3rd Generation Specific (1993-2002) 1993-2002 Discussion including performance modifications and Technical Support Sections.
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My thanks to everyone the last year, real-world info on the 3rd gen.

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Old 02-07-03, 05:39 PM
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My thanks to everyone the last year, real-world info on the 3rd gen.

Time for me to give something back to the forum....

I have owned my 94 rx7 for a year now. Its been the most amazing and yet most frustrating car ever. My car has never left me stranded, however I have had alot of issues that I had to fix. Some of them were my fault, some were due to mileage (156K miles) and some were due to poor engineering.

I guess I just want to compile a list of things that i have done to my car that have made the biggest difference in performance, feel, look and reliability. I will also discuss some issues I have in the past.

I guess I will start with cooling issues:

Cooling Problems:
-----------------

When I first bought my car it was bone stock with a very recent engine (20K miles). after parking the car the engine would make a perculating noise. I had this for several months. I replaced the AST cap and the filler neck cap and the Perculating noise went away.

Shortly there after I realized my "Low Coolant Light" (AKA Replace Engine light) would come on and sure enough I was low on coolant. I found that the coolant would be a puddle underneath the passenger side of the car. It would never leak out when driving, just after I parked.

I posted some questions here and most people said it was my coolant seals. Rynberg was the one that correctly told me it was likely my overflow tank.I replaced the tank with a new one from the dealer, installed myself in about 20 minutes and the problem went away.

Coolant Hoses:
---------------
I have had my turbo hose go bad, my upper radiator hose and the hose behind my manifold. The hose behind the mainifold is the worst one, from the heat it bulges from the metal clamp and cracks. The coolant will slowly leak and run down the exhaust/dp area and leak on the road.

Its expensive and a PIA to fix.

If you ever have your manifold removed for any reason (rats nest, selinoids, injectors) please check and replace that hose. Its a $15.00 part, but labor is about $200.00.

If you ever smell coolant from your engine bay, its either a hose or the radiator cap or AST. Regardless of what anyone tells you thats not normal.

AST:
-----

when I had my stock airbox I removed it once. There is a hose that is to the right of the airbox that is refered to as "The Mystery Hose".

It has this nickname, because frankly it appears to do nothing and connects to nothing. My research indicates that this hose keeps the car from making a "MOO" sound. Really...I'm not lying. Anyway....I

took my airbox off and put it back on later. I went for a ride and low and behold my car almost overheated. it was just below the Red. I turned my car off under the bridge where i was and I found that all my coolant had poored out of my engine..(well most of it) My Ast was
cracked where the nipple is. I realized then that when I took the top of the box off, the mystery hose grabbed on to the AST coolant hose and cracked the nipple. Becareful.

FAN Motors:
------------

I got my new stock AST and put it in, I had a worm clamp that I went to attach and it fell into the engine bay somewhere. I assumed it fell to the ground, big mistake. My car was running very hot and then I found
that the clamp fell to the bottom of the shroud and killed my radiator fan motor. Ok, so I had a new motor put in.

Driving home from the shop, I noticed my water temps were 108 (on a very hot day). I was told that it was normal. So for 5-6 months I figured it was ok as long as the temps never got into the red. One day while drag racing all day at SAC on a very hot day my temps were over 100-105 all day, at some point hitting 110-112. At 11 PM that night, it was very cool out, yet my car was 114 degrees. I had to make a decision..either drive my car and take a chance of blowing my engine or stop the car and let it heat soak to 140 C. Not an easy decision.
since there was no traffic I decided to pop the hood and run....the temp went from 114 to 112 and eventually 90's.. When I got on the

freeway it hit 82. I decided to take my battery out and see whats going on. Here..my new fan motor had died. It appears that my KOYO core presses up on the shroud which presses agains my SMIC, killing the motor. It was never working,even the day it was replaced. I had to have my radiator lowered even further so there is more clearance. Since that day my temps are 82-86 on highway. I have now have my fans come on at 90C.
If your temps ever get above 95 (and 95 is an EXTREME case), there is something wrong.

Ok, backtracking a little bit. when I realized that I was running on one fan I made the appointment to get the new one installed, that appt was in 2 weeks. one day the other fan stopped working and I was completely without fans. It turned out that the fan fuse (60A) kept
blowing. Some wierd *** slit in the wire going to the radiator fan caused it to hit metal and blow the fuse. How I could be driving down

the road fan working fine and then the fuse blow from a cut in the wire pressing against the metal is beyond me. either the FD is destined to over heat 1 way or another or the slit was there and I hit a bump or
something that repositioned the wire and cause it to rub.

Fuel Cut:
----------

I found that I need to set my selinoid duty cycle back to avoid my 15 PSI spike. Also when I dynoed my boost on the dyno graph showed a 15 PSI spike, yet my power FC only registered .88, I assume the power fc
cannot register 15 psi. FYI.

Power Window/Doorlock/alarm issues.
--------------------------------------

My passenger window would sometimes go down, but it would always go up. It went down about 25 pct of the time I tried, the other times it would not. EVERYONE including my mechanic told me it was the switch. I
reached into the wiring harness and found if I press on the wires in the harness the window will always go up and down, when I let go it would not. I got the idea from my logic that the reason it worked some time was dependant on how the door got slammed. Turns out the switch was ok. the harness was cleaned of the rust/decay (from water getting in) and has worked ever since.

My door lock still does weird things. the power locks will work for a month or 2 weeks and then stop for 3 weeks or a month and then start again. If the passenger side door is locked the alarm will set even if the drivers side door is unlocked. sometimes in the middle of the
night my alarm will just go off for no reason and the power locks will work again. The joys of owning a FD .

Drivers side outside door handle.
----------------------------------

a few months after driving the car I noticed the handle will get stuck sometimes. Once I pulled really hard and broke it. costed like $200.00 for a new one. I found that if the handle gets stuck and you cant lift the handle up, you can go inside the car, take the cover off, remove the 2 bolts, go back outside pull the handle out, get WD40 and spray at the bottom bolt (where the big spring is) and turn with a screw driver to losen. This will fix your problem. I advise using

WD40 monthly or atleast every 3 months or so.

Ignition Key problem.
---------------------

I had a problem where I would put my key in the ignition and it would get really hard to turn. I don't mean the engine would not turn, I mean the key itself would get harder and harder to turn. this went on
for about a month, I called my mechanic and told him, he told me to spray with wd40. I laughed at him, but tried it. From that point on it has worked fine. damn that wd40.

Gas door
---------
I open the door from the release lever, parked my car to get gas and being the idiot that I am walked into the gas tank door and broke it. its held on by a cheap plastic hinge (like everything else) and is $100.00 to replace. I got a used one for 30 bucks. Just an FYI that
they are fragile.

Headlight Covers
----------------
both mine are toast. they have cracked where all the screws hold them down. I took silicon glue and glued them all down. You cant tell and they work/look as good as new.

Bushings:
----------
I just had all my bushings replaced and I can tell you its expensive but the ride quality is like night and day.

Strut Tower Brace
------------------
I bought a cheap STB from ebay for 19.99. I thought it would be a POS. It looks identical to the CUSCO STB that sells for 160.00. The brand I got was BOMZ RACING and I can tell you it made a huge difference in the feel of the car, well worth the money. No fitament issues and is polished aluminum.

Brake pads/Rotors
--------------------
I replaced my brake pads with rx7.com brake pads and my rotors with brembo's (front/rear, the rear rotors are another brand but look identical). I got them off Ebay for like 270 bucks, brand new. From www.irotors.com. This is one of the most enjoyable mods I have ever
done. Not only does the car look sick as hell, but the feeling when you press the brake pedal..is like a very tight solid car. Makes it feel very substantial. I don't know if it was the pads or the rotors, that made the difference. You can see pics of the strut tower brace
and the rotors here:

http://members.aol.com/zerobanger/rx7.jpg

Leather seats/Tan to black conversion:
----------------------------------------
I replaced my tan seat covers with black leatherones from leatherseats.com. cost was 575 and worth every penny. the seats look better and are more comforitable. I would say the seats have held up
very very well over the last 8 or 9 months. I dyed my carpet black at the same time. I used the dupli-color fabric dye/vynle paint. For the carpet it has held up very well, its not good for high traffic areas (for example if you foot rubs agains the carpet alot, you will eventually see tan show through and have to re-dye it) I found that I need to touch it up about ever 3 months, but the process was very easy and quick. I chose dying it over the cost of new carpet. I recently found used carpet for $125.00 so I will be installing that this spring.

I also painted my door panels/dash with the duplicolor paint. they were already black but faded. This stuff makes the car look new again and does not peel off.

You can search my name and find the threads on the seats, dying carpet and the door panels, as well as the painting my wheels.

I painted my wheels Gunmetal. I love having a black car with black interior. especially when nearly the entire car is black, the headlights, tail lights, mirrors, etc. The wheels stood out too much.

Anyway, for about $10.00 and about 1.5 - 2 hours of your time you can get amazing results. Everyone thinks they are powerder coated and its been like 3 or 4 months and no chips or scratches (except when I hit a
curb and had to repaint one). I even had my bushings replaced the other day, even with the air gun the paint did not come off.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...light=gunmetal

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...atherseats.com

Performance gains:
-----------------

I did a dyno on my car comparing a run with the same mods/settings with a highflow cat VS a Midpipe. I ended up with 30 more HP from the MP than the HFC. After tuning, I ended up with 315.8 HP.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...highlight=dyno

Trap Speed:
-----------
Whats the ONLY better way to find out a HP gain than a dyno? its your trap speed. Here I detail my results of more than 60-70 runs at the local drag strip with the stock airbox, modified stock airbox, RX7fasion/m2 cold air box and a modified rx7fasion/m2 air box. In a
nutshell, when I went from a modified stock air box and a highflow cat to a rx7fasion cold air box (same as M2) with no modifications and a midpipe I actually lost a MPH or 2 on my trap speed. I modified my cold air box and went from a 105-106 trap to a consistent 110 trap.
Without airflow the rest of your mods will never see fool potential.I'm Working on a second mod to the box to get me to about 111-112. Stay tuned.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...highlight=trap

Sorry this is so long, but the last 2 hours I spent typing this may help 1 of you.

David
Old 02-07-03, 06:45 PM
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Great post. Some stuff will be taken care of in my engine rebuild (replacing most of the hoses) and other things are definitely good to watch out for.
Old 02-07-03, 08:12 PM
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Found this when looking through your previous posts.

I realize that my power FC will NOT spike if the boost settings are right. For example on my 2nd run I changed the settings and did not have any boost cut.

This might not be the proper place, but care to elaborate on this? What are your settings and do you avoid spikes regardless of intake temp?

-Scott
Old 02-07-03, 09:05 PM
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Originally posted by skotx
Found this when looking through your previous posts.

I realize that my power FC will NOT spike if the boost settings are right. For example on my 2nd run I changed the settings and did not have any boost cut.

This might not be the proper place, but care to elaborate on this? What are your settings and do you avoid spikes regardless of intake temp?

-Scott
there is no easy answer for this one. Let me give you an example. I can have these settings...

80 68
80 58

and I may get a fuel cut....then I would do the following...

80 68
85 54

and that fixed my fuel cut.... My only resoning is that the spike has to be .20 higher than your boost setting. .80 =11.76 lbs of boost. after 14.11 lbs, you will hit a fuel cut. I have found that the spike happens on the 2nd turbo, at least thats my theory.

So the 2nd turbo is now .85 meaning the car will have to spike to 15.0 lbs before a fuel cut. by lowering the duty cycle and raising the boost level, it lessons the chance for a spike. Keep in mind I have a fuel pump and 1200 CC injectors, a spike is not going to blow my engine.

Keep in mind These settings may work right now, but in 2 hours it gets cold outside and I can hit a fuel cut again. In that case I would change my 2nd turbo to .90 and lower my duty cycle to .50.

I have it almost down to a science, it just took lots of trips to the track. Also be aware that Im not claiming that these settings KEEP the car from spiking, it just raises the bar as to what PSI the car will give a fuel cut.

I hope that makes sense to somebody. I'm not even 100 pct sure that everything I said is correct, all I know by doing what I just said, I usually prevent my fuel cut.

David
Old 02-07-03, 10:19 PM
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excellent write-up. did you paint the inside of the wheels too? or is it too hard to see with the new rotors?
Old 02-07-03, 10:27 PM
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i enjoyed the write up and appreciate the time it took to write.
Thanks!
Old 02-07-03, 10:29 PM
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Thanks for the write-up.
Old 02-07-03, 10:59 PM
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Originally posted by JimmyJimboJet
excellent write-up. did you paint the inside of the wheels too? or is it too hard to see with the new rotors?
Thanks so much! Im not sure what you mean by inside of the wheels, I just painted the outside part. It looks really good, hehe.
Old 02-08-03, 12:21 AM
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Great write up...

I have bookmarked some of your previous posts (particularly the leather seats) and REALLY, thanks for all the great info and experience

and once again something new with the koyo that I didn't know (I installed mine also)...but need to check the fans though....I ended up dropping the brackets as it let the koyo sit alittle lower...but now you have me thinking I need to check the fans again. If you remove the battery how do you check the fans to see if they are working?

Finally, are you running stock sequentials with the PFC? Do you use a boost controller (profec b)?



GREAT GREAT WRITE UP!
Old 02-08-03, 01:29 AM
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I'd like to hear more about the strut tower brace, personally.
Old 02-08-03, 01:32 AM
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Originally posted by jimlab
I'd like to hear more about the strut tower brace, personally.
Funny, Jim. Really funny (I didn't forget the way you tried to belittle me in that post about my STB a while back). But this post is for owners of RX-7's not Camaro's.
Old 02-08-03, 01:39 AM
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Well, even a Camaro owner can appreciate your write-up. Good work, and the seats and door panels look great.
Old 02-09-03, 07:43 PM
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Originally posted by jimlab
Well, even a Camaro owner can appreciate your write-up. Good work, and the seats and door panels look great.
I was just a little pissed about that thread before, I take things to an extreme. Thanks for the support.
Old 02-09-03, 08:50 PM
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Good info...thanks for taking the time to post
Old 02-10-03, 09:30 AM
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Yeah, its interesting to see what other go through on their cars.
thanks
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