rx2 build: ヘドラ Hedora

derek · **Posted:** Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:40 pm

ヘドラ is the smog monster that fought godzilla in 1972. english is hedorah; he feeds off the smog created by humans.

more about the car. a friend on a local nissan forum found this gem and picked it up about two years ago. i learned that he had the car about two weeks ago and offered to purchase it. after going up to take a look at it, we agreed upon the fantastically unfair price of 350$. finally had time today to drag it down and now that it is solidly in my garage, i can finally make a build thread on it.

the history of the car is a mystery. word on the street is that an older gentleman owned a decent collection and passed away. his family in all their great wisdom (and in somewhat of a disrespectful fashion) had all the vehicles towed off to a yard for scrap. i was told about 6-8 vehicles in relatively fine condition met the same fate as their loving owner. this car and another rx2 were all that were saved and only just. the family was not any help or willing to get titles or paperwork or history so i need to go through some bureaucracy to get a title for the smog monster.

plans are uncertain as of yet; just make it run(most likely rebuild with either an aggressive street port or bridgy) and clean it up/replace broken or missing stuff.. ive always loved old japanese cars and rotaries but have never been in the right position to have the two meet. my other toys are a 3 rotor fc and a basically bone stock fd so this should fit in well.

pictures are scant at the moment but i will try my best to update and add pics as progress is made.

photo PO sent me when he first told me he had the car

getting it loaded up to transport

finally on the road

and home

rust isnt bad. car is really solid throughout

interior is dirty and missing a few pieces. road tripping tomorrow to pick bulk majority of things mia thanks to perterno(sorry if i spelled that wrong)

so after i got settled down a bit, i decided to see what the condition of the twin dizzy 12a engine was in. removed some parts to get to the front hub (carb was already removed and stuffed in a box in the back seat)

all the bolts seem to be sticky but arent breaking after the initial crack.

the 19mm on the front of the engine was finally exposed and i put the breaker bar on it and gave it a gentle twist.. then a harder twist. then went hulk green and tore the bar in half. engine didnt even flinch. next course of action was to pour atf down the intake and spark plug holes so removed plugs which were really tight and all four had me worried that i was going to break one in the housing but they came out..

.. then i found something very interesting

all four plugs were caked solid with some kind of crystalized substance. a poke inside the plug holes with a screwdriver confirmed that the engine is caked solid with this stuff.

well that happened quicker than anticipated. oh well
still going to be a blast to work on and im really excited to get to rebuild the engine and i am very happy with the condition of the car.

liquid51 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:45 am

Looks like a good project...what's your plans, just restoring it?

JefeSpeed · **Joined:** Tue May 08, 2012 4:51 am **Posts:** 2

Sweet deal. I'm sad to see it leave his hands but it will be nice to see it done. There wasn't a single early Mazda RX @ the jdm legends meet. I'm still trying to figure out who owned these cars. A first name isn't enough but it's a start.

derek · **Posted:** Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:54 pm

so took a 4 hour one way road trip to get some parts from some guys today.

they had their own dealing and i just kind of crashed it. colorado and california meeting in utah to swap cars and parts. it was hard missing the jdm legends open house but im glad i have most of what i need to return the rx2 to the road.

couple of tins swapping driveways

super clean shell and basically no rust. makes my car look like a huge rust bucket and makes me wish i could find cars like these in my backyard.

kid wanted a pic in front of the rx3.. i didnt teach him this crazy behavior

after i got home and took a nap, i decided to try out the hood and tails

i think they really help set the car off.

i think tomorrow i will either pull the engine or start tearing into the interior and cleaning it up.
new projects always feel so daunting but the end result is sometimes worth it.

r100guy · **Posted:** Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:07 am

Nice find! "Earth Green" (paint code EU) is one the the best colors too! Looks like you have a Rotary Pickup gauge cluster and a RX4 hubcap sitting in the trunk. ha! Ebay them! Parts for the RX2 are more available than the other early RE cars so prices for them are more reasonable. Good luck on the rebuild/restore!

derek · **Posted:** Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:41 pm

im not sure if it has had a respray or not. there is no overspray and the green is everywhere, including under the carpet and the "EU" color stucker is still in the engine bay along with all the other factory stickers but there is a paint run in the engine bay which makes me think its been resprayed at some time. not sure though

i started cleaning up the interior

i pulled the carpets out and vacuumed them with the house vac and used the shop vac to clean up the metal and door cards. all the plastic was just scrubbed with soap and water or windex

unfortunately when i tried to put the front door cards on, i realized that they were for a coupe and were about 3 inches too long
oh well

carpet isnt in that great of shape, its very brittle and im missing the right rear piece. it will probably be cheaper and easier to buy a set from ebay but i think it looks way better than it used to

kev · **Posted:** Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:14 pm

What the hell is that stuff on the plug?

derek · **Posted:** Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:26 pm

my hopes and dreams, kev

wagon13 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 8:47 am **Posts:** 8

derek, man it was cool meeting you and your family. let pertano know what parts you need and if i come across anymore stuff i will let you and him know. the guy i got this stuff from has an scca rx2 that used to be in race car mag. and its for sale, ask pertano for pics, but he is askin 10,000 for it :cry:

but good luck with build man and nice meeting you!!!

wagon13 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 8:47 am **Posts:** 8

oh and by the way caught a flat on trailer on the way back to colorado :cry:

and ran out of fuel :oops:

.
so ended up driving corona all the way back cause a tire was $135 plus install! . but corona ran like a champ :lol:

i hope your trip was better.

derek · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:21 am

it was a good way to spend a saturday for sure.
sorry about your troubles. i had a boring drive back. everyone fell asleep on me 10 miles out of town and woke up just before i pulled into the driveway. :lol:

pertano · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:29 pm

Derek,
Thanks for meeting up with us and making the drive. I hope it was worth all the trouble. The drive back for me was uneventful. The truck and trailer ran flawless and aside from some serious boredom along the way the 6 hours flew by. The RX-3 is already starting to get some attention here and I've decided to wait for the blue one to show up to really get my creative juices flowing. I think this one is a little to nice to alter much on it. The more I look at it the more I am liking it.

The Duece looks pretty solid man. Keep up the good work. I will definately keep my eye on it as the project moves along.

All poised in her spot

derek · **Posted:** Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:20 am

that rx3 looks so amazing.

you guys both made out very well on your trade. im glad i got to hang out and meet everyone and im happy to hear that everyone made it back home ok.

VintageRotaryDecals · **Posted:** Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:56 am

Looking good!! Keep the updates coming!

derek · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:03 am

so yesterday i pulled the engine out of the old gal. it was really quite enjoyable and i found myself smiling a lot. its really the nicest old car ive worked on. everything came apart with little fuss and no broken studs or bolts or seized nuts. the torch just sat in the corner getting dusty. the hardest part was trying to get the exhaust to separate from the manifold. a wonky angle and rust made it want to stick around a little longer but finally i got it freed up.

this engine was absolutely water logged. i drained the oil prior to removal and a good 2 liters of fresh mountain spring water poured out before the 2 quarts of oil found their way out the drain hole. after i got the engine out and started moving it around to tear down to the keg, more water poured out of every orifice that happened to be pointing downward at that time. i had to squeegee my floor constantly to try and keep the garage dry and not sloppy.

after i got it to the keg, jefespeed came by and helped me tear the keg down.
it came apart a little roughly, it was a nasty smelly sloppy mess inside. rotors were frozen to the irons and took a bit of persuasion to finally get everything apart.

i was pretty bummed about the housings. they looked like they were in really really awesome shape and looked even better after i started cleaning them up in the wash sink but alas, right at the end, i found a couple deep pits in the bottoms of them where the water has eaten through the chrome. no chatter marks, no scars, no triangle grooves.. no idea why this car was put up. it looks like engine wise, it was very nice and had no defects.. well.. till someone decided to top it off with a lot of wet stuff.

ill take pictures of everything after i get back in town but if anyone wants or needs any early 12a stuff, let me know. irons, housings, rotors are junk but the e shaft, oil pump are good and all the ancillary stuff is good too like intake manifold, twin dizzy front cover, factory exhaust bread box thing/manifold, starter, alternator, water pump, air pump.. etc..

i think now my plan is to find a cheap running fb, possibly even a gsl-se if i can find it, and just do a quick engine swap so i can enjoy life. so much for making it appear stock under the hood.

pertano · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:09 am

There is a guy selling a twin dizzy 12a locally here. U can pick it up when u come to jccs in a few months. :-)

derek · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:02 pm

i already stashed the rotors and irons so i couldnt take pics of them but here are the housing

engine bay looking even more sparse

sucks that the frame rails are so shot though

not sure how im going to fix them..

gypsy · **Posted:** Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:52 pm

Frame looks OK to me Derek, just surface rust by the looks of it.

Not sure what you are planning for the car, but its got all the hard to get bits and pieces, brackets etc. Maybe get a mobile sandblast guy out to clean up the engine bay for you ? You can then seal it with some 2K primer and have a shop paint it. The blast guy could probably seal it for you as well.

Hard to recommended anything without knowing how far you want to go. Maybe just fix what needs doing and get a quote from a panel shop for the body work. The paint will never match 100% unless you spray the whole car, however it also adds a bit of character carrying out only essential repairs. Most of what you pointed out doesnt look serious at all. :tu:

for the colour.

I'd try and repair the original engine (by using a second block), housings come up often enough and Mazda still sell all the required seals for a rebuild. A real shame about those housings, they look perfect aside from the pits.

derek · **Posted:** Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:13 pm

thanks for your reply, gypsy. i always enjoy your posts.

my original thoughts were to find an sa/fb 12a and just dump it in and toss everything out and drive it but after reading your post.. i think i should still find the fb engine but put the twin dizzy front cover on and use the wacky exhaust stuff. the exhaust seems pretty rusty and would probably blow away upon first start. wonder if i could get the piping rebuilt and fix up everything else.

as far as the engine bay, ill probably drop the subframe and clean it up and reshoot it then clean up the fenders/frame and try to color match it. not sure if there are repro decals and stickers or if i should attempt to mask off the factory decals when i shoot it.

so much fun to be had.

gypsy · **Posted:** Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:42 pm

An fb Rx7 doesnt have interchangable rotor housings with the twin dizzy engine.

For what every ever reason USA twin dizzy engines had larger exhaust ports. I'll pm you some details. The exhaust studs are in different locations as well so if you have the original exhaust that won't fit on the Rx7 12a either. Decide the path and go from there I suppose. An exhaust shop should be able to either repair or copy the original design if they have it as reference.

If you decide on an FB engine you'll need to swap over the gearbox as well. Twin dizzy box wont fit on single dizzy 12a's. If you go that path you're better off putting in a nice 13B out of an Rx4/5 or early Rx7.

Engine bay decals are available from Letzgo on Ebay, he puts them up from time to time.

rx2 build: ヘドラ Hedora

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