Project London Bridge

[biznatch]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/190794477069?nav=SEARCH&sbk=1

ot sure what happened in posting the link...
Hopefully this one works:

[Lucky]

Cool, cheers I completely missed the bit where you said they came from the U.S, makes loads more sense now. Let us know how well they fit then, or if they need trimming down then, yeah?

[codge]

Shipping Cost is a bit of a killer though. Wouldn't be anything like that to sent them the other way. (Even with our present rip-off Post Office).
So still thinking.

[biznatch]

I met kenwhiteside today when he came up to London to collect the front seats I was getting rid of.
We had a good chat about all things RX7 including engine rebuild options. It got me thinking about the Elford kit and whether I should be going down this route, alongside porting of the engine.

The Elford kits seem to be rare as hens teeth and it might not be possible to source one within my intended timeframe (prior to summer) but it is now on my wishlist. Anyone know of any that might be for sale? What is a reasonable price to pay for a complete kit?

[ian65]

Elford kits generally are worth around £200 - £300 but........ you're right, they are extremely rare and it's not very often they are offered complete either.
You need the sump, inlet manifold, exhaust manifold, turbo, carb mount, carb, oil pump rod, oil return pipe and exhaust downpipe. Parts are even harder to come by separately. Occasionally you might get the electronics included as well although that isn't critical. Elford front spoilers are worth a couple of hundred pounds and the rear spoiler about £100.

[biznatch]

Thanks Ian, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for any kits that come up for sale. In the mean time the planned rebuild will go ahaed and the turbo can always be added later.

[ian65]

yeah, it's a doddle to add one afterwards, the only awkward bit is the oil return into the sump. You can see what I mean here......

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=86

on the elford the oil returns into the side of the sump which means you have to remove the sump/engine to fit the return. If you are doing a rebuild anyway, with a view to adding a turbo later, it's probably worthwhile tapping an oil return into the front cover now for later use and capping it off for the time being.... should work justs as well as the return into the side of the sump...... Makes things so much easier when you come to fit the turbo if the oil return is already in place.

[RamoNZ]

Yep tap the front cover while it's out and then it is all bolt in.

I'm not sure I'd bother trying to hash a 12a carb kit together unless you already have some bits. Get her running NA ASAP and then figure out wedging the 13bt into it, even for stock hp, 200-250 will be easy to get and a weapon at with with the torque it will make.

[biznatch]

Ok, time for a bit of an update. Today I spray primed the newly repaired front air dam in mat black. I haven't test fitted it yet as I ran out of time. It looks great positioned in front of the car, quite excited about how the finished product will look.
I'm still looking for a fibreglass rear spoiler and am now thinking that side skirts would comete the look. Anyone have either of these that they are willing to part with?

[biznatch]

I stripped the spare 12a engine this afternoon with the help of a friend. All was going well until I saw the state of the rotor housings..
The rear rotor had approximately 6mm of chrome missing. The front rotor had substantial chrome flakiness and is the worst I've seen - it's toast..
On closer inspection, a water gallery in the exhaust region had completely blocked with scale which may have caused local overheating and thus the chrome issue.
I'm still inspecting the other internals but it looks like I need to find at least one replacement rotor housing, probably two.
I guess there's no way to be 100% sure the housings are good until the engine is stripped down and good housings are limited now