Rick's 91 Smurf - Rekindling the Romance

[RoadsterTech]

I Just go in two more shipments:

1.The key components of my new front Sway-bar End Links

2. A New to me set of rear NB Control Arms, I got these from atank.

The Control Arms need a very small bit of attention and some paint (Okay I'm Anal!) but mechanically they are in great shape.
Best of all the bushings are still flexible... and the adjusters are in great shape.


Now I need to order a second set of Rod Ends to go with these new Control Arms as well.

[wannafbody]

Maybe weld the extra sway bar tabs on the lower control arms.

[RoadsterTech]

I was kicking that around.... are the NB arms that much more susceptible to breaking with the single tab?

[RoadsterTech]

Here are a few new pictures:

I was told it passed the tennis shoe test:



A fellow TBM'er called it a 1 AE I hope that was a compliment!

[RoadsterTech]

I just put on my new "to me" sway bar

The Sway bar was from an NA8 and was a little long for my NA6 so I needed a new set of end links.
Here is a picture of the end links:



Here is a shot of them on the car...
I ended up removing the big spacer on the sway bar end of the rod end and taking alignment washer on the bolt head side of the rod end and moving it to the sway bar side.. This helped with clearance issues I had with my shocks.



Here is a picture of the sway bar in place and at ride height.



Now I can't wait to see how it works at the autocross tomorrow.

[RoadsterTech]

Here's all of the rubber parts, water pump and Idler pulleys I was going to replace on the replacement motor:



Time to Rock and Roll

[RoadsterTech]

I started to pull things apart to get the timing belt and water pump changed out and found this:



I would have sworn that it was a new head but the person I bought it from says that the original owner used Royal Purple oil. This is quite an endorsement of Royal Purple.

Here are a few more shots:





It looks as though the original owner already put in a new TB and water pump... they were not OEM.




Oh well I am putting in OEM so I'm happier with that.

Look what came out of the Thermostat I haven't heard about that in years.




One problem though the cam seal / bearing cap was either defective or cracked when the TB job was done.. It popped apart when I went to pull the seal out...



The other one appears to have flaws as well:




see my thread on this:

http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....9068#post79068

After much discussion and back and froths on this I decided to use an old cap from an old head and sand it into alignment.

I made a fixture on my mill to sand every thing parallel and then made a sanding mandrel that was just the right size.



I was able to get a 0.0035" gap evenly around the cap when it was torqued down.

So every thing is going back together. You have got the use the FM Cool tool and bottle opener!





Waiting for my new F1 Racing Flywheel



I hope to have everything together an into the car on the 16th... The big factor is whether the flywheel gets here or not.

[RoadsterTech]

[Lesac]

Its always so awesome to see someone who has had a car for 20 years and still enjoys and works on it like it was new.

[RoadsterTech]

[ozzie84]

You give me inspiration to hero the 1.6, great job..and Super clean

[RoadsterTech]

Thanks!

[theothersawyer]

Good looking car! I like the valve cover, very clean and simple!

[RoadsterTech]

Thank you sir... that's kinda the way I like the car to be.. nice but not in your face..

[Dave737]

"Look what came out of the Thermostat I haven't heard about that in years."

I just found the same thing in my thermostat housing yesterday while doing a timing belt.

What is that from?

PS great story, love the valve cover