Just got an FD
 

Those of you that know me have seen my FC at Deals Gap a bunch of times over the last 10 years, but I finally added an FD to my stable after a VERY long hiatus from owning one. I had a new '93 back in the day when they were new, but only had that FD for about 10 months - I had to sell it to get something more family friendly because son #1 was on the way. Anyway, here's a few pictures of the new-to-me FD upon its arrival at my place:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...80394bf2fa.jpg
Rolling off the transporter...
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...6117eb8c54.jpg
In the driveway, check out the sexy FC in the garage
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f25b1ccabf.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ab6a8710f1.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3bed5b2463.jpg
Engine bay shot
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a3d4f5ab8b.jpg
Previous owner must have had an unfulfilled gauge obsession... Nice custom piece, but not my thing. Will need to get a stock HVAC/radio panel and head unit.

Vital stats: Chassis has just under 68K miles on it, body condition is about as perfect as can be, zero rust and the paint work is only about 2 years old. It has a rather unique black with a hint of a purple/indigo sparkle to it. The best part is the motor is a brand new Mazda 13BREW crate motor with < 30 break-in miles on it! It's running a Borg Warner SXE 360 series single turbo, Turblown tubular manifold with dual waste gates, some really nice fuel plumbing and it's managed by a Link G4+ Fury ECU with a rather unique DBW setup that works rather well.

I'll have lots of work to do to finish this car to my liking, but the fundamentals are all there. When I get it to that point, MAYBE I'll sell my FC :lol: So I'll probably be posting a build thread and asking lots of questions along the way. Here's a few of the things I'll be doing over time:

- Rebuild the ECU wiring harness - current setup is really nice, but it isn't wired to support an oil metering pump, and my plan is to put back the OMP with the RA OMP adapter kit so I can run premix thru a separate tank. Basically same setup I have on my FC. The Link ECU can manage the OMP and has plenty of I/O to spare.
- The car currently lacks dual oil coolers, and since that turbo is oil cooled only (no water cooling), I think it would be wise to add the dual oil cooler setup from the R1/R2.
- Add oil pressure & temp sensors to provide data to the Link and a CAN bus gauge, and maybe an oil pan brace to prevent leaks.
- Ditch the existing FD CAS in favor of a Hall effect crank angle sensor (FFE kit).
- Interior TLC & general restoration - Needs lots of cleaning, maybe a leather re-skin and obviously an audio system. Also, I need to find a non-Bose trunk carpet
- Restore AC functionality - this will be tough, as I'll probably have to repackage/replace the IC to get a suitable AC condenser to fit. The rest of the job will be relatively easy! :lol:

Good shit Pete! Welcome (back) to the family ya old coot!!

Check out https://www.draklore.com/shop for your interior bits if you can't find good condition factory stuff at a reasonable price.

Thanks Levi! Good tip on that interior parts shop, didn't know they existed. Think the first thing I'm doing with the interior is putting in a sound system and getting the necessary bits to refinish the HVAC/radio & console panels back to an OEM factory look. Probably go with a double-DIN head unit with Android auto, that way the video screen could do double duty as a virtual gauge display. Get one of those GaugeArt CAN bus to VGA/HDMI boxes, and everything the Link spits out on CAN bus can be displayed on a virtual gauge. And then I'm going to need a non-Bose carpet for the hatch area. One thing I will say about the FD's, the quality & NVH of the interior bits is such a huge downgrade from a S5 FC - door & trim rattles are driving me nuts already and I put maybe 10 miles on this thing so far. :lol:

Looks good, Pete! Solid car with lots of nice parts.

Best of luck with it!

Dale

No kidding! You'll turn it into a more beautiful car in time, one thing that helps the '93's is putting some sound matting on the inside of the exterior door skin.

Congrats man - looks like a nice platform to build off of.

Congrats! Looks like a really good starting point.

Nice add, Pete.

Sweet!!!
 

Awesome Pete!
Looks like a nice FD that has lots of goodies!
Cant wait to check it out at DGRR 2020.

Thanks guys!

I'm shooting to have the FD ready for DGRR 2021, too much work to do on it and not enough time between now & DGRR 2020 with all my business travel interruptions... Before the FD is DGRR road trip ready, I'll have to rewire the ECU for OMP support, get functional AC & a sound system in, and refine the ECU tune on the street & dyno after its broken in. All I have to do with the FC is routine maintenance checks/service, gas & go, so it will be the FC again this year. :nod:

Looks like an awesome car. Serious stuff going on under that hood, but it sounds like it's in good hands. :bigthumb:

Edit

Welcome back to the FD owner's group Pete, although with that badass T2 you never left the Rotary Family!!

Looks like one of your A/C provisions on the firewall is being used to provide a boost reading to the cabin from the compressor housing...... pretty slick :)

Good luck!

Congrats; looks like a great find!

Nice Pete.

If you reseal the oil pan, I recommend just buying a new oil pan. I used the IRP oil brace and really like it.

Post-Winter Hibernation Update
 

Figured I'd post an update as my FD (&FC) winter hibernation period is officially over - just drove both cars this past weekend for the 1st time since before the new year. Anyway, not too many ambitious projects going on with the FD, but here's what I've been up to with it over the winter.

Fuel Injector Upgrade -
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...834f04f63f.jpg
My Christmas present to myself, lol

I replaced a perfectly good set of Bosch primary & secondary injectors I had with new Injector Dynamics ID1050XDS (primary) & ID1700XDS (secondary) injectors. The reason I decided to do this was the new ID's come with accurate & repeatable DATA - not just flow rates vs. pressure, but latency/dead times data vs. both pressure & voltage, and short pulse width adder (SPWA) data. With the Bosch injectors, I only had static flow rate data from when I had them serviced, and only an educated guess based on lots of Googling the webs for the latency data, so I had to live with fairly course 2D latency data. With the IDs, I could get the most out of my Link G4+ ECU modeled fuel equation & modeled multi-fuel modes by setting up high resolution 3D latency & 3D SPWA tables. Since I have a fuel pressure sensor fitted with the ECU, the 3D latency & SPWA tables give me much finer control of fueling than I had before. End result is better idle under all conditions, better transition when the secondaries stage in, and overall better performance.

Next up for winter hibernation was a couple of repairs. I've had a squealing noise from the belt drives that was coming from the PS/AC belt tensioner pulley, and my Pineapple Racing ALT/WP belt idler pulley. In both case, the fix involved buying the appropriate bearings and installing them. For the PS/AC pulley, I posted a how-to thread here: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ulley-1154492/ For the Pineapple Racing Idler Pulley, you'll need 2x #6302-2RS bearings which are available anywhere, just get a quality brand. This thread has good info on how to remove & reinstall the new bearings with the Pineapple pulley: https://www.rx7club.com/new-old-prod.../#post12505280

My last "big" winter repair job on the FD was replacing a leaky differential/axle seal on the passenger side. Ended up replacing both sides; not the easiest job but it wasn't too difficult. Another link to that adventure: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...stion-1154915/

And finally another little project that made the FD so much nicer to drive - replaced the shabby looking old OEM steering wheel with this sweet Nardi wheel purchased from forum member ZE Power MX6. Couple of before & after pictures:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...163d1cc041.jpg
Out with the old...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...9813b58aed.jpg
And in with the new!

It's funny, but the new wheel is only a few mm's in diameter smaller than the original wheel, but it feels orders of magnitude better when driving, and just looks so much better than the old brick of an airbag wheel!

Looks great! Especially with all the plastics cleaned up and a new radio. What type of shifter knob did you end up using?

I must be the only one who thinks the OEM USDM airbag wheel actually looks good. Mazda spent a lot of effort to develop a relatively compact three-spoke wheel. Most airbag wheels in the early 90s were bulky four-spoke monstrosities, ala the Supra and 300ZX. Only the NSX and FD had nice three-spoke wheels with perforated leather.

I agree with you, the OEM wheel isn't "bad" for the era but it does make the interior look more dated. A slightly smaller wheel with a more slender center section and new/refinished interior plastics go a long way to "modernize" the interior.

Now that was weird... Last night I thought I posting that update to my build thread here https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...oject-1149941/
Somehow it ended up posted in this one, which is the "related thread" that always appears underneath it. Forum gremlin perhaps?

Mods - is there any way to move the post to this thread where it belongs? https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...oject-1149941/

Edit - Never mind mods, I just cut & pasted the post into my build thread.