rx2 build: ヘドラ Hedora

beans161 · **Posted:** Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:54 pm

Nice car, I am amazed at the cars in the states and the relativly low prices sought for them, or should I say the realistic prices. To think you can get an original rx by a swap still baffles me. Rx2's are so classy. I really have a soft spot for them.

Its sad that with all the technoligies and advancments these days no one has managed to find a way to re-chrome the old rotor housings, so many half ok motors wasted because there is no way to re-coat them? or is there? I'm not sure.

If your keeping the car standard looking then a twin diz or even single diz 12a would definately suit the car and be worth the effort, they all can look pretty original with a factory carb and air cleaner attached. But if its going to be modified then any rotary engine will do, limited only by your budget and imagination. Good luck with the build!

derek · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:14 pm

had a lead on a bow through turbo 12a so i went and checked it out today.
kind of exciting to see but pretty disappointing too.
was the factory 12a turbo but converted to carb with an hks setup. mani, box, turbo.. anyway it looked neat but i pulled the plugs and spun it over and it had a dead face. on top of that, i was told 400$ on the phone last friday and when i got there, the price changed to 650$.

i took a pass on it.

im going to go look at a 79 SA tomorrow. if it has a good engine, im going to pick it up and part it out.

i did take the rx2 to the car wash for a spray. we flat towed it. the front brakes or bearings or something is dry and screwed up. super high rolling resistance and sounds like death. the exhaust also fell off on the way.. how embarrassing..

anyway. there is a rotary car bbq on the 16th and i think it would be a blast if this thing could chug down to the park and back by then.

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:15 pm

beans161 wrote:

Nice car, I am amazed at the cars in the states and the relativly low prices sought for them, or should I say the realistic prices. To think you can get an original rx by a swap still baffles me. Rx2's are so classy. I really have a soft spot for them.

Its sad that with all the technoligies and advancments these days no one has managed to find a way to re-chrome the old rotor housings, so many half ok motors wasted because there is no way to re-coat them? or is there? I'm not sure.

If your keeping the car standard looking then a twin diz or even single diz 12a would definately suit the car and be worth the effort, they all can look pretty original with a factory carb and air cleaner attached. But if its going to be modified then any rotary engine will do, limited only by your budget and imagination. Good luck with the build!

The guy that made the 12 rotor engine develped a resleaving method to change the chrome surface on the housing so that one could reuse old housings. He was still experimenting with it last I heard. He was using a sleve that wouldn't require oil for lubrication...... :shock:

derek · **Posted:** Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:30 am

kind of a mini mid week update.
yesterday another piece of the interior puzzle showed up; the heater/radio and shifter surround. thanks pertano!

now i need to figure out how to hook the controls up and find out where all the missing electrical connectors are.

only have one pic and it makes the interior look shotty but thats ok i suppose. i dont have any interior screws so this weekend im going to go pilfer the junk yards and fill my pockets with them so i can start to bolt this stuff in to place. interior needs another round of cleaning too.

oh and the chrome plastic stuff is flaking off the surround. any ideas how to take care of that issue or repair it?

Camshaft · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2012 10:58 am

I really, really love this color. :shock:

Great work so far!

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:01 pm

http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=651700

Read through this, John mentions a exterior chrome striping he used for the plastic once "chrome" on the door cards

r100guy · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:29 pm

The chrome around the radio, clock and surround is just silver paint and that can be retouched or redone with a silver paint marker. The chrome strips on the shift console are plastic chrome (Plastic metalizing) and that is another story altogether. The pieces will have to be shipped to a company to be re-metalized which is very expensive. I can tell you where NOT to send them and that is "M&M Metalizing" in Westminster CA. Expensive and of poor quality.

derek · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:44 am

awesome guys. thanks
the shifter surround has the worst problem with chrome.. maybe i can try cleaning all the loose debris and garbage off and paint it too.. ill have to think about it and play a little bit.

the shop has been quiet for the past few days. been working on sprinkler systems and other grown up things.

i do have a new question though.. i started fiddling around with the tail lights and noticed that i have no wiring or sockets or anything for the tail lights. someone must have clipped them when they took the original tails. can someone post a pic of exactly where the wiring enters the trunk space and what the sockets look like so i can either source or rebuild the missing wiring?

thanks again.

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:12 pm

The Wires for the left tail lights runs from the tail lights up the driver side quarter panel to around under the rear glass and it meets the right side wires at the right corner and then travels down towards the back panel of the trunk/ where the back seat goes on the other side. this is what its like in th coupe, should be the same in the sedan I would think. BTW that first picture of your car I added is a quick diagram I made to explain things better.

http://s1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh629/RX2fan/

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:18 pm

I'll upload more pictures of some stuff I forgot tomorrow

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:20 am

i see!

i will have to take a closer look and see what happened to them and ill probably take some shots tonight to show you what i have.. there is a repu in a local junkyard, id assume that the sockets and wiring are really similar.

thanks for all the pics! it makes a lot more sense now.

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:10 pm

small update.. had some time to play so i decided to try and clean the plastic interior stuff a bit more..

sorry in advance for the more horrible than normal photo quality. my camera took a vacation

still not happy with the cleanliness of it all.. probably going to take it all back out and scrub again..

also dug into the trunk a bit more and this is what i found

drivers side has the harness clipped in about the same spot too.
the yard i was told that had the repu, didnt have a repu so i guess i am now on the hunt for some sockets and wiring for an rx2..

thanks for letting me share

gypsy · **Posted:** Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:06 am

The sockets from the photobucket link with the Rx2 coupe suggests to me that the sockets may be the same on other 70's Mazda's. They look the same as 808 and rx3 at least. It's worth checking out.

derek · **Posted:** Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:56 pm

yeah i figured as much. too bad that the only thing more rare than an old mazda in a junk yard is a mercedees 300sl

more pics

natural light works wonders

also not sure how i missed this but this gauge seems like its missing something important

derek · **Posted:** Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:27 pm

so my curious friend came by to look at the new project and he brought his camera. here are a few shots from saturday.

all of these are also available in high res so if you have interest in them for wallpaper or whatever, email me and ill send you your very own copy for free!!!!

derek · **Posted:** Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:03 pm

so after a few comments on the sad state of the RE badge, i decided it would be something nice to take care of on this lazy saturday afternoon where its too hot to be in the garage

first thing i did was jb it back together. i thought about trying to solder or weld it but the internet said it was possible to damage it more than not and its not a stressed part so this should hold

after it dried, i decided to get my gf involved and she painted the whole thing for me

finished product

trial fit back on the car

not bad for 20 minutes of work with materials we already had laying around

next is the M logo on the grill. i think there is some kind of resin substance that they sell at the hobby shop that will have a similar thickness and color, so ill try that out this week or next weekend

also about 5 seconds away from just buying an SA/FB for the engine and other parts. there is a complete and running 79 for $500. just worried that i dont have any more room at my place for another dilapidated car.

keithrx3c · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:15 am

Nice project you have there Derek, although I'm an RX-3 guy the earth green series two sedans are my favourite of the RX-2's, wouldn't mind one myself oneday, maybe after the current 808 coupe project is finished.

Great work so far, the badge turned out really nice. Good luck with the progress.

Pertano, if you haven't already, could you please do a thread on the RX-3 coupe asap?! Looks like a very nice starting point.

Keith :wink:

derek · **Posted:** Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:35 pm

can anyone verify if these housings are pre74 12a?

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:33 pm

They are not, those are 80's housings

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:37 pm

Actually those exaust ports are quite small. if you still have your front or rear plate from the old motor, grab a set of dowel pins, put them in the plate and put the housing on it. if all the holes line up maybe its a later production Mazda made for the early motors? but like I said those were made in the 80's

rx2 build: ヘドラ Hedora

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