Is that the new 'lady in the streets, a freak in the sheets' adage for rotaries?

 

 

I've been tracking my setup for a little over a year now(once/twice a month) at 400+ whp. It's stripped out and caged but the basics should remain the same for a street car.

• Large streetport
• ball bearing single turbo (TDX62R)
• HKS cast manifold
• IGN-1A coils
• NGK R7420 plugs
• ID1000/2000, FFE rails, -6 lines throughout
• Aeromotive Stealth 320 lift pump, 034 Motorsports Surge tank with Bosch 044 fuel pump (new setup is Radium In tank Surge)
• Haltech Elite 1500, WB02, EGT
• New engine harness (made by me)
• FFE trigger setup
• AEM water/meth injection
• Aftermarket dual oil coolers
• inconel heat shielding where needed
• V-mount (C&R Radiator, Garrett 4" Intercooler)

The tune on it is pump fuel only with conservative timing. The AI is just there for added protection. I have no desire to go E85 since I drive this car to the track often and rarely tow it - not enough room for fuel jugs and a lot of tracks don't have E85 on site.

Drivetrain-wise I'm still stock with the exception of a transmission and diff brace. Clutch is also upgraded. I'm generally nice to my transmission so it hasn't given me any issues yet other than a slight grind going into 5th at autoclub speedway.

If you want to see more you can check my IG @misterymac

 

things you'll NEED:
-V-Mount
-Dual oil coolers
-E85 or Water/Meth
-Track oriented brake pads, and some good Fluid
-Coolant temp gauge
-A good alignment

Things you'll WANT
-Coilovers
-Single Turbo
-Reliable boost control
-IGN1A Ign coils
-Rebuilt and street ported engine
-Aftermarket ECU w/ datalogging
-Working Tachometer
-Performance oriented or track specific tires(this should really be in the NEED category)

The main thing is get a car that is a good starting point and go from there, upgrading things as you see needed, dont buy a shell and build a hardcore car off the bat, especially if this is your first FD.

 

Seen your car Lucky7 a couple times. Love what you have done to it!

 

Thanks!! It's not the cleanest car by my standards but it's definitely a blast to drive!

 

my first visit to this thread and i see lots of good advice

my answer to the central question is yes.

of course the primary challenge is finding the balance point which will be different for all of us. the FD is a VERY special car. many of the items that set it apart require a close look. near the top of the list is the nature of the camber curve. full on road racing spec and a primary factor as to why the FD is a track assassin.

while most of the fundamentals are there, Mazda stopped short as to engineering the car to max specs. for instance the brakes.... there is nothing wrong w the front and rear calipers. the fronts resemble the wonderful AP four piston calipers and the rears are totally up to the task since they do about 30% of the effort.

the rotors are the issue... not enough mass to transfer the heat. they are fine for aggressive street and brief casual track use but are completely inadequate for serious track use. swap in any pads, add a set of front ducts and if you are driving 10 tenths you will be out of brakes in two laps. if you still have brakes after a few laps then you are...

so you need to change out the brakes to gain front rotor mass.

here's a comparison, the lower rotor really is the OE FD front rotor!:



any nice 13 inch by 1.26 rotor will work fine along w a 4 piston front caliper and wider diameter rear rotor. Sakebomb has the options. i am fine w the Wilwood or AP.

brake proportioning is very important. you want as much rear brake as you can handle but too much will tend to spin you out. i recommend a cockpit adjustable setup and you will find you will be using it during each session. top notch brakes are such a win as they work fine on the street, don't break, can greatly lower your laptimes and also give you mucho confidence. i run manual brakes on my car with Tilton front and rear master cylinders and a cockpit adj bias bar.

the primary thing is to be able to adjust the bias from the cockpit. spend some time engineering this and you will be really happy ontrack.

i agree w Dale Clark... just get out on the track. nothing better points you in the correct direction as being out there. you will find you don't need a ton of hp, even at Road America. concentrate on handling...

a pyrometer, a good tire pressure gauge will generate the data. having this data and making the proper adjustments will not only greatly lower your laptimes but also make your car easier to drive at the limit.

just as an FYI, when i first acquired my FD i ran it at Brainerd. Brainerd has a 6000 foot straight that you enter around 60+. turn one is wide radius, banked and you can run it without lifting, around 160. at the time i had the factory turbos, a Pettit motor that i think was virtually unported, a 3 inch exhaust, a Pettit intercooler and Pettit ECU and was running on 117 racegas. (this was '99 mostly before AI). i had AP front brakes and rotors and better rear pads. i had 8/6 coil overs which i run and consider optimum today.. 18 X 9 front, 18 X 10 rears Toyo Proxes.

i also had my pyrometer and tire pressure gauge and reset both tire pressures and camber on all four corners..

the four track events were hosted by the Ferrari Club of North America and you had every car imaginable... including Ned Dayton's Ferrari GTO and Ferrari Cup cars.. not one car passed me in four annual events. i probably had 340 rwhp. i also knew how to tune the chassis and had raced at Brainerd for 22 seasons in GT3.

Brainerd is 450 miles from home and my car happily made the drives so.... dual purpose check the box

my point is from all the cars you could choose to do, a dual purpose the FD requires less re-engineering than the others... and it needs less additional power to get the job done.

it is so easy to out trick yourself, you just need to do the right things and there are so many shiny objects that you don't need to have fun at Blackhawk and Road America.

you have already been out there so you know much of this already...

good luck

 

for more info on setup check the Suspension Section of my site:

SUSPENSION

fun at Brainerd

 

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of food for thought. Ultimately I do this for fun, not going to run slicks or start towing, but basically the bare minimum of stuff to make it street legal is all I want.. My happy place is DOT R compounds like NT01s, half cage with bucket seats and harnesses, pump gas, plated and driven to the track.

Overall it's sounding like a build with quality parts, running pump gas with WMI and not trying to get greedy with power should do okay on track. I do understand that in a car at this weight you don't need 500 whp to be fast. I suppose I'll have to see how prices for these cars go in the next few years and then make a decision once the kids are a little bigger and I have some more wrench time. Howard, I saw you mention in another post that you're probably not going to track your car anymore. I don't ever see any RX7s on track in the area. Are there any meets in the area or other opportunities to check out some FDs?