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.
The plan for the car had always been OEM+, i.e. retain the stock twins and do small upgrades over stock to make it a reliable track car.
This morphed somewhat after at least one solenoid failure per year since owning the car.
The last failure happened whilst on track at Cadwell causing me to lose all boost on the secondary turbo roughly 3 hours into the day and resulted in me heading home dejected at lunchtime.
So, retaining the stock twins went out the window, and more goodies were purchased
Turblown EFR 7670 IWG cast manifold kit
Greddy V-Mount Kit
SMB Twin Pipe 3" rear section
Still to be purchased
fuelling parts
ECU (most likely adaptronic modular plugin)
midpipe
ohlins
bushes
4.44 Final
poly bushes, engine mounts, diff mounts
The car is still on her original paint, and whilst it scrubs up OK it wants repainting, all the corrosion sorting, and the underside treating to make it rust proof.
I'm likely to repaint it a metallic green, possibly BMW Oxford Green which looks really dark unless the sun is directly on it
Great car, one of the first to have the 17" brakes.
That ARC intercooler is one of the best you can get, that ARC induction box however is one of the worst it pulls air strait from your radiator, stock intake would be a serious upgrade.
"[*]ECU (most likely adaptronic modular plugin)"
I want one of those as well, you are in the same boat as me though, the JDM 96-98 FD3S-4XXXXXXX does not have an adaptronic available. Matter of fact I cannot get them to acknowledge that we have the 16bit harness so I just gave up. Maybe some day I will track down the pin out, translate it, and publish it but have not found the time.
Great car, one of the first to have the 17" brakes.
That ARC intercooler is one of the best you can get, that ARC induction box however is one of the worst it pulls air strait from your radiator, stock intake would be a serious upgrade.
I'll be fabricating a cold air pickup when the turbo and vmount go in
I had no idea the intercooler was well regarded, to be honest I had no idea ARC did a double thickness SMIC till it appeared for sale on the UK Forums. I'd seen the Trust and RE-A stock mounts.
It's a bit beaten up to be fair.
Originally Posted by laujesse2
"[*]ECU (most likely adaptronic modular plugin)"
I want one of those as well, you are in the same boat as me though, the JDM 96-98 FD3S-4XXXXXXX does not have an adaptronic available. Matter of fact I cannot get them to acknowledge that we have the 16bit harness so I just gave up. Maybe some day I will track down the pin out, translate it, and publish it but have not found th e time.
Yep... my vin is FD3S-4. I had no idea that they didn't make one for our car! Fsck....
How/when did you confirm this with them?
Maybe Power FC it is then.... I bought a PFC+Datalogit about 18mths back, then sold it as I was set on the adaptronic. At least I made a profit on reselling it...
I'll be fabricating a cold air pickup when the turbo and vmount go in
I had no idea the intercooler was well regarded, to be honest I had no idea ARC did a double thickness SMIC till it appeared for sale on the UK Forums.
Yep... my vin is FD3S-4. I had no idea that they didn't make one for our car! Fsck....
How/when did you confirm this with them?
The most highly regarded SMIC unicorn, MAZDASPEED, was made by ARC only difference is cosmetics. They are both a big deal.
Their website says you can use the same adaptronic on 1993 to 1998... Considering that the harness changed to 16 bit in 1996 that does not work out. Even though they are both the 16Bit harness, you cannot use the 1999+ ones either (aka "Series 8" a designation completely made up with no basis in reality for wikipedia...) because the pin out is different.
The most highly regarded SMIC unicorn, MAZDASPEED, was made by ARC only difference is cosmetics. They are both a big deal.
Their website says you can use the same adaptronic on 1993 to 1998... Considering that the harness changed to 16 bit in 1996 that does not work out. Even though they are both the 16Bit harness, you cannot use the 1999+ ones either (aka "Series 8" a designation completely made up with no basis in reality for wikipedia...) because the pin out is different.
I think the S8 plugin is the one for my car afterall
There's a guy on the UK forums running the S8 ECU on his 97 RS so it should work on mine. I think.
Guys on the Aus forum seem to think the only wiring difference is AC fan control
I know of ONE single wiring difference between the V4 and V5-6 in the engine harness, and it has to do with the air con trigger for the fans. You plug the ECU for a V5-6 into a V4 engine harness and the fans don't come on when you turn the air con on.
It can be fixed with a single wire from memory, between two of the plugs in the engine harness.
I apologize for the confusion but this is rather simple. Please email me a picture of your stock ECU connector. Its either going to be an Adaptronic Series 6 ECU or a Adaptronic Series 8 ECU. My email is shawn@turbosource.com
Thanks Elliot. I had a cursory glance over the first 4/5 items for each plug at work when I posted the links, but didn't get a chance yet to check the rest.
Apexi had the 96-98's separated from the 99+ models, they said it is because of fan control. Which is no minor detail.
I would not bet the farm on that link being 100% accurate. My friend has a digital copy of both electrical service manuals I will try to get them from him and translate but it is going to take me quite some time.
At a minimum I would watch things very closely, especially your fan control.
So my rear dampers are shot to bits. I cannot justify spending out on a set of Ohlins right now, so just picked these up from Japan
Bilsteins taken from a 2000 RS model. They've covered around 15000km
I've got these one my 96 RZ they ride great.
also for the ECU issue im not sure how adaptronic deals with it but the 96-98 powerFC does not work on 99+ just tried it last week on a friends car and car would crank but not start up. plug back into my car car fires up just fine.
A'PEXi lists the exact same manual for the 96-02 so im not sure if thats a thing.
07-24-16, 07:28 AM
