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Pelo.

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  1. Pelo.

    KwS's TVR

    Epic job on the carpet! Looks really good. Did you need to heat mold it for fitting?
  2. Try some of this wool tuft testing to figure out where to fiddle
  3. Since then? Not a lot has happened. Just the monthly drive out to the local car show. My daughter is nearly one year old now, and family has taken up most of my time - which has been very enjoyable. I’ve driven only 1500 kms since she was born! Future plans for the RX7 at the moment are unclear. But it’s no worry having it wait in the garage for now.
  4. February 2019 Instead of going to Rotary REUnion, I did an Auckland Car Club race event. I raced in the Dual and Multi car sprints. This was my first real race meeting. Staying in the pits, talking to actual racers, and driving with legit race cars on track was rather great. I was the only road car in the sprint class, which was surprising. All the other class entrants were racers just getting some extra laps in. So of course I was slowest! (Excuses!) The day was very hot, at 27c before lunch. The track temp must have been over 50c. I put some effort into my tyre pressures. Havingi started with F30 R28 psi, they got really slippery and up to 36 even after the practice session. By the end of the day I had dropped the cold pressure to 25, which heated up to 33F 31R (measured in the pits after a cool down lap). The car was much grippier and predictable with the lower pressure, plus the wear seems more even. The road tyres don't get as much of those melted lumps and strips. The Hampton Downs National circuit is so much faster than the club. I was easily hitting 200 on the straight. I just tried to get my lines and braking consistent all day. My oil catch can works! No more oil spraying out of the BOV on to the exhaust! But the can leaks! After draining it, duct tape saved the day. I’ll need to replace it with a better setup. Overall I certainly get more driving time at a track day, but this was worth doing. The engine still has some rough spots. I reckon its turbo related. The boost fluctuates, and I can hear turbo spooling and slowing like an on-off oscillation. It will go away and run normally if I back off for a bit. Time to again look into the turbo control system…
  5. December 2018 A good old fashioned car park motorkhana / autotest / autocross, with the Sports Car Club of NZ.
  6. November 2018 Time for a sound system upgrade! Nothing major, just a kit to improve on the worn out factory stuff. This car doesn’t have the crazy Bose setup like some RX7s, so it’s just a simple 4+1 speaker ‘90s system, that rattles like crazy. The crusty old front speakers in their bespoke bracket. With some help from carspeakeradapters.com, the new Sony 6” split component speakers are mounted. Tweeters are worth having. The rear speakers are a drop in fit 6x8” Pioneer, and I’ve also fitted a compact powered 8” subwoofer in the boot. The head unit remains the same Sony media player. A cheap and cheerful setup overall.
  7. October 2018 I got sick of the ugly gauge mount. I found a guy https://www.draklore.com/ that makes interior pieces for the RX7 and a few other cars. The Drakelore gauge pod replaces the centre dash speaker. It looks good and fits well. This is also a cheaper and sturdier option than finding a rare RE Amemiya steering column mount.
  8. September 2018 I installed a cheap oil catch can, with “custom” (Bunnings) aluminium brackets and 8mm vinyl hose, plumbed between front turbo inlet and filler vent tube. I’ve kept the PCV valve to intake manifold. There isn’t much room to fit one of these, I should really get a catch can custom built. A test drive shows nothing coming out of the blow off valve, but it will be more obvious on track.
  9. August 2018. We are back at Chrome. It was fun, but not great like last year. Too much waiting and traffic on track. The car ran well and fast. The Blitz blow off valve is puffing blowby oil, directly on to the exhaust manifold, and started smoking. I’ve bought a catch can. It only happens on track cornering. One suggestion I’ve read is to keep the oil level around half full, but that is not a risk I’m willing to take! On the way home from the track I got a lovely golf ball sized dent in my bonnet from a truck kicking up a stone. It probably would have gone straight through my windscreen, so that was some luck I guess. The headlights, poor by modern standards, have been upgraded to the most expensive halogen bulbs I could find - NARVA PLATINUM PLUS 130. They are noticeably brighter.
  10. Wow it has actually been a year since I updated this blog! June 2018 At the sprint event I damaged the front spoiler, as the road was very bumpy at 200 kph! It had never looked very good, and had obvious fading and plastic welding marks. I removed the front spoiler, with many rusted mounting bolts breaking. Thankfully there was no damage under the car. I sanded off all the scratches and plastic welding marks from previous repairs, straightened it out, replaced the mounting bolts and clips, and painted it with spray on black Plastidip. It came out quite well for a first attempt. Much better than the very temporary “black restorer” goo. When the Plastidip coating gets damaged again I’ll do some more sanding to get it even smoother, and try to avoid bubbling. I also cleaned the filthy front bumper with wax and grease remover, sanded off some old overspray, and adjusted the brake duct fitment. The FD has legit brake cooling ducts below the oil coolers, but they do get damaged sitting below the bumper there. I have invested in a clay bar, orbital polisher, polish and wax kit, as I need to get rid of all sorts of blemished spots. The paint has been a bit neglected because I don’t really enjoy washing cars. Luckily the red looks great in good sunlight even unpolished. Spot the differences with this fully restored RX7!
  11. If you pre book via the link in the facebook event, Hampton Downs go karts are $29 instead of $49 that day only
  12. The idea is to split the event and spread it out. I'm not sure i want to drive all the way to HD unless there is racing on. It's such a boring drive on the motorway.
  13. I like caffeine and classics because of the variety. Mustang next to skyline next to lancia next to mini next to Celica. Where else does that happen?
  14. Thats a random and unusual choice for a Track car. It looks fun! I had a 96 mirage hatch with i think the same motor and it went hard for what it was. So nimble! 2kcup won't allow mods like throttle and brake upgrades so keep that in mind.
  15. The Burgerfuel in Botany was happy to accommodate the Kiwi Rotor meet last month. Plenty of parking although its not central.
  16. Fun times on the Hauraki plains. Hitting 200+ kph at a Standing & Flying 1/4 mile event hosted by the Thames Valley Car Club.
  17. https://www.facebook.com/events/151137652396011/ copypasta: Cars and Coffee is a Sunday morning gathering hosted by Platinum Wheels, Where proud drivers congregate to kick tyres and have a cup of coffee. There is something for everyone to enjoy; classics, exotics, concepts, hotrods motorcycles and motor-sport. And it's all FREE, Minus the coffee of course. Come along, bring the old girl out of the shed and dust off the winter cobwebs. Rock down in your ride park up and just hang out.. Keep an eye one the event page we will be updating as the event gets closer, each month will be different. This month we are doing a Co-Lab with NZ Offroader, so if you have a sweet looking 4x4 (clean or filthy) rock along and join in the fun! Important Details: Where ? Hooton Reserve – Albany When ? Sunday May 20th Time? 9am-12pm Cost? FREE Contact? 09 486 5317 or sales@platinumwheels.co.nz Child-friendly
  18. Track day! On the 6th of May I went to an HD Auto day at the Hampton Downs club circuit. I went here last year and it was good fun. It is organised by Hampton Downs themselves and more info can be found here https://hamptondowns.com/hdauto/ This time my friend joined me in his 180SX. There were about 40 drivers and a good range of cars, including a Porsche Cayman, some brand new BMW M6s, a mk2 Escort rally car, a Corolla E70 with a 3SGE, 300ZX turbo, and a Nismo GTR... which got smashed into a wall A new Impreza and Mercedes turbo thing MX5 powered by a rotary 13B, na with a carburettor! This very fast RX7 with a ported single turbo motor, imported from Japan as a track weapon. You could hear it from the other side of the track! The morning was very wet but it dried up after lunch. My car with a fair bit of mud on it. I had a high speed spin into the grass (thank the gods!) in my second session. Unfortunately not on camera. I was being chased down by the white RX7 and I was paying too much attention to my mirror instead of my line and balance at 130 kph in the wet... backwards into the grass! There is a lot of run off on this track, the GTR went off at about the only place its possible to hit anything. I got a new GoPro for Xmas, so of course I've been spamming Youtube with self indulgent driving videos. Here's the one session where the GoPro GPS worked. And a split screen view of a session with the 180SX Before the track day I made up some prototype intercooler ducting using foam rubber, cardboard, and duct tape. It made quite a difference. The stock duct doesn't fit the Greddy intercooler very well so to make it work properly you really need to make a sealed duct. I also experimented with an intercooler water spray but it wasn't much use with cardboard ducting! I figured out last time that my water temperature and boost gauge can't be seen with my helmet on, so I did a temporary cable tie mounting to the center speaker bracket. Sometimes I take my car too seriously. Why not have some fun with a few stickers? One of the recently printed club stickers! #notoldschool And a wee Pistonheads Grin sticker The car ran perfectly with the new coils, my tyres are still in good health and it was a very fun day out. I'd like to get some semi slicks and sway bars eventually, the RE003 road tyres do a good job but they are a compromise.
  19. Wow, I've owned this car for a whole year now. It has been fun, sometimes frustrating, and very expensive. Since my last post, I've moved out of the apartment, into a house with a garage, and also have a baby due in July So I want to tick a few things off the list before our lives are taken over by a flatmate we can't kick out for 18 years... After fitting a lot of new parts in the last post, I went to the Leadfoot festival for a friends stag party. I almost didn't make it after a coolant leak returned. Ever since the first track event at Pukekohe, the coolant level sensor has leaked water under pressure. Just a tiny pinhole leak. The sensor couldn't be tightened as its all plastic, and the head had separated from the thread. So I covered it in gasket goo and it gave no trouble for ages. Then going to Leadfoot, there is a fun road over the hills. I stopped at a lookout, smelt coolant, and discovered the leak had returned. It was bodged and I forgot about it. Damn. So back to gentle driving for the rest of the weekend in Whitianga. Here are the lads cars. And the stag himself. Skyline drivers eh... Leadfoot is a fantastic event, don't miss it! Then I moved house the next week and Rotary Reunion was the next weekend. Did I have time to order and fit a replacement part? No! Lets try the world's favourite bodge, JB Weld! It worked ok. Got the car back together late Friday night and cruised to Taupo. No leaks appeared thankfully. ReUnion was a bit of fun, but it rained torrentially all weekend. So no drags, mediocre burnouts, and risky track driving. I videoed a lot of it but the driving footage is barely worth watching. The yellow Bomex FD is currently my favourite car in NZ! So the car ran like shit all weekend. It turns out the coils I bought second hand were failing at anything above cruising temperatures. Buy cheap, buy twice... I research upgraded coils, such as the fancy Smart Coil options like this http://www.sakebombgarage.com/ign-1a-high-performance-ignition-system-fd3s-rx-7-lhd-mount/ but I ended up buying new Mazda coils locally. A big hit at $900. Another mission getting the intake manifold off, replacing the coils for the 3rd time. At least I'm getting faster at it. Now the car runs better than ever! Smooth all the way to redline, smooth idle, faster, and better fuel economy. Here's a quick jaunt down a private road. By March the JB Weld had begun to leak. Now let's deal with this properly. The sensor disintegrated as I forced it out of the thermostat housing. New OEM sensor and gasket ready to install. Much better! Another few litres of coolant, another hour spent bleeding the coolant system. This is very important on a rotary, as air in the coolant can cause hot spots, which then destroy coolant seals, which then needs a rebuild. A very expensive thing to overlook! This Lisle funnel is a great tool, it makes the bleeding process much faster and easier. https://imgur.com/oSuhuKm The factory spoiler has been refitted, I like it just as much as the smooth no spoiler look, but got sick of the rubber plugs. The paint on the spoiler and mirrors is ruined, one day they'll get resprayed. Here's the car in front of our adorable white picket fence. Last week I installed the old school Blitz blow off valve. Now my car goes CHOO-CHOO! It isn't too loud thankfully. In theory it should help with faster boost response, as the factory one is a normally open bypass valve that only closes under boost. I tried running that valve open and it sounded RIDICULOUS. A constant whooshing noise when the turbo isn't boosting, and a very loud CHOOOoooooooooosssshhh sound when shifting on boost. On the 6th of May I'm going to a track day at Hampton Downs. https://www.facebook.com/events/385654548577468/ Then planning on Chrome again this year, although having a fresh baby may interfere with that... At this stage I just intend to keep the car reliable and not mod it any further, apart from reliability related upgrades. Oil catch can, water injection, budget intercooler water spray... The list of stuff i WANT to do is huge of course! So how much has an RX7 cost over one year of ownership? I'm a geek and track every cent I spend on cars in a massive spreadsheet. Here is a breakdown of costs. To be honest it's a shock, and I hope the second year has a better fun to dollar ratio.
  20. Went mountain biking instead. No ragrets.
  21. Wow that bad is it? Why? Its just down the road from me so ill go for a look
  22. A few more pics, I didn't get any video this year though. https://photos.app.goo.gl/FeAInenUnNL58uEj1
  23. What a fun day Our Stag enjoyed it too, despite being forced to lug around a crankshaft...
  24. In November I took the RX7 to my mechanic to get the hesitation diagnosed. The battery was stuffed. It appeared to be the OEM one from Japan in 1994! The ignition coils were worn out too. This is a common issue, as the coils sit right on top of the motor, under the intake manifold. So they see a huge amount of heat! I borrowed some good coils from the mechanic, then drove to Taupō for Powercruise. The car ran smoother than ever, but still had a shrieking boost leak. Powercruise is a fun event with cruise sessions, drifting, drag racing, and burnouts. Legally hooning with my friends hooning in our cars never gets old! Here is some video: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3d6kKsW9LBKEF2tgHXa_3zyc-VGr39aw After that I thought it was time to slow down a bit and start throwing parts at the car. I’ve accumulated a bunch of bits waiting to go on, but I didn’t feel like I’d be able to get them all bolted in with only a month between track events. Turns out that was a good plan as I’ve only just finished this week! November to January isn’t too bad for a project to be off the road… Here’s my list of maintenance done: Windscreen chip repair 2 x OEM wheel center caps NGK ignition leads & used good coils belts oil & OEM filter Battery Front brake pads New OEM Upper intake manifold gasket New OEM late model radiator New OEM coolant hoses, including the bastard hard-to-reach turbo hoses. New OEM turbo inlet and outlet gaskets and Y pipe O ring. New OEM thermostat, fresh coolant. Tested turbo control solenoids and vacuum lines, only a few lines needed replacement. There were a few upgrades too, I’ve given in to the modification bug, within reason at least! Used OEM 96+ turbo Y pipe and crossover pipe: This upgrade replaces the leak prone turbo outlet to intercooler joiner. The early cars had a rubber hose joiner which constantly leaked. The newer type has a two bolt flange and gasket, plus the crossover pipe is aluminium instead of plastic. Trust Greddy SMIC (stock mount intercooler): which is about the largest volume intercooler that can fit with the stock airbox and battery. It is an old kit which isn’t made anymore, but I picked one up for a bargain price via Facebook. It wasn’t as simple to fit as it first appeared, and took a few attempts to tweak the alignment and hose angles. New silicon hoses and clamps completed the job. I do need to build a better duct though, as the factory ducting doesn’t fit at all well. Blitz blow off valve - I haven’t fitted this yet, but I got it for free with the 96 turbo piping. I’ll give it a go and see if the novelty to cringe ratio is acceptable! The list of things to do is now slightly shorter, and the car runs even after changing all those parts. The intake manifold is super fiddly to fit and remove, with hidden hoses and connectors that need to be fitted by feel. So I was quite worried that I’d forgotten something essential and would have to re-do stuff! Once I fix the dribbly windscreen squirters, I can get the car road legal again, and go to the Leadfoot Festival and Rotary Reunion in February. Summer ain’t over yet!
  25. I'll be there on Saturday, not in an Oldschool style car though
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