I'd forgotten how much easier Thunderhill is on brakes than Laguna. When I took the pads out, I still had over half of them left! :)

--Ian

Hm, I guess I haven't posted any Miata updates in a while. That's partly 'cause I haven't actually done much to it -- I swapped out most of the bushings for a new set of Energy Suspension urethane ones with oilite sleeves, but haven't aligned it yet. That's because I'm also planning on swapping the offset upper delrin bushings out for some non-offsets and putting in ELBJs to get the camber instead, and I haven't gotten around to actually doing that yet. :)

New parts arrived for the FD though. I knew the clutch on it wasn't long for this world, and it's started slipping on hard 1-2 shifts. So I ordered a bunch of parts for it -- Racing Beat flywheel, Exedy clutch, new hydraulic bits, and assorted seals, gaskets, and tools. That might happen this weekend, depending on how things go.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch/fd-clutch01.jpg
http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch/fd-clutch02.jpg

--Ian

Hm. I haven't updated this thread in a while. Lots of non-Miata things happening, first the FD got a new clutch & flywheel.

FDs have PPFs too, but they look weird compared to Miata ones. Steel, welded, and they go on the other side. They're also prone to cracking, fortunately mine appears to be OK.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-1-0004.jpg

Tranny uses a weird pull-type clutch, so the slave cylinder goes in backwards.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-1-0005.jpg

Flywheel has one giant 54mm nut in the center. Mr Ingersoll got it off OK, though.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-1-0011.jpg

Rear main seal was leaking:

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-1-0010.jpg

A lot of brake clean later:

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-2-0002.jpg

The stock flywheel has a counterweight cast into it. To use an aftermarket one (8 pound Racing Beat aluminum model in this case) you buy the counterweight for the automatic and bolt it to the back.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-2-0004.jpg

54mm nut goes to 350 ft-lbs.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-2-0005.jpg

This takes a BIG torque wrench. Standard 3/8 Craftsman ratchet next to it for scale.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/clutch...tch-2-0006.jpg

After that it all went back together and the engine is much happier to rev match now.

--Ian

That torque wrench is https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...709298530.jpeg

man did mazda go outa their way to make the rx7 the weirdest most unusual car ever

Other FD stuff: it got a master cylinder brace from Sake Bomb Garage. Nice piece, essentially the same concept as on a Miata, it improves brake feel by removing flex from the firewall.

(hard to take a decent photo of it though).
http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/fd-other-0001.jpg

An oil change with some fancy rotary oil. :)
http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/fd-other-0002.jpg

And rewiring the crazy Bose anaconda subwoofer to bypass the crazy Bose amps and work with a normal head unit.
http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/fd-other-0003.jpg
http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/fd-other-0004.jpg

It also got used as a cargo vehicle to pick up a box at Trackspeed. Can you fit a set of Miata coilovers in an FD and still use both seats? Just barely.

http://www.codrus.com/miata/xida/xida-0002.jpg
http://www.codrus.com/miata/xida/xida-0003.jpg

Shiny!
http://www.codrus.com/miata/xida/xida-0004.jpg
http://www.codrus.com/miata/xida/xida-0005.jpg

--Ian

The weird flywheel thing is driven by the need to be able to actually *assemble* a rotary engine. Unlike a rod, a rotor is one-piece, and it needs to be able to slide down the length of the eccentric shaft. That precludes having the normal flywheel mounting flange on the back, so instead it's got a tapered flywheel mount and the end of the shaft is threaded for a single nut. Once you remove the nut (thank you Mr Ingersoll) you then need a special puller to get the flywheel to actually come off.

--Ian

And you haven't even seen yet what the engine management looks like on this car.

Hint: It's uber-complicated.

Is it one of those tri-lobular tapers? Had one of those on a 1971 Peugeot.

Ian, you should really contact me before you buy expensive rotary parts. I have an old aluminum flywheel I would have given you, might even have the correct counter weight.

Had no idea flywheel design was so different, but the body of the fd has to be one of the sweetest ever!

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/FD/i...P7A8977-X2.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/FD/i...P7A9026-X2.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/FD/i...P7A9062-X2.jpg

--Ian

Well done with lighting and positioning and lens selection and stuff.

STOP showing pics of the FD - "too much WANT"!

I've owned an FC in the past so know how much hassle/cost a rotary can be, but I drool whenever I see a well-kept FD, one of the sexiest cars of all time that should be ranked alongside the E-type jag.

Thanks :) I hate car shots with wide angle lenses, the perspective makes them look really strange. I usually use my 400mm lens for shooting cars. :)

So the rear hubs on my car came with the uprights & axles that I swapped onto the car back when I did the ABS swap, back in 2013. Since then they've done something like 15-25 track days, which is probably a few more than is really a good idea given the rear axle thread. I ordered new parts for it (bearings & hubs), and today a friend and I embarked on trying to swap them. As I'm sure you know, it's always a bit of a gamble as to whether or not they'll come apart.

So I started on the passenger side because that's the easy one to get to when the car is on my lift. :) Take stuff off and attach slide hammer:

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0001.jpg

5 minutes of banging on the hammer succeeded in getting this one off. It was slow but steady progress.

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0003.jpg

The grease in the bearings doesn't look so good, but the balls & races are OK. They're getting replaced though.

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0004.jpg

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0005.jpg

Axle doesn't look too rusty.

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0006.jpg

The bottle jack on the press failed, so I had to go to Harbor Freight and buy a replacement for $35. With that I forgot to take pictures of any of the pressing. I also realized I'd forgotten to buy replacement inboard bearing seals, so a quick trip to the parts store to pick those up. Install those:

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0007.jpg

I did remember the new C-clips from Mazda though.

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0008.jpg

Then there's the driver's side. Ugh. Half an hour of banging on that one succeeded only in mangling the lugnuts I was using to hold the slide hammer on and damaging the threads on the slide hammer itself. It's stuck. It also doesn't fit in the press. So, haul it to a shop and ask them to separate it for me, or should I just give up an spend $300 on a new upright & axle?

http://www.codrus.com/miata/rear-hub/rear-hub-0009.jpg

Was going to try to get the Xidas on today as well, but ran out of time for that.

--Ian

you actually can fit the axle with the upright in the press. You have to squeeze the diff end of the axle through the press. I got mine out that way.

We tried it, it doesn't fit in mine. HF has changed the press specs a few time, so yours might be a slightly different size.

--Ian

So I went back and tried the press again and with some finagling managed to get it in. Alas, 20 tons of pressure, penetrating oil, freezing the axle shaft, and percussing with a hammer were collectively still not enough.

I did get the Xidas installed though.

--Ian

Posted this in the random pics thread, but figured it should go with the other FD photos here. Was sunny/raining when I left work yesterday, nice rainbow visible in the east. Wet asphalt is fun for car photos because it acts like a mirror as well. Found an empty corner of the parking lot and pulled out my phone. The camera on the Nexus 6P surprisingly good -- it's not an SLR, but it's what I had. For once, the super wide angle on the lens was a benefit, because I could get most of the rainbow in the shot.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/fd-rainbow.jpg

--Ian

Nice shot! I kinda miss my 6P: battery started crapping out on me so I replaced it with the Pixel 2. Smaller phone is easier to carry, but that big screen was nice to have sometimes.