Some minor questions (as usual from me :) )

[jimmydanny]

Yeah, after sitting here wiping tears watching your cars being built from the ground up.

I am a bit luckier than most of you. As I spent 5-6 hours under my car (with 2cm to spare, it was tight fit with me there), I checked for rust, and there was none The only rust that was, was in the trunk, and the previous owner took care of that.

So. My questions:

The airpump, I won\'t order the dual pulley kit yet. Is there anyway to take out the impeller in the pump, so I only got the axle on the pulley, or even using only the pulley and weld some kind of thing to hold the pulley in position? I think this might be easier to do. Now it is not connected to anything, the pipe just sits loose under the car, making an annoying sound (sounds like a sheep dying slowly).

My CO (4.05%, max 3.5). I don\'t have cat, and my car is running a bit rich, even on higher rpm (I might be able to get a film this weekend, we will see ). I know someone stated that it can be done, but I am not sure how really, and I need help here.

Changing brakes and dampers, how big a job is this? It is brake discs and pads (rear), and dampers (front). Wondered about doing this myself, save some money (500£ in parts coming to get thru what you call MOT Test).

Also, painting calipers, dampers and springs. Is powder preferred with all the movement, especially in the springs since they are expanding and contracting all the time. I got a red Cab, so I thought red calipers and springs, and yellow dampers (all around, not only rear ofc) would look pretty awesome, with black rims

Also, any easy way finding out if I got N/A or Turbo diff, or in other words open or LSD? I spoke with Clive, and he recommended the Torsen one from FD if I got the open one, as it fits perfectly in the housing, and the stubs too afaik. How is this diff working when I want the rear of the car to get out? And on the winter, how is the response from the diff? I know a clutch type reacts really fast to throttle (ie releasing the throttle=insta-straight). This ain\'t a drift car, but doesn\'t like coming sideways now and then? :spank

Damn, alot of text here. More to come.

As many of you know, my orig. recirc valve was leaking. I put loads of solder in the valve, so I stiffened the spring a bit, but it started leaking after some sideways action.

Anyways, when I ran with the intake side of the valve open (that is, not connected to the intake side, that was plugged ofc), the car ran pretty rich. Is the original Mazda valve meant to leak a bit, or is this just a faulty valve? Might be getting an open BOV tomorrow, and if I get these problems then.. well, anyone heard about anything like this? Sounds weird. Well, so does a spinning engine, but hey!

Also, electric fan, is that hard to get working? I know a Merc W123 or something would fit straight over, shroud and everything, as far as I understood. But the electric work, how is this really? Something need to control the fan, and that ain\'t stock afaik.

Also, any definite way of saying if I got a S4 or S5 engine? I got the AFM of the S5, and the thermostat is the S5 type, with the gasket surrounding the edge of the thermostat, like the S5 got. These two sound definite, but I am really not sure about this. I like the thought about 200hp stock, but I might just as well have 180. Anyway as rich as it is running, it can\'t be more than 180 :WaveBye


Well, as usual, loads of questions for a wankel newb (and Mazda generally)

Cheers,
Jim Jakobsen, Norway

[Prof]

Loads of questions !!
 
Airpump - don\'t know if you can take the impeller out - but I have seen someone use the aircon idler puller (or similar) on a metal bracket to keep that belt tight - removes the air pump but keeps the stock belt
 
Brakes - easy enough job to do - the only hard bit if they\'ve been on a long time, is getting the discs off - liberal hammering may be required
 
Dampers - again easy enough to do, but bolts will be well seized with age - use lots of plusgas or duck oil to free them up - it\'s a good idea to spray them a day or two before to start with.
 
Caliper painting - I just used hammerite - works well enough at extremes of temperature - make sure you get all the crud off first with a lot of wire brushing.
 
I\'ll let others answer the diff questions...
 
Recirc valve - the stock one does \'leak\' slightly by design (supposedly allows idle air to bypass the turbo).
 
As for the electric fan, I run mine off a piggy back ECU, but as a failsafe I have a thermostat switch in the upper rad pipe which controls a relay - you could do just that bit, or go one better and buy a fan controller to get better control. It\'s best to wire the fan relay to the battery via a meaty fuse (not mini blade) as they tend to blow easily because of the high inrush current of the motor. I use a 40A Maxiblade fuse, 50A relay and some thick wire (8 AWG) for the fan wiring - straight to the battery.
 
As for S4 or S5, there are a few tell tales - sounds like you have the S5 given you have the cone AFM, and in any case you must have the S5 ECU, which is probably going to give you 200BHP, as the engine internals are not hugely different.
 
Main differences:
 
Some LIM differences, S4 has only one Throttle Position Sensor, S5 has 2, electric OMP on the S5, S5 turbo has 2 equal size holes in the exhaust manifold, S4 has 2 different sized, S5 has 2 wastegate holes, S4 only 1, the S4 manifold has an extra actuator to control the exhaust flow for the twin scroll turbine - S5 has different turbine design and did away with the actuator. S5 engine has high impedance injectors, S4 has low resistance and a resistor pack. The intercooler on the S5 says \'Turbo II\' rather than just \'Turbo Intercooled\'.
 
Hope that helps Jim. :cheers

[jimmydanny]

Recirc valve - the stock one does \'leak\' slightly by design (supposedly allows idle air to bypass the turbo).

How will this work with an aftermarket one with standard ECU? I got a recirc coming in this afternoon from Biltema (IKEA of Cars in Sweden/Norway), cheap thing that works okay I think, 50£.

[dthebuk]

Get up a pic of the Engine bay mate. As for brakes and dampers. If that stuff is siezed you\'ll need either a hammer or some sort of long hollow pole (to fit over spanners and wrenches for more torque) or both. Are you fitting coilovers or uprated shocks and springs. Compressing stock springs onto a shock may be a hassle.

As for the diff, when you know what engine and chasis you have and where its from we can probably tell you. Chances of having an LSD in there are small. If the car won\'t sstay sideways when you\'re foots on the floor then chances are its open. The FD lsd would be a good idea depending on what you want it for.

[jimmydanny]

As I said, sideways action now and then, on snow, asphalt and rain But not for regular drifting.

The shocks and brakes, I got a friend with a spring tensioner thing, and the equipment for taking the brakes off So I think he will help me out.

[jimmydanny]

Ah, I remembered one more thing. My power steering, original RX7, how does this work? Is it belt driven? I got some kind of relay at the pulley of what I think is the power steering pump.

It makes an annoying ticking noise all the time, and the power steering stops working when I drive over 70 km/h over 5 minutes.

[Prof]

Recirc valve - the stock one does \'leak\' slightly by design (supposedly allows idle air to bypass the turbo).
 
How will this work with an aftermarket one with standard ECU? I got a recirc coming in this afternoon from Biltema (IKEA of Cars in Sweden/Norway), cheap thing that works okay I think, 50£.

I don\'t think it will make a huge difference to be honest.  The recirc is still after the AFM, so is only carrying already metered air to the engine.  The usual gotcha is when it\'s removed and replaced with a BOV (atmospheric), you have to make sure you get a double piston type or one that will remain closed on idle, because if it leaks then that\'s unmeterd air.
 
As for the PS pump - there is a stepper motor controlled valve on it - which I believe does get a signal from an ECU to turn it off at speed.  There is also a presure switch on the PS pump that allows the ECU to compensate for it\'s load on the belts.

[jimmydanny]

When mine turns itself off (which it is supposed to to, so I cant take a 90 degree in 200), it wont turn back on unless I restart the engine.

About the BOV, a closed one will work okay? As I said, I am getting a recirc soon (but I will run it open anyways)

[jimmydanny]

OKAY!! Differential, I got an S4 Cab. I have to find a way to check what diff and stubs I got, but how is this, swapping the FD diff into my FC housing?

I read a abit, some say I gotta swap axles, some say swap stubs, and so on, in all combos.

Someone here must have done this before?

[dthebuk]

Ah. You\'ll need to know whether it\'s the s4 diffs that are the same or the turbo Diffs. If its the first you\'ll be looking at an mx5 diff. If  4 diffs (s4 s5 turbo and Egi) are all different, then I have no idea. Your best bet is to go to rx7club.com. Plenty of s4 turbos on there

[jimmydanny]

Will do! As far as I know, it is three types of diffs on the FC:
Open
S4 LSD
S5 LSD

Which car was delivered with what, is pretty random I think. The cab never came with LSD. So in theory I can swap my internals for the torsen one.

Problem is, I got the S5 TII engine (I am certain now, it is S5 ), they had to swap the gearbox. Did they then swap the axles and diffs too? Did they use the rear axles and diffs, while swapping the drive shaft and gearbox?

Endless of possibilities, so I (me only) can have the S4 LSD, S5 LSD or (preferably) the open one.

If there are any tell-tell signs of this, yell!

[jimmydanny]

Btw, the S5 lip doesn\'t fit the S4, okay. If I get my blank S4 turn signal/park lights, the only thing that differs my S4 from an S5 is the lip.

http://www.corksport.com/corksport-type-cs-rx7-front-lip-spoiler.html

Anyone got any experience with this one?