RX-3

Quote
hoche
The rear hat shelf is buckled, but I think I can straighten that. It looks like it's the result of an old hit to the body and the frame rail below it is fine.

Probably from when Dave Hintz had his only crash in his entire rally career. He went off at a flying finish and broke out the rear quarter window.

Quote
hoche
Whoever stitch welded this, thanks!

You can thank Paul Morgan.

The car is stripped at this point. There was another rat's nest behind the glovebox. I mean that quite literally.

The rally light wiring was sort of entertaining. It looks like it'd originally made sense and was quite neat but then had been hacked on and rewired a couple of times, at least once with house wiring. I just yanked it all and will redo it from scratch.

I discovered that with the current shocks, the custom upper rear trailing arms can extend far enough to bang into the sheet metal, which is certainly one way of limiting droop but not my preferred way. I'm a little confused because it appears there are two rear shock towers. It looks like the original one was next to the gas tank, with a fairly long travel and the shock bolting in from the top. The current ones are in front of that with the shock bolting in from the side. The current ones only seem to provide about 2 1/2" of travel at the shock though.

At the junkyard, I noticed that some Volvos already have a 5-link rear, and I'm wondering if perhaps I should just use one of those axles and readjust the trailing arms to fit. I haven't checked widths though - might be too wide. The driver's side upper rear mount on the axle is bent already and will have to be replaced if a stock Volvo axle with the mounts won't fit properly.

Both upper spring cushion mounts are bashed and will have to be replated. It looks like the actual bumper is just a Volvo one though.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

Somebody send Michel a camera!

What's wrong with my camera?

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

Your camera takes invisible photos!

Ok ok. Here's a selection:

Inside, with panels still in place:


Drilling out the rear window rivets:


Prying it out:




And the side windows:


The spray foam inside the body walls:


Partly removed:


Other side:




Mostly defoamed:

---

Self-righteous douche canoe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2014 12:54AM by hoche.

Removed the skidplate:


Steering rack:


Car at the end of that day's work:


Gas tank and fuel pump:


Tank out:


Rear axle at full extension. Shocks are unbolted but it gives you the idea.


I was trying to get the exhaust out, but it's all once piece and topologically impossible
to remove without cutting it or removing the rear axle.

Inside, looking at the upper trailing arms, shocks removed:


Right front wheel well is in remarkably good shape:


Mess of wiring, mostly rally lights and their relays:


Nosepiece off, looking at the rad support. It's not clear from this picture, but it's only being held on by the radiator itself and about three spot welds on the passenger side.


And now it's removed:


Radiator is, uh, "experienced":


Driver's side front horn is mangled:


Passenger's side is nearly pristine:


Intake manifold was welded up at some point. Very neatly.


All the lights hooked up directly to the alternator, with a big goop of silicon for insulation. You can also see one harness that came in at the middle of the firewall, routed around the top of the driver's side strut, then crossed back over the top of the engine, went over the passenger's side strut, and back into the firewall, where it apparently hooks up to something in the vicinity of the heater:

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

Center console used to look like this:


With this wiring (which wasn't too bad, really):


So I started taking it apart:


I don't have pictures of the rat's nest, but it was right in here:


This looks like a mess, but it's just the stock wiring and a lot of dirt:


Driver's side:


Wad of wiring removed. The right side is the old rallylight harness, which I'll redo. The left side is the harness for the auxiliary sensors: water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, etc. That gets saved for now:


Oh, and here's the bent upper trailing arm mount on the axle:


And the twin shock rear shock towers. I'm not sure if the rear was originally a shock tower or not, but you can see why I'm puzzled. The little one up front is the one the shocks are currently using (you can see the shock bolt sticking out).:



That's it for now. I'm probably not going to get a chance to work on it much during the next week.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2014 12:28AM by hoche.

Oh, yeah, one more thing:

I started trying to get the windshield out, but gave up because I was petrified of breaking it. I got most of the chrome trim out and was able to get a good look at the frame, and it's got a couple of pinhole rust spots but nothing major. However, I called around just to get an idea of how much it would be to get a replacement windshield. Unsurprisingly they're long gone, but I did find out that you can get a custom windshield made for about $2000 in setup costs (cost to measure and make a buck for forming it) and about $300 for the actual windshield.

However, I lucked out. I called a custom glass place:

Me: "How would it be to have a windshield made for a '73 Mazda RX-3?"
Him: "A what?"
Me: "A 1973 Mazda RX-3."
Him: "Uh, well we don't usually do those cars but it'd be around $2300 to $2500..."
...long conversation ensues...
Him: "...so yeah, we can do it, just let us know. You know, let me just check the inventory; maybe we've already done one."
...a couple of seconds later...
Him: "Huh, my inventory is showing we have one in stock. Let me send a guy to the warehouse and I'll call you back, ok?"

...several minutes later...

Him: "Yeah, we do have one. It's been hanging in the rafters and is black with dirt, but it's still got the manufacturer stickers on it. I think I remember getting it back in the early 90s when we bought out the stock of a company in Idaho."

So, I have a NOS windshield on the way. $250 plus tax. I ain't arguing.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

The tall welded over shock towers are the original ones for the stock Mazda axle, I believe. The Volvo axle was swapped in with the stock Volvo lower trailing arms and the shocks mount in front of the axle which means they can be shorter and not have as much travel than if they were mounted off the top of the axle (different movement ratio.) Upper trailing arm mount is easily straightened and gusseted.

I see the Jones mechanical tach is still in there. It is special and hard to find, don't get rid of it!

Also, the engine is special, built by Rick Engman, THE rotary engine guru in the U.S. He did all of Jim Downing's engines in IMSA and what not. Just google him. Don't throw that engine away, just freshen it up if it needs it. (It may not, rotaries last forever if properly cared for.) The intake manifold was probably welded up by Rick Engman because it was ported out inside.

You probably found some crash damage in the truck area because when Vance Walker had it he was off on the side of the road and Neville Green plowed into the back of it with his Merkur. Really pissed Vance off because he ran over his helmet, too.

That control arm mount is what we call track adjusted. I never liked those little mounts anyway. Need some side gussets for strength.

I'd trailer it down to a good class shop and have them attempt to cut the windscreen out. Not their fault if it breaks tho.

Ar $2500 you might find it easier to find a similar sized car that has windscreens available and do a bit of welding . Not all that hard to change out the opening and A pillars.

Yeah, I know the engine is a Rick Engman one. If it's not rusted inside I'm just going to refresh it and put it right back in.

The trunk is completely trashed.

If I had to get another new windshield, I'd probably try to arrange a group buy on the rotary forums or something. 10 windshields would be around $500 ea at that point. In the meantime, I have the one that's in there and this $250 one as a spare.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

Good find with the windshield. If I had to get a replacement for my Opel it would have to come from Europe.

!!!

Did someone bung a complete Escort/Capri front suspension in that thing? Far out.

---

Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

Quote
Doivi Clarkinen
Don't throw that engine away, just freshen it up if it needs it. (It may not, rotaries last forever if properly cared for.)

Depends on what is considered to be "forever". The chrome on the older rotor housings is not quite so good, getting worse the further back you go. The housings that were "passably good" in my current engine 30,000mi ago are now missing about a quarter of the chrome. ('84-85 13B rotor housings) The compression is uneven, and I have a persistent problem with the springs wearing into the backside of the apex seals causing poor compression long before the seals themselves are worn out. This is with OEM 3mm iron and aftermarket 2mm steel seals, haven't dared to try the carbon-aluminum seals yet.

At least I have mostly solved the severe side housing wear problem. All the same, I seem to only get a season out of an engine before it's rebuild time.

---

Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2014 06:12PM by Pete.