Well, I've gotten all the wiring hooked up. I've had to take a painful break the last few days to finish a term paper. All next week I'll be in The Netherlands for a 4 day, 100 mile ruck march. The upside is, I'm waiting for some fuel and oil pressure sensors (didn't have one for the fuel and more accurate one for the oil). I also ran into some trouble getting the last bits to plumb the cooling system, but those should be here by the time I get back.

I'm hoping that, if I get to spend all of tomorrow in the garage, I can get the ducting mostly finished.

So, I got the fuel and oil pressure sensors installed and wired. I have also completed the v-mount ducting. Here's a bunch of pics:

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Tomorrow I'll paint the frame and peel the protective coating off the ducting material. Hoping the last plumbing bit gets here tomorrow or thursday.

awesome v mount set up, I may have to steal this set up :P, gl on getting it running.

Radiator plumbing is all done and the system is full. I need to make a few more tweaks tomorrow, then it's time to start her up. So close...

Tweaks all done. Attempted to fire it up tonight, but my timing settings (and perhaps the fuel too) are not quite right. She coughed and almost caught a few times, til I ran the battery flat. I put it on the charger and will do some research and give it another whack tomorrow night. Feeling pretty good that it didn't catch on fire, though. LOL

damn it, I reached the end. Just read this entire thread, good stuff bro.

Well...I coaxed the car into stinky, missing, pig rich, life. It took a little throttle and some fuel trim adjustment. I'm 99% sure I can't do anything more with it until I put new plugs in it...they're pretty well fouled. Unfortunately, I don't think I can get any locally (at least not for less than an arm and a leg). So my poor planning will cost me a week of tuning time, at least. Time to focus on getting the body panels finished in the mean time.

Well I'm able to start the car without any pedal now. I discovered that the trailing plugs weren't working. Turns out we wired the signal wire to the wrong input on the coils. It's still really really rich...so much so, I think it's causing it to miss.

Also, I managed to fix that pesky front cover oil leak. The "doweling" worked.

Now that it's running, everything appears to work correctly. It's time to buckle down and work on the body parts. Once that's done, I can get it out on the street and do some more tuning.

Tonight I got the hood scoop mould cleaned and coated in PVA. I also took care of the bumper's headlight buckets. Tomorrow I'll attempt to do the glass for the hood scoop. The bumper requires a bit more cleaning and prep, but I hope to have a finished bumper by the weekend. It'd be nice to have everything fitted and be test driving it this weekend.

Also, my Aerocatches came today.

Hood scoop is pretty much done. Needs a little touch up and some more primer, then some rivets to hold it down. I have an appointment for my alignment on Thursday. Aiming to have the bumper done Friday. Little tweaking and I'll be headed to a car show on Saturday. Yikes.

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Today was a day of significant progress.

I got the alignment done:
Front
Camber -2deg
Toe -3/32
Rear
Camber -1.5
Toe -1/8

I was able to get the car to idle nice and clean. It likes an AFR around 12:1 at idle. Which still seems a lot of the rich side to me.

Since I got the idle cleaned up I was able to let it warm and see if the cooling fans operated properly and if the system circulated enough through my snaking pipes and if the opening for the radiator was large enough to allow enough air flow. The answers to all of that is a resounding yes. The cooling system had no problems bouncing between the 193deg and 185deg switching points.

Also, I was able to see how much heat soak I was going to get with the ducting in place and the radiator nice and hot, but with no air flow. The answer there is absolutely none! The ducting did a great job of isolating the intercooler, but still allowing the radiator to do its job. The intercooler was still nice and cold after sitting for quite a while.

This morning I had some time on my hands, so I decided to modify the tail lights. Here's a couple pics:

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Tomorrow I have a lot to get done to get ready to show the car off. We'll see if I'm able to get a bumper molded. Lots to do.

More pics to come:

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I'm rocking the front bumper for right now, until I can get the FC2000 molded again. I got her out for a test drive last night and she goes like a stabbed rat. There are some rough spots in the tune, but just adding a little skinny pedal gets past those, LOL. At 8-10psi, it feels amazing! It'll be interesting to see what happens when I crank the boost a bit.

Some minor things need to be tweaked. I have an oil leak at the lower cooler hose...think it just needs new copper washers. The tach reads at about half what the RPMs actually are. The downforce on the back makes for a very light front end...more motivation for the new bumper (and some canards). The chassis is rock solid, which means I need to soften up the dampers as everything is a little too tight.

All in all, though, I'm very happy. I was shaking from the rush of getting her out on the street again.

Well, last night I fixed the oil leak, faulty blinker (my helper plugged it in the wrong plug), adjusted the spoiler, and investigated my funky tach. Then I proceeded to take it out and thrash it a bit. After work, I'll fix the tach and maybe I'll remember to take the GoPro out with me. It looks like I'm only revving to 3.5krpm right now anyway, LOL.

Uploaded a new timing map. It's actually Aarghx's RTek map that I adapted to the Haltech. The power is quite smooth and there is a ton of it. Tomorrow I'm going to get the BAC working. The tach is good to go now.

On the buy list is the rest of the -10 AN fittings and hoses to replace the oil cooler lines. The banjo continues to seep and I hate that. So I'll replace them with the AN setup and do away with the leaky banjos.

A new problem to investigate is the fact that the FPR doesn't appear to be raising the fuel pressure under boost. So I'm sure I'll have fun with that one. First I'll try a different vacuum port and work my way through some other options.

fit the FC2000 on :)

I got the BAC working. I have my idle at 900 rpm and 13.5:1 afr. It doesn't make my eyes water anymore, lol. The -10 oil lines and fittings are on order, along with a new adjustable strut for the spoiler (broke one when I did my adjustment).

I'm having some kind of slippage. At first I thought it was a clutch issue, but there's no tell-tale smell. I could be wheel spin, but it doesn't cause any noticeable loss of control. The LSD is a torsen, so slippage isn't possible there. I'm kind of at a loss. I'm going to pull a speed signal from the power steering computer and log it along with RPM, just to make sure I'm not losing my mind.

I'm hoping to get the FC2000 bumper molded tomorrow.

It's been a while since I posted an update, so here goes.

I no longer have any motor oil leaks. The AN -10 oil cooler lines did just the trick. I've manage to do a bit of tuning and the car hauls some serious ass. However, the 4000-6000rpm range is tough to tune because of the clutch slippage. I was finally able to determine it was the clutch when I had a heavy friend in the car. The extra weight was just enough extra resistance that I was finally able to smell it. Also, the crunchy transmission makes catching the gears a little "fun." I think with the much larger amount of air I'm pushing at the higher RPMs and boost levels, the power just completely overwhelms the stock pressure plate and the friction disc.

So, what's happening with the car now? Well, I got a new-to-me transmission. I am waiting for my OS Giken friction plates to arrive. After they get here, I'll be able to install the twin plate clutch and the new transmission. Then hopefully I can get at least one Nürburgring lap in before I have to park the car for the winter.

Over the winter I'll be getting the Haltech Racepak gauge cluster, a roll cage, and hopefully finish all the fiberglass work. I also just got a deal on a FD motor that is in pieces. The fate of that motor has yet to be determined. I really want to play with a PP motor, but I can't afford to go turbo with it, and I really like boost. So it may just get some seriously large ports and a balance job so I can run it to the moon. I'll also be finalizing the wiring harness (trimming and wrapping it), with the possibility of a alternator relocate. I'll be stocking up on tires and brake pads through the winter as well.

Next summer will be the summer of lap times. Stay tuned, it's going to be a fun ride.

Well, my OS Giken clutch plates finally arrived. I gathered all the tools and parts together.

In addition to the OS Giken twin plate that I'm installing, I'm also replacing my transmission with a 5 speed RX8 transmission. My transmission is pretty crunchy and I don't feel like rebuilding it. It's a pretty straight forward swap and I took some pics. The RX8 5 speed has the same ratios and is nearly identical to the FC transmission, with some slight changes to the bell housing, input shaft and a different tail housing.

To make the swap work with the FC driveshaft you have to swap over the tail housing. It's very straight forward. You pull the guts out of the FC shifter housing, pull out the bolts that connect the tail housing to the gearbox, smack it with a hammer and pull it off. With the RX8 tail housing, you unbolt the shifter housing cover, pull off the shifter, unbolt the tail housing to gearbox bolts, smack the tail housing, and slide it off. Then you can reinstall the FC tail housing on the RX8 transmission. Pretty easy stuff. The resulting conglomeration is about 2cm longer than the FC transmission, but with the built in slop in the FC driveshaft yoke, it should bolt up with only a little tweaking.

Unfortunately, I didn't procure the counterweight to flywheel bolts for the OS Giken setup, so that's going to delay me until at least tomorrow. I did get a chance to compare the weights of the factory clutch/flywheel and the OS Giken assembly. The factory stuff is 38.5 lbs and the OS Giken is 18.5 lbs...that's incredible, considering how much more holding power you get with the twin plate.

Here's some pics:

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When you swap over the speedo gear, make sure you remember this little guy...it's what makes the speedo gear spin with the output shaft:
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Hoping to do a good video recorded run after I finish buttoning everything up.

Is that the 5spd rx8 tranny? Hope it's a lot more stout than the 6spd.

Yes, it's the 5spd...it's nearly identical (internally) to the FC's transmission.

I think some of the bearings were changed to a sealed type (as evidenced in the pics).

Damn transmission...I don't think I'll be doing this nonsense again. I don't recommend this particular swap, unless it's really easy for you to get these transmissions.

Since I have to have the driveshaft shortened (it's 15mm too long now), I'm just going to see about having an aluminum one made. I have to modify the trans mount. I also have to figure out how to make the RX7 slave cylinder work right. The RX8 slave cylinder's plumbing goes right where the oil filter housing is on the RX7 motor. The RX8 slave cylinder has an angle to it, so the FC slave cylinder will have to me modified to work.

So, long story short, the car still isn't self propelled....and I'm irritated.

Dropped the driveshaft off to be shortened (160 euro). Picking it up on Thursday. Tomorrow I'll modify the transmission mount and work on the slave cylinder. It's possible (though unlikely) that I'll be able to get the car out on Thursday.

So how much did the RX-8 transmission swap cost? It is an interesting choice if you can't find used TII transmissions in your area. They are between $250 and $350 in my experience. I had a normal wear item transmission rebuilt for $700 and could not be happier with how much better it is. Any transmission shop can rebuild an RX-7 gear box. They are similar to a T-5 and many vehicles use the same replacement parts. If you have broken "hard parts" the cost goes up quickly.

Good luck getting it moving under its own power soon. The time invested will be worth it after you get out on the track.

The swap cost me $200 for the transmission (with slave cyl and starter) and about $200 (exchange rate) for the driveshaft shortening and balance. I have a welder, so I modify the crossmember and slave cylinder mount myself. So I'm coming out ahead of a rebuild...even more so over here because everything is more expensive in Europe.

So I got the car all back together and it feels really good. It's much quieter now, since the original trans was quite noisy (think dog gear sequential noisy). The clutch will take some getting used to, but it's holding well. Tomorrow I'll get out on the autobahn and finish the tuning.

Also, when I took the car out for it's shake down run (it was pretty dark) I noticed "embers" or sparks coming off the front brakes. Not sure if they're normally there and just not visible in the light or what, but they seem to be stopping me just fine and there's no visible problems with the rotors. I also get a fair amount of the tell-tale Hawk HP+ noise. I'm going to see about putting some good ducts together for the brakes, maybe they need a bit of cooling.

Pretty sure my heater core popped during my tuning runs today.

I got a significant amount of coolant on the floor, steam on the windshield and she started cutting completely out on me. Guess I'll pull it out and see what happens.

The only time I've had sparks shoot out of my brakes were HP+s on a very cold morning when they couldn't get hot enough.

I'm thinking I'm just not getting enough heat into them. I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing sparks, lol.

For decent track use I would suggest ducts anyway though... HP+ aren't really enough pad for a turbo car on track. They're barely enough pad for my 160 HP corolla...

That is probably less a function of compound and more a function of pad and caliper size and vehicle weight. Once I get my heater core situation sorted, then I'll give my impression of the HP+ pads on the 'Ring.

I've been through this thread multiple times, love to see the journey that it has gone through! Looks aggressive can't wait to see it with the full kit!

Do you have any pictures of the mounts for the APR mirrors? I'm waiting to get a set and have been trying to figure out how to mount them without having bolts sticking though the outside.

Can't wait to see more updates.

I can try to take some pictures later. I used aluminum sheet, trimmed to fit the spot where the factory mirrors went. I attached the mirrors, then I riveted the sheet metal to the door. Pretty simple.

As for the fate of this project...

Because of the recent cuts the Air Force has decided to make, I'm pullin' chocks and chuckin' deuces. I should be out by the end of September. With that, trying to ship the FC will be a daunting, if not impossible, task. However, I've managed to source a US Spec FD chassis. It was lightly wrecked in the front, so it needs a bumper and a couple fenders. It was a LSx swap, but is coming to me motorless. So, I'll either be building my spare motor (which is a FD motor) or I'll swap in my FC's motor. In any case, I'm pulling the drivetrain (and supporting peripherals) for transplant into the FD. If you're interested to see me apply the lessons learned from the FC, to a FD, then keep your eyes peeled on the FD build threads.

For those that are curious, the FC parts are being sold to a fellow FC owner in my town and the chassis is probably going to end up back with Higgi. Who knows where it will end up.

Thanks for following along with me on this fun and wild ride.

Josh

Will definitely want to follow along for an FD build after seeing all you've done with the FC. That must be kind of tough after all you've done to the FC to let it go. Wish I could've been able to see it completed.

Do you know if he's going to use the RE body kit? I've been trying to find someone who would be willing to sell the side mouldings without the side marker lights for both an S4 and S5. If you would be willing to sell them I'd love to purchase them. PM if you would have any interest in that. Thanks and can't wait to see the FD started!

I thought it would be tougher than it is, to let it go. I think what makes it easier is that I consider the whole thing to be practice for the next project. For example, the amount of time I took to do the stitch welding and body repairs, allowed rust to creep back. Also, the next time around I'll be doing most of the fabrication in aluminum and stainless. I fully intend to replicate the "cooling pak" in the FD. Part of me wishes I had all of the factory engine wiring and such for the FD, since I think it will be primarily an autocross car. Just once, I'd like to see where I stack up in a stock class.

I never did get the RE bumper molded again. Higgi used my first full attempt on his 20B FC drift car. I think I'll be able to sell you the side mouldings, I'll PM you after I talk to my buddy that is buying most of the parts from the car.

I understand that completely. My second FC I picked up is strictly for autocross/track and I want to start in the stock class to see that I can only go up from there. Have you done autocross before? I feel like starting stock would be a great place to start.

Thanks a lot! Just let me know I have PayPal ready if it works out!

I did a few events when I was stationed in New Mexico. I was in my old WRX back then. I learned very quickly that good tires and good brakes make the most difference in Autocross.

I think I'll just drop the FC's motor into the FD (I'll need to do some mount fabricating), to get it running and I'll build my FD motor as a stock motor...for now. All I have left to get for it is factory twins with a manifold, a factory engine harness and a ECU. As it sits, I'll have to fabricate a downpipe that will fit the FD's body and catback and will bolt to the S4 turbo.

PM sent about the trim.

Those are the exact things that I was trying to replace before the season started, wanted to be prepared.

That's going to be awesome to see the FC motor in the FD. Hopefully you'll be able to make a couple events when you get back to the States.

We'll see. I'll be back around end of June time frame, but we'll be pretty busy trying to find a house and a job. Hopefully I can at least spectate or work a corner.

Here's the new build thread: https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...hread-1056349/

Enjoy.