When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I figured it's time that I start a build thread because I now have my car in good running condition thanks to IR Performance and will slowly start putting my own touches on it as time goes by.
I've been a long time FC guy who purchased my first FD in January of 2015, it was '93 MB touring model which I thought I would have time to work on after my daughter was born. I sold all my FC's except for my GTUs which I later decided to part out and bought the MB car out of Indiana with a no spark issue thinking it would be an easy fix, it sat in my driveway for nearly a year covered and I was getting discouraged as I had 2 RX-7's just sitting. November 2015 rolled around and as I was doing some interior home painting in preparation fro my daughter's first birthday I received a text from the owner of a '94 SSM I had looked at back in January of 2015 before buying the MB car. She had been asking $10k for it, I had offered her $5,500 at the time and she never responded, her ad expired and I never followed up on my offer. Her text said that she was interested in selling the car to me if I was still interested, I talked with my wife, texted her back asking when I could call and got her on the phone. We spoke for a few minutes and she said she had contacted me even though she had received other better offers because she knew I had a longstanding passion for RX-7's; I had fixed the car for her 10 years before when her clutch master cylinder went out by a connection through her son who went to the same high school as me. I told her my situation changed and that I was definitely interested but I could only do $5,000 at the time because I had the other FD already. A few days later I pulled the cash out of the bank and drove it home- the longer story can be found in my purchasing thread HERE.
It drove smoothly but was leaking coolant out of a radiator hose when I got home so I parked it for the winter and asked for a few parts needed to fix it up that Christmas. I started the car after a week or two and noticed it had a bad coolant seal, it billowed white smoke and ran on one rotor until it push the liquid out and caught spark. I knew it was going to need a rebuild but thought I had more time! Some more time passed and I found a taker for my stripped GTUs chassis, I needed to move the FD when he got there and it would not crank. After messing with it I determined it was the security relay and after getting it stuck at the bottom of the hill outside my house we bypassed the relay and jump started the car. Since the GTUs was gone I started considering options for an engine. I thought "Should I buy a rebuilt used engine or have the engine in the car rebuilt?", Fritz Flynn isn't too far away so I messaged him and he said he had a recently rebuilt engine he might sell me. He gave me the price and I was near it with my part out money at the time. We talked back and forth a few more times and he ultimately decided it was not the right time to part out the car the engine was in so I was back to square one. I reached out to another local guy who was selling some parts to fund a 20B swap but he was not ready to sell his rebuilt REW at the time. My GTUs part out continued to do well so I called up Ihor at IR Performance, I talked with him for a while and took my car to them the next month.
The plan was to have my engine rebuilt with their stage 3 port job, install a fuel system and fuel pump, port the wastegate on a good set of stock turbos I provided, eliminate emissions, set the car up for simplified sequential operation and then pick up the running car. That was the original plan..... the result was far from it and my budget increased significantly. Some details on the end result:
IRP Stage 3 ports
RX Parts Apex seals
Viton seals and o rings including RX-8 Oil Control Rings
Power FC
IRP EFR 8374 single turbo kit
IRP Fuel System
IRP Water Pump
Bosch 44 fuel pump and fuel pump rewire
Elite Rotary Shop oil pan brace
AST elimination
IRP Engine mounts
IGN1-A ignition coils
Emissions Elimination
LMS-EFI Custom Engine harness
9.5# ACT flywheel
6 puck sprung ACT clutch w/ PP
Touge Factory Pulleys
Resonated mid pipe and RB dual tip
On Friday I picked up my car and drove it from NJ back to VA, it did not miss a beat! I have to complete the engine break in and install a much better intercooler set up before the power tune which I hope to get done in the late spring. I have second child due at the end of the winter which will slow things down some.
I am ecstatic to have a large single turbo FD, it is something I've always wanted and have had as a long term goal. It's arrival seems quick but the continuation of the build will truly be long term because my part out money is GONE, I can't frivolously spend on the FD anymore! I will update this thread as progress is made, my focus is on a reliable fast street car with the ability to do track events, bodywork will be the bane of my existence and low priority as I am the head of a growing family.
This club is full of great people; thank you to all of you who I've talked to or purchased parts from since I got the car. Also, I want to extend and additional special thank you to the guys at IR Performance: Ihor, Andrew, and Selwyn. As I stated before the car drove great on the way home, it was rock solid and has been very easy to start; the effort you all put into assembling the car is much appreciated.
An intercooler upgrade is the next thing on my list because it is MANDATORY before the power tune. Any tips on a building budget friendly v-mount? I'm handy enough to bend up some brackets and ducts.
That fking turbo though... Like the size of the actual shortblock...
It does look big straight on!
I hope to get a FS thread up soon with some parts and move on with further cleaning up and painting engine bay components along with getting a few other things going. I still haven't gotten a new headlight cover!
Winter sucks and I haven't had time to pull it into the garage yet.
Is that by chance the silver car that went into the Pacific Ocean a while back? That Rust! Wow.
I have a similar issue with replacing parts with new ones. Makes the old parts stand out that much more.
Stay committed and it will eventually be a pretty car. Most of these cars are at the Point they need to be restomods. I wish there were more shops that put as much emphasis on restoring as they do modding. The platform has reached that plateau where it's time.
The brake booster doesn't look so bad anymore, Ihor hit it with some turn-coat style rust inhibitor before I picked up the car. It will need replaced or ultimately sandblasted and repainted. It's not very high on my list right now.
This isn't a very exciting update but I did a few little things. I ordered a new headlight cover from Ray, a shifter bushing kit and a couple oil filters. I've got a new set of rubber boots and will be doing the shifter refresh soon.
Because my car looks so bad it wasn't worth it to have the new headlight cover professionally painted. I picked up some dupli-color "universal silver" spray paint and a can of clear then sprayed it on my screened in porch. I moved it to my basement to dry overnight and then put it on. The paint actually matched well for being the universal can. It's slightly lighter and the clear is different but in the sun it's hard to tell without looking for it. I also used some Meguiars PlastiX and polished the headlights and turn signals.
Replacing the headlight cover was seemingly a simple job until the front two screws were frozen in the nutserts. I broke the bolts and replaced them with 10MM nuts and bolts for now, getting them tight was a chore! I recommend that anyone who's doing a headlight cover orders a whole new set of screws and nuts for them, I'll be trying to get some from Ray with my next order.
~360 miles on the car now, I'm getting close the the oil change and some boost!
Regarding my intercooler setup after looking through a couple other build threads I'm going to order the CX Racing v-mount radiator and and intercooler core. I'm going to take a stab at putting together my own V-mount with AC, I've got some local help to weld up mounts if I can mock it up.
Surprisingly nice "match" on the rattle can paint job
Check out ZoomZoom's build thread. He is working on using an aftermarket condenser with custom lines to work with his Greddy Vmount. His solution may work for you as well.
The way the front plate is smashed into the bumper makes me sad
Well, when looking at the whole car unfortunately that is minor. The plate bracket was pushed into the bumper when I got the car, I pulled it back out and the damage is done; it's not in a condition to pop back out on it's own. This car was parked on the streets in Washington, DC regularly for at least 5 years which is why the body is so bad.
I want to try to do some PDR on the dents behind the back wheels on the car when it warms up. I'll probably take a heat gun to the front bumper when I take it apart for the v-mount and try to reverse the "stretched" plastic.
Looking at the pics I forgot I was planning to do the wiper arms as well. I was going to sandblast them then hit them with gloss black rustoleum. I thought about using satin black but came to the conclusion it may fade worse than the gloss black. Do any of you have a recommendation on a method that results in a lasting nice finish?
It looks like you have a great starting point. The nice thing about it being so rough is once its done you feel that much more proud of what you have done! (Voice of experience!)
It looks like you have a great starting point. The nice thing about it being so rough is once its done you feel that much more proud of what you have done! (Voice of experience!)
That's true, it's just a lot more money than starting with a clean body car.
That's true, it's just a lot more money than starting with a clean body car.
Yep. It's nice to have a nearly 100% stock platform but it requires much more cash to see through. I don't face fixing or paying to have anyone else's hack work fixed but there are no absorbed upgrades or maintenance items like suspension bushings with this car.
I swapped a JDM Efini wheel in and moved my PFC commander to the spot where the cigarette lighter is over the weekend. I just crossed 500 miles too, once I change the oil I can start easing into some boost! I've got a wideband O2 and boost gauge which will go in a dual a-pillar pod once a couple brass fittings arrive. The a-pillar pod isn't ideal but Fendamonkey hooked me up with a pre-drilled a-pillar when I picked up the commander holder from him so I won't have to hack up my nice a-pillar.
I haven't ordered the v-mount stuff yet part of which is due to feeling guilt about frivolous spending. My wife is closing in on our son's due date and I just paid for a custom glass shower door/enclosure for our master bath and to have our carpets stretched and cleaned which together were nearly the cost of a new HKS V-mount.... Such is life! Once the bath is done I'll be seeking a home appraisal and petitioning our mortgage lender to drop our PMI early based on equity which will equate to about a $140/mo savings. Cars are great for showing how compounding purchases add up our time which have a direct correlation to appreciating compounded savings!
Ha! Tom, I actually witnessed a similar scenario as that picture. A few years back in the townhouse community down the street and around the corner from my first house there was someone who had a viper convertible parked in front of their horrible looking townhouse. I was curious about it every time I passed but no one was ever outside to chat with!
Well, it's been several months since my last update, nothing super fancy has changed but the car has seen a few needed changes and many delays.
I left off talking about my son that was coming soon, my home appraisal and a v-mount. All of them happened and I discovered the deck I built 3 years ago rotted too.
The home appraised and I dropped my PMI, I got a kick out of the appraiser's picture. I would argue it's one of the best photos of the house!
Around the same time I ordered the parts for my v-mount. It went together well for a few hundred dollars but I ended up ditching the AC for now(it was flat anyway). If I had to do it again, after factoring in the time spent on fitting and adjusting, and what the final product looks like I would recommend going with an assembled kit like the Greddy. It costs much more but it's a one time and done type of thing for someone who doesn't have access to a shop full of tools or an engineer's brain.
I tried a couple options for the filter and ultimately settled for the single 90* elbow and 7" filter. I would have preferred to run a larger filter with a velocity stack but it wasn't going to happen with the space I had to the right of the IC. I'm not shooting for maximum power right now so that can be something for the future.
The next step was to try to cool things down under the hood more. I bought a PTP turbo blanket after looking at a few options and wrapped the downpipe. I tidied up a couple other small things around the same time along with putting on some of the adhesive back thermal mat.
A transmission crossmember was next which I got through a deal with Chris @ Banzai when I sold him my PFS SMIC & Duct. It was a great transaction and I'm happy to see the IC went on one of his shop cars!
The part installed relatively easy, I didn't end up needing the pre-load plate and once I had removed (per the instructions) it everything went together smoothly. Several people have mentioned feeling the drive-train vibrations more with the mount but I don't notice a measurable change, it just gave the car somewhat of an "FC" feeling for me. Power delivery seems more rigid like with the 2nd gen's factory transmission crossmember.
I went on vacation after and the battery was stone dead when I got home. I hooked up a charger and the headlights began to wink. What a bonehead. I screwed up with the v-mount when I accepted flipping the relay box upside down, it filled with water and flooded all the relays. I opened them up, sprayed them out with air and electronics cleaner and then reinstalled with the lip facing upwards. I still had no dash or running lights so the car sat.
The last things I wanted to get for the car before tuning were wheels and a catch can. I ended up going to see Fritz and picked up a set of Enkei RP01's, a TNS relay, and made a spontaneous purchase of floor mats and a used R1 lip too. I had a great time talking with him and got to see his newest addition, his beautiful '94 CW. Every time I see an FD with a nice body I cry a little inside for mine because bodywork is a low priority! Getting back to the wheels, I don't particularly like them in pictures but it person I love them. It's hard to notice but I got around to painting the wiper arms, anyone who saw the car would point them out.
The catch can just arrived and I hope to get some time to get it in this weekend. I've tentatively scheduled with IRP to get the power tune on October 6th and it's closing in quick!
That looks like that might a jumpsuit of the correctional institute variety. Anything you are not telling us
And make sure you Ihor doesn't push back that date on you
Ha! I was trying to engage my daughter with car repair, it didn't go over too well, no correctional institution for her though. She's just not interested in working on any car at all which is totally OK, She likes being inside and looking at it but that's about it. It will be YEARS before she rides in it more than up and down our street.
I'm hoping the date doesn't get pushed back, I've requested it about 3 weeks in advance. If it does and I can't make it up in later in October before the weather changes I might not make it up until the spring. It's going to take some convincing for me to get a car tuned in the winter again.
I got about two hours of free time yesterday because nap time aligned for both of my kids and my wife was busy in the kitchen so I hit the hardware store and then started installing the little catch tank I bought. After looking at various setups I settled on a JAZ 605-375-01 breather tank which has a .5L capacity, internal baffle, two 3/8" hose barbs and a ball valve drain at the bottom. It's similar in size to a soda can so I thought it would be easy to find a space for and I don't have an aftermarket filler neck so 3/8" is about the biggest hose that would snug up on the factory filler neck nipple. I'm expecting it will be fine for the spirited driving my car will see and am hoping I don't ever end up with an oily mess because I'm venting both sides of the engine.
I started out by placing it in a few spots and ended up settling for right next the fuse box and PS pump. It fit nicely, was out of the way, and neither barb nor the drain valve are encumbered. I will paint the bracket later.
I ran the first line from the filler neck, the best option seemed to be to go under the filler neck itself and the PS reservoir. The hose went in without kinking and fits very well out of the way of any moving parts or abrasive points. WITH PS and the S/C compressor still in place the driver's side of the bay is very tight!
Once the first line was wrapped up I removed the block off plate for the old secondary turbo oil drain. I drilled it and tapped it for a 1/4" NPT 90* fitting with a 3/8 hose barb. I was able to get the plate drilled and had just tapped the threads when I got the call to come up for dinner. I plugged the oil drain to keep junk out until I can finish this over the next few days.
Some of you may wonder why I didn't use AN fittings and nicer hose, the reasons I did not are efficiency and validity. A lot of people see to have spent a couple hundred dollars on a nice catch can setup only to have it suck and end up with an oily mess and I want to make sure this works before spending more money to spruce it up. My focus from the beginning has been on having a good running turn key car and this car is miles from show worthy, it will take countless dollars and hours to get to that point. Once I'm, power tuned and can kick *** whenever it's out on the road I will focus on cleaning up and painting the various parts that need it. Think of this car as a "sleeper", on the outside it looks like an old broke dick FD with a decent set of wheels and an RB catback, totally unsuspecting.
I was able to get just enough time with the car to wrap up the catch can last night. The brass fitting threaded into the block off plate with no issues and I was able to get it bolted back on, the top bolt was a bit of a PITA and I ended up getting a bunch of the high temp wrap "strands" in my arms, the same feeling as fiberglass. Needless to say, I should have work a long sleeve shirt!
I routed the hose around back and ziptied it to the heater loop hard line on the firewall then stuff it under the brake booster and brought it up the the breather tank.
When I cut the line and initially tried to push it on the bard on the brass 90* in the blockoff plate it would not slide on, the hose was hitting the bolt head. The one thing I boned up was allowing space for the hose and clamp in relation to the bolt head, in hindsight it would have been better to use a nipple to space the vent line away from the block as it would have allowed me to angle the hose away from the manifold instead of right next to it, a 90* AN fitting would have been perfect. Due to the issue I ended up having to angle the nipple more towards the manifold. I tightened up the hose and then wrapped the bit on the exhaust side of the engine with thermal mat, I was able to maintain separation form the manifold so I think it will be OK; the manifold is ceramic coated and the hose underneath the wrap is rated for 400*F. I drove the car to work today and stuck my hand down to touch the fitting after I shut it down, it was warm to the touch and not unpleasant - seemingly fine. I'll monitor it to see how it holds up.
The next step is the power tune which is tentatively scheduled for October 6th. I'm looking forward to it and will update afterwards!
01-09-17, 01:57 PM
This car was parked on the streets in Washington, DC regularly for at least 5 years which is why the body is so bad.
What a bonehead. I screwed up with the v-mount when I accepted flipping the relay box upside down, it filled with water and flooded all the relays. I opened them up, sprayed them out with air and electronics cleaner and then reinstalled with the lip facing upwards. I still had no dash or running lights so the car sat.
Due to the issue I ended up having to angle the nipple more towards the manifold. I tightened up the hose and then wrapped the bit on the exhaust side of the engine with thermal mat, I was able to maintain separation form the manifold so I think it will be OK; the manifold is ceramic coated and the hose underneath the wrap is rated for 400*F. I drove the car to work today and stuck my hand down to touch the fitting after I shut it down, it was warm to the touch and not unpleasant - seemingly fine. I'll monitor it to see how it holds up.
