"KIMI" - The RPM 1st Gen S2 (with bits of S3...)

[Casey]

Casey,
I bought 2x master cylinders and 2x slaves last week for £87.00 shipped inc all duties.... so £43.50 for a complete set.....
here\'s the link...

http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=286

don\'t bother trying to rebuild it.... it\'s probably the roughness of the bore that\'s done the seal so a new seal won\'t last long.... bin the slave and stick a new one on.
UK dealers will absolutely sting you for a new master or slave.

Perfect! Thanks again Ian - I see you only posted that info a few days ago! I agree the roughness of the bore means it\'s not worth just putting new seals in.

At those incredibly low prices, and with shipping a relatively high element, I\'ve ordered two different brands of slave, plus a master. Might be tempted to change the master at the same time as it\'s looking very tired!

[Ian65]

Perfect! Thanks again Ian - I see you only posted that info a few days ago! I agree the roughness of the bore means it\'s not worth just putting new seals in.

At those incredibly low prices, and with shipping a relatively high element, I\'ve ordered two different brands of slave, plus a master. Might be tempted to change the master at the same time as it\'s looking very tired!

the way Rockauto work is they list stock from various suppliers... so if you order stuff from 2 or more different locations, you pay shipping from each ....
but once an item is in your shopping cart, they put a \'van\' icon against other items from the same supplier so that you can have them shipped together and save on the postage.
Even with the shipping and duty, they are still ££££££\'s cheaper than you will get them in the UK. I paid £8.00 for the slave and £12.00 for the master cylinder and brake caliper rebuild kits for £2.00 per wheel....  so even with the shipping and vat they are a real bargain.
Just goes to show the markup on stuff like that for the parts sellers in the UK.

[Casey]

Hmmm, the "wrong parts" saga continues with the RPM "Odd" car...

I\'ve posted over here;

LINK to clutch slave puzzle

[Casey]

New master and slave clutch cylinders now fitted, with fresh fluid flushed through the system. My conclusion is the failed slave cylinder I took off was the WRONG one. The new one seems perfectly positioned when the clutch is engaged, with the piston way back in the cylinder bore, as expected. The "wrong" one must have been working well "forward" in the bore and it\'s a surprise it worked at all! As you can see from the pictures, the actuating rod, with the clutch engaged, looks to be just right, with the dust boot near fully compressed, but not quite.

A  test drive revealed some slight adjustment needed at the pedal end to take up some slack, but the clutch operation is fine.

I need to get a bleed nipple cover from somewhere as the original was missing and none was supplied with the new one!

First pic shows faileded slave on left and new one on right, with mountings 20mm back....

2nd & 3rd pics show new slave sits perfectly on mounting point, correct distance from clutch arm, how did the old one ever work :3Confused

"Odd" one....reflecting this car\'s history

[shaunwil]

Good to hear its fixed

Shaun

[HypoThermia]

And I have some bleed nipple covers running spare - would have given them to you on Friday but couldn\'t make it to the meet.

Ian.

[Casey]

Right, Kimi is now "laid up" for some winter work. First off is to dismantle everything underneath the back end, clean up, refurb, replace bushes, paint, etc. Not a task I\'m especially looking forward too, but planning to do it slowly and steadily as I get a spare hour or so, and with the help of other RPM members, when they can make it.

Started last week by getting her up on some stansds and dropping the fuel tank and pump. Only reasonably pleasant surprises so far. All the bolts came off OK. It looks like the petrol pump has been refurbed or replaced recently, plus the fuel tank is in remarkable condition. It has been coated with a thick "waxoil" type product and, on top, there is no signs of any bubbling of rust. Underneath, there are a few places where stones have chipped off the coating, by no significant rust there yet, so just patching needed.

Some pics; as I say, nothing too horrifying (yet!) but I\'m thinking it could be a good plan to change the back axle. It already has several holes in the casing that I\'ve patched with RTV Silicone, and the drain plug thread is badly damaged and would need repairing as the plug won\'t screw in far and there is a constant oil weep. Has anyone got a spare rear axle lying around? - else I\'ll start looking at who\'s currently breaking.

[seanp]

Wow! She\'s not looking too shoddy at all under there... Will have to find another weekend to come around and spend some time getting down & dirty, and learning how not to shear bolts off!

[Will66]

Likewise!  She\'s very clean!

[Arnie_O]

Nice Work There Malcolm

[re japi]

She´s got clean ass. Hmm, interesting. My brother has -84 FB, and that fuel tank seems very different looking. Or is my memory just playing tricks on me...

[Will66]

This one is a bit unique, all the running gear is 1983 but the shell is 1985.  Makes finding bits for her interesting!

[David Nock (RIP)]

She´s got clean ass. Hmm, interesting. My brother has -84 FB, and that fuel tank seems very different looking. Or is my memory just playing tricks on me...

No, you\'re right.

That is a Series 2 fuel tank. The Series 3 has the pipes in/out via a circular gasketted plate, not seperate through the tank top.

We\'re sure Kimi is a Series 3 shell from the VIN, but the late owner John had piled all his Series 2 parts onto it, (including his series 2 Registration).
The tank is presumably a newish S2 one that John had found somewhere.

[Casey]

No progress on the planned "backend underbody refurb" since the report above.

However, the sun made a very welcome appearance today so I decided on the spur of the moment to don my overalls and get to work removing the rear axle. As most people have said, what a PITA job . However, it was satisfying to get to the stage where everything is now unbolted/disconnected, with the axle/diff resting on stands, ready to pull out. I\'ll going to need at least another RPM member over here to help with that one!

The nuts on Watts linkage central pivot bar were rusted solid. One end bolt sheared (despite a soak in penetrating oil last week), so I took a nut splitter to the other one. Other than that, the nuts and bolts elsewhere came apart - some easier than others, thank goodness for my 3ft breaker bar!

I had also suspected a petrol leak from the tank as I ahve noticed a smell of petrol when filling the tank more than half full and then leaving the car in my garage. Today, in pouring the remaining 10L or so of petrol from the tank into a can (which came out very clean with no debris :Thumbs-up) I noted petrol was spilling out from the seal around the sender unit. Hopefully that will be an easy fix! Now I look back at the first photo of the tank above I can see petrol must have been seeping out and dissolving away the black "underseal" on the tank around that area, exposing the metallic blue paint underneath. Glad I spotted that one!

Also spotted were a couple of small holes on the exhaust pipe, just upstream of the backbox - maybe the Janspeed isn\'t quite as loud after all :Laugh

I\'m going to feel it in my muscles tomorrow - I need a soak in the bath tonight I think

[David Nock (RIP)]

Those little screws that hold the sender in are a bit of a pain Malc. I think I had to drill  mine out when I swopped tanks.
The seal is a fairly chunky cork thing (again from memory).