A new challenger 'The Beast from the East'

[rotarypower]

So I (finally) got my hands on an FB.
Catchy title aside its actually not that much of a beast, but lets see where we end up with it.

Bought it off a chap near Newcastle and drove it back down today, couldn't resist taking the scenic route home over the Yorkshire Moors and through some of the great driving roads in that area.

However predictably there are some issues, but I figured I'll drop a load of photos documenting what it looks like now, and then add some comments on what I've discovered and issues I found so far.

First question however, is there an easy way to tell if I have an S2 or S3?

Couldn't resist grabbing some pics from a suitably decent location on the drive home!





And now some pics documenting what I found before during & after quick clean when I got her home.







































So some initial remarks:

• She handles well for a car of that age that probably hasn't had much done in the way of replacing old suspension bits, no crashiness at all from the suspension. A bit bouncy over bumpy corners, but that's probably worn dampers.
• The steering, people weren't joking about the 'dead' spot. I quite like the retro feel of it, it really loads up though and you have to hustle the car through the bends, great fun.
• Engine keeps cutting out during acceleration when I get it to around 60-70mph in 3rd or 4th gear, sometimes 5th. Much worse going up hill, often accompanied by misfires, pops and bangs and general flames out the exhaust. I'm suspecting possibly a blocked fuel pick up or clogged filter? It happened when I was overtaking a sunday drive and left me red faced as he sailed past again on the inside. Hopefully its not a carb issue as I know sweet FA about trouble shooting them.
• Engine has a VERY bad rattle at high revs, the one time I took it to 6K I had to back out pronto. I'm wondering if its anything to do with the fan on the gilmer drive kit that's been fitted, could be cheap chinese junk. Or engine mounts? Needs fixing pronto.
• It's had a respray that's not an amazing finish, overspray on the door strikers etc. Looks good on the outside though.
• Wheels need a refurb.
• Lots of rattling trim & the centre part of the dash will need some work.
• Nice looking headers on there, saves me buying some to get rid of the reactor.
• Said nice looking headers don't look particularly well attached to the rest of the exhaust
• Beehive oil cooler has been removed & an FC cooler fitted - nice!
• Starts easily hot, with a touch of throttle after it starts to catch.

Anyway that's all for now, looking forward to getting my teeth into this.

P.s. anyone found brake parts for a reasonable price without importing from the states?

[KiwiDave]

So I (finally) got my hands on an FB.
First question however, is there an easy way to tell if I have an S2 or S3?

You have a Series 2 there.

S1 1979 thru 1980

S2 1981 thru 1983

S3 1984 thru 1985 There are some UK S3 cars that are registered as 1986. That is date of registration only. Production ended in 1985


So, your s2 has the OEM pendant mounted oil cooler. Beehive was S3 only fitment.

[KiwiDave]

The first thing to sort is the 'rattle' that you mention. Does it sound like gravel inside the motor? It is most likely a phenomenon known as 'rotor chatter' which is the equivalent of 'pinking' in a reciprocating engine. It is NOT a good thing in a rotary engine and prolonged abuse will actually damage the inside of the rotor housing. So don't go revving the nuts off it, just drive it gently for now.

Your ignition timing is out and needs to be adjusted OR the ignition leads are incorrectly connected.

The cutting out, pops and bangs are fuel and ignition related. Definitely replace the fuel filter for starters. Remove the spark plugs and check them for wear, color and electrode gap. Check the ignition leads, distributor cap and rotor arm for condition. You can post up pics of these if you like. Lots of help and advice available here.

Haynes manual is a good place to start for ignition timing, carb adjustment, spark plugs gaps etc.

[rotarypower]

Cheers guys, S2 it is.

KiwiDave, hard to say for sure, it happened the once and I quickly shifted up two gears to drop the revs, all I can say is that the engine was shaking a lot, I can rev up to 5k and its OK. Power delivery is nowhere near as smooth as my FC, but I'm not sure how much of that is down to it being carbed rather than EFI.

I'll check out both the leads & timing tomorrow, its not often these days I get to drag out my timing light.
I probably won't be driving it at all until I get the big issues dealt with, 12A rebuild kits are phenomenally expensive so I won't be taking any chances.

[DKWW2000]

Congrats on car, they are a different drive from a FC! Not as refined but that is part of their charm. As Dave said get her serviced, the cheapest place for service items is Rock Auto ( https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/maz ... r2,1192261 ) can be delivered in a week, the more you get the cheaper postage works out. I can recommend the 8mm HT leads Cap Rotor arm etc.
Nice project to get your teeth into, be nice to see at Retro Rides in Aug

[rotarypower]

Congrats on car, they are a different drive from a FC! Not as refined but that is part of their charm. As Dave said get her serviced, the cheapest place for service items is Rock Auto ( https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/maz ... r2,1192261 ) can be delivered in a week, the more you get the cheaper postage works out. I can recommend the 8mm HT leads Cap Rotor arm etc.
Nice project to get your teeth into, be nice to see at Retro Rides in Aug

Is that the Retro rides forum meetup?
I've been avoiding the place because I've got so many photo's to upload on my projects that it'll take me over an hour haha.

Yeah I absolutely love how it handles, I like the way you have to push it into the corners with the steering loaded up, it feels quite similar to my old 106 Rallye in that sense, and wow is that rear tail happy (but controllable). I foresee lots of power sliding in my future.

I need to get out and measure the discs to make sure I order the correct size and try and find some ones that come with the anti corrosive coating.
Timing I'll look at this evening, however with the Gilmer pulley, I hoped they put the timing mark on it, I guess we'll see.

Long term I want this to be my daily driver in summer, but that's a good way off. I have a 13b in my loft (in parts), so eventually I'd like to get that fitted, I also have a manual FC rack so we'll see how well I get on with this steering, but so far its not as bad as people have made out.
I think this car with a NA 13b, a decent exhaust, megasquirt around 170hp should be a great run about.

[rotarypower]

OK so apologies for the double post.

There are no timing marks on this gilmer pulley thing and I don't have the originals.
Does anyone know a good way of aligning it so I can tippex on a timing mark or something and get it timed up?

Cheers
Rich

[gt_james]

Congrats on your purchase, these cars are relatively easy to work on, so you should be able to sort some of the issues out quite easily. as mentioned before get hold of a haynes manual!

So some initial remarks:

• She handles well for a car of that age that probably hasn't had much done in the way of replacing old suspension bits, no crashiness at all from the suspension. A bit bouncy over bumpy corners, but that's probably worn dampers. removing rear dampers is easy, you can check for leaks and check the resistance pushing them in and out, front is a bit harder to remove, I'd start by pushing the car up and down lol.
• The steering, people weren't joking about the 'dead' spot. I quite like the retro feel of it, it really loads up though and you have to hustle the car through the bends, great fun.
• Engine keeps cutting out during acceleration when I get it to around 60-70mph in 3rd or 4th gear, sometimes 5th. Much worse going up hill, often accompanied by misfires, pops and bangs and general flames out the exhaust. I'm suspecting possibly a blocked fuel pick up or clogged filter? It happened when I was overtaking a sunday drive and left me red faced as he sailed past again on the inside. Hopefully its not a carb issue as I know sweet FA about trouble shooting them. I'd go through the ignition system and fuel system, change plugs, check dizzy cap, leads and coils and ignitors, the clear red spark indicators are good for this, check the tank and fuel lines aren't full of crud and check the filter and the mesh screens on the carb inlet, and ideally strip, clean and rebuild the carb, checking for any blocked jets, and check for vac leaks and stuck solenoids on the rat's nest
• Engine has a VERY bad rattle at high revs, the one time I took it to 6K I had to back out pronto. I'm wondering if its anything to do with the fan on the gilmer drive kit that's been fitted, could be cheap chinese junk. Or engine mounts? Needs fixing pronto. doesn't sound good, I'd also check its not things like the gearbox input shaft bearing, clutch, clutch release bearing or pilot bearing in the flywheel first, as they can make bad noises at high rpm! As said, get the timing sorted! if the trailing plugs are firing out of order, they could be trying to push the rotor back the other way and this can shatter the seals in extreme cases.
• It's had a respray that's not an amazing finish, overspray on the door strikers etc. Looks good on the outside though.
• Wheels need a refurb.
• Lots of rattling trim & the centre part of the dash will need some work.
• Nice looking headers on there, saves me buying some to get rid of the reactor. Are there any exhaust or vac leaks from things not being blanked/plugged on the rats nest?
• Said nice looking headers don't look particularly well attached to the rest of the exhaust
• Beehive oil cooler has been removed & an FC cooler fitted - nice! S2 had a oil cooler from factory
• Starts easily hot, with a touch of throttle after it starts to catch. does the hot start assist not work?

Anyway that's all for now, looking forward to getting my teeth into this.

P.s. anyone found brake parts for a reasonable price without importing from the states? don't be scared of buying from the states, often much cheaper and get things delivered quickly

[rotarypower]

I've bought from Rock Auto before for the FC. I invariably find despite my best efforts they dispatch from multiple locations so I get hit with multiple customs charges, plus the 12 quid or whatever it is Parcel Force skim off for doing sweet FA.

But it looks like that could be my only option, I'll have to get the discs measured up first to make sure they're correct.

I don't think its any of the clutch associated bits, this was full on vibration shaking the engine, not just a loud noise. Although I will no doubt get to those bits eventually as at some stage the engine will be coming out so I can respray the bay.

First up I need to workout how to time it up with this pulley kit.

[KiwiDave]

When the arrow on your rotor arm points to L1 on the distributor cap, that is TDC. That will be your Leading mark. You'll want a Trailing mark as well. I can measure the distance between the two next chance I get. (unless someone on here knows that already).