I've started this thread to document the restoration and modification of my 93 FD project car. .i want to share my experiences and what i have learned, as well as what i am doing to the car. if you dont care just skip this thread. if you have any input (good or bad) or just want to say whats up or tell me i'm a moron (which im sure will need to be said multiple times throughout this process) please feel free to contribute -Heath

i bought the car in september 2003 from another forum member in San Fransisco for $5K. the car had an engine fire previously and it was completely toasted. really this saga begins a year before i bought the car. i had decided, (after too many newbie questions in the 20b forum) that i would love to build a 20b FD. I was debating putting a 20b in the FD my father and i share, but he didnt like the idea. He owned the car and had the final say... he wanted to keep it completely (well 99% stock) so that was that. anyway, the first thing i bought for the car and motor (which did not exist at that point ) was the leather mazdaspeed shifter. this was the begining of what i expect to be a never ending journey with one of the coolest (im my mind) cars ever made. i love everything the 7 stands for...

anyway, im off to the beach... ill continue the blog later. if you periodically see this thread float to the top of the 3rd gen section and dont care, please just ignore it. im not trying to be a post ***** (although it may seem like it at times) just want to share my experiences. later

 

ok i have some time now so ill give some more details

ok ahyway, long story short(er) i had a chance to pull the motor from my cosmo front clip this weekend... did it w/ a friend in 5 hours ! neither of us had ever pulled a motor before so it was a fun and scary experience (especially when the front clip fell over doh! but the motor was hanging at that point so it was fine. ok we took some pics so ill post them, and then get back to work on the project car (i still have to pull the burnt engine out of that one) hehe, lots to do still!!!!

-heath

 

ok here are a few of the project car to start out


interior is currently taking a hiatus

 

holy crap!

 

my first ever engine pull (and my *** hanging out)... wasnt as hard as i expected... but having lots of extra jacks/stands were a must!


my friend lorenz poses for the camera (really hes just uber buff )



5 hours of swearing earned us this



finally, a hopefull glimpse of what's to come:

 

good luck with the conversion

 

You're brave including a pic of yourself. The photochopers will have a field day. :P

Are you planning on doing your own bracketing/subframing or are you going to go with a pre-fab? Using the Cosmo's CPU or going custom?

In any case, good luck!

 

ok i have a few things that maybe someone might have ideas about.

first thing is that (and i just noticed this) the rubber ring on the oil cap is not there ... and must not have been there for man many years because the inside of the filler kneck is rusted... this sounds like a problem to me... i dont want rust to go into my oil !!i

second thing, i just drained the oil... it was BLACK! i mean fu#kin BLACK! not only was it horribly black, but it smelled HEAVILY like fuel... any ideas? that didnt sound too good to me

 

as far as the photoshop, i say bring it on ! but if you do, please include a picture of yourself so i have a chance to retaliate ...thats only fair.

im going with a pettit subframe. the only fabbing im planning on doing is some intake piping, various brackets, and getting some larger oil coolers to fit in there. the cosmo came with quite a nice oilcooler... and they had a cool way to get more oil cooler surface area... tip it back somewhat... ill post some pics if people are interested, im going to try and adapt it to the FD.

im going ot try working with the stock ecu but i have a feeling i will give up and go directly to a haltech (which i will use in any case later on)... i just want to get this thing mounted and running in stock form to make sure things work before i go further.

 

RotorMotor
If you need some help/grunt work done that's not too complicated, let me know. I'm in the Bay Area also. Just trying to make a new friend and catch a ride when it's complete

 

Wow, your friend seemed to be more into then you. I guess engines weren't the only thing you were swapping - chuck chuck chukc chuck

In all seriousness, though, looks like you're making good progress. Keep us posted on how everything goes! I'm just about to tear my 20B apart for its rebuild...

 

wow, that thing looks like a mess. How long do you think the conversion is gonna take? good luck, cant wait to see it after its done.
adam

 

wow, good luck with the conversion and all that work ahead of you!!

 

Good Luck man.

 

Wow! Good luck with this. Sounds like a fun project! I know nothing of the 20B swap, so forgive the ignorance here. The Cosmo's came with an auto tranny, and your FD appears to be manual. Will the 20B mount to the 13B bell housing? Or does something need to be fab'ed to make it fit? Sorry for the new-b question.

 

your a daring man.....props for that...its gonna be sweet when its finished

 

Yes, the tranny will mount on without any trouble. One bolt hole at the top dosen't line up.

 

what about the computer settings??

doesnt the 20b work only with an automatic? and you have manual, of course theres a way around it but im curious to see how and where to get the part (ecu, etc) needed?

 

Generally one would use an aftermarket performance ECU, but there are some (like Rotormotor) who are trying to use the stock unit and trick it into working. There's a lot of info about this in the 20B forum (under the Rotary performance section)

 

chiminoid: yeah, im sure ill need a few helping hands at some point. im really just in the "preparation" stage of this project. the next task is chopping up that frame and hauling it in to the dump. then i can begin to focus on the engine compartment of the project car.

johnisenglish: hahaha great photochop! i was laughing really hard from from that one. lorenz will think thats hillarious.


fastcarfreak: im trying to be reasonable, so im thinking 8 months since i cant spend every weekend on it. this is barring any "problems" i run into... i already have a few that ive found......


PS: hey johnisenglish: i have a few srange problems that i did not expect once i started looking at things more in depth.

1) the intake pipe that goes to the secondary (i havent checked out hte primary yet) isnt flat!! there is a ring that is supposed to sit in a groove in hte intake pipe. if i fab up any piping im not sure how i will replicate that groove, either that or ill have to take the intake housing to a machine shop and have them sand it flat. (ill take some pics)

2) i put my downpipe from alamo rotary on the motor... seems that it interferes with the coolant lines for the turbos.... not sure what to do about that yet.... (ill take some pics)

3) there is a bunch of strange corrosion on the outside of the 2nd rotor housing... im not sure why its there, seems very odd to me (ill take pics)

4) the oil smells HEAVILY like fuel... any ideas anyone of why that could be? all i know is fuel in oil is bad bad bad

im really concerned about hte fuel smell, if anyone has any info on this it would be appreciated

 

well i guess this is goodbye.... everything is stripped from the front clip, its now cut in half and going to the dump tomorow. im almost sad to see it go


one more:



this is my next job.... sorting through the wiring harness to try and see what does what, and how it can be integrated with the FD wiring harness... im scared, very scared.....

 

RotorMotor: How do you plan on passing smog with the 3-Rotor? Got a hookup?

Also, what ever happened to the car with the moldy interior? You ever get all that **** cleaned up?

 

passing smog you say?? hehe im not even close to that step yet i suppose ill need a hookup when it comes time to try and smog it.

the moldy interior is out and cleaned up finally. look a few pictures up and you can see the interior (or lack of)

 

just wanted to let you know i am now subscribed to this thread. good luck, i'll be reading all about it.

 

Nice to finally see a local guy take up a the 3 rotor conversion since i don't know of any in the bay. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. Be sure to post your progress and good luck.