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flexi reducer sleeve thing is a good idea actually thanks for that! It doesn't need a cat for now, but i would like to run one in the long term anyway because it makes me feel a little better. car will almost certainly never be "legal" here, but i do try to do my part.
new parts time. I thought the rx8 pump would fit in the NC hanger, it seems really close in size, but it didn't quite for some reason. Ordered DW300 that showed up today. hopefully saves me any upgrades in the future anyway. Fuel pump assembly was actually quite interesting to assemble. this one just popped apart like a jack in the box when it came out for some reason, so i didn't quite pay enough attention how it came apart so took me about 20 minutes to put back together
Also went and stopped by the parts store and grabbed a misc of exhaust parts, various adapters and joiners that may or may not work. kinda forgot to look at it before i went to the store. Threw up the old NC exhaust into the car. was sort of hoping that the cross would be more on the pipe itself and not against the cat like this. Might swap in the rx8 stuff and see if the story is any easier.
hacked together an exhaust today. this is the first time i've used this cheesy little welder from Harbor Freight and i've gotta say, for what it costs this thing is amazing. it's not the best looking thing in the world that's for sure, but for around $150 for the welder + accessories it got the job done, pretty quickly. I think if i really needed to, i could build a full exhaust with this thing. i really half-assed the hell out of the cuts, and didn't take a ton of care on grinding or cleaning either part before stuffing the welder at it.
I don't think i did any cleanup on this other than wire brushing it. pretty good for the cost and amount of work i put into it. it's all temporary anyway. I forgot (read: decided not) to grab a photo of what it looked like all cleaned up, but the exhaust is in the car.
Just a handful of little crap tomorrow, then it'll go out for a shakedown. I ordered a fan for the oil cooler since right now it's not going to get any significant airflow, especially at lower speeds i feel. That should be in tomorrow. Bled the brakes this afternoon as well, but the clutch slave cyl wouldn't bleed for some reason, so i bought a new one. Once i get that in, all i need is to fill the trans and radiator and it's ready i think? hopefully good news tomorrow
The first drive was a success! so was the second and third. Been taking it out on short drives all afternoon just to shake it down and see how it feels. It feels fast but moreso than that, it feels like it needs a serious alignment. I brought it up to redline in first quite a number of times, but didn't really push it outside of that.
Took it to go get gas for the first time in a couple years and i've got to say that it felt amazing to get to this point.
Here's a couple mediocre quality vids of the first or second drive around the block.
I'm genuinely so excited that i can almost look past all the **** i still have to do to make it into a car that's pleasant to be in. i'll probably take a bit of time to cleanup the garage and organize the mess of parts i have laying around now. it would be nice to get the entire interior at least back together such that it doesn't feel like half racecar. Anyway, updates to this thread will probably be a little bit more spaced out than they have been up until this point. i need to get a gameplan of sorts together for the remaining jobs. - ABS wires still need extending, HVAC still doesn't work etc etc. Hoping to return with a photo of the car with all the body panels attached next time
I have a 2.5 swapped NC right now that is mostly a track car. I think this thing would be so awesome on track. Possibly less weight up front, a 9k redline, smooooth power, and a unique sound.
my main goal is for this to primarily be a street car. i don't have the money to race a rotary car often
I do plan on taking it to autox on occasion tho, and will be sure to report back how it feels when i do.
Took the car over to a friends house to show off a bit today. Bout a 20 minute drive each way. not quite the hottest part of the day, but it's pretty warm out. 85-90 today. Car is honestly doing great so far. I've found a few little things here and there that i wasn't already aware of, but nothing seems like a show-stopper.
The most annoying thing about it right now is that second gear wants to pop out when i clutch in due to the pressure applied at the shift boot being installed about 1 inch too far forward relative to the shifter. 4th, 6th and reverse do not have this problem fortunately but it is super annoying.
I've been ringing first and second all day. the most notable things about it is
1) (and i never thought i'd say this) 8 or 9k redline on the 4 port auto computer is too low.
2) i need the rx8 differential. the NC 4.10 is noticeably slower than the rx8 diff
I still very much need an alignment. i'm going to try to pick one up if the shop has time tomorrow.
I've been following this and love it. Can't wait for some good WOT thrashing videos.
I'd fix that shifter issue asap, pressure on the shifter while driving is bad for the transmission. For the same reason that resting your hand on the shifter while driving is a bad habit.
i've been giving it WOT ever drive. it feels pretty quick. haven't given it a real good thrashing yet, but im really excited to do so. Another issue i've found over the last few days is that my oil cooler is far too close to the driver's wheel. i can't get anywhere near full lock on a right-hand turn. i yanked the fan off getting the car into my driveway yesterday. Pretty much no other significant progress lately other than i gave it a quick hose-off in the driveway. looks alright for 2 years worth of dirt/dust getting washed off. Will be wheel shopping soon. I like the OEM wheels and all, but not really my style. I've been thinking about it for a few days and i think the next job i'll probably tackle is swapping back to NC brakes and stuff. the rx8 has too much rotor/caliper for my tastes, and the NC stuff is more than adequate. Still cleaning up the garage and organizing 2 years of chaos. More updates to come
Not much progress on the car, cleaned the garage up quite a bit today. i'm getting rid of unneeded parts and taking the first time i've had in a long while to clean up the space the NC was in.
One thing i did manage to accomplish on the car today however was pulling codes.
Put the interior back together this morning. was a bit of a chore, i had to cut out a bit of material from a few of the pieces. Took it out for a drive afterwards and it's sooooooo much better now. It's really quiet in the cabin, feels just like a stock NC if you don't look at the gauges. Even have the trim installed for the fusebox in the cabin, which i don't think has ever been installed since i've owned this car. Did a half-*** toe adjustment to get the the wheels pointed in the right direction, drives pretty good now. Still can't make hard right hand turns because of the oil cooler, but all in due time. Hoping to fix ABS wiring tomorrow morning. Would love to have a functioning speedometer and power steering.
Super great progress. Nice to see the car being driven. I've got my project at least idling well and sounding good. The brakes are being really tricky to bleed. Pedal just does not stay stiff.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be on the street with ya soon. Keep at it!
If you don't have one, i HIGHLY suggest getting a power bleeder. They make an all day job of hydraulics bleeding a 12 minute job for miatas. Easily one of the best tools i've ever purchased.
Dragged the car down to the emissions station so i can register and plate the car. it failed, but they didn't arrest me for the swap so i guess that's good. Im guessing the NC cat i used isn't quite up to the task, so i bought the biggest aftermarket one i could find. Once it arrives in a few days, i'll try running it again and see how it goes.
Still waiting on the new cat and other parts. in the meantime, i spent a while with the cable stretcher so i can extend the ABS harness over to the other side of the car. This should hopefully repair my speedometer, get power steering and DSC working.
welded the new cat in this morning and ran down for another test. Passed super easy. Plate installed and registration in hand. Very happy with this, but there's still plenty to do. hopefully some time this weekend i'll get around to finishing the ABS wiring and maybe take it out for a proper drive finally.
the astute may have noticed something weird about my gauge cluster (no, not the auto shift select) As it turns out for some wacky reason, the previous owner must have removed the LED. It was literally cut out as if with a pair of flush cutters or something. Dug around my spare parts bin until i found a similar LED and replaced it
Took a couple tries to get the RPM needle back to the right place, for some reason it doesn't have a index location like the other needles, so i had to kinda guess until it worked right. Thankfully i didn't break it, they're quite fragile. Anyway, if anyone is looking for a cheeky check engine light disable, read this post in reverse
09-15-2022, 04:16 PM
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