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myatt1972 wrote:Great news !
See you at Retro Rides then ???

I'm planning on it, date in diary and name added to list

Great result with the MOT. Yay for Kimi 2

Sweet Malcolm! Good to hear aye. See you at an event soon this time

KIMI 2 now MOT'd, taxed and insured - Codge, you can take this one off the SORN list now .

First proper drive today after she was laid up by the previous owner in 2005. I did an ~30 mile journey and took her to the buzzer a few times when warm. She felt good, no issues to report, so I'm really pleased! There's a long list of non-urgent work to do over the winter and then hoping to take her to a few events/shows in 2016. As mentioned above, Retro Rides is in my diary as a start

A couple of photos taken at the Boxted Airfield RAF Station Memorial earlier today

Casey wrote:KIMI 2 now MOT'd, taxed and insured - Codge, you can take this one off the SORN list now .

Will do Malcolm.......and very good result too.

Oh yes, 3 cheers for a good old 'WE' Sheffield registration plate as well. Supplied new by Woodseats Motors or Rolletts at a guess.
When I was a young boy I was surrounded by 'ET' in Rotherham, 'DT' in Doncaster and 'WA', 'WB', 'WE' in Sheffield. (Strangely 'WC' was Southend and 'WD' ?).

(Some used to say 'Is that obsessive little number plate boy out on his own again?......He needs his 'ead seeing to 'im'. But they were Philistines and I was in my own little world)......

She looks sweet as bud. Great news about the MOT pass.

Never been to RRG, bought a ticket a few years back but had to cancel at the last minute. A friend who goes each year keeps on nagging me to go. I guess I really should

Haven't posted for a while, so a little catch-up on progress (mostly "tarting up" )....

Tarted up the engine bay with slightly less rusty air filter cover plus new NGK ignition leads


refurbed vacuum metalwork (POR15) and silicone hoses (they are BLUE, but flash males them look them purple


Slightly better than when I bought her - but still WIP


POR15 treatment on ignition coils and clamp;


thorough clean out of horrid deposits in the expansion tank and new S/Steel clamps to hose;


Part way through fitting 6 way fuse block in engine bay.......


....to enable fitting of 12" (largest that would fit) electric fan. The viscous fan wasn't working (no surprise there) and was causing a huge darg on the fan belt and irritating squeal above 3,000rpm. A lot quieter now!


I managed to retain the shroud to keep a little OEM look. I will now remove the shroud for a good clean and to treat the fan mounting bars with POR15. I also have a thermostat to fit, along with new top and bottom hoses, so I'll remove the rad to give it a good flush and POR15 that at the same time.


Changed most of the bolts for S/Steel whilst I was doing all the above work

I have changed the electric aerial for one I got off eBay. Bit of a pain to fit mechanically, but now working fine off the OEM console switch.

I have acquired a spare Nikki Carb which I've stripped and am in the process of cleaning. I have a "rebuild" kit with all the numerous rubber and gasket bits.


Good clean needed!


Hoping to take KIMI 2 down to Japday (Castle Combe) in May for her first long distance trip in many years.

I've now permanently installed the electric fan and thermostat. In doing so, I removed the rad to thoroughly flush it, then repainted it, including all the rad mounting metalwork. The foam seals around the oil cooler had turned to dust, so installed new foam seals. The rad had some grunge, but the free fluid that drained was incredibly fresh looking, clear and bright blue.

Oh well, whilst I was doing some derusting and tarting up, I removed some other bits to treat too:

Before;


After full POR15 prep and paint (x2 coats):


Thermostat for electric fan fitted:


Engine bay coming along slowly:


I'm planning to take KIMI 2 to Japday in just over a week and thought I should do a test drive as she hasn't been driven on any extended journey for over a decade

I took her out today for about an hour and 20 minutes, covering about 50 miles on a variety of roads, including some high speed dual carriageway. I stopped twice. Once to simulate being stuck stationary for about 5 minutes to test the cooling fan as it's quite warm today. I'm pleased to report the temp gauge didn't move above 1/3 up the scale. Here's the dashboard after 5 minutes idling smoothly at a steady 800rpm.



Oil pressure when driving is around 70 on the gauge.

I then turned her off for around 5 minutes and she restarted instantly. I stopped to refuel too and, again, she started as soon as the key was turned.

Yes, that's a genuine 40,695 on the odometer

The only niggles (and I can live with those for now ) was an irritating rattle from the dashboard at some speeds and a rattle from the sunroof when open and going over rough roads.

When I got back I checked everything I could and all looks good; no fluid leaks or anything else untoward. Hopefully she'll make the 180 miles to Japday. I'm going down on the Friday, leaving plenty of time for stops along the way (and avoiding motorways). I'm staying overnight in nearby Chippenham, so I don't have to get up at a ridiculous early hour.

Anyone else going to Japday at Castle Combe on Sat 14th May?

http://www.japday.co.uk/

It's been a while since I posted in this thread so here's a mini-update.....

Sorted the annoying rattle on the dashboard - turned out to be the shroud around the steering column. I removed it, cleaned it up whilst it was off and carefully refitted it, noise gone

I drove her to the RetroRides Gathering in August and she behaved impeccably, apart from developing a slight clonking sound on the last 30 miles or so of the return journey - see separate thread here;

http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3609

So the next step is to replace the swaybar/arb and droplink bushes (they are very crumbly) as recommended in that thread.

New rear speakers fitted today - see separate thread;

http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2683

Also still having trouble with the handbrake, so I'm following Codge's advice on the previous page. Decided to remove the driver's side cable;


I've now cleaned it thoroughly and re-oiled it. It seems fine, so will now replace and grease the pivot on the caliper, hoping this is a fix, as the dreaded MOT is due now (runs out on 22 November).

Also received this set of rear refurbed calipers from BiggRed last week. They took a long time as they found they couldn't use one of the calipers I'd sent them, so had to find a replacement, which they eventually did. Due to the delay, they charged me the original quoted £139, waived shipping and the cost of the replacement caliper. That seemed very reasonable and I'm happy with the way they look now (just hope they work OK!). They'll probably end up on KIMI 1, a project which has sadly stalled this year, but one I intend to resurrect in the New Year.

KIMI 2's MOT is due shortly, so I thought I'd have a bit of a poke around before booking her in and found about 5mm of vertical play in the steering idler . I took the mounting bracket off and found a few pieces of disintegrated bush, but most had disappeared

Searching through this forum I saw that Ian65 had recommended the SuperPro Poly bush so I've just ordered a set for £13.31 delivered off ebay (TDC Automotive). They should arrive later in the week so I can reassemble the idler and book the MOT!