rxsumo

Well its been a frustrating few weeks - after the drama with getting the right clutch - and the right sized flywheel - nothing much else could go wrong - right? So we went to install the engine again - and the bell-housing was wrong - the single dizzy engines run a different stud pattern to the twin dizzy engines. I tracked down a suitable bell housing - so we were all go - except as the bell housing was unknown - I thought it would be a good idea to replace the gearbox input shaft seal - so order a new one down. The flywheel was still away getting balanced - so we took the opportunity to get the motor in the hole and rebuild the front part of the exhaust to match up with the 12A headers. The seal arrived - went to fit it - groundhog day - the seal was too small for the bellhousing - WTF. It would seem that a previous owner had machined the seal to take a 44mm seal rather than the factory 38mm - and the shaft size was too big as well - so down to the seal shop to see what we could source - time to order a seal - as none in stock. So last weekend was spent fabricating rather than getting the engine fully installed..... So the 12A air cleaner has been modified for the RX3 - the carbie sits back further - so the air cleaner was hitting the brake fluid reservoir . We have to use the 12A assembly, as the Carbon Fibre one from the hits the bonnet - as the inlet manifold is taller. The water pump housing was welded up - to remove the bypass around the thermostat - standard RX race modification - and a excess water line removed The radiator had its heater feeder welded in - PWR had supplied an non heater unit - but shipped over the feeder pipe - top service from them. The intake manifold needed a vacuum take off welded on for the brake booster. Some Pictures... Relocated Oil Cooler Tea Cups fitted So now we hurry up and wait for the flywheel to come back from the balancers, and the seal to arrive in.......

Not to much to add at this stage. The 10A is out, and we are prep'ing the 12A to go into the hole. The clutch packs have arrived - but when we came to mate the motor up - we worked out that we had a late model flywheel - doh So now we have another shiny thing to go on the car.... Shot over to Brissy on the weekend to pickup my radiator - more shiny bits - at 2/3 of the price that the NZ agent wanted for unit While we were over there, decided it might be time to visit Phil's Rotarys and pickup a set of his replica "tea cup" tail lights - so I can get the true early Savanna GT look

A parcel finally arrived from the States - but only after giving the NZ Customs Service a donation.... Anyway nice shiny bits Racing Beat 12A race header - for a pre RX7 12A, as well as some extra flange plates just in case we decide to rebuild the centre section of the exhaust at some stage

Its been a pretty sombre affair of the last month or so. After rebuilding the motor again - at the last outing, we didnt even get practice out of the way before something let go. Suspect its something on the side of the front rotor this time - as the engine went very smoky, was fouling plugs, and blowing oil out of the catch bottle - however the apex seals are intact this time. Enough is enough, so the 10A is going to be gone from the engine bay shortly. With having our overseas holiday earlier in the year, and breaking a few engines, its time to ease up a little and let the finances recover. We have a few things to sort out prior to the 12A going into the hole. I need to sort out an exhaust - mainly headers, get some new clutch discs for the Tilton twin plate - the 12A has a brand new flywheel, with a Titon twin plate setup, but the plates are setup for the larger splined FD gearbox, and some of the minor ancillaries - like water pump. One otehr thing to sort out was the needle valve in the carbie. Apparently the 12A will empty the IDA fuel bowl on the dyno at high RPMs - and the standard "big" 3mm needle valve was the issue, and the needle valve had been drilled to at least 4mm to resolve the issue. The exercise in drilling the needle valve sounded a little iffy to me - and I knew that Gene Berg did modified valves - so this is also on the to buy list. So we have ordered - a new set of Headers in from Racing Beat in the states - some 4 mm "racing" needle valves for the IDA from Gene Berg in the states - next on the list is the new clutch discs In the meantime - I decided it was time to sort out the engine bay wiring loom - that had been seriously monkeyed with over time, along with the main battery feeder. The previous setup had no inline fusing - the old fusible link was still installed, but was included almost as almost a secondary power circuit - so effectively was useless So we have a nice new maxi blade fuse setup on the battery feeder The old battery kill solenoid has also been removed - as this would drain the battery if left on - as well as the battery terminals were exposed - not good! Hopefully some more photos later.....

My guess would be that there are less than 10 in NZ, both L10A and L10B. Suggest you try joining/contacting the CosmoSport Club in Japan for parts. http://cosmosport.net/cosmosport.htm You will initially get routed to one of the members in America - who will act as a go between between you and the Japanese guys I found the best way to get involved with the club is to go to Japan (Tokyo) - once the guys meet you and you get involved with the club - they are really helpful - and as a international visitor - they treat you like royality. The other alternative is to try Yahoo Japan

Only gotcha is that they are designed to run with a LHD car - you might find a steering box in the way.... Thats why most M30 BMW "factory" race cars stay LHD - to hard too get a nice set of headers fitting with the steering box position

Oh - and I've brought a 12A PP - so the old gal might be a little more reliable once fitted, with more HP to boot

Well the engine is back in the car again. The damage wasnt limited to the rotor external bits mentioned above, the engine also destroyed the Rotor Gear locating roll pins, and they were a bastard to get out. It got to having to have some of them removed by spark erosion, and then it took a day to get the new ones in. The motor still didnt want to play ball, as once in the car, it decided to leak oil from the rear stationary gear o-rings, as well as mis-firing through the mid range - on brand new NGK plugs. So we ripped the gearbox out and sorted the rear seals, stripped and blew out the carbie, still had a mis-fire through the mid-range. We found some old used plugs lying around the workshop....and this improved the mis-fire. Over last weekend I fitted another set of fresh plugs....and all the issues disappeared. On the cosmetic front - I landed a set of the "proper" Savanna GS-II/GT bonnet vents for the car

The big issue with the fueling that we found, was actually finding main jets small enough for the 10A/IDA combination. The standard weber sets are too big, which generally leads to fueling issues because the jets are to big, or inconsistancies because the jets are "filled and drilled". By hunting around you can find the tiny main jets, which is what we have fitted.

Yep, a NGK Plug - but not with a build number on the faulty plug list....

Update time - and more tails of woe. The weekend after we got back from Japan - it was time for the Intermarque sprints again, dug the car out of the garage after its 6 week rest. The Intermarque went okay - albeit slow lap times, as the track was wet to start, and then just slippery, before the rain settled about 1:00pm, and I called it quites. Last weekend was the last round of the Road and Track series, so I thought I'd take the car out for a run. Things got off to a bad start, when I had coolant flowing over the bonnet during the practise run (due to me, not putting the radiator cap on properly), but got a whole lot worst when the car dropped the front rotor again. One of the apex seals, and its spring wasnt to be found in the engine, along with a broken corner seal, and a broken side seal (suspect this was caused by the seal getting stuck in the corner seal - that wasnt located because of the missing apex seal) We are guessing this might be the culprit.... One of these plugs aint like the other one..... So either the tip coming away has smashed the apex seal, or detonation caused by the plug misfiring (or not firing), has taken its toil. So at this stage, I think the 10A will be rebuild to see the season out, but I'm seeing a 12A in this cars future. My spares pool of NOS 10A parts is getting severely depleted, with the builds, and I dont want to be in a position of not havings new parts for the Cosmo Sport, so its time for a change in direction....

Parcel arrived from Japan on Tuesday The bumper is mint except for the little dent you can see on the LHS - the underside of the one on the car has rust holes that would be difficult to repair and rechrome The Tail-light surrounds are better than the ones on the car, and will require rechoming

There is 4 mins of the warm up sequence here... http://s13.photobucket.com/user/rxsumo/media/Mazda%20Festa%202013/SAM_4049_zps4a396c9b.mp4.html?sort=3&o=4 Leaving the pit http://s13.photobucket.com/user/rxsumo/media/Mazda%20Festa%202013/SAM_4086_zpscba89f11.mp4.html Out on the track http://s13.photobucket.com/user/rxsumo/media/Mazda%20Festa%202013/SAM_3988_zpsdaa75c37.mp4.html

So as part of our holiday, we spent a week in Tokyo, and finally got in contact with the Cosmosport club. They had a welcoming commitee of 4 Cosmos, a RX7 S3 GT Turbo, and a Autozam AZ1 at the airport waiting to meet us on our arrival. Gotta say, it was pretty cool crusing down the expressway and through Tokyo with a convoy of old Mazdas Anyway, one of the things I was invited to that week , was the annual Mazda Festa 2013 event at Tsukuba Circuit, the Cosmosport Club, were there to put on some demo laps, and one of the Cosmo owners owns the '89 Mazda 787 LeMans car, which was also doing demo laps. I got a ride in this CosmoSPort for the first of the demo laps and did the flying farewell in this one.... There are a bucket load of photos and video clips from the event here http://s13.photobucket.com/user/rxsumo/library/Mazda%20Festa%202013?sort=3&page=1 Anyhow, here are some more up to date photos of my car - still happily waiting for me to start restoration The Cosmosport Club, have managed to source a good rear bumper, tail light surrounds and horn push button for me - so the list of bits I need has been reduced to only the radio speakers, and perhaps some of the minor door trims

The car went pretty good over the weekend - no dramas apart from the understeer issues - that got parked while the priority was getting the engine back together. The weather was pretty iffy with a damp track in the early sessions and high wind in the latter sessions - so only 1:24s Heres a clip taken from the front of a Lotus I was out with - I think this was our second run, I managed to get passed it coming into Coke on the last lap (not the cool down lap - as the comments say) interesting to see the RX3 from a rear perspective - certainly dance around lots in the corners

The car is back together - now all I've got to do is run the motor in before next weekend. Looks like it was running too lower oil level, caused the oil pressure to surge. We are guessing that the bearing locked momentarily on the crank - caused the rotor to move around and it broke the apex seals.... The damage... Not so fine apex seals These aint fancy multi piece seals... And the bearing... These early rotor bearings are located by a grub screw....unlike the modern bearings which have a punched tab. When the bearing spun - it causes the grub screw to distort the bearing - which in turn locks the bearing to the crank The bearing spun for nearly 360 degrees And eventually ground down the grub screw Lesson learnt - dont let the oil level fall below the full mark.....

No pics as yet - engine components were still in assemblies, waiting for cleanup to confirm the thinking to why the engine broke like it did.

Well the first round didnt go so well The good news... I ran another 1:22 I managed to complete 1 run, although the last lap was slow so that I ended up in second place in class for the round However the bad news..... Engine broken again - albeit my fault - I now know that running the oil below half on the dip stick will result in oil surge issues. So at the moment - its broken apex seals on the front rotor, probably due to running (and spinning) the rotor bearings, and some damage to the crank - although this might be recoverable. There is also wear on the end plates. So hopefully will have the engine back together in the next couple of weeks ready for the next round at the end of next month.

I can assist as well, we have some spare space beside the garage, where my garden trailer sits - out of sight...so all good

Its been awhile between updates - had a work thing going on, so the car hasnt been touched. The last outing was pretty cool as it showed what potential the car has, now that the motor has been sorted. There are some images of the RX3 on the Sportimages website http://racepics.biz/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=340273&g2_page=10 So now its time to sort out some of the niggly little things.... Both the front lower ball joints need replacing Fit the anti-drive blocks in the front- apparently this will sort out the remaining understeer Find some cold air ducting for the air cleaner Replace the RR wheel bearing - the retainer has some pitting which is causing an oil leak. Solder the starter motor pig tail wire onto the starter motor Replace a drippy oil coller line Long term plans are.... Rework the oil cooler into the factory race postion, and replace the Savanna lower nose cone with the period splitter Redo the seat mounts Find some "teacup" tail lights, and fit rear indicator lens Rework the throttle cable Rework the bonnet release cable Fit the factory flares, and then go to 15 x 8 rims - Watanabes?

The side seals didnt really cost me as such, I have been accumulating 10A engine bits over the years, so have enough bits to rebuild around 3ish motors. We only had to buy the casement o-rings and springs. The engine has been back on the dyno 2 weeks ago, and is developing around 160 hp at the rear wheels - at 9000 rpm. The factory 10A PP were estimated at 200 hp at the flywheel, with better exhaust ports, and a better exhaust system than what we are running...so I'm pretty happy with the result. The dyno was a worthwile exercise, as the engine was now running a little lean at the top end, so we ended up changing the emulsion tubes, enlarging the main jets and reducing the airs The last figures - with the misfire, where probably reading a little high, due to the ramp up speed selected when the guys were diagnosing the misfire, on the dynapacks - apparently if you slow the ramp up speed - ie labour the engine, you can artificially raise the HP figures.

In the Intermarque series we have a cc based, and modified/stock class system The 10A runs in the M2 class - modified between 1301 and 1800cc class, the 10A with the rotary multiplier comes out at 1796cc

first 20 seconds of this has the drive by

Its been a while between updates, the motor finally went back in the car a couple of weekends ago, and its first outing again was on Sunday last. The issues list from the engine was quite extensive.. Sticky Apex seal - rear rotor Side Seals cut too short - rear rotor Rotor Bearing Clearances to tight - both rotors Rotor Stationary Gear moved out of position creating zero rotor to end plate clearance - front rotor Oil Pump drive chain not aligned We managed to get the laptimes down to a 1:23, and then down to a PB of 1:22.43 when I reattached the rear rollbar. Heres some video of the last run, all but the last lap clocking 1:22s - enjoy http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/rxsumo/RX3%20Racer/?action=view&current=SeptFinal_zpse3517099.mp4 Heres a inside cockpit view of the practice session (I had a bit of a lose with the GOPRO - too smaller SD card...so only got practice captured). The flying laps were 1:24s, and you can see I was struggling a bit with understeer, that improved in the later sessions once the rear bar was attached. The sound is a little better than with the rollcage camera, still work in progress. FYI, the changeup light is set at 9500 rpm.

Other thing you would require is spiggot bearing for crankshaft, assuming that the crank is already drilled for a bearing...otherwise the crank could need machining. Also need to locate the neutral/park cutout switch wiring to bypass. Wont the Cortina be a Borg Warner 35 transmission? Assume that it would be the same as a early Hillman Hunter and a number of other British cars, and thats probably the reason the parts are getting dearer to repair the box...BW35s havent been in fashion for a few years. Might be worth looking at going to the later Hunter auto - BW45, and get an extra gear as well