Haynes manuals are a cruel joke.

The best aftermarket service manuals I've ever seen are Bentley's (the publisher, not the carmaker).
Exhaustively complete and charmingly British, a Bentley manual delivers on the promise that Haynes makes but cannot fulfill.

 

This is true. There are alot of things it barely covers, if at all! Im starting to suspect that the one i have isnt exactly for my type of 13b either. It can be confusing at Times.. Looks like im back at work now but this evening im gna start putting together the supporting components and hopefully be ready to drop her into the Engine bay. Evidence of how Long its taken to get my Engine loes in the amount of dust that has already made its way Into the Engine bay. I got my greasy mitts on some really Good cleaner at work so that should make Quick work of the rest of the cleaning i have left to Do. I have everything i need now as far as can see apart from my fuel filter which i just have to pick up. I went to my local hydraulic hose supplier yesterday and they gave Me the hoses for Free! Proper Nice of them and very service minded if i Do say so meself..

 

my brain is melting. im sitting here in the garage with everything in front of me with the haynes manual and the internet at my disposal and having absolutely zero, zilch, bugger-all luck working out what im going to block off on the vacuum harness.



thats how she looks. i have removed my acv and egr, and ill be actuating my auxiliary ports with an electric pump. from what i have read, most of the vacuum is used to control emissions and as far as can see, i have taken away all the things that are emissions related..

what an absolute ******* maze it is. even with it in my hand i just cant seem to work it out. any tips? im doubting that im gna work this out. when i put everything back together as it was will it become obvious then? bugger me what a mindfuck..

 

Wierd evening..5 hours at the garage and it feels like all i have done is go round in circles picking up parts, muttering darkly at them/ to myself then putting them down and then staring at the haynes manual like a caveman whos just seen a Wheel, knows that it could be useful for something but just cant seem to put his finger on it. I shall try a more methodical approach on the morrow and see where it takes Me...
(methodical approach = using my Brain)

 

I should be on the car ripping into that same mess Saturday morning, I'll make sure to annotate where everything goes for you then- though my advice is to dig through build threads and rats nest threads looking for pictures. (That's what I've had to do in some instances.)

As for block-off... they make both vacuum port nipples and JB Weld. Pick your poison.

 

Thanks samjaza its appreciated. Everyone writes that there are tonnes of threads about this on here but i cannot make head nor tail of that diagram. In the haynes manuals diagram for my model, there are just Four solenoids. I have 5 solenoids like on the diagram for the s5 but mine is An s4. On the diagram for the s4 there isnt even an acv but i have one. On the diagram for the s5 the egr is in A different Place ect.. Its just so confusing.

 

home and freshly showered after what turned out to be a good 8 hours at the garage. my trusty old buddy joel came to see what all the fuss was about and after going through everything we got cracking. it started fairly slowly but after an hour or two we got up to speed.

its really nice having someone to run things by and especially a more experienced person at tearing down and rebuilding engines. (this is after all, my first time)

block off plates went on. it still seems a little bizarre having to block of two egr's




then finished off cleaning and painting the water pump which looked awful..



by the time the tiredness started to take its toll my 13b looked like this..




feels really good to see it looking like this compared to the ball of gunk i pulled out of the engine bay half a year ago.
tmrw is probably gna be the last chance im gna get to do some skateboarding outdoors before the inhumanely cold conditions force me into a life indoors so im gna be back in the garage on sunday and see how far we get.

i have to admit im getting a bit exited! very unbritish if you ask me

 

This is by far one of the best and most entertaining build threads I've ever followed! Meerkat, the transformation that your engine and engine bay have undergone is astounding. Even more impressive is the fact that you admittedly have very little previous experience with rotary engines or mechanical work and have managed to come this far! From swapping garage space , countless hours spent cleaning parts, reading Haynes manuals and the FSM, to the usual runaround dealing with engine builders, your adventures (and misadventures), ALL rotary owners have gone through this same trial and tribulation. So, fear not, you have the support of a shitload of guys here on the forum and we're all rooting for you to complete this project and finally experience the satisfaction and thrill of driving an RX7

 

thanks placd 1! this forum and the people on have been a great source of inspiration and have given me loads of tips, advice and encouragement without which i wouldnt have come so far. there is a veritable bounty of info on here that is also written in laymans terms that, once you get used to the abbreviations, is priceless to a hobby mechanic like me. i really had no idea what i was getting myslef into when i got this car but i have learnt a hell of alot and the journey, whilst long and frustrating at times, has been alot of fun!

i must admit i drunk one or two guinesses too many last night with the lads which was confirmed by the splitting headache and cottonmouth i woke up with at 1pm this afternoon so it was a late start and not exactly in line with how i had envisioned today would go. a litre of coffee and some belaboured groans later, i weaved my way down the motorway to the garage and got started. fortunately i had written down a list of things to do on friday so that saved me using my brain too much. mainly small bits and bobs really while i waited for joel to turn up.

changed the fuel filter, cleaned up and painted the alternator which we had previously taken apart. ive never seen the inside of one it wasnt quite what i expected. put the oil cooler back on. (wonder if it would look cool with a smaller "bosozoku style"external oil cooler on the front?) and a couple of plastic panels which i couldnt for the life of me remember where they went. at least there was a picture in the manual of that! joel turned up and i had just started fabbing up my clutchplate alignment tool.



sorry did i say fabbing up? i meant whittling down hehe. i have done this two times before and it works ok. i knew that whittling when i had nothing to do as a kid would come in handy someday i just had no idea it would be this

we was gonna pop over to joels garage to get his motor lift when he realised that he'd forgotten the keys so we drove to his house and back which takes an hour without traffic. with the motor lift in my garage i proceeded to jack up the car while he was putting on the clutch plate and housing. then we found a problem. two bolts cant seem to reach the threads on the racing beat flywheel. these two boltholes dont have threads inside until a bit further in.

i just found this on racing beats website..

does this mean that i put in these bolts from the rear of the flywheel? it doesnt make sense. i dont remember any of the bolts being different or having different colors for that matter although they were a bit dirty. we measured how long thes bolts would have to be and got 300mm. i took a sample bolt and will try to source one if i have the time tomorrow. (they have really fine threads) trouble is i have a job interview after work and thats at 5pm. the kind of places that sell this kind of stuff arent famous for being open late here in sweden. my boss is a car enthusiast too so i hope he will sympathise with my plight and let me sneak off at lunchtime to sort this out.

 

And he was! Got 6 New bolts in the correct length. Not like im sitting here at work waiting to get to the garage or anything =p

 

at work today thinking of nothing but my rx7, (im seriously obsessed) i gave some thought to the oil cooler i had slapped on yesterday and realised that i hadnt flippin well flushed it out and considering there were at least three pieces of metal floating around in the engine before i dismantled it that could have been a dangerous thing to overlook. i looked it up and found a thread that explained a trick to keep the bypass valve open so that i could reach all the nooks and crannys using the nice stuff i got from work that does wonders with getting rid of gunk. trouble is it didnt work. or i did it wrong. one of the two anyway. and i wasted loads of time doing it. bah humbug. tmrw im gna take a kettle and use the boiling water technique instead.

on a positive note, the bolts were a perfect length. the only thing im a little worried about is that it was balanced with the original bolts and it can only have been four of them or six if he hadnt used the spacers. either way im wondering if the longer (longer=heavier) bolts would affect the balance or am i just obsessing? probably. well they're on and torqued to 19nm.

another cool thing is that a father-son duo have moved in to the garage beside me and are proper friendly and helpful! its a really nice little community among the garages here which makes being at the garage even more of a pleasant experience.

weary as i was it was nice to walk around the car and take it all in. it really is a unique car. in a time where cars are starting to look more and more the same, i feel lucky to be an rx7 owner...

 

Yes, rotaries excel at looking good in a garage.

 

Haha so true! It is after all their natural habitat. Preferably on jack stands =p
I heard a rumour that its going to snow next Week. I Hope its not true...

 

It's already snowed here once, supposed to again today.

Thanks, Obama.

 

****!! Not Good. At least you know that your Seven is running. Im hoping that the Engine is gna go in this evening. Then well see what problems arise as they Most probably will when i start her up tmrw.

 

I am working with my lathe buddy today (i dont know what you call a person that Works with stuff like that) and we discussed the next stage of this Project which Will be Widening my Steel wheels. He has some ideas so im going to leave one with him this weekend so that he can make a plan.
Im also considering changing all my bushings this Winter to some better quality Ones. Ahould make all the difference. Joel suggested an lsd to Me we'll have to see what my wallet says about that!

 

she's a right old tease, thats for sure..
me and joel sorted out the oil cooler and put together the alternator. it was well worth cleaning it up! remembered that when i had first got the exhaust system the chap i had bought it from threw in two belts for the double alternater pulley. i also remembered that he had suggested it in the first place. shoulda listened..

looked in the boot of my dd and there they were so we put them on. it definately looks cleaner and simpler without the cats cradle of belts that usually are needed for all the poopy-crap that i have deemed unnnessecary for my driving pleasure.

we started to drop the engine in and after 20 minuites of fighting with the stubborn bugger it just wasnt going in. we decided that it would be easier to just drop the gearbox and put it on before dropping in the engine which turned out to be a good idea. a bit of wiggling and *plop* and on it went. lovely.



this was, as it turned out a good thing because it was then that joel noticed a small hole to the right hand side of the coolant temperature sending unit. i have no knowledge of removing anything from this place, i looked every where in the engine bay and found nothing that should have been there.

heres a pic of it anyhoo



its the hole to the right hand side of the sending unit directly under the oil filter.
i had to check earlier in the thread to see which housings i had changed out and it was the middle and rear. considering the intermediate housing came back with a place for an egr valve that was not on my original housing, im starting to wonder if this is something similar. can it be for a turbo model? if anybody could identify this i would appreciate a heads up on what its for cos i cant find anything about either on the net or in the manual. i will continue looking after this post even though i should be hitting the sack.

we also think that we may have put the harness on a bit wrongish. may have to take off the intake again further delaying the engines arrival in its nice, soft, inviting mounts which it seems reluctant to be on.

yet another day of being in the garage for 6 hours, doing stuff, and then leaving not feeling like we've done anything..

that snow had better hold off...

 

my theory is this.

this hole is for an "oil pressure gauge sensor" which i dont have on my s4 because the only thing i found in the manual pertaining to oil pressure was an "oil pressure control valve" (and i dont remember having an oil pressure gauge on my display/console)

am i right then in assuming that the two irons i have are from an s5 and all i need to do is block off this hole?

 

It is for the oil pressure sending unit and AFAIK, all RX-7s had pressure gauges.

 

Ooopsie.
Did some checking to confirm this and discovered that Swedish regulations resulted in some detail changes.
Your oil pressure gauge was swapped for a compass.

Fortunately, the compass sending unit will screw right into the same hole, so you're OK.

 

Brilliant! I Always thought that my gps was way too efficient. I keep turning up to Places unfashionably early. =p i have no idea where i would get my hands on one of these gauges. Spare parts are really thin on the ground here for these Cars. I May go with an aftermarket one if it fits in the hole. Probably easier to get a hold of and the clocks a-ticking..

I really must look at the console to see if i actually had an oil pressure gauge.. Its a bloody Good Insurance in Case anything wierd happens that can result in the more common State of the 13b..

 

i realised today that i am thoroughly exhausted. sleep gets more important the older you get apparently. i did do some shopping on the way home though.



im taking the day off today. tmrw ill be back in the garage with eyelids that stay up with less effort.

 

Can you post a picture of your cluster? I wanna see what it looks like without the oil pressure gauge there...

 

@driftxsequence certainly my dear chap! Im curious myselg as to if i have one i really dont remember how it looked. I even googled Pictures of the cluster and couldnt find any that didnt have it so i assume that there should be one there. This is what has Me utterly confounded. I have been very careful to Place all parts that i have removed from the car either in the boot, taped to the windshield or on the roof. The pile of parts has been getting smaller and smaller as the Engine has become more complete so theres Only a few bits left. I have absolutely no recollection of removing anything from there, (i remember the water temperature sender though) and there is also the fact that the rear housing has been changed for one from god knows what model fc3s. I Think i read somewhere that even turbo and 6pi housings are interchangeable. Ill be down there straight after work and ill give a bit more info then =)

 

This is (approximately) the part you're looking for:


It is commonly referred to as "mushroom shaped" by people who have never seen a mushroom, apparently.