Genuine Rolla
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1987 RT-AWD WAGOVAN build!!
- Thread starter EastCoastEK
- Start date
Turkey Day progress:
Nice warm weather for painting down here in NC! Got the hood and the inner lines of the front fenders in the bay painted today. I used all Duplicolor stuff. Man, I REALLY like their rattle can products!
1 coat of primer, (2) coats of "Wimbledon White", and (2) coats of clear. The Wimbledon White is a near EXACT match to my Chrysler Cool Vanilla.
Pics:
Hood:
Inner lines of the Fenders:
I also got (2) more much needed coats of red on the valve cover. I used wrinkle black, baked it, then sprayed w/ high-temp red. However, coverage is TOUGH to get over the wrinkle black. Word to all: If you can't find it at the store, go ahead and order the wrinkle red, as my method is a LOT of headache. I used (6) coats of red, and STILL do not have perfect coverage! Of course, that could have to do with me being forced to spray in minus-50 degree weather too.
Tomorrow I hope to get the front end put back together. I need to do some front brake work as well, and mount up my new kicks. Also, I need to block sand the valve cover to expose the wording. If time, I may even try to mount the front lip, and then paint it. Will see.
Car will prob. not start until I get a replacement fuel line fitting. Here's the one on the right carb. It's currently cracked, and is spewing out bunches of fuel.
I'm going to try and order the fitting and a throttle-cable mount/bracket tomorrow and, if possible, get them overnight shipped to be ready to put in on Saturday. I REALLY want this car running by the end of the weekend.
Tomorrow's another day!
Thanks for looking.
Nice warm weather for painting down here in NC! Got the hood and the inner lines of the front fenders in the bay painted today. I used all Duplicolor stuff. Man, I REALLY like their rattle can products!
1 coat of primer, (2) coats of "Wimbledon White", and (2) coats of clear. The Wimbledon White is a near EXACT match to my Chrysler Cool Vanilla.
Pics:
Hood:
Inner lines of the Fenders:
I also got (2) more much needed coats of red on the valve cover. I used wrinkle black, baked it, then sprayed w/ high-temp red. However, coverage is TOUGH to get over the wrinkle black. Word to all: If you can't find it at the store, go ahead and order the wrinkle red, as my method is a LOT of headache. I used (6) coats of red, and STILL do not have perfect coverage! Of course, that could have to do with me being forced to spray in minus-50 degree weather too.
Tomorrow I hope to get the front end put back together. I need to do some front brake work as well, and mount up my new kicks. Also, I need to block sand the valve cover to expose the wording. If time, I may even try to mount the front lip, and then paint it. Will see.
Car will prob. not start until I get a replacement fuel line fitting. Here's the one on the right carb. It's currently cracked, and is spewing out bunches of fuel.
I'm going to try and order the fitting and a throttle-cable mount/bracket tomorrow and, if possible, get them overnight shipped to be ready to put in on Saturday. I REALLY want this car running by the end of the weekend.
Tomorrow's another day!
Thanks for looking.
SICK CAR BRO!!! man i have allways loved the old wagovans 
Thanks for the info. TeinR!
Updates:
Progress is still moving forward....
Wednesday and Thursday were the only day's last week that I could get the time to work on the wagon.
I did get the valve cover finished. It took (6) total coats of red! (4), then bake, then (2) more! What a hassle.
Def. go with TeinR's advice, as he seems to have found a much easier method!
I finally block sanded the cover, and it now puts the necessary bling factor on to the 20-plus-year-old engine.
My in-law braised the cracked fuel-inlet fitting, and it pressure-tested just fine. So, were good to go there now.
We just need to fab a throttle cable adaptor cable for the carbs. I hope this will go smoothly.
We hope to get the car running, brakes done, and back on (4) wheels this weekend.
Oh, and the (4) wheels are extra special this time... Here's a sneak peak
I hope to post something more "meaty" at the end of the weekend. We'll see!
Thanks for looking.
Updates:
Progress is still moving forward....
Wednesday and Thursday were the only day's last week that I could get the time to work on the wagon.
I did get the valve cover finished. It took (6) total coats of red! (4), then bake, then (2) more! What a hassle.
Def. go with TeinR's advice, as he seems to have found a much easier method!
I finally block sanded the cover, and it now puts the necessary bling factor on to the 20-plus-year-old engine.
My in-law braised the cracked fuel-inlet fitting, and it pressure-tested just fine. So, were good to go there now.
We just need to fab a throttle cable adaptor cable for the carbs. I hope this will go smoothly.
We hope to get the car running, brakes done, and back on (4) wheels this weekend.
Oh, and the (4) wheels are extra special this time... Here's a sneak peak
I hope to post something more "meaty" at the end of the weekend. We'll see!
Thanks for looking.
sorry, i quoted instead of making an edit. can a mod delete this little act of stupidity? thanks...
Dan...lets get some updates...and I sent you a text about the Greenville meet...I have a feeling the car won't be ready though...
Hey Bro!
Sorry, I was REALLY hoping to make this meet. The wagon is just not quite ready yet.
We hoped to finish last weekend, but were stumped by four issues:
(1) The axles I ordered from O'Rileys were the wrong ones. The inventory on their computers is wrong. They have the correct ones arriving (supposedly!) tomorrow morning. FIXED.
(2) The headers I had DID fit a d15a3 just fine, but were bumping into my 4WD transfer case on the tranny. So, they will have to be modified. In the meantime, I picked up a 87 Si exhaust manifold from a local CRX dude . It will flow a lot better than my stock wagon manifold. SOLVED.
(3) Fuel delivery problems to the carbs. Still a mystery that needs to be solved. Hopefully, sooner than later.
(4) Need to fab up a bracket to hold up the throttle cable above the intake manifold at the correct angle/distance. In-law coming to start making it tomorrow.
So, due to various parts not fitting, and not having little odds and ends parts (fittings, lines, etc...), my last two Saturdays have been depressingly un-productive.
I'm REALLY hoping to make some actual headway this weekend. It would be great to get the car back on four wheels again, and fully assembled, with the throttle bracket complete. Then, next week could be carb week, and I'll be off and running to the exhaust shop before christmas to complete this sector of the build.
Well see...I'll keep everyone updated.
Problems suck...lol...it is cool though...thanks for the update...I think this is one of two threads on here that I actually watch as far as builds go...they are thinking of doing a meet in Asheville in January, so I will keep you informed...
Cool, please do. There was another dude on here from Asheville that was interested in seeing the car as well, so that might could work out. However, it's a LONG ways away to drive with a wife and baby at home. I'll have to get clearance there, lol!
Either way, I hope that your mazda build is going smoothly, and that today's meet goes great for you guys!
Post pics!
Do you have a build thread for your wagon?
SHE RUNS!!!!!!
Yes! Today was SO productive. Finally actually got some stuff done. It went down like this...
Picked up new L/R front CV axels from O'Rielys in the AM. They fit! Problem solved.
Took off stock wagon calipers and rotors, and tried on my new rotor/caliper set-up for fitment. I'll be running a new set-up I bought off of a local RPR guy, Geoffrey. He sold me his 2G Teg calipers and 1G Teg rotors. Rotors were practically brand new.
Once everything lined up OK, I un-bolted all of it and gave it a cleaning and a couple of coats of Duplicolor black Caliper Paint. I painted the WHOLE rotor. I mean, everything. I don't like the rusty look...
I then took the rotors to O'Rielys and had them resurfaced this afternoon. They came out great. Once they are on the car and getting ran everyday, they will not look rusty anywhere, not even the on sides. This makes me happy.
Then, we bolted up the Si header. I painted it with VHT Flame Proof flat black paint this morning, to match the intake manifold. It bolted up fine. However, the Si manifold is about 1.5 inches shy of mating up with my wagon exhaust flange. Has any other wagon owners installed an Si mainfold, and experienced this same problem? It's not a HUGE problem, as I will be getting a custom exhaust within a couple of weeks anyway. But in the meantime, it would have been nice to have the exhaust connected. Mainly, for tuning purposes.
OK, so while I was doing all of the above, my in-law Alex came over and began mocking up the throttle-cable bracket. He made his template, and will complete it out of sheet metal this week. The final product should bolt right up. It mounts on (3) different intake manifold bolts in a triangle formation, so it should have a lot of strength for the cable.
After that was done, we spent the rest of the remaining daylight on the carbs and fuel delivery. Today was a great success. The carbs were not getting enough fuel for a number of different reasons. The fuel tank had a couple of gallons of fuel, but apparently there was not enough pressure in the lines to make it from the tank to the bay. My lines were leaking fuel slowly over the last month. I tried to plug them when we first took out the engine, but they still leaked fuel quite a bit. I guess there was a lot more run-off than I thought The fuel lines near the front of the car were just too dry to pump fuel to the fuel pump. So, to fix this, we just used a small gas can and fed the fuel lines that go into the fuel pump into the can. Since it's a manual pump, we just unbolted the pump from the dzzy, and used the cam-lobe lever on the pump to manually pump a bunch of fuel into the carb bowls. This helped out a lot. Then, he sprayed some carb cleaner while I cranked up the engine. The first start was ROUGH! However, after some adjustments to the pilot screws on each carb, and the idle-set screw, we were in business. We also made a small timing adjustment at the distributor, as the timing was a bit off, causing some back-firing. It's right on now. I had jacked it up earlier, apparently, trying to get the dizzy on one day when Billy was not here. This was NOT his fault. I say this, b/c I know right now that he is reading this, thinking "WTF!!! I know how to time an engine man."
So, the carbs still need A LOT of tuning, and I will soon take them to a professional to have them properly synced with one another, with proper equipment. But nonetheless, it was a SWEET sound to hear them running.
Lastly we got the hood on. So, a lot of progress. I'm assuming you are wondering where the pics are.
So, on this next post, pics...
Yes! Today was SO productive. Finally actually got some stuff done. It went down like this...
Picked up new L/R front CV axels from O'Rielys in the AM. They fit! Problem solved.
Took off stock wagon calipers and rotors, and tried on my new rotor/caliper set-up for fitment. I'll be running a new set-up I bought off of a local RPR guy, Geoffrey. He sold me his 2G Teg calipers and 1G Teg rotors. Rotors were practically brand new.
Once everything lined up OK, I un-bolted all of it and gave it a cleaning and a couple of coats of Duplicolor black Caliper Paint. I painted the WHOLE rotor. I mean, everything. I don't like the rusty look...
I then took the rotors to O'Rielys and had them resurfaced this afternoon. They came out great. Once they are on the car and getting ran everyday, they will not look rusty anywhere, not even the on sides. This makes me happy.
Then, we bolted up the Si header. I painted it with VHT Flame Proof flat black paint this morning, to match the intake manifold. It bolted up fine. However, the Si manifold is about 1.5 inches shy of mating up with my wagon exhaust flange. Has any other wagon owners installed an Si mainfold, and experienced this same problem? It's not a HUGE problem, as I will be getting a custom exhaust within a couple of weeks anyway. But in the meantime, it would have been nice to have the exhaust connected. Mainly, for tuning purposes.
OK, so while I was doing all of the above, my in-law Alex came over and began mocking up the throttle-cable bracket. He made his template, and will complete it out of sheet metal this week. The final product should bolt right up. It mounts on (3) different intake manifold bolts in a triangle formation, so it should have a lot of strength for the cable.
After that was done, we spent the rest of the remaining daylight on the carbs and fuel delivery. Today was a great success. The carbs were not getting enough fuel for a number of different reasons. The fuel tank had a couple of gallons of fuel, but apparently there was not enough pressure in the lines to make it from the tank to the bay. My lines were leaking fuel slowly over the last month. I tried to plug them when we first took out the engine, but they still leaked fuel quite a bit. I guess there was a lot more run-off than I thought The fuel lines near the front of the car were just too dry to pump fuel to the fuel pump. So, to fix this, we just used a small gas can and fed the fuel lines that go into the fuel pump into the can. Since it's a manual pump, we just unbolted the pump from the dzzy, and used the cam-lobe lever on the pump to manually pump a bunch of fuel into the carb bowls. This helped out a lot. Then, he sprayed some carb cleaner while I cranked up the engine. The first start was ROUGH! However, after some adjustments to the pilot screws on each carb, and the idle-set screw, we were in business. We also made a small timing adjustment at the distributor, as the timing was a bit off, causing some back-firing. It's right on now. I had jacked it up earlier, apparently, trying to get the dizzy on one day when Billy was not here. This was NOT his fault. I say this, b/c I know right now that he is reading this, thinking "WTF!!! I know how to time an engine man."
So, the carbs still need A LOT of tuning, and I will soon take them to a professional to have them properly synced with one another, with proper equipment. But nonetheless, it was a SWEET sound to hear them running.
Lastly we got the hood on. So, a lot of progress. I'm assuming you are wondering where the pics are.
So, on this next post, pics...
How she currently sits, after a long day's work:
Here, you can see the recently painted underside of the hood. I kept the MASSIVELY complicated vacuum line chart/diagram, just for nostalgics sake. LOL!:
Everything all hooked up, minus the coolant and A/C systems
I got the valve cover block sanded, and I also painted the timing belt cover gloss black. Yeah, I painted the dip-stick orange! So what....
Anxiously waiting their turn!...
Wagon equipment off. Ready for Teg equipment in the morning!
Teg calipers painted black:
Size comparison b/t Teg & Wagon calipers. Tegs are on the left. The pad size is MUCH greater. They are also quite a bit thicker, to accommodate the thicker Teg rotors.
Rotors; painted and resurfaced, ready to bolt on:
14" MR5's, totally refurbished, w/ NOS center caps and fresh Fuzion rubber. Anxiously awaiting their turn as well...
Even had time to take the family out to pick out and decorate our first family Christmas tree!
Why can't all "build days" go like this one!
Very blessed.
Tomorrow morning before church, I hope to get the brake stuff on, and mount up the Mugens. We'll see...
Thanks for looking!
Here, you can see the recently painted underside of the hood. I kept the MASSIVELY complicated vacuum line chart/diagram, just for nostalgics sake. LOL!:
Everything all hooked up, minus the coolant and A/C systems
I got the valve cover block sanded, and I also painted the timing belt cover gloss black. Yeah, I painted the dip-stick orange! So what....
Anxiously waiting their turn!...
Wagon equipment off. Ready for Teg equipment in the morning!
Teg calipers painted black:
Size comparison b/t Teg & Wagon calipers. Tegs are on the left. The pad size is MUCH greater. They are also quite a bit thicker, to accommodate the thicker Teg rotors.
Rotors; painted and resurfaced, ready to bolt on:
14" MR5's, totally refurbished, w/ NOS center caps and fresh Fuzion rubber. Anxiously awaiting their turn as well...
Even had time to take the family out to pick out and decorate our first family Christmas tree!
Why can't all "build days" go like this one!
Very blessed.
Tomorrow morning before church, I hope to get the brake stuff on, and mount up the Mugens. We'll see...
Thanks for looking!
Its running.........finally...lol...good to hear...
The meet went great...we had 24 cars and 37 people show up...
I was extremely impressed and there were actually more people from CM here this weekend then there were at the car show we hosted a few months ago...
As for me having a build thread...none...I just pick up pieces when I can get them for good deals...
Once I got to thinking about it though, they are going to be having weekly weekend meets North of Charlotte and I may just come up to the house one day to check the car out and then hit up one of the meets that night...
Glad to see good progress being made...
The meet went great...we had 24 cars and 37 people show up...
I was extremely impressed and there were actually more people from CM here this weekend then there were at the car show we hosted a few months ago...
As for me having a build thread...none...I just pick up pieces when I can get them for good deals...
Once I got to thinking about it though, they are going to be having weekly weekend meets North of Charlotte and I may just come up to the house one day to check the car out and then hit up one of the meets that night...
Glad to see good progress being made...
OK, updates. It's been a very productive weekend.
Got the Teg rotors and calipers bolted up.
Painted all the wheel wells. Added black caliper paint to the rear drums.
Before Paint:
After Paint:
Down on (4) wheels again!
DEFINITELY needs a drop now, about 2.5-3 inches all around, I'd say.
NOS OEM Fogs, still waiting to go on...
I also got my new hatch support shocks bolted up. No more pole to hold up my hatch. Yes!
Then I tried to get my NOS center caps mounted up. I realized that the inserts had to be mounted from behind the wheel, PRIOR to putting the wheels on. I took of one wheel to start the process, but the mounting bracket that sits inside the MR5's (that the center caps screw in to) was not inserting very well. The mounting brackets appear to be too big to fit inside the center hub in the wheel. I'm thinking either:
(1) The center caps are for 15" MR5, and thus, don't fit my 14's;
or
(2) They need to be professionally pressed in by a machine shop.
Since I did not buy the caps, and they came from the guy who I bought the wheels from, I have no clue about what exactly he ordered. Can anyone comment here? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Is there a size difference b/t the 14" and 15" Mugen brackets and/or center caps, or am I just installing these incorrectly?
I tried the hammer into flat-head screwdriver method, and that didn't work to well, as you can see in the pic! Ouch!
However, I did get the windshield washer fluid reservoir back in, filled it up w/ de-icer fluid for the winter, and checked that the washer and wiper systems were functioning correctly. Then, I ran out of time for the morning. Still need to bolt up the radiator, A/C condenser, and front end stuff, then off to the muffler shop for a custom 2.5" exhaust. I'm thinking of running a Thrush muffler. I've also got a Magnaflow SS clamp-on tip picked out for the end.
After the exhaust is on, I'll take the car to a local shop that I here does good work with carbs. They can sinc the carbs up just right for me, I'm sure. I'm also going to try to get them to install a full set of Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings for me, and lower the car a good bit.
Then, well, there will still be a lot more to do. I'm rambling, sorry...
Thanks for looking.
Got the Teg rotors and calipers bolted up.
Painted all the wheel wells. Added black caliper paint to the rear drums.
Before Paint:
After Paint:
Down on (4) wheels again!
DEFINITELY needs a drop now, about 2.5-3 inches all around, I'd say.
NOS OEM Fogs, still waiting to go on...
I also got my new hatch support shocks bolted up. No more pole to hold up my hatch. Yes!
Then I tried to get my NOS center caps mounted up. I realized that the inserts had to be mounted from behind the wheel, PRIOR to putting the wheels on. I took of one wheel to start the process, but the mounting bracket that sits inside the MR5's (that the center caps screw in to) was not inserting very well. The mounting brackets appear to be too big to fit inside the center hub in the wheel. I'm thinking either:
(1) The center caps are for 15" MR5, and thus, don't fit my 14's;
or
(2) They need to be professionally pressed in by a machine shop.
Since I did not buy the caps, and they came from the guy who I bought the wheels from, I have no clue about what exactly he ordered. Can anyone comment here? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Is there a size difference b/t the 14" and 15" Mugen brackets and/or center caps, or am I just installing these incorrectly?
I tried the hammer into flat-head screwdriver method, and that didn't work to well, as you can see in the pic! Ouch!
However, I did get the windshield washer fluid reservoir back in, filled it up w/ de-icer fluid for the winter, and checked that the washer and wiper systems were functioning correctly. Then, I ran out of time for the morning. Still need to bolt up the radiator, A/C condenser, and front end stuff, then off to the muffler shop for a custom 2.5" exhaust. I'm thinking of running a Thrush muffler. I've also got a Magnaflow SS clamp-on tip picked out for the end.
After the exhaust is on, I'll take the car to a local shop that I here does good work with carbs. They can sinc the carbs up just right for me, I'm sure. I'm also going to try to get them to install a full set of Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings for me, and lower the car a good bit.
Then, well, there will still be a lot more to do. I'm rambling, sorry...
Thanks for looking.
thanks man! will do.
So...just wondering...what is that bar going across the back pillars...also, is there a roof rack on the top of this...
Sorry if I haven't kept up on teh updates but what's the plan for suspension? How low does that rear diff come? I would love to see this slammed but not sure if that's can happen or is the plan.
Great progress so far!
Great progress so far!
The bars are some kind of factory option. You have to have the bars, and the correct c-pillar interior panels. I got all of the pieces our of a brown interior wagon at pull a part this summer. I'm still not really sure what they do though! LOL!! I just got them b/c I knew that they were an option, and that they didn't come on every wagon. I suppose that they have something to do with a hanging window cloth, for tint or privacy. That's my best guess. They will stay on there until I figure out exactly what they do.
Roof rack is definenitely staying. They were only available on the 4WD models, so I'm keeping it. Also, trying to remove it and have a smooth, LEAK PROOF, roof would be A LOT of work. The (6) mounting screw holes for the rack can only be removed with brut force, as they are build into the roof. Then, it would take massive amounts of welding/bodywork to make it look right. None of which I wanted to go through the hassle of doing....