CYM Restore
 

Current Engine Setup

Rebuilt engine with about 5k miles on it.
- 2mm Apex seals
- Street port
- Single turbo GReddy T78
- Fuel mods to safely support 450+ HP
- Apex'i PFC
- AVC-R
- GReddy Titanium catback
- GReddy FMIC



Future engine plans

Going to pull that engine and install a stock port engine that I have with 99 twins with full emissions, HKS twin power, downpipe, OEM Cat, Exhaust TBD.


I usually know how I want to mod my cars but wanted to get your thoughts.

Question

• Should I powder-coat the LIM, y-pipe, water pump housing and PS bracket wrinkle black? I want a clean OEM look and wasn’t sure if this would devalue the car.
• Or should I get some kind of heat coating on the LIM and UIM? If so, what and who do you recommend?
• Do you think a new OEM oil pan is less likely to leak than a clean used pan?
• Do you think the oil pan brace are worth the price?

Pics are the previous owner ad.


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Will address interior and exterior in a later post.

If you are contemplating powdercoating or thermal coating your LIM, you should have no problem buying an oil pan brace. They aren't that much and work great. When your used pan comes off, use a hammer and dolly to flatten any bent parts. I've reused one multiple times with success.

I think an oil pan brace is 100% worth the price. I had a leak on my oil pan that would not go away. I lifted the motor and resealed the pan but a small leak came back after some autocrossing and spirited driving on bumpy roads. On my new motor I installed a Banzai Racing oil pan brace and have not had any leak issues since.

FD party at Johnny's house! :)

Looks like a nice project!

You can make an old oil pan work but it's a hit or miss proposition. A new pan isn't much and you are much more likely to have no leaks with a new one.

As far as coating the manifolds, it depends on if you are wanting to dress things up or make it look as OEM new and fresh as possible. If you want it looking like stock and clean, you could maybe have them media blasted so they are super clean then sprayed with a matte clear or powder coated with a clear to seal the aluminum to keep it from oxidizing/showing fingerprints/looking dirty.

Dale

Thxs, we usually reuse also but haven't had as much luck sealing the pan. It always seems like it leaks a little.

Nice, exactly what I wanted to hear.

Ha, thxs. I agree a new pan isn't much relative to everything else on this car. I will probably order a new pan and brace. Still iffy on the powdercoating part. On a separate note, thanks for the help with the solenoids yesterday.

I ordered the spirit R shift knob and ebrake / boot.

Will be ordering redline shift boot

Question, what do you think about the redline trans cover? Thinking about getting it.

Pic from Black Mamba

https://i961.photobucket.com/albums/...991/009-15.jpg



And thoughts on the spirit R cluster, it looks great but 2k for a cluster seems expensive

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2K3ZWLpf1DCN8yiJA



Last question, should I stick with OEM R1 seats or get them recovered similar to what I have in my BB

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Attachment 619000

The cluster is nice but I'd just keep an eye out for a good cluster for a better price. They pop up every now and again on Ebay for way less than that. It also depends on if you have to have the Spirit R or if you want the 99 look, the green gauges, whatever. You can also mod the cluster to show MPH as well.

Recovering the seats depends on what condition the seats are currently in. Since it's an R1 and a CYM I personally would stick to the Alcantara-style fabric, that's fitting with the spirit of the car.

Dale

Cool thanks for the info on the cluster.

The current seats that are in there are leather but I have a chance to get a set of really good condition R1 seats locally. Price wise, the r1 seats will be a little more than the recover.

Nice find. That was a hard hitting turbo back in the day, but very laggy by today's standards.

Take a look at Jason Poco's cym. He did a lot of wrinkle black in his engine bay and it looks really good.

Definitely a new oil pan and a brace. They are cheap.

Thanks Ihor.

Ordered a new pan and found out the engine that is going in has a brace so I'm good there.

Painted PS bracket flat black last night. Decided to keep LIM as is.

Got another UIM that has the double throttle and other emissions stuff. It's currently polished. Need to decide if I want to keep it polished or transfer everything to another UIM I have.

Nice low mileage CYM!!
If she was mine I'd put it back to as close to stock as possible... minus the reliability upgrades.
Hope to see it at DGRR this year.

Looks like fun project, I like that you're going back to twins. Cant go wrong with a CYM too :cool:.

If you can justify the cost, the SR cluster really does lift the interior nicely and make it look less dated. All the late clusters are getting harder to come by these days.

Thanks, what do you mean minus the reliability upgrades?

Changed out some gaskets on the twins the other night.
Attachment 748061

Mocking things up. All the solenoids tested good but I ordered all new turbo related solenoid
Attachment 748062

25 ft of 3.5 mm vac hose was purchased for the vac line replacement. Also replaced check vales with some viton check valves that I got from Dale.

Injectors are back from RC engineering
Attachment 748063

New fuel line hose arrived
Attachment 748064

Engined pulled
Attachment 748065

Engine bay is super dirty
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Looking forward to cleaning up the engine bay some.

Headed to the garage to prep the engine for new oil pan.

I'm already enjoying this. Keep up the good work Johnny.

Wow, new turbos! Which ones did you end up going with?

Dale

thxs

Thxs. They look new but they are low mileage 99s.

Oem parts from Ray should be here next week.

Hoping to install new oil pan, oil pan brace and keg ready for install by this time next week.

Great progress so far - looking forward to this one!

Looking good!

Just thought I would include prices on some of the stuff I updated just in case anyone is interested in updating the fuel, emissions or sequential stuff. I tested the solenoids and they tested fine but I wanted to go ahead and add replace a few of the solenoids with new ones. This stuff adds up quick.

To simplify things I could have removed double throttle, EGR, switching and fuel solenoid but wanted to keep it stock. Kind of wished I remove the coolant stuff for the throttle body but again wanted to keep it stock.

A tip for the vacuum hose for the rear is to make it a little longer so that you can remove UIM a little easier in the future if you need to.



150 RC engineering cleaned injectors
54 Fuel filter
20 (4) Fuel injector insulators
138 Fuel pulsation damper
20 Fuel hose
$382 Total for fuel related items


55 new 89-91 FC fan thermoswitch
74 Water pump
6 Water pump gasket
100 AST (Used)
70 Air Separator Tank Hose Set
17 FD Rx7 twin turbo coolant hose set - inlet/ outlet
10 N3A1-13-681A -rear iron to throttle body
5 N3A1-13-691A – Throttle body hose
5 FD01-61-214b – Pipe to radiator hose (front of the engine)
5 N3A1-13-692A – Water pump to pipe
208 Koyo N flow Radiator (bought from a forum member that never used it)
40 Radiator hose

$595 Total for coolant related items


68 vac hose
59 Turbo Control by the acv
65 Turbo Control on the rack
58 Charge Control
58 Charge Relief
$448 Total for emission and sequential stuff

Another reference point. Paid $1050 for good condition R1 seats.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...851c2766b5.jpg

Just curious - what made you decide to go back to twins? I've been tossing and turning on whether to stick with my twins or simplify things by going single.

^ I think having a working sequential is cool even though it could be a headache. I think once you have it setup right, you shouldn't have to mess with it for a while. Passing emissions, having a good working AC, quiet and non stinky car was also important to me. I have two other single turbo FDs and I could never really get AC to blow cold sitting in traffic.

Another annoying thing with going single is finding a good tuner and scheduling time to tune. You have to take into account your availability, the tuner and the shop. Most ppl on here won't ppl say negative things about pre made single harness but that’s another thing to consider when going single. You either have to figure out how to make your own harness or hope that the pre made harness is correct and delivered within a timely manner.

I've been sequential twins on my car since 2004 when I bought it and the only real problem I've had was the turbo control solenoid that bolts to the ACV got lazy and would sometimes keep the door closed on a 1-2 shift. Replaced that and no more problems.

It's not as complicated as people want to make it out to be. The big killer is people who have monkeyed around under the intake manifold and broke nipples, routed lines wrong, etc. Bad or broken check valves are a real common problem too.

Hands down biggest problem is boost leaks. People will chase solenoids when they have cracks in the hoses going to the CRV/BOV, etc.

Hope you get the car ready in time for DGRR, would love to see it in person Johnny!

Dale

Exactly. Just how well do you trust your tuner (or yourself if self-tuned), and everything about your tune in all weather and driving conditions? I second guess my choice to go single EFR instead of stock or BNR twins every day. I have a feeling one day I'll ditch the 8374, scratch the itch and find out what a well sorted sequential setup is like. I'm with you, though. I like the direction you're going with the car. Hope to see it one day if mine is ever finished and I make it to DGRR.

A car is NEVER done, if you wait for it to be done you'll never get there. I dragged my feet for ages before I finally went to DGRR, was SO PISSED I hadn't been going for so long. Been there every year since 2010.

You're so close, just come down in the daily driver and meet everyone and check out their cars. You'd be amazed at how much you will learn and how many contacts you can make. If you car starts, runs, and drives, bring it anyhow.

Dale

Engine bay prepped for paint.
Attachment 747836

Painted
Attachment 747837

Engine in. Test drive went well.
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Found a leak by the throttle body, this was the culprit
Attachment 747839

Small leak from the turbo came from this silly mistake.
Attachment 747840

Next up - fix hunting idle. I welcome any tips you have. Finish button it up, put some miles on it and determine if it's ready for DGRR in 2 weeks.

Looks great! Love the CYM.

Looking forward to seeing it at Deals Gap

On the hunting idle, start with cleaning the ISC. If it sticks you will get a hunting idle.

Take it off the car, spray it down with carb cleaner, and hit it with some WD-40 to lube up the insides. Attach 12v to one post and ground to the other and work the solenoid back and forth a few times.

Dale

^ thanks Dale. Tried that and it didn't work. Think I'm gonna try another throttle body that I have next.

Installed these last night. Went back and forth on these coilovers or koni yellow and eibach but decided to get these since it was local and i would be cutting it close on the Koni yellow and eibach setup. Quality and ride seems great so far.
Attachment 747829

Made a few adjustment then got it aligned.
Attachment 747830

And here's how she looks at the moment
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Next up, paint the headlight lids, cut, buff and ceramic coat.

Those old school volks looks good on the stock body. Great progress.

^ thxs. Car made it to a back from DGRR. Still have a few small things I want to tidy up but overall really happy with the car.

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So after many attempts I finally found my vacuum leak. I’m not using an injector diffuser on my secondary injectors, therefore when I added the injector o-ring, the injector o-ring sat too far down in the LIM. With the injector o-ring sitting down in the LIM this created a gap between the fuel rail and LIM. I resolved this issue by adding additional o-rings. I was able to find this leak by using a homemade smoke test.

Attachment 747660

The car idles so much better.

Another exciting news is I was able to get AC working kinda. The ac blows cold but it is on a manual switch to activate the compressor. For whatever reason, the AC relay is not working like it should. From what I understand, when the AC switch is pressed, it supposed to complete a ground which turns on the AC compressor. This is not taken place on the car for whatever reason. I’m currently on a PFC and tried to using a stock ECU and didn’t have any luck. I know about the trick about adding an additional relay and there is one there from the previous owner.

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Next steps, remove old tint, get new tint on and figure out why my AC switch is not working like it should.

That AC circuit isn't too crazy. It does go through the ECU for the ECU to control the compressor (disengage at full throttle). It also loops through the pressure switch under the battery on the AC line to keep it from engaging when the pressure in the system is too low.

The temp coming out of the vent is warmer than it should be - you're shooting for 35-40 degree air coming out of the vent.

Dale

Thxs Dale. If you was going to troubleshoot the ac issue. Hiw would you go about it?

AC is a topic I know a lot of principles about but not much practice. I've done a few conversions with some measure of success, though.

You do need to pull the system down to a hard vacuum (29") with a real vacuum pump before charging. Charge the R152a by volume, I'm trying to find the number of ounces the system needs for a full charge.

You'd also need to put a gauge manifold on and see what the high and low pressures are telling you.

Dale

^ yea I remember you saying something about vacuuming the system in another post. We pulled (29") of vacuum for a good 1.5 hours. We put 20 oz of the air duster in the system and put gauge manifold on. Don't remember the high side numbers but it was within range. The low side however was on the low side.

I think my issue has to do with the wiring from the AC switch to the relay...

I think 20oz may be too much. I know you put less R152a than R12 in the system.

Yeah, could be the PFC AC problem or something.

Dale

Don't quote me on this, but I feel like I saw a thread where someone did the math and landed on about 12oz for the Denso AC system (~22oz R12). I think the ratio between 152a and 12 is supposed to be 0.56. I'll have to dig around for the thread(s).

You mentioned you pulled vacuum for 1.5 hours, but did you let it sit afterwards to see if it held the vacuum? I'd also put a new drier in if you can.

I'd watch if the compressor is running. If it is running and the temperature isn't dropping its probably not a wiring issue. I believe any wiring issue causing the temperature not to drop would be due to shutting the compressor off.

I'd also make sure not to minimize air you let into the system when adding the refrigerant. ie, when you swap your charge hose from the vacuum to your refrigerant.

^ we smoke test, then did a dye test, then pressurized the system to ensure there was no leaks. So we didn't let it site after we pulled the vacuum. The compressor did not kick on. I had to manual power it on by jumping the wire from the compressor to the battery or complete a ground from the relay.

Ah, got it. The way I read it was that you got 60 degrees when you had the compressor running already.

For what it is worth, here is the thread that explains how to figure out the 152A weight
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-arch.../#post11085595

And another from Dale of the past
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene.../#post12252009

If you haven't already, the low/high pressure switch could keep the compressor from turning on if it's bad or it doesn't like your pressures. You could try checking that too. When I bought my car mine was bad (but was also leaking)

Man, Dale of the past is a good guy :).

Yeah, the .56 ratio to R12 and the 12oz of R152a sounds correct.

Dale

Update.

Car is in the paint shop for a full respray and installing the following parts: 99 front, sides and spoiler.

Attachment 747255


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Will also be installing CF MazdaSpeed lip and CF deck on the 99 spoiler.

Hoping it will be out of the paint shop by the end of Sept.

This is exactly what I was planning to do with mine after I finish the FC. I think it would be easier than fixing the individual areas I'm unhappy with and the paint would be consistent across the board then. Super excited to see how this turns out!

What are the tire specs for your GT-Ps? Was curious because I was planning on running similar set on mine...

^
255/40/17
275/40/17

Looking great Johnny! Wish i'd held out for a CYM, my favorite.

Thanks man, the new Corvette has me itching to get one. Maybe the itch won't be there once this car is out of paint.