yoeddynz

Stereo is all sorted now. And fuses, switches etc all done. I have made allowances for the solar setup we are planning in the future. The little volt meter is a score from ebay - China for $5 USD. They are about $40 here. So I bought 3. Does that mean I saved more?.... The stereo is cool- we got an Ipod one and with the supplied remote I can sit on the couch and change music on ipod. So handy. I will install a decent amp in the future once funds allow (that'll be ages then) so I have made all the wiring very beefy indeed. Even with out an extra amp its great sound with the Mordaunt Short speakers we scored off trade me a while back. They are a touch small but at least they wont chew through the power like my big old Wharfdales do. A decent sound system is very important to me. Once settled in somewhere on our own land I would re install my old Rotel amp and floor standing speakers. So now I'm onto stripping/modifying old house lights we have scored over the past few months here and there.

Cheers Dave. Did ya parents enjoy the travels? Well Uterus is gonna donate me a rx4 housing for the cause!!! Fucking top marks to him! Cheers man!!!! I have a centre plate on the way down too so I think apart from new water seals I'll be all good to go. I've a contact here in Blenheim who builds a lot of rotaries so I might get him to help out with reassembly as ya just cant beat a bit of experience.

my viva has a 12a rotary turbo with a suck through carb- when i get it cert'd will the cert plate say exactly that.? Or will it just say 12a rotary - turbo charged. In the future i may like to change from carb to injection but dont want to re-cert it. Also- if in the future i was to go back to n/a, put a nikki carb back in place and loose 40bhp then surely that wouldn't require a re- cert?

belly boxes for generators, 185 watt solar panel, mppt controller and decent agm battery. More drawers. Cof and then to the beach. after that queenstown and work=money=viva on road=fun.

Looks good- black will be spot on! Love those wheels. Are they painted grey? I must pop in on way down next time for a cuppa and have a looksie since we missed you last time.

cheers man. Its always good to meet another fellow vauxhall nutter. Now get cracking with those cars !

my 4agze mr2 used to do 35 mpg on a run to chch driving like a nanny. But my brother has a mk1 mr2 in england and best he gets is 35 motorway driving at 70mph

Ok- well overdue update but well we haven't done much really recently on truck. Blame Viva. This week in between more Viva sagas I have put in long over due wall sockets, run big fat wires through to leisure battery where I plan to put invertor and more recently started on the little corner box to house the headunit, fuses and switches for invertor, shower pump, fan for toilet etc Its kind of taking a while to get back into it and also dealing with wood. Metals easy cause ya just weld it and its its simple to build a lightweight but strong item. With wood I'm trying make it strong and look nice too. And I don't really have the cabinet makers way about it, or tools. So I'm going to stick to my simple hobit house like wood work. Its really nice to start using the work bench..itself not finished.. And the birds nest home for headunit plus fuses and switches. A fine mixture of Walnut, Apricot Rimu and....ply Finished off stereo and switch/ fuse centre..

I had a look on Ausrotary- and as always I found tooooooooooo much info I love having abrowse on there just to see all the bitch slapping.... http://ausrotary.com/viewtopic.php?f=4& ... s#p2448457 I think I shall skip the search function on there and just ask a question about the bolt hole number.

Yep- ok I'll update the housetruck thread but I have to make somethings today first so I can make an update.... I did fix a knackered Makita battery last night by swapping cells from another bad battery to make one good one... i'm proud of that plus its saved me $100 plus!!! (plate/housing money...)

wow that was like a bad tongue twister. Cool if i can miss out one bolt! But it looked like some holes were in a different position when i compared my plates to the photos in rx7 haynes manual. Maybe its just an optical illusion.

Yeah I know this place is good. I like it. But whenpeople ask me what I do and i reply with ' been busy the last year building a house truck and putting a rotary into a viva they roll I just know what some people must think eh.I would use the dole if I had too but it suits me better to be completely free from any work, have my own time to work and just spend my savings. But I'm certainly looking forwards to be back working and earning rather than whittling my savings away! Then I can also afford to spend money on the Viva (and petrol to feed its hunger) Anyway- back to rotaries... are there any rotary wreckers I can try- like mazda wreckers?

Cheers for the link. Yeah I counted the bottom bolts. Definitely two- in fact three different bolt patterns. I just dont know why the housing have been wire brushed. I'm guessing an attempt to help new tips bed in? The guy who rebuilt it has the oldest mazda dealership in the UK and has rebuilt many many motors- but that doesnt mean he does a good job. He maybe has some 'old' ideas about rebuilds and was thinking 'well if you hone a cylinder bore to help new rings bed in then why not the same for a rotary. I'm not that fussed as I only paid $100 for a complete engine, turbo, carb, starter, box, propshaft etc- the whole lot. I just want to see the car go but as I'm spending all my savings (not a dole bludger!) I have a budget to stick to. I think Id like to rebuild it around RX7 12a housings/plates as it may be easier to find parts for in the future if I fuck something? At least the rotors/tips/side seals/corner seals all look good. E shaft is good too. bearings were good as well. The engine in link above- I'm guessing its an older 12A with twin side seals and the funny 3 hole exhaust ports?

I've put an advert up in wanted section. Fingers crossed...

Oh I would if it were easy. But it would involve a fair bit of work as the 13b is 20mm longer- I should have allowed for a 13b eh... So I'm on a mission asking all people I know who are or were into rotaries if they have any old plates/housings. I've been looking on trade me but really scared to just buy another engine only too discover it has major faults. I would rather buy an engine in bits so I can inspect the housings etc first. Something will turn up I'm sure.

H8V8S - Is it only those rx3 housings that have 17 bolts- not 18,19? It could be a problem..bugger..I'm learning everyday about these engines! Yeah next weekend sounds good geoff.

I'm not sure on this but after looking carefully through the Haynes RX7 manual I cant find any reference to these two bits.... I think the centre plate is f--ked. I filled it with water this morning and it intoxicated out through the bottom on each side of the centre plate. So after a quick tidy of the workshop bench I started the strip down. I made a little table to sit the engine on and then carefully unstacked the sandwich. Odd that it only has 17 through bolts. Not 18 as per the haynes rx7 manual or 19 as my old Mazda workshop manuals for rx2/rx3 show? I've been told it has RX4 housings so I guess the whole engine is Rx4 as ya couldn't mix housings and plates with a different amount of through bolts eh... Hannah helped strip the engine as it was new to both of us. We found pretty sludgy waterways. The outer water seals were really long- too long to fit back into grooves as if they had been stretched? The ports have been tickled with a grinder - just a clean up I think. The housings looked good but I later found some deep scores on one housing right near the exhaust port as if something got stuck in there like a nut ?! So that housing is scrap which is a bloody shame as the chrome is really good and chatter marks seem minimal. Once is was all stripped down we both set to work cleaning the sludge out to look for damage. First up the front plate then rear plate. Centre plate. Bingo! - when I was rinsing the petrol/scum off the water going into waterways was coming out the bottom oil ways. There was a big hole and two lovely bits of casting sitting on top barely dislodged. The centre plate also had a defined depression on one face about the size of a 50p piece as if a corner seal has been gouging it. Sadly, thanks to image shack most of my photos are gone. I thought Id backed them up but nah.. missing So I'm now going to have to find a centre plate and one housing. The rotors are good and side seals, corner seals, springs, bearings, eccentric shaft etc are all ok. Tips are new. oil pump is good. Its all cleaned, oiled up and packed away now as I cant afford to just go out and buy an engine. Maybe something will turn up - I'll just keep asking anyone I can think of who is into rotaries and see if they can help for parts. I'm a bit worried that I'll struggle to find the right housing and plate to suit 17 through bolts?

Cheers guys. Its does suck but I guess at least all the other hard work is done. Some friends on exile rotorsport have suggested it could be the front frost plugs under the oil pump cover- I didnt even think about them!!! And it makes sense as the water flowed so quickly into the sump it must be more than just the tightly squeezed water seals having gone. So this morning I'll fill it with water and see where its coming out- if the housings dont fill with water then its good and I'll pop the front cover off to hopefully expose loose frost plugs. wish me luck.

Not happy me....

So today was the big day. My fuel pressure gauge arrived yesterday and I spent last night making a nice wee mount for it. This morning I finished off the fuel lines and mounted the fuel regulator. I also bought some more brake line and made pipe work to my nice new flexy clutch line from mazda- cheap at $20. I went and bought some of BPs finest, mixed in some 2 stroke oil. But that in the tank, checked fuel pump. All good. It was now about 2 in the afternoon. Thought Id better fill engine with some coolant...and then this happened.... (I cant find the photo I took so just picture lots of coolant coming out from the oil filler tube) I'm pretty sure oil isn't meant to come out of the oil fill tube when filling radiator up with water. ... I wasn't as pissed off as most would normally be as I already knew when I bought the Rx7 this engine came in that it had popped the rear frost plug after a cold Welsh winter. But I had been hoping that was all that had happened. I called Hannah over and we drained all the fluids in a mad rush before they mixed too much- by this time the sump was full of coolant! Then I stood there - pissed off and just not at all sure what to do- I really wasn't liking the prospect of spending even more time on this car when I should be finishing the housetruck. I suggested selling the car- really did! But Hannah stepped in and said that would be silly after all this work and that she was excited about it being on the road. Should I leave it for a year or tow till we get back from down south? Nup, it would only fester. So we both set to work removing the engine. I'm really hoping its just the water seals between housings and plates. But I fear worse- the water mixed so quickly that I reckon some of the castings may be frost damaged The engine came out quickly and easily at least. And it was cool that the wiring is now so sorted that it was like working on a factory fitted engine Its now on the work bench less the sump and flywheel. I'll strip it in the morning and see what the damage is. Then I'll work out what I do. This will be the first Rotary I have stripped so its all new to me. I have always been lucky with my engines and never had any problems till now. I just hope its not bad damage.

Yeah shane had been stock piling them but he has none left- at least none he wants rid of I shall make my own grill from alloy extrusions then

hey guys- as of yesterday we are back into truck work. i am now sorting out all the wiring, lights, stereo etc. Yesterday i put up 3 wall sockets and wow i wish i had fitted them ages ago. Up till now we have been trailing a extension lead in through cat flap and the leads all over floor. Messy. Now we have no messy extension cords and simply switch things on at wall. I just cant believe how long its taken me to do such a simple job! I blame the viva. Today i'm doing fuse box and stereo install near kitchen. Then fit more lights about the place. Exciting. I'm really stoked that its been just a year since we were outside building the steel frame. Now we are living in it.

i like that grill! I want to do something similar to mine but gt grills are hard to get. Do you have any spare sl grills?

wow- we had a E34 wagon version with the 2.5 turbo diesel. Fuck it was good! so so cheap to run- drove all the way to Switzerland and back - autobahn managed 115mph! Not bad for a big car with a diesel. So comfortable. And we could sleep in it (forgot tent once) I don't think NZ got the diesel ones? I remember getting battery out from under rear seat and fuck was there a lot of wires- i would not like to trace a broken wire etc.... You sir have a fine automobile!

yeah i'm sure in the past I have just wired up the ops light straight to the pressure gauge sender and it will go out on start up. But this one must be stuck as no light even comes on. If i earth the ops lead the light comes on so I know the circuit is fine. So for now just a sender will do. I might fit a oil pressure gauge at a later date. Mine all just screws into the rear plate- the oil filter pedestal does nothing else but hold the filter in place.