So over the last few weeks I finally got all the parts together to get the brakes hooked up and working again on the RX-7 and so this past weekend I pretty much lived in my garage.  I spent time, checking over every bolt holding the suspension to the car, making sure everything was tight and solidly mounted.  I had to take a little time to make sure that all the suspension was seated correctly, since the first time I sat her down after the springs and shocks were in she sat a little crooked due to not having let the rear settle completely.  I then went through the books to make sure the Watt’s Linkage was hooked up and oriented properly and lastly I put the pads in place and checked the tightness on all my brake lines and prepared to bleed them.  Now I did have a couple hiccups in the process, first I realized that MazdaTrix sent me 3 of the same line for the rear so I was forced to, for now at least, re-use the originally line that went to the axle.  I still need to call them about this, but have been exceedingly busy at work this week.  Next I had to do a quick rebuild of the carb since the needle valve springs collapsed, this then lead to several hours of carb tuning to get the float levels back to where they should be.  Once all that was done and the brakes were bled, she successfully completed several test runs around the block and a trip to the gas station.  Now during this time I learned why disc brakes have springs and shims, for without them the pads chatter like mad in the bracket and it sounds as though the rear of the car is going to fall out, luckily I had ordered that hardware kit and was able to get it in last night.  Now here is the last catch, and this one is a real kick in the pants, when I went to put the hardware on the rear discs I noticed that the inside pad and disc (as well as the whole inside of the wheel) was covered in a oily substance, I immediately knew (due to the smell) that it was gear oil.  Now sadly, due to having to wait for parts for the RX-8 (tho they just came in today) I’ve been having to drive the RX-7 the last couple days and will again for two days when the RX-8 goes in to have the exhaust updated.  Thankfully it would seem that there is little to no damage incurred from this but it does mean I will have to pull both axles and replace the bearings and axles seals on both sides.  Once that is done I’ll be left with tightening up the steering with new endlinks, idler arm and possibly a pitman arm and creating a sealed battery box.  Once done all of that, I will be taking her to attend her first new Solo2 event with the new suspension, which though I haven’t said much about feels absolutely amazing.  I do feel that she will need a front sway bar at least but all in all I’m very pleased with this setup as a novice in Solo2.  In any case I’ll conclude this post here and post an update later with more information.

PS: I will be posting up race schedules and so on soon.

Posted in Cars
No Comments Yet Posted by Mike