Its time I show my DD/project car now that ive shown off the newer one to replace her when she goes down for her upgrades.
The car: 1988 Mazda RX-7 SE (bought for $800)
Mods: one set of P185 75 R14 80,000mile Michellin Harmony tires ($65 each)
one set of S4 taillights from teh junkyard to replace the busted ones ($80)
one used 13b with 117xxx miles from a guy doing a V8 swap ($300)
new stereo and speakers (pioneer all teh way for now)
one pair of fog lights from walmart ($20)
Thats everythign ive done to her since buying her in late may. I do have pictures of her before the tail lights and durign the motor swap. Please wait until I have posted them to reply. Thank you.
signature removed for being radically oversized

 

 

 

 

Now for the swap pics.
Original motor

Newer one with less miles from a 87 donor car (damn low impedenance injectors and crossed fuel lines)

Clean and empty engine bay ^.^

 

Nice project car, I just got one too, same year. Free.99 is what I got mine for, but to get it where I want it is gonna cost me a pretty penny.. That interior of yours is as clean as I have seen them at that age.. Good luck.. Thanx for sharing..

 

New engine finally installed and wired in. Fully clean for the first time in years....now an oil and fuel leak fuglify her once again.




Feel free to comment any time now
signature removed for being radically oversized

 

"Spade" as I am going to call her is due for some serious surgery this winter. I have plans on nearly tearing her down to the unibody for everythign but if I can I shall avoid it.

The first thing I have to tackle on her before anything, and above all else, is to fix the oil leak coming from teh lower pulleys. I have a good idea what it is, bad seal, and will try to fix it along with my fuel leak, again a rubber hose i might have pinched and cracked during the 6th intake removal.

She will be recieving a 5lug conversion from a 87GXL donor car, also putting in the limited slip since I will be needing it. I will replace all teh lines with SS lines, though I do not yet know where to acquire said braided lines. She will have to roll on gxl rims of the same year until I can afford the Tenzo R Physco 17's.

Once that is complete she will be recieving a new Racing Beat exhaust system, though I would like to know if there is anything cheaper that is as silent as stock, since I have broken the right muffler off at the flange and its just hanging up by itself being banged agaisnt by the pipe.

Afterwards I am upgrading the suspension, Tokico Illumna's and Eibach Pro kit Springs will supply the ride and feel of her handling along with some nice tires that im also undecided upon for now.

Until this motor pops I wont be rebuilding any of my spares, though when I do I shall be using the Atkins seal kit and doign everything myself, except the 'mild' porting, however I will be pulling the rats nest and rerunning the fuel lines and pulling the air pump.....no need for smog in the smokies.
I am only going to aim for somewhere between 200 and 250 horsepower at the flywheel, which I will also upgrade to a lighterweight unit and a beefier clutch of unknown origin.
The engine will also recieve a True CAI and Jacobs FC1000 ignition system, a better plug wire(undecided as I havent considered any yet), and once I need to, get a good standalone system.

The body mods will include a new body kit from Erubani, since my bumpers are busted front and back. I will rivet and glass them to teh car for a smooth look, thus eliminating teh moldings on teh car entirely(will post teh kit in a separate post). I will be going with a sleek light kit as soon as I can find one I like, that way ill be able to run the CAI beneath the passenger light setup and make full use of the body kit.

For appearance's sake the car will be painted in two colors that meet at teh body line. Midnight blue(or as dark a blue I can get) for the upper portion fo the car and a black lower. The windows I will have professionally tinted to the darkest legal tint I can. I will be replacing the stereo system with my own of custom origin, A new Eclipse head unit, new dash speakers, install and wire up the 6.5 door speakers, put 8's in the rear towers, and 5 12in subs in teh hatch area to make for a, hopefully, opera/orchestra quality sound. I know the dangers I run by using such an amount and size of speaker but I will also be replacing the glass with tempered and angling everythign away from glass. The rear hatch area I will cover entirely in fiberglass to mold the units to everythign, yet still try to make teh fuel pump accessible along with the 3 amplifiers that will power all 11 speakers.

 

 

Minor update:

I pulled my right side muffler and tip off when I was bored at lunch today. It had broke cleanly at teh flange and was rattling somthing aweful. I noticed a few things when I did this.
1. I now have a meanass exhaust leak that pours into the car when the windows are down, no smell but the fumes are evi lto the eyes.
2. I have better throttle responce and seem to run better without that one muffler.
3. I like the way it sounds.

I figure I can run like this for a while but just to be safe since fumes are very bad for my health. Is it possible to just make a block off plate for the flange to cap it off and run the y-pipe to a dead end and to the workign left side muffler?

 

As a side note, I shook my muffler and got to watch the inner honeycomb material fall out onto the concrete. The other sounds just the same and im willing to bet my cat and precats are just the same. I guess after my hubs ill be doing my exhaust.

 

sweet deal you got there. everything looks in good condition considering the age. keep us posted

 

Thanks. Just about everythign is in good shape, except teh left rear where it met a guard rail by prev. owner and the lack of trim. I eagerly await each day I can do some small thign to make her better.

 

Interior is nice!

 

Update: Took the car to Kevin Landers this afternoon with hopes of getting some parts for both my SE and the 89 GXL (That place is like disney land). Well we, as in he, fixed my fuel leak and then we proceeded to find my oil leak. The culprit....the key for the eshaft moved enough for the counterweight to slip out of place, and when I had tightened it during the install....the weight did not slide back onto the key so when i tightened the bolt the washer didnt seal right. He will be fixign it for me this weekend. So I thank you Kevin and I hope to see my baby back in good shape this week.

 

Also seeking some form of flush mount headlight kits. If anyone has any examples of them, preferably ones that do not intrude upon the bumper cover, I would be most appreciative, since finding a set using the search feature isnt helping me any and I would like to find a nice kit....weight reductino and a cold air intake need priorities.

 

put some wider wheels on there or do a 5 lug swap you'll love how much better it'll handle than with those phone dials

 

Yeah, I was planning on doing such a conversion...since my right front hub is nearly split in half....thank god its still attached to the brake rotor via rust and heat expansion. But I have a set of rims in mind when I do convert. I was thinking teh Tenzo R Physco 17x7's wrapped in a 225 series tire. Ill no doubt flare the fenders a bit to fit them comfortably, as the car will be used mainly to corner hard all the time.

 

Update: Got Spade back from Kevin. OMG its soooo much better now. he calle dit a &quote "Miracle Engine" &quote. He said that phrase because the OMP was not runnign at full capacity, the last person to pull the front apart of the motor forgot to put the key back in for the pump wheel. Also, the counterbalance had not caused major damage, only minor rouching of the e-shaft and he used emory paper to get the grooves inot a better position. He also replaced teh damaged key for the eshaft and put everything back together for me. I now have a perfectly running engine and I salute you Kevin Landers of Rotary Ressurection.

So now with all that out of the way, the vibreation now gone and the opil leak and fuel leaks as well no more, I am now able to pursue the other upgrades and modifications without worry about the engine for a while.

 

Well I was wrong. A few weeks ago developed both a fuel leak (FPD) and a coolant leak. I took teh oppurtunity to purchase some blockoff plates and such and dove on into pulling the rats nest. My coolant leak developed from the upper hose fitted to teh UIM nearest teh firewall. Merely cut the bad section off for now and re inserted it, no more leak. I would have capped teh entire coolant passage off for teh intake, but I am still uncertain if the BACV is a needed item along with the coolant lines attached to it.
For the FPD I merely pulled it off and took a banjo bolt from a spare fuel rail and put it in its place. I removed my subzero start assist BS and blocked it off. I pulled teh EGR valve and used tinsnips to remove all the hardlines i could while still tryign to retain the hardline for my fuel lines (yeah im just that cheap atm.) Currently lookign up the TB mod and other related information to finish pulling the emissions, will pull air pump as soon as i get a dual belt pulley for my alternator.
signature removed for being radically oversized

 

I have azquired a parts car finally (Thanks Dansbbb for the sell, will keep you updated on the white fc you sold me as well) and will be stripping it of the needed parts (PM me if you need anythign from an S4 will be parting it out down to the shell if needs be). I will try to take pics of the undertaking as I have a full hub and brake swap, going 5lug finally, and will be modifying my guage cluster a bit.

 

all right!!!.... post some more pics

 

Hehe, Ill do so soon.

I finally got to do my exhaust last night, spent 8 hours on my back under two cars, removing teh catback from the parts car to use on my project. I removed my entire exhaust system in favor of installing the Racing Beat Header and Presilencer. Header install went very smoothly, left the engine in the car and only removed the aux port actuators(they work wonderfully btw) and removal and install was easy. Had to extend the o2 sensor wire by about 2-3 feet to make up for the bung location on the header. The presilencer on teh other hand was not so easy. I only managed to get ONE nut to properly thread and seat tightly, snapping one stud and stripping a second in the process and could only get the last nut on half way. I left it as it was and continued with the catback install, unfortunately I could not get two hangers to connect because i was too tired and I had to use the car for work in the morning. All donut hangers are connected though.

She is LOUD right now, a major exhaust leak is the obvious culprit. But this install was well worth my $100 investment, as the butt dyno tells me more power and torque. I even did a nice lil burnout from first thru third gear in the local mall parking lot, though it was wet when I initiated the burnout. I plan to take the car to my old highschool to get it on a lift and just weld everything together to be a permanent fix. Until then ill sound like a honda on steroids. Pics upcoming next week when I develop the rolls of film

 

Wow, how much is all this gonna run ya?

 

Well lets see...right now I have invested:

$800-1988 RX7 SE model, 150xxx miles decent interior dmgd tails and rear quarter dmg.{also came with original blown motor and a rebuildable 87 longblock}
$40-pair of rear S4 tails.
$300-transplanted engine with no leaks or seal failures
$200-88se parts car converted to 5lug and LSD
$100-header and presilencer
$280-new Michelin Harmony 185/75 R14 tires for the phone dials.
$20-walmart fog lights

Im going to soon be spending much more on my upgrades.

$400 estimated cost to finish the 5lug swap to my vehicle, cost is all new rotors, pads and hardware kits.

as for everythign else im going to do...I try not to think about it.