Rexanne!

[Steve-A]

Haha 'british' is one way to put it

Total loss oil system, like a 2 stroke, and air cooler rotors was the main oddities. The air for carbs / throttle bodies is drawn in through the centre of the rotors which have air cooling fins on them, very weird!

The owner had spent huge gobs on money on that one, converting it to run on Jenvy throttle bodies with Megasquirt. The bloke who did the work for him gave him a 'base map' but tbh it was soo far out he might as well have not bothered. Made less than 30hp when it came in, 2 hours later we had it making almost 70 at the wheels.

Kinda got my psyched for wanting fuel injection again!

[ian65]

Norton Motorcycles are just down the road from me in Shenstone ( which is just outside Lichfield, Staffs)
Lichfield police station was the base for Staffordshire Polices Southern traffic division and they were the 1st force in the country to have a Commander on test from Norton.
This was back in early 1989 and I remember having a good look around it back then.
I was interested because at the time I had my white series 3 RX7.

As a co-incidence, the guy who recently gave me the silver series 3 RX7 used to own 3 Spires Mazda, the areas main RX7 dealer back in the 80's, and back in May 1987 he sold a fc RX7 to Norton Motorcyles who wanted a rotary powered car to demonstrate the rotary engine to would-be investors who didn't want to go on the back of a motorcycle....
This was a photo taken for the local press of Robert ( the Mazda dealer and previous owner of my silver s3) handing over the keys of the RX7 to Nortons managing director at Norton's factory in Shenstone.... Robert's the guy on the right....




In another co-incidence, my best mate sold his series 3 Rx7 and bought this red fc off Norton motorcyles in 1990..... I went in it loads of times.

The Commander that Southern traffic had on test went back after 6 months and the force never bought any as far as I recall..... they used BMW's at the time.

here's the very bike....

http://youtu.be/A0qljk0FVEY

This was the photo of the red 2nd gen RX7 that I saw on the internet, contacted Robert about it and ended up with the silver series 3......

.

[spoddy]

some shine off that fc's bonnet.
gotta love the nortons though

[Steve-A]

Well I finally got sick of my exhuast blowing from the mid section, so I cut this bit out...




A nice ropey old slip joint that neither slipped not sealed, and welded in so nice new stainless.



While I was at it I also added a lambda bung placement ready for my move onto megasquirt.



And then got carried away with my welder and redid my exhaust tip. I had originally bodged one up out of some scrap manifold that was lying about, but I've now redone it in stainless to a much better quality!

Old



New!



While I was under the car putting the exhaust back on I noticed a worrying amount of fluid on the inside of the drivers side front tyre....



And then when I whipped the wheel off, a worrying amount of brake fluid all over the place :(



After some more investigation its the calliper leaking, rather than the lines Piston looks fine though.



And nothing obvious in the bore / on the seal.



More investigation needed I guess, thank god I've got my bike to keep me mobile!

[Steve-A]

Looks like this was the culprit of my leaky calliper....



One new seal later, at a massive cost of £2.90, and it looks to be working fine. Only got old temp pads in for a few days to see if it stays leak free, then will buy new pads for both front wheels I think.

The cars spent most of today beached at the top of the driveway.



I set about chopping up my exhaust even more. I'm sick of it knocking against the axel, which make it sound like the whole back end of the car is loose. Took me all morning, with various stages of test fitting, but now I've got looooads of clearance. Could drop the car another 4" and still not hit it.




I then set about giving most of the mechanicals a good spraying of ACF50. ACF50 is an anti-corrosion spray, developed for US army for use on tanks. I first heard of it from the Ducati owners and having used it on my own bikes riding through the winter and coming out the otherside with no hint of corrosion I'm confident it will help stop nature from undoing all my restoration work over the coming winter.

I also took the opportunity to polish my wheels. Didn't bother cleaning the rest of the car though, got too impatient to go for a test drive with new exhaust.



As darkness fell I retreated to the garage to make a start on my steering wheel project. I really like the original s2 spec wheel, but I wanted a slightly smaller wheel with a bit more dish. I bought a spare s2 wheel a couple of weeks back and today I cut the rubber off it, then reduced the diameter from 370mm to 330mm and then after plenty of measuring reattached the spokes giving it about 40-50mm of dish.



With the old rubber roughly in pace I'm happy its gonna be just what I wanted. Just gotta get it properly re-covered now.




Last but not least my intake manifold arrived. I get paid Monday and will be ordering my Megasquirt and fuel pump. Exciting!

[Lucky]

I'm sure threads like this only exist to make me feel inadequate on a regular basis Mate, like reducing the diameter of a steering wheel most of us mere mortals would just go out and buy and aftermarket one and a boss

[codge]

Me as well. I have to acknowledge Steve is a God.......

[chc]

Hi Steve - long time no speak mate but I'm still around.
Steve, you never cease to amaze us with your enthusiasm and gusto. Everytime you finsh one job (to a very high level of quality I might add) we admire your workmanship and this is then shortly followed by the next episode - where is it all gonna end?
Keep up the excellent work

At the rate you are going, surely there must be a Rexanne Two with your name on it somewhere in the wings?

Cliff

[Steve-A]

Cheers guys, I'm flattered.

I just like messing with cars and I think anythings worth a shot. The steering wheel may yet stall, as getting it recovered is looking more costly than I first imagined. I'll keep hunting for options though.

Cliff, glad to see you're still about mate I'm happy with one Rexane for now! When I'm ready for another project I know she will be called Giulia and be 40+ years old and Italian.

[chc]

Sounds like plans in the making already BUT will photos be allowed we ask ourselves (hehehe)
Must admit mate I've never heard of anybody modding a steering wheel before so wouldn't have a clue where to go for this specialist type of work - have you sourced anybody yet?

Cliff, glad to see you're still about mate I'm happy with one Rexane for now! When I'm ready for another project I know she will be called Giulia and be 40+ years old and Italian.