Lucky's Series 3

[Lucky]

Well, I thought I ought to start a thread in here and move on from the Introduction section, since I seem to have spammed up four pages there already This will be a pretty humble thread compared to some in here cos a) the car's pretty sorted as is and doesn't really need much in the way of titivating b) I'm a helpless mechanical spazzwit who shouldn't be allowed to play with tools and errrr 3) the FD is kinda my way of getting modding out of my system. The FB is too good to bastardise into some chaos modded monster, but that doesn't mean I won't be seeking to change some bits for the better without changing the feel of the car radically.

For those of you who can't be bothered to look in the Intro section, the car looks like this as of collecting him yesterday;




's OK, innit! Anyway, the stereo is the first thing that absotively posilutely had to be changed. It was an aftermarket Kenwood thing, which isn't so bad in itself but it was a cassette player, and I don't have any of them. I'm too young No, that's a lie, I threw all mine away last year when we had our loft converted The aerial on the car has been snapped off so until I sort that there was no choons at all, and that would never do. So, my long-suffering and lovely wife agreed to get me my Christmas present early and off we went to the hallowed orange portals of Halfrauds (bless her, she's been wishing I'd sell the bike ever since the first time I turned myself into a pretzel falling off like twenty years ago, and after the last time she was like "you're gonna leave your kids fatherless". So the conversation went like this... "Wife, I have decided to sell the bike"... this is worthwhile in itself as it earns me a snog and an excited cuddle. Winner! Pressing home the advantage, "..and I'm going to use the money to buy another RX-7". Silence. Long silence. Very long silence. "You ****ing what?". Well, it went better than I'd hoped then. For anyone not present on any other rotary forums, it should be pointed out that my FD has blown up three engine in about a year. Actually, one of them didn't blow up, it just fell to bits from the inside out. She's long-suffering, the wife). Wow, what a long parenthesis that was. Anyone still here? Blimey.

So, the stereo.

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a discreet stereo nowadays, they all light up like Christmas trees but this is about as unobtrusive as I could find. Plays from my MP3 player so I have about a years' worth of music wherever I go. Excellent! On the subject of the aerial, first stupid question of many... did the car have a power aerial? I thought the switch for it had a little umbrella logo on it, and it doesn't have one of those that I can find. However, there was a 12v live from the old headunit goign to the boot, so why bother wiring that in if there was no aerial? Plus, I have a mystery switch with no logo on it, could it be that, or is it a blank? It's the bottom right of the four behind the gear lever console, and in front of the armrest box. The front two are the power windows, back left is rear heater, the other one doesn't seem to do owt? Wassit? Also, is that the original gearknob? It seems slightly at odds with the rest of the car somehow. And as for that rubbery zombieflesh gear gaiter, WTF is that all about!? It's hateful. Have to look at getting a leather replacement for that, it gives me the creeps every time I touch it.

Found this in the glove box;

A prehistoric tin of touch-up paint. I thought it'd be proper solid by now but it's still alive Weird. Made paint out of wonderfully toxic things back then, I suppose

No code on it so I dunno if it's even right, it looks a lot darker than the paint on the car. Have to try a bit somewhere unobtrusive On the subject of paint, I started to sort it out today as well. Since the car's gonna be outside I wanted to make sure the paint was well waxed, but above all, free from contaminants to begin with. So starts the long and rather tedious procedure of clay bar, paint cleanser, polish, wax, collapse, repeat. Only managed to do the front end so far cos I'm suffering from acute man-flu of the face and had to retreat to my death bed Still, it's making a difference, I was watching the pretty reflections of clouds in the bonnet driving to Halfrauds. Must be the NightNurse

I also picked up a set of wheel locks from Halfrauds. Who has alloys and doesn't spend thirty quid on decent lockers nowadays? Where I live is OK, but go over the footbridge across the railway and you're in the Bronx. They don't need streetlights there, it's well lit by the burning cars and the streets are paved with broken glass. So I've also got a steering wheel lock for it, given that the door can be opened with some pliers in about eight seconds

Going to get underneath if I possibly can this week and slather everything I can in ACF 50 http://www.acf-50.co.uk/ This is an amazing product I found through the bike world, but it was originally commissioned by the US Navy to keep their nice planes from falling to bits from corrosion. It sounds too good to be true, but it's awesome. I've seen it convert rust back to metal and it sticks like the proverbial to a blanket, so it lasts a whole winter but means you don't have to cover everything in lumpy black stonechip stuff. It's safe on just about everything, so it's really easy to use. I buy a big bottle of it, and dispense it through an old degreaser pump spray bottle. Then wipe it all over with a rag, job done. It's like the pink jizoom from Ghostbusters, and pretty sticky and rank but rubber gloves and patience should help lol.

One more stupid question before I close up for today, and I know it's a long shot. Anyone know if the clutch flexi line is the same fitment as an FD one? Or has anyone replaced theirs for braided and know a supplier/part # ? I never trust rubbery flubbery hoses, one of the things I'd like to change before it fails if possible. I'd rather be able to order one in and swpa there and then than have to take mine off to measure the fittings, then put it back on, bleed clutch, order, wait... etc.

Cheers for reading all this drivel, any answers to imponderable questions gratefully recieved. ... if I talk too much, please tell me to shut up, btw. Apparently it's one of my (many) failings

[Johnnyboy]

Your gearknob is not standard. Unfortunately the "rubbery zombieflesh gear gaiter" is standard. So was a power aerial.

Good luck with the claying.

John

[myatt1972]

Dont worry about your clutch flexi, your slave and master cylinder will fail way before the flexi
What does parenthesis mean?

[Johnnyboy]

Dont worry about your clutch flexi, your slave and master cylinder will fail way before the flexi
What does parenthesis mean?

All I can say is brackets to you.

John

[ian65]

your gear knob is the right one for your car, I've put a description here instead of clogging up your thread....

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=339

the switch in the centre console next to the rear wash/wipe is the electric aerial switch.... an ill thought out arrangement by Mazda IMO.... you have to manually switch the electric aerial up and down yourself, wich explains why many are broken these days.... people just forgot and the masts were then snapped off by car washes, vandalous cretins etc. Much better to replace the semi automatic aerial with a modern fully automatic one that is switched by the stereo itself.

That's a good move with the stereo.. I have a similar setup in my car as well.... forunately it was in my old red RX7 when I bought it and I transferred it into my current 1st gen..... cd and MP3 all the way.... can you even still buy a C90 cassette?

[codge]

Yep all as above, gear knobbie is same as our S3, 'cept ours is beuooooutiful brown.

Clutch line has little or no pressure or movement in it compared to brake lines. Should last virtually for ever unless it gets externally abraided.

IMHO Brake AND CLUTCH bleeding is very important every 2 or 3 years to prevent seizures/seal failure.

Just love your writing skills Nik.('Hooting' Emoticon required for 'Zombieflesh')...... .

[Lucky]

Thanks for all the answers, guys Sorry to be asking stupid questions you must be rolling your eyes at, but the only manual I've managed to find is an original '79 Yank one, and it's amazing how much Mazda must have buggered about with the switches and their location year to year, practically none of them are as they are in my car It's OK empirically testing by prodding them and seeing what happens, except in the case of things like the aerial cos it aint there no more! Also, where does the feed for the headlight washers come from? I guess it's common to the windscreen wash, which works, but the headlight washers don't. Must be a blocked hose. You aren't gonna tell me they had their own reservoir, surely?

The clutch line surprises me cos they're a legendarliy soft spot on the FD. Mine split and left me clutchless, and it was only when I replced it with a Goodridge line it made enough pressure to blow the seals out of the slave cylinder I gather the slave is a weak point on FBs though, so I guess that's the first failure point, is it?

Whilst on the subject of failures, a couple of time today at around 4 - 41/2k revs in first and second there's a shriek like a slipping fan belt from somewhere. Is this the start of my inevitable viscous fan problems? Hopefully got a double pulley from Uncle Era on the way, but I guess an electric upgrade can only be a good idea.

Still, plenty of positives. I had to go to Portsmouth to see my insurance company's doctor today, which was about an eighty mile round trip. Car didn't miss a beat, it's lovely to drive. Fast enough, too, though the speedo is pretty over-optimisitc compared to the Satnav. At 70 it's a true 67, but 100 on the clocks is only about 87. I did use a stretch of private road to find out that you need ~112 on the clocks to break the actual ton. I have to say, I love this car, so easy to drive, more than fast enough, comfortable, and probably gets more looks than the FD, for right reasons rather than "what a noisy plastic piece of antisocial rubbish" sorta looks.

It's fair to say we certainly bonded today, and as tend to be the way of things the car even named himself. He's called Safka, not after the Finnish Anti-Nazi League, but after Melanie Safka, the Sixties singer and songwriter for no better reason than I was listening to Candles in the Rain driving back from Pompey, beautiful October sun blazing in, rotary humming away, light traffic, perfect. These are the days when we remember what matters Anyway, since he's clearly a boy I can't call him "Melanie", so Safka it is. Sounds sorta Bohemian and intrgiguing, I think

Not much time for faffing with the car again, but made one vital modification. I've had this for about four years and came to the conclusion it's a physical impossibility to find anywhere to mount it in the FD, but it's such a cool li'l gizmo I couldn't bear to sell it on. Serendipity, it fits here perfectly


...can you tell what it is yet hahaha?


Epic. Cool rotary cupholder is epicly cool

[codge]

Headlight washers do have their own resevoir....it's the plastic tank behind the offside headlight. You can see it's neck just poking above the metal plating. Never use mine, don't even know if it still works. Ian and Cliff did a repair post for the pump, either here or on MRC. They must both live in cow pat country.

Try checking the viscous fan's belt as a first step - needs to be reasonably tight - about 1/2" play on the longest side. Adjust by slackening the bolts at the alternator and use a hammer handle as a hickory lever against the side of the alternator 'till the belt's right. Then use your 3rd hand to tighten things back up without letting it all go loose. (Writing spazzwit style here Nik, the spannermeisters will know all these procedures allready).

Was Melanie the same as Ballroom Streets/Brand New Key Lady?

The Tender Blue paint code was I believe V3. It will be marked on the inside of the bonnet just above the battery. Can you confirm that code for me, for my database? You'll have a job finding touch up paint anywhere now except a specialist paint maker-uppers. The code might be useful one day though.

[ian65]

my money would be on the windscreen washer pump... as Dave says, myself and Cliff took ours apart and fixed them... thread here...
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=23

and a squealing fanbelt.... you ain't a fully fledged 1st gen owner until you've suffered the squealing belt syndrome... they do tend to be prone to the belt slipping if the air pump has been removed, which I think yours has.... the double pulley will help...I'd still dump the vicious fan though... they're crap.

.

[Lucky]

Cheers again, guys. I looked in on that thread after Dave pointed me at it, Ian. I'll have a further investigate about the headlight washer. Not that, if the brutal truth be told, I give a four-X about washing my headlights but I always feel if there's something on the car it ought to work, otherwise it's weight and space I don't need taking up. Does it use the same reservoir as the windscreen wash, or has it got a separate tank as well? I assumed it'd all be common but it appears I understimated just how Machiavellian Mazda engineers were If it's separate, I guess it might just be empty.....

Dave, I'll look for the paint code and the VIN tomorrow, promise, mate. Keep forgetting , a thousand apologies

Ian, no, no air pump. No aircon pump, either, which is odd cos it's got an aircon switch on the heater. Did they fit those as standard regardless of whether the car was aircon equipped? Double pulley will have to do for now, I'm not yet ready to start pulling the car to bits first week of ownership hahaha. Maybe the fan mod will come after winter. Good thread, btw, I'll be using that one for sure