1989 GTUs 20B N/A Build Thread
01-10-09, 03:51 PM
#1
1989 GTUs 20B N/A Build Thread
So, I guess it is time to start the build thread. This thread seems like more of a hassle that putting the interior back in....but anyway, here goes.
I first found out about this car on Autotrader in 2000. I contacted the owner and the car seemed perfect. I just couldn't afford it. So over the course of the next couple of years I continued to contact the past owner. He still had it for sale but I still could not come up with the money.
At that point in my life I was living in my shop, surrounded by RX7s and I decided that it was time for a change. I sold all of my parts cars and tools and my 87TII. I moved from Little Rock to Fayetteville Arkansas.
I soon found myself moving to Italy, Northern Tuscany actually for a year. That was awesome.
When I got back from Italy to Fayetteville the bug started hitting again. I found a second gen in Houston that I was very interested in. I was just about to pull the trigger on that car and I decided one day out of the blue to see if Randy still had the car for sale in Mesa, AZ. I remembered his name, called information and got Randy on the phone. He said that he had just decided that day that he finally was going to sell the car. He was looking into running it through Barrett-Jackson.
We came to an agreement. He dropped the price 2K and gave me 6 months to pay for it.
So that is how I got the car. The car was pristine, 48k miles, always garaged and very, very few times did it get caught in the rain. It had a Nelson-Paxton supercharger and lots of suspension done. It had Mazdaspeed coilovers and some other bits and pieces.
It ran great but I wanted something more. So that started the 20B dreams. Well that didn't start the dreams but it gave life to my dream car.
So here we go.
I first found out about this car on Autotrader in 2000. I contacted the owner and the car seemed perfect. I just couldn't afford it. So over the course of the next couple of years I continued to contact the past owner. He still had it for sale but I still could not come up with the money.
At that point in my life I was living in my shop, surrounded by RX7s and I decided that it was time for a change. I sold all of my parts cars and tools and my 87TII. I moved from Little Rock to Fayetteville Arkansas.
I soon found myself moving to Italy, Northern Tuscany actually for a year. That was awesome.
When I got back from Italy to Fayetteville the bug started hitting again. I found a second gen in Houston that I was very interested in. I was just about to pull the trigger on that car and I decided one day out of the blue to see if Randy still had the car for sale in Mesa, AZ. I remembered his name, called information and got Randy on the phone. He said that he had just decided that day that he finally was going to sell the car. He was looking into running it through Barrett-Jackson.
We came to an agreement. He dropped the price 2K and gave me 6 months to pay for it.
So that is how I got the car. The car was pristine, 48k miles, always garaged and very, very few times did it get caught in the rain. It had a Nelson-Paxton supercharger and lots of suspension done. It had Mazdaspeed coilovers and some other bits and pieces.
It ran great but I wanted something more. So that started the 20B dreams. Well that didn't start the dreams but it gave life to my dream car.
So here we go.
01-10-09, 04:02 PM
#3
My goals for the car are to build a car that is more race carish than actual race car. I will not race this car. I will do track days and drive it on the street.
I mean I am doing things like no stereo but it will have AC.
One thing I noticed when I bought the car is that it was loud and hot inside. So that started my quest to deaden the sound and stop the heat pouring from pouring in from the firewall.
So, I decided to get started. First I sold the charcoal wheels you see in some of the pictures. Then sold the supercharger and exhaust.
Then it was time to remove the interior. As you might know or expect lots of things like to break when removing brittle plastic parts. It was not to bad though. The car had always been garaged in AZ. It is amazing how well rubber and plastic will hold up when it is only getting hot. Not ever getting freezing really preserved this car well.
I mean I am doing things like no stereo but it will have AC.
One thing I noticed when I bought the car is that it was loud and hot inside. So that started my quest to deaden the sound and stop the heat pouring from pouring in from the firewall.
So, I decided to get started. First I sold the charcoal wheels you see in some of the pictures. Then sold the supercharger and exhaust.
Then it was time to remove the interior. As you might know or expect lots of things like to break when removing brittle plastic parts. It was not to bad though. The car had always been garaged in AZ. It is amazing how well rubber and plastic will hold up when it is only getting hot. Not ever getting freezing really preserved this car well.
01-10-09, 04:15 PM
#5
I decided to do the FoamSeal trick to the frame rail cross member behind the seats and the running boards under the doors.
I have a thread that covers all of this. So I won't go over it here but it worked well and I am glad I did it.
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-gen-archive-72/my-2nd-gen-foamseal-project-743378/
When I got the engine out it was much more of a mess than I had anticipated. The OMP was spraying oil all underneath the car. As you can see in the pictures the engine bay doesn't match the outside of the car.
The reason why the engine firewall is not painted is because I am spraying a sound deadening material on the firewall and underneath.
I have a thread that covers all of this. So I won't go over it here but it worked well and I am glad I did it.
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-gen-archive-72/my-2nd-gen-foamseal-project-743378/
When I got the engine out it was much more of a mess than I had anticipated. The OMP was spraying oil all underneath the car. As you can see in the pictures the engine bay doesn't match the outside of the car.
The reason why the engine firewall is not painted is because I am spraying a sound deadening material on the firewall and underneath.
01-10-09, 04:20 PM
#6
Next I decided to do some kind of spray on sound deadening material. I found some different ones out there. I decided on LizardSkin. It is not the cheapest but I really liked the guy I spoke to and they had two products. One is for straight sound deadening the other has a ceramic component for heat blocking.
We sprayed the interior and underneath. Prep was the pain. The actual spraying was not a problem.
We sprayed the interior and underneath. Prep was the pain. The actual spraying was not a problem.
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01-10-09, 04:42 PM
#8
So that is kind of getting me down the road with the interior stuff. I did remove all of the auto seatbelts. I am going with straight street harnesses so I had to find all of the parts to change over. I have no seatbelt mechanisms in the car at all.
I bought two of the last three a-pillar covers for a manual seatbelt car left in North America...
I also found a TII transmission with less than 1k original miles. The story told to me was that Mazda took a TII off of the assembly line and gutted the interior and put IMSA sheetmetal on it. The car toured the US doing promo type stuff. The car only drove on and off the trailer basically. So it is probably way less than 1k miles. As you can see in the pictures it is prestine. That trans has not been cleaned. You can see the paper stickers are still almost perfect. I payed $500 shipped. Sweeeet!!
Around this time I was still having a hard time decided what to do about an engine. I was waffling by the hour as to maybe a LSX or 20b or what. I think that this transmission was what keep me from the darkside. I had to have this transmission in this car.
So I finally decided on the 20B. I got a hold of Japan2LA and bought one with a blown seal. The deal went great. I had it shipped to Logan at Defined Autoworks. That is who is building, installing and tuning the engine.
I will get a little more through this stuff and then get more to what is going on with the engine.
I also wanted a Torsen diff. I loved the one I had way back in the 80s in my built 72 240Z. I don't like the Kazz clunking. That is totally unacceptable in a street car for me.
By the way, I am 45 years old. I am not driving around in a loud, clunking, hot obnoxious RX7.
I bought a S5 TII rear, a S6 diff and some new S4 stub axles. I also really like the 4.3 gear. I got a new one from Racing Beat. I don't know if I will keep it in. We will see when I get it on the road.
The rear went together without a hitch and got all cleaned up and painted.
I bought two of the last three a-pillar covers for a manual seatbelt car left in North America...
I also found a TII transmission with less than 1k original miles. The story told to me was that Mazda took a TII off of the assembly line and gutted the interior and put IMSA sheetmetal on it. The car toured the US doing promo type stuff. The car only drove on and off the trailer basically. So it is probably way less than 1k miles. As you can see in the pictures it is prestine. That trans has not been cleaned. You can see the paper stickers are still almost perfect. I payed $500 shipped. Sweeeet!!
Around this time I was still having a hard time decided what to do about an engine. I was waffling by the hour as to maybe a LSX or 20b or what. I think that this transmission was what keep me from the darkside. I had to have this transmission in this car.
So I finally decided on the 20B. I got a hold of Japan2LA and bought one with a blown seal. The deal went great. I had it shipped to Logan at Defined Autoworks. That is who is building, installing and tuning the engine.
I will get a little more through this stuff and then get more to what is going on with the engine.
I also wanted a Torsen diff. I loved the one I had way back in the 80s in my built 72 240Z. I don't like the Kazz clunking. That is totally unacceptable in a street car for me.
By the way, I am 45 years old. I am not driving around in a loud, clunking, hot obnoxious RX7.
I bought a S5 TII rear, a S6 diff and some new S4 stub axles. I also really like the 4.3 gear. I got a new one from Racing Beat. I don't know if I will keep it in. We will see when I get it on the road.
The rear went together without a hitch and got all cleaned up and painted.
01-10-09, 05:01 PM
#10
Oh yea, we also dropped the entire suspension before we sprayed LizardSkin. At that point I bought all poly bushing. We replace everything except the rear subframe mounts. They were in great condition and I don't want to much NVH. Also did the DTSS elim bushings.
I found some kid on the forum selling his new in box Cusco Zero2R Coilovers. God, they are beautiful. Retail is around $2500. I got them shipped for $1550.
I also found a brand new Electromotive Tec3R.....$1000 bucks shipped for the ECU.
I found some kid on the forum selling his new in box Cusco Zero2R Coilovers. God, they are beautiful. Retail is around $2500. I got them shipped for $1550.
I also found a brand new Electromotive Tec3R.....$1000 bucks shipped for the ECU.
01-10-09, 05:03 PM
#11
Now on to the roll bar.
I had a company in Springdale Arkansas build the roll bar. They are Macon Motorsports. They mainly build V8 engines and do some custom fab work. Bob, who worked on my car has been building chassis, experimental aircraft and is a aircraft mechanic for thirty years. He part times at night at Macon. He did an awesome job.
We thought about adding more bars to the roll bar but I decided that it would serve my purposes as is. I didn't want to much visibility blocked because it is a street car after all.
My priorities for the bar were:
1. Structural stability
2. I think they look cool
3. Safety
I had a company in Springdale Arkansas build the roll bar. They are Macon Motorsports. They mainly build V8 engines and do some custom fab work. Bob, who worked on my car has been building chassis, experimental aircraft and is a aircraft mechanic for thirty years. He part times at night at Macon. He did an awesome job.
We thought about adding more bars to the roll bar but I decided that it would serve my purposes as is. I didn't want to much visibility blocked because it is a street car after all.
My priorities for the bar were:
1. Structural stability
2. I think they look cool
3. Safety
01-10-09, 05:15 PM
#12
Now the car is back at my house. I have got the interior for the most part back in.
I bought a pair of Recaro Pole Position seats. I got Recaro sidemounts and sliders. It was a joke. I am only 5'9" and my head was hitting the roof.
We scrapped the Recaro sliders and custom fit the Recaro sidemounts to the OEM sliders. The fit is perfect. Although the seats fit pretty snug. I kind of wish I had got the large edition. They fit me almost too perfect. Maybe a little tight in the shoulders. I have a 31" waist and broad shoulders. The only problem will be for other people. One of my best friends I grew up with building cars (Datsun 240Zs) is now about 400lbs. He will have to sit on top of the seat. No way to fit in it...at all.
The OEM back deck stuff won't work with the roll bar. So Bob is going to make a custom back deck that will be shorter and angle down toward the front of the car. I should be able to keep the bin lids. I have a tiny Odyssey PC680 mounted behind the passenger seat. Seeing how I have no stereo I don't think it will be any problem at all.
I bought a pair of Recaro Pole Position seats. I got Recaro sidemounts and sliders. It was a joke. I am only 5'9" and my head was hitting the roof.
We scrapped the Recaro sliders and custom fit the Recaro sidemounts to the OEM sliders. The fit is perfect. Although the seats fit pretty snug. I kind of wish I had got the large edition. They fit me almost too perfect. Maybe a little tight in the shoulders. I have a 31" waist and broad shoulders. The only problem will be for other people. One of my best friends I grew up with building cars (Datsun 240Zs) is now about 400lbs. He will have to sit on top of the seat. No way to fit in it...at all.
The OEM back deck stuff won't work with the roll bar. So Bob is going to make a custom back deck that will be shorter and angle down toward the front of the car. I should be able to keep the bin lids. I have a tiny Odyssey PC680 mounted behind the passenger seat. Seeing how I have no stereo I don't think it will be any problem at all.
01-10-09, 05:41 PM
#13
More pictures of the car today.
I also put a few pieces of Hushmat on the inside of the roof, back deck and various places. If you tap on the roof it sounds like a Mercedes....or better.
I took a contractors double light on placed it inside the engine bay pointing towards the firewall. I turned on the contractor light and turned off the lights in the garage at night. I got inside the car and looked for any light coming inside the car through the firewall. I completely blocked and sealed every bit of light the I could see. No more heat just pouring in through the firewall.
I also put a few pieces of Hushmat on the inside of the roof, back deck and various places. If you tap on the roof it sounds like a Mercedes....or better.
I took a contractors double light on placed it inside the engine bay pointing towards the firewall. I turned on the contractor light and turned off the lights in the garage at night. I got inside the car and looked for any light coming inside the car through the firewall. I completely blocked and sealed every bit of light the I could see. No more heat just pouring in through the firewall.
01-10-09, 05:55 PM
#15
Here is my little project for the side mirrors.
I really like the S5 mirrors....but they do look kind of chunky on the side of the car. I decided to have some side mirror mounting plates made to put some small light weight carbon fiber mirrors. I am still not to sure about the carbon fiber. I don't want to look to ricey. We will see. I will get the side plates powder coated black after I get the correct mounting position for the mirrors.
And no, I am not selling my OEM side mirrors.
I really like the S5 mirrors....but they do look kind of chunky on the side of the car. I decided to have some side mirror mounting plates made to put some small light weight carbon fiber mirrors. I am still not to sure about the carbon fiber. I don't want to look to ricey. We will see. I will get the side plates powder coated black after I get the correct mounting position for the mirrors.
And no, I am not selling my OEM side mirrors.
01-10-09, 06:08 PM
#16
Boy, so that was a job getting all of this posted.
Well, now on to the fun stuff.
Logan, at Defined Autoworks is doing the engine. We have broke apart the engine and found one housing bad. So, we got one. We have three N/A rotors that have been sent out for balancing. Logan is building a custom exhaust. Header will go back to a Borla XR-1 then will split into two. Then there will be two Borlas at the back. We are looking into doing a valve in the exhaust to help with volume levels. It is not being designed for performance so much as keeping the thing civil on the streets until you open up the throttle.
I am not sure how much to talk about here. I don't want to give away any of Logan's suprises. But anyway, I am sure Logan can come on here and give more details if he likes.
Semi PPort
Six independent throttle bodies
Tec3R
Oh yea, I did depower the steering rack the right way.
I hope to have the car to Logan by the middle of next month. I am about four months behind when I thought it was going to be up there. Anyway, maybe get it back in the summer.
We are hoping for 350-380rwhp....maybe more. I am not planning on running the engine up over 8500rmp.
Here is a link to my coilovers..
http://www.rallitek.com/cuzecosu.html
We will see how these do. Spring rate is 8k front and 6k rear.
Well, now on to the fun stuff.
Logan, at Defined Autoworks is doing the engine. We have broke apart the engine and found one housing bad. So, we got one. We have three N/A rotors that have been sent out for balancing. Logan is building a custom exhaust. Header will go back to a Borla XR-1 then will split into two. Then there will be two Borlas at the back. We are looking into doing a valve in the exhaust to help with volume levels. It is not being designed for performance so much as keeping the thing civil on the streets until you open up the throttle.
I am not sure how much to talk about here. I don't want to give away any of Logan's suprises. But anyway, I am sure Logan can come on here and give more details if he likes.
Semi PPort
Six independent throttle bodies
Tec3R
Oh yea, I did depower the steering rack the right way.
I hope to have the car to Logan by the middle of next month. I am about four months behind when I thought it was going to be up there. Anyway, maybe get it back in the summer.
We are hoping for 350-380rwhp....maybe more. I am not planning on running the engine up over 8500rmp.
Here is a link to my coilovers..
http://www.rallitek.com/cuzecosu.html
We will see how these do. Spring rate is 8k front and 6k rear.
01-11-09, 01:22 PM
#19
With a lot of his ideas I have not sat down to understand exactly what he is planning or how the execution will go. I am getting to the point now that it is time to understand the nuts and bolts of our general plans.
Hey, I can only store so much information in this brain at once...
Anyway, I have had some concern about the semi pport and the six throttle bodies. I mean it is a 12 hour drive to Defined Autoworks from my house. It is not like everytime I have an issue I can just run down to the shop. But Logan feels confident that once it is all dialed in it can basically stay that way. It is not that I can't fix things on cars....it is just I am more of a parts changer than a diagnostic mechanic.
My whole idea of going n/a is for simplicity. I don't want to complicate our simple approach too much.
But like I said I have a very high level of confidence in Logan. I do know he is still doing some R&D on his ideas.
No telling what I am going to end up with in the end....I am not a micro manager as far as his part of the project is concerned.
01-12-09, 01:37 PM
#20
Gordon, thanks for the kind words. You did say in your last post, "Thinking GTU". Just for accuracy mine is a GTUs. Two very different cars. The GTU was a base model. The GTUs is the light weight version. I have been told the GTUs is the rarest of all RX7s sent to the US. Someone I sure will correct me if I am wrong...
But anyway, thanks again for the compliment.
But anyway, thanks again for the compliment.
01-12-09, 05:55 PM
#22
i am sooooo excited about seeing the semi-peripheral 20B when it's done. however, in good conscience, i can't go without commending you on a superb and comprehensive build on the rest of the car. the damn thing was so beautiful to begin with it was almost a crime for you to touch it, but rest assured you did it more than justice.
i can't wait to see the finished product.
i can't wait to see the finished product.
01-17-09, 01:36 PM
#24
I got some of the parts back to test fit my seats. It is turning out pretty nice.
I have the stock sliders with modified Recaro aluminum side mounts. I had the side mounts powdercoated.
I also bought this clutch, pp and flywheel package from Corksport long before I had decided to do the 20B. I am wondering if I will be in good shape as far as these parts are concerned with the new engine?
Let's say 375rwhp...
Remember it is basically a street car and far from a DD.
ACT 'XACT' Streetlite Flywheel
ACT Street Performance Clutch Kit
I have the stock sliders with modified Recaro aluminum side mounts. I had the side mounts powdercoated.
I also bought this clutch, pp and flywheel package from Corksport long before I had decided to do the 20B. I am wondering if I will be in good shape as far as these parts are concerned with the new engine?
Let's say 375rwhp...
Remember it is basically a street car and far from a DD.
ACT 'XACT' Streetlite Flywheel
ACT Street Performance Clutch Kit
