CyByrd

Cool deal brotha ray but isn't the correct sticker for an 83 say 82??? Personally I wouldn't care but heck-- I have a little 85 sticker on my 82. Shhhhhhh don't tell anyone. Lol

Sent from my iPad using RX7Club

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Nice call 'Sip, I knew somebody would catch that.

But you never know, a late 83 on the showroom might very well have received an 83 IMSA/GTU sticker, if the poor thing had only gotten there.

We've been doing some research, it turns out the train that hit the lowboy car carrier in Rowland NC back in '83 was a nasty dude.

On the same trip to NYC that it demolished the RX-7's in Rowland, it hit a pickup truck, killed a lady fishing from a trestle in Savannah and, on the return trip, killed a motorist in Kenly, N.C.

AROUND THE NATION - Troubled Amtrak Train In a New Accident - NYTimes.com

Very scary. Could it be the Antiwankel the Rotary Gods were telling us about?

NCross

iTrader: (18)

Looks like a perfect fb in the making.

project7s

iTrader: (5)

Yeah ray, sounds like its going to be really nice, ill have to come down to an ogta meeting and check it out when its on the road. Have you decided what yeah dash your going to use in it? 83 or 84?

Banzai

iTrader: (13)

Maybe you should get a sticker made that says "I survived the Antiwankle-83"

msimonov

iTrader: (5)

Once you have the car running, Ray, we need to have a special debutante cotillion OGTA meet, like southerns often do. Maybe we can get the guy from the junk yard to come.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Agreed on the special debutante cotillion OGTA meet Mike, complete with mint juleps.

And Banzai, I'll take one of those Antiwankel stickers!

I'm still not sure on the dash P7, I think this is probably for the Rotary Gods to decide. I've always been partial to the S3 interiors and have a bunch of mint S3 interior parts that would plug in nicely, but this being an '83 GSL, I think the Rotary Gods would want it to be the old style S2 dash and interior. In red leather, of course.

Robert had some ideas about how to restore the dash that's in the car already, which is a poorly installed dash cover with incorrect maroon paint. We could either go with another dash cover, properly painted and installed, or else try that Dash Restore outfit people have been talking about.

In any case, I'm going to save the interior for last, after installing the TW12A and all the mechanical work, so perhaps by then the Rotary Gods will deliver a minty red S2 dash to my back door.

Robert sent me some pictures of the TW12A as it was being prepped for assembly, I think I've got everything labeled right but Robert let us know if not.

Rotor housing, as it came from the junk yard:



Rotor housing cleaned up (I believe he sand blasted it):



Rotor housing ready for paint:



Rear iron, dirty:



Rear iron, cleaned up:



Intermediate iron, dirty with lapping compound applied:



Intermediate housing, cleaned up:



Intermediate housing, cleaned up, other side:



Front housing, cleaned up:



Front housing, ready for paint:

ray green

iTrader: (14)

And here's a few more pictures of the TW12A assembly process, courtesy of Mike:

Engine parts:







Rotor tear down:



Hylomar:



Apex seal spring and corner seal plug:

'84PieceORX-7

This is pretty much the coolest story i've ever heard. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished! Good luck guys the Rotary Gods are surely smiling upon you!

wolfswest

OMG, I love stories like these. It makes you daydream away to a far away past...

project7s

iTrader: (5)

I'll keep my eyes out for a nice red s2 dash and send it out your way if I find one. if it were mine, I would have to keep the inside all s2, even though like you I like the s3 dash better.

woodmv

iTrader: (8)

That's just an amazing story. Glad to see that you've got it Ray and the engine will be happy once again.

I wonder what happened to the other engines? Did the junkyard get them all and this one was the only one left, or did I miss that part of the story?

rwatson5651

iTrader: (5)

The guy had two engines, he was sure this one came from a train wreck car, the other he was not sure about. I got both, the second one is in my basement, I have not taken it apart yet.

twinkletoes

iTrader: (17)

Wow! That's just the coolest story ever right there! Glad to hear you got your hands on it! Know it will be taken care of!

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Mr. Wood, that's exactly what I thought when Mike and Robert first told me the story: What happened to the other 12As???

I mean, what if that old dude at the junk yard is holding out on us? Or Robert, for that matter?

All I know is he won't tell either Mike or me where that junk yard is, so if that's what some of you guys are thinking, forget it.

After conferring with my coconspirators about the dash options, we all agree:

It would be foolish to risk angering the Rotary Gods by putting an S3 dash in that '83 S2 interior, so we'll be working with what we've got:





I need to find a good interior spray paint to match the red leather seats and door panels, might take some custom mixing but if that's what the Gods want, that's what they'll get.

Or, maybe there's is a mint original 1983 maroon dash out there someplace just waiting for its rendezvous with Destiny?

If any of you guys hear of anything, this is your chance to get in good with the Rotary Gods.

We got some disappointing news on the research to find the train wreck that took out all those brand new 1983 RX-7s.

I looked into the lowboy train wreck in Rowland NC on August 25, 1983 and found a few photos, including this one from the Fayetteville NC Observer, of the low boy and its cargo:

Remember This? - Train Wrecks | Remember This? | FayObserver.com

I studied the photo for about an hour but couldn't find a bit of evidence of RX-7 debris.

It appears instead that the cargo on the lowboy in the Rowland wreck was a construction crane, not a rack of shiny new RX-7s.

So the search goes on to find the wreck that took out the Mazda RX-7s back in '83.

However I do have some good news, independent evidence that confirms without a doubt that the Train Wreck 12A indeed came from a brand new RX-7.

Last night I was checking out the engine and I noticed that the plugs Robert put in were old and very dirty:



This made me think they were probably the plugs that came with the engine from the junk yard, which Robert confirmed.

So I pulled the plugs and cleaned one of them up.

Sure enough these are original stock NipponDenso W25EDR14 spark plugs as installed in all new Mazda RX-7s when they came from the factory back in 1983.

Here's a couple photos, with a new Denso plug added in for comparison:









So this pretty much confirms that the Train Wreck 12A is a factory fresh engine.

We're going to leave the other three original plugs dirty and donate them to the RX-7 Museum someday.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

Ray, try the SEM burgundy color, it lacks the orange of Mazda's red, but its the closest match out of a can, trust me i looked!

IMO it would be neat to do the interior JDM style, where its S2 dash, with everything else S3

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Thanks J9, I'll give the SEM paint a try, I've heard good things about it for 1st gen interiors.

I've always been a purist about interior parts, refusing to paint them out of principle, but finding pristine interior parts is getting really difficult.

And a good paint job may help create a like-new looking stock interior.

You've also got a good point on the JDM interior. All the Rotary Gods, with the exception of Felix of course, are most likely Japanese.

And I think they would be pleased to see the Train Wreck 12A planted in an '83 GSL with the JDM interior of the Furusato.



As a bonus, I already have a nice pair of S3 JDM-style red leather door panels, contributed by Nebraska Dave:



And a NOS red shift **** with the pattern inset as found in the JDM interior, courtesy of Ohio Dave:



I even have an original three-point maroon leather steering wheel in mint condition, although I'm not sure this is the type you'd find in a JDM interior back in the Furusato.



I've been hoarding these parts to use for an 84/85 GSL interior, but perhaps the Rotary Gods wish to see the Train Wreck 12A implanted in an '83 JDM SA instead.

I'll conference with the design engineers to see what they think.

CyByrd

Ha. That sounds like a church choir

Sent from my iPad using RX7Club. how bout that!

darthrotary

Awesome read! Indeed the Rotary Gods have smiled upon you!

msimonov

iTrader: (5)

Thought I'd check in on this thread. Some interesting stuff has been added.

Ray, I was with you on all of your ideas until I saw that red steering wheel. Please for the love of all that is rotary, don't use that steering wheel. Yamamoto'san must have had too much saki the night before he approved that color. Maybe it is just the picture.

Qingdao

iTrader: (3)

Did you build this engine in a hospital waiting room?!? If so thats one CLEAN engine build!!!

And I thought I was crazy having my 13B on my kitchen counter for a year.

rwatson5651

iTrader: (5)

LOL.......

Thats the lobby at work. Thats where the big sandblaster is. This piece was just about to get blasted.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Was that before or after sand blasting Robert? Still looks pretty rough in the picture.

Mike, there's nothing wrong with the steering wheel.

It's a mint condition leather covered maroon steering wheel for the S3 GSLs and SEs, possibly the only one left in existence.

It will be perfect for the JDM version of the '83 that the TW12A is going in to.

Here's a couple more shots, maybe you'll like the color better in this light:







I did some poking around the dash yesterday and peeled off the cracked "maroon" dash cover that was installed.

It looks like an early version of the replacement S2 dash covers, actually molded in the maroon plastic and has sound holes for a speaker that doesn't exist, at least in the '83 FB's.







The condition of the original dash underneath is really poor, here's a couple shots:





Since original S2 dashes in decent shape are Unobtanium, I'm thinking our best bet might be to purchase one of these black dash covers off ebay:

New Molded Dash Cover Top Pad Cap for 1978 1983 Mazda RX7 | eBay

Mazda RX7 1978 83 New Molded Dash Cover Cap | eBay

Then paint it, along with all the rest of the plastic trim, to match the maroon color of the door panels, seats and steering wheel.

It should be possible to mold the dash cover pretty tightly to the surface of the old dash, given enough prep work and a really good space-filling mastic to bond it down.

Has anybody had any experience with these aftermarket dash cover units?

Are they all made by the same manufacturer? Or are they different and some are better quality than others?

Any hints on installation?

Qingdao

iTrader: (3)

Man, If that dash cap works out I'm gonna get one! If nothing else just to protect my perfect one.

midnight mechanic

Got a dash cover from Black Dragon. It fit pretty good, but warped in some places. Unless you installed it, you wouldn't notice. 2 summers of brutal southern sun, and it started to crack. I mean the dash gets hot enough to fry a damn egg. So I painted it white, and did the door panels in white, and bright orange. Also replaced the black carpet with orange.

And then did a half assed tint job on the rear hatch. If it helps the heat situation, I will spring for a $200 professional job. The tint is 20% vtl but 35% is legal. So I'm ticket bait. The tint film was left overs from when I did my apartment windows.