sevenracer said:"also, i noticed this wear on the rear stat gear bearing. im not terribly concerned, will definitely continue to run this motor. do any rotary experts care to weigh in? gear is oriented as one would see it while looking at the flywheeel."
In reply to wcn2018 :
Copper showing at the puzzle joint for the bearing is normal.
yeah thats normal, just regular wear and tear nothing detrimental to be afraid of.
I could not get the t3 arms to easily align for this new axle, so I installed the stock upper arms back in using poly bushings. These are the ones that I had burned out earlier to use poly bushings in, before I decided that was an annoying mess and bought the t3 arms. Now I am coming back to them because they have at least some compliance compared to the t3 arms.
I am confirmed moving in mid February, so i will need to cut off working on this car end of January. Before then, just a few things remain:
- fabricate poly transmission mount
- reinstall transmission
- test flywheel balance, reinstall old one if its terrible.
- actually refill the rear end with oil this time.
- simultaneously, do heads on the van (moving vehicle! exhaust valve on cyl 6 is burned)
Poly mounts are bad for the transmission, it twists the case and causes it to leak at best and cracks the trans crossmember at worst. Usually though they just rip apart.
All the trans mount does is hold the end of the trans vertically and keep the trans aligned side to side. The engine mounts do 100% of the work of controlling engine/trans roll, which is the major force on the drivetrain because the engine is torquing against the driveshaft. The engine and trans mounts can be thought of as a triangle as far as load points are concerned.
Dang this poor guy can't catch a break, making all the wrong decisions and being corrected in real time lol
Little something im working on
the rust spot my girlfriend has affectionately named "the butthole" is no more
will get into detail on my process later. still need to paint it too
when i first bought this car i covered the hole up with a piece of flex tape just so i wouldnt leak. its been a year or more and i finally got to filling it in. the red piece is a patch cut off a '81. was able to make patches for the main hole and rusted areas of the weather seal lip with it.
the rot comes from this weird foam stuff mazda sprayed on the core support that holds the latch mechanism. its spot welded to several panels in the hatch area. it seems they had two raised spots that didnt touch the panels but were close enough they were worried about vibration? anyway this stuff decays, gets wet, and i think had direct contact to the metal without primer. rot city. it created the main hole and serious pitting on the other side. i removed the core support for access on this job. ill be welding it back in today.
i started by filling in rotted sections of the lip to get a hang of it, since they are covered by the hatch if i messed up a bit it wouldnt matter as much. there were several spots like this. 4 or 5.
tig is perfect for this. more pen with less heat, add filler as you feel its needed. no spatter. back off on the heat as youd like. all great things on thin sheet metal.
with those in, i got to work on the main patch. i cut out all rust roughly with an angle grinder, and then cleaned up the edges with a carbide bit then belt file to make straighter edges.
using masking tape and backlight, i traced the form for the patch, and used geometry marks to transfer it onto the donor piece
then the patch was rough cut and shaped until it fit snugly, tacked, and welded. it only took a tiny bit of bending to match the curve on this section. i used magnets to hold it in place while tacking
a die grinder with roloc pads flattened everything out. i went a little heavy on the heat on the left side of the patch. that got quite warped. a hammer and dolly got most of it out, but bondo exists for a reason. ill be doing 2k primer first, then bondo, then primer again. no paint match this time. the whole car has roached paint anyway and the primer is black.
you might wonder why i didnt do a square patch. the donor piece is from an '82 and i realized after getting it that the hand groove for the hatch has a different stamping. the u shaped bend has the same lines, but the lines inside the valley do not match up. if i cut a square patch i would have had to rectify that. would probably have taken hours with a hammer. i elected for a round patch only where it was needed instead.
Nice work. These cars rust in some weird places don't they.
And its done. bondo is a very theraputic experience. especially after 2 straight days of patching and grinding metal. bondo shaves like butter in comparison!
first layer of 2k on bare metal
bondo on and sanded
more 2k on top
new garage downtown is much smaller. i have a large basement space to use as a shop, but room for the car itself has greatly decreased.
im gonna work on some body panels, carbon hood, and maybe a rack and pinion conversion as top priorities. a buddy has an einstar scanner that i hope to go use to help with that last one at some point. otherwise, ill just have to actually drive the car this summer (unbelievable!).
Wow, your car reminds me a lot of mine, just further along. Year out of college picked up my 82 in 2021, got the same rust butthole on the rear, even went to the same Binford wrecking yard and pulled the dash pad out of the same car you got your rear axle from and have just started autocrossing it recently. Still stock suspension for me at the moment, but looking forward to upgrading and following your car's progress as well.
In reply to chirmstream :
What a coincidence. let me know if youre ever doing an autox at evergreen im always the only fb haha.
I took the car out for autox on memorial day again. Was late at tech and they mislabelled me as a datsun.
out of 92 cars, the lsd was definitely helping in corners. but oh man, that steering. its some crappy steering. i think i counted hand over hand 3 times for a single hairpin once.
i could definitely still feel the occasional 1 wheel peel. i guess that means im overwhelming the lsd? it definitely takes more to lose it and it regains grip faster, so im happy its there. i dont know if the discs are helping at all on course. the drums were strong enough to lock up and i dont think the course was long enough to fade the drums.
or maybe it is. but they definitely help on the street.
i noticed also a leak from the oil cooler. that really sucks. and the radiator blows coolant from the cap when the car is really pushed. used 79-80 coolers are stupid expensive or nonexistant, so ill probably install some aftermarket thing at the same time as an aluminum radiator. that way i can do a little fab and make them fit together in a relatively stock position. already have the AN oil hoses from racingbeat anyway. im also thinking of going to efan at same time.
wcn2018 said:I took the car out for autox on memorial day again. Was late at tech and they mislabelled me as a datsun.
out of 92 cars, the lsd was definitely helping in corners. but oh man, that steering. its some crappy steering. i think i counted hand over hand 3 times for a single hairpin once.
i could definitely still feel the occasional 1 wheel peel. i guess that means im overwhelming the lsd? it definitely takes more to lose it and it regains grip faster, so im happy its there. i dont know if the discs are helping at all on course. the drums were strong enough to lock up and i dont think the course was long enough to fade the drums.
or maybe it is. but they definitely help on the street.
i noticed also a leak from the oil cooler. that really sucks. and the radiator blows coolant from the cap when the car is really pushed. used 79-80 coolers are stupid expensive or nonexistant, so ill probably install some aftermarket thing at the same time as an aluminum radiator. that way i can do a little fab and make them fit together in a relatively stock position. already have the AN oil hoses from racingbeat anyway. im also thinking of going to efan at same time.
Can't you just step up to the later (non beehive) oil cooler? I don't think many aftermarket oil coolers have enough capacity.
I would keep it as a mechanical fan. The electric ones don't usually pull enough air unless you get a monster that then taxes the tiny electrical system of these cars.
Yo: @Pete! You have more direct 1st gen experience than I do!
You'll need to log in to post.
