Aroha my red FD

[Efini_Dave]

Well I have owned my rx-7 for nearly 2 weeks and so far it has spent more time up on axle stands so figured I'd start a project thread as there is plenty I want to do.

My FD is a 96 New Zealand import, (imported to NZ from JPN) I bought her from a woman who lived in NZ and bought the car whilst she lived there, she moved to the UK and she imported the car over so she clearly loved the car!

And as my life long best friend had moved to NZ a few years ago I decided it was fate I'd end up with an NZ car, so I asked them to name the car for me and "Aroha" or love when translated was the name they gave me, Aroha kinda sounds abit feminine so I kinda like it.

It's currently on 68km and has a fresh rebuild by RXmotors as a business called JDmodified had caused engine damage somehow, since the rebuild it has not even done 1k miles so I am still going easy with it.


Here's a few pics the day after I got her home.

Now on the drive home a noticed issues with the secondary turbo coming on, or rather the fact it didn't want to and would just splutter and be difficult to gain speed, however this is intermittent, anyway after some reading up and asking you lot I came to remove the upper intake and check out the maze of vac pipes and various solenoids and one way check valves that could cause this issue, still on going with this.

So after taking the the upper intake off and checking things over, all looks fine I noticed another issue of an oil leak from one of the OMP lines, I must of just looked at it wrong or something as the smallest of touches and the bleedin thing snapped on me, cue @karl_tate with some braided ones for me to replace them with.

Got those installed and onto the next issue of a leaking aircon pump, which I am hoping is just new o rings, took the pump off and dismantled some of it and cleaned it up and added some instant gasket to the rubber gaskets ready to refit back, re-gas it and hopefully fixed.

In between doing the above I decided to remove the front splitter and paint it back to black as the red splitter just doesn't work for me.

Also gave the sidelight/indicators some tlc to remove the yellowness.

Which brings me up to date so far, Aroha is currently perched on a couple of axle stands awaiting more treatment.

Hope you all enjoy the updates, any questions fire away

 

[Spendyrx]

Ooh I spot a rally vts! Looks like mk1 too???

 

[Efini_Dave]

Ooh I spot a rally vts! Looks like mk1 too???

The saxo got your attention! It's my dad's rallycross car, racing this Sunday at Blyton actually, I am being the mechanic.

 

[Spendyrx]

Haha that face says it all I always had a smile like that on my face driving my saxo! Loved it! I do prefer the mk1 shape to the mk2 but they're great fun! Never got to drive a vts but my wife has a 1400 16v 206 and I'm surprised with how punchy that is! Bet the saxo vts is tremendous!
Would love to do a bit of rally cross! Looks so much fun!

 

[Efini_Dave]

Spent last night putting stuff back together, found a very handy diagram of the vac pipes for the series 7 engine so one by one I went through them and fitted them back.

It says the diagrams are done by @Ceylon if so then thank you very much!

More to finish tonight hopefully and start her up and check for leaks.

 

[Ceylon]

Car looks good! Was it originally a JDM import to NZ I assume?

That's a decent workspace you've got there!

Worth swapping out the check valves while you're there if you haven't already. The two located within the box are a bit more of a faff to get to, but the viton ones on ebay do fit if you use a little bit of vac hose slid over each side to centre them snugly.

Glad the diagrams came in handy .

 

[Efini_Dave]

So latest is after I put it all back together

Ran great up untill it got hot then it would pull rubbish on the primary and when the secondary turbo kick's in its pulling amazing again.

So it's something primary related and only when hot, probably a solenoid.

Cue taking the uim off again although after reading @Ceylon s thread I noticed an easier way of taking it off so thank you.

So last night I took the black box out along with a few other solenoids and tested them at home.

Cold 12v tested them and lots of clicking happened so that's good, then tested the resistance and all in the tolerance which is good, so then I baked the black box in the oven for 5 mins and re did the above tests.

12v on them all and all worked apart from one, the charge control solenoid, resistance test backed this up also and other solenoids had good results.

What job does the charge control solenoid do that would make the primary turbo develop boost very slowly and then once secondary turbo comes in boosts fantastic, and sometimes causes the car to splutter untill I restart it.

So tonight I've tackled splitting the black box apart, a little warm up in oven again and plenty of silicone spray and gradual forcing it apart in opposite areas with a big flat screwdriver and apart it pops without drama's, not too much of a worry at all

So I'll replace the charge control solenoid and fit it all back and hopeful the car will run 100% so just waiting now really.

Overall I am very happy with progress and finding the fault.

Onwards and upwards.

Time for beer.

 

[tomCTR]

Good effort on the fault finding mate!

 

[Efini_Dave]

With great thanks to @97FD3S for sending me his old blackbox unit and @jdmr_neil for check valves I managed to create a good working blackbox.

Fitted back to the car and my boost issues have gone away, still not taken her past 5.5k though due to engine rebuild approx 5-600 miles ago so wanting to add another couple of hundred miles before giving it the full beans.

Very happy with how smooth the car pulls and it is a pleasure to drive, just want some slightly better weather so I can get out.

Also fitted an led rear foglight as the big nasty thing previously fitted looked hideous.

Then used some red tint film to tie it in better.

And here's a few pics of the car.

Time to just enjoy using the car I reckon.

Oh but I do have a dodgy headlight retractor clip that I need to fix/replace so no night time driving.

 

[Adam]

Good to hear.
600miles is plenty, let her rip.

 

[Efini_Dave]

Good to hear.
600miles is plenty, let her rip.

Yes sir, I'll do an oil change first

 

[Efini_Dave]

Quick update,

Did an oil and filter change on the car and finally opened the legs on her, considering it's standard power I am very impressed and love the sequential twin's!!

So mostly been doing drives out, got Cumbria an hour from me so been over a couple time's

Then saw a set of carbon side steps that I wanted forsale on here so bought those and fitted them soon as they arrived!

To fit them I googled and found people use the two fixings on the wings and I put two self tappers in towards the back, then sealed it all off with lashings of black silicone. I plan on taking them back off and some point and replacing the self tappers with rivnuts so it's more of a OEM finish.

Couple of pics

Gave the above pic some Photoshop lows, I plan on getting some mid range coilovers for it in the next month or so.

Also a friend of mine offered me this seemingly rare piece of interior trim.

Much more handy than the ash tray.

 

[tomCTR]

Looks lovely mate!

 

[Efini_Dave]

Got a few things lined up for the next few weeks.

Ordered some BC coilovers so should have those in a week or so.

Also will be ordering some stoptech Street pads all round as well as braided lines and a fluid flush.

And I've decided on a colour to spray my current wheels with, love the look of Volk bronze but as I am not in a position to spunk money on a set of sweet wheels so making mine look better is the plan.

So I have chosen Bmw impala brown metallic.

So I think with the wheels and coilovers the look will be improved very much, can't wait to get cracking.


Here's a nice pic of another Rx looking similar to the outcome.

 

[Efini_Dave]

Spent yesterday afternoon just giving the car a blitz inside and out, in the 6 months I've owned it I've never cleaned the interior!

I noticed my driver's footwell mat is well past it so I need to replace it or replace all of them, any suggestions where I can get a set of mats, new ones would be fantastic!

I'd also like to see what I can do to improve the interior so if you've got a lovely interior then stick a photo up

No update would be complete without pics.

 

[Efini_Dave]

Got my coilovers delivered on Wednesday and got them fitted that night...was too excited to leave them in the box!

Went for 12/12

Took me around 3 hours to complete but could definitely do it quickly next time.

Little tip for fitting the rears, instead of removing the drop link from the ARB to allow the bolt out to release the bottom of the suspension I decided to undo both ARB brackets, this allowed just enough movement to pull out the bolts and was soo much easier than trying to remove the links from the ARB.

Here's a couple after pics.

I just put the coilovers on as there are out of the box which I think sits the back just lovely but the front needs to be a touch lower, then an alignment.

Next up is braided brakes lines and stoptech pads .

 

[Efini_Dave]

Got this cool flare alternative delivered today, basically an led flasher version of a flare.

Looks pretty cool and has a magnetic base so can attach it to various places on the exterior of the car.

Bought from some jdm bloke in Australia.

I'll take a photo of it at night and post it up.

 

[Efini_Dave]

My latest addition to the Rx has been sourcing a set of OEM foglights which I've now got fitted and working.

Found a set on eBay complete with loom and paid £70 posted for them.

Am I correct in thinking Mazda did these in both yellow tinted and clear?

However when fitting came I was very surprised to find near enough everything in place ready to take the foglights.... unsure if this car previously had them or if Mazda attached all the gear for foglights if it received them or not?

Brackets and loom pictured above, was super happy to see this and made it a piece of cake to do.

However people want a small fortune for the foglight switch but as I want to have it as oem as possible I hadn't much choice.

Then in came a fellow Rx friend with an eBay link to someone selling a great condition center console complete with foglight switch for less than what some people wanted for the switch alone, then I put one of my switch blanks into the console and stuck it back on eBay and sold it off within hours, meaning the switch ended up costing me less than £10. Super happy with that.

Fitted the switch and no working foglights
Stuck 12v to the loom and both lights lit up so least I know the bulb elements are fine, a quick trace of cables and looking into the relay box under the air pump box found a missing relay, pinched the horn one for now as I don't have any at the moment.

So I just need to get myself a LA10 relay.

Very happy with them.

 

[Spendyrx]

Nice dave I think they done both clear and yellow! Mine are yellow like yours.....I think the clears possibly came in the later models!

 

[Efini_Dave]

Thanks Nigel, I am glad I've got the yellow ones on this.

Got a few bits lined up to fit in the next week, better brake pads as mine are shocking and braided brake lines and a brake fluid flush.

Then just more driving about till the weather goes pants.