00ROTA

Well, seeing as i plan on keeping this car for some time, thought i would start a build thread on her. Serves as a good diary for me to look back on! I bought her a couple months ago with some severe teething issues, but decided she is a good base for me to work on. Being a mechanic, i can solve most of the dramas quite easily and not too costly.

A little background info on me first (skip this paragraph if you really couldnt give a crap)
My name is James. In Sydney region, Australia. Im 23, mechanic by trade, and been into the rotor game for a few years now on and off. Used to own a S4 FC3S with a 13b bridgy, that went, bought an 808 and had a 12a J-port to dump into her, traded that, Another 20 months passed without a rotor, i had my first child, played with WRX's and Silvias again for a while, then the itch came back and i decided it was time to buy a rotor that i intend on keeping for once. Choice was either RX3, or FD3S. Due to having my daughter, decided on the later of the two. ABS, better steering, braking, etc.
Looked around for quite a while, found nothing but overpriced crap, and i was being really specific with my search. Wanted a sunroof model, but needed a back seat for the occasional times i had to transport my daughter. This is a near impossible task, however i finally achieved it a couple months ago.

She is a 1992 ghost model FD3S - Type X base apparently, whatever the hell that is. Motor has about 5000km on it now. here are some more specs:

Bought 22/10/12
Series 6 RX7

13b turbo rebuilt by Vis Rotary
Psycho Apex seals
Mildport
850cc injectors x4
SDR exhaust manifold
Garrett T04S/56 turbo
44mm Tial external wastegate
Front mount intercooler
Alloy radiator
Deleted emissions gear
Deleted secondary butterflies
Walbro 255lph fuel pump
Microtech MT8 ECU - upgraded software
Eboost street
Exedy HD clutch
braided turbo oil lines
4" v-band dump to 3" system
AES rear muffler
Front seats diamond stitch black leather
Boot retrimmed with Vis Rotary logo
Resprayed Ford 'breeze' teal
Series 8 front bar and lip
Aftermarket S8 parkers F
S8 tail lights
S8 rear bumper
Rolled front & rear guards
Shaved rear reflectors
Shaved rear wiper
Shaved spoiler
18x8 F 18x9 R mesh wheels
Autometer oil pressure gauge
Autometer digital tach/shift light
Velo 6pt harness - driver side

The old setup before i aquired her was running parallel twin turbos and had a half decent tune. Managed to pump out 270rwhp and best time was a 12.6 down the quarter.







Due to having bub, i decided to buy something that is a decent base that has had the majority of coin spent, rather building from the ground up. A little annoying fixing other peoples mistakes, but once my S14 200sx sells, i wont have the time to pull the RX7 off the road for extended repairs. Yes, this is my daily driver!

Future plans are pretty basic really,
Set of coilovers,
new wheels with flush as hell offsets (yes, going for the sacked stretched look)
Complete suspension overhaul
V mount
and a clean engine bay, including braided lines, yada yada yada.
Last but not least, a DECENT ecu. Autronic SM4 is the thought.



The wheels im leaning towards at the moment are some Rota SVNs 9/10" wide F/R. +20 offset. Not really interested in 3 peice wheels or anything like that. Roads i travel have potholes you could lose a bus in, so i dont want to be constantly forking out money on lip rolling.

Coilovers will probably be HSD HR series coils. absolutely love this suspension and highly recommend them for anyone. If i come across some HKS Hipermax cheap second hand, i might grab them, but the plan is still for the HSD's!

Suspension is now 21 years old.. Full bush kit, Ultra Racing braces, and adjustable arms are going to be invested in.

V Mount setup will be done completely by me. I intend on lobster bending all pipework out of stainless for 3 reasons.
1, I love the look
2, I suck at welding alloy..
3, I love the look.
Will be running a smaller intercooler than traditionally used for the meantime and do some logging of inlet temps. I dont think the traditional 600x300x76mm intercooler is required. It is a street car after all, and would prefer more room for the air inlet. 320x300x80 should be enough.

Clean engine bay? look at the pic i got up! it looks terrible!!! Ceramic coating and braided lines are my friends.

ECU choice.. Always a heated debatable topic. My personal opinion, Autronic kills all other choices. Plus i get them for a good price!

Either way, ill try and keep this thread updated as things happen! Will update tomorrow on what has gone on with her since i purchased. All feedback and criticism is welcome. Im not an uptight person. I love hearing peoples points of view, positive or negative.

James.

00ROTA

Well, was meant to update this a bit more regularly, but been busy with the day to day ****.

Since my first post, had the fuel pump conk out on me so fitted a Walbro 255. Been cleaning up a few odds and ends as time permits (which isnt often) and managed to sell my S14.

Since that happened i bought some BC BR Coilovers. Would of preferred the HSDs but had a 6wk wait on them, and my supplier sent the BCs over within 12hrs. For those wondering about Blitz ZZR coilovers (as i was also looking into them), they are just BC coilovers rebranded. Straight from an authorised Blitz dealer.

Fitted the coilovers and found a rediculously cheap set of SSR Professor SP1s. sizes are 17x8.5 +35 F and 17x9.5 + 35 rear. Weak offsets but will get some 20mm hubcentric spacers. I have been a sucker for the SP1s since i first saw them. Went off the Rota wheels when i saw some in person. Look alot better in pictures than on cars!

The V-mount has come up with a few issues, but still going ahead. Ill be making it using my aftermarket alloy radiator, without modifying her. hoses will be a bit ugly underneath, but confident i can mount it while leaving enough ground clearance without being an issue. Just need the stainless and alloy sheet for ducting and brackets, which i will do in a week when i got some spare time.

Another thing im thinking of, is going back to the twin turbos. I have a set of parallel ceramic coated twins that have been freshened up. Reason for this is the local police are handing out emissions notices like they going out of fashion and i dont have the time nor effort to keep sorting out the single.
Noise will be lower with the twins, and im missing response. I have a nice windy stretch of road to and from work which just doesnt work with the single. Im forever changing gears to get any form of boost. by the time im on full boost im changing back down and on the anchors for the next corner. Lots and lots of fun trying to keep her in a straight line, but completely useless!
There have been some promising power figures with the standard twins lately too. If i can crack 300-350rwhp on the twins, ill be quite happy!

Either way, heres a pic of the current stance and wheels.

ooominion

Beautiful car and great build.

00ROTA

Cheers,

Small update. Had another fuelling issue. Pump was getting rediculously loud at times, sounding like cavitation. Was definately causing a supply issue to the engine. Turns out my brand new Walbro had a **** filter on the base of it. No restriction to blow through until it was slightly wriggled then became noticeably blocked. Temporarily fitted a Holden Commodore filter to the base until i order another Walbro one in.

Have decided to go back to the twin turbos aswell, 100%. Will probably sell the single setup then send my spare set of twins off for BNR Stage 3s and when they arrive, sell my freshened up ceramic coated twins that ill be fitting now. All starts on Wednesday!!!

00ROTA

Spent a couple hours on the car today.
T04S/56 turbo setup is off and for sale.
Got the ceramic coated twins on, just need to bolt on the extra ancillaries. Ordered some new flanges so i can make a better y pipe too. Fixed a few oil leaks too while i was at it.
Before i pulled the single setup off i fitted an Innovate MT8 Wideband, and I am honestly quite impressed with the gauge! Will make tuning it after the twins are on alot easier without having to try and find time at work to get her on the dyno.

I also have to modify the 3" dump pipe to fit. Its from the States, so wont suit my RHD just yet. Have steering shaft clearance issues.

Will have pics up tomorrow!

SA3R

I think (and I could be wrong) your car started out its life as a 1992 silver JDM Type X?

The thing about the 'Types' is a bit complicated and hard to define (I used to know it better than I do now) but here goes off the top of my head at 1:30am, because my fiancee can only fall asleep to the sound of typing keys...

Type S is the basest-of-base models. You got cloth checker pattern seats, no sunroof, no frills. Basically you walk into the Mazda dealership and say I want an RX7, but I havent got much cash, only enough to get the cheapest RX7 you offer. Still had foglights and rear spoiler, AC, etc. But just no frilly bits on top. These were among the lighter curb weight cars, as they had no extras fitted. Available as automatic or manual. I have seen some of these fitted with only one oil cooler when a manual trans.

Type X was the luxury brother. This would have been your car. Type X came equipped with a sunroof, and could have leather seats, cruise control, Bose stereo, and possibly dual climate fancy AC. The shock absorbers were the softer type, and the car was built/optioned for long distance cruising in comfort. A lot of Type X cars also went a step further and were automatic. But not yours I dont think. Type X was heavier in curb weight, due to the sunroof, leather, cruise control, etc goodies added in there.
An added note about your Type X:
This being an American forum, you will sometimes hear them referring to the "PEP/PEG package" a lot. That stands for "Popular Equipment Package/Popular Equipment Group" and this is what American Type X RX7s were sold as. The Americans liked the Touring Type X package so much, that sales began to sell it as the "PEP" Popular Equipment Package" in the USA. They would call your car a PEP car in the States, I believe.

Then you had other 'Type' packages called the R1 and R2. The R1 was the racy RX7. It had stiff shock absorbers, front and rear spoilers, foglights, dual oil coolers and was a manual car.
The R2 was similar, but (and I dont know R2 very well so dont quote me) had softer shocks like the Type X. The R cars had alcantara/suede seats, as these would grip your clothing better during cornering, and hold you in place better. Leather was deemed too slippery.

If yours was painted silver as it left the dealership, it would have been Silverstone Metallic silver I believe, in 1992. This colour is commonly abbreviated as "SSM" by the Americans, because they LOVE to unnecessarily abbreviate everything they possibly can.

If your car was a genuinely Aussie delivered car, the stock rear bumper would have had a wider license plate frame cutout to accommodate the wider Aussie license plate, and on either side of the license plate would have been a rectangular red rear fog light, as required by the ADR ruling of the time.
Your rear bumper is Series 6 JDM, because an Aussie plate doesnt fit and needs the 20mm bends either end to fit in there. Series 8 fits an Aussie plate without bending the plate into a 'C' shape

If anyone ever said its an Aussie car, they are 100% wrong. Its got a yellow import compliance plate on the passengers side of the firewall, which all imported JDM cars would have. That, coupled with the 'Type X' part, makes me think its JDM, as Mazda Australia never sold the different 'Types' in Aus, only the one version of the car.
Also, another giveaway is that your VIN number starts with FD____. All Aussie-sold RX7s start their VINs with JMO_____. No exceptions. The only RX7s to have FD____ VINs were Japanese in origin, and thus are imports, no question at all. So you have a 1992 JDM Type X FD there. Flip down your drivers side sunvisor- does it have some Japanese writing jargon on it, about the exhaust heat warning light? If yes, its JDM Someone before you probably went through a lot of trouble to get the car over from Japan and complianced properly.

It looks like the fiancee is asleep now. Mission accomplished.

rexhvn

I really like the colour.. it's elegant and not over the top! Nice FD

00ROTA

SA3R,
Yes, shes a personal import from Japan, hence the yellow plate as you said Other benefit of this i have learnt is the lack of some ADRs, which i can use to my advantage. Never ever had a thought of her being Australian delivered. Didint know about the difference between the S6 and S8 JDM rear bumpers either. Will have to suss out my mates S8 one on Monday, because i swear his is the same!

Originally Silver, didnt know the correct name for it though. (These abbreviations are a pain to learn!) Has sunroof, had leather interior (which has since been retrimmed) Had cruise control, has the climate control, and had the Bose Acoustic Wave crap (which i still have. heavy bit of gear!)

Thanks for the info on the model. Hadnt been able to find too much about it.
Ill guess the Type X wasnt very common over in Japan? I cant recall seeing another JDM FD with a sunroof for the life of me.

rexhvn,
Thanks, im quite suprised by the colour, considering how crappy it looks on the Falcons!



As for the cars progress, waiting for the intercooler to come back and weld some brackets up. Twins are on and completely setup other than inlet pipes/airbox. Finished it all off pretty quickly and decided it might be a good idea to fix my overheating issue too, so decided to V-mount. Radiator is mounted along with hoses. Cooler outlet pipes had to be changed to some tight bends, so gave it to a farking good fabricator i know who is chopping up an alloy donut to get it nice and tight. I CAN weld alloy, but im not much chop at it, so better to leave it to him. Once the cooler is fitted, ill finish off my shrouds and get her to the dyno.

Still no pics, because i cant find the camera.

James.

s2kguy17

iTrader: (5)

Do you have a side view of the car the way it sits with the 17s? I was thinking of going 17s just not sure yet.

hmotorcross

sweet car

RogueFab

iTrader: (2)

I know what you mean about the big single. My T4 just doesn't jump up to go like the last twin FD I drove. I hope with more tuning I can get there.

Innovate's products rock. I had an LM1 back years ago, and just got an MTX installed in the FD.

Nice work so far!

00ROTA

Here's a side shot on the 17s. Yeah, I'm stinging for some response! Could of got some more up n go out of the single but didn't want to get too aggressive on the tune. Cooler is finished so assembly can begin

TubasoR

Nice car ! What front bumper ir that ?

00ROTA

Standard series 8 bar and lip.

00ROTA

Well, havent been able to do much since the Mrs and my daughter got back from New Zealand. Tonight and tomorrow will be rare opportunities to work on her.

Heres some progress shots:

doing the wiring and an initial mockup


Modified intercooler. Much thanks to Grim Performance for the welding and teaching.


1st mockup with the cooler


height clearance with bumper. should be able to fit undertray.


and the final mockup.



Hopefully get her down to work tomorrow (2min drive from where it is) and weld up some piping for the cooler, inlet, and start the brackets for the shielding/ducting. Still deciding on what sort of piping ill do. Im leaning towards lobster bending everything i can, but ill have to only tack it together and do the final welding on Tuesday when another argon bottle turns up. Been welding up a custom exhaust for an A4 Audi Quattro for a customer, and about to run out. Other option is mig her up, grind welds smooth then paint it all in the wrinkle black paint too.

Once piping is all finished, i can pull it all off and start the ducting and cleaning it all up/replacing with new joiners, etc.

HOK

Nice Motor.

00ROTA

spent 4hrs down at work today on my day off and made the intercooler piping (yep.. 2hrs per pipe..) All lobster bent and welded up now, and deciding what finish to go. Deciding on either raw finish, linished and polished, or painted.

Hopefully will finish off the other odds and ends tomorrow and have her back on the road. Need to fit thermofans, join exhaust, make a battery tray, intake box, and inlet piping. Will have a play with the tune on the street until i get some more time to get her on the dyno.

Lost my camera again, but will try and use another one tomorrow for some pics!

SA3R

Nice progress, I like that intercooler

Yeah, the differences in the rear bumpers should be as follows, and very simple:

JDM S8: Identical to JDM S6. Will not fit Aussie number plate without bends. You have this bar

JDM S6: Identical to JDM S8. Will not fit Aussie number plate without bends. You have this bar


Aussie S6: Has wide number plate slot with fog lights either side. Same bumper as Aussie S8

Aussie S8: Has wide number plate slot with fog lights either side. Same bumper as Aussie S6


In either JDM or Aussie group, the bumpers did not change between S6-S8

Type X JDM being the luxury model, there were less of these cars produced, as they were the more expensive dealer option. Thats why Type X is rarer to find. I had a Vintage Red JDM Type X which was identical to your car except that it was automatic trans. Nice smooth car it was too, until some d!ckwit converted it to a manual (and poorly at that) and made a hack job out of what was previously a mint car

00ROTA

funny... it seems the way it goes with FDs down here! impossible to find a decent one..

No offense intended to the previous owner, as hes a top bloke, but almost every time i change something on my car, ill find another 5 errors in previous work! I dont know if everyone purposely hacks these cars up, or its just too many people with no experience having a crack at mechanical work!


Either way, got some more time the other day and got the car running. Car wouldnt rev past 4K to begin with, thanks to a blocked catalytic converter, but thats all sorted now. Took her for a quick squirt and ended up blowing the rear compressor housing off due to the snap ring being fitted backwards (yes, there is a front and a back...). Modified some tools so i could refit the snap rings correctly and took her for a good run tonight.
The difference is amazing. Im so glad ive gone back to the twin turbos, and once my tune is up to scratch im sure ill be happy!

Here is my latest progress pic. Just need to finish the airbox, make some inlet pipes, and then it can all come apart again to pretty up! Progress has been slow as ****, but happy with the progress.

SA3R

I like those intercooler pipes, they are done nice and neat

Seems like a lot of people who shouldn't/can't do mechanical work seem to buy these cars and then proceed to do a lot of poorly thought out hack work to them, and lower the standards of them, and its the next owner that (unfortunately) has to correct the f$%k ups..

But, yours looks clean in the photos. And at least you've got the skills to fix the past mistakes So, happier with the twins then?

00ROTA

Cheers! Yeah, I guess I am lucky I have workshop access when I need. I'm quite happy with the way the pipes turned out. The stainless pipe I used was a **** grade so it looks rather oxidised. Will end up painting them shortly. Bought a couple new k&n filters today so ill be making some inlet hardpipes shortly, finishing the airbox and then prepping/paint.
As far as the parallel twins are concerned, I'm loving it. Starts making boost a tad over 2k and punches on quite nicely all the way to 16psi. Cars useless in 1st and 2nd in the dry and just completely useless in the wet. Loving it. Would like to go a gtx3582r setup, but that's money I'm really not looking to spend, and these twins came with the car, so ill stick with them for now and see how I can get her to perform. Honestly, I probably won't own the car long enough to buy a single. The plan is to sell her soon.
Not long at all until I can do my final tune and push for some more power!!

00ROTA

Been a while since i updated,
Had the twins on for a fair while now, and they're boring. Have however found out a few things since i put them on. The colour is actually Ford Breeze, or Nissan Viridian. had some **** smoker reverse into my car at work, so got that repaired, and the front guard flutes painted too.

Got the car tuned to a tad shy of 350rwhp on 16psi, killed the clutch, and now waiting to decide what way to go with the car. I will probably be rebuilding the single turbo, refitting, and replace the clutch with a 6puck unsprung brassy. I miss the feel of a ridiculously undriveable unstreetable clutch.

The car is for sale in the meantime. Severely addicted to fishing for squid and other pelagics, and wouldnt mind getting another 4x4 and another 200sx. Also need to clean up the engine bay BADLY. Still deciding what to paint, polish, and whatnot.

Still havent bothered with ducting the Vmount setup. It is so much more efficient, i havent had the need. Will get around to it.