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Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 20
The engine and tranny is in !!!!!!
01 – Oil Level Sensor
02 – Fuel Rail Fittings
03 – Oil Injector Vacuum Lines
04 – LIM Fuel Atomization
05 – FPR vacuum source
06 – OMP
07 – Engine To Transmission
08 – Transmission Close-out
09 – Clutch Master Cylinder
10 – Engine And Transmission Installed
11 – PPF
12 – Driveshaft
13 – Underbody Braces
14 – Transmission Pan Re-seal
01 – Oil Level Sensor
When I pulled out C.Wan’s old engine it was noticed that the oil level sensor harness was ripped off of the sending unit. It looked like it broke at the interface and part of the plastic was showing, thankfully it was still sealing at the interface and no oil leaked out. I knew that that trying to install this part with the engine in the car is tricky, so I made sure to install the new oil level sensor on the new engine before dropping the engine in.
02 – Fuel Rail Fittings
The Fuel system had AN fittings and SS braided lines from the when the car was competing over 20 years ago as a Falken Drift car. Although the SS braided fuel lines looked fine, their age is the question, and it was decided to put the factory hard lines back in. Performance wise it’s a non-issue since the goal is still 350 – 400 whp and the stock fuel lines can support that. With 850 primaries, 1300 secondaries, and an R33 fuel pump there is plenty of fuel for the goal. The fuel pulsation damper is bolted to the inlet of the primary fuel rail and has been known to leak due to age, which can case an engine fire. Many people delete this by tapping the pri fuel rail for a ¼ Male NPT with a 5/16 barb. Even though C.Wan’s system had a 90 degree AN fitting, I opted to install the barbed fitting to have a more direct flow, and to reduce a 2nd 90 degree fitting to get the line where I wanted, and also because the system is being returned back to the stock set-up which is a mixture of hard lines and hoses. I used Permatex thread sealant on the back of the threads to ensure a good seal. For the secondary rail I added a 90 degree 6AN to 5/16 barb fitting that will have the line going to the Aeromotive FPR.
03 – Oil Injector Vacuum Lines
Now that the OMP is back in the system I need to route the vacuum lines between the oil injectors and the intake before the turbo. The stock system also has it routed this way through a small vacuum manifold. (went down the rabbit hole of oil injector line source)
04 – LIM Fuel Atomization
Researching the fuel atomization line on the lower intake manifold that’s feeds into the primaries on the intermediate housing shows it helps with idle. Some people get rid of it and some say its need for 850’s in the primary location. Well, C.Wan has the old school 550 punched out to 850 primaries so I will retain the fuel atomization line to help with idle and warm-up.
05 – FPR vacuum source
After doing more reading I will use the stock location for the FPR vacuum line as well. It is located on the LIM. I wish I had all this on my car but I swapped over to the Xcessive LIM which deletes all the vacuum lines. I removed the silicon cap I had previously put on that nipple and put a vacuum line on it for later. I also put the high temp zip ties on all the vacuum lines as well.
06 – OMP
Earlier in the build we went with the rotary aviation adapter but then decided not to use it to keep things simplified in the engine bay. One less thing to worry about in the fish bone of things that could go wrong. A light pre-mix of 0.5oz/gal will still be used with the OMP for track events.
07 – Engine To Transmission
I wanted to install the engine and transmission together into the car, so I needed get everything bolted together on the mobile engine dolly. I used Valvoline red extreme pressure to coat the shaft for the throw-out bearing, the spline, and the 2 prongs on the clutch release are that go into the throw-out bearing. I used my transmission jack to line up the transmission and engine and they went together smoothly. After the transmission was bolted on, and the starter installed, I pulled the clutch release arm and locked the throw-out bearing into the retainer on the pressure plate.
08 – Transmission Close-out
More stripped bolts…lol. While I was putting on the clutch slave cylinder, I noticed of one the bolts had flattened threads towards the bolt head. I have no idea how it got like this, but it went straight to the trash and replaced it with one from my hardware stash. I put on all the covers and gave it a once over making sure I did not forget anything. The last thing was to remove the 5th gear lockout. C.Wan has the 5th gear locked out for drifting competition, but he wanted it removed for some future high speed track events. Apparently, the back left screw on the shifter spring return, when extended into the shifter arm area will block out 5th gear. I removed it and put a shorter bolt in place and re-sealed both top covers for good measure.
09 – Clutch Master Cylinder
I have no idea how the clutch master cylinder was still working, I probably caught it right before it failed by pure luck. While I was installing the harness and fumbling around the pedals, I pushed in the clutch and felt and heard a crunching sound. I was like what the hell, then I crawl out and look in the bag on the other side of the clutch line and see golden crystals. Uh-oh. I crawl back under the dash and see that the diaphragm inside the clutch master is no returning to home position. I ordered one from Atkins so that I would have it when it was time to replace it – and that time is now. I pulled out the old clutch master and it was so dirty and had some build up on the inside. It was definitely put through it’s paces. I sprayed some electrical cleaner through the clutch hardline while it was off the car and it looks like there was some build up on the inside. With the new clutch master installed I moved the clutch pedal back and forth and verified the seal on the inside returned to home position. I put the Atkins supplied hose on that goes from the brake reservoir to the clutch master, but I re-used the factory hose clips because they had a better clamping force then the ones supplied by Atkins. Last I installed the clutch hardline that goes to the other side of the brake booster.
10 – Engine And Transmission Installed
OK, so why did I install the engine and transmission together – because in its current build state it was easier. The engine is only partial assembled, and the rear lift fitting provided with the new Mazda motor makes it perfect for an offset pick point with the transmission installed. If you install the engine first it will pitch forward, and you will need to use something to tilt the front of the engine up to get the transmission on safely. There are many ways to do it, we all just install stuff in a way that’s best for us at the moment. I did unbolt the fuse box that sits on top of the upper support and put cardboard in that area just in case anything was to touch. I raised the engine high enough for the oil pan to clear the hood latch in front of the car, then I picked up the transmission side and gently swung the transmission side over the engine bay and let it hang back down. Then image sliding your foot into a shoe, as I lowered the engine, I would slide it back a little at a time. Once the back of the transmission was lower then the subframe I put the transmission jack under it. This supports the transmission weight and would allow the engine transmission combo to roll back as it was lowered. Of course you have to go back and forth from under the car and to the engine lift until its in place, but this is another way of doing it. I did have to wrap another rachet strap around the coolant thermostat area to pull that side of the engine up to level the motor mounts. Once the engine was bolted down and the transmission supported, I swapped the rear lift fitting for the last remaining transmission bolt.
11 – PPF
Installing the PPF I found it easier to put it on the Diff side first and screw in the side tapped alignment bolt. It might also be easier to loosen the top diff to rear subframe bushing bolts to allow the diff to rotate so you can properly set the height for the transmission to PPF side bolts. I forgot where I saw it but there is a recommended position to tighten everything up as. Right now I just needed to get the diff side on tight and then loosely bolt the PPF to the transmission side because the Banzai transmission brace will set the transmission height. I remember one of the PPF bolts was different, so I ordered one from Atkins, which also had a different socket size. Luckly C.Wan had a spare nut to give me, all are good now.
12 – Driveshaft
The drive shaft also had a stripped nut but the threads on the bolt were good, so I ordered four nuts from Atkins. The nuts were Zinc coated and the nut wall looked to be a little thinner. I went though my hardware stash and found the same size nut as the other 3 to keep this spinning assembly balanced as possible.
13 – Underbody Braces
I wanted to share a picture of my hardware stash. It has saved me throughout the years. I’m sure the original bolts for these braces are a tad too short. With the PPF secured on the Diff side, it was time to set it on the transmission side. I installed the Banzai transmission brace which sets the transmission at a fixed height, now its OK to fully secure the PPF to the transmission now. With the PPF fully installed, I re-tightened the Diff to rear subframe bushing bolts.
14 – Transmission Pan Re-seal
The transmission was sitting on a dolly for at least a year and when I put it on the engine, I noticed the dolly and the bottom of the transmission pain were wet. After everything was installed, I looked at the pan and could see the fluid as been slowly seeping out the seal. I took the bottom plate off and noticed a very thin seal of red RTV. I cleaned everything off and re-sealed the bottom transmission pan.
Thanks for the read. All comments suggestions are greatly appreciated.
01 – Oil Level Sensor
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Feb 18, 2025 at 07:30 AM.
Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 21
So much needs to get done within the next 2 months so this weekend it was hard to keep things documented in chronological order. I was jumping around with things that needed to get done since they were dependent on each other. So, some pictures may look out of sequence, but I’ll do my best to explain what and why I did it.
01 – Engine Fuel Hardlines.
02 – Ignition Coils And Bits N Pieces
03 – FPR lines
04 – Final Fuel Lines
05 – Turbo Side Firewall Heatshield
06 – Shifter Bushings
07 – Engine Harness
01 – Engine Fuel Hardlines.
I was able to complete the fuel systems set-up this weekend thanks to Jim from the RX7 club. Jim got me the missing fuel hardlines that bolt to the top of the engine. This makes it easier to maintain and trouble shoot issues since the system is just like stock except the FPR will be installed in the return line after the secondary fuel rail after I flush the fuel lines. I blew all the fuel lines with compressed air prior tom installing them on the car but as a precaution I flushed the whole system with the fuel pump in open loop by routing the feed to the return line right before it goes to the fuel rails. After adding 10 gals of 91 and 0.5oz per gal of Idimitsu premix, I used a 12V battery and powered the fuel pump for around 5 minutes to flush the fuels lines clean.
02 – Ignition Coils And Bits N Pieces
With so much to do I was just putting things together as it came to mind. I completed the following: PS Feed line to the PS Pump, put hose clamps on the throttle body bypass hose that goes from the back of the engine to the front water pump housing, installed charge harness, right and left side body harness secured with the brackets to the front of the strut towers, new Ignition coils installed with DEI reflect-a-cool heat shielding on the bracket, ignition harness, HKS twin power, secured the front right and left turn signal harnesses, installed the boost and map sensors and vacuum lines(I will reroute these later), and cleaned up the wire loom where it bolts to the alternator.
03 – FPR lines
I really really love where the FPR was placed on C.Wan’s car. It’s tucked out of the way, sits in a perfect orientation to work with the stock lines, if it leaks it will not be on top of the engine, and most important it does not block you from changing the oil filter !!!!!!! When I redo my cars fuel system I will copy this exact set-up. It’s so simple and clean. I used vibrant fuel fittings I had left over from my build for the AN to barbed fittings to line everything up. Now that all the angles are set I ordered some RaceFlux fittings from Improvedracing that are built to the JIC standard ensuring the sealing flare is 37 degrees. I added a simple blocking plug with a new O-ring to close the unused port. A 90 degree goes on the bottom which reaches the factory fuel return line. On the side is the FPR sensor and a 45 degree for the line coming from the secondary injector rail. The fuel hardline also has the line for the purge system.
04 – Final Fuel Lines
After the fuel lines were flushed and the FPR installed, I hooked up the lines to the fuel rails. The primary fuel hose touched the block, so I bent the bracket up a little for more clearance and wrapped the primary fuel line with silicone wrap to protect it from direct heat and abrasion. The secondary fuel line goes from a 120-degree fitting to the fuel hardline. Everything lines up so nice, I can’t wait to do the complete fuel set-up with my car, even the aeromotive fuel filter is cool. I did notice that the stock fuel hoses have a smaller inner diameter for a tighter fit. The stock fuel lines at the firewall are in great condition so I decided to keep those.
05 – Turbo Side Firewall Heatshield
The old set-up had a sticky backed heatshield and aluminum flat bars riveted in place holding the heatshield from falling if the glue were to weaken/fail. I cut an aluminum sheet to cover where the AC lines go through the firewall and secured it with some self-tapping screws. Then I put a big sheet of DEI reflect-a-cool and secured the ends with aluminum tape.
06 – Shifter Bushings
The shifter bushing looked like it had very dirty grimy oil and build up. The bushings that come with RE-Amemiya D1 shifter have a different upper bushing then stock as well as a brass pivot bushing instead of the plastic one. The paper gasket was also gone. I read that when you put the shifter in, you want to take out the old fluid in the shifter reservoir and pour 80 mil of new manual trans fluid. I ordered new a gasket, new upper and lower spacers, 2 springs, and the brass pivot bushing. I will test fit everything and update that when done.
07 – Engine Harness
OK, so, the emission harness (we know it as the engine harness), was covered in oil mist and dirt. The harness sheath is baked hard, wire insulation is cracking on some exposed wires, and even the front green water temp sensor connector broke during cleaning due to extreme heat. Everything you would expect from being a competition race car. It's important to note that Calvin Wan and this car was competing for Falken Tire in events that paved the way for drift culture. It was go go go and if something needed to be done, it had to be done right then and there or you lost - period. With that being said, you only focused on make or break things and all the little annoying things would be dealt with later.
Well... later is now.. lol. First things first, I took the heat wrap off and then stripped off the old fried tape up to where the solenoid connectors branch off at. I coated the harness with degreaser and power washed it clean. I sprayed all the connectors clean with some electronic connector cleaner. For the damaged water temp sensor wire I spliced in a new section and re-crimped the spade and reseated it into the connector. To reduce the mess of open connectors over the engine I pulled all the solenoid connectors for the rats nest and the turbo pre-control and wastegate control connectors back through the firewall grommet. I lace tied the main harness and the small pigtail that was pulled back to hold the wires tight in place. I used silicone tape to reseal the rubber grommet that goes through the firewall and I lace tied the solenoid connectors in a staggered layout for a smaller foot print to be secured under the dash. If you look at the broken green connector you can tell it was cracked for a while due to the charred plastic where it was cracked. If it was a fresh break, the plastic in the crack would be clean and not burnt. I was able to find this green connector online with pigtails so all I have to do is splice it in. The harness is ready to be test fitted on the engine, once everything is routed then I can dress the harness and rewrap it with protective tape.
So much to do.
01 – Engine Fuel Hardlines.
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Feb 25, 2025 at 11:08 PM.
Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 22
There are so many little things that need to happen to get to where I need to be.
These little things included repairing broken connectors, reconnecting deleted sensors, swapping out fuel line fittings, adding labels to hook things up, and final routing of engine/emissions harness. I took around 160 pictures for this update, but F B only allows 80 pics to upload at a time. I kept just the helpful pics that shows an overview of the different task performed. I will also be referring to the emissions harness as the engine harness since that’s what’s it’s commonly known as.
01 – Boost and MAP sensor vacuum lines
02 – Coolant level sensor
03 – Test fit engine harness
04 – Connector repairs
05 – Engine harness wrapped
06 – Swapped fuel rail and FPR fittings
07 – Swapped fuel filter fittings
08 – Engine harness installed
09 – Purge solenoid
10 – Engine to turbo manifold
11 – Apex-i EL gauge connector and sensor labels
12 – Engine harness and Apex-i harness heat sleeving installed
01 – Boost and MAP sensor vacuum lines.
I test fit the upper intake manifold to gauge the length of the vacuum lines for the Apex-i boost gauge map sensor, the Apex-i AVCR boost controller map sensor, and for the stock map sensor. I ended up re-doing the vacuum lines to have the similar routing for the 2 Apex-i map sensors to keep it clean. I got a new map sensor filter, installed it with the big side and arrow pointing towards the UIM and cut the vacuum lines to length. Who remembers Hose Techniques, they had so many options for many JDM cars. They even had a FD3S hose kit. I wanted one in all red but they ran out of one of the sizes and gave me black. I thought it was cool to find this in my stash of parts.
02 – Coolant level sensor.
The coolant level sensor was taken out and an Apex-i water temp sensor was put in its place. Above that another temperature switch was installed to control the radiator and oil cooler fans on one standalone circuit. The temperature switch has a 93 stamped on it so I’m going to assume it was coming on at 93C. I deleted the stand-alone set-up and returned the radiator fan control back to the Apex-i PFC and added a second ground based PWM (pulse width modulation) fan controller for the oil coolers. The oil cooler fan controller ramps up the fans to prevent current draw spikes. The temperature switch had a thread size of 18x1.5. I used an ½ inch NPT to tap the hole a little larger and used a ½ inch NPT brass bushing with a pre-drilled ¼ inch hole for the coolant level sensor. The coolant level wire was also in bad shape and needed a section replaced.
03 – Test fit engine harness.
After the harness was modified, I placed it back on the car and routed it to get an idea of where the branches needed to be. I lace tied the harness and prepped it for final thermal wrapping.
04 – Connector repairs
There were several connector wires that were damaged where it entered the connector. The insulation cracked off and copper strands were braking. For the coolant fan switch I pulled out the pin and opened that back crimp that usually captures the wire insulation. I secured the new wire by crimping the strands with one side of the connector then routing the strands back through the other side of the connector crimp. I reassembled the connector and used a little RTV to hold the back rubber plug in. For the broken green water temp connector, I found a replacement on wiring specialties. I bought the one with the pigtail and spliced in the new connector.
After repairing the coolant level sensor connector, the fan switch connector and water temp connector, I wrapped them with the high temp wire loom and some super 33 electrical tape. The IAT sensor (intake Air Temperature) will be abandoned in place where it is screwed into the underside of the upper intake manifold and a new fast reacting IAT will now be placed in the Greddy Elbow just before the throttle body. The fast-reacting IAT comes with an adapter pigtail for use with the stock connector. The factory connector needs to be extended about 18 inches to get it to the Greddy elbow. The last connector I needed to address was the EGT probe side connector. The shrink tubing that went around the SS braid had cracked and rotated and was chewing away at the fiberglass insulation. I wrapped the wires with Kapton tape, wrapped that with silicone tape, and then wrapped another layer of Kapton tape.
05 – Engine harness wrapped
I pulled the engine harness off and re-installed the small plastic protective pieces over the wires in between the branches and wrapped this section with 1 inch silicon tape. For the larger section with no branches, I covered it with the high temp wire loom, then electrical tape, then 2 inch silicon tape.
06 – Swapped fuel rail and FPR fittings
The replacement fuel fittings that are made to JIC standards arrived this week, so it was time to swap them out. I swapped the 120 degree fitting on the secondary fuel rail first. I also installed some heat shielding on the primary and secondary rubber hose in that section. Next I swapped the 90 degree and 45 degree fittings on the FPR. I also changed the rubber o-rings behind the blue adapter AN fittings on the FPR.
07 – Swapped fuel filter fittings
Since I needed to change the 90 degree fittings on the fuel filter, now is a good time to put new Orings and change the filter element again since I ran the fuel pump in open loop to clean the fuel lines. There was some fine dust after the gas dried in the filter housing, but nothing made it past the filter. I cleaned everything up and put it back together with the new parts. I also put silicon tape on the fuel lines going to and from the fuel filter to protect them where they cross over the rear subframe. I also made a copy of the fuel filter bracket for myself. When I redo my car I will copy C.Wan’s fuel system set-up.
08 – Engine harness installed
Now that the engine harness is wrapped I reinstalled it for the final time. I left the grommet out of the firewall at this time and routed everything on the engine side first. I made sure to connect the water level sensor wire connector between the engine harness and charge harness. I connected the transmission connectors to the transmission pigtail harness and zip tied them to the engine harness on top of the bell housing.
09 – Purge solenoid
The RX7 gas vapor purge system has a lot of parts to it, but it works great on controlling the fumes when the car sits. The parts are the charcoal canister where is stores the vapor, the catch tank under the elbow bolted to the throttle body which collects any particulate matter from the canister, the purge valve which opens per ecu instruction, and the one way check valve to stop positive pressure going back into the purge system. .... allegedly. I already swapped out a newish charcoal canister and I just need to add all the new parts on the engine side. I wanted to put the purge solenoid in a nice location that the vacuum lines could be routed to easily. I also needed to install the coil pack and secure the engine harness from vibration. I was able to kill 3 birds with one stone by making a bracket that bolts to the ignition coil bracket and using a clamp to hold the harness in place. On this same bracket a cut an L-shaped bracket to mount the purge solenoid to. I installed the vapor catch tank with the stock S shaped hose line going to the metal fuel hard-line assembly on top of the engine. The line going from the vapor catch tank to the purge solenoid is 2 different sizes and you need an adapter for that. I believe the vapor catch tank vacuum line is 6mm and the purge solenoid is 3.5mm. I installed a 1 way viton check valve on the outside nipple of the purge solenoid allowing airflow only towards the UIM under vacuum.
10 – Engine to turbo manifold
While test fitting the turbo manifold to engine I noticed that the nuts hit the should of the studs that are already on the engine. I know the manifold has been decked before and I find it hard to believe that much material has been removed. It makes me wonder if the manifold was creating a good seal on the metal gaskets. I do see blow by on the metal gaskets and also some weird metal oxidation or build up on the exhaust manifold. I tried my best to sand off all the build up with my belt sander. After an hour I was able to remove most of the build-up and ended up with a nice clean flat surface. The waste gate flange was cleaned, but I still need to clean the turbo flange. The last thing I noticed was a small crack on the weld where the pipes meet the exhaust flange. I took off the EGT probe and removed the fiberglass wrap so I can bring the pipe to the welder.
11 – Apex-i EL gauge connector and sensor labels
There are so many connectors and the tape is getting old that has the words written on it. I sprayed all the connectors clean and then made labels for all the sensor side and gauge side connectors. I stuck the label to the harness and then wrapped the label with kapton tape. When done I routed the gauge connector harness through the engine harness grommet. I will probably make a small shield so the grommet do not get damaged by the heat.
12 – Engine harness and Apex-i harness heat sleeving installed
I was finally able to finish the harness. I routed the Apex-i sensor harness and connected everything. The fuel pressure sensor connector has a broken clip and some exposed wiring. I used Dowsil 3145 clear RTV to protect the exposed wires and when I put the connector on I was able to fit a zip tie through it to hold it in place on the FPR. I covered both the Apex-i and main engine harness with Velcro fiberglass heat shielding where it crosses over the turbo. I covered the harness clamp with heat shielding and secured the harnesses in place. I also put a few metal zip ties to hold the Velcro heat shielding secure.
I'm literally falling asleep trying to finish this report so I hope the last few paragraphs made sense. Thank you for your read and if anyone sees anything questionable - please let me know.
