Yesterday after work, I finished putting the rx7 back together (just had to put in the radiator/fan/shroud/etc. so not a lot), filled the fluids, turned the key... and it started. Checked the timing (close enough), monitored things as it got up to temperature and burped the cooling system, and shut it off. After a thorough investigation, it was determined there were no major leaks. By this point it was a significant storm outside, so a hoodless test drive was out of the question.

Fortunately, today at lunchtime I managed to con a coworker-friend into swinging by to help put the hood back on.

Today after work, I re-checked fluids and tightened one weepy hose clamp. Hopped in, turned the key... and it started. After warming up, I adjusted the timing (it was really close but now it's dead on), closed the hood, and backed out of the garage.

Went for a short drive around the neighborhood, getting back as the rain started (noticing a trend here? This has been all summer - it's hot and sunny until about 5:30 then storms, except for the weekends when it just rains all day). No major issues, seems to run about the same as before. The new clutch feels much better than the old one, which wasn't worn too badly when I took it out, but felt like it was on its last legs.

I've parked over a sheet of clean cardboard (a rarity!) so I can identify any leakages. I expect a little from the coolant hoses, as those usually take a set after a cycle or two and need snugged up. I'm also still very strongly suspecting that the oil pressure sender is leaking from the seam in the body, but haven't had any clean oil come out of it yet, so it could just be the old goop trapped in there getting hot and running out.

In any case, it's currently a whole lot better than it was (previously this exercise would have resulted in 3-4 dollar-bill sized oil spots on the floor by the time it even warmed up).

As planned, some friends and I went on a mini-vacation to the greater Nashville area (more on that later) and combined the trip with some truck shopping. Both parts of the plan were a success.

Having prioritized my saved links, we went to check out the first truck on the list (which was the most appealing option). It was everything the listing claimed, spotless underneath (those of us who live in the salted lands understand), and a fair-for-the-asinine-used-truck-market price, so I bought it.

It is everything I was looking for: single cab, short bed, 4x4, zero rust, maintained (single owner, dealer maintained, was a company truck of some sort, has corner strobes), has a/c and cruise control, and I could afford it. It has some miles (179k) but for a work truck of such age is in good shape. The steering wheel is a bit sun damaged but the interior is otherwise pretty good (and basic! crank windows!), there's a spray-in bedliner and toolbox in the back as well.

The only missing nicety is that it is the 3.7 and not the 5.0, but at least it isn't an early ecoboost (concerning) or a 3-valve 5.4 (even more concerning). Having driven 500 miles home, the V6 is definitely adequate (and gets decent mileage), so I am very satisfied. No signs of issues with the waterpump that these can develop. The six-speed automatic is a six speed automatic and always wants to be in one-too-high of a gear, but that's how anything is. It kicks down if you ask it to; foot on the floor it revs to seven thousand RPM. In a truck.

The chrome hubcaps, smoker vents on the windows, and questionably-legal-here tint are on the short list to address (aka remove). Otherwise, it doesn't really need anything beyond a normal new-to-me round of fluids and filters and a couple stone chips touched up before they rust.

The trip overall was also excellent, I'll post more about the two main Oppo-interesting places visited later.

As planned, after work I killed a little time to let traffic decrease, hooked up the battery, and fired up the Chevelle for the first time since late November-ish when I turned it around in the garage to do the bodywork on the rear. After various checkout and warmup, I went for a very short drive - all is well. The new steering wheel is very good.

When I got back, I checked everything over again, then changed the oil. A fresh 7ish quarts (why does my made-in-USA oil come in liters?) and filter and it should be good to go. Since the engine is still pretty young, I'm going to see how the plugs look and check the valves (and adjust if needed) tomorrow, then it should be ready to go for some real driving... and get washed. It's filthy.

The @Curators are proud to announce that Oppo's own classifieds section, Hyphen's List, is now active!

This can be reached by navigating to the appropriate category from the "Categories" page, or by clicking here. Hyphen's List is intended to be both a location for members to sell their secondhand goods (car parts, etc.) as well as providing a space for members to promote their own personal shops and storefronts as vendors.

How does it work?

Hyphen's List is divided into two sections, explained below. In addition to the section rules pinned in each section, the regular code of conduct for Oppositelock applies - be excellent! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the curators as always.

Swappo

Swappo is for member-to-member private transactions. This is where you, an individual, would post parts, cars, and other goods for sale to other members. Think of it like a swap meet - individuals selling their junk goods to other members. In Swappo, you will find a pinned post outlining the guidelines and requirements for ads; both "For Sale" and "Want To Buy" are permitted.

Shoppo

Shoppo is for business-to-member transactions. This is where member-owned shops, vendors, etc. are able to post ads, deals, and so on to sell to members. Think of it like a shopping center - businesses and companies selling their products to members. In Shoppo, you will find a pinned post outlining the requirements to get your shop's post approved as well as general guidelines.

Around this time in 2017, I bought one of the cars I've long longed for - a 1985 Mazda RX-7. The most base of base model (literally the only option it has is A/C), it is excellent. I then daily drove this car (known as SpringCar because I bought it in the spring) in the summers for a couple years (including a long-weekend 1400 mile trip to the tail of the dragon), before tucking it into longer-term storage in fall of 2019.

In the time I drove it regularly, I did a bunch of work (racing beat exhaust, heavily modified carb, full suspension rebuild, etc.) beyond the usual maintenance. That said, the car had some issues which I did not have time to adequately address, and eventually were enough of a pain that I was okay with storing it until I had a plan.

I have a plan.

The three primary issues are:

• It leaks oil like nobody's business. While I fixed a lot of this, the remaining major leak is the dowel o-rings on the first rotor housing, as they do. There are plenty of posts on the internet to educate you further on this topic if you're not familiar, but just know it's a common issue that leaks a plethora of oil, and requires completely tearing down the engine to fix it.
• The steering is a bit sloppy. The steering in a FB is pretty much the Achilles Heel of the car, as it was kinda-sorta a parts bin special from a dying Mazda. That said, it should be able to take an adjustment to be better than mine is, and my box will not. With a ton of miles and unknown history, something's not right inside the box. Rebuilt boxes do not exist.
• You can't get tires that aren't either shit (refer to made-in-taiwan all-seasons on it now, which are better than nothing, since they're perfectly fine to drive on around town, if it's dry) or track tires.

I will be addressing these first two immediately. Despite being reluctant because the car really does run perfectly, the engine is coming out to be completely dismantled for the sake of... changing an o-ring. While it is out, I'll have room to access the steering box and take it apart to clean the adjustment screws and determine what the issue is within, then give it a proper adjustment.

If, after the engine is back in and the steering working, all is well, I will move on to address the third issue. There are some other small (mostly cosmetic) things I'd like to take care of as well.

I can understand if you forgot (or never even knew) I had this car - but now prepare to see a whole lot more of it.

One downside of the first gen RX7 is that there aren't really any good options for 13 (or optionally 14) inch tires, and the wheels use an eccentric, to say the least, bolt pattern. Within the realm of tires that will fit on the 13x5.5" factory wheels, the options are... junk. If you get optimistic and go a little wider, you get junk or race tires with no in between.

So you look for wheels - but wait, the bolt pattern is... 4x110. Yes, 110 and not 100 like everything else. From what I can find, this pattern was used on these, the GLC of the era... and a few kei cars in Japan. That's it. Even Mazda realized this was an issue and on the 84/85 GSL-SE trim went to a 4x114.5 (I think) pattern.

At some point, Konig made some of their "Rewind" wheels (minilite style) with the right bolt pattern and offset in 15x7, and even these are getting hard to find. Fortunately, I was able to piece together a set in late spring. I was waiting until I knew the engine rebuild was successful before shelling out for hub rings, lug bolts (yes these use bolts not nuts), and tires.

Going from "Solar" brand Taiwanese all-season rocks in a 175 width to Continental ExtremeContact Sports in 205 is... quite a lot of rubber. At least for a tiny, 2300lb car.

This past week, despite some poison ivy (which continues to be an issue) between my fingers (!) I was able to get everything together for a weekend out of town visiting some friends.

I think they look pretty good. The improvement in tire/sidewall is remarkable. The car doesn't noticeably wobble around on the sidewalls, both in straight lines/highway as well as turning. It's overall much more stable, actually has less road noise, even on the highway, and of course is now essentially glued to the road. A 15mph turn at a stop sign no longer yields screaming tires, and while I've not come close to pushing the limits, I sure haven't found them in some casual+ driving.

As for the tires, they're as much as fits on one of these. The inside sidewall on the front is about 5mm from the strut/spring and the outer sidewall is flush with the fender lip. In the rear it's a similar scenario, you probably could try really hard and get a 215 in there... but why?

So that's the latest news on this; I'm looking forward to driving it a little more, addressing a couple smaller issues (steering wheel is slightly off-center, and the brake/clutch fluid is due for flush by age, but performance has been fine), and hopefully making it to a HPDE on the 21st/22nd

@chariotoflove

Continuing the "finishing for now" of the Chevelle, after work today I put the rear wheels on, filled up the gas tank (I had drained it into cans before removing it in the fall), put the car back on the ground, and installed something I've been wanting to do for quite a while (but only recently decided to spend the money for).

While the original steering wheel was in pretty good shape compared to many of its age, it was cracking in some spots (and getting worse) and is an early 70's pencil-thin steering wheel in general. Enter the replacement:

Installation was a breeze (steering wheel puller is one of those tools that comes in handy now and then) since I bought the hub kit meant to go with this wheel, and it's a pretty common column to fit.

While the same diameter / dish, the new wheel's rim is much thicker, and also continuous. An additional benefit is that it is wood and not plastic. The spokes are brushed stainless, the rim is walnut. It's very nice. I opted for a black hub and not polished so that it would match the rest of the black on the dash and be one less thing to reflect sun into my eyes.

I like it.

The only thing that should be left before going for a drive is hooking the battery back up. Barring anything strange, I should get to that tomorrow... then it needs an oil change and wash.

In building a rig to hold some box fans under the garage door (for ventilation while priming/painting) I got a little carried away, and it turned into something actually pretty nice.

The fans are screwed into the top/bottom boards using some existing holes from the feet/handle, the upper board has a hole for each of the speed control knobs to exist in, and the fan-fan joints had a hole drilled and a small bolt installed for added rigidity.

The frame is 9 feet wide (to fit under the door precisely), with the fans slightly offset for reasons with its own on-board power strip. The large openings have cardboard to close them off, and when I get some time I'll make small patches to cover the gaps between fans, but they're really not an issue. One fan is black because I bought it a couple years ago in the middle of January, and it's all they had. The other two are identically made, but white, and were half the price a few days ago.

For painting use, some cheap 20" furnace filters will go over the fans to reduce how much overspray I blow into the driveway, and a panel (also with filters) will be fit to the man door of the garage, for clean air intake (located behind where that last photo was taken from). The gap at the top of the garage door will get some plastic taped over when it's time to paint.

I realized while testing it that this over-5000CFM (each one claims 1750) of airflow will also be very nice on a hot day, as it creates a noticeable breeze across the garage. Closing the man door (well, the storm door thereon) audibly bogs down the fans.

Plan for tomorrow evening is to make the insert for the man door (attempting to fit two 20" filters into, essentially, the screen opening on the storm door), finish cleaning/vacuuming, and starting to hang plastic / mask.

@ranwhenparked said in Ohio releases new license plate:

@kiltedpadre Philadelphia is among the lesser of Pennsylvania's problems, I'd say Shamokin, Braddock, Chester, Marcus Hook, Bethlehem, Scranton, and Erie are much worse. Not that I can talk, most of the cities and towns in my state are total shitholes, kind of including the one I live in, or at least large parts of it.

As a former resident of Erie: Is it good? Nah, but I'll take it 200 times over philthadelphia.

@kiltedpadre The farm plate is definitely better than the new one, but the current basically-plain-white-with-banner is clean and simple, which I like. I can't stand busy, colorful license plates, and the new one is definitely busy and colorful.

Just make it plain, I don't need my license plate to stick out and draw attention, it's an ID card not a designer badge.

When I did construction, three of us framed a smallish (about 36' square) house in a day. The next day the trusses were set, and we did the roof the next. Overall in a week it went from the sill plate on the tops of the basement walls to the shell of a house.

@kiltedpadre It's awful. I am honestly considering going to the BMV and asking if I can just like... buy half a dozen of the current plates to use on future cars (and recycle the old ones I have laying around still).

@derp said in Ohio releases new license plate:

lol. birthplace of morons too, apparently.

also, what it is about ohio that makes so many people want to LEAVE. Most astronauts, first successful powered plane builders... anything to physically leave ohio, huh?

As a non-native resident of Ohio: yes.

@tripper Ramen, you say?

Get the cheap one and mount it on the forks to drive the front wheel and the mid-price one and put it in the normal spot and boom: AWD motorcycle. You're welcome.

(The one in Ohio is only about 1h 15m from me, but that doesn't help get it to you and I certainly couldn't ship it any cheaper!)

Yikes.

@hammerheadfistpunch Yeah, the reality is solar cars don't work, even with the best panels and the perfect weather, they aren't big enough to recharge themselves at any appreciable rate.

@darkbrador Individual definitions may vary. If it's intended to be a project car, then yes I'd agree that may be part of the appeal.