C.r.e.a.m.
 

I'm almost ready to start on my project, so I figured if I made a build thread, I'd be forced to.

I purchased my first and only FD in the fall of 2010. I bought it as non-running, with intentions on pulling the rotary and dropping in a 1J. I changed my mind, and decided to keep it rotary as soon as I took possession of the car. Off the bat, I wanted to see if I could get her running before starting to tear her down.

https://fototime.com/B0DC9C88EC8E3D2/orig.jpg

The car is a 93 R1 with ~82,000 miles on the odometer. I assumed it hadn't been driven in a while since the oil change sticker said to change the oil at 83,000 miles or May of 2003 (whichever came first). So I started off by draining the gas, replacing the fuel filter, replacing plugs, & putting in a new battery.


That, combined with a little ATF magic and some patience (*edit: and some fresh gas), and I got it started. I took it around the block, which probably wasn't a great idea, but I had to do it. At this time I had pulled the power steering pump since it was missing the pulley anyway. (which led to a nice trail of ps fluid wherever I had turned the steering wheel) There was a lot of smoke, and some oil leakage as well.


My intentions no matter what, were to have the motor rebuilt. But first things first, I needed to do something about my "garage".

Fast-forward to the winter of 2011.

My garage has always been a pit. I wasn't going to start this project until I had a proper place to work on it. My current car had always been worked on at the last minute, or the weekend before a track event. Things always seemed rushed with that, so I wanted to do it different this time. The idea being to not be in a hurry so I could actually enjoy working on the car as opposed to always fighting time and hating working on cars.

so my garage looked like this:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...24857532_n.jpg

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...86201178_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...50707317_n.jpg

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...41885109_n.jpg

then this happened:


then it looked like this:

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...46524090_n.jpg

with all of my junk in a storage pod:

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...83570091_n.jpg

Still not good enough. I really wanted a garage that I enjoyed working in.

So I made a checklist of the necessities:
-OSB walls & ceiling
-floored attic
-lighting, GOOD lighting
-heat
-220V
-cable
-epoxy floor?

I found the right guys for the job, and the garage project started.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...61250466_o.jpg

new electric:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...46337826_n.jpg

upgraded my windows:

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...43984943_o.jpg

new service door:

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...65205520_n.jpg

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...64684797_o.jpg

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...86041130_o.jpg

and then up went the OSB.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...04949271_o.jpg

we have heat! (well, a heater)

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...38082246_o.jpg

All of the sudden, my garage seemed huge, and all I wanted to do was build a mini skate park in it. The OSB walls were awesome, and it smelled great, haha.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...32741466_o.jpg

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More to come soon. I'm fighting a hangover right now...

Went a little overboard on lighting with some T5HO fixtures. the pics don't do them much justice.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...49663313_o.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...96108178_o.jpg

Floor originally was pretty bad, cracked and uneven, etc. The epoxy/flake did a decent job hiding it. Not perfect, but an inexpensive huge improvement.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...96587145_o.jpg

Walls and ceiling, etc. were painted

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...79034008_o.jpg

Pretty pumped for how this work bench turned out. Put another T5HO fixture above it.

http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...66294772_o.jpg

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...45420837_o.jpg

and a nice sheet of stainless steel to work on.

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...27076110_o.jpg

Leila:

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this guy came to party

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http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...46313017_o.jpg

I love what you did with the garage man. Outstanding job. Nothing like a nice clean place to work on your car.

test fitted my daily driver in the new garage!

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...00575916_o.jpg

goodbye to the old garage door

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...85586182_n.jpg

new door, brought in some shelving I had

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...61852204_n.jpg

and this is the part where things get worse. the 3 months I budgeted with the storage pod were up, so back came my junk.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...49047211_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...43281042_n.jpg

too add to the chaos, my mom moved out of her house, so I had to bring all of my dad's old stuff (he had a LOT of stuff that you couldn't just throw out)

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...15186249_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...92062639_n.jpg

forgot to mention, I put up some tire racks!

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...53852646_n.jpg

so for most of 2012, it was half a garage for my track car and my olds

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...74756966_n.jpg

then I finally put the olds in storage, and started to go through all of the shit. which almost brings us up to date.
it's hard to find time to go through all of this stuff with everything else going on in my life, combined with some back issues i've been having. i'm finally dedicating the time to get it done so I can move the RX-7 in soon.

Garage build thread > Car build thread :egrin:

I did not see the authentic GTC bumper hiding in any of those pictures... I assume you still have it? Looking forward to more! :nod::icon_tup:

^ Agreed, Garage looks great:icon_tup:

thanks guys.

John, don't worry, that bumper's still around here somewhere...

spent more time in the garage today. I hope none of you mind me using you all as motivation/inspiration to get this damn garage cleaned out so we can get to the fun stuff.

update:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...21201199_o.jpg

The only thing better then car builds, are car builds with garage builds integrated into them!!!

If you feel like the 7 isnt sucking out enough money from you, and you dare to adventure into deep garage building, modding, and tool whoring, Check out this forum (if you havent already).......

The Garage Journal Board - Powered by vBulletin

Fair warning, browsing through that site will cause you to want a 1500+ sq ft garage, machinery, duplicates upon duplicates of the same tools, and to reorganize everything in your garage. I think my tool/garage building addiction has surpassed my 7....

Wish my garage look like that. Awesome job

oh god damnit bubbles why did you post this?!?!

yeah, garage journal is the shit. definitely what inspired me. some of those garage builds are amazing. i've come to terms with the fact that mine will not look like some of those "showroom" looking garages, simply because i have too much stuff(junk).

same... but theres nothing more satisfying working on your car in your garage and everything u need is where you want it and everything is convenient and easily accessible:icon_tup:

^yeah, i've never had that, EVER.

SO looking forward to it!

haha that part was funny. it's like you wiggled you nose and "POOF! all that stuff was gone! great place to work..I'm jealous.

Amazing, makes me want to clean up my garage.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...83019803_n.jpg

and two hours later...

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...17543665_n.jpg

the garage isn't 100% ready for it, but we're getting a foot of snow tomorrow, and i wanted it in by this weekend.

i can't imagine working on an engine bay with all of this lighting!

Awesome shop, looks great

That's a great garage heat and everything damn

Nice garage looks great! Hope the build is as nice :D

i intend to make my build more exciting than my garage, we'll get there.

Thanks Gordon. Eventually, I'll get pics up on GJ.

still slacking. the s13 taking up too much of my time.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...78510539_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...53239291_n.jpg

I did start to rip things out of the engine bay though a few weeks ago, to my surprise, I have a koyo already (cool).

also, sold my prelude, which gives me funds to build a shed, which will allow me to become even more organized for the 7 project.

hopefully soon!

+1 on the car and garage combo. Definitely looks great!

Now get to work on that FD!! :D

Nice!

Had the s13 painted,

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...99709977_n.jpg

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...88899186_n.jpg

So naturally, I crashed it a few months later... throwing me into a rebuild project.

not to worry, still made some progress on the FD side of things. made a big step forward and purchased an engine and trans from a fellow board member/friend.

Instead of having my 83k mile engine, of unknown condition, rebuilt, I purchased a low mileage (27k miles) engine that had been disassembled and rebuilt (for good measure) by Howard Coleman.

Howard ended up rebuilding it twice, as it sat for a few years, so he is just finishing it up now.

It is supposedly in exceptional shape, so it should be a good foundation for what I plan to do.

Some pics of the assembly (probably boring to most of you)

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...39316298_o.jpg

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...15905627_o.jpg

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...99711297_o.jpg

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/..._5592688_o.jpg

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...55665047_o.jpg

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...80119828_o.jpg

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https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...26944611_o.jpg

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...30026526_o.jpg

Bonus pic of Howard's potentially 200mph capable FD
https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...16837704_o.jpg

well you paid a pretty decent amount on the lighting lol, those lamps are not cheap... let alone the fixtures. good choice tho, i just wired up 2 units at my buddys garage.

Ben, glad to see this posted up! Perhaps this thread will entice me to start my own :)


I too was looking for my old bumper in the pics, Frankly after seeing the garage I'm glad it wasn't under that pile! :D

Looking forward to following this.

thanks Chris, I hope. yours will be something else, I can't wait to see it.

should hopefully have some more progress pictures today.

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...79675189_o.jpg

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not sure what's more beautiful, the clutch or the guaranteed-not-to-leak oil pan..

nice build ya got going. Where exactly are you located around IL?

Seems there are a TON of us in IL lately that are finishing/or in the process of nice FD builds.

Having a clean/organized and heated garage is KEY and just makes things go that much smoother. I took like a whole day just to stack my engine lol just because I was enjoying the atmosphere so much I didn't want it to end so quickly.

What are your plans...don't think I saw that mentioned anywhere?

Nice motor ya got there, minty oil pan... :icon_tup:

I'm in Mundelein, and I haven't really unveiled my plans here yet. :X

You are way up there, the engine is looking good and that's a nice oil pan :icon_tup:

Howard's white FD looks like it is sitting in a basement lol.

Excited to see this come along! Can't wait to see the results.

howard's cave is pretty cool.

hopefully taking delivery on the motor and trans this weekend. then i have to figure out the logistics of transferring the accessories, manifolds, etc off of my current motor (which is still installed) onto the new motor.

not sure if i should:

disassemble the old motor (accessories, etc) while it's still in the car, or if i should yank it out first and do it while it's on the floor in the garage.

same with the new motor. assemble completely on the engine stand? or drop it in the chassis and assemble it there...

i assume it makes the most amount of sense to assemble the new motor on the engine stand no matter what.

i searched and didn't find any good threads on the topic (believe it or not), it must just be a FSM thing. i assume there are going to be some gaskets i'm going to want to purchase new, just not sure which ones those are just yet.

i have a set of BNR stage 3's, with the aftermarket solenoid kit, which i plan to run sequential.

horsepower goal is ~350whp. not trying to extract every last hp out, just trying to have something reliable on the track.

i think i'm going power fc...

fuel, i'm thinking ID725-850 for primaries, ID2000 secondaries

on the fence with the AEM marine coils

on the fence with my wiring harness. the current one i have worked (other than the odometer wasnt' working) but would not mind having jordan make me one where i'll never have to worry about it.

i'm usually all about getting something running before making changes, that way if something doesn't work, it's easy to trace back. which has me thinking, get this thing running stock, stock fuel, stock everything. but if i'm going to do the rats nest modification, i think i need to run pfc, so in which case, maybe i should just do it all. fuel, ignition, rats nest, etc. and have her tuned.

definitely intimidated by the rats nest/sequential setup.

(sorry for rant, but, i mean, it's my build thread...)

well, the motor is finished, and was delivered to me today (thanks joe).

got a little ambitious

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...08713453_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...55940772_n.jpg

wasn't very fun.

after hearing about how brittle the vacuum lines get once cooked, i finally experienced it first hand, wow, pretty much like hard noodles.

found out there's an aftermarket clutch in the original motor. not sure what it is, it's blue, but not a dark blue like spec or rps...

Looks good so far. :)

thanks. really hoping i can put it all back together without having a photographic memory.

we took a lot of stuff off/apart to get the wiring harness off. we couldn't really snake it through things without risking breaking it. probably just gonna need to get a new harness anyway.

the vacuum lines were practically exploding off from the rats nest.

i love that pic of the car with the bumper off with snow all over!

With your power goal be 350rwhp, any reason not to go with 550/2000 injector combo?

Upgrade your rails. Cjm is running a sale on them. But with all the work you're putting in, the stock rails just look sub par. If you have any problems figuring out where stuff goes just give me a ring. I'm in Geneva. You could say I have a bit of experience with these cars lol. 630-631-3605

Also put everything you can in the motor prior to putting it in. It makes the job 100x easier.

sorry, missed some of those posts. i must not be subscribed to my own thread, haha.

Ze Power MX6: not sure, but i've got the mentality of replacing old with new.
muibubbles: thanks
boosted414: thanks, and thanks for the parts today


small update, nothing too exciting.

still collecting parts, and tinkering a bit with putting together the new motor. i had disassembled the exhaust/turbo situation on the old motor one weekend, then put it all back together on the new motor the following weekend (before forgetting where everything went).

ordered some random parts that i needed:

pineapple racing pulley
some of those copper exhaust nuts that pineapple sells (needed some extras anyway)
block off plates from banzai
ss clutch line
silicone hose to redo the vacuum lines
ordered a mity vac tester to test all of the components of the sequential system
picked up a twin power
and most excitingly, copped a greddy v-mount.

after trying to find intakes that i actually liked for the twins, the ones that come with the greddy v-mount were the only ones that seemed to meet my standards. coincidentally came across a deal that i couldn't pass up, and made the purchase.

as far as things on the engine side, all that i really still need to purchase is my fuel setup. been debating on what to get. definitely going to go with EV14 injectors. trying to find the right source to purchase them. found the bosch part number for the oe 2120cc EV14s they sell, now just trying to figure out the 725s, which may not actually exist in oe form. was bouncing back and forth between buying a setup from irp, but i think i may just save the money and piece the system together myself. so i need to decide on rails, and i'm going to need to figure out what i need to purchase to plumb everything.

still have to decide what all i am deleting/keeping, as i haven't researched it really. omp is gone, aws will be gone. still reading/learning.


i have some pics, but my internet is facked right now, so i can't post 'em.

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oh, i picked up a cool cart to put my old motor on for the time being. beats leaving it on the hoist, and still portable.

gonna need to sandblast some of the extra dirty stuff.

I meant running EV14 550s for primaries instead of the 750s, definitely put the system together yourself, you can route them the way you like it. As far as rails, that depend on how you wanna route your setup. I went with FFE rails because they are short enough for me to mount the FPR on the end by the firewall, and since I'm still running seq twins, I want to be able to run 34mm secondaries so the rail is not blocking any of the LIM vacuum lines.

to save money, or for easier tuning/idle?

I don't really know the relationship/formula to sizing primaries vs hp, but I've heard that getting a decent idle out of ev14 725s with a PFC is doable. I don't want to limit myself to 350hp either. I am open to options though.

I'm just thinking about tuning/idle, plus they are the same price I believe. I know the 750/2000 combo is pretty popular, but they are mostly being use on a ported motor, so I'm thinking will 550/2000 be better for stock port motor on seq twins, that combo will still support over 400hp.

I haven't order my injectors yet, I'm set on 2000 secondary, just haven't decide on primary.