word. i didnt want to sound like "your setup sucks" or something, because it will be great.

i only ask because i had a very similar setup in my FD when i bought it from the previous owner. i had a power FC, datalogit, hks twin power, and several gauges. i thought "ok, well, i'm not a fan of powerFC --i've had 4 of them over the years-- so i'll switch to haltech, but what about all this damn wiring? my haltech already sees all of this temps/boost/load/AFR/etc information, so why dont i just use that instead of having all these extra gauges and control boxes?"

also, i like what you did with the relay and distribution block for power to your accessories. haltech actually includes a similar setup pre-made in their flying lead harnesses, which is pretty sweet. it's basically just a fuse/relay box that is a central place for all the EMS power stuff, and it has several extra slots to power accessories. just some food for thought:

 

so that's what's in your engine bay over by your ABS. I've always wondered what it was but I've never really investigated because I was sure it was something important if you were running it, lol.

I was thinking that you thought my "setup sucked" so no worries there. This build is hardly an all out track car but more so a tastefully modified, street 7, with all the amenities of a car from the factory like air conditioning!

Reminder: this is my wife's car, lol. Hence the moderate power goals; but no moderation left anywhere else.

 

AC is nice.
i am going to be hurting when i drive my POS down to alabama and georgia for track days this summer

 

Wow. What a project. Some bad luck at first but Lots of good, hard work in here. You got some skillz.

Looking forward to you completing this.

 

So the plan was to put the engine in last night but that just didn't work out. I picked up some hooks for my engine balancer so I could raise the hoist higher since the car is on jack stands. Plus, the bug were horrendous last night so I was getting eaten up pretty bad I just called it.

But, I got it in this morning. Only took me about an hour. Amazing how easy some things are when you have the right tools.





I also wanted to finish up the wiring for the relay to my accessories. I picked up an "add a circuit" thing from autozone the other day.



I put it on the fuel pump circuit since that circuit will not have any draw on it anymore except for activating the relay in the trunk.



Fits perfectly under the fuse box lid. Didn't even have to force it down or anything.



Easy day.

I also put the engine in the bay with the DP on. I had it on because I wanted to fit my wideband sensor exactly where I wanted it instead of guessing and welding it. Right now I'm on my way to get it welded up. Then i'll hand it to my powder coater to get it ceramic coated.

 

Thanks man. It's definitely been an adventure. Getting so close to getting her back on the road.

I will also vote for engine rebuild opposed to frame damage.

 

damn, this restoration is coming out to be better than how it originally came from the factory!

 

Teaser pic.

I've been working on this for the past 2 days. This is the single most difficult and time consuming thing I have ever done to my car. Enough said. I am very happy with the result though. Still a couple little places to trim but it's 99% complete.

The backing that came with it, does not like to be cut, period. That was most of my frustration. The carpet itself would cut easily, but the backing, holy mother of.....



The dash should be going in today so I can be done with it. We'll see though because it'd dependent upon how gracious my wife is to help me, lol

 

I'm trying. But there's a few things that Mazda can do better than me. She's definitely going to be rolling her stuff here soon though.

 

Much boring





Ceramic coated and wrapped downpipe





I've got a lot more done I'm just too tired to upload more pics.

 

WOW I love that RE-muffler. Looks gorgeous!

 

yes very nice catback. i am jelly!

 

^ 2nd that, can't wait to hear the first start up.

 

It's looking great man, always fun to see the builds with high attention to detail.

Also helps us lowly commoners to step up our games ha.

 

Thanks guys, this journey is nearing it's end.

I should be able to fire the car up this weekend since I have 4 days off. But, that's also dependant on whether or not I receive a few parts that I have ordered over the past couple weeks.

But other than the few things that I *want* to get the car 100% where I want it, it should be driveable soon enough.

 

I got a lot done today! I was pretty productive until I was filling the coolant and the water pump started leaking. It was my own damn fault. I should have identified it beforehand.

My dumb *** got the WP powder coated. In retrospect I obviously see a problem with this. But I was on a PC binge. Well, needless to say, I won't be getting her started this weekend.

So, I ordered the RP one. I should have just ordered it when I was doing the AST delete anyways since it'll help with cavitation. Oh well, just sets me back about a week.

I did get the exhaust installed and, I must say, I'm very pleased with the fitment and just the overall look of it. Very impressed.

 

I painted an engine and had some parts powder coated back in 03. The **** never held up and I have since always thought seeing painted or power coated engine parts a total waste of money. You have to learn that one the hard way though. Anything beyond the UIM is pointless of you ask me.

The RE exhaust looks awesome! Nice choice.

 

Hindsight is always 20/20, lol.

For the most part, the majority of the PC should hold up, I just didn't think about the seals INSIDE the WP for whatever reason.

Either way, the RP WP is an upgrade I should have though of a while ago.

 

Not sure all what you had done but it doesn't hold up on engine irons or housings.

 

I didn't have the engine PC'd because I didn't tear it down, the compression was great so I didn't have to. I just painted it and going into it I knew the paint wasn't going to hold up but I didn't want bare AL or FE. Plus, I had time to kill back when the car was at the body shop.

But a lot of the accessories to the engine I had PC'd, but they aren't close to the massive heat sources so it should hold up. Unless the engine bay gets to 500 degrees.

 

I should post photos of the
Bling engine I dropped in my car back in 03.

 

Got almost everything hooked up. I got her started last weekend but was having really bad idling issues. I expected that so this weekend I was busy connecting all the vacuum hoses and making sure the sequential system was all good to go, as much as I could at least.

Mostly I've been dealing with the crap that comes along with putting a car back together. Leaks, drips, more leaks. Good thing though that my oil pan isn't leaking at all, so kudos to me, lol.

Got the new water pump in and no leaks there.

But, my oil level sender is leaking, the oil feed line to the turbos has a small leak, and I had a coolant leak where I plugged the AST nipple.

That is my current drama. It was leaking ever so slightly so I tightened it up, apparently too much:



Of course, Fritz comes to the rescue and I have another one on the way.

Another drama, which was also majorly contributing to my idling issue, was that my MAP sensor connector pigtail was assembled poorly. So when I plugged the connector in to the MAP sensor, the pins on the pigtail would be pushed out and not connected. Essentially, the PFC was getting no MAP data.

Got another pigtail on the way. $50 fix weekend. Not too bad.

My PLX gauge though is an entirely different matter. That **** is giving me nightmares right now. The gauge works. It powers up just like it should but it just isn't reading any data from ANY of the modules. I've checked everything 100 times and still nothing.

I actually have quite a few complaints regarding their gauge setup, which I will probably take up with PLX when I call them on Monday.

 

So after a nasty water filler neck fiasco, when i got my new one i didn't want to drill and tap the nipple again but i didn't want an AST anymore.

After further reading on the forums i decided to just run a line from the nipple on the water filler neck to the nipple on the bottom of the radiator. Downside, take forever to fill the coolant. Goodside, no problems associated with AST.

So lately i've been messing around trying to get the car to idle properly. I've posted on the PFC section with some advice but still the car won't idle well.

My plx wideband sensor module failed so i have to RMA that. So that was the explanation of my plx setup woes.

I have a really bad squeaking noise coming from my bellhousing which i'm pretty sure is my T/O bearing. I didn't get a new one when i ordered my exedy clutch which irritated me to begin with. But then i got lazy and didn't get another one from Ray.

I'm also having issues bleeding my clutch. It pulled vacuum on it using a mityvac and i got a whole bunch of nasty old black brake fluid out of it but it won't suck from the reservoir. I think my slave may have a small leak in it.

i've also decided to go with Damian's perfect sequential setup using 2 hallman manual boost controllers. Seriously, those should be the last parts that i need to buy!

On the good side though, i completely rewired the stereo system and put all new speakers and a small 6" jl audio sub box. i'm going to hide in the spare tire wheel well, which will have to be cut and welded with a flat plate. I like it because it's small and hits nice.

The main goal right now is just to get the car able to move so I can get it over to rotorsports racing to have it tuned.

 

good luck man! i hope this isnt too much of a headache for ya

 

You could have just put a small hose with a bolt in the end on that filler neck.
I did that on my last car after trying to do it the way you did with taping it and I also ran into leaks. The best way to do it is to weld it shut which was what I eventually ended up doing.

Sounds like a pain in the *** with the oil level sensor and clutch slave leaks...

Glad I got a new throw out bearing .


More pix man...