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Saving this tarnished example of a 1993  LHD FD from an ill-fated LS swap, join me as I spiral into the despair of rotary resurrection and ownership. Can't be worse than owning an 80's two stroke street bike... can it? There ave been few cars that have 'done' it for me, but the styling of the FD does it for me, and this came up at the right time, and for a very good price. Checking the vehicle history, it looks to have changed hands 7 times in the past 5 years while not incurring much if any mileage. Speaking with the last owner, he was dead set on doing a LS swap because of an electrical issue that could not be chased down (no poo poo, see pics). This gives me hope, as it 'died' running. I ran a complete history report and it seems to have stayed in Canada its whole life, catching fire mid 1996 in Quebec to the tune of a free repair and many more KM put on in the next 5 years. Nice Miata  No rebuilt title, rust damage or signs of major hidden damage so far  Fairly stock engine bay, save for the HAI filters, BOV and hosed wiring  Some previous owner spent a few dollars on decent coil overs, full stainless downpipe and exhaust, AWS delete and a stereo I only got the head unit to. My first Fart Can! - 90mm CR500 piston for reference.  The body is in really clean shape next to the rear bumper having cracked paint, the area in the picture and some peeling clearcoat that is an apparent issue for early FDs. The discoloration looks like something sat against it for a while and transferred. I tried a bit of wet sanding and it cleaned up really well! I can see a lot of the detailing thread in my future!  A rotary thread wouldn't be complete with    Carbon fibre wrap, chainsaw oil premix and a bag of who knows what. Aweome. Uhh.... Why was this in the box of extra bits?   Thats kind of reassuring. I bought this with the assumption that the engine was in need of a rebuild / completely dicked, but doing a compression test yielded between 97 and 103 between all faces on both rotors, not bad from what I an tell on an engine that looks stock. I'm not 100% up to speed on specific tests for a rotary beyond a compression test, but a coolant test showed that my AST cap began leaking at .5 bar, where it is rated for .9. Blocking off the AST to thermostat housing line let me pressurize the cooling system to 15 PSI and have it sit happily there for 20 minutes. The overflow tank had some nasty crap on the dipstick though.  The buggiest issue I can see now is electrical due to PO fuckery and corrosion - every connector seems to have some corrosion or issue, to the point someone replaced the fuse panel in the kick panel. The simplest way around this may be replacing the engine and body harness with known good ones to rule out poor / inconsistent connections, rather than chasing a bad connection at some junction block behind the heater box in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the spyder can hook me up with some of his sweet stash of parts. Wish me luck, I think the rx7 club forums have taken their toll. I'm almost thinking of ditching the twin turbos when I don't even know if it runs.
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Feb 13, 2017 11:22
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Changing a loom is not for the faint hearted..... It generally involves removing the dash and heater.' But it's the only 100% way to remove fuckedery. Ps... Mazda connectors are poo poo for sealing against corrosion and the air and water sensors are pieces of crap. Fortunately they are cheap.
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Feb 13, 2017 13:11
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You got a '93 Mazda from Quebec and it's not completely rusted through? My '91 Miata had no end of corrosion problems in its connectors, in some cases they couldn't even be broken apart. A particular bad spot was the DRL module which also had bad solder joints.
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Feb 13, 2017 15:34
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This is one of the most beautiful bodies from the 90s. Good luck, because the wiring is gonna suck hardcore.
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Feb 13, 2017 16:27
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Seat Safety Switch posted:You got a '93 Mazda from Quebec and it's not completely rusted through? Seems like it only spent the first few years in Quebec then moved west, with only ~40K on the odometer, so probably a summer car. The stock wing looks like it has had been removed and mounted with other foam to eliminate squeaks. The right most mount leaks into the trunk, probably making most of the interior corrosion issues I am having. I pulled the seats and carpet and nothing is rotted out, just surface rust on brackets, fasteners and electrical connections.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:53
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As Nero Danced posted:This is one of the most beautiful bodies from the 90s. Yup, definitely one of the prettiest cars. It's aged really well
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Feb 13, 2017 21:13
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You are doing the rotor lords work, good man
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Feb 14, 2017 07:09
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Changing the loom is a complete cluster gently caress. If I can get my 94 R2 that was literally abandoned on a beach at high tide running, you can fix this. Also, I have so many parts. So many... The parts... They haunt me....
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Feb 14, 2017 07:17
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Sweet MX-6. E: I miss my 93 MX-6 
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Feb 14, 2017 07:44
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My better judgement says you should probably just LS swap it anyway just to be safe Seriously nice find, but I am sorry to inform you that you will wish you had two CR500s needing new top ends after you do a apex seal rebuild. I had a 13b powered starlet a few years back, and it was drat fun even with the added effort. As a side note you should just do a new standalone harness. There a few big companies producing them and they are a little easier on the eyes and the install is simpler.
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Feb 14, 2017 08:31
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Any reason he can't just do an engine bay rewire? Just replace the harness up to the ECU, leave all the cabin stuff alone (for now). It's a 96 so it won't be crazy complicated especially if he takes pictures of everything.
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Feb 14, 2017 13:27
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I'll grab some pictures in a bit- but the actual engine harness is easy enough to do. The front chassis harness is a royal pain and at that point the front dash harness would be a no brainer to swap. What's the code on the ECU?
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Feb 14, 2017 16:28
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I may just end up pulling the engine for ease of cleaning and to do the oil pan gasket. I'll check when I'm at home tonight, but from a picture, the big 4 digit code is N3A2 on the top of the ecu.
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Feb 14, 2017 17:58
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I would. It's a PITA to do it in the car- you pretty much have to drop the subframe. The good news is parts for the 93 are still available- but that's changing on a daily basis. 3 out of 5 parts requests I've put in recently have returned NLA. What gremlins does the car have right now? Electrically that is.
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Feb 14, 2017 18:39
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Maybe Mazda Canada will have some parts hiding in boxes. Is there a good site that has oem fiches or downloadable parts books? I'll list off the ones I have encountered so far - crank but no start, has spark but I can not hear the fuel pump prime or run, I have not looked into it. If I have the lower two cooling fan relays plugged in, the fans cycle low to medium as soon as you turn they key on. They cycle with roughly the cadence of the signal relay. With key on the fuel pump relay sometimes cycles very quickly until it decides to stop, or clicks once, or not at all. Key on an no other fuckery happening, the CEL stays on but blinks slightly, there is a very quiet and soft thump under the upper intake that matches the blinks. There is a bunch of lighting and interior poo poo working / not working as well.
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Feb 14, 2017 20:30
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Before you dive into the loom proper, I'd probably start with checking for grounds and any shorting wires. Pretty much every butchery point is probably a source. I would definitely start at the new fuse panel, and move onto the battery ground under the airbox (easy to miss in a filthy engine bay). Electrical debugging loving rules doesn't it? Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 20:32
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So this thread had me wondering - out of the 90s Japanese supercars which has proven to be the most reliable and hence likely to be mostly original? Z32? A80 Supras and FDs are so rare now the Nissan must win that, even if what's left has almost certainly been butchered/riced by millennials?
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Feb 14, 2017 21:11
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DefaultPeanut posted:Maybe Mazda Canada will have some parts hiding in boxes. Is there a good site that has oem fiches or downloadable parts books? This sounds like ECU main power fuckedery. (It's a word.. Spellcheck said so, all hail the great Sloth). I would check for signs of a piggyback ECU, turbo timer (especially vampire tap marks) or an alarm removal... Or an alarm full stop! Fans coming on at ignition on are generally a sign of limphome or faulty air temp/water temp sensors... Is that ECU a odbc2 unit?
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Feb 14, 2017 21:56
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Edit: Double post.
Human Grand Prix fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 22:03
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slidebite posted:So this thread had me wondering - out of the 90s Japanese supercars which has proven to be the most reliable and hence likely to be mostly original? Z32? A80 Supras and FDs are so rare now the Nissan must win that, even if what's left has almost certainly been butchered/riced by millennials? They are more like GT cars. The Supra is the most reliable, the Z32 most common, the RX-7 the rarest. Keep in mind too the FD was only on sale for about 3 years. From what I've seen, oddly enough, the FDs tend to be in the best shape and I've seen quite a few stock ones.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:07
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slidebite posted:So this thread had me wondering - out of the 90s Japanese supercars which has proven to be the most reliable and hence likely to be mostly original? Z32? A80 Supras and FDs are so rare now the Nissan must win that, even if what's left has almost certainly been butchered/riced by millennials? Z32s are pretty reliable from the goons who have owned them here, but they're arguably the worst to work on from an engine standpoint. They're a packaging nightmare. The Supra is kind of the best of all worlds except in terms of cost, although neither the Z32 or Supra are really comparable to the FD because the FD is so much lighter. I'd throw the R32 GT-R into the hat but they were never sold in the States :p
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Feb 14, 2017 22:08
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I guess if we're talking Supercars it's definitely the original NSX, which is probably the most reliable exotic ever made.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:14
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Wrar posted:They're a packaging nightmare.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:20
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Oh yeah I know they are GTs just poor English. I always thought the Toyota was pretty unreliable though?
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Feb 14, 2017 22:23
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I've heard nothing but good things about the 2JZ, so I dunno. I imagine it's down to dubious mods if anything.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:32
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slidebite posted:So this thread had me wondering - out of the 90s Japanese supercars which has proven to be the most reliable and hence likely to be mostly original? Z32? A80 Supras and FDs are so rare now the Nissan must win that, even if what's left has almost certainly been butchered/riced by millennials? None of these are even close to supercars. The NSX is so that wins. If you are talking about what truly made for Japanese performance, then there is list of turbo AWD's that started with the Group A homologation cars that were also a lot faster. GTR's, EVO's, WRX STI's and even the ST165/185 GT4's.... The FD and Supra is really the only two that fit in with what was truly performance for Japan. The Z32 is a GT and even in TT form, it's not on par with the legion of homologation specials. Edit : Most of the homologation specials also turned out to be acceptably reliable too. Stock examples aren't that hard to find of any of them.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:33
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Human Grand Prix posted:I guess if we're talking Supercars it's definitely the original NSX, which is probably the most reliable exotic ever made. Elise?
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Feb 14, 2017 22:35
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If you want to throw a hand grenade in a Supra Forum, mention 2JZ-GTE crank walk.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:35
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InitialDave posted:Counterpoint: Mitsubishi 3000GT/GTO. Today I found out the 3000GT has a hydraulic clutch booster. Like everything else about the 3000GT, it's a good idea on paper which is probably a god drat nightmare to fix.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:43
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CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:None of these are even close to supercars. The NSX is so that wins. Its neither a high powered GT or a homologation car but the SW20 Turbo was fairly fast as well (personally I like it more than the A80).
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Feb 14, 2017 22:43
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BlackMK4 posted:Elise? This is a good candidate as well.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:44
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foxed.ca Pull the front bumper and bash bar. Clean the two white multi-pin grounds there. Remove the main chassis ground (right strut tower, relay box bracket) and clean. Open the hatch, clean the ground just below/right of the latch. (White multi pin, just like under the bumper). Remove and test all relays at the front left relay box- specifically TMS/Fuel pump/Retra. Remove ECU, inspect for corrosion damage/bad caps. Cross fingers you don't have to pull the dash and clean the other chassis ground. Report back.
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Feb 14, 2017 23:42
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A few of the relays look like they have been pryed open and messed with, I'm going to try sourcing them or suitable counterparts. The harness near the ecu has a bunch of taps into a bunch of wires, blade connectors on a few others. I'll check all those grounds and connectors and see what happens!
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Feb 15, 2017 00:26
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Are there any signs a relay had got hot (burnt connectors or brittle plastic wiring sheath?) I would pull the kick panel under the dash and check for fuckedery.
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Feb 15, 2017 00:59
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In other Mazda news, gently caress this carb. I have never had to work on such a pain in the rear end carb before. Give me a split apart rack of CBX carbs to clean and assemble and I would be over the moon compared to this turd. All three of the electronic chokes I have are dickered, so I wedged the choke plate open and the linked auto - throttle was defeated. I am well fine keeping my foot on the pedal a bit while I browse my phone. Runs way better even with all of the haphazard emission and function crap left on. Mazda had a real hardon for ridiculous vacuum systems: http://www.mazdatrucking.com/B2200/Vacuum.html Got this far after getting home. Someone has been this far, but not recently and it looks like they did not clean the blades / connectors on either. The more I pull apart, the dirtier this thing looks, I'm pretty much set on pulling the engine just to clean the drat thing  I would have spent more time digging in, but a lady friend lunched her Cordobarot E36 into a stopped civic around a blind corner and we are trying to figure out to scrap it or fix it. Great shape otherwise, plenty of work done recently but would still be a for sure write off and without collision insurance, even a writeoff payout had a $750 deductible. Might be left trying to source and paint good used parts.
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Feb 15, 2017 10:31
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Finding a painter that does side work is a lot more of a pain in the rear end than I thought it would be. In RX7 land, cleaned all grounds mentioned, found the fuel pump relay in place of the main EGI relay, and vise-versa. The fuel pump is missing its outer casing from the po thinking is was possibly the problem, the EGI relay has some witness marks on its cover as well. Both of them, and all of the other relays seem to be in working order. I didn't go over the 4 fan relays yet. After all of that, the same issues keep cropping up. The ECU that was laying in the passenger foot well has a reman tag on the top so I popped it open and nothing looked amiss. I bought a known good used PFC and installed (while depinning the connectors it lists) it in place of the reman ECU that came out. First key on had the fuel pump relay, AC relay, EGI relay and circuit cut relay triggering so fast they were loud. Removing the fuel pump relay stopped the rest of them from doing their thing. Strangely enough, the fuel pump now primes with key on and cycles while cranking all, without the fuel pump relay installed. Strange. Fuel, spark, but no start. I started poking around the PFC menus with the controller and found the ECU is only seeing 9.6V with the key on while the brand new battery reads 12.5V with a multi meter. I'm fairly certain the injectors are firing because the plugs are damp after cranking. Not soaked, but I tried de-flooding anyways. No dice.
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Feb 21, 2017 09:42
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There "should" be 2 fuel pump curcuits, the low voltage and the high voltage. The low voltage is for idle. You need a battery that's at full charge to start a stubborn rotor, got a truck battery? Full throttle triggers the "flood" start mode. Very useful when you flood the car. If you are having severe fouling issues then being nasty and heating the plugs with a blowtorch then cleaning helps. That 9v at the ECU is also pointing at something corroded... But I presuming you figured that! What happens when you stick some start ya bastard* (Ether) down the guts? And of course, if something is sticking in the motor you should put a squirt of oil in each rotor. Atf is also good but it will swell the oil ring orings if left too long without starting it. *yes.... It's a thing.... Google it! Kaptainballistik fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 22:55
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DefaultPeanut posted:Is there a good site that has oem fiches or downloadable parts books? I've got you covered for that: http://rx7.foxed.ca Best of luck on your wiring misadventures.
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Feb 22, 2017 04:40
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Kaptainballistik posted:There "should" be 2 fuel pump curcuits, the low voltage and the high voltage. Let me clear this up. 1) There's a resistor pack under the brake booster that drops the fuel pump voltage to 9v at crank/idle/no load. 2) Flood start = fuel cut. This disables the fuel injectors when the TPS reads full throttle. 2) Low voltage at the ECU = bang on. Start checking everything to that point. 3) I recommend a tow start over ether. Can you take a picture of the "Sensor check" on the commander screen? I actually keep a PFC around just to troubleshoot with.
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Feb 22, 2017 04:50
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DefaultPeanut posted:Maybe Mazda Canada will have some parts hiding in boxes. Is there a good site that has oem fiches or downloadable parts books? Mazda Canada actually has really good support for rotaries and its one of the few scenarios I'd recommend calling up a dealer parts department. After all but being told to gently caress off by Subaru and laughed at by VW owing a FC and having a dealership having affordable parts that you could just quote parts numbers to was really refreshing.
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Feb 22, 2017 04:58
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