Yep. Most of the others I know use SMIC's. However, I was at the track one time when RTS3GEN was running sessions in 103 degree weather. He runs his car hard hitting temps around 240F routinely (on the warm day sessions). Heck, 90% of the forum would have a heart attack if they temps went over 210F.

I have a Mazdaspeed hood that I need to get prepped and painted. I've had it for 2 yeas now and never used it. Now that I'm into the "track thing", I'm definitely going to get it ready.

The shark mod is pretty cool:



There's a better shot my father took while I was prepping the car for last weekend's runs (yes, he got me in the shot).

 

Cool! I had the bald look going for awhile...too much work keeping my head trimmed down, so I went back to the "hippie look" Man, where'd did you get such tall jackstands!? Mine only go 18 inches high?!

 

Secondary turbo not coming online, low boost, hot running during hot track days, stuttering at high rpm and boost (14 lbs), front suspension clunks, braking/cornering hard into a slow turn...

 

I have a better solution than that, R--I'm going to retire the FD from track racing, and buy an Rx8 for daily driving. Sadly the FD will be relegated to street rod only, since it can't be used hard on the track without something breaking. I see myself continuing with an occasional DE as an instructor, but with the Rx8, not the FD Rx7. The base 6-speed Rx8 will have wider wheels/tires, and some suspension and brakes, but no power mods http://www.yawpower.com/wheels.html 2005 is the target year...I need time to recover from the financial bath I've been taking with the FD as "road racer"

So you're a dad now, Ramon??!!

 

Sleep

what are ur exact problems...

if u are having heat issues....your answer is single turbo.....

trust me...I have that proven to me over and over again

-f

 

Should have gone single!
Is that Dominic Toretto?

 

Nah, but been thinking about it. In any case, I too have come to the realization that the car is a money pit.

I have considered trading it in for sometime like a Z06 (which are just fabulous out of the box), but then I realized that being a competitive person that I am and taking a new car to the track, regardless of the setup, would be taking too much risk. Some rain, oil on the track, tire blowing out, etc. and then you are FORCED to deal with insurance and that might not work out like I planned.

Get the RX8, but still track the RX7. Parts that break can still be replaced with unbroken used parts relatively cheaply.

Ramon

PS
Sell the FMIC and get an aquamist sprayer. Too late to go single since you spend the $$$, plus you'll probably have bigger headaches. Not sure who did your tuning but you may want someone like Steve Kan to help you out. Apparently, his is a good/experienced "road and track" guy as opposed to drag racing only.

 

I've given up on fighting the family male pattern baldness so i just chop it short. No fro's here.

Those are actually some cheap K-Mart stands (or cheaper than Sears or other places that is). I made sure I could get the car at least 20 inches off the ground.

Hey! I resemble that remark! I can honestly say, I've had my FD long before that movie came out. As soon as my wife saw the trailer (Vin rolling up in a VR FD), she fell on the floor laughing.. ah, such as life.

 

Fong, I'll need to do a TracQuest Laguna event and get a ride in your White Lightening Beast with CE28Ns LOL Glad you're enjoying your setup!

 

Do it! Mrs. Ceron ain't getting any younger LOL

Quote:

In any case, I too have come to the realization that the car is a money pit.

I shouldn't have ridden with you in your silver bullet back in Oct 02 @ Road America dammit--it just gave me expensive ideas LOL

Quote:

Get the RX8, but still track the RX7. Parts that break can still be replaced with unbroken used parts relatively cheaply.

I could sell the FD Rx7, and cut my losses??

Quote:

Not sure who did your tuning but you may want someone like Steve Kan to help you out. Apparently, his is a good/experienced "road and track" guy as opposed to drag racing only.

Dave Barninger installed a tuned base map on my Power FC. I haven't truly tuned the car, but was hoping to, once I got my low boost issues solved.

 

Sure.....

 

I concur. Also late 80s to 90s mustangs to be really cheap. Takes a bit more work to make competitive though. If you go with any of these choices, anyone can have a fast, relatively cheap and reliable fun car but then you would also be like just about everyone else. I am a little warped. I wanted to be different. I also am trying to build up a 3rd Gen. Not done and broke. I should have just about over $30,000 when done. 5 - 1/2 years ago that was pocket change. Now after divorce etc., it is a fortune. I knew better. Unfortunately, smarts didn't come with age.

 

Your really pissing me off
Sell the front mount and buy a m2 large and a mazda comp gt c nose, add two huge oil coolers and duct the **** out of it
Wrap the dp
run 10lbs of boost non sequential
strip it to 2600 still enough stuff to drive around with
cost about 3 or 4k after you sell your front mount and you will still be one of the fast guys

RX8 is like a slow s2000. Now and I mean NOW please pull yourself together this is absolutely embarrassing

**** don't listen to me I'll most likely be driving a spec miata soon

 

Yeah, but I can instruct 3 students at one time Seriously S-plan purchase of a standard 6-speed Rx8 will be less than what damian paid foko for damian's new CYM beast.

 

SleepR1 is going to the dark side.....there is something wrong with him....a vette?....oh my...I cant believe this...

 

Believe it when you see it.

 

My latest problem with low boost has been solved. Root cause was clogged high-flow cat. The Bonez high flow cat was 5 years old and 74,000 miles. I'm surprised it lasted this long. Wondering between midpipe or go back to high-flow cat.

Still planning on relegating FD to street rod duty. Going on sebatical from open-tracking in 2004 to recover financially.

All is good with the world again--PEACE

 

Manny I'm surprised, then again maybe I'm not.
I'm gonna go into rant mode so better sit down.
All of what you are saying and the reasons why you consider your car or the FD in general untrackworthy is you own fault. The FD although capable was not designed to be a track racer...it is a high performance street car. Remember this people! It is track "capable" only. We do things to make it more track capable but it is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS developmental work. We try things and if they work we continue using it.
In your case Manny I bet I could point to every one of your bitching and moaning examples and point to something you did to make it more trackable...or didn't do to make it more trackable.
To wit:
A problem with the turbo control system. Fix it. Hapens on strete cars too and has nothing to do with being a track car or not
You found the problem already...you really expect a high flow cat to last 75k miles? Planet earth here...come in Manny? I'll be lucky if I see 20k out of mine. It comes with the territory. Hell even OE cats were only warrantied for 50k!
How many people, veteran track junkies, told you NOT to get a FMIC? Did you listen? No. And what do you now have? Cooling issues. FMICs may be feasible but not with configuration you are running. The problem is your own undoing.
Crappy tuning. Loading a generic map "for your mods" isn't going to cut it. And certainly not if you think you can run a **RELIABLE** 14psi. Fancy schmancy J-spec turbo's or not. Spend the time and money and tune your car or else deal with issues like this.
How old are ALL the bushings? Whens the last time you checked the ball joints? Your car has how many iles...115k. C5, Porsche, BMW...BLAH BLAH BLAH whatever. Any car is going to be clunking and groaning at 115k miles if it is also used as a track car. You are NOT being realistic.
Have you seriously tuned your suspension? Skidpad, slalom? ANYTHING? Or did you just install parts you thought would work...based on others recommendations. It is NOT a set it and forget it type of thing. Without very specific development on each component you have added the best suspension setup for the car was the stock one. How much "development" has been done on yours? Obvisouly not enough.

And I'll add some things...the oil catch can problem. It goes back to the stock design. the car was not intended to be shod with R-compound tires and generate 1.2...1.5..whatever lateral G's **AND** have a working PCV system. I was at the track last friday and a poor guy with a stock PCV system was having oil spray out of the TB to elbow connection. He removed the elbow and there was oil pooled EVERYWHERE we could see in the intake...and he was on street tires! So we try and eliminate this problem with a catch can. Is it fully developed yet for everyone? Nope. Will it ever be? Who knows. But that's what the game is all about. Want to turn up the wick expect some failures and shortcomings to become plainly evident.

As for me I have been tracking my car since 1998. It is basically a weekend driver and track ony car. It has about 43k on it now. I HAVE NEVER HAD A MECHANICAL FAILURE that was not my own fault. I have up until this summer run 10psi only. I lift when I see 110degC coolant temps. If I want to go faster I expect problems...you should see my list of cooling mods that enable me to drive hard in virtually any temperature. I started using Hoosiers this past year and have started to see some things wearing out prematurely. Never had any problem running Yokohama A032R's let alone street tires. It's just the price of doing business and you will see these same issues regardless of the car you are driving. And you think $15k is alot I bet I've got double that in my car but I'm not about to add it up.

And your supposition that switching to another car for track use is so laughbale I almost fell out of my chair. You think those other cars are any better at the track from a reliability perspective? I could cite 2 dozen examples of mechanical issues with those cars. C5's eat brakes and have cooling issues just like we do....A local Porsche guy had to return his 911 turbo to the dealer for a *replacement* car he had some many issues with it.....BMW's are pretty good but miss a shift and it's going to cost you lots O' $'s besides being slow (can be made fast but you think $15 is alot for your FD?).

I have a good friend who drives a Nissan 240SX. The car is as relaible as they come. And he is VERY quick for a car with so little power (relatively speaking) he has all the suspension and brake mods and runs sticky tires. however at the last track event at VIR he had isntalled a set of Defi sensors which included oil temperature. He saw a peak oil temp of 264F. His car has no oil cooler. Track a car and what do you expect. He is going to install an oil cooler.

In short...do what you are most comfortable with financially and mentally but don't expect any miracle cure
for speed and stop bitching and moaning about the FD.

With kindest regards,
Crispy

 

Wow, I feel better now Crispy

 

*raises hand and asks*

Can I have my beating now, or must I wait until later?

 

well.....i gotta say, i kinda agree with crispy on all the above....sorry.

my fd, which as you know has now gone to a new home, was very reliable. except for one catastrophic tranny failure, which was a fluke in my mind, the car never failed once in the last 18 months of track use.

i know 15K sounds like a lot of money, but in my mind it's just the beginning for a track FD. that's why i laugh when people started offering me 12-15K for mine.

lessons learned for me:

1. temp problems....SMIC, Mazdaspeed front bumper (or equivalent radiator opening), two good oil coolers, good ducting, and for god's sake....single turbo!! another point is that i get the feeling that 220-230F water temp is OK in a well prepared car.


2. boost problems....single turbo

3. reliable power for a 13b turbo motor...300-350 on a single. u'll beat 99% of open track cars and 80% of full race cars in a well sorted FD with 300hp. i know this for a fact!! more hp=more headache.

4. suspension clunks and noises.....replace every bushing and bearing with STOCK bushings and bearings. not enough benefit from the fancy shmancy solid bushings to offset the hassle and cost.

5. it's nearly impossible to have a very good track car and a decent road going car as the same vehicle...

good luck manny, hope you work things out.

fabian

 

Yes, I agree, the FD Rx7 is only track-capable, and "can" be made into a track-only car like damian's (was foko's). Having my car as both daily driver and track car apparently isn't doable with only $15K dumped into it. The lesson I learned, is I ain't rich enough to play with the "big boyz", and thus my FD becomes street rod only--and so the FMIC stays Now which should I go with--resonated midpipe, or straight open midpipe (for full sound and flammage )??? I got my PIN for my S-plan purchase of Sunlight Silver Rx8...it's supposed to be for Mrs Sleep

 

Ramon, I recall your FD had an RB dual catback with midpipe. It wasn't that loud was it? Let me know. I need to decide soon on whether to replace high-flow cat or go midpipe, remove air pump, and dyno-tune.

 

RB(or any catback) for that matter, + midpipe is too loud for street use IMO. plus the stench of running a street car without a cat would be unacceptable to me. some like the smell though. it makes my eyes water.

fabian

 

Too late...made the call...midpipe, air pump removal, dyno-tuning 11.2 to 11.4 AFRs, up to 1.05 kg/cm^2 (15 psi). As I recall riding with Ramon in his silver FD @ Road America, the DP/MP/RB DT wasn't too bad...could be because we had our Bell M3 helmets on