Chaste_FD

Hello Everyone!
I've begun what I hope to be an exciting journey into the FD world with my '94 Chaste White! Upon purchase, I realized that the car already came fitted with an Apexi Power Intake, and Downpipe/Midpipe (brand unknown). Car is currently also sitting on some Tien Springs, which I would love to replace in the near future with a full Coilover setup. Car is not driven at the moment, and do not intend to unless it's to test, or until it's finished. Fast forward 2 months after having the car, and I've purchased/replaced/installed the following...

Apexi Power FC w/ OLED Commander (Still has not arrived, should be here soon!)
Efini Y Pipe Kit (Still has not arrived, should be here soon!)
Goodridge G-Stop SS Brakelines (After some research, it seemed like one of the best options.)
HKS Carbon-Ti Exhaust (To complete the midpipe/downpipe already on the car. I LOVE the carbon can! Sounds Brap-tastic!)
HKS TwinPower w/ Harness (I LOVE Rare JDM Parts!) (Well documented in Banzai's thread)
Megan Racing Short Throw Shifter (Oem shifter felt super crappy/loose, so I chose this route and paired with LRB Delrin Bushing.)
NGK Oem Plugs/Premium Wires (Replacing whatever was already on the car.)
Pettit Aluminum AST (Replacing the OEM plastic one)
OEM Fuel Pulsation Dampener (I went ahead and purchased this as opposed to bypassing)
R-Magic Rear Hatch/Trunk Shocks (Mine were worn to sh*t, and I didn't wanna be decapitated)
Redline Transmission MT90/Diff 75w90 Fluid Change (I've run RL on most of my vechicles and love the product. Seems like a lot do too.)
Royal Purple Oil Change w/ K&N Filter (Personal preference.)
Silicone Vaccum Lines (20ft of 3.5mm / 10ft of 6mm)
StopTech "Sport" Brake Pads
Thompson Din Triple Gauge Panel (I will be running Speedhut Oil Temp/Boost/Water Temp gauges)
Viton Check Valves (Dale Clark option seemed pretty popular when re doing lines)

So where do I go from here? I feel like it's all coming together very sporadically, and I have a tendency to purchase things way out of order without any real direction. I would like to upgrade the stock twins as opposed to a big single turbo (which seems like the option most take), and would like to purchase the following parts soon to put it all together, get a tune, and make some power. I would love and greatly appreciate some suggestions and guidance before doing so.

Brake Rotors (Can someone recommend some good rotors? Already got the pads.)
Fluidyne or Koyo Aluminum Radiator (Unless Intercooler Kit I decide on comes with ALL parts including Rad.)
HKS SSQV BOV (Personal preference, not a priority at this time)
HKS VMIC Kit (How soon do I need this?) I'm also looking at other options like RE-A, and Greddy.)
Oil Coolers (brands/preferences with mods given?)
SpeedHut 52mm Gauges (Oil Temp/Boost/Water Temp getting mounted on Thompson Triple Gauge Din)
Upgraded '99 Spec Twins (Can someone help me here? What is my best option? What are my power limits with mods given? How long can I realistically use the stock twins until this upgrade comes into play? Or do I go with say HKS/Greddy turbo upgrade kit instead? )
Upgraded Injectors/Fuel Pumps (Are these needed with mods given? Unsure on injectors bc I'm a newb. I've read that the Supra TT pumps are good for us? 255 Walbro?)

Please HELP! I want to continue this journey! Thanks Everyone!

Red94fd

iTrader: (5)

Oh... man...! Can you answer a symple question, first? What do you want to do with the car, street , show off, just enjoy driving it, drag race,.? Answer that then go from ther. Get the car running,. Do you have a healthy engine? The first thing i did was rebuild the engine, street port, meanwhile i was getting intercooler, fuel system, radiator, new clutch and so on. I knew i wanted the car for spirit street driving with single turbo around 350 whp.

Chaste_FD

I want a fun reliable twin turbo pushing around 400 whp (Anything extra is a bonus) I only plan on driving the car on weekends, or taking it to local shows. The engine has already been rebuilt through Mazda, and healthy. Compression showed 100+ all around (around 110ish if I recall correctly). What parts have you gone with thus far?

Red94fd

iTrader: (5)

Its a long enless list like most of us...
400rwhp with twings? Do a lot of reading my friend, cause you have to make the desition of what you think it works best for your set up/purpose of the car.

tain street coilovers, upgraded brakes, pads and break lines. Transmition and diff brace, 450 walbro fuel pump, 1200 and 2200 id injectors with upgraded fuen rails and fpr.
made my own v-mount wirh ets intercooler core, aluminum rad, turblown single turbo kit dual wastegate, with 362sxe turbo. Dual oil cooler, upgraded starter and waterpump, power fc , and keeps going with engine mod such as street ported...
like i said read up for your own good, dont rush it.
look for a good tuner when its all done.

Red94fd

iTrader: (5)

The rotary bug bite its crazy strong isn't it? I have owen the car for 7 years and still reading new stuuf to buy and fix.. welcome to rotary adiction...! In a good way.

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

Welcome to the fun .

First off, let the car tell you what it needs. A lot of times the car needs something that isn't fun and glamorous, but if you neglect that it can bite you in the rear or just makes the car "lopsided'. I've seen cars with expensive turbo kits with cheap tires on the car, cars with fancy paint jobs and body kits with an engine bay that looked like a 2 year old did the wiring, etc.

Next is try not to do EVERYTHING at once. I've seen many cars turn into troubleshooting nightmares because someone decided to go whole hog on the car without testing each thing as they went. You quickly can end up with a parts car going that route, and we need to keep every FD on the road.

That said, a few notes -

- On vacuum line, you want 3.5mm line, not 4. The 3.5 fits VERY tight. boostcontroller.com has great price and quality. 20 feet of 3.5mm and 10 feet of 6mm will be more than enough. You don't need to replace ALL the lines in the car, just do the lines that are broken, loose, or need to be disconnected to work on the car. The ones that are baked on to the rat's nest are fine and not going anywhere, you're more likely to break a vacuum nipple.

- I'm lukewarm on short throw shifters, in reality you have worn out shift lever bushings. A fresh set of bushings makes a massive difference. Many aftermarket shifters IMHO make it hard to find gears, buzz and rattle, and just don't feel that great. Keep your stock parts for sure.

- Redline does OK, but Idemitsu has some really good gear oil that I'm liking better. Also, Royal Purple is WAY expensive for what you need. I like Valvoline VR-1 20w50 personally. Change it more often as the oil gets diluted.

- The stock BOV's flow great and do everything needed for the stock twins. An upgraded BOV really won't get you anything but sound.

Read Banzai Racing's staged upgrade thread and see what all can be done upgrading a stock car piece by piece.

Dale

Banzai-Racing

iTrader: (11)

I do not recommend synthetic oil in the engine. A lot of what you have listed is just personal preference or has nothing to do with the actual performance of the car.
I am not aware of any OEM Aluminum AST. I do not like the Goodrich lines, always have to grind off the hex to get them to fit. If you are going to run stock plugs at least use all 9's, but that will not get you to 400. You are going to need a bunch of fuel mods.

400rwhp even on the 99 twins requires a lot of things to be working perfectly.

Here is the thread Dale was referring to https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...added-1104322/

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

The car was run with a midpipe and no boost control with stock ECU? Scary... you need to get boost, boost creep, and AFR's under control. PFC and wideband should help with that. You may need a cat in place of midpipe to control creep.
Replace FPD with stock, absolutely. And fuel hoses around there if they haven't had the recall kit installed recently.
I have never run stainless brake lines on any vehicle on track or street and always had plenty of brake/good feel. They are just a money-maker IMO.
Boost and water temp gauges are redundant with PFC display.
You are kind of all over the place... Define your goal and then design the system to meet those goals.
Take a look at build threads from experienced members. Banzai has a great thread that Dale mentioned (https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...added-1104322/) documenting dyno results for each mod added, which is the inspiration for my current mod path on a nearly stock car.

TomU

iTrader: (11)

True, but you really can't read the Commander while driving. You also don't need to go overboard with gauges. Boost and water temp are essential. I find the column pod best for viewing, but even there, you really are not looking at the gauges if you are doing any serious driving.

Only other mods I feel are necessary are cooling (AL radiator and dual R1 oil coolers) and good aftermarket brake pads.

The more you keep it stock, the more you will enjoy it

Montego

iTrader: (1)

Sure you can. I mounted my commander in my cigarette lighter via a cell phone holder and use it as a gauge.

TomU

iTrader: (11)

I keep mine in the glovebox

Montego

iTrader: (1)

^^I see your point. That does make it kinda hard to read

Not my pic but mine is essentially the same:

bajaman

Well...you've certainly bought a lot of nice stuff, but as Banzai-Racing notes, it appears to be personal preference or maybe you "heard these are good" so you bought them. To make more power, you need to focus on increasing boost, getting that all out with a good exhaust system, fuel management, and overall engine management...some of which you do indeed have covered with your purchases...but it takes a LOT to get to 400+ hp on sequential twins. It can and has been done, but it is far from easy or commonplace.

As with ALL these threads started by uh...'enthusiastic new owners'...asking for advice, Dale and Red and others are pointing out key a question: what do you REALLY want to do with the car? I'll ask you why 400+ hp is a desired goal for a car that will be rarely driven? A stock or nearly stock FD, with the proper "reliability mods", will GENERALLY be best suited for 'weekend driving'...IMHO. A lightly modded car making 275 - 300 hp is more than enough to make one's ***** tingle. Suspension "upgrades" are often NOT that...keep in mind that for a non-tracked car, the stock suspension, provided it is in good shape, is pretty awesome.

I'd suggest taking some time to really envision the 'end result' you see in your car, and how you use it. I may be wrong, but it seems you've not hardly driven the car at all?

Chaste_FD

- Thanks for the knowledge Dale! I went ahead and ordered the recommended 20ft/3.5mm, and 10ft/6mm from boostcontroller.com in Blue.

- I did go ahead and retain the stock parts, only throwing away any bushings or gaskets that were clearly broken. The Megan SS is pretty comparible to the B&M and it was fairly cheap. I also paired it w/ the LRB Speed Derlin Cup Bushing, and after test driving, no signs of any buzz/rattle....yet. Very Solid!

- Will definitely keep in mind for the next go around! Could you please provide me with what's exactly needed for the Idemitsu stuff?

- The BOV is definitely just a personal preference kind of thing. Not at the top of the mod list/priority list by any means at this time.

- I've gone ahead and read the Banzai thread and its EXCELLENT! (Subbed) #Inspiration


Hello Banzai! I guess what I was referring to was the OEM Replacement Aluminum AST offered by RX7.com shown here...
RX7.COM | FD Engine Cooling
Rotary Performance AST Air Separator Tank

I won't be the one shaving anything off the Goodrich lines, as I have a close friend mechanic who does 90% of my install work. As for the plugs, are you recommending that I run all 4 BUR9EQP plugs as opposed to 2X2? (BUR7EQP/BUR9EQP)

Your thread is excellent! Upon reading I have much inspiration to follow a very similar path. I've gone ahead and ordered the HKS Twin Power w/ Cable, and a Walbro 255 pump.


A Midpipe was already installed upon purchase of the car (brand unknown), Stock ECU, however the car wasn't necessarily run. It was in a garage 95% of the time. I have Apexi Power FC w/ Commander on the way.

What do you mean by replace FPD with stock? Recall Kit? Can you point me in the right direction here?

I know I'm all over the place, thats why I created this thread. I appreciate the knowledge given, Thanks! I too am very much inspired by Banzai's thread.

I'm thinking of going Fluidyne AL radiator w/ all new hoses. Have not looked too much into the R1 Oil Coolers? Can you explain a little further? very much interested.

I'll be running a Thompson 3 Gauge DIN w/ Boost/Water Temp/Oil Temp

StopTech Sport F&R Brake Pads are on the way. (309.03310/309.03320) Will be paired with Goodridge G-Stop SS Brake Lines thus far. Thoughts?

Chaste_FD

CURRENT MODS LIST (1/9/2018)
ApexiCommander FC w/ OLED Commander
Efini Y Pipe Kit
Goodridge G-Stop SS Brake Lines
HKS Carbon-Ti Exhaust
HKS Twin Power w/ Harness
Midpipe/Downpipe (Unknown Brand)
Megan Short Shift Kit w/ LRB Derlin Cup Selector Bushing
NGK OEM Plugs/Premium Wires
OEM Fuel Pulsation Dampener
Pettit Aluminum AST
R-Magic Rear Hatch/Trunk Shocks
StopTech Sport Brake Pads
TurboLogic Silicone Vacuum Hoses
Viton Check Valves

I'm also thinking an HKS Type-R V Mount Kit would play nicely with these parts in the future?

Montego

iTrader: (1)

^^ Do you want to keep your AC? If so then verify the HKS V-mount kit does not eliminated it.

Chaste_FD

I believe it comes with an AC Recolation kit? I'll have to look into it further to confirm.

arghx

iTrader: (3)

You should really consider sticking with the OEM shifter with new (OEM) rubber boots and plastic bushings. That short shifter (B&M knock off/replica) is REALLY short and not fun to drive around town. The stock shifter is actually pretty short already.

V mount is a big change in the engine bay. Maybe you should wait for a while. You need a bigger plan for making more power. Try putting all that stuff in and doing maintenance to the car first. I bet the interior needs some work too.

Do you want A/C to work? You live in Florida. If you do want to keep A/C that's going to limit options. The stock A/C is decent if it's charged up and maintained.

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

The HKS V-mount *can* be made to work with AC but it looks to be tricky. Read my recent thread on the kit.

Dale

Chaste_FD

- I've already installed the Megan SS and didn't have much of an issue when test driving the car. I did retain the stock parts however, so should I grow tired of it I'll be making the switch back, or going with the RE-A.

- The HKS has an option to modify for retaining AC use. I am however going to hold just a bit on the Intercooler kit purchase until I begin installing the parts listed above.

- The interior is actually in GREAT shape for a '94 FD, all the way down to the leather seats. I've only had to replace the interior triangles, and the defroster grill vents in the front near the windshield. Everything else is awesome shape.

Nice read! #Subbed! I'll definitely be referring back to that thread if/when I decide to pull the trigger. Would love to document along the way to continue the thread when converting said parts to LHD (US Spec) as explained.

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

Careful... Expect uncontrollable boost creep on stock turbos with a midpipe. Power FC isn't enough to prevent it. You'll need a ported WG or a restriction in the exhaust or both.

You asked if you should replace the FPD or eliminate it... Replace it with a new stock mazda FPD. It's a source of argument, but IIRC consensus is a FPD is needed on the system.
There is a recall kit for the under hood fuel hoses. They were upgraded for higher heat tolerance. https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...13-s70-521752/
Your car may have had it performed already. If so, there should be a recall sticker on the door jam. Still not a bad idea to inspect/replace if you have access.

Good call starting the thread - wish I'd done more asking when I was rebuilding. Could have saved some $$$ and headaches.

I think the best advice so far has been aim for a close to stock car with solid reliability/performance upgrades that you can enjoy on the regular vs always being down for maintenance/repairs. I have no idea what my car pulls on a dyno, but I bet I've gotten more enjoyment out of it than many people out there chasing peak HP numbers. YMMV.

OdyOwnage

Following as I am kinda going through the same process now. Just had the car repainted and starting from the REAR to the FRONT. Used new hardware, replaced old worn OEM items, etc.