Hi dave

sunroof RX-7s are pretty rare over here in Australia. As for the bags, I've never even seen one!

I've got access to two very talented seamstresses and I have two handbrake lever boots and two gearstick lever boots so I'm going to give each of them a boot of each and tell them to make me a few!

Did you want the "A" and "H" stickers? if you need things like underbonnet labels etc, I can put you onto an excellent guy here in Australia that does them.

There is no pic that does justice to the overall effect of the new carpet with that black interior. Having seen it in the flesh last night i was very impressed with the "feel" of this car coming together. I think you're managing to get the restored (but not over-restored) balance just right. The black suits so much better than the brown against the british racing green paint.

A credit to you sir.

I'll do a big write up when I've finished, but I spent most of Sunday with the car like this:



I also spent at least 3 hours trying to put the outer tie rod ends into the ackerman arms the wrong way.

Cheers Hoges. I reckon we've built a pretty good car between us and its been a good test bed for your coupe and my 1300.

Tie Rods. Tie Rod Ends.

Through Ausrotary (Cheers Benn!) I was able to source some non-cheapy stuff Tie Rod ends in the very early 929/RX-4 10mm internal thread size.
Benn got me some Outer TRW tie rod ends and another Ausrotary user had a pair of "Johnson" inner tie rods which actually turned out to be 1 555 and 1 "central brand". No matter, they're the same casting, look exactly the same apart from the company stamping and the rubber boots on them still look better than some of the Taiwanese stuff you get from Repco and Bursons.
While I was feeling a bit flash (and again, to see what it would look like on the other cars Aaron and I have), I got the tie rods zinc plated so that they were again a factory colour. I also had a draglink powdercoated and ready to go.



New Bits dummied up. The bright gold on the tie rod will eventually wear off and leave a factory dull gold/aluminum finish.



Weaving through online parts books and parts lists, I found that these are the two tie rod parts numbers that you actually need. Some suppliers have altered the parts number for their own system - ie this box for the Outer tie rod.



And this one was for an inner tie rod.



So with the car up in the air, you can see why I wanted to change the tie rod ends.



They are way way way way way way way past their used by date. The rubber boot on the ball joint between Ackerman arm on the bottom of the strut and the outer tie rod had deteriorated so badly that it crumbled into pieces.



Yep, it's stuffed.



More coming tomorrow.

Looking Good!! How cool are the retro boxes on those TRW tie rod ends...glad to see them going on the car finally.

Yeah the only real important number on the ends is the actual number. Repco use "RP" TRW use "TTE" Silverline use "STE" etc....

The new carpet looks a treat too!!

Keep the pics coming

_________________
Rockin' the 7 in a street near you.....

Old gunky steering bits:



Passenger side



Drivers side



Drivers side drag link to steering box arm join. It was the only joint that would not separate easily.



^ looking towards the passenger side, following the drag link.



^ this picture is upside down, but you can see that I've had to liberally coat the joint with Penetrene and it still wasn't coming apart.

Unfortunately, because it was cramped under there, my hands were greasy and I only have an Nokia N95 as a camera, some of the shots are blurry as the camera has a hard time focusing on a particular object when it is surrounded by other objects and edges.

One of the best tools I've ever bought:



A ball joint seperator. Here I have just managed to finally crack the drag link/steering arm join after two hours of tightening, backing off, spraying Penetrene in and around the joint, adjusting the tool again, tightening it up again. The crack/bang sound it made when the joint finally seperated could be heard echoing down the street!



I overflashed this shot to give a better idea on how I use the tool. I use it with the castlelated nut screwed on as it gives the "nub" of the tool that opposes the prong something to grab onto, that way the "nub" is not slipping off the threaded stem of the tie rod end. The joint was, I think, so tight because of rust, dirt and grit getting into the joint - because the rubber boot was perished and broken. I had to do the tool up so tight that it bent the castlelated nut!

side by side: new vs old





Outer old and new







More production line yellow paint. Proof I think that the front end had never been serviced!



Fresh! I greased them up using the grease nippes supplied with the tie rod ends and they fitted up beautifully.
I've just got to get under the car again this weekend and tidy things up a bit, put in some new split pins and that should be the front end done.

I also grabbed something very cool off my Datsun lovin' mate. Shots next week!

First off - no pics of the coolness that I have for the interior has it looks like I need a press and a pinch of fairy dust to make it happen.

I did however, get under the car and finish off the steering.

New bits in, still to fit the castellated nut on the drag link:














All locked in place on every castellated nut/balljoint



Last shot, compare the first one and this one:




So that's it for the steering. I just made sure that the balljoints were nice and square (ie sitting without the rubber boot slouched or squashed on any one side) and then I tightened up the tie rod nuts. I'll check on it again one I get a proper alignment done.

I also had a mate strip the tyres off some RX-4/929 steel rims:



They're pretty crusty. They came off the yellow wagon I think. Either that or one of Aaron's wrecks.



I'll be getting them sandblasted and powder coated black.


That's it so far. When I get back from OS I'll sort out an exhaust and some other bits and pieces like painting the front apron, but as it sits, she stops, starts, turns and goes. I'm still not happy with the handbrake and the hydraulic brakes and it leaks around the windshield, but I'm pretty pleased with how it has progressed. I also took it for a very quick and loud drive around my house.

I find it surprising how skinny the control arms are on rx-4/929's.. I'm going to do my steering and suspension next as my bushes have spilt. Good to see how it is done!

Oh the fun of those joints. When i had to replace the shot boots on mine, I purchased (at the recommendation of the guy in the store) a tool which looked like a giant cast iron pickle fork thing which you bash on the end with a hammer... I Think now I should've grabbed the screw down one that you have, it would have made my life much easier! I was there for days! eventually i managed to get it undone by taking everything else off and laying it on the bench and whacking it.... nothing subtle here!
It was only afterwards that I talked to an old mech who said to get the screw type, apply the pressure and then sharply hit the casing of the joint you are trying to pull off, apparently the vibration frees it up and with the pressure slides right out.
Looks good with the new stuff and bushes!

The fork type separator is rubbish. Using the cantilever type is alot more effective and less prone to damaging anything by a wayward hammer blow. Although on a very stubborn taper you can strike them like on a knuckle or a drag link to momentarily distort the taper and shock it loose.

As far as doing it properly this thread takes the cake. Go back to page one and see the suspension Geoff and I removed from the car. It was all pretty good gear but had the odd torn boot and despite being functional it still looked scungy. The castor blocks, torsion bar, struts, brakes, springs, camber plates all went over to my RX4 and recieved similar attention.

All the replacement parts were temporary "junk" parts just used to keep it rolling while Geoff painstakingly sourced the new gear, had things reconditioned or cosmetically improved. There are only a couple of used parts but they were deemed serviceable and saved some money that can go toward other things. In some senses the powdercoating was unncessary but it made sense to get it done and will look good for years to come. Safe in the knowledge that everything under the car is effectively NEW you wouldn't expect to have any problems for a long time to come and the car should drive as it was (or hopefully slightly better) than new.

I'd highly recommend that if you have a spare front end you totally strip it and do every thing as Geoff has. Source the parts, have things reconditioned, and then assemble it as a change over. Just be cautious of the early v late size of the tapers on the tie-rods and drag link and steering knuckles.

His aim was always to have the car pass its pre-registration safety inspection (Road Worthy Certificate in Victoria) on the first attempt. I have no doubt the inspecting mechanic will pass it on first sight now.

Getting very excited to see this car resurrected. Its come a long way from a stripped out race car back to a road-car.

It just needs some nice 13" JDM rims say like period correct ENKEI rims now.

We've come a long way eh hoges?

Aaron was spot on, I really wanted to be able to have the car sail through the Victorian "road worthy certificate" inspection. That's still my goal, but things are a bit pressing now as I am looking for a house to buy with my partner AND I don't have a registered car of my own since mine got crashed beyond repair back in March. This may mean that I have to do a few things on the hop after it's registered, but I'll still do them properly.

At the moment I'm trying to find some 195 or 185 series tyres with a low profile. I really don't want 205 tyres on the front as they are too wide and make parking a bother.

I have got a short update before I leave (the one I posted about earlier), I just have to host the pictures this weekend and some other bits and bobs and then I'm outta here for some R&R.

What aaron isn't telling is that he has a extremely nice coupe coming along that will be even better than the wagon!

I was going to wait until I had it fitted before I posted, but I've been working overtime and seeing that it's winter here, it gets dark at 5pm, so by the time I get home, it's pitch black outside.

Anyway, since the steering wheel out of the parts car looked like this:





it annoyed me a little bit every time I used it, as the bubbled surface felt all kinds of funky. I was thinking, do I either get the wheel rim covered in black/grey leather (but then it would look a bit wrong seeing the rest of the wheel wouldn't be done), do I use the Fluro green SAAS wheel that came with the green wagon when Aaron bought it,






OR do I go for something else?

I went for something else.



Since I knew that the boss kit on the green wheel fitted the wagon previously, I looked at the Nardi wheel and the holes to bolt it to the boss kit lined up. WIN. Unfortunately the boss kit was jammed on tight to the SAAS wheel. I got hoges to press off the boss kit and then hit a minor snag, the holes for the allen headed bolts were a bit small in the Nardi wheel. I took the Nardi wheel and boss kit into work (and got a few funny looks on the tram to work ) and had one of the workshop techie guys take the holes out slightly. He also gave the boss kit a bit of a file down so that the Nardi wheel fitted on a bit better. It's still snug, but now it doesn't need to be pressed on.

I've also got a perfect Nardi Torini horn button to fit up and that's it, something else ticked off my mental list.

The weather set me back a bit over the weekend, as well as celebrating my up and coming 30th, but I did get the Nardi fitted.

Before anything, make sure your steering arms are straight, this means that the steering wheel will be centered when you fit it.

So this is a stock 929 wheel and you can see that I've popped off the centre horn pad (after blasting the neighbours a few times )



Then you hold the wheel and undo the nylock nut that holds the wheel on and slide if off the splined shaft to reveal the switchgear underneath:



When I got the wagon, the switchgear was basically inoperative, as in the cancelling feature on the indicators didn't work. In a previous post I showed how I swapped bits over from the yellow parts car. Basically, you want to make sure that you don't bend or break the contact points:



and a better shot:



Here it is again, with horn button.



Slide on the new wheel:



Attach the horn button to the horn wire:



It's a bit of jiggery pokery to get the horn button in, as there is a spring holding it tight against the boss kit inner, hold your tongue in the right spot, use a small flat head screw driver to push part of the spring down and voila!



I swear the horn sounded better too when I gave it a few toots.

I gave the wheel a wipe down with this stuff:



It's great, I've been using it on my motorcycle gear for over a decade and they still look new, it water proofs the stitching and it stops leather from drying out - which is what has happened with this wheel. If you keep "feeding" the leather, it will soften slowly and it will stop any cracks in the skin from spreading. Because Australia has got such a harsh environment, I'll be wiping the wheel down with some Dubbin every fortnight or so.

That's it! I've covered everything up and I'll be back after a few weeks in Thailand.

As i said in my text msg: the Nardi just ties it all together!

Nice work but for full effect, take the news paper off the floor, fold the seats back and take a shot through an open rear window. Then everyone can see the full effect!

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, then everyone will see all of the spare bits and bobs lying around the place!

I've wrapped her up against rain while I'm away. Nic's brother was over on the weekend, showed him the interior and in a word, "Wow". I think that was probably the response I was looking for.

lets see i need........ jk great work love the nardi wheel I have one just like it in a SA Rx7 great feel to it

Aaron has just left, he's dropped off the complete system out of the white spare parts wagon. It's a lot better than I thought it would be. It's in two sections and just requires some welding to have it in the car.

I've got an idea on what to do with the exhaust, as Aaron's system is a diferent diameter to the headers that are on the car, but Aaron also gave me all the brackets and bolts that were missing as the green car had bits of chain and straps holding on the crappy race exhaust.

I'm probably a fortnight away from sorting it out, I keep having little things crop up lately (family events, especially birthdays! I seem to have a lot of family and friends born between June and September! I still haven't taken some parts to the powdercoaters and I'm still looking into suitable tyres for the steel wheels that I want to use)

I did however, get a few small things for the wagon for my 30th, I'll show them off soon. They're quite hilarious.

Did the worst welding known to man on the exhaust sections tonight, rusty metal plus my first go at a gasless mig = hilarity. Happy though as I was getting better at minimising the splatter, its still rubbish though.

Hoges I'm going to do some running around on sat morning for powedercoating and maybe soda blasting that front apron, then I might take a stab at fitting up the exhaust and crap.