DIY custom brake lines

Custom brake lines - FB RX-7

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There’s a lot of information out there about making DIY brake hard lines, and having gone through a few walk-throughs, youtube videos, and a trip to O’Reilly’s I felt confident to dive in.

After spending the day mocking up my new hard line with baling wire, bending the steel hard line, overnighting the 10×1.0 fittings from Amazon that nobody carries in-stock (even though its THE most common import brake fitting size), flaring the ends and hooking it up, I was only met with disappointment when my fittings didn’t even pretend to create a sealed line.

Instead I got to watch as my brake system drained all its fluid, now making it so I need to flush the entire system in addition to creating a new hard line.

I hope that my notes can save you the extra time and expense it will take to learn the hard way!

Continue reading “DIY custom brake lines”

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Watts link & trailing arm modification

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The watts-link and trailing arm rear suspension in the first-gen SA (78-80) and FB (81-85) Mazda RX-7 is notorious for”binding” at the extremes – full extension and compression of the rear solid axle. In these situations the watts link and trailing arm bushings will be compressed and torqued to their limit, as they are solidly clamped to their mounting points.

By securely de-tensioning these mounting points, we can allow the bushings to act as a pivot joint, with significantly smoother operation throughout their range of motion. This creates a flatter suspension curve, rather than it ramping up as soon as the bushings engage.

Regardless of your application, casual driving, aggressive road, or especially track and racing, you can gain significantly increased articulation from your rear suspension from this inexpensive, at-home tuning technique.

Thanks go to Carl Perez (Rx7Carl) for his PBandJ Racing write-up for the source material – you’re a legend my friend, brap on. Continue reading “Watts link & trailing arm modification”

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keep it old school

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Join us on Sunday at the Old School Reunion – the Pacific Northwest’s most epic showing of vintage imports. We’ll be posting photos during the event, but don’t sit on this one, show up! Weather should be pleasantly mild, which will make for some great photos.

I’m working double duty on Selene (1984 RX-7) right now to finish up my wire tuck (and a million other small projects), which should result in some great how-to’s and tutorials. But for now, here’s a little sneak peek…

Tickets available online for cheaper or $5 more at the gate. See you there crew!

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Mission

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Welcome to Retrotuned, a resource dedicated to those passionate about vintage automotive aesthetic, artful engineering, and the love of all things revving.

We provide a time-proof, always-updated repository and resource of the most recent and accurate information pertaining to the build, maintenance, customization and tuning of vintage and retro-themed automotive endeavors.

A shortcut past “I read on the interweb…” straight to real-world experience, knowledge, and resources for tuning and modification.

We provide an ongoing, indexed, and interactive audio / video / photo journal of our personal automotive endeavors.

Thanks for stopping by, catch you on that next lap!

~Geoff Jensen, founder

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