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Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 32
This past weekend I "tried" to cut the passenger side door panel to fit with the roll cage. I had to cut it little bit by little bit until I got where I needed it - or so I thought. Towards the end I would find out the grab bar bracket was hitting the roll cage throwing off the alignment. This caused a really bad over cut that I had to fix. I ended up fixing it, thought I was done and showed C.Wan. Yes he liked it but he mentioned could some trim around the edges hide some spots he was concerned about. We'll the only way to fix it is to redo it. I checked a few prices on parts and pieces and apparently a door card with everything I need is around 500 to 800 bucks, oh boy. I guess this update we are going to learn how to repair mistake we make. So I rummaged through the garbage and grabbed all the cut off pieces to rebuild and fill in the gaps as much as possible. So enjoy the pics because I tore it all apart to do it again.
01 - Right Door Card Cut.
02 - Repair Cut.
03 - Bottom Panel.
04 - Inside Door Handle Cover.
05 - Final Touches.
06 - Almost Done.
07 - Try Harder!!!
01 - Right Door Card Cut.
I fitted the right door panel by hanging it on the window channel like it's supposed to. I drew around the inside door latch that had to be relocated higher to clear the cage. Once I cut it out I was able to lay the door panel flat against the door frame, then I drew a line on the panel following the cage. The door is not full closed and it made the line look way off. Later I found out the main hidden interference was the leading edge of the door panel was hitting the cage on the side of the dash pushing it back and also the grab bar bracket pushing it up. I was not a happy camper when I saw what it looked like after the cut.
02 - Repair Cut.
I cut off some pieces from the bottom half of the door to fill the gaps for the top half. I cleaned everything off and test fit the pieces. I secured them by cutting down some screws so they would not go through the leather on the other side. I also cut some sheet metal and screwed the pieces in place. I used some JB Weld plastic bond to bond them so they would not move. I also filled a hole that was in the middle of the door panel to provide backing for the leather repair kit. After the glue dried, I covered the line between the different pieces and the hole that was in the middle of the panel. It was a nice save, but later I would find out it's not nice enough.
03 - Bottom Panel.
I put the top door panel on and then traced a line under it to let me know where to cut the bottom panel. The bottom panel was a little tricky because it had to fit around the door latch cable and still curve under the door panel. I made my construction paper template and then placed the top door panel back on to make sure everything cleared. When I shut the door, the gap under the grab bar was more apparent. I opened the door and made some holes for where I would need to put rivnuts to bolt the bottom panel top the door. I traced and cut the bottom panel out of an aluminum sheet, installed the rivnuts, and bolted the bottom panel in place. The back edge needed some spacers to hold the panel out a little bit and the top of the bottom panel needed a bolt to pull it closer to the door and under the top panel. There is a small gap between the bottom of the top door panel and the top of the bottom panel at the back edge of the door handle, hopefully so door edge trim can cover that.
04 - Inside Door Handle Cover.
I wanted to use the door handle cover to hide the hole I had to cut to clear the door handle. But I also needed something that would be flexible so it would not impede someone from grabbing the grab bar. I'm actually proud of this one, I mean I like it..... I just hope C.Wan will like it too. I cut some leather off of the lower door panel and I made a nice little boot around the door handle cover using some small rivets making sure they would not get in the way of the locking handles and also making sure they would not be rubbing against any hands when reaching in there. I cut another section and attached it to the bottom of the boot so the bottom door panel would hole the boot in place.
05 - Final Touches.
To make everything come together I needed to do some final touches. I wrapped the door panel in satin black, got some stainless steel hex cap screws, and painted the grab bar bracket black. I also installed the door stop since I don't have to open the door all the way. The outside door handle was sticking and I thought it might have been something I did, it turns out that the pin inside the handle was all gunked up. I took it apart, cleaned everything, re-greased, and now the door handle operated smoothly. C.Wan also wanted the dash side panel installed, I had to break off the most inner tab to get it past the roll cage, thankfully the other alignment pins and tabs were able to be seated.
06 - Almost Done.
I put everything back together and I was so proud of my work. I sent C.Wan some pics and it was then I realized ....... so I tried to glue some pieces on to fill in the gaps and although it did look better in the pics, it looked kinda janky in person. There is only one thing left I could do, tear it apart and rebuild it cleaner if possible.
07 - Try Harder!!!
So after finding everything in the trash I started to repair the grab bar first. I taped the cut off section to the grab bar and made a line of what I needed to cut off. After the grab bar pieces were test fitted I glued them together and filled the top cracks with some JB Weld, I'm hoping I can sand everything down into a smooth finish and re-paint it with the same SEM satin black like the rest of the dash panels. I removed the leather from the pieces I glued on the fill the cracks, I am hoping to use the leather from the bottom panel to make a cleaner line. I already know I will need to glue on another small piece in front of the grab handle. This way I will have one new piece of leather covering 3 pieces and the top part being hidden under the plastic grab bar instead of having to try and fill a bunch of cracks. I also removed the leather repair from the hole in the center of the panel and shaved it down because it was sticking up a tiny bit. I also removed the leather from the back glued on piece that holds the retaining clip.
Well, I hope I can pull this off this weekend. Thank for reading homies!
Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 33
01 - Grab Bar Repair
02 - Rear Door Card Repair
03 - Fill Gab Under Grab Bar
04 - Rotor Hole Repair
05 - Test Fit Grab And Paint
06 - Leather Seem Seal
07 - Final Touches
01 - Grab Bar Repair
The grab bar had a big gap so I glued some more pieces on last weekend. This weekend I sanded it down and filled the lower edge to curve around the roll cage and a little chip on the edge.
02 - Rear Door Card Repair
I put new leather on the back section of the door car hoping to get the seam level. I glued the new piece on and secured it with some aluminum tape to hold it in place while it dries. In hind sight I should have smooth out the foam underneath to prevent it from making the leather repair look bumpy.
03 - Fill Gab Under Grab Bar
After I fixed the grab bar I put it on the door card and I was able to see the remaining gap I needed to fill. I cut a small piece from the original cut and taped it on to make sure it cleared the roll cage. Once I had the piece glued in place I used the aluminum tape for a template to cut out the leather and glued it on. Once again, In hind sight I should have smooth out the foam underneath to prevent it from making the leather repair look bumpy.
04 - Rotor Hole Repair
I tried hard to repair the little hole in the door card but it looked like the fiberglass has some sort of cancer, like a version of rust for metal. Under the leather it was gooey and flakey, so weird. I ended up cutting out the cancerous section and glued a new piece in place with a new piece of leather. After all the spot jobs were done I fell feeling pretty good about the repairs.
05 - Test Fit Grab And Paint
With the leather repair done I test fit the grab bar one more time before painting it. I cleaned it up with SEM solvent remover and then painted it SEM Satin Black like the rest of the panels.
06 - Leather Seem Seal
After experimenting with several leather repair kits over 2 days, the Permatex leather repair kit came out on top. It comes with several color, different fabrics for patch repair and pieces for creating different grains of leather, and an iron to heat the colored glue. You add the colored glue where you want it, place the pad to make the grain of leather you want over the glue, and heat it with the iron moving the iron in a circular motion. This was the very best I could do since I'm not a professional at interior pieces and fabric repairs.
07 - Final Touches
The final touches to make it all come together included gluing on another small section to line up with the lower aluminum door panel near the door lock handle assembly. Painting the edge of the door panel black and parts of the door that could been seen around the handle. I added door trim around the edges that surrounds the door handle assemble. For the bracket on the grab bar, it was hitting the roll cage so I cut the bottom of the grab tab off and screwed the bracket on the back side. I used a rivet to try and stop the handle from moving side to side. When all said and done, it came out very well.
Overall, to make it better I would have to pull the leather off the repairs, smooth out the foam underneath, and re-glue. I am still considering on doing this even if it means taking the panel apart again.
That looks great. Only thing I'd have maybe done is try converting to a Miata door latch. so its sits flush.
I just googled that, it does look cool. I like it, but I am also working with what is already on the car. I would have to ask C.Wan if he would want that or keep whats on the car. I will be doing the drivers side which will be trickier. I think he wants to retain FD original pieces.
Another thing to note is this is primarily a track / drift car. I dont know how easily it will be to open the miata handle with gloves on and in an emergency situation. I do know the FD handle will be easy to find and operate with gloves and eyes closed.
Safety is also something I have to keep in mind. Like the lower metal part of the door panel, I had to keep it a bit higher then the bottom so it fit the contour of the door. If I made it go down more to hide the white, then clothing and shoes have a potential to snag it as they pull there leg in and over the roll cage while trying to close the door at the same time.
I have so much to learn, I will make mistakes, and I thank all of you for your comments and inputs.
Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 34
Ahhh, where to begin....
There are many options for upgrading the ignition of the FD3S from replacing the coils, adding aftermarket spark amplifiers, to getting new engine management. True this has been done in the past by some incredible RX7 tuners, but from what I am aware of there was not a plug and play harness until now. In this update I'm going to share a nice little upgrade that you can do for the ignition that will get you the best bang for the buck. Also the main reason for this upgrade is to give the coils direct battery power so they can charge up faster between firings, thus reaching their full capacitance for the next fire.
Lets first give a shout out to some guys who made this possible.
Xavier for all of his insight in automotive electrical systems and for creating FC Tweak and his products for the FD3S. https://www.facebook.com/FCTweak/
Jim from the RX7 club who built the Ignition Mini and Ignition Complete harnesses so that we could all benefit from this simple affordable upgrade. Jim also has many other harnesses like the plug-n-play fuel pump relay harness for our cars as well.
01. The "new" plug-n-play +12V ignition harness upgrade options
02. Igniter Restoration
03. Ignition Mini-Harness with HKS Twin Power connected
01. The "new" plug-n-play +12V ignition harness upgrade options
The factory coils receive +12v power through the ignition switch, this is also shared with the fuel pump and the cars electrical system. One great upgrade to power the fuel pump is to switch the power source from the ignition to the battery via a relay. This is the same upgrade that has been done for the stock coils but now thanks to Jim we have a true plug and play harnesses.
The stock 12V pathway for the coils: Battery -> X-01 -> X-02 -> IGN/X-03 -> X-11 -> B1-14 -> Coils
Option 1. Mini-Harness 12V pathway: Battery -> Mini-Harness -> B1-14 -> Coils (can use HKS after relay)
Option 1 and 2 are very easy to use since you can leave the factory coil harness in place and just install the mini harness in between the engine harness and coil harness at connector B1-14. However for Option 2, if you have an HKS twin power you must connect it after the Mini-Harness since its performance will be affected by the relay. Option 3 requires the removal of the stock coil harness and you replace it with the Complete-Harness. Since the relay is built into the complete harness you cannot use the HKS twin power, but this option replaces your old wiring and gives the coils battery power without any additional connectors in the way. This is the way I went since I already relocated my stock coils to where the factory cruise control used to sit. OK let's get to the reason why the HKS twin power should not be used before any type of relay.
I wanted to know how the relay would affect the HKS twin power so I contacted Xavier of FC Tweak. The short answer is NO, the HKS twin power must be used after any relay and closest to the coil harness.
Here is the long answer. The Twin Power derives its name (Twin) for its dual function. Function (1): it resonates with each primary coil to convert the single ignition pulse from your igniter into a high frequency alternating current which transforms the ignition spark from a single shot spark to a multi-wave plasma (energy and dwell time remain the same but combustion efficiency and spark duration both increase and are especially beneficial at low RPM). Function (2) is its ability to add capacitance across the ground and main positive coil supply (common for all coils), thus charging up its internal capacitor while the coils are in their off state. When this capacitance is wired as close to the coils as practically possible, the energy stored in this capacitor will result in a higher 'punch' of voltage level during the coil on-time and hence increase the spark energy. If you wire up the Twin Power supply line before any relay, this capacitance effect will be cancelled by the extra inductance and resistance of the longer cable feeding the +ve supply of your coils, and hence kill all the benefits from function (2). Technically speaking, capacitive reactance and inductive reactance have opposite signs. So ideally the Twin Power should be wired up as close as possible to the coils, that's why it comes with an adapter harness which connects straight to the factory coil harness.
So there you go.
02. Igniter Restoration
I never considered the igniter heatsink being an issue. I thought it was a one piece design and didn't use any type of thermal paste. So during my conversations with Xavier, he mentioned to give the igniter a refresh. This is what he said - and boy was he right!!!
Xavier - If you are keeping the factory ignitor, I recommend you unmount the ignitor module from its heatsink (2 phillips screws), clean up all the old baked heatsink compound, sand down both heatsink and module surfaces to shine finish over a flat surface, and spread new CPU heatsink compound. Replace all screws and mounting bolts with new galvanised ones and put everything back together. Fit a new grounding cable from one of mounting bolts to engine block. This should be more than enough for your setup. The relay should also help to reduce the factory cable voltage losses.
I removed the igniter and started taking it apart. There was almost no thermal paste at all between the igniter and the heatsink, some dried up splotches at best. I sanded down both surfaces and used some artic silver for the thermal paste. I also got all new hardware with toothed washers for a better bite for the electrical bonding. I attached the ground to the screw that holds the igniter body to the heatsink to get the best ground connection to the igniter itself. I sanded all points that are important to grounding and I made a ground cable jumper to go from the igniter to the engine front iron.
03. Ignition Mini-Harness with HKS Twin Power Connected
C.Wan will still be using the HKS twin power so I will use option 2 and use the Mini-Harness with the HKS twin power. I installed the new Mini-Harness and connected it to the engine harness at B1-14, then I connected the HKS twin power haness to the mini-harness, then connected the stock coil harness to the HKS twin power harness. Now the coils and the HKS twin power will get a voltage boost straight from the battery. Jim did a great job at making this harness and it fit perfectly. The harness is the perfect length and the power and ground reach the battery / power source in the stock location. Since C.Wan has a power disconnect, the power is connected here so that it can be isolated from the battery. Later I will be using the JP3 fuse box holder to hold the connection for the power to the car after the switch. I ran the ground wire to the threads near the diagnostics box. I did chase the threads and used a lock washer to make sure I had a good electrical connection.
I'm going out on a limb here and I'm going to reference audio to give an example. When we add and amplifier to our radio to make our speakers louder, it will amplify everything even the noise and distortion. The radio source needs to be clean to have a better sound to amplify. The HKS twin power is going to amplify whatever it gets. So if the 12V coming through all the connectors and the ignition is degraded or affected by other electrical systems in use, is it possible the HKS twin power can be affected by this and not be able to amplify to its full potential? Is there amplified dirty spark vs clean spark? I know you will be able to see the difference on an O'scope. Regardless, If you use the Mini-Harness, this will get you battery power to the HKS twin-power and maybe it will perform even better.
I hope this is beneficial to those of you who are having ignition problems and what to try another option.
01. The "new" plug-n-play +12V ignition harness upgrade options
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Oct 5, 2025 at 10:31 PM.
When we make something for the first time, we learn along the way how to make it better the next time.
Honestly, figuring out how to make the windows go up and down and have them lock in the up position stumped me for a while. The electric motor might work for the right side but for safety and removal of the window for track events a manual slider is preferred. When I finally had time to work on it, I was able to figure it out. The right side is a brute force set-up while the left side ended up being more elegant since I had figure something to work around the roll cage that extends into the door.
01 - Wiper Nozzles.
02 - Right Door Window Install, (Steps 1 - 5).
03 - Left Door Window Install, (Steps 1 - 5).
01 - Wiper Nozzles
I finally installed some OEM wiper nozzles on the hood. Since the hood was designed in Japan it aims the nozzles toward the right for RHD. I looked at my car and the nozzles look straight. I think it's cool that the aftermarket hoods in Japan went to that detail to take care of the nozzles position for the driver.
02 - Right Door Window Install, (Steps 1 - 5).
Step 1: The right door window regulator track fits completely in the right door since the cage does not extend into the door cavity. I removed the motor and cable from the track and cleaned off all the old grease. I set the replacement polycarbonate window on top of the glass window and drew the holes to be drilled for the clips. With the clips swapped over it was time to install the window.
Step2: With the window installed I made a push bracket to raise and lower the window with the intention to use it as a locking mechanism as well. I had to cut a slot in the door for the handle to slide up and down in. I removed the door harness, vacuumed the metal shavings and dirt out, and taped the holes in the door jam with aluminum tape to keep the dirt out.
Step 3: To keep the window locked all the way up I installed a rivnut on the window track, a stopper to prevent the track from bended as the handle is secured against it, and a long threaded thumbscrew to lock the handle and track together.
Step 4: The outer door belt had some broken tabs and it kept popping out while working on the door. I was able to find some pieces at Atkins. I replaced all the broken clips and now the door molding holds tight in place.
Step 5: This step was done after I had fit the left side door window and wanted to match the window gap between both doors. The left door window only opens up about 2 inches from the top lower door molding. I added an additional rivnut on the right side track so the window can be locked at the same height at the left side. I also changed the thumb screw for a round ****. I cut off the threaded extension from the thumbscrew and welded it onto the threads of the ****. The **** also has a little more clearance from the roll cage so that's cool. I also test fit the old cut panel to make sure the bracket handle in the up locked position sat under the upper door panel.
03 - Left Door Window Install, (Steps 1 - 5).
Step 1: The left door lock assembly was not working since the rod from the lock was removed. The outside door handle worked and the inside latch was opened by a custom cable on the inside that was made to clear the cage. I removed the inside cable and will come back to that when I install the new door handles. I reinstalled the door lock rod and now you can unlock and lock the door with the key.
Step 2: The left door window regulator track hits the cage since it extends into the door cavity. I removed the motor but left the cable on the track and cleaned off all the old grease. I had to cut the window track to clear the cage and made a bracket to hold the bottom. I set the replacement polycarbonate window on top of the glass window and drew the holes to be drilled for the clips. With the clips swapped over it was time to install the window. After the window was in, I installed the forward window track and cut it to clear the cage. I cut a flat bar to bolt to a bolt the holds a brace in the front of the door and extends to hold the front window track in place. I did have to make another bottom bracket to set the angle of the window track so the window can slide up and down easily.
Step3: With the track set up I realized I need to make something to prevent the cable from slipping out. I made a little shield on the top roller to prevent the cables from falling off the track since it in longer under constant tension. The track kind of looks like SID the sloth from Ice Age..lol. I drilled a hole in the bottom bracket so the cable in the track can go straight down. The outside cable will also have its own guide. I had to notch the door brace for the locking mechanism to clear the cage as well.
Step 4: All the brackets took some time to make everything work together. There are 4 main parts to the window track system, the window track, the lower bracket, the top bracket, and the locking pin. The window track is what the window slides up and down on. The top bracket provides the hard stop for the down position and the holder for the locking pin to lock the window in the up position. The lower bracket bolts to the inner door brace and holds the bottom of the window track. The lower bracket also sets the angle of the window, it has the guides for the cables, and it holds the threaded locking pin to lock the window in the up position. You can see the fully assembled piece to get an idea of how it all goes together.
Step 5: With everything installed it works well. The hole for the locking pin in the down position has to be elongated because the track raise and lowers at an angle. The lower crash bar prevents the locking pin from falling complete out of its holder. With the window all the way up, you thread the locking pin in place until it enters the cup on the top bracket.
