FC Rallycross/Stage Rally/Ice Racer

[fidelity101]

Now the reason I tore down the engine was to re-use the apex seals. overall length/width measured out okay. However the corner pieces did not fair so well (I cannot find the 6th one) and the apex seal springs grooved the seals pretty well. Well lets just look at the photos....



The witness marks are pretty evident.








One of the apex seals looked like it was 'loosing its skin' I've never seen that before.




The corner pieces of the apex seals became peanut shaped.


Still cannot find the 6th one...

Mazda gives you additional specs for measurement, but they don't actually tell you what the dimensions should be....



Needless to say is that I cannot re-use these. Whats your opinion on these rotards?


I found these issues with the engine upon dissasembly.

1. Oil pump shows scratches (explains "poor" oil pressure)
2. Rear rotor rear face x1 side seal spring broke which cause the seal to collapse into the seal slot
3. Still cant find the 6th apex seal corner piece
4. The hole in my rotor (pics to come, more on that later) DID NOT GROW! overall rotor condition is excellent, even the bearings look only slightly more worn than when I put them in.
5. One of the coolant o-ring seals was starting to leak, very small but notable
6. Funny apex seal wear
7. Rear stat gear bearing was showing LOTS of copper, front looked fine.


More pics/details soon to come.

[murz]

Very odd seal wear, how many miles were on the seals themselves? I always find it interesting looking at dissected engines and their seals. Did you compression test it before hand? I remember you were able to turn the crank with the water pump haha.

The port matching is looking good, looks like there was a lot of material to take off though. Anyways, nice work so far man, can't wait to see this new engine assembled!

[fidelity101]

Not sure, they were used when I put them in and I did about 4.5 years of racing mixed with DD duty. when I built the engine it was about 105psi. I didn't comp test it before pulling it but several months prior I saw it dip to the high 80s.

[fidelity101]

What do you have to do a lot in rotary building? Cleaning and measuring! and it sucks, trust me.

I am working on this build a master spec sheet so you can record EVERYTHING. Basic measuring tools required?

1. Dial indicator on magnetic base.
2. feeler gauges as small as .0011"
3. Micrometer 0-1", 1-2" and 2-3"
4. T gages 1.5"-2" (ish) and 2.5"-3.5" (ish)
5. digital or analog calipers


Like I complained about atkins before ALL of the corner seals were .00105" undersized (diameter spec) but I chalk that up to my equipment precision or squeezing the mic too hard. Needless to say I am going to run them.


A seal case is handy in these instances too, mazda wants to charge you a billion dollars but go to any walmart or Meijer or lowes and etc and you can snag one of these for about 7 bucks.

[fidelity101]

PROGRESS!


So according to my schedule I need to be breaking in my engine this week. Well that's not happening. 2 Major setbacks:

1. I need apex seals and lack the funds for them (until later this month) Plan to order Friday and have them by the 21st.

2. I was gifted a t2 oil pump, I had not actually inspected it until recently, its bad. so a new one is in the mail ETA Monday the 17th

Well I got too drunk this weekend (two 30th birthdays for friends) to be able to accomplish relatively anything important on the car so I did what any sane GRM'er would do and use up one of my sick days and wrench!

It was a glorious Monday (weather wise) to do bodywork! Since I can't assemble my engine I need to get onwards with the various other tasks I need to accomplish.

Step 1.  Remove wiring harness and then POWER WASHER!



Well it kind of sucks but you can see the different between the left and ride hand side with 5 minutes of scrubbing with degreaser and that sweet brush.

Step 2. Remove shitty fenders and front bumper to mount headlights!


Kinda looks like a sil-80 all naked After all the same company that made the sil-80/silvia lamps made these J30 ones too.

all lit up (low beam only)



With the EU spec prescription on passenger side (EU Driver side) and SAE spec prescription driver side, with general aiming it came out pretty good considering all the science and math that I skipped to do this;


I just wired them up to an old PSU from a PC, you jump 2 pins and BAM instant DC power supply, I recommend anyone to have these in their garage as handy shop equipment for testing electronics. Safer than a battery with jumper cables (for you and your electronics). I still have to integrate these into my existing body wire harness (which may get some revamping due to this) but mounting the ballasts actually is really easy, I have great areas to work with for easy R&R.

Since then I have removed the headlights and cleaned it once more. right now its time for masking and primer for the engine bay. Then paint.

Hood modification and fender/bumper primer/paint should be done this week or at least by end of next week when final parts arrive.  All misc other engine parts have been cleaned and put into dry temp control storage (IE, the guest bed room in my house that is vacant, pics to come later)

More updates when progress progresses further more soon.

[murz]

Looking good man, always enjoy reading your build, sucks about the setbacks, but rather do it right later than have to fix something. What are the benefits to a T2 oil pump over the na?  Which apex seal vendor are you going with?

[fidelity101]

More volume (larger pump) and pressure with the t2 oil pumps. I just got paid so I did my mortgage and apex seals. Gonna be taking it real cheap the next 2 weeks lol.  I went with OEM ones. I hope to do assembly next week. I'll keep you posted.

[fidelity101]

Well today was payday so that means order up apex seals, about 375 with tax/shipping from mazda... (and that's with mazda racer discount)and they should arrive mid next week. Oil pump arrives Monday. This weekend I will focus on body work. I am iffy on replacing/painting fenders right now since winter is about to hit and getting paint to stick will be a bitch. Also not sure how to attach the bottom part of the fender to the chassis since they are all smashed and rusted. Might just kind of repair them a tad and re-attach them for winter. And worry about the body work come march when its at least in the 50s again (maybe) I will most certainty replace the front bumper I have since it is required with the new headlights. Maybe it wont look so ratty but just ratty enough for winter abuse/break in driving and ice racing...


This weekends' agenda:

1. Clearance side seals. organize seals.
2. Fiberglass/sand/primer hood.
3. Spray bomb engine bay.
4. Integrate/modify wiring for new lights.
5. Modify front bumper.
6. Create splash guard to protect bottom side of headlights from moisture.

Since this thread has kind of turned into an impromptu informative group, here is some more knowledge. This post will focus on the water pump housing. N326/N327 Is S4 rx7 and N350 is S5 rx7. You must use the pump to the corresponding pump housing. S5 has an additional water pump bolt. Both WP housings are interchangeable on the irons (even on the renesis). If you use the S4 water pump housing you have better pulley clearances so I usually stick with this one, also the thermostat housing is aluminum and is more robust. Now onto the good stuff.

Issue #1
Stock sending unit is located in the rear iron, and its garbage. Its some weird thread and there isn't enough room to drill it out and retap for 1/8 NPT for most gauges.

Issue #2
mechanical fan is for the birds, and toggle switching it is also for the birds (I'm guilty of this for a while)

Ways to correct this, modify the water pump housing. Depending on your application you may or not need the factory CLT. its about 1/4" thread. I decided to drill it out and tap it for 3/8ths" NPT for the fan thermostat switch. This switch is a 1 wire unit that will be the ground to my relay that will turn on the electric fan. (I love ground side switching)  Location shown here:




The other one next to it is an S5 for reference, the flat spot on turbo models I believe is drilled and tapped for the turbo coolant line. Either way that is also a good location for sending units.

This is the back side of the WP housing, you can remove this tube but my carb has the option of being water cooled so I may utilize this outlet and run it to the carb then the outlet of the carb runs to the rear iron which has the same nipple, I think this area is used for cold start or goofy ass stock throttle body. This location works great for 1/8th NPT or oversize it to 1/4" use the adapter. I don't run an airpump so I am going to use the front boss area where the airpump bracket would cover. Use a drill press and make the area a bit more open/flat then go in and drill and tap for water temp gauge sending unit. (mine broke upon removal from old housing, also this is much cleaner than prior condition) and boom you're done!




here is a handy chart for what pipe thread v drill size required from my local hardware store:



ETA rebuild? Nov 21st

[fidelity101]

Well according to my schedule, I bad at schedules. Had some hicups with parts but that should be straightened out by this weekend. Now that engine work was not progressing it let me focus on body work since for me to break the engine in, I need to commute in it and since daylight savings time I need headlights. Its allllll coming together now.

1st order of business on the body work. engine bay!



here is also kind of where I shoot myself in the foot, I am not a body mechanic I don't know paint but I do spray bomb really well. This is no exception. Some areas reacted because I used lacquer acrylic paint from duplicolor, some oil based enamels might be hidden underhood and various other stuff so some areas look funky but its all gonna get dirty soon anyways.

Photo took several cans of this stuff:


Time to go down the lacquer rabbit hole...

Lucky for me a dollar store nearby was selling this stuff on the cheap. $1.89 per can to be exact, which was good because it didnt cover worth a dick and took tons of coats and I bought out the entire supply, probably spent about 25-30 dollars on spray paint.

So I didn't have any sawhorses or stands so I grabbed stools from the old restaurant I used to work at, they just ordered some new ones in and gave me the old "beat up" ones for free.

and they work great (covered with painters tarp) I sure as shit wasn't going to make any or buy any, thats for sure.

I repaired the driver side fender and I had a minty fresh passenger side to prep. MY car was ORIGINALLY blue, these fenders were both originally red and the passenger side had certainty been repainted before.


after a few coats:


I utilized my compressor by spending about 15 bucks on a harbor freight sander and I had a bunch of 120 grit laying around still from the original burban repaint/bedliner project. so that worked out.

Here they are all primed up:



I have an rx7 for a roommate and she's kind of a douchebag, she doesn't pay me rent! In fact... she takes up my space and charges me money, what a country!



Some parts await final cleaning still before they can enter the dry/heated storage/pre assembly room/future roommate room???


ANYWHORE! back to the bodywork. Obviously the new lights required some body changes. fenders took minor trimming (unseen) the gaps for the pop up lights on the hood need to be filled and the front bumper needs to be seriously modified. Luckily I have a spare white bumper (which got cleaned,  sanded and primed) and after ruining the prior bumper I had pretty good idea of measurements for hood pins and where to put what. and spare parts. Bitches love spare parts.



Obviously this is not going to work, front bumper wont mount like this and it looks jank.

Here is a close up:


a sharpie works well on what I need to trim and where, pretty close though... Normally the FTP (flash to pass) lenses or clear dummy lenses go here. Those were missing from this bumper, like most are 2nd hand these days...


Passenger side is trimmed (about 90%) and driver side is stock. Also, I made sure the rallyboobs would fit with the new holes I drilled, everything looks kosher.


Here is the teaser shot, headlight covers need trimming and the hood is only filled/sanded still needs to be primed and only the low beam/low beam function is being utilized. I mocked up the wiring diagram at work today to make this work, gonna need a fuse box from a junkyard or make my own power/relay distribution box with room for 5-7 std bosch/tyco relays. Anyone have suggestions?


in this photo the fenders and bumper are primed FYI.

Oh herro, look what came in the mail today...

overnight parts from Japan? I don't think so jesse, week long journey from Ontario... California! Thank you mazda also they were really expensive. $55.55 each :/

This week-weekends plans? finish the hood and get a HF spray gun and hope I dont fuck the paint up, never used one before. wish me luck...

I dont want to spend 60 dollars on spray paint cans and run around everywhere and with this whole enamel/acrylic/lacquer/oil/water based Im giving in and buying a quart of duplicolor's lineup of championship white, it seems to be everywhere and most whites tend to match my paint pretty well. Oh also the meijer by me is having a clearance on nearly everything automotive body related so I snagged 6 giant cans of duplicolor lacquer acrylic clear for $1.37 each

then finish engine pre cleaning and pre assembly. Stay tuned... or don't - I really don't care. its nice to have a build blog that follows how this car has progressed for my own interests

[toplessFC3Sman]

Looks like you're off to a good start!  How are you going to integrate those panels to replace the pop-up covers into the hood?  Is it just the angle of the picture, or is the middle of the front bumper in the way of the inboard projector?

[fidelity101]

Got the headlight covers trimmed up at work (I love having access to even a small machine shop) then got them attached (rivets) to the fiberglass, seems sturdy... enough. I thought about bondo the seam area and smooth it out but I think with the flexyness of the hood that would just crumble quickly and look like poop dick. In that photo it looks like it is but actually the beam path was unobstructed, I have since trimmed it a bit more so it is more aesthetically pleasing. However I haven't totally aimed them so I wanted to be sure. Also since the inboard projectors are the highbeam and now the low  beam has a high beam function if a little light gets blocked you probably wont notice it.




Yup, totally have an rx7 for a roommate...



Today I am going to get some cleaning done (house and car parts) then tomorrow is paint day!


I ran out of the duplicolor primer so I found some rustoleum which didn't have ketones in it but I think thats a propellant, it didn't say enamel so I assume its a lacquer? No idea. Lets see how it goes...

[fidelity101]

I was getting in over my head on this painting thing, but what I do know is spray paint so I decided to go that route. I got tired of stressing and learning autobody, aint nobody got time for that...


I turned my garage into a paint booth essentially:


After I primed everything it was time for color, went with rustoleum matte semi gloss enamel and their clearcoat.

Engine bay, both front fenders, front bumper and hood. This half of the car is a little brighter but I need to clean up the otherside to see how well it actually matches.



Thats not the only body work I made, ended up making and mounting my splash guards for the headlights to keep my electronics area clean (as possible)


Again, I have a rx7 for a roommate....



but everything is good to go! all sorts of cleaned, may get the intake manifold powdercoated so go with the franken wankel theme.

1. Front cover = ford blue
2. Water pump housing/filler neck = gold
3. Water pump = dark blue
4. Water pump pulley = artic cat green
5. Oil pan & crank pulley = black
6. Alternator pulley = anodized blue
7. intake manifold? maybe red or something...

But before that I had to do some gasket matching because this manifold is dumb but whatever...




Now whats left is rotor pre assembly and put the engine bay wiring back together. New lights means modify harness, here is a sketch of what I got to do:



I'm debating on junkyarding a fuse box or using one of these bad boys. Essentially I need a relay box up front for the electronics.


anyways I got 5 total relays for the front harness:
1. rally boobs fogs - about 18 amps total
2. rally boobs spots - about 18 amps total
3. Headlamp Low beam - 6 amps total
4. Headlamp High Beam - 11 amps total
5. Electric fan - 10-20 amps?

but it may be too much for the unit or just at the maximum...

Thoughts?

[~Groll69~]

Your amperage for the electric fan seems on the low side.  I would think that a 30-40 amperage for the electric fan would be more appropriate.

[fidelity101]

Here is a better view of the splash guards. woopity do fucking da.


Also here is a shot of MOST (not all) of the cans used to do this major operation, even with the mask I think I've lost some brain cells I can't get back. Didn't help that I was drinking a lot while doing this process.



So its about that time, rotor pre assembly!!!

Cardboard comes in real handy here. draw out your rotors and sketch the markings to keep track of seal location and gaps and help record seal tolerance's.

oh but whats this...?

FSM states side seal clearance is .002-.007" and the FSM states a .016" limit. Well all of my side seals measure above but under limit. (.010-.016" or so) Once again delayed and forced to pay mazda a bunch of money for more parts since I'm this far down the rabbit hole, whats another 3-400 bucks? The larger the gap the higher the blow by and less compression.

Which brings me to my next conclusion.  FUCK ATKINS ROTARY. I am officially tired of their crap products. I have complained about them enough but now I am 100% done with their products and will not support them or use anything from them ever again. I used these corner seals in the last build since I clearanced new side seals. (see hill climber thread) They seemed fine because I was using their apex seals (albeit still a bit tight but within use) but these DO NOT fit NEW OEM mazda apex seals, they go on crooked and the only way they fit is if you jam them in it there, the apex seals are supposed to be able to move freely without binding... which they do not. I was able to gain .004" clearance to my side seal vs using  used OEM corner seals.

Observe the same side seal with 2 different corner seals, OEM vs atkins:




If you cant read the feeler gauges the OEM corner seals read .011" tolerance and the atkins reads .015"


Issues:
1. TERRIBLE apex seal to corner seal fitment
2. all the new corner seals actually measured undersized below spec
3. side seal clearance issues due this undersize.(I checked the diameter with 2 different mics and 2 different calipers so I know its not my measurement at this point since I got the same reading. )
4, about the same price as OEM corner seals

So I got anal and picked my best used 12 corner seals and recorded my measurements, these come from various engines and various running conditions and ALL measured out better and within spec.


Because of this, there was no engine assembly this weekend. So I focused on updating my suspension. Might as well attack the to do list any time I got a chance.

BEFORE:


"DURING":


AFTER:



Now my rear bilsteins are matched to properly to some front bilstiens, They do not make a bolt in bilstein shock for these cars, you have to gut the tube and put an insert in which is awesome that they at least have shocks for this but now you don't see the cool bilstein yellow:

Now it sits on racing beat front springs for more ideal spring rate and new moog strut mount/bearing since the old ones were original and most certainly toast. Time to mount up the headlights for good and begin re installing the engine bay while I wait for mazda to send me corner seals and side seals. I could re use my corner seals but I figured at this rate I'm this far down, might as well. Dec 13th rallyX date is looking pretty bad to be able to make now.  Granted I didn't just buy seals from mazda, forgot a gasket and got cap/rotor/plugs because proper ignition is important too.

more to come.

[fidelity101]

annnnnd boom done:





There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Now we begin/continue the great re-construction of project beast mode.





Mounted my ballasts and ran some wiring, removed some old wiring, time to simplify! Also I managed to integrated my front reflex reflectors with my turn signal just because. MOAR SAFETY! (maybe)


FINAL parts arrived today ( this time I mean it )



Kind of silly they individually package the corner seals but w/e

These are FD side seals, they are a minor upgrade over the FC ones, still must be clearanced to fit. Which sucks.



but after some soothing music and some feeler gauges, it was done!



Engine assembly? Tonite? Chances look good to have it assembled and installed by the weekend.


Right now someone local has my intake manifold for powdercoating. Next week I travel for work Tuesday morning through Friday afternoon so little will get done. I must champion this weekend!

Next hot items on the list is fabbing the transmission mount  wiring up the...wires and obviously engine assembly.