Yeah they also rub a bit on the front strut and are pretty heavy to turn. Plus they are too round in diameter and look pretty crap.

Replaced the master cylinder seals earlier this week, so just need to bleed them when I can get a hand with it

Finally made some progress worth posting..

Got in new master cylinder seals and it turned out there was some wear inside the bore, so it still leaked. Got in a brand new complete master cylinder. Always buy a complete cylinder instead of just the seals. Just the seals cost $40 but the complete cylinder was $109 and it wont have any problems.

New one on the left..


And installed



Had some dramas after that..
-couldnt get any fluid through to the bleed valve on the back so I bled the master cylinder.
-Still couldnt get any fluid through so I got a plastic syringe to try pump/suck it through.
-Still wasnt working so I bled the rear brakes at the proportioning valve and tried to pump it through but that didnt work either.
-Last resort I disconnected the brake line into the rear drum and bled it with my finger and fluid finally came through. Turned out the ball bearing in the bleed valve had seized which promptly shot out in a wave of fluid in my face next time I pumped the brakes.
-Bled the front brakes after that and they are still a bit spongy, but I need to adjust the drums

Next thing on the list is that the engine will stall when the brakes are applied, I think it's the one way valve on the vacuum line from the inlet manifold. Dont know where it is but I'm pretty sure it aint working

progress?

black wheels on yet or what?

Not too much progress on those wheels. Got them all stripped ready to paint, I just need to polish them up. Just not very nice in the garage because the exhaust exits close to where I sit while I'm working. Its going in for a full exhaust system this week so it will be easier to do the wheels after that. (Its also quite loud and annoys the neighbours)
They look pretty nice in this photo but not quite there yet..


I also decided to man up and finally buy a new battery, so it starts very easily now.

I bought a cheap set of RX7 s2 rims on sunday for rego. Started off pretty gross but they cleaned up ok


Maybe going orange centres for a bit of fun? Kinda Mk2 style. I'll have the spare painted tomorrow for opinions..

Ummm? Not sure how the colour goes.

Tyre looks pretty crap but the orange goes ok with the car colour? Paint was too wet to bolt them on


Think I liked them better black

I lived through the 80's, trust me, you do not want them back.

Paint the RX-7 wheels black.

Yeah I only made it into the 80's by about 8 months so I must have missed out!

They'll get a quick clean and a spray black and some cheapy tyres for rego.

Have to bleed the brakes again in the next few days before I drive it to the exhaust guy around the corner. Its getting a 2" manifold back to replace the rusty old one. Its currently got a sedan front piece which doesnt line up with the old wagon one, and the flanges are a different shape. I'll try get it tucked up as high over the diff as possible, and the guy said it will be louder but not too loud. (Hopefully no chrome falcodore tips haha)

Slighty off topic but I had the daily 92 tarago (rwd) serviced yesterday. Had been feeling a bit floaty up the back recently, turns out the rear shock had sheared from the diff. He jacked up the car but the left side sagged on the ground. Pretty lucky I didnt have some massive failure induced crash!

Made it to the shop today. Doesnt drive too bad either. Has a bit of go when it drops back to 2nd (its a 3 speed) and it steers quite nice.
Only had my phone for the picture

Went past the shop wednesday.. He has had a look at the brakes and it turns out one of the front pads had slipped out a bit which is why the pedal was going to the floor. He said it was a common problem with the older style of the calipers. The pedal is now solid with less then half the travel before!

And the exhaust has been sized up and planned out but the shop had had a few emergency repairs to do this week so mine is being done tomorrow. Nothing else done this week as I've been pretty busy with work etc.

Ok so car is back at home. Exhuast tip looks a bit ghetto but shouldnt attract attention I guess.

2 hot dogs and a bigger rear muffler. Its quiet at idle, so now I can hear the tappets need adjusting. Gets pretty loud with some revs, so I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. For some reason it starts alot better now, possibly due to the better exhaust flow? and he fixed the choke knob as it used to pull itself in


Not long to go now!

Did some stuff over the weekend

Started off like this.. This one had some mad gutter lovin on 1/2 of the lip


Bit of this


Got most of the gutter marks out. Used a smooth metalwork file then the usual wet and dry


All clean


Etch primer


Black


Just needs a coat of clear all over


Need some tyres now and some boots on the steering rack.

Picked up some free RX-7 seats today. If they fit right in and look ok I might get some better ones. Otherwise one will make a cool PS3 chair. Side bolsters are still pretty firm, but the material is a bit torn

Love it man! Should look goopd with one of those seats in there and hey you cant beat free!

I have been looking for a 323 Wagon as my first car in NZ but there all $3000+ unfortunatly. Great job with yours its a shame you couldnt use those Momo Black Mesh wheels!

So here is black wheels on the car



Kiwi's go mad for 323's ! Lucky mine was free

Seats dont bolt straight in. They didnt come with rails but they are the same width as the 323 ones, but just a bit longer. Might get some spare rails and mod them. They are also quite low to sit on, and I cant see over the dash very well. They also look abit weird with the auto shifter still in there


Still going to use the mesh wheels. Just going to do them properly and put them on after the rego inspection. Everytime I see them on the car they look soooo cool.

Those mesh wheels with Black centres would really just top it off! I really hate Modgies on 323's

Those seats sound good to me but then I am 6'3" and 16 so it might not be best for you, any idea on repairing them or anything? Those rips will only get worse.

And you know what to do about the auto shifter......

Modgies arent really my favourite style either. Nz guys know how to get low though!

Did some stuff today. Cleaned out under the seats and put the standard seats back in. There has been some water pooling up on the driver's footwell and I found a small leak in one of the seams on the side so thats been patched up.



Had the guard off to patch up the seam. Re-alligned the door while I was at it.


Also made some progress with the wiring on the front left corner. Previously the parker and blinker would flash together as one light, it turned out that each side of the connection was wired differently so I've now got fully functioning lights!

I was kept busy sunday at a mates place. It had a massive oil leak somewhere


Safety first !


Tried to patch it up, didnt have much luck with it unfortunately. It had a crack in the top of the crankcase

Today I bought..


Converts the old sealed beams to semi sealed, meaning that it uses standard H4 globes in the back (cheaper and easier to fit). I got the 100/55W bulbs swapped for 60/55W which is a bit closer to stock. They also have an option to put parkers in

They are brighter than the old ones obviously, and they are clear and white compared to the yellow colour they were.


Also got the hot air hose to connect the exhaust manifold shield to the air intake, also got some parker bulbs which had the wrong connection so I'll need to swap them. I'm trying to do something everyday, even if its only little cause I want this done asap!

Nice wagon.
And nice camper.

So today I had some help to adjust the valve clearances.

Step 1 is always to take off the bonnet. Flip forward bonnets are cool, but they can get in the way a bit when you are trying to work on the engine.


Valve clearances needed doing as the engine had done 5km since a head rebuild when I bought it. Looked nice and new in there . After that we checked the points and they had a bit of pitting on one side. I had a new set lying around so chucked that in and clearanced that too. Had a go at doing the timing but it was a bit too bright to see the timing light properly so I'll have a go at that later.


Next on the list is to finish the mesh wheels and get some tyres. I'm not so worried about "the inspection previously known as a blue slip" (vehicle identity and safety check) after seeing a friend of a friends car that made it through..

Wheels are almost ready. Finished polishing up the lips and they are now masked ready for a less humid day to paint