noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by Rope-Pusher »

noob5,000,000 wrote:The pressing is only .01% of the effort, the rest is trying to position the piece in a way that will present the bushing to the ram without anything else getting in the way.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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noob5,000,000 wrote: The pressing is only .01% of the effort, the rest is trying to position the piece in a way that will present the bushing to the ram without anything else getting in the way.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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noob5,000,000 wrote: The pressing is only .01% of the effort, the rest is trying to position the piece in a way that will present the bushing to the ram without anything else getting in the way.
Image
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

When my computer was running slow, a ram driving a Ram came over and upgraded my RAM.
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1986 Mazda RX-7 base - Project car, ???, In pieces, turbo parts around.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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noob5,000,000 wrote:When my computer was running slow, a ram driving a Ram came over and upgraded my RAM.
Ram, Bam, thank-you Ma'am?
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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noob5,000,000 wrote:So, in the last few days I placed several major orders of stuff for this car, it's coming from a combination of Rock Auto, Mazdatrix, and Himni Racing:
- DTSS (rear steer) eliminator bushings
From Autoline Daily:
NOT JUST FOR MONSTER TRUCKS
In our latest edition of New Technology we take a look at Acura’s Precision All-Wheel Steering, or PAWS. It is the first system to feature independent and continuous control of the left and right-wheel steering angles, and is standard equipment on the 2014 RLX. PAWS makes the Acura more stable and nimble by reacting differently to a variety of driving conditions. To enhanced stability the system will command both rear wheels to toe-in during braking and will steer the rear wheels with the front wheels at highway speeds, which also reduces response delay. For the more nimble feeling PAWS will turn the rear wheels opposite of the front wheels when the RLX is under highway speeds, which reduces turning radius and FWD power-on under-steer. The system uses two independent actuators that can adjust toe at each rear wheel plus or minus 2 degrees while it works in concert with Vehicle Stability Assist, Traction Control and Acura’s dynamic braking system. And if, for any reason, the alignment goes out of spec, we were informed by an Acura engineer that it does not require any special equipment or out-of-the-ordinary steps to return it to original spec.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

Only 2 pairs of bushing left to press out (rear of front control arms, inner rear trailing arms). The fronts are a big block of rubber surrounding a steel sleeve pressed onto a shaft, it's not uncommon for people to burn the rubber off, score the metal sleeve with a dremel, then split it with a chisel. I'll probably do that. The rears are the regular rubber-cylinder-inside-a-tube variety, but they're positioned awkwardly and will require some creativity to get out.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

Only one more bushing to go! Then some more cleaning, the the install of the new ones.

However, I am now considering installing extended wheel studs, just in case any potential future wheels require them. Now is the time to do it since the hubs are all out. If I were to assemble everything now then disassemble it later to install the studs, I'd have to buy new rear wheel bearings (again) for $40 a pop.

I will also likely relocate the battery to one of the rear storage bins. It's simple enough.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

Le sigh, when will I learn not to half-ass things? I was looking over my engine the other day, and discovered that there were some areas where I didn't thoroughly clean the gunk off completely and just sprayed paint right over it. I don't know why, I guess I was in a rush at the time. Although I'm basically a slob, I'm pretty OCD when it comes to stuff like that :lol:. So out came the paint stripper and wire wheels/brushes. Operation Paint Engine 2.0 begins!
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

Finally got back under the car today. I removed the rear sway bar and its mounts so I can clean/paint everything and put the new bushings on the brackets. There are also a few more areas that need to be cleaned and undercoated.
1986 Mazda RX-7 sport - slowly returning to the Earth
1986 Mazda RX-7 base - Project car, ???, In pieces, turbo parts around.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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http://www.autoweek.com/article/2014022 ... /140229886

12-rotor Wankel engine will melt your brain

"This is all theoretical, of course -- Garvin, who started designing the engine five years ago, is still dialing in the fuel injection and making other tuning adjustments. The above video shows an initial shakedown run on the dyno with a single carburetor. It produced 815 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm, while managing to sound like Satan's dental drill. Note the glass of water on the back of the engine -- the engine runs so smoothly that there's nary a ripple. We couldn't make that up if we tried. Take that, Lexus.

Everything about this engine (the equivalent of three 787Bs, mind you) is incredible. It makes us wish we could cram it in a 1976 Mazda GLC and do burnouts on the lawns of Ram SRT10 owners."



Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2014022 ... z2uUMVbto4
Follow us: @AutoweekUSA on Twitter | AutoweekUSA on Facebook
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

That's pretty cool, I guess.




:shock: :twisted:
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by noob5,000,000 »

I just ordered POR-15 (and the required surface prep stuff)! I'm going to hit up Harbor Freight some time in the next couple days to pick up a 4" wire wheel for my angle grinder to start cleaning up the underside and wheel wells.

I've also been making little bits of progress over the last couple weeks. Mostly wire wheeling brackets and other small parts then painting them.

Here's a humorous account of what I'm getting myself into :shock: (via aaroncake.net):
Aaron Cake wrote:This next picture doesn't seem like much, but it represents a little more then 4 weeks of work. It may also seem unnecessary and odd to those in climates that do not experience snow, so I will explain a little. Along with the previous owners of my car, I am guilty of driving it in the winter, though I have not done so since 2001 and do not plan to ever again. This would not be so much of a problem save for the fact that to melt the ice and snow, copious amounts of salt are spread on the roads. As you may have guessed, salt + moisture + steel = rust. In fact, Southwestern Ontario is known throughout most of Canada as "the rust belt". I'm not saying that my car is rotted, or that it's falling apart at it's seams, but as with many 20 year old cars that were winter driven it did show a few areas of concern. I made the decision that if I was going to clean up the underside, I would do it once, do it right, and be done with it. For years, on many of the automotive lists that I read, I have been hearing about the virtues of POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint. Many of the most anal, fickle and obsessed enthusiasts I have ever seen have literally entrusted their most important posession to POR-15. It is one of the few products that I have never heard anything negative about. Because I wanted permanent protection, and was only planning to do this job once, I ordered a gallon can of POR-15, and a gallon of their MetalReady pre-primer.

Let me just say one thing first: This was the worst job I have ever done, and I am an idiot for doing it. On a hot July Sunday, I put the car up on ramps and began preparing the underside for painting. Now, POR-15 does not require a completely stripped surface, and indeed it prefers to bite into rust rather then shiney clean metal. Knowing this, I began stripping the underside of all loose rust flakes, factory undercoating, and the 1/8" coat of dirt and oil that had accumulated over the past 20 years. This entire process took one month of working several hours a day (and 8 hours a day on weekends) to complete. Rust was removed with a wire wheel, wire brush and pocket knife. On a tip from Jeff, I used kerosene to quickly strip the factory undercoating. Everyday, this job left me absolutely filthey. My skin went from pale white to black/rust everytime. It took three attempts to totally clean my hair, and I just started not even bothering to try and wash the clothes. Finally, after 3 weeks of torture, it was basically over. The underside was then degreased and washed until it was SPOTLESS, which took several attempts.

Before POR-15 is applied to a surface, that surface must be etched with a product called MetalReady to prepare it. The metal ready neutralizes existing rust, etches bare metal, and leaves a zinc coating for the POR-15 to adhere to. MetalReady is applied, allowed to sit for 20 minutes or so, then rinsed off. What the instructions don't tell you is that MetalReady's main component is phosphoric acid. So in the process of crawling under the car and thoroughly soaking it with MetalReady, I also thoroughly soaked myself with phosphoric acid. This left me with acid burns over most of my body that took about a week to heal. Aside from the searing pain, half of my face looked like The Phantom Of The Opera, so I had to constantly endure the question "What happened to your face?". To the credit of who wrote the instructions, they do tell the user to wear gloves, which I did.

After another week of drying, it was finally time to apply the actual POR-15. On a humid Sunday morning, I began the process. The first coat took several hours to apply, and by the time I was finished I had to immediately start the 2nd coat. I'm not sure that anyone can appreciate how much of a royal pain in the ass painting overhead in a cramped space is. For 6 hours, I contorted my body, slid around on my back, put up with paint drips on my face and sweated my butt off. Finally finishing around 4:30PM, I was literally COVERED HEAD TO TOE in POR-15. Now, the instructions mention that if you get the paint on your skin, nothing will take it off. You better believe they're right. As I was covered in huge amounts of paint, all I could was let it wear off, which took 3 weeks. Imagine that someone had dumped a gallon of black paint on my head, then tripple the amount of paint you are picturing to get an idea of what I looked like.

Would I do it again? Absolutely not. I would rather put a red hot corkscrew in my rectum, twist it slowly and sing hit singles by Britney Spears. But am I happy with the result? Yes, and confident that the hard, slick surface of POR-15 will protect the car for many years.

The white areas of the picture below are actually reflections from the camera flash, not flaws in the paint.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

Post by theholycow »

Yeah, that's consistent with what I've read elsewhere, except it sounds like that dude didn't read anything elsewhere before he started. It does remind me that I have some serious rust remediation/prevention projects to do, and that I should just pony up a chunk of money and pay someone to do them.
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Re: noob5,000,000's 1986 Mazda RX7, the clean one from Texas

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theholycow wrote:Yeah, that's consistent with what I've read elsewhere, except it sounds like that dude didn't read anything elsewhere before he started. It does remind me that I have some serious rust remediation/prevention projects to do, and that I should just pony up a chunk of money and pay someone to do them.
Go see if you can get Michelangelo to do it for you!

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