Think it's finally going back together...missing anything?
11-03-07, 11:55 AM
#1
Think it's finally going back together...missing anything?
Unlike my previous FD, my present FD has been a royal pain in the *** and put a big dent into my savings.
I purchased the car with only 29k original miles back in March of this year. Total price with shipping and fees came out to around 18.5k. The car had minimal mods (mostly reliability) and seemed to be very well taken care of - I was wrong.
After the car was delivered I immediately replaced all of the fluids, filters, etc. I also realized that the clutch was pretty bad, so I spent $1k on a new clutch kit and flywheel. Everything was great for a week until the rear turbo started spitting, errr...puking oil into the pipes. It was obviously bad so I had to repair it. I ended up buying a set of turbos off a forum member. One of the turbos was bad but the other was recently rebuilt, so I swapped the good CHRA for my bad rear-CHRA. Also ported the wastegate while the turbos were off the car. So, after that the turbos were boosting fine but the motor started acting up a little bit. I had the boost set for a perfect 10-8-10 setting with my manual boost controllers, and the car only had 30k miles on it so I wasn't sure what the problem could be. At this point my Power FC came (had ordered it a few months earlier in the group buy, came with the "base mod" map). I put the Power FC on and it seemed to smooth everything out.
Two weeks later I'm crusing down the interstate and the car starts to vibrate pretty violently. I pull over into a toll station parking lot and the car immediately dies. I check everything but can't get the car to start. Long story short, compression test comes out to averages of 86 front and 78 rear - rebuild time. Pulled the motor, stripped it down, and sent it out to Kevin at Rotary Resurrection. Kevin pulled it apart and found that the seals weren't in bad shape - it was the front & rear main bearings that caused the trouble. The damage also messed up the e-shaft. He replaced these parts, did a street port, machined the rotors and installed 3mm Mazda apex seals, new gaskets, etc. and now I'm just waiting for the motor to come back.
Next weekend I'll be putting everything back together (fingers crossed!). At this point I have a rather decent list of "mods" but I'm wondering if there is anything I should install before we put the motor back in the car. I've already decided that I'm going to do the Rich Man's non-seq before putting the turbos back on. I've also ordered the rx7store block-off plate kit so there won't be any emissions crap.
Here is the present "power adder" mod list:
+ Large Street Porting
+ 3mm Mazda Apex Seals
+ Stock Twin-Turbos (Rich Man's Non-Seq)
+ Block-Off Plate Kit (No Emissions Junk)
+ Removed Air Pump
+ Apexi Power FC & Commander (Base Mod Map)
+ Jet-Hot Coated 3" Pettit Racing Downpipe
+ Pettit High-Flow Main Cat
+ Custom Dual-Tip Cat-Back
+ ACT Xtreme Duty Street/Strip Clutch Kit
+ SR Motorsports 9.5lb Aluminum Flywheel
+ Fluidyne Competition Radiator
+ M2 AST Coolant Expansion Tank Bypass Adapter
+ M2 Carbon Fiber Airbox w/ Dual K&N Filters
+ Efini "Y" Pipe & Crossover Pipe
+ Manual Boost & Pre-Spool Control Valves (adjusted for 10psi)
+ Magnacore Spark Plug Cables
+ Silver GReddy-Style Alternator & Water Pump Pulley Kit
+ Red-top Battery Relocated to Passenger's Rear Storage Bin
I was thinking of ordering an electronic boost controller, probably the blitz dual-solenoid version.
So, big question: Should I order/install anything else while I have the motor out and turbos off? Is there anything that I might need in the near future that would be easier to install now?
I have only driven this car for less than 2k miles since I bought it. The previous owner really dicked me over - he said the car was babied and never raced. I later found out that it was has auto-x'ing car. At this point I've got almost $25k invested into this car and I haven't even been able to enjoy it.
I purchased the car with only 29k original miles back in March of this year. Total price with shipping and fees came out to around 18.5k. The car had minimal mods (mostly reliability) and seemed to be very well taken care of - I was wrong.
After the car was delivered I immediately replaced all of the fluids, filters, etc. I also realized that the clutch was pretty bad, so I spent $1k on a new clutch kit and flywheel. Everything was great for a week until the rear turbo started spitting, errr...puking oil into the pipes. It was obviously bad so I had to repair it. I ended up buying a set of turbos off a forum member. One of the turbos was bad but the other was recently rebuilt, so I swapped the good CHRA for my bad rear-CHRA. Also ported the wastegate while the turbos were off the car. So, after that the turbos were boosting fine but the motor started acting up a little bit. I had the boost set for a perfect 10-8-10 setting with my manual boost controllers, and the car only had 30k miles on it so I wasn't sure what the problem could be. At this point my Power FC came (had ordered it a few months earlier in the group buy, came with the "base mod" map). I put the Power FC on and it seemed to smooth everything out.
Two weeks later I'm crusing down the interstate and the car starts to vibrate pretty violently. I pull over into a toll station parking lot and the car immediately dies. I check everything but can't get the car to start. Long story short, compression test comes out to averages of 86 front and 78 rear - rebuild time. Pulled the motor, stripped it down, and sent it out to Kevin at Rotary Resurrection. Kevin pulled it apart and found that the seals weren't in bad shape - it was the front & rear main bearings that caused the trouble. The damage also messed up the e-shaft. He replaced these parts, did a street port, machined the rotors and installed 3mm Mazda apex seals, new gaskets, etc. and now I'm just waiting for the motor to come back.
Next weekend I'll be putting everything back together (fingers crossed!). At this point I have a rather decent list of "mods" but I'm wondering if there is anything I should install before we put the motor back in the car. I've already decided that I'm going to do the Rich Man's non-seq before putting the turbos back on. I've also ordered the rx7store block-off plate kit so there won't be any emissions crap.
Here is the present "power adder" mod list:
+ Large Street Porting
+ 3mm Mazda Apex Seals
+ Stock Twin-Turbos (Rich Man's Non-Seq)
+ Block-Off Plate Kit (No Emissions Junk)
+ Removed Air Pump
+ Apexi Power FC & Commander (Base Mod Map)
+ Jet-Hot Coated 3" Pettit Racing Downpipe
+ Pettit High-Flow Main Cat
+ Custom Dual-Tip Cat-Back
+ ACT Xtreme Duty Street/Strip Clutch Kit
+ SR Motorsports 9.5lb Aluminum Flywheel
+ Fluidyne Competition Radiator
+ M2 AST Coolant Expansion Tank Bypass Adapter
+ M2 Carbon Fiber Airbox w/ Dual K&N Filters
+ Efini "Y" Pipe & Crossover Pipe
+ Manual Boost & Pre-Spool Control Valves (adjusted for 10psi)
+ Magnacore Spark Plug Cables
+ Silver GReddy-Style Alternator & Water Pump Pulley Kit
+ Red-top Battery Relocated to Passenger's Rear Storage Bin
I was thinking of ordering an electronic boost controller, probably the blitz dual-solenoid version.
So, big question: Should I order/install anything else while I have the motor out and turbos off? Is there anything that I might need in the near future that would be easier to install now?
I have only driven this car for less than 2k miles since I bought it. The previous owner really dicked me over - he said the car was babied and never raced. I later found out that it was has auto-x'ing car. At this point I've got almost $25k invested into this car and I haven't even been able to enjoy it.
11-03-07, 01:03 PM
#6
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2616329
here are a few....
exterior:
interior:
engine (before pulling for rebuild):
pulling motor:
stripped down:
3mm mazda seals:
porting:
motor rebuilt:
Last edited by theorie; 11-03-07 at 01:12 PM.
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11-04-07, 06:51 AM
#8
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I didnt see you or anyone else for that matter talk about fuel. Larger injectors i feel are a requirement at this point, especially with the large street port. That will flow a lot more then the stock ports. Also, i think the stock twins perhaps some research in helping them flow more, i remember reading about modifying them a bit to help flow characteristics. Might be worth looking into especially if you dont want to change them out for a while.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
11-04-07, 12:07 PM
#10
what is the max boost one should push with the stock injectors, and the proper tune in the power fc. i know the stockers cant really push more than 14-15lbs. would it be safe to run 12-14lbs with the stock twins & stock injectors if the power fc was properly tuned?
11-11-07, 07:34 PM
#15
well, progress update.
ordered a few more goodies the other day...they should be here any day now. update on that later.
spent the past two days getting ready to put the motor back in the car. i've been waiting on my friend (owner of ART - see my sig) to finish 3 other cars so i've been working by myself for the past two days. tomorrow we're going to try to get the long block fully assembled.
the motor looks beautiful. kevin at rotary resurrection did an amazing job.
between yesterday and today i have:
disassembled the turbos, ported and ceramic coated the exhaust side housings, removed the flapper then ported and ceramic coated the exhaust manifold, re-assembled the turbos, removed the secondary butterflies from the UIM & welded the hole, removed all the emissions crap and installed block off plates (8 in total), removed the butterfly from the Y pipe and welded the hole, cleaned the oil pain, drilled out & re-tapped some broken studs, disassembled the alternator (powder coating it black), and started bolting everythign back on the block.
i've also semi-polished the UIM, LIM, throttle body. it's not a mirror finish yet, but they're getting shiny. i'm also going to do the turbo compressor housings, the Y pipe & crossover pipe while i'm at it. i'm going to have everything ceramic coated or painted black, with only the intake piping & manifolds shiny/polished. think it's going to look really nice.
i've got some photos but i need to download them off my camera. i'll post pics of all the work when i resize them. it's coming along really well. pretty excited to have the simplification of vac hoses that non-seq uses. so long rat's nest!
ordered a few more goodies the other day...they should be here any day now. update on that later.
spent the past two days getting ready to put the motor back in the car. i've been waiting on my friend (owner of ART - see my sig) to finish 3 other cars so i've been working by myself for the past two days. tomorrow we're going to try to get the long block fully assembled.
the motor looks beautiful. kevin at rotary resurrection did an amazing job.
between yesterday and today i have:
disassembled the turbos, ported and ceramic coated the exhaust side housings, removed the flapper then ported and ceramic coated the exhaust manifold, re-assembled the turbos, removed the secondary butterflies from the UIM & welded the hole, removed all the emissions crap and installed block off plates (8 in total), removed the butterfly from the Y pipe and welded the hole, cleaned the oil pain, drilled out & re-tapped some broken studs, disassembled the alternator (powder coating it black), and started bolting everythign back on the block.
i've also semi-polished the UIM, LIM, throttle body. it's not a mirror finish yet, but they're getting shiny. i'm also going to do the turbo compressor housings, the Y pipe & crossover pipe while i'm at it. i'm going to have everything ceramic coated or painted black, with only the intake piping & manifolds shiny/polished. think it's going to look really nice.
i've got some photos but i need to download them off my camera. i'll post pics of all the work when i resize them. it's coming along really well. pretty excited to have the simplification of vac hoses that non-seq uses. so long rat's nest!
11-12-07, 10:05 PM
#16
sharing some photos from the first part of the re-assembly
stock vac hose diagram vs. non-seq vac hose diagram,
:
lots of block off plates on the UIM. also removed the secondary butterflies. welded the hole up right after this pic:
removing y pipe flapper and welding it up:
exhaust manifold flapper removed and welded up:
working on porting the turbo housings:
turbos back together after ceramic coating / painting, and semi-polishing:
test fitting the UIM & LIM:
bolting the turbos up:
pretty much ended up cleaning/bead-blasting every part possible. painted almost everything black (1200degree high temp), and semi-polished: turbo housings, y pupe, intercooler piping, uim, lim, etc.
had to go back up to orlando for classes tues-thurs, but heading back down thurs afternoon to finish the motor, then should be dropping it in and connecting everything on friday. cant wait!!!
stock vac hose diagram vs. non-seq vac hose diagram,
:lots of block off plates on the UIM. also removed the secondary butterflies. welded the hole up right after this pic:
removing y pipe flapper and welding it up:
exhaust manifold flapper removed and welded up:
working on porting the turbo housings:
turbos back together after ceramic coating / painting, and semi-polishing:
test fitting the UIM & LIM:
bolting the turbos up:
pretty much ended up cleaning/bead-blasting every part possible. painted almost everything black (1200degree high temp), and semi-polished: turbo housings, y pupe, intercooler piping, uim, lim, etc.
had to go back up to orlando for classes tues-thurs, but heading back down thurs afternoon to finish the motor, then should be dropping it in and connecting everything on friday. cant wait!!!
11-13-07, 12:42 PM
#18
Rotary Enthusiast
What did you us to ceramic coat those parts?? Did you do it yourself?
I am doing a similar build, only im hoping i dont need a rebuild and new turbos haha.
Looks great!!
=Ben
I am doing a similar build, only im hoping i dont need a rebuild and new turbos haha.
Looks great!!
=Ben
11-13-07, 02:37 PM
#20
Nice write up btw.. a few things I'm curious about:
- anyone else have any comments on worn out bearings causing low compression? You said your e-shaft had to be replaced as well? Would low oil or over-heating or mis-alignment somewhere (clutch maybe) cause this? Seems premature on an engine with that few miles... I usually have only heard about seals failing.
- won't the paint come off most of those parts, especially the turbos?
- best looking rotors and housings I've ever seen; shots before the rebuild right?
- anyone else have any comments on worn out bearings causing low compression? You said your e-shaft had to be replaced as well? Would low oil or over-heating or mis-alignment somewhere (clutch maybe) cause this? Seems premature on an engine with that few miles... I usually have only heard about seals failing.
- won't the paint come off most of those parts, especially the turbos?
- best looking rotors and housings I've ever seen; shots before the rebuild right?
11-19-07, 10:56 AM
#22
have been working on the car on and off for the past few days. few hic-ups along the way - mostly broken studs. easy fixes though.
put the motor all back together. it looks so different now that it's non-seq. really lots of space in there.
busted the contacts off the alternator when putting it back together. (why the hell did they design it like that? there is no way to hold down the contacts while you put the housing back on! tried to drill a hole in the back of the housing, thinking it would allow me to hold down the contacts while i put the housing back on...didn't work haha). just waiting on another alternator to come...should be here today or tomorrow.
more photos...
put the motor all back together. it looks so different now that it's non-seq. really lots of space in there.
busted the contacts off the alternator when putting it back together. (why the hell did they design it like that? there is no way to hold down the contacts while you put the housing back on! tried to drill a hole in the back of the housing, thinking it would allow me to hold down the contacts while i put the housing back on...didn't work haha). just waiting on another alternator to come...should be here today or tomorrow.
more photos...
