My 4.3 vortec 84 FB

[rugbyguitargod]

GREAT read man!! Really put things in perspective about how to tackle this FB suspension geometry.

[RXTC]

#1 it's a FB, not C or D.
#2 it has a 4.3v6 in it, not a LM, LQ, LS

What flaw did I find??
RK

The rear suspension.

I love all Rx7's, but in order  FB, FD, FC and lastly SA

Subscribed!

[rk970]

So I came down with shingles.. Right eye/ upper part of the head. Must of been the two state audits and the federal tax audit that pushed me over the edge.  So I am in my shop and figure I can still take care of a few smaller tasks on the build. 
I pulled the distributor and put on a new "melonized" gear and cut a .040" groove in the distributor housing above the gear mesh point for better oiling. 
Next I took the S10 shifter and the T5 camaro shifter and made one that works for my application



This is the lower S10 shifter after it is taken apart.   


This shows the Camaro and S10 shifter lower part. You can see how the pivot is higher on the S10, this makes for a much shorter throw (S10 shifter handle is 14" tall)


S10 lower (flipped 180* so it curves to the back) with the camaro upper.


Trial fit.  I brought it back another 1/2"


All welded up..and smoothed out.


Ready to go back together when the paint dries. 

[rk970]

Paint is dry.









All done. short throw shifter on the cheap... 
Rk

[Andrew R]

Looking great!

Top notch work!

[Pez]

I just used a shifter from a Mustang for my last t5 car.  It uses 2 bolts to hold the shift arm on the shifter, like a T56. It's got shorter throw geometry and is spring loaded to be self centering.

[rk970]

I just used a shifter from a Mustang for my last t5 car.  It uses 2 bolts to hold the shift arm on the shifter, like a T56. It's got shorter throw geometry and is spring loaded to be self centering.

I thought the Ford T5 shiftier plate had a different bolt pattern then the GM T5.  I would of gone that route if I known.   I just used what I had.  The lower part is from an S10 truck which has a 16" long shift handle, now it is 7" and the throw is really short.. it also has a cup spring to self center..
rk

[rk970]

When I started this project I had a grannys trans mount to start with.  I had to modify it some.  The T5 camaro trans is tilted 17 degrees.  If you run a straight up bell housing you need a trans mount tilted 17 degrees.  The grannys mount was at 15 degrees.  I had to cut it apart and weld it back together.






I cut the left side off and almost cut through the right side so I could bend it to 17 degrees.  This moved the left side up 7/8".
I had to add 1/4" spacers to get the right inclination angle of 2.5 degrees (This is were it needed to be to line up with the diff pinion and keep the u joint working angles under 3  degrees)  and slot the trans mount holes to get it to center under the car (it was approx3/4" to the left of center). 

[rk970]

Ok I found the color I am going to eventually do my car in. I found this pic



I was originally planning doing Black, Black interior.. Now it will be silver with black/charcoal grey/tri-color carpet interior..  I even have the same rims 
Anyways I have been working on the pan-hard mounting.. I will post pics later this week.  Talk about a challenge, keeping the stock tank,with an anti-roll bar and making it all fit, it will be close but I am making it work..   
rk

[dream36realms]

so what you are saying is that I could pull the respeed coilover adapters and ride in the exact same spot? I noticed that at the full extremes it appears to make no difference in ride height. what I really want is to raise the rear about an inch and figure it from there. so in my case I would want to shorten the strut bracket by about an inch? how would that mess with my beefy lower arms? I am also contemplating the pan bar instead of the watts since all the rotards love that route as well.

[rk970]

Panhard mount on the axle is done.  Now I have to straighten the axle housing.  It has -.4° camber on each side and .2° tow out on each side..  was like that before I started..
rk

[rk970]

Well as I earlier posted in my thread here that my a pillar had some issues.  I just cut the a pillar out of another one so I can use the outer part to fix my car..







Had to remove the windshield, unbolt the dash and steering column to push it out of the way, then a sawzall made short work of it..

[stilettoman]

I think these cars look good in a bright silver, and have thought about using one of the very bright silvers with the fine pigment, like the S2000 I saw, and some others, much brighter than the original RX-7 silver.

In 1992 I built a convertible from a GSL-SE, painted it bright silver on top, shaded to a silver grey on the lower panels.  The effects in different lighting were interesting.

When I painted my current project in 1997, I thought about bright silver on top, and light silver grey on the sides - thought that would make a nice contrast with the bright silver wheels.  But I had the metallic red paint, so I used it.  Still looks pretty good, but I have only driven it 36k miles.

I did not read every post on your thread, but I skimmed through and did not see anything about brakes - What are you planning to do about brakes?

[dream36realms]

my 79 is bright silver from the factory and still looks perfect to this day then again it is a historical car and was garage kept till I bought it


looking good man, I really wish I knew how to sort out a panhard bar for my 8.8. it would iliminate the need for those damn watts links.

[RXTC]

I also straightened the axle housing (sorry no pics) by putting a new axle bearing in the end. Then using the carrier with the side/spider gears removed to sight down (like a big gun sight).  Was easy with a rose bud torch. by shrinking the tube in key places..

Metal skillz are strong with this one!