down the flange still didn't leak when I emptied the dead fuel out of the tank. I'm going to make a proper flange with 3mm steel and include some captive bolts and a neoprene seal to make a professional job of it. The tank is going to be well cleaned out before any fabrication work is done and the usual precautions taken.

OK for a rough job ?

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The fuel I drained out of that tank was between 7 and 18 years old. Where it had dried in the fuel lines was a waxy sludge, but not a huge amount. I was expecting the usual dark brown gunk on the bottom of the tank, but was surprised to find the tank very clean apart from corrosion above an obvious 'high tide mark'. The fuel will be well cleaned out with detergent and hot water. Then PO15 marine clean from a PO15 Fuel Tank Repair kit. $NZ 138 on Trademe. Then the fabrication work will be done and the PO15 metal prep to treat the metal before the PO15 coating.

Not too bad for 37 years

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The in tank pump from the s6 will be tested. It was still immersed in fuel and as you can see from the filter wasn't sitting in gunk so it may be OK. This pump was salvaged from one of two wrecked s6 RX7s imported from Japan in 1995. I built a good car from the two donors. The car the pump came out of had hit a power pole with enough force to snap the fitting off the top of the pump. The pump was loose in the tank when I opened it. The plastic at the end of the pump is thick and strong enough to allow a brass fitting to be screwed in. It seems to work just fine. To be on the safe side I ordered a spare one off Ebay for $30.

Recycled

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Now the tank is out the floor pan at the back of the vehicle looks great. I'll repaint the fuel tank shields, replace all the fuel and emission hoses and look at applying some rust protective paint to keep it that way. More soon.

[seaglen]

First real work on the car in nearly 14 months. Much has happened meaning I didn't have a lot to spend. Luckily I can move ahead with parts and stuff I already had. I have the steel for the fuel tank fabrication and I'll look at that and some design changes required in the next post, mainly the position of the pump which was done quickly 20 years ago to get the car running.

Today I finished getting my home made pressure tester assembled and had a stab at pressure testing the water jacket. The water jacket should hold 10psi of air for between 1 and 12 hours depending on whose test you use. Unfortunately I was unable to borrow a compressor and had to make do which a bike pump which broke and a foot pump which surprisingly couldn't raise the pressure. Due to using the hand pump my setup was slightly different.

Pressure test rig

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As I wasn't using the compressor I needed to bodge up a connection with the pumps.

Bodgy on the job

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Firstly using the bike pump I got about 8-9 psi which is too low. After the bike pump broke the foot pump only puts out 6-7 psi. Also initially I found the pressure dropped rapidly. I went over seals on the heater outlet and the water outlet for the fast warmup system and this improved the situation. I'll remove the test rig and double check the seals on the connectors and I'm hoping that it will hold pressure. If not I'll need to strip down the engine. Cant complain it is after all 31 years old this year. Next two things are fabricating the fuel tank properly and removing the gearbox to install the new clutch and adding the reinforcement to the gear shift hole where it was cut to fit the Cosmo gearbox. Am also hoping to locate a series 2 centre console as it fits the longer shifter.

[seaglen]

Bought a replacement lower strut for the 1978 Red RX7 project. The current one had more damage than I remembered and I have been looking at a new one for some time.
Mazda part no: 8871-49-310, listed at US154.56 (NZ $234) and still available, but I paid NZ$60 and got the extra part attached as well. Lots of A pillar and other trims such as door catches, seat belts, headlight panels and door handles available too. Look on Trademe (http://www.trademe.co.nz). Postage wouldn't be too bad for the smaller items. Weathers good so will get more done this week. Finish testing engine, fabricate fuel pump access to fuel tank. Chase thread on captive nut for radiator mount to name a few.

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[DB RX63]

Trade Me has some great RX stuff for sale, unfortunately for us Brits, we cannot open Trade Me accounts, as you need an NZ or Aus address.

[seaglen]

Well nothing done for a while now. Changed jobs which doesn't help the cash flow. I found the engine test I did inconclusive. I'm not convinced the home made tester was sealing properly. New job has settled down to the point where I'm going to start on the car again soon. I'm about to buy a mig welder to do the panel work. In the short term I'm going to finish reassembling the engine area, wrap the wiring and fabricate the fuel tank pump flange. The car may also be moving into a proper garage which should help the repair work. Hopefully I'll post some updates over the next two weeks.

[Hobbawobba]

Good to hear!