I'll start this blog with some information about the car itself, which I purchased for the measly sum of $2100 on April 4th, 2004.
As I said above, I bought the car in 2004. I was looking for a 7 for a few years, but our insurance company wouldn't cover Rx-7's because they were sports cars. Instead, I bought a 1991 Integra LS Special Edition (I loved it, a lot) in 2001. I drove that car for 3 years when we finally changed insurance companies. I sold the Integra for $3500 and decided to look around for a 7, since the company would cover it. I knew that I wanted a car that would eventually undergo a turbo swap and whatnot, I didn't really care what I got. The verts were pretty cool, of course, but I really wanted a 10th Anniversary. I found one for sale while my Integra was on the market, and the second I sold the Integra, I called about the 10th...they had sold it that morning. DAMN. The only thing I could really afford was a vert or a coupe N/A. That was fine. I went and looked at this vert I have here and decided to pick it up. The engine ran strong and the car was clean for the most part. Like any other vert, it needed a new top. It also had bad paint, but I didn't really care, I'd paint it later.
I bought the car, and promptly drove to Mazmart and picked up two seats out of a GXL, since the vert seats had bit the dust. The following week, I ordered a convertible top and decided to do it myself. BAD IDEA. Definitely something you want someone who knows what they are doing to do the job.
I drove the car around for a year, and finally the bug's bite hit me hard. I wanted that turbo! I had saved up money over the holidays to buy an S5 Turbo, but I had school bills which needed addressing. $5000 quickly turned into $1500. I kept saving a little more and looking around for a donor motor to do a swap on my vert. I figured the fun of a vert mixed with the whine of a turbo is all good. On the last day of school for the quarter, I drove by Mazmart to see what they had. Turns out they had an entire 87 Turbo II sitting in the yard, COMPLETE (well minus CV axles I find out later). It runs, but is totaled in the rear. Everything on the car is perfect except for where someone sideswiped the crap out of the car.
I buy the donor car for $1700, which is actually a good deal. It had a usable core, transmission, rear end and several other goodies, including a FULL Racing Beat exhaust. We stripped the TII completely and sent the shell to a scrap yard and got $24. After the tear down, I find out that the CV axles were stripped at the yard. I waited about two months to start the swap, figuring the car would be out of commission for a month or two. My sister bought a new car, and we had an extra car at the house, so I decided it was a good time to strip the vert.
It took me and a friend two weekends to strip the motor out of the vert. After stripping, I decided that I needed a rebuild. School also got more intense, so work on the car had to wait. Fast forward to the following spring, and I changed jobs. This new job paid more money, and I once again started to save money. In July of 2006, I was finally able to send off my motor to get rebuild. After a month wait, I get the motor back. School and work practically dominated my time, so the work on the 7 kept getting pushed back further and further. When the holidays hit, it was impossible for me to work on the car.
In February of 2007, I was only taking one class in school. Utilizing my free time, I finally got the motor into the car. I had to get a few odds and ends the previous summer, like a TII hood (the donor's was taken at the yard), CV axles, a new clutch, etc. I bought some goodies for it, such as a turbo timer and boost controller (package deal on eBay!). After getting the motor in the car, there was still a lot of work. We didn't have a lift then, so I wasn't very motivated to jack up the car and crawl around under it.
Over the summer, I finally hooked everything up and got it started. One night I was trying for two hours to get it to work before finally going to sleep. The next morning, after some research, I get the car started. Turns out that the solenoid resistor pack wasn't plugged in, so the injectors weren't firing! DAMN! The car cranks right up, and revs to 5k! DAMN! Loosened the throttle cable and try again. 1500 rpm idle. Smooth as butter. I was pumped...until coolant started to spray out of the overflow tank! FUCK! Well, turns out the thermostat cap I put on there was just the cap and the mechanism inside of it wasn't even there. I basically put the wrong part on it.
The car runs, but still needs some work, like a battery relocation and other odds and ends. A few weeks later, my friend Zach comes over and it like "dude, we need to get this thing running." So we spent the afternoon hooking up the battery and doing some odds and ends. At the end of the night, the car runs and I drove it around the driveway. We then find out there is a hot start problem. Double damn.
Anyway, months pass and I tinker with the car here and there. Just a month or two ago, I pulled the car out and fired it up. I noticed smoke coming from the turbo. I then notice something seeping out of the turbo. I really don't know what to do, so I pull it in the shop and leave it. School had gotten intense once again as the holidays rolled up. The Rx-7 was shelved for a few months while I got shit under control. Well, just last month, I rolled the car out on a Sunday to tinker with some stuff, and I turn it on. I see the smoke, I knew it was a problem, but ran it anyway. I then notice a puddle of coolant under the passenger side. DAMN! The turbo is leaking coolant. Damn.
Well, I pull the car into the shop for a quick trouble shoot. Turns out that a coolant hose had a small tear in it near the clamp and was leaking coolant INSIDE of the car and down through the footwell, where it puddled up under the passenger side. Phew, no turbo coolant problem. The turbo still smokes, I assume it's some sort of internal failure.
This brings us to Saturday, the 16th of March, 2008. I decide to tear the turbo off to see what's up. I was determined to get the car on the road asap. I pull off the turbo charger to find that the whole thing is practically toasted. The shaft doesn't spin freely, and all sorts of gunk inside of the rear seal. There is oil in the hotside and the whole assembly is black in the rear. Something is not right, so a rebuild or another turbo is where I'm headed now.
I have several pictures of the progress of the car, but I dunno where half of them are. I have some from my original site I made for it back in 2005, which I'll post here. I took some photos today of my turbo teardown, so I'll throw those up too!
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