Project \'rotarvette\'

[dubber91]

will you polish my alternator dude? Theres beer in it for ya!

[oldone]

Alex.........you have been missed bud.! Where ya been ?:rolleyes:  Riding those \'Tour to France and see sunshine\' bikes again.......you build cars and let Hannah ride the bikes !!!!!!!!!:guinness :rollin

[mikeysrx7]

Nice looking 2.5S estate too!! lol

[yoeddynz]

cheers all. might one day get to drive it....!
Era- hello there! Yeah- i\'ve been sinful and riding bikes too much!  soon though i\'ll be able to combine both driving then riding. Soon..

alex

[yoeddynz]

Fuel system needed a return line installing for standard Nikki carb. I used the standard chev line and fitted a new 8mm main feed to carb. Filled the tank with soapy water and dilled a hole, then punched it bigger which allowed a nice dip for solder to fill in. A bit of copper pipe worked nicely.



Now the wiring. I did take any photos of the rats mess created once taking off all the insulation but heres how much I removed..



I had to add in a tacho feed, oil gauge feed and much heftier coil feed(mazda standard has bloody big feed so I copied it- maybe electronic ignition needs more juice?
Ditched the standard chevette \'Resistance\' wire which loops from near the ignition all the way down to R/H front light and then back again to the coil to drop voltage down to 7/8 volts for ballest system (bypassed at start up to bump coil feed up to 12volts when it needs it most).
Ran a feed for electric fan too.
I then tidied it all up and hid it right up under wing lips and back through inside car using spare chevettes loom for added length.
I\'m pretty happy with result- some wires can be spotted at components but not big fat runs- loads tidier than standard loom anyway.

Moving inside to the dash- I had the mazda dials and chevette dials which i now had to swap.



 The mazda dials are almost the same diameter as the chevette ones so with a knife and file I whittled them down. Whilst cutting the back down on speedo i failed to check exactly where I was cutting and cut right through the odometer drive shaft! ****!!! So I had to shorten shaft down with saw, file and turn it down true in the drill, make a bracket and rivet it back in place. Time wasted because I was too keen with the saw!





It all cobbled together ok though- used existing lights from chevette dash but now with see though dial faces it all looks a lot brighter than standard. Looks messy on the back- tacho guts wouldn\'t fit in place so is now wrapped up and hanging off the back. Lots of odd wires here and there- but I sort of know whats what....





I\'m now in the process of making a seperate fuel and temp gauge thingee- maybe sighted under dash- maybe in centre console(which car doesnt have..so i\'ll have to make one of them too...)

All those little jobs eh...

[antnicuk]

the good work just keeps coming,   i love what you are doing....

Would it have been safer to weld the return line to the little cap next to where you welded it?  looks like the sender unit

[yoeddynz]

cheers-
the thing next to it is the gauge unit- didn\'t want to mess about with it. Filling it with water takes away the vapour/ explosion chance.

Excited now- must organise another mini meet of rotarys soon...big classic car meet on 2oth in Wallingford I want to go to with chevette!

[oldone]

:Thumbsup! :Thumbs-up :wiggle  Brill work......20th of what month dude,mini meet is in order :yes

[dubber91]

Im hoping the beetle should be running within a month or so.....

Steve

[yoeddynz]

20th of may. I\'m also really really keen on going to prescott hillclimb on the 26/27 for bugatti weekend of racing- veyron is meant to be running up there!
I think £20 in advance for weekend- and you can camp there! Maybe a a mini meet watching very oldschool racers could be cool!
alex

[oldone]

20th of may. I\'m also really really keen on going to prescott hillclimb on the 26/27 for bugatti weekend of racing- veyron is meant to be running up there!
I think £20 in advance for weekend- and you can camp there! Maybe a a mini meet watching very oldschool racers could be cool!
alex

You are running away with yourself dude,thats 2 weekends you want to do something.........I can do only one,which is the best ?:cheers

[yoeddynz]

hmmm- its got to be the weekend of watching small old cars with stupid big motors burning lots of fuel(and oil) racing up a hill.  we should work together and try to pinch the Veyron...

[yoeddynz]

BTW- this is the event....
http://www.prescott-hillclimb.com/events.htm

Lets all get some classic jappa(and maybe a beetle/chevette?) cars along and show what its all about. Picture me in a brwon chevette hanging it out up the climb with that veyron disapearing into distance(behind me..).......




then wakes up...

[yoeddynz]

Well then. Heres the dash...



Built a little \'functional\' pod for other gauges but didnt take many pictures.
 I used ply, cardboard, aluminum and glue.    And solder. Painted black.
It works but doesnt look at all sexy.  





Then I cleaned Carb up and mounted inlet manifold. Before plonking the carb in place I had to make a choke arrangement and sort the throttle cable.
Using a solderless nipple from a bike brake cable I managed to use the chevette inner in the rx7 outer and the cable pull offered from the chevette accelerator pedal linkage was 2mm more than needed by Nikki carb to open  fully! Wow- very lucky and very Flukey!!!

I built a little sheet metal cable outer support for the choke which is now fully manual unlike complex rx7 system. Then it all bolted in place. cool.
Now I got to sit in drivers seat and make brmm brmm sounds properly.
But I have no gear stick...



A mate machined up a stepup spacer to mate the end of manta propshaft I bought from some bloke. Nice tight fit and square. I welded it up as evenly i could and with its short length I\'m hoping it\'ll be resonace free but time will tell.



A manta B axle came with the propshaft which gave me my brake drums and another diff- this one is 3.65 rather than the 3.45 in place- so I might change it over in the future as the Rx7 has a 3.9. Hope fully the chevette being lighter will offset the difference for now till I get bored.

My friend skimmed the drums for me, I fit new shoes, cylinders, spring kit and  new brake pipes. So thats the rear brakes sorted. I\'m getting there now!  
At this point I\'m bloody excited actually.

I now made a short list of final things to do. I wanted to drive it to a classic car show in Wallingford on sunday.  Cooling it was an important thing I thought and I got mucked about by local auto lecky trition who kept promising me he find this Kenlowe fan he had in attic (which might not be the right size..)
By friday I was well ****ed off and ordered a whole kit from Kenlowe- going with them over other cheaper ones I had seen on internet for that sort off peace of mind and little bit of a thrill I sometimes get when when I splash out on something a bit expensive. hmmm And they could have it to me buy sat lunch.


Got the kit...ohhhh its like christmas- all nicely packaged and exciting.
12" fan size just fit in place with mms to spare. I wired it up and hid the thermostat away under the slam panel next to the headlight. I ran an extra wire to under the dash and fit a little light so I know when the fans on. dont expect to hear it somehow.



The gearstick- its too short so got some 12mm bar and welded an extra foot on then worked out how long it should be. !2mm thread and now I need a pool ball. using the spares chevette knob for now.



filled up the axle, box and rad....what else...a missing exhaust clamp. Think thats it. Put 100mls of oil into 10 litre jerry and plonked it in. Then checked fuel gauge- will need adjustment.

[yoeddynz]

On saturday night I hadnt got it sorted so I chilled out knowing I had all of sunday to finish the little things, fit some belts, a bit of mesh over the front to protect the oil cooler.
By mid afternoon it was ready- a crowd amassed...well a few hangers about..
I turned it over with no choke for a bit then with a little choke it coughed. Once again, then a bit more choke and away it burst. cool.

let it warm up and checked levels. seemed ok- just smoke from oily hands on the exhaust wrap etc. But once the oil heated up enough to open the thermostat on the oil cooler it started to **** out through a crack on the top outlet boss.
bugger.

So out with it and a friend tig welded it up. I put it back in place this morning but it still leaks a little. So did the next best thing and took the car for a spin. sod the oil for now.

Goes good. very smooth. fast enough for me after driving big ol triumph estate around. quick rack is nice. suspension felt fine but quite loud gearbox. fine in 4th. I cant remember really noticing it in the 7 so maybe some thick carpet for now till I can swap it.

The brakes are unbalanced and pulled to the right. have to check that.

 Fan kicks in but temp gauge reads 3/4 whilst driving so maybe I knocked it when building the pod? Can anyone one the mazda forum tell me where the temp gauge sits with ignition off? Mine sits on the bottom bar but maybe it should start from lower down?

So I have now taken the cooler out resealed it with a better seal(hopefully...) but it reall needs grinding roight down through the thread, welding then tapping but its an odd thread..not quite m16 or 5/8 but a 1.5 pitch.

I\'d like to find another better cooler then this without such rotten fins anyway. but for now- no cooler- no driving.....:Grrr