neither a stock FB or a FC will be blazing fast, but they are fun cars and if there aint some old lady in her Buick next to you out accelerating you from a stop you would almost never know the difference.

Now the most basic of cars come with very good power

 

The old ladies in the Buicks aren't nearly so demoralizing as those soccer moms in the 260 horsepower Honda Odysseys.

 

Well, time for my daily post. I met up with 87 t-66 last night. Very smart young dude with 2 monster RX-7's in various stages of completion. Anyway, he had a good wiper switch with actual working relays, so now my wipers and intermittent(s) work!

Took the car to "Mr. Tire" today and had 4 Eagle GT's put on with the 16" polished turbo wheels I got from Adam. They balanced perfectly. The car still had the original rear brakes, so they put new rotors and pads on them for $200. Tires were buy 3 get 1 free and included the Hunter Road Force balancer. Had an alignment as well. Out the door with road-side protection (he gave me a discount; around $10 per tire) was around $780 bucks. I have replaced Lexus rotors before and they were like $200 just for each rotor - so when he told me new rotors and pads for the rear for $200 I was thrilled!

So get this - the tires that I drove back to Michigan on were made....drumroll....MARCH 1993! Plus, they had been sitting for the last 5 years! I'm lucky I didn't kill myself coming back.

So now, the car rides smooth as hell up to 90, or at least that's as fast as I took her. Smooth as glass, except for the dodgy suspension on the car. Adam is going to help me with that, so once that's done she should be good.

As far as the radio? It has the factory am/fm/cassette with the eq. On a whim I bought a Belkin cassette to ipod adapter and guess what? It sounds fantastic! Way better than the FM transmitter route. There's no bass, but it's a treble monster!

I let my Dad drive the car tonight, and he couldn't believe how clean it was for a 23 year old car. He had some special lubricant he put on the sunroof track and the pop up headlights. I refilled the rear wiper reservoir and that's about it.

Next step - find a mounting bracket and car charger for the ipod, and get some damn suspension in this thing! I swear I hit an acorn and it bottomed out....

 

Check out the Belkin Tunebase FM. I never tried it in my FC, but it should work for you as long as you dont mind it being transmitted through the FM radio.


http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=390447

 

I would maybe get the ipod into the center console, or even wedge it against a seat if you could, those nano ones are so damm small they fit anywhere there is a tiny slot.
Big no-no to a bracket in the car.

 

You're right about the "sunken to the bottom of the ocean" but I don't agree with the turbo swaps AT ALL. I know a few out there are done well, but I would never suggest a NA owner swap a turbo to their car!

Also, I know that nimbleness relates to handling, not raw acceleration. I didn't mean to give the impression that I was talking about raw acceleration... For me, that is not what RX-7 are about.

In my limited experience with FBs and NA FCs, the FB "feels" much more nimble and fun to drive compared to a FC NA.

Thanks for posting those comparisons between the two. However, both seem to only address a straight line. There is no reference to handling, nimbleness, or road coarse times.

Those Odysseys are pretty sweet tho! haha

 

about 5-7 years ago, grassroots motorsports did a head2head handling comparo'

using a honda od', and porsche 9series and a jag xke...

the 'da od' won, posting the fastest lap times and greatest lateral g forces.

of course the euro cars were 30 years old and on bias ply tires.

c/d and r/t did "handling times" for the 7 back when they were NEW or updated...

as already mentioned the 7 on 205/60/15 bridgestone re71s held >0.9 g LATERALLY

but the tires used are no longer available and much else has changed in 20 years.

what you seem to want is a CURRENT lap/course times, lane changes, stopping distances and so on...

done with WHEELs of different sizes and tires of different widths/profiles.

doing this well would require using the same tires on each wheel size and perhaps varying tire widths, all on the same car.

but even THAT would still not totally answer the 'yes buttttts' on this issue.

nimble is subjective, with a scale that is driver specific, but as a famous shrimper once said...

"i may not be a smart man, but i know nimble when i feel it. nimble is as nimble does..."

henry

 

sounds like you are really making progress on this car. nice choice on the TII wheels. Adam is good dude and very knowledgeable to boot! i cant wait to see pics of the new car with the new wheels and tires!

 

Niceeeeee Adam is a good dude indeed.

 

Yes, he's helping out quite a bit.

Ok, now how strange is this? Horn didn't work when I bought the car. Tried it again when I made it home, nothing.
Check the stop lamps and they worked.

On a whim, tried the horn WITHOUT the key in the ignition. Horn blew.

Started car, horn now works. Drove it around all last night and horn is still ok with or without the key.

Spooky!

(I assume it's probably some cold solder joints @ the cpu).

 

alot of FCs I have bought that sat around had a tendency to self repair things that at first did not operate

 

More likely the slip ring on the steering wheel or the horn button contact in the center pad.
In my experience, cold solder problems just get worse, not self-repair.

 

im telling you sometimes working things in a little bit gets the dust off and thing work again!

 

I think you're right Rob. This poor car just needed DRIVEN! She's running like a top. This stuff can get expensive though! My $4000 Rx-7 budget has been broken.

Here's what I've spent so far getting my car home:

$400 in flight to Chicago (technically have to count it even though the expense came from the car I didn't buy)
$2600 for the car
$48.28 to Ricart Mazda for front license plate holder + protector
$780.64 for tires, new rear rotors and pads
$180 for taxes
$73 for 1 year 2 month plates
$12 for autozone wiper fluid plus funnel plus power steering fluid
$42.69 Advanced autoparts A/C cooling kit + r134 conversion
$40 in gas
$50 + so far in alcohol (for Adam to work on it, but well worth every penny!)
$150 for brakes bled + new front pads
$186.90 for new windshield (unseen chip + annoying wiper mark rash that I had to get rid of)
$18 for replacement antenna mast

$4557 and counting so far.....but, there's little left to do especially if the strut/shock swap works out tomorrow. I'd like to think I could get that out of the car with the new rubber and brakes considering the low mileage. Maybe not, but who cares?

 

 

every penny you spend to restore this car to what it once was will be worth it. sounds liek its shaping up to be an awesome car!

 

It's a work in progress. So Adam and I put the 1990 vert springs/struts on the back today. The ride is better, but unfortunately it's about 2 inches higher now, probably because the vert springs are taller or whatever due to the vert's extra weight. The rears were easier than I thought they'd be. Anyway, it looks like I'm just going to shell out the bucks for new shocks/struts all the way around.
Thanks again Adam for your help today. I'll PM you once I have the new parts.
Shawn

 

as far as the FB vs FC nimble debate: FC > FB... because IRS > SA.... its just facts and overall supieror suspention technology....

hopfuly you didnt put s4 TII wheels on there those things are heavy as hell!! even my 17" konig villians w/ 235/45 tires felt about third lighter then the s4 TII with the stock 205/55/16s.

i had a set of 90 GTU 15"s on my TII for a while, that made a huge differnece. substantialy lighter! instant seat-of-pants dyno gain.

 

Good to see someone else doing something nearly as idiotic as myself. I flew from Chicago to Connecticut to buy my 1989 TII, and even though it popped on me about a year later, I still don't regret it. It was great while it lasted, and hopefully I will resurrect it in the future.

 

Ok guys, here's some pics I just took.

I have, for now, decided to keep the factory radio installed. I'm using a cassette to Ipod adapter for playback, plus I bought a "KENSINGTON LIQUIDAUX DELUXE IPHONE/IPOD CAR KIT" which plugs into the cigarette lighter, charges the ipod, plus has a steering wheel control for the ipod. It's really cool, as when I shut the car off it pauses ipod playback and then the ipod goes into sleep mode to save batteries after a few minutes.

For suspension, I found these on ebay and decided to roll the dice:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

Anyway, here's some pics from today:

 

Some more pics...

 

looking good. I have a suggestion that will help out that ashtray. Krylon Semi-flat black. Its a perfect match and will take away that cigarette stained look.

They have it at Pep boys. You will only be able to find Satin or flat at Home Depot.

 

An EXCELLENT suggestion. I will pick some up and spray it!
Shawn

Could this forum get any better???

 

did you order the new struts?

 

Yes, hit the buy it now yesterday. Got a fedex confirmation. Keep this Sunday open!

Do you need an alcohol refill?

Ok I'm busy re soldering all the solder points on the cpu - horn intermittently works, so hopefully this should fix it. Takes forever!