www.RX7fb.com

What is it about these cars? I bought KIMI 1 as a long term "retirement" restoration project and work is progressing slower than I'd liked, with life and family commitments higher than I'd planned. You can see details of KIMI 1 on these two threads;

http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=4& ... kimi#p4832
http://mazdarotaryclub.com/forum/index. ... ic=69685.0

I was then presented with the opportunity a few months back to acquire a near identical S2 "twin" FB for peanuts (which would be KIMI 2). On paper, and in talking to the owner, it seemed the car would require very little work to get it running and on the road. Just a little welding and a clutch problem, thought to be hydraulics. Great, I could enjoy this 2nd car on the road whilst the resto work on KIMI 1 was underway, then "swap" cars and do a full resto on KIMI 2. Long term plan to have a pair of "twin" FB's to take to shows with a like-minded enthusiast friend of mine.

Deal done, I now have two FB's
Notice both reg plates start "A77......" too

KIMI 1;


KIMI 2


As always, things aren't always as they seem......more posts to follow......

First, the good news. The engine has only done 40k (batch of MOT's to prove it)

Shortly after acquisition and re-homing to a friend's place near me;
- Fresh battery installed and fresh fuel added (tank was empty).
- Plugs removed, a bit of 2T in the plug holes and a manual turnover revealed some reassuring "chuffs".
- Fresh plugs installed
- Fresh Oil and filter
- Coolant checked and looked fresh and clean, so topped up (Bluecol by the looks of it, which I already had available)

After a few attempts, possibly due to stale fuel in the lines/carb, she started up and ran fine. Got her up to temp (at least off the cold mark), noting the not-unexpected seized viscous fan was jammed at full speed and stopping her from warming up quickly. The smoke from the added 2T cleared and she seemed fine.

So, apart from the fan, all looking good on the engine.

Started to look at the clutch issue, hoping it was a slave or master cylinder problem I had on KIMI 1 but no, on checking the slave, I noted the release fork was unusually "floppy" and would move side-to-side Not good.

OK, nothing for it, car on 4 stands and transmission dropped, to find this;


So, new fork needed, add that to the list....

What had caused that? As had happened to Ian65 on his Elford, the release bearing had corroded onto the guide shaft Probably caused by the car sitting idle for a few years and the use of copper grease, instead of white grease.


A puller wouldn't budge it, even with liberal coatings of Plusgas, so the transmission front cover was removed for better access and I had to cut/grind the bearing off, revealing this;


Add new release bearing to bits needed.....

Thankfully, a clean up with fine emery paper removed what turned out to be surface corrosion only on the guide shaft;


However, when the transmission cover was removed, the "end float" shim just fell out, broken and completely mangled. I can only assume it fell out of position when some work had been done before and it was re-assembled. So, new shim needed too....

Oh well, the tranmission is out, so why not check the clutch too. Pressure plate off and it revealed the clutch was on it's last legs.

Add a clutch kit to the list of stuff needed....

More of sage soon

New Exedy clutch kit (215mm for this car) arrived from Rock Auto - I needed some other bits from there for the two FB's so shipping was easier to swallow.

The pressure plate and clutch lining where visually checked to be correct against the removed parts - check OK!

The kit included the release bearing and what I assumed was a new pilot bearing and seal. The release bearing fitted fine, so decided we (my friend Ian and I) might as well replace the old pilot bearing and seal, it being hard to inspect their condition when installed. The new bearing and seal were combined into one part together - I (wrongly in hindsight) assumed this was an updated part to ease installation (knowing the parts manual showed them as two distinct parts. The seal came out easily, but the bearing took some persuasion with an internal puller tool, but inevitably gave in (just before I was about too!). Then we compared the removed bearings and seal with the new one in the kit;



You can see the old seal was knackered, but the old bearing looked OK (visually). The overall length of the new bearing/seal is clearly shorter than the two separate parts. the internal diameter of both is the same, it fits fine on the gearbox spigot. HOWEVER, the outside diameter of the original is 20mm, the new one 21mm, no way will this fit Rather than reuse the old bearing, I went to my local Mazda dealer, who has ordered the parts (£21.04) from the European warehouse and should be with us soon.

The shim comes in two thicknesses, so I need to check, usual the measurement procedure in the manual, what shim(s) are needed. My local dealer says the thicker shims are still available (£1.74), but not the thinner one.

QUESTION: What are the consequences of not being shimmed as per the manual (0 to 0.1mm end float)?

Now the story is coming reasonably up to date. Yesterday (17 July) we got a mobile welder to attend to three areas - here they were before treatment;

Drivers "A" pillar area

A few patches under the rear hatch drain araea


plus the "usual" area around the driver's side rear suspension rear (no pic of that), under rear seat (the passenger's side had already been welded).

The welder has done a "functional" job, but not very aesthetic, so we'll tidy the results up a bit before posting some pics.

One other area of concern was the front windcscreen. It was cracked, due to corrosion of the passenger side pillar. I knew if the corrosion was too bad, the car might was end up as spare parts, but I'm hopeful the rust can be controlled (two areas)and a new windscreen sourced. We managed to get the pillar covers off without breaking the clips underneath, so they can be re-used!
Passenger side top corrosion patch;


Passenger side bottom corrosion patch, before trim clip removal and cean up;


Passenger side bottom patch, after clip and some loose rust removal;


I really want to get this car back on the road asap, but there's turning out to be more work (and parts) needed than I'd hoped!

I just realised I haven't posted up any interior pictures. The condition of the interior is another reason I want to salvage this car as a runner;











And the mileage ;

it just goes to show how well these cars hide their rust.... Kimi 2 looks a very clean tidy car in the photos despite the corrosion lurking..... fair play to you Malcolm for restoring it though, it definitely looks worth saving, especially with that mileage and interior.
Those pilot bearings are a right pain... it took me 3 days with a Dremel to get one out of my black Elford.
Be careful that the welder doesn't burn through the rubber drainage tubes that run from the sunroof drains and down the inside of the screen pillars or else the A posts, sills and front footwells will fill with water and rot out.
Good to see another one saved.

Looking good

Well done for saving her, guys! That interior looks superb in the photos, I always liked the S2 seats best

Yeah, S2 interior all the way for me too.

UPDATE - she moved under her own power today

New Exedy clutch now fitted, plus new clutch master and and slave units installed.

Huge thanks to myatt - Keith - for the shim we needed to reassemble the transmission front plate. A 2nd hand clutch fork was sourced from Tim at RX-Motors. New release bearing, new pilot bearing and oil seal installed from the Exedy kit.

Installing the gearbox was a pig of a job, the gearbox just didn't want to engage, depite much careful alignment and wiggling. It took ages, but we got there in the end!

It took three attempts on the starter to get her going from cold this morning. We then left her for a couple of hours whilst we did some further work and this was the video I took as we started her about 2 hours later - Ian in the driver's seat - she fires up straight away! After this, she also started up another three times, right on the button



I got so carried away, I forgot to video the car moving in 1st and reverse But it did confirm we had a badly sticking front driver's side caliper. I've now removed that and its piston - doesn't look too bad inside so I'm going to clean it up and use a rebuild seal kit before reinstalling.

Once we've sorted and checked the brakes we need a new windscreen - I've seen the posts on the forum re National Windscreens, so will give them a call. Then we'l get her to an MOT station for a check...hopefully sometime in August.

Really chuffed with the progress today

great work, I bet you're over the moon...... good luck with the mot.... confident?