My FD is about to return
 

After a long slumber, she will be returning to the road this month with a J-Spec 13B-REW. With it I'll be taking off several of the performance modifications for driveability sake, below is what I plan to keep of the mods I had previously installed.

1994 FD3S, OEM ports, OEM sequential turbos and auto-to-manual swapped.

Pettit Racing CAI + Bonez Hardpipes
Larger SMIC (14"x8"x3" core)
Efini Y-pipe
3" S.S. Downpipe
3" TurboTuf cat-back
Pettit Racing AST
Simplified Sequential + custom vacuum chamber/manifold

I plan on selling my M2:Stage3 and just run the OEM ECU on my car, but I'm thinking for safety sake I should maybe go back to the stock cat-back and stock airbox as well due to the '3 mod rule' with the OEM ECU.

I'm not going for maximum power as you can tell but I'm after reliability and balance in the car. I was originally modeling my engine modifications after Majhik's as his route was almost perfect to my goals but due to financial constraints I plan to tame the car down a bit for now.

Thanks for your thoughts,
_Kris

Why would you run those mods and choose to run the stock ECU when you already have an M2? It's clearly a safer alternative.

^+1

:scratch:

You are not increasing the safety by removing any of those mods. Keep the M2 ecu and restrict boost to 10-11 psi using a boost controller. That setup will be at least as reliable as the stock setup, if not more.

My car ran great with my M2 ECU, never put a foot wrong. I say keep it and enjoy the mods, it should be safe especially if you limit the boost to 10-11psi like rynberg said to.

Dope,

Looks like a good setup. I think you'll be fine with your Pettit intake and the M2 ECU. What I would do is keep those but add an electronic boost controller. Just run low boost on the street and you'll have the option to turn it up when/if you need it. ;)

First off, I applaud you for "backtracking" - way too many people go off the deep end with mods and don't realize what an obnoxious undriveable mess they end up with. My goal with my car has always been to refine the good work Mazda did - make improvements where they had to cheap out due to cost or emissions, but keep the spirit of the design and the build quality whenever possible.

Anyhow, I'm also of the "keep the M2 ECU" camp. Simply having an ECU with appropriate maps is a BIG peace of mind.

Dale

Yea, the big reason I've considered selling it is the monetary gain, not so much the fact that I feel it is a dangerous tune. When I was running it before I had nothing but smiles, and the 12-10-12 boost pattern wasn't too extreme to be unsafe but only an improvement over the standard boost levels.

I may keep the M2, but with that in mind I am considering then keeping my 3" down pipe with hi-flow cat. Safe, not safe?

I use to live and breath the FD3S and I soaked up all the knowledge I could from people like Dale, Kevin Landers and Kyle (Mahjik) and even at the time had some input of my own but since I've been working in a shop on the Nissan camp, my paranoia has returned of the FD in its soon to be revival. I just wanted the piece of mind that the other rotary enthusiasts concurred in my choices for safety.

For reference, here are all the modifications installed on the car before it was parked.

Pettit CAI
Bonez Hardpipes
Efini Y-Pipe
Custom SMIC
Simplified Sequential + Custom Vacuum chamber/manifold
Home-Depot MBC's (Pre-spool + Boost control)
Vented OEM BOV
3" S.S. Downpipe
3" S.S. Midpipe + hi-flow 3" cat
3" TurboTuf cat-back
RacingBeat 9lbs lightweight flywheel
ACT S/S clutch
Pettit AST
Koyo Racing radiator
Greddy w/p + alt pulleys
I had Defi Boost/Water Temp gauges but they were stolen so I have to replace those still. :(

The main concerns are due to the midpipe with the cat but I can get a stocker again I'm sure, no prob.

_Kris

I think you'll be just fine, however with an EBC. I know I sound like a broken record but I really believe that an EBC should be added once people start changing the airflow components on their cars. ;)

Thank God, I thought I was the only one who had zero desire to mod the piss out of my car.....I was wondering if something was wrong with me :lol: