Tales from the Batcave (RX-7, rallycross, misc. stuff content)

While I am waiting for it to cool off, decided now is the time to address the turn signal CPU that no longer starts working again if you kick it.  I'd thought the contacts on the relay were bad.

Nope, manually flicking the relay did nothing.  It's probably this.

See the big suckers all in two neat rows?  Look closer.

Despite my craptacular camera, you can still easily see that some of the terminals are no longer actually contacting the mounds of solder.

Well, me and Mr. Weller have ways of dealing with THAT.

Berking hose caps.

Well, looks like we get to see if the heater core or heater control valve are leaking, because they are connected up now.

also if I cooked the engine.  The temp gauge kind of pegged shortly before I found a place with lighting where I could stop.

It's 1am and I have to be 260mi away from home tomorrow morning, with this car, and I am 40 minutes from home, and I would like maybe to have got some sleep some time this week...

Ooph. I feel your pain.

I got actual silicone ones for that application that lasted for years.

Rallycross was epically awesome, and the car mostly held together, aside from blowing a pinhole leak in one of the heater hoses on the Saturday morning parade lap.  Definitely not boding well given my history of breaking my car at I-96 two day events.  Scott Beute was doing grid for my heat, and he handed me a knife and pointed me to where his trailer was, and in less than ten minutes the hose was shortened, reinstalled, and cooling system refilled, ready for actual runs.

Hooray for 10 minute mechanical allowance.

i'll elaborate on the actual runs once I find what happened to the SD card from my camera, but the short version is: the car needs more power and definitely more cooling, but the handling is absolutely incredible.  It's "just" Bilstein HDs all around, 225lb springs up front and 150s out back.  I do have the front stabilizer, and no rear bar.  I have a rear bar to install but the handling feels so right I may not do that. 

Today, I realized that one other thing that sets the red car apart from the bitch is that the trans didn't constantly pop out of 2nd gear.  So at the Batcave, believing that there is no sense in putting the good engine back in if the trans keeps sucking, I unbolted some stuff, dragged the transmission out, and removed the tailhousing and mid housing.  What I found was this.

A lot of digging with a magnet later...

The "top" bolt was still tight, but the other bolt that didn't fall out yet was about four turns loose.

This is not going to be a rebuild.  It isn't even a deborking.  It is more of a bork reduction.  There is still a ton of end play in the actual bearings, but there won't be much time to actually do anything about that, so all I am hoping for is to keep it from full-on shredding itself, and maybe stay in gear.

so you're not running 1 piece apex seals on a full bridge? 

In reply to fidelity101 (Forum Supporter) :

 Nope.  If they are not relieved, it is no problem.  I only have two of the four ports relieved.

Every bridge (half or full) engine I have built except one had two reliefs in the rotor housings.  The one that wasn't was the Turbo II engine, which you can't really relieve without cutting into the coolant seal, so I left it unrelieved.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

ahh gotcha - I was gonna say!

yeah I went down that route myself and decided against it, also I'm a bit out of practice on porting so I'm not sure I want to send my housings for semi PP work. may just toss in some RA apex seals and keep it a side/streetport motor and see how it goes. then when budget allows and the rotor housings have been worn out I can do a proper PP since the irons and setup will be already all set. I didn't do any reliefs on the half bridge motor I built for Dave. 

I like to assemble the rotors completely then use a few rubber bands to hold the apex seal/springs in and as I lower it I cut them

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

The total look of calm is awesome.

I take it the 2 day rallycross was a great success over the weekend! I would have loved to come but I was a bit tied up and really needed to see King Crimson live before I died, or they lol. 

In reply to fidelity101 (Forum Supporter) :

An understandable decision!

Rallycross got a lot of rain and a lot of sun in alternate order.  The courses were freakin' awesome.  Still can't find the microSD card from my GoPro after it pinged across the room out of sight.

Knurled. said:

No Batcave again this weekend, finishing up paying side-work.

 

I know that pile!

AxeHealey said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

The total look of calm is awesome.

I have a serious RBF.  Resting Buddha Face.

Plus, after the stress of work, and the stress of unborking the car, and the stress of trying to make it to the site on time, and the stress of working corners with about 50% as many people as needed.... the car was handling SO sweetly, like I have never had anything (of mine) drive so telepathically before.... it was just so relaxing to be out there.

Project822 said:

Knurled. said:

No Batcave again this weekend, finishing up paying side-work.

 

I know that pile!

Ah, you bought it from Jonathan or he bought it from you?

No Batcave action last night due to a mouse related emergency.

Tonight, drilled out broken bolt so broken trans mount can be replaced by a new one held in with TWO bolts, installed three 10.9 8x1.25x25 bolts torqued to "all of it", using a hammer on a box wrench because no room to get a torque wrench on there, reassembled transmission, and here we are.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Project822 said:

Knurled. said:

No Batcave again this weekend, finishing up paying side-work.

 

I know that pile!

Ah, you bought it from Jonathan or he bought it from you?

It gets worse than that.  I *am* Jonathan.  

Pete, 

I might be volunteering for "brain detail" here, but let me know if you want to collaborate on a non-rusted-to-death authentic RB muffler replacement, but perhaps rebuildable in a way other than "cut apart, weld back together."  

I have never actually shopped for perf tubing, but I am sure that it is out there in the world somewhere ready to be bought and abused.  We can get the flange designed and cut based on a gasket.  I can fixture the old one up, allow for any modifications you want to make, and build a new one.  

In reply to Project822 :

Ah, so now you understand (hopefully) why I hadn't been able to return your call.

Perf tube is actually not that difficult to find.  I have several supplier links.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to Project822 :

Ah, so now you understand (hopefully) why I hadn't been able to return your call.

 

Perf tube is actually not that difficult to find.  I have several supplier links.

Nah, you're still on the hook for that call. :)

Would you like to build a new muffler together, possibly in some rebuildable way?  It would be an undertaking, but the new RB mufflers are obviously trash (indicating to me how much RB cares about its own reputation in 2021,) and I know you would like to have the combination of performance and quietness that the true original Power Pulse muffler provides(d.)  In theory, a simple Y collector in the right location would restore the performance, but with legendary noise.  

Those who have not experienced it personally really owe it to themselves to hear the awful racket that a not-properly muffled non-turbo rotary engine can produce.  Even with a turbo, they are still deafening.  My ears are still ringing, and it's ten years since I heard it.  Then again, I have tinnitis.  Maybe that's it.

Today's minor win.  Removed the DEM to see what I can see.  If xemodex can have one day turnaround, repair can't be too terribly complicated.

Eew.

Eew.

And eew.

Lots of corrosion crusties in there thanks to the waterproof connectors no longer being waterproof.  Inside of the DEM had no evidence of water intrusion as far as I could tell, so what probably happened was the corrosion got wet, turned into conductive traces, and that is what took down the high speed bus.

Cleaned up, applied large amounts of Fluid Film, and so far so good.

And now that game we all hate to play, "Where the BERKELEY are the nuts and bolts that were just here?"  Much time wasted trying to find 12x1.5 nuts/bolts, and the proper fasteners for the exhaust.  And the fuel rail bolts, which I KNEW I'd set on the windshield wipers because of how specific they are.

Coming together.

I think Paul Yaw was an Initial D fan.  I bought the D.

Injector D!

(You are hearing the commercial break music now)

Not completely thrilled with the way they (don't) seal to the injector cups.  Looks like a vacuum leak waiting to happen.  Might add sealing goo to the lower injector O-rings.

Some people will cringe that I bothered to do this, but.

Poke-a two holes in the carburetor specific intake gasket.

To connect the fuel injector aspirator ports with the channel/passage I put in the intake manifold in 2012 when I first put the engine together

Some Hylomar on both surfaces of the gasket, some running around trying to find 8x1.25 bolts of the correct length (neither stock nor the ones I had on the old engine's manifold will work), and force myself to stop at 8pm.

Not pictured: cleaning and resealing the water pump housing to rid of a pesky leak, removing the coolant nipple on the water pump housing and drilling/tapping the hole for 1/4 NPT for my mechanical coolant temp gauge (didn't feel comfy putting it in the rear end housing like before), making new wires for the injectors since they have EV14 connectors instead of LH-jet, relooming some of the engine harness... Time time time.

Forgive me if this was mentioned but perhaps the injector seating doesn't inspire confidence is because you need to use inserts? See: https://fullfunctioneng.com/product/fc-lower-o-ring-inserts/. You shove those in the ports in the center housing, replace the lower o-ring on the injectors then shove those in the insert.

I am using the aspirator cups, and the injectors came with the correct square lower O rings.

Yesterday, at the Batcave...

It's alive.

And it's angry.

Tuning begins tomorrow.