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So, I finally decided to start a build thread, YAH! WOOHOO! I am not much of a blogger/writer which is why I have been procrastinating on starting one. I’ve been documenting my FD build on my Instagram for 7+ years now (here is my page in case you want to follow me @TitoRivera_7SRG). My FD was purchased in January of 2013, completely stock 1993 VR R1 with 76k miles.
After taking delivery of the FD and having her in my driveway, I immediately started planning the build. The FD had several issues, for starters the twins never worked correctly. I knew some of the vacuum lines were cracked which is why the boost would fall off so quickly. The FD had a major oil leak the rear main and oil pan was leaking. The suspension needed some work too, I had an annoying clunk sound which I first did not know what it was, but it ended up being the pillow *****. The factory shocks were too soft, it made the FD ride too bouncy. All these issues were addressed. On the positive side, the FD was exceptionally clean, Clean title, no accident RX7. The interior was still in great shape and all the gauges worked.
The build – Stage 1
The first modification was an engine rebuild. Luckily for me, I received help from one of my closest friends @BlackMamba . We pulled the engine out and broke it apart (2013). The engine was sent to one of our friends who has been building rotary engines for years. The 13b was to receive a Large Pineapple Racing Intake Street Port, he also ported the exhaust opening for better flow. The short block was then taken to a local machinist to get Pinned. We ran two solid pins on each side of the block to strengthen it. In terms of the rebuild, we replaced everything (bearings, oil control rings, O-rings, seals, etc. with Mazda OEM parts). The apex seals at the time we decide to go with Goopy Performance seals and Atkins solid corners.
At the time I was trying to build a budget FD. We all know an FD cannot be built on a budget. I purchase a used Borg Warner S366 turbo from a forum member with a Greddy tubular manifold. The ECU of choice was the Adaptronic select which was the go-to at the time. I also purchased a Rywire harness since my stock harness was crispy. In terms of a fuel system, I was not too familiar with what I needed, I was recommended I go the CJ motorsport route. I purchased their fuel rails, fuel pump billet hanger. The CJ motorsport FP hanger was well built, I ended up running two Bosch 044 FP Pumps with that setup. All the stock fuel lines were replaced with Vibrant braided lines -8 to feed the rails and -6 to a GM flex fuel sensor and back to the fuel tank. Bosch 1000cc and 2000cc injectors were also purchased to support fuel delivery.
The engine was then put back in Jan 2014.
Original I had planned to go with a front mount intercooler. But after reading various posts on the benefits of having a V-Mount, I ended up purchasing a Rotary Works kit.
Can't forget the OG Volk TE37 Time Attacks. I scored these from a CYM FD that belonged to @papsmagu
The build – Stage 2
One of the main issues I countered with the build was finding a local tuner that can help me. Majority of the tuners in my area that had experience with rotaries only worked with Microtech or Fueltech, lol. Adapatronic was nonexistent. The car spent most of its time in the garage, idling occasionally. Knowing what I know now, the FD would have already been tuned. So, the car sat for a long time. I went to a couple of the local C&C meets, but nothing exciting.
I decided to go back to the drawing broad. The first thing that was on the list was the ECU. After searching around and talking to friends, I ended up going with a Haltech Elite 1000. I purchased the Elite 1000 with a plug and play adapter. I also upgraded to the ID1700X and ID2200 injectors. I got rid of the stock ignition system and purchased the IGN-1A coil kit.
I immediately noticed that my Rywire harness that I was using was missing several outputs, for example, fuel pressure, flex-fuel, Air temp, and other sensors were missing. I had two options either open up a brand new Rywire harness and add the missing sensors or purchase a custom harness. Of course, I wanted the cleanest look, so I ordered a custom mil-spec harness from LMS-EFI.
We ended up ditching the rotary works v mount kits and ordered a brand new Greddy V-Mount from Nengun Japan.
I ended up repainting the entire engine bay.
I also ordered a Rotary shack abs delete kit to clean up the bay.
Post dyno I ran into several issues. For starters, the tuner never locked the timing. Also, during the session, I kept melting my wastegate lines. We also managed to hurt the turbo. After we ended the dyno session the FD smoked a lot on startup. Looking back, stopping the dyno session early somewhat saved my motor. The tuner and I did not have much communication in terms of goals. I learned a lot from this experience.
Back to the drawing board again. The plan of attack was to immediately disassemble the turbo and send it off to see if it was salvageable. Unfortunately, it was bad. Boost lab was kind enough to purchase the turbo from me and apply a credit towards a new turbocharger. I ended up purchasing the Borg-Warner s364.5 sxe Turbo with a 1.00ar. Going this route allowed me to reuse my downpipe and manifold.
I also converted my a/c system to work with an rx8 condenser. I had my buddy weld some custom lines for me. I was able to reuse a lot of the GReddy v mount brackets to make this conversion work.
