Topics

1

Rotary and General Chit-Chat / Valuing my 20B FD3

« on: May 02, 2017, 01:30:26 PM »

Okay.. always an interesting subject as it partly comes down to what people are willing to pay.. but it is getting time to insure my beast for the road and I will have to put a value on it. I am interested to know what peoples thoughts are on the value of a 20B convert FD3 in the current market.  I don't think too many have been sold in the UK which makes it tricky! I think maybe Mir20B sold his a while ago but not sure if it broke instead or what?
Thoughts please guy's.

Thank you
Lee

2

3rd generation RX-7's / flywheel locking tool

« on: March 31, 2017, 07:59:12 AM »

Hi Guy's has anyone on  here got a 13B flywheel locking tool/ Stopper I can borrow or buy to reassemble my engine? Please let me know. Best to contact me on lee@rspowerprojects.co.uk. as notifications are a bit hit and miss.

Thank you

3

Rotary and General Chit-Chat / Dead 13B FD rotor housings

« on: February 22, 2017, 10:50:19 PM »

Hi Guy's I need some help from the rotary community. I am rebuilding my motor and need a dead 13B housing form an FD to get the exhaust sleeve out. Can anyone will to part with a dead housing or that has a sleeve around please let me know.

Thank you
Lee

4

Rotary and General Chit-Chat / Call All Electrical guru's

« on: January 14, 2017, 07:54:05 PM »

So guy's, I have a idle control issue with my microtech ECU where it is essentially a bit basic and does not have some quite key functions. So I want to try and plug something in to create a work around for the main issue I currently have. That is poor idle due to voltage drop when any electrical loads are applied such as fans.
The work around I want is this. I want a wire something in off the back of the alternator or any other 12V wire I guess that reads the voltage which under normal running will be around 14.2 volts with a good battery. if the voltage temporarily drops down to say 13.8V when a load is switched on I then want this to flip a switch which will allow a 12v supply to be sent to an input on the ECU. Then when the voltage picks back up the switch will flip back and close off the 12v source to the ECU. I hope that makes sense. I think this should also only happen when at idle so I guess that means wiring a microswitch onto the throttle pedal or throttle body that is on/off when the throttle is closed.
Can anyone advise if there is any off the shelf item that will do this or if I need to make something and if so what components am I looking at?
One other thing is ideally I want to be able to adjust the voltage that the switch flips at in order to fine tune the point at which this needs to happen.

Thanks for any help.

Cheers
Lee

5

General Technical / 10mm Wheel Spacers on rear?? FD3

« on: November 21, 2016, 09:21:34 PM »

I hate the thought of wheel spacers but need some wheels for my car ad the ones I want will require 10mm slip on spacers on the back of the car. What are the thoughts about running this on an FD? Will I need longer studs in the hub and if so how much of a pain in the butt are they to swap out? Hub off or can you do it by just taking the caliper and disc off?

Advice please.
Thank you
Lee

6

General Technical / Rev counter gone crazy

« on: September 29, 2016, 09:21:25 PM »

My Rev counter goes crazy when I switch the ignition on. Bounces around all over the place. Sometimes it moves normally but I don't think it's reading th right rpm. Rest of the dials seem fine to my knowledge. That said oil pressure sits on 0 most of the time. I know it's OK as I have a mechanical garage in the bay so don't panic like I did first time I happened! I haven't driven it yet and can't so don't know if the speedo works. Fuel and water temp seem to though. Can anyone let me know what the issue is so I can fix it please!

Thanks
Lee

7

General Technical / Finding TDC on a rotary with trailing plug hole

« on: September 22, 2016, 08:04:56 AM »

I have a 20B I have an uncertainty about the TDC with. I hope this can help solve it and be useful to all rotary guys out there.
With a bit of help from a few of the engine builders/tuners/highly skilled members on here I think we can come up with something worthy of a sticky unless I am missing a trick?!
The question about finding TDC on a rotary is one that gets asked quite a bit from what I can tell and most of the answers don’t help if you have your engine built and in the engine bay. Even so what I have read still seems to leave a reasonable margin for error? Such as lining up the keyway at 90degs.
So first question is how would you find TDC for definite when building an engine? Is there a mark defined somewhere internally for this or does it rely on lining up the rotor position by eye somewhere roughly?! I know how you do it on a piston engine and that gives a defined no argument position if done correctly with the correct tools.
Asides the above, that there may be an exact science for, let’s look at those of us with engines built. The only true points we have to visualise are the pulley and pointer at the front and the position of a rotor tip as it passes the plug holes.
I gather that there may be some variations on plug hole position between different series motors but with some input from other people I think this can all be covered.
So my suggestion is as follows:

Step #1
Take a protractor and stick it to the front pulley. Make a pointer to align at a given point on the protractor or use the point on the front cover.

Step #2
Rotate the engine until the rotor #1 has a tip centre of the small trailing plug hole in the housing. Note the position on the protractor.

Step #3
Rotate further until the same tip is centre of the larger leading hole. Note position on protractor. This step has a bit of a margin of error due to the size of the hole and may in fact not be needed. But I am suggesting this in case there is variation between different series of engine on the separation between the plug holes. A physical distance could also be measured between the holes as a double check.

Pause for thought..
If the rotor tip is always dead centre of the plug holes at Bottom Dead centre we could now work out the degrees to get the rotor tip to this point and then rotate the crank around accordingly to mark TDC.. I am just trying to get me head around the reduction ratio and firing.. I think a 60deg rotation would give us TDC though?
My issue here is I believe due to the above possibility that the plug holes positions vary slightly on different series engines BDC may not always fall middle of the plug holes. Someone may be able to confirm this though.

Step #4
This is where the rest of the community come in. calling on all you engine builders, tuners, DIYer’s with spare motors. If you have a part built engine 20B, 13B etc that has a known TDC mark on the pulley please can you do the following:
Step #4a
Align the TDC mark with the pointer on the cover.
Step #4b
Mount protractor wheel to front pulley and note position of protractor relative to engine point or separate make shift point.
Step #4c
Rotate the engine counter-clockwise until a rotor tip becomes visible at the centre of the small trailing plug hole. Note position on the protractor.
Step #4d
Post the degrees you have just marked on here with the engine type you have marked it from and the series/year of the engine block if known or applicable.

I am hopeful we can build a small table that shows how to mark TDC within a very small margin of error using this method. I think it could help a lot of people out. Me included!

If anyone see’s any floor in my plan or a shorter route that I have not consider please jump in.

On a slight side note I have think I have most of the parts from a junk 13B FD engine in my shed. Could I mock this up using the FD trigger wheel to help myself or others with my 20B TDC issue?
i.e. I believe the rotor housings are the same for a 20B and a 13B? So I should be able to follow my above theory to find where TDC sits. And I have the bonus of a trigger wheel that should be marked at a known point as a reference? Don’t recall what the FD has on the cover for TDC alignment actually but I am sure I can find that out.

8

General Technical / Rear wiper not working Either!!!

« on: September 17, 2016, 11:10:08 PM »

Okay.. So the rear wiper is on the fritz as well! When I turn it on.. I hear a couple of clicking sounds coming from the rear of the car then nothing and no go on the wiper? is the motor seized/dead or is it a bad earth? What is the click? Is there a solenoid somewhere back there controlling it?

Thank you
Lee

9

General Technical / Front Wiper mechanism removal

« on: September 17, 2016, 11:06:44 PM »

Thanks for the replies in my other post. I got all the clips out in the end. Only broke one tab out of all of them! So got the cover off and squirted some WD40 up towards the pivot points on the arms. It now moves a bit better but sounds horrendous. I think one of the bearings either on the pivot or what ever the spindle spins in where it protrudes through the top of the bulkhead are near seized. It screeches like a rusty seized up bolt as  you try and undo it. Does not seem to be freeing up any more either. hence I think I need to pull the mechanism completely out and try and investigate further. The question is how. I have a horrible feeling you are going to say one or both wings need to come off to get it all out? How does the motor separate. Also I am sure I read somewhere that you need to be careful to get the arms back in the right place relative to the motor positions. any tips on how to do that if I am pulling it all completely out? I suppose I could mark the position of the spindles on the bulkhead. then it is how I go about timing the motor?

Thank you
Lee

10

General Technical / how to fit jack and handle in storage space on an FD

« on: September 17, 2016, 12:03:54 AM »

Okay.. Yes I forgot.. I stripped my boot out circa 2 years ago and just putting it all back! Pretty sure I have the jack figured out but cannot see how to fit the handle. Also looks like I may be missing something as there is a stud sticking up with nothing to go on it?!
Please can someone post some pics of inside the storage area for the jack with the various bits in place. Blowed if I can find one online!
Thank you
Lee

11

General Technical / windscreen lower trim FD3

« on: September 10, 2016, 01:28:01 PM »

I need to get at my front windscreen wiper motor assy to lube it all up as it's a bit sticky. I assume I need to take off the plastic scuttle panel bit at the bottoms of the windscreen. I can see the outer fixings are screws as I managed to pop off the covers but the smaller round ones the covers don't seem to want to come off? Are these spring clips straight through into the metal work or do I need to get the covers off to get more screws undone. Don't want to crack and plastic bits!
Thanks
Lee

12

General Technical / wheel size for wide arch

« on: August 30, 2016, 09:24:38 PM »

I have +25mm front fenders on my fd3 and my 8x18 ET0 rims are clashing badly with the rear of the arch on half lock. The arch sweeps in quite a lot from the +25 at the top but looking at it today I can see the rim does poke out a good 10mm or more looking down from above! Seems I got my offsets wrong!
Can anyone verify what they think a +25 Arch should take offset wise on an 18x8" rim please. Or any 18" rim come to that so I can work it back. Alternatively what fills a standard arch with needing to mod it or run stretched rubber. I know the stock sizes but seem to recall they sit in a fair bit?
I am guessing I need something like ET 20 or 25?

Might have some wheels to swap for a +50 setup!

Cheers
Lee

13

3rd generation RX-7's / RS Power Projects 20B see's the light!

« on: May 21, 2016, 08:38:04 PM »

Some of you will have been following my build on my website www.rspowerprojects.co.uk as sadly these days I barely have time to keep that up to date yet alone fill in a forum thread. I do pop in to say hi form time to time though and appreciate the info I get when needed. So I thought I would share a video of my project 20B that is not yet on my website! It saw daylight for the first time in a few years yesterday and made it's way to a dyno for a little bit of light setup while I decide to do with the engine.
I didn't really set out with the aim of big power as I wanted to limit boost to 10psi on the wastegate and run maybe 6500 rpm.
Sadly due to being sold a completely wrong spring somewhere down the line the wastegate was only making 4psi! After managing to fudge a bleed valve into the system we were able to get a bit of boot albeit spiking and then not holding very well. but manage to pull it up through the rev range to 6500rpm in the end but the boost dropped massively after around 5000rpm. So peak power was made just after that at 5600rpm and about 8psi boost. 412BHP which in reflection isn't half bad all things considered! So a bit bitter sweet. Main thing is everything seemed to work okay. Turbo maybe a bit more laggy than I would hope but a bit unfair to judge with the duff setup.

1st run up to around 4500rpm

4th run after some messing with the wastegate to try and achieve some boost!

14

Wheels & Tyres, Suspension & Brakes / Brake compatibility with US model FD3

« on: April 13, 2016, 01:50:54 PM »

Guys does anyone know if the discs on a US model FD3 will fit our Japanese imports okay? I am trying to get some from the states but they seem to think the US model is different which I cannot believe? I have got them to send over measurements and everything I have checked seems to tie up with what is on my car. Would really love it if someone could verify this for me though?

Cheers
Lee

15

General Technical / VIN number for FD3

« on: April 08, 2016, 09:50:12 PM »

I am trying to get some parts from USA and they have asked me to send my vin number. So I sent them the FD3S-xxxxxx number and they came back to me saying it should be 17 digits? I have looked everywhere and that is the only number I can find. I used google and a post on a US forum says about the number start JM1 and having a set of digits before the FD3S number. Anyone no where I can find this.I guess this is what they are after.
Basically I was going to buy a brake kit and they seem to think the US model is different. All the measurements I can find seem to check out though.

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks
Lee