Barnyard Build (FD-93)

[Paul.Pavlov]

After much sole searching and research I am now seriously into this renovation process which will include suspension and drive train upgrades. As everyone who has traveled this road knows, there is a lot of work to be done, so based on life's experiences, I am breaking this swap business into many coordinated projects to keep things as simple and straight forward as possible.

I will endeavor to update this thread as I move from project to project with pictures and the inevitable "How Do you Do That" questions.

There are so many talented folks here, I'm 100% sure I can pull this off. I'm starting off with my Trashed 93 FD, and once that is complete we will dive straight into my good buddy's pristine 88 FC.

Thanks for reading and all your soon to be comments.

[Paul.Pavlov]

Last weekend I scrubbed, prepped and painted the engine bay.
After I painted the engine bay, my friend noticed that the auto paint was not the same color and asked me if I told the paint shop the right paint code. I double checked the label on the can and sure enough it was Mazda Vintage Red Code NU. So I went back to the paint shop and made them remix another pint and do a paint match, this time getting it right.

After a day or too later I started to like the color more and more and so now my thoughts are to move on to the rear end and brake work project and not go through the prep and painting exercise. I must warn you I am a bit color blind so to me it just stands out more, but is not that much of a contrast to be ugly.

Monday night I dropped the rear end, including the damaged subframe. So I hope to have it all updated and into the new (used) subframe and ready to go back in this weekend.

[Paul.Pavlov]

Last night after I disassembled and cleaned the rear end, I was looking at the rectangular fuse box in the engine bay on the DR side and wondering how am I going to mount this thing.

I could not find any mounting studs/bracket holes other then what appears to be a broken spot one of the sides. I referred to my shop manual but could not locate a drawing that showed how this thing was originally mounted. So I started to think about building a custom mount, but for the life of me could not see how to attach anything that could hold it in place and still be able to remove the cover for access to the fuses.

So does anyone out there have any suggestions/pics to illustrate a possible solution, or do I have to find a replacement?

The attached pic shows the fuse box in question...

[Jon F]

It just mounts to the battery's positive post originally, no brackets, etc.

[andrewb70]

Great job. I have nothing meaningful to add except to the occasional rotard that might look here.

Directed at the rotard:

See that? That car was a dying pile of junk. This man is giving it TLC, restoring it, and keeping it on the road. The V8 RX7 crowd continues to keep cars on the road that most likely would have been crushed, thus preserving the RX7 legacy. Not to mention the fact that we make them better.

Off my soap box.

Carry on with the excellent work.

Andrew

[1fastmofo]

thats gud stuff andrew lol

[Paul.Pavlov]

Thanks Andrew...

Concerning my previous question about the mounting of that fuse box, with the battery relocation that I am planning, I will not be mounting this fuse box directly to the battery and I do not want a bunch of wires/fuses freely bouncing around. I need a suggestion to secure this thing. There are way to many road titties in Texas that will guarantee lots of vibration, hence frayed wires/shorts, etc...

Help Please...

[The Phil]

Kind of ghetto, but I just zip tied it to something in the engine bay, after covering where the live wires connect to the box with insulation of some sort. I think I used electrical tape.

[Paul.Pavlov]

I considered zip ties, but I was hoping for a more elegant solution. I still have plenty of time before I commit to a solution, so hopefully I can figure something out in the next few weeks.

[Paul.Pavlov]

While the weather here in Texas just turned hot, I was able to successfully install all the Delrin bushings into the rear suspension, along with changing out the differential fluids. As you can see from the pictures, the rear suspension is back together and ready to go back into the car, however, I decided not to install it, but rather start to plan and work out all the issues with the fuel system.

I took a couple of pictures of the stock fuel filter while the subframe is out, and now I am looking for suggestions on where to install the Corvette FPR and to determine what existing hard lines to keep and which ones to remove. It’s was too easy to work under the car with all the suspension stuff removed. Hopefully I can find all the answers this week, so I can modify the fuel system, and then put the rear end back into the car. I am a bit weak on hose/hard line connection modifications, so any help in this area with part numbers and such would be great. For example the GM part # for the male connection to the Corvette FPR.

Suggestions with pictures would be great. Thanks in advance.