RX7 Hillclimber Build Thread

Got my outer CVs installed after a little shop cleaning. Waiting on the new Ford inners to come this week so I can finish things off.

Of course I painted the axle centers gun metal, because everything gets painted that in my shop.

And now for something completely different: My Miata needed a new rear wheel bearing at the 40k mile mark.

One of the less pleasant jobs I've done on a car. The Miata's 5-link rear suspension system complicates a lot of things compared to the previous Miata generations. It did justify my buying a 20-ton hydraulic press and a couple other small things - so there's that. I fubar'd the ABS sensor pretty well, so there's a new one coming in the mail.

Meanwhile the Beetle is all plumbed.

Jeff is working on wiring now, which beyond an exhaust is the only thing keeping this from running. I guess that means I need to start work on the exhaust...

Thats some purdy plumbing!

I've been making a lot of tentacle porn jokes at his expense

I got a set of wheels for a steal today

I'm not mad about this at all

17x10 +25mm offset. I might not have to widen my flares if I run these!

DaveEstey wrote: Of course I painted the axle centers gun metal, because everything gets painted that in my shop.

I paint everything with VHT Cast Aluminum to troll people.

This is Gertrude's engine. It is not a Sport Quattro block.

Dastardly

Ordered all new wheel bearings in preparation for installing extended ARP wheel studs. The fronts went nice and easy with no need to replace anything.

The rears? Well they're getting new bearings.

My wheel spacers are getting machined as I type this and should be back in my hands tomorrow. The new carbon fiber driveshaft should be arriving shortly as well, which means I need to get my ass in gear with getting the diff rebuilt so I can get everything into the car.

Seems like I should be putting things together, but something has gone missing.

Oh hey I found it!

All cleaned up and ready for the dance. While it's out it will be far easier to re-do the fuel system. I'm upgrading from -6 stainless braid to -8 light weight aeroquip hose.

Carbon fiber driveshaft came.

bling bling.

I got the old fuel system ripped out of the car, which is way easier without the rear suspension in the way. I need to order a couple fittings before it goes back together.

Finished rebuilding the Ford 8.8 diff and installing my 5.14 gears last night. Got lucky as I only had to change shims ONCE during the process. I chock this up to luck, though I did some extensive measuring before I pulled the old gears out.

I should have taken pictures, but my hands were super greasy and covered with pattern oil.

One of these things is not like the other. One these things is distinctly less awesome.

New vs old. Not much weight difference thanks to the Ford's aluminum housing. Massive strength difference. Plus cooler

Oh that's shiny! Looks good!

Sunny day means busy day. Everybody but the hillclimb car got rolled out into the sun so I could make room for a new addition to the shop torture tools.

Thank God I have a tractor with forks so I could move this thing around. Finally have a sheet metal brake and roller.

After ruining some scraps of metal I got to work starting the process of making a mold of the Lemons RX7's roof, which is slick - so I can make a carbon fiber skin for the hillclimb car, which had a sunroof.

Everybody got put to bed. 3 happy rotaries sharing a room.

What kind of solar set up? As many details on size, cost, output, etc. as you care to share.....about to embark on house/garage build.

8.4kw system using SolarEdge techie bits. Cost installed was $31k before all the incentives, which knocked about 1/3 of that off. It went live in November, which is lousy time for making power, but March we successfully earned our first credit and now are far outpacing our usage.

I've never made such a large fiberglass mold, so there was some stress involved. However, it came out really well with just a little crazing, which is easy to repair. The rest of the surface is butter smooth and it separated perfectly.

While that was curing I worked on re-plumbing and updating the fuel system. Push lock hose isn't really much easier than normal AN fittings, but the hose is MUCH lighter.

All done. Fresh CVs, fresh wheel bearings, fresh wheel studs and ready to help me make use of the Ford diff.

Any tips on how to make up those push lock hoses/fittings? Last time I tried, I actually ended up sending it back to the vendor with everything marked and had THEM make up the fittings. Lube, heat (hair dryer, heat gun, boiling water), cursing, holding my mouth just right --- I could never get the hose past the second barb. Oil cooler plumbing awaits me -- and even though hose and fittings are clearly marked "-10AN" -- there doesn't appear to be any way that the hose is going over that barb......and, here we go again. You'd think I would learn....

I rely on the lube and strong hands approach. A vice with aluminum AN fitting jaws helps hold things still too

I also used to struggle with AN hoses/fittings and good, proper assembly. I've found a few tips that have helped me along the way, in no particular order-

• Use painters tape to wrap around your cut line.
• A dremel at the highest setting and a nice clean AND square cut is mandatory. It really wont work with jagged braiding or boogers on the hose.
• Use a vice to hold the fitting, and use 2 hands- 1 hand to turn the actual locking fitting, and 1 hand to be pressing down on the hose like you've never pushed down on anything before.
• And most importantly, invest in a set of plugs and rig up a pressure test fixture OUTSIDE of the car. I test all of my lines for at least an hour under pressure to ensure they are holding. The worst thing in the world is feeling like you got a good lock on the fitting and it leaks like a sieve on install. There is no fixing that while installed in the car.

Pushlock hose is just cut with a knife - no stainless steel braid to deal with!

DaveEstey wrote: I rely on the lube and strong hands approach.

Lately, that seems to work with other things too.

Differential meets car for the first time. Delrin bushings will make welding the pinion mount both easier and more difficult.

After some struggles finding the right flange yoke - YOU NEED THE LARGE BOLT PATTERN FLANGE YOKE Dana Spicer 2-2-1379 - I finally got the drivetrain in the car and the pinion angle set.

You can see the pinion mount that I welded onto the subframe. I also welded gussets (provided in the kit) on the vertical link mount. Apparently big power guys were having issues deforming these a little. I shouldn't have such problems.

Axles and the remainder of the rear suspension will be going back in the car tonight.