A new challenger 'The Beast from the East'

[Casey]

Great work, much of it sooooooo familiar, having been through the very same issues in getting my 2nd FB (KIMI 2) back on the road after the previous owner had left her standing for about 10 years.

[rotarypower]

Last time we spoke to our intrepid restorer, the rear plate lights were in pieces, fuel system shagged & the cooling system working extra hard to get rid of heat by literally dropping it on the pavement. Will the new fuel pump finally get fitted? (no) Were the rear lights a simple fix? (no) And is the cooling system now working harder than an ugly stripper. (probably not)

Read on for todays (not so) thrilling instalment.

So starting off where I ended last time, the number plate lights.
The old fittings basically fell to pieces, and are like rocking horse manure, impossible to get. After some umming and arring I decided to get medieval and engineer (chop them up) a solution.





So basically I didn't take too many photos, but what you're seeing is the FB lamp holder cut down with a hacksaw, then the FC light holder slid inside (after filing off the retainers). As you can see it looks like it was made to fit, so with a bit of trimming I offered it up to the light fitting to check the light pattern was all OK.

Once satisfied I fully degreased and installed with epoxy glue, a bead around the outside gave extra strength as this thing has to take a litle bit of torque when you fit it.
Another advantage to these is they use an enclosed plug which is less likely to corrode and a new style bulb.

Next on the list was a knocking noise that the car had developed. It started on a spirited drive and got worse and worse every time I went over a bump, I stopped at the side of the road, looked under the car, grabbed onto bits. And still couldn't work out what it was. Only the next day when I got the car jacked up I realised that the steering idler arm could physically move up and down!

New bushings time then I guess.


Next day delivery without me even paying for it, very impressive!

I unbolted the idler arm bracket and removed it to the bench for better access, as the photos show, it was in a sorry state!



In this last photo, that is literally all of the bush that was left! Amazing that it drove as well as it did.


I refitted with plenty of grease and the new bush, no photos, my hands were too filthy to take photos at this point.
Needless to say the new bush has transformed the steering, very little play now, apart from the weight I'm not sure what peoples issue with it is, a quicker rack would be nice, but it certainly isn't terrible.

Half of my Rockauto order turned up, they sent it fed ex this time so for a change I wasn't burned by the parcel force surcharge.



£15 each or something like, no idea how they can do it for that price, I'd pay twice that happily. (Just don't tell them)


Decided it would be best to start at the rear (behave!), i fully disassembled the caliper so that I can could give it a real cleaning and painting before rebuilding using the kit. As it turned out the kit only had the seal and boot for the main piston, not the handbrake actuator, so I could have made a lot less work for myself, and probably will do so on the other side.

Side note, its an absolute bastard to put back together!




That's the current state of play for the rears as annoyingly the rear pads are still on their way and the new set I have that I thought would fit, don't. Oh well.

Anyway some goodies turned up, $10,000 overnight parts from the Netherlands. Well actually about £145, and it took a week. But its here now.





Quality looks surprisingly good, welding looks clean enough. No idea if it will actually fit yet.
It also came with two 80w fans & a fitting a kit. I'm not sure if they'll be up to the task tbh, for the time being I'll fit it with the normal fan & shroud, and later down the line we'll see.

Picked up that spoiler that everyone seems to want from my lockup.
Hmm it might work.


Also made some more progress with the wheel restoration. Its hard work, and I can't imagine that I'll keep 13" wheels after these tyres wear out as it limits my options for decent rubber & brakes. So this will be a restoration to 'she'll do' standard.



Honestly that felt a lot more work to do than it actually did to type out.

[Casey]

Next on the list was a knocking noise that the car had developed. It started on a spirited drive and got worse and worse every time I went over a bump, I stopped at the side of the road, looked under the car, grabbed onto bits. And still couldn't work out what it was. Only the next day when I got the car jacked up I realised that the steering idler arm could physically move up and down!

New bushings time then I guess.

Haha, amazing how so many things are what I went through with fixing KIMI 2!

I, too, had the knocking noise and was convinced it was coming from the rear. I checked the rear dampers (OK) but the top mounting grommets had disintegrated, so replaced them, and thought that was it. No improvement.

The rear stabiliser bar drop link bushes were well worn, so changed them for new "Energy Suspension" poly bushed links. No improvement.

Then I started pulling at anything I could find and discovered the idler arm bushes were in the same state as yours!. Replaced with the same bushes as you have installed and no problem in the 2 years.

Prompted me to look back at my thread on these issues:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2989&start=39

and the "false fixes" to get there

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3609

Keep going, I'm enjoying your work immensely

[rotarypower]

I thought it was from the rear also, but I got a passenger to drive with me and he said it was 100% from around his feet area, so it cut down on the diagnostic time.
Eventually it will all get replaced, but little & often.

[danny]

Who is the supplier of these idler arm bushes, if i may ask. I recently got them from Rockauto, but they don't fit. They are slightly to big, wouldn't go in all the way.

[Casey]

This was the supplier I used:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-RX7-79 ... SwiJhbrW0K

TDC Automotive, UK based, £14.64 as I type this, free delivery.

Odd though, that part number in the photo above looks right to fit 79-85 RX-7 models (unless USA models are slightly different?)

[rotarypower]

Will they not push in when you tighten everything down?

If not, this is what I bought:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273933712181 ... 3933712181

[KiwiDave]

Who is the supplier of these idler arm bushes, if i may ask. I recently got them from Rockauto, but they don't fit. They are slightly to big, wouldn't go in all the way.

Keep in mind that many of the steering components from RockAuto will be for LHD. It's not always a given that they will be RHD compatible.

The SuperPro idler arm bushes are an Australian manufactured item, very good quality.

[richrx]

Great to see progress on this, your putting me to shame with how quickly your getting on with things and the quality of write up

I had an old Foxguard alarm and immobiliser, that was quite a simple delete next to how your system looked, I would imagine that cost a few quid back in the day too. I've got another redundant system in my FC to come out next!

But I don't know what the theft risk is now on these, I would imagine quite low?

Anyway enough rambling, I'm probably holding your progress up

Rich

[Hobbawobba]

Wow. That idler was horrible haha. I recently put some of those Super Pro bushes in mine and it does drive a lot nicer! Brakes should be pretty mint now then aye