So. Many of you that know me know that I've been in to Nissans for most of my years of automotive tinkering, 240sx's with Silvia Engines SR20DETs are one of the funnest cars to own if not the funnest. Prior to that I owned a couple of AE86s, hence my screen name. I owned a 425whp FC until recently, long story short the FD bug bit me out of no where, a young kid had this FD sitting in a storage barn and was in the process of swapping in a CA18DET(The engine that came in Silvias prior to the SR in Japan), and I decided there was no way I was going to let this car die. My friends and I worked out a deal and I decided that it was time to part ways from my Nissan ways. Towed it to my house took out the whole interior scrubbed it the best I could since it was disgusting. I put it all together had a family friend give it a quick buff to bring it back to life and sat for a couple of months while I found a motor. A couple of months passed by and a guy in Austin Texas, engine was a reman and supposedly good. I put the engine to only find out it had a bad oil seal and was pumping oil out the exhaust.

After a few months while busy working on my FC and at the same time trying to save money a close friend of mine with an FD project he had ran out of time and money to finish his FD. Frustration took over and we worked out a deal with the FD which wasn't running for my running FC. The "Ugly FD" as we call it had a Street Ported engine, w/ 3mm apex seals, PFC, Turbonetics T60 and some other stuff that would be perfect to finish my Red FD. I was used to my FCs Haltech E8 but had messed with the PFC on SR20s in the past. Once I got the engine running good I decided to put all the items in my red FD a couple of weeks ago and finally started driving my red FD which had sat in a Barn for 3-4 years. I was going to have a friend of mine Lee Toscano "tearbo2" tune it but it was bad timing since holidays and all so I went ahead and did my own map and testing made changes accordingly with the guidance of Chuck"sleeper7" and Guy"koa". In the process of doing pulls I couldn't get the wastegate to open and boost would keep climbing. Turns out since the cars sat for so long the wastegate rusted shut!!! So I had to take it all apart and with some elbow grease, sand paper, WD40 and wire brushes and now it holds 8lbs, tuned it rich 10.9-11.3 since this is my daily.

So far I've put 2k miles in 2 weeks and only complaints I have is bushings need replacing and a small annoying exhaust leak.


Alright more on the car less about story telling.
The Specs are as follows:
13BREW Street Port with 3mm Apexseals
850/1300 Fuel Injectors
Walbro Fuel Pump
Turbonetics T60-1 with .96 A/R back housing
XSPower Manifold
"Koa" Built downpipe
3" Mid Pipe
Apexi Cat back
PFC with Commander
Tuned by me via Datalogit
OS Giken TwinDisk Clutch Combo
FJO Wideband
Greedy Intake Elbow
TRUST FMIC w/ custom mounts
Custom Intercooler Piping
Nardi Steeringwheel
Nismo Shift **** w/ short shifter
Monza Wheels 17 by 9.5 in the rear 17 by 8.5 in the front


Still left is ALOT of bushings, Tein Coilovers I have and upgraded rotors and brakes. I plan on installing the A/C once summer comes around.

How I found it:




Pushed it out for some sun, next to my old Nissan =(:


Sitting on the oil pan I almost laughed when I saw it but didn't want to insult the guy:


Got it home:


Cleaned Interior:



After the Buff:

 

Different stages it went thru.






Most Recent:

 

The other FD:


The goal with it is put it back to stock and make it clean. Still needs plenty of work. Taking a break for a while on major projects. Still need to concentrate on getting the Red FD taken care of and complete the little things.

Here is the FC:

 

man that fc looks like a piece of ****, and that orange fd belongs in a dumpster.

 

Nice job saving that FD. It looks great. I can't believe it buffed out so well.

 

Looks great man I didn't know you'd made the jump to FD's! I remember like 8 years ago talking with ya on c4ag :P

My FD still needs a bit of work to be 'done' also, I put an LS2 in mine though...

 

WOW looking good, can't wait to see what you do to her!

 

Thanks guys!

Plex! What's going on bro! Yeah I remember! Who would have thought we'd end up messing around with FDs. It's a whole different animal. Way more expensive that's for sure.

Went to a road course about an hour and a half away from my house and really got to see the FDs true colors. I think everyone should take their car to the road course at least once. I love it even more. I'm impressed by the stock suspension, its cold right now so I havent Installed a bunch of parts I have.

 

Nice work!
I want to do something like this.
How long does it normally take you to restore one, and how much did you pick em all up for?

 

Is that the course that's just north of San Antonio? Hoping to take my car up there once I figure out where the money for my rebuild is coming from, and get things running again. Glad you saved this FD from the life it was going to be subjected to.

 

^^I think the course is called Harris Hill.....correct?

 

That's the only one I know of. Hasn't Roger Beasley sponsored some track days out there for the Mazda enthusiasts? Could have sworn I read something about it on this or the local RX7 forum.

 

very nice job man I hope it goes well with the other one too.

 

I'm not sure to be honest, buy I'm sure your memory serves you well!

 

It was at Harris Hill sponsored by Roger Beasley. Way fun event yall should come out next time.

As for how long it all depends on how much time/money/parts you have available.

Here is the most recent picture of the other FD