mazda6guy

iTrader: (1)

If I was you I would plan mods but do not mod the car until your first couple of autox events. Learn the sport because no since of modding and then you get a DNF( Did Not Finish) on all your runs. Learn the course because autox is more precision driving than having a heavily modded car. There is a guy in my region that drives a Prius and Honda Fit and runs very respectable times and they are stock except for R-comp tires. I also autox with the Porsche club and I have a buddy that beat up on GT3 Porsches in his little ol Miata. Fun stuff especially the looks on the Porsche owners faces is so damn priceless!

BoostedRotors

I'm not looking to mod the car heavily, I just want to make a fun little streetable car. I never thought I would be modding a little 12a, but Im actually pretty stoked at the prospect. I figure I can get plenty enough power out of it for autox. The first thing Ill be doing to the car, so it will run, is a new carb/ fuel pump setup.

Anyone have any reccomendations on a pump and why?

mazda6guy

iTrader: (1)

I run a Holley blue fuel pump to a stock Nikki for now. I went this route because they are rebuild able so if I ever had any issues then to the work bench it goes for a rebuild. My stock one was very weak.

Super82

iTrader: (1)

Your first mod should not be carb/fuel pump. Doing so would be useless unless you have headers/exhaust. Having a bigger carb without a better exhaust may cause it to not run, and if it does run you won't get nearly the performance benefit.

I have a holley blue. Doesn't seem like a bad pump.

SideWayzGTU

iTrader: (1)

Idvidual Carbs FTW

BoostedRotors

Care to elaborate?

mazda6guy

iTrader: (1)

+2 for this too.

Kentetsu

I recommend concentrating on suspension first, power later, looks last.

I can try to post some pics of the wheels on Monday, but they look just like those 15 inchers already shown. Backspace looks to be he same as mine (4").

BoostedRotors

Well, it needs a carb to run (or a fuel pump) so i was going to go ahead and do both. how hard is it to rebuild a strock nikki? Keep in mind I have never played with carbed cars before

kc-fb

heh, carbs are no laughing matter. since you have limited experience, you should send it out to get it rebuilt, or buy a new one.

i think this question needs to be asked. how competitive do you plan on being? are you out to have fun, or do you want to actually put in some good times?
the key here is keep your mods minimal.
i realize that it is hard to decide the car's future without actually driving an event, but the decisions you make now will decide your potential later.

first order of business is always maintenance. after that, fix the old tired bushings and the like. for the serious autox'r, tires are your first real mod.

BoostedRotors

Also, while I may not know a lot about carbs, i do pick up thngs pretty fast. I did an engine swap in my TII with mostly help from asking questions here (and some much appreciated helping hands from Bryan@BNR and FelixWankel.)

I definitely don't want to have to buy 2 carbs. I have no problem buying carb, fuel pump and exhaust at the same time if a larger carb wont run on stock exhaust. (Or at least not installing the carb until I have a header.)

I do want to be semi competitive in autox, but mainly I want to have some fun. Plus I definitley want it to be streetable.

kc-fb

i think you can probably get most carbs to run on a stock exhaust, but you won't get much of a power gain with the stock header on there.
i've had this car for a while and carb's still befuddle me lol. i took one apart a while back... it never went back together. if the carb is absolutely trash tho, you probably won't hurt anything by messing around with it. maybe you'll get further than me rebuild kits are ~25 at a parts store.

for autox, you're kind of in the middle. give this a good read: http://cms.scca.com/documents/Solo_R...Solo_Rules.pdf

sp is always a good place for fb's to compete. most of the popular street mods are allowed (removing and adding sway bars, adding lsd, aftermarket carb, etc)
plus iirc you get a pretty decent free range to play with your strut spring combo.

i've been autoxing my celica for almost 5 years now, and i can tell you that the event is still fun for me. i was in the stock catergory for about 2 years (while my car ran haha) and have been in sm for the past 3. the competition is much more stiff in sm, the stock life was much easier (damn mini's!) the higher your catergory, the more money you'll have to spend to be competitive. don't forget that one...

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

stock carb has a lot of stuff on it, so its a little complex to take apart. once you get all the stuff off the top of it, its really simple.

take some before pictures, so you can see where all the linkage stuff goes.

eprx799

iTrader: (8)

The first thing you should do is read the rule book of the group you will be running with be it the SCCA or NASA this way you don't do the one thing that moves you up into a preparad or mod class if everything else is pretty much stock. A friend of mind changed the hood on his subbie 2.5 rs and put a set of coilovers on it and the hood wound up putting him into street mod. so he's been looking for a replacement hood to get back into a lower class.
If your car is still stock just do all of you maintainance: change the oil, change the coolant, change the brake fluid, the diff. oil, and the trans. oil. check all of you bushings tie rod ends, and ball joints. Also make sure your brake pads are all in good condition.
You should also check out you alignment on the front of the car again if running stock the only thingy you can do is rotate the strut top. It will give you a little bit of neg. camber. you can also change the front bar. Learn to drive properly before going to a higher class. If you already started moding your car, do the suspension before trying to up your hp. You could move into csp that will let you change the front struts to coilovers,which will give more choices of spring rate. You can use camber/caster plates, and a larger front bar. I would recommend Koni struts/shocks over the Toikicos they hold up much better and are much more adjustable in my opinion.
btw you will definitely need a lsd in the rx7 for autox or trackdays.

BoostedRotors

Some great info guys! I think I have a natural ability to drive a car, so the driving is the part im least worried about. (not saying I can't learn anything though!)

whats the difference in sp and csp. I cant open that link from work

eprx799

iTrader: (8)

SP = Street Preparded
CSP= C(the class fb rx-7's are in in the solo rule book) Street Preparded

kc-fb

scca rates every car on an alphabetical scale of A to H.
the faster cars are in A, like an integra type r, and the slowest cars are in H stock, like a camry or something like that.
some cars are in the super stock category (ferrari, nsx, some high performing main stream cars like c6 vettes)

when i was running my celica in the stock class, since it was rated as a G car, i had GS on the side. if i was in the street prepared class, it would have read GSP.
now it's just sm. (street mod)

Kentetsu

There's a lot of competition in CSP, but it allows you to do all the things you'd like to do for your car even if you weren't going to race it. Coilovers, swaybars, exhaust, emissions removal, A/C removal, and the list goes on...

While you can put a performance carb on a car with stock exhaust, you won't realize all of the benefits of that new carb until the exhaust can breathe freely. Unfortunately, there aren't many choices when it comes to exhaust. Prepare to fork about $900.00 over to Racing Beat.

I wonder if Billy could find the specs for the old Mindtrain exhaust. That would be a kick *** addition to his website, and give us a choice over RB....

Anyway, a really great option for carb is a Sterling. It uses the stock manifold, so costs about half of what other conversions do. And since it is a 4 barrel carb, it retains the driveability for sitting in traffic and other boring crap. www.sterlingmetalworks.com

For suspension, Racing Beat makes some stuff that will make for a decent performance driving car. I started out on RB stuff, and its okay but still limited. www.re-speed.com makes stuff that gives you a lot more options (setting ride height, camber, spring rate, etc.). And while you'll never see anyone from Racing Beat in here, Billy is a regular member.

mazda6guy

iTrader: (1)

Just be prepared to get out handled by Miatas and CRX's. Worry about the driving and keep a open mind when you approach your first autox. Learn from my mistake and leave the ego at home.
I thought I was a pretty darn good driver back in 2006 but a couple of DNF's really put a hurting on my ego! Finally grab me an instructor and walked the course with the fast drivers and I learned alot from them. Now I am sharing what I learned back in 2006 and present day with you and other forum members. Oh yeah don't forget to have fun learning new driving techniques.

BoostedRotors

Ive heard nothing but great things about sterling and re-speed both. I'll sort out the carb thing when I pick the car up.

I'm buying an 85 GS that runs, but needs carb work. No sunroof, which I love. He's giving me an FC oil cooler, FC fuse box, extra ignitors, a steering wheel adapter, etc. Ill see if I can throw a pic or two up

mazda6guy

iTrader: (1)

Sweet stuff man! Congrats! Yeah man post those pics when you get a chance.

BoostedRotors

Sounds like sound advice to me!


Here a couple shots of the car. I feel pretty good about it for the money.

I thought about autox-ing one of my other cars, a 2006 GTI, but the FWD has kept me from doing it.

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

The main competitors I've had a problem with are AE86 Corollas. It sounds weird but there's something about their design that makes them formidable opponents in my class. Miatas are classed at least two above me so it doesn't bother me (They're in C class I think, whereas I'm in E class).

The driver is definitely the number one factor though. I saw this one kid show up with an Rx8 and after a few laps of DNF he started running times that were a good 10-15 seconds worse than the lowest person in E class, despite the Rx8 being classed up in C or B (I can't remember). I felt like going over, smacking him, and saying "stop punishing your car, give me your keys"

Take your first few laps slower than you think you should to get used to driving in those conditions. You don't learn much from DNF runs, you learn more from slow laps that you can gradually speed up.

Remember : Slow In, Fast Out ... and that our cars have a bit of a tendancy to snap the rear end out on you... you'll figure out where that threshold is pretty quickly.

Jon

Kentetsu

That's a damn fine looking car BoostedRotors! If all that thing needs is a carb, you got a great deal no matter what you paid for it. But I'm a little partial to the 85 GS/no sunroof cars myself...

BoostedRotors

$650!