Due to a lack of space at home and the NVH of my RX-7 it was sent to the penalty box for a time out.

Have a friend who had a spare spot in his heated garage, and decided to park the FD. Unfortunately he is selling his house, and had to bring the FD home.

1993 RX-7. 58k miles.
35k miles on street port rebuild. Had to rebuild it due to a corner seal, 95F day, a drag race and a poor tune (PFS Purple Motor Eater)
Rebuilt and installed GT35 turbo.

Stored in 2015 or 2016, can't remember.
Full tank of gas with Stabil.
Fresh oil change.
Was in running well, but starting to have hard hot starts. Signs of compression issues?
Parked on tires from 2003 mounted on Volk TE-37 in a mind boggling massive 17 inch size.
Battery on a tender (2013)

Bought a set of Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 (225/50/16) and mounted them on the OEM wheels. Picked up a new battery.

Went over this morning and swapped out the wheels and the battery.
Pulled fuel pump fuse and cranked the engine.
Reinstalled fuel pump fuse.

Fired up on the 2nd quick crank.

Took a moment to get into a nice idle.

Let it get up to operating temps and drove it 30 miles home without a hiccup.

Drove beautifully, and I remember why I parked it.

NVH out of control. As mentioned in a previous thread solid engine mounts, diff and tranny brace are major culprits, along with the N1 Duals

Had about 10 different people want to race, but wanted to just get the car home.

Changed the oil already, and next project is the brake fluid.
No evidence of leaking fluids on garage floor where it was stored.
Interior just like I left it.

Not sure what to do with it, and my wife is looking at me sideways wondering why I still have it.

Want to get it 'perfect', but that is a never ending project. Will be doing research again!

End result, the FD puts a smile on my face, and I remember why I parked it.

 

Here's my unsolicited advice:
Get something like the Noltec engine mounts, the Banzai transmission brace and poly diff mount bushings.

Those things should really help with NVH but still limit drive train slop.

Then ditch the N1 duals as they are stupidly loud and swap for something else OR use a high flow cat or Borla XR-1 in the midpipe to drop the noise level without killing your HP.

All of this will help you love the car more.

ALSO: Ditch the fuel in the tank as soon as possible as Stabil does not keep it fresh for this length of time and the octane rating is definitely much lower than it was.

Vince

 

Have the Banzai poly diff bushings already, and the Banzai transmission brace. The diff brace is excessive, and sounds like the majority of the noise currently.

The engine mounts are the 'Unobtanium' set from years ago. Will research the Noltec to see how they differ from the ones I have.

The lack of driveline slop is nice, but the noise from the rear diff brace is not.

I already have the XR-1 in the mid pipe, but agree on ditching the N1 duals.

Fuel is planned to be gone.

Definitely appreciate the input though, thanks!

 

Noltecs are good but hard to find now. Out of production for a few years afaik.

 

Those are nice looking mounts

Too bad no longer readily available.

As mentioned, most of my NVH is coming from the rear of the car. Wonder if adding rubber / polymer bushings between the diff brace and the chassis would help. Have some left over thin bushings from my Subaru that might fit the bill. They were thin (1/8 or 1/4 inch thick) bushings meant to go between subframe and frame.

 

Remove the differential brace then some Mazdacomp diff bushings. Done.

 

Will try just removing the diff brace, and see how it rides with the Unobtanium bushings. I did both at the same time and didn't bother seeing how it was with just the diff bushings.

Hard part is remembering what I have already done to this car.

The list grows as I remember things, and digging through old emails / finding receipts etc.

 

Ordered some items for brake fluid change time.

Motive power bleeder
Speed bleeders
ATE fluid

And Redline gear fluid, no Canadian distributor for Neo.

Slowly picking away at this project.

Seeing it in the garage brings a smile to my face

 

Congrats on the resurrection.

If you really want to tone down the NVH, a JIC Ti cat back exhaust like mine is pretty much the opposite of the N1 dual exhaust.

What size Volk 17" did you take off?
Might be interested if it was the right size to replace my Volk 18s.

 

Thanks for the recommendation.

My wife thinks I am crazy as I am listening to exhaust vids on youtube again. Went throught that with the Subaru, settled on the Cobb cat back (from the Greddy Ti-C). Went from one of the loudest to the quietest on the STi. Now looking to do the same on the RX-7.

I will be putting the Voiks back on again after refinishing them, and settling on a tire. Will have to check the specs as they were bought in 2003, but 17x8.5 and 17x9.5, No idea on the offset, but they fit well. 225/45/17 and 255/40/17 were the tires on them. Will like to fit 285 width out back but not on an 18 inch wheel. At least tons of tire options in a 255/40/17.

 

I'm doing a little of the same on my car - dialing back some of the more rowdy things on the car to make it more enjoyable. I bet your car is already crazy fast, an exhaust that takes 10 hp from you won't be missed.

The Tanabe Medallion is a good, quiet, well-built option. RB Duals are always a good choice but I believe they will be louder than the Tanabe.

The whole drivetrain is supported by the 2 engine mounts and the 2 diff mounts. IRP sells a nice performance engine mount that isn't too rowdy, but you can also just get stock mounts - they are fine and of course the most comfortable. Either stock or Mazdacomp diff mounts.

Don't know how your suspension is, there are some good coil over options now that ride comfortably such as the Tein Flex Z's. Jarring suspension definitely gets old fast.

Dale

 

Dale,

Thanks for the input. Been close to a decade since I frequented the forum with any regularity. Everything I once knew has changed, and need to see what has improved over the last decade.

On the stock struts, only 28 years old. Do you think they need to be replaced? (haha) The car is on the Racing Beat linear rate springs which I loved, but wondering what the best options are out there. Reading through years of posts on suspension options. The Tein are priced VERY cheap, and suspicious that they will last, but they seem to review well. I had a set of KW V3 on my Subaru which I was very happy with, but if I can get reasonable performance for a bit less (accepting less than perfect valving I can deal with it). Have F&R RB sway bars. Upgraded trailing arms and other rear linkages that I forget what they are called now. No clunking or noises of bad bushings / pillow ***** (all upgraded with seals).

My goal would be a light duty track car / autocross car again. I vaguely remember winning in SS, the ASP, then being outclassed by the new S2ks haha. Clearly a fault of the car and not the driver Would even be willing to put in a HFC into the mid pipe to avoid the smell of cat less exhaust.

Priorities are changing out the cat back exhaust, removing the diff brace, changing all of the fluids, and hoping my hot warm start is not sign of low compression. Or else a rebuild is in order. It starts instantly cold, but warm takes a few cranks Sounds like compression issues.

Have been through a cracked PPF and didn't want to repeat that hence the diff brace / upgraded diff bushings / tranny brace. Zero wheel hop now, and zero driveline slop, Just a lot of NVH, but as mentioned many times above, I am hoping to see an improvement removing the tranny and diff brace.

Built up my 04 STi, had it perfect but needed body work (rust on rear quarter panels in the typical location) but didn't want to go there. Had it running perfectly, and sold it. And regretted getting rid of it the next day Made for the ultimate winter beater (hence the rust). The timing of losing my storage spot and missing a manual transmission are the impetus behind the resurrection. Money pits.

The only nice thing is that prices of FD are going up, so at least I can justify to my wife that this is a GREAT idea. haha Knowing that cars in worse shape are selling for more than I paid back in 1999 is nice but no consolation as I view it still as a $$ pit. At least it is a quick $$ pit.

 

I can vouch for the Banzai Racing motor mounts. They provide enough stiffness but still insulate from vibration. I also have the SS RB catback and love them. The give a low growl on acceleration and nice and quite at cruising speed.

 

One thing to be aware of with cat-backs and sound - a single turbo is QUITE a bit louder than the twins. A cat-back that isn't bad on twins can be very loud on a single. The turbo control door does a significant job reducing sound at low load/idle.

The N1 Duals are just LOUD no matter what, the only good thing about them is they flow like crazy but they sound terrible and fit terrible. That Tanabe Medallion would be a good way to go. The RB I would worry about it still being a bit loud on a single turbo car.

See my recent thread on "old mans suspension" - lots of discussion about suspension setups. I've driven a car with the RB springs and stock shocks and thought it was harsh. The Flex Z's ride a LOT better. That's probably down the road for you, though. Personally I'm going Flex Z - I like the price, I like the quality, and I like that if a shock fails you can buy a whole replacement for a reasonable price and swap it out with minimal down time.

On the motor I'd get some more mileage on it before you really make any judgements on it. Get your fluids changed (oil, filter, coolant) and get a fresh tank of gas in there then see how the motor does. Engines typically don't lose significant compression from sitting - it could be stuck/carbon/rusty and just needs some heat and some time to get things moving and happy again.

Dale

 

Very interesting thread and I'll chime in on the NHV part. I installed the Banzai transmission brace and immediately noticed a big jump in NVH transmitted through the gear lever (my FD newish stock engine mounts, stock diff mounts of uncertain condition), herer is some info https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...1042141/page2/. I changed out the poly mount that came with the brace for the rubber mount described in the review thread and the NVH returned to previous levels. Since then, I have removed the aftermarket shifter and installed a rebuilt OEM lever and that really improved NVH just by itself. If you have a non-OEM shifter that is a possible NVH improvement point, as well as substituting a rubber transmission mount for the poly mount.

 

Dale, I like your optimism on the motor.

The N1 Duals look great in my mind, but I bought them in 2 decades ago haha. Had zero issue with fitment.
The Tanabe Medallion Touring is high up on my list.
I did like how the PFS sounded on cars with twins, as how the RB sounded on twins, but never heard them on a single turbo car. I completely agree that the car became louder with the single turbo.

The RB linear springs on the stock struts was stiff, and didn't help that the sway bars were also stiffer. But worked great for autocross.

Will read up on your review or thoughts on suspension befitting an old man. I am feeling that I am in that category, if not now, soon.


Have the Mazdatrix SS which I absolutely love, and didn't notice any issues with excessive NVH. All of it is from the rear. Agree that swapping out poly spacers/washers for rubber will definitely help.


Where are people buying parts from? rx7store exist anymore?

 

Mazda Comp diff bushings feel significantly better, but my original diff bushing were shot..one was leaking 😬

 

Did the brake fluid this weekend. Motive Power Bleeder / ATE brake fluid Sunday fun day project.

1. Suctioned out the fluid from the reservoir and topped off with new brake fluid (ATE) (did this several times). A 60 cc syringe and intravenous tubing was used to fill the reservoir.
Bought 3 L but used less than 1 L.

2. Car up on jack stands / and then worked from the rear to the front as per what corner to work on based on the forum. Bleed clutch line as well obviously.

3. Thankfully nothing was seized and it was like working on a new car


Used clear tubing, but the fluid coming out looked pretty similar to the fluid going in, so ended up flushing more than I needed to be sure. (Miss the Blue ATE fluid).

All in took about an hour and a half working with a floor jack, electric impact wrench and jack stands.

Wife was watching the reservoir for me Didn't take any pictures of the project as it is pretty self explanatory.

Next project is diff / transmission fluid. Waiting for a pump to arrive (courtesy of Amazon) to transfer fluid from the jug to the diff filler and the transmission filler.

Trying to figure out what to use to collect a full tank of gas 18-20 gallons container is the simple answer. Any suggestions on what how best to drain the fuel, a full gas tank?

 

You could always take 1-2 gallons at a time and put it in your daily with a mostly full tank. In theory it will not be enough to affect the way it runs. Then you don't have to dispose of it.

Other wise the only good containers are 5 gallon buckets or gas cans.

Vince

 

There is a drain plug on the bottom of the tank that will help that project out a good deal. But, it's just a LOT of damn gas to deal with.

I think it's worth just putting it in a daily - not as a full fill up, but put 5 gallons in here and there or something like that. Maybe get one 5 gallon gas can, fill that up with gas from the RX-7, put that in the daily, then drain some more and repeat. Maybe get friends over who need a top off on their dailies

Also may be worth pulling the fuel pump from the top and having a visual in the tank - look for any rust or sediment, any problems with the fuel pump, etc.

Dale

 

My first thought was as mentioned to just pull the drain plug, but the thought of collecting 20 gallons that way made me raise an eyebrow. I guess I could collect it into 5 gallon cans as mentioned and just top off other vehicles.

Will take a look into the tank, but it looked pretty pristine the last time I changed the pump, and it was stored with a full tank. But agree, worth a look.

Thanks to the suggestions to just add it to the other cars. Guess I can just volunteer the Jeep to be the recipient.

 

I just went through this when I changed my fuel pump; I drained the old fuel into a jerry can and some Home Depot buckets. The Eco-Centers in Edmonton will take the old fuel and dispose of it at no cost. I don't recommend putting that old fuel in your other vehicles; you'd be amazed how much dirt there is in a 20+ year old fuel tank! lol. On a side note, I have the Ohlins Road and Track in my FD and the ride is "old man approved" even on Edmonton's bombed out roads. Good luck with your FD revival!!

 

If you haven’t already, you might take a look at your tires when you get on top of the other obvious things. Five years of sitting can’t be good. And if they were a year or two old to begin with, that’s getting a little long-in-the-tooth for performance and safety. Just a thought,

 

Thanks. I am not against dumping the fuel, just a PITA to go to the Eco-Centre 3 x.

haha, thanks for the assessment on the Ohlins. I will likely lean towards the Tein Flex Z.

Spent the evening looking at digital camo vinyl for a wrap. Thankfully that is further down the line of must do items, so hoping to talk myself out of it.

The car will not be a DD so I am not against making it a bit in your face.


I completely agree.

I put on a set of NEW Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 on to the oem rims before driving it out of storage. The Kumho tires mounted to the Volks were in ZERO condition to be driven on but still held air after being stored , but I am embarrassed to say how old they are. When I was driving it from 2007-2013 it was seeing less than 600 miles/year. Having my neighbor get the tires unmounted at his shop and then have to figure out what color to refinish the Volks.