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Wow, great thread! Thanks for taking the time to share your experience so far. I especially appreciate the transparency with costs. I'm contemplating a project/track car in the next year and trying to get a sense of how much I want something turn-key that will retain its retail value somewhat vs. a rougher project car that I'll feel a stronger emotional connection with but will have to be committed to unless I want to take an expensive bath selling it down the road. There are pros and cons for both approaches obviously.
You're pushing $24K at this point, so I'd say you're firmly in the "emotional connection" camp
What's your checklist for this year looking like? Do you have an overall budget limit you intend to stick to even if it means you don't get to the show-car quality goal you initially set? I get the impression reading about track builds that once you actually get the car ready for its first track outing it starts a whole new chapter of dialing it in and discovering/resolving issues that can be quite costly in and of itself.
Yes...I’m definitely in the emotional connection camp. I suppose I could dump it and take a loss and walk away, but what fun is that? The rest of the year is pretty simple: Figure out my FMIC problem so I can mount the front bumper, get a dyno tune, fix my cracked gauge hood, fix my A/C, maybe get a new paint job and hood, and put more miles on it. As for budget, I don’t have one per say. I’m just trying to make cost conscious decisions about each step of the project. As a salvage, even a cheap one, I accept the fact that I won’t make money on this if I ever sell it. That’s fine. Despite having a modern and fun daily driver (Alfa Romeo Giulia), there is something so raw and visceral about driving this car. That being said, I go through cars pretty fast so if I keep this car more than 1.5 years, it will be better than the last 14 cars I’ve owned, granted none of them were projects, that I’ve dumped money into...
Is it possible that the current front mount could have the brackets modified to raise the IC up a bit? That looks like a custom setup that was fabbed for that bumper.
Whatever you do, GET YOURSELF TO DEAL'S GAP this year! Even if the car looks mismatched, as long as it runs and safely drives, you need to come up. You will learn more in 3 days than in a year on the forum. And you can meet me in person . Great way to see a lot of different setups in person and see what you like and what you don't. And driving the Dragon is an amazing experience!
Is it possible that the current front mount could have the brackets modified to raise the IC up a bit? That looks like a custom setup that was fabbed for that bumper.
Whatever you do, GET YOURSELF TO DEAL'S GAP this year! Even if the car looks mismatched, as long as it runs and safely drives, you need to come up. You will learn more in 3 days than in a year on the forum. And you can meet me in person . Great way to see a lot of different setups in person and see what you like and what you don't. And driving the Dragon is an amazing experience!
Dale
I will try to get up there. It's about 4 hours from me. I'd probably come up Thursday and leave Saturday afternoon based on other stuff I have going on that weekend. What I need to do is see if my car is waterproof by running a hose over it. I doubt I'll have the seals around the windows replaced by then since I want to do it when I eventually get the car painted. If it lets water in, not sure I will drive up there if the weather looks wet. I'm hoping to get the bumper back off sometime soon to check out the FMIC setup in more detail.
Awesome! I'm the tall guy (6'6") in the plastidipped yellow FD, should be getting in Thursday afternoon and will be there all weekend. Make sure to say hi!
Awesome! I'm the tall guy (6'6") in the plastidipped yellow FD, should be getting in Thursday afternoon and will be there all weekend. Make sure to say hi!
Dale
For sure. I'm hoping someone like yourself or another experience/senior member can look at (and maybe drive) my car to let me know what it needs.Right now she runs so I'm at a good point, but I need to kind of know what I need to plan for down the road.
For example, I have no idea if the suspension needs to replaced. I definitely feel every bump on the road, but I have no idea if that's how this car rides or if the suspension bits need replacing. I think it's all stock with 46k miles or so on the ODO...but it's also 25+ years old...
^LOL. I've had my car since 2004 and it's been a slow evolution, watching for parts to come up as a good deal and buying them. There's also tons of things on the car that can be fixed to make it nicer for little/no money and a Saturday afternoon - shift lever bushings, new door lock shutters, re-painting rusty wiper arms, etc.
Regardless, looking forward to seeing you at DGRR! You will learn a LOT in a few days!
I'm in the same case, I've no idea if my suspension is ok or not since I've got no experience at all in this car... when I drive on a railroad crossing the car is shaking so hard I'm afraid that I lose a wheel or something ^^
I wish I was in america to meet you there guys ! I have so much to learn...
Originally Posted by DaleClark
re-painting rusty wiper arms,
This will be one of the next things on my todo list ^^ my passenger one is so rusty.
Last edited by tomatoto; Mar 22, 2019 at 09:55 AM.
I've reached a bit of a decision point with regards to my FMIC. I bent the hanging brackets up and it looks like the OEM bumper will almost clear the bumper but the piping now doesn't fit. The 90 degree bend on the FMIC on the drivers side now runs the piping directly into the AC lines and the Rad/Condenser. So...now...I'm stuck between:
Buy a piping kit, tool to roll a bead, and try to DIY piping --but if I need to weld anything, I'm screwed as I have no idea how to do that
Pay a shop to do the customer IC piping -- I feel like this is going to get $$ vs DIY
Toss this FMIC all together and:
Get a different FMIC kit but will likely find the piping won't work because of the giant radiator
Go V Mount -- CX racing is the only real option since I'm not about to spend $2500 on a Greddy -- but not sure it will fix based on my turbo and I'd need to relocate the battery
Just scrap my dream of going back to OEM look and put the Vielside nose back on, figure out some side skirts that won't make it look too fast and furious and call it day
I'd like to get it done before the DGRR, but part of me says to just leave it along and wait until DGRR when I can get some eyes on it, see what others are doing, and get their opinions.
drivers side -- don't think piping will clear rad/condenser passenger side looks ok
The AC line on the driver's side there can be bent up a little bit to get some more room.
As far as fabricating new piping, I've bought aluminum pre-made pipes off Ebay before that already had the beads on the end. Cut and figure out how they should run, make a sharpie line where the 2 parts meet so you know how they are aligned, and take them to a local welding shop that has a TIG welder to have them welded together. Shouldn't run more than $20 or so.
Short term you could also get a 90 degree silicone elbow or something, that will give more flex and "slop" but isn't as clean and will be more likely to pop off the piping, but it will get you going.
Big thing for DGRR is just get your car to where it starts, runs, and drives reliably. Hell, if you have to bring it with no front bumper just bring it. It may not be cosmetically where you want it but that's fine.
Why not just get a normal size radiator. Only $300 and should bolt up. Then you can more easily modify your intercooler piping or pick up a used FMIC that fits for $500.
Why not just get a normal size radiator. Only $300 and should bolt up. Then you can more easily modify your intercooler piping or pick up a used FMIC that fits for $500.
Thought had also crossed my mind but having not owned this car in the hot and humid NC summers, I’d like to see how it does with this Fluidyne. My guess is it will do fine, I’m also trying not to spend money if I don’t have to. I
I assume with FMIC, I can’t go back to the OEM mounting location right? It has to be vertical?
Short term you could also get a 90 degree silicone elbow or something, that will give more flex and "slop" but isn't as clean and will be more likely to pop off the piping, but it will get you going.
Big thing for DGRR is just get your car to where it starts, runs, and drives reliably. Hell, if you have to bring it with no front bumper just bring it. It may not be cosmetically where you want it but that's fine.
Dale
@DaleClark - Someone suggested I cut this bar off the core support (drill out the spot welds) and then I can move the FMIC back closer to the car and it will definitely clear the bumper. Aside from being used as a grounding point, is there any other reason for it? I can still mount the plastic bumper since it bolts onto the core itself. Thoughts?
@DaleClark - The IC has zero markings on it but my *guess* is it’s either a) probably some custom one that was built by PFS or b) something cheap that PFS put on their and passed off as custom.
I posed this question on the facebook RX7 group and got a wide variety of answers: is there a significant difference between an inexpensive IC (CX Racing, Mishimoto, eBay special) vs a Greddy, HKS, etc.? My guess is that IC designs haven’t has revolutionary breakthroughs and that they are all ”mostly” the same and that fitment is the only real differentiator, but I can’t see how a Greddy V for example can be $2500+ and a CX is $800 better...
What you pay for in the better IC's is better fit and finish. This also makes a big difference if a shop is installing it - no sense getting the cheap-o IC and paying for 18 hours of labor to install when you can get the good one and only pay 4 hours of labor, for example.
I have a Blitz front mount that I bought used. It's a really nice front mount but I was missing a number of the brackets. Spent probably a good month or so installing it, I remember taking a whole day just fabbing up 2 brackets. A lot of the cheapie IC's won't come with decent brackets for everything which can be a huge pain in the butt.
The cores themselves can make a difference - a more efficient core can pull heat out of the charge faster and pull out more, and can reject it to the air faster. This may not be something you notice as much on a street car but makes a bigger difference on a car doing a track day.
Also cheaper IC's may have uncoated brackets that will rust, IC pipes that are raw aluminum and will oxidize, weld quality may not be as good on the IC, etc.
It may be worth upgrading the IC to something better down the road, there's lots of options there. You can just get the current one going for now then plan for a different setup down the road, I know you've spent a lot on the car . I think that IC was designed for the aftermarket bumper, that was a HUGE thing in the early 00's to have a big IC that filled up the whole front bumper.
It also depends on how clean of an install you want. You can do an IC held in with plumber's metal strapping and Tek screws and it will probably work fine but it looks like crap. The FD is a Japanese supercar and deserves quality - that doesn't necessarily mean expensive but it does mean things done right.
Anyhow, this is rambling. Point is a good IC kit will fit right, work great, and last a very long time. A cheap kit will require a lot more work to install, may fit awkwardly, may not perform as well, and may be rusty crap in 3 years. As far as actual performance they will probably be pretty close to each other.
@DaleClark - Someone suggested I cut this bar off the core support (drill out the spot welds) and then I can move the FMIC back closer to the car and it will definitely clear the bumper. Aside from being used as a grounding point, is there any other reason for it? I can still mount the plastic bumper since it bolts onto the core itself. Thoughts?
Your "FMIC" looks like something that was thrown together using a generic core like you suggested, running a stock bumper you may be able to use a smaller or smaller and thicker generic core mounted lower and back that has the same inlet/outlet sizes. Do some measuring and see if you can find a core on eBay, they are relatively cheap.
Your "FMIC" looks like something that was thrown together using a generic core like you suggested, running a stock bumper you may be able to use a smaller or smaller and thicker generic core mounted lower and back that has the same inlet/outlet sizes. Do some measuring and see if you can find a core on eBay, they are relatively cheap.
Yeh. That's what I've been looking at. My IC is 17x12x3 without the end tanks. With the ends, it's about 22" wide. I guess I don't know if getting a smaller core is going to do the job, especially here in NC where the summers are hot and humid. Part of my question above was to see what Dale (and others) thought about the bigger name brands vs the generic or "cheaper" brands like CX racing.
As for cutting, I know a lot of people are happy with the ETS setup, but I am concerned that you are cutting out a structural part of the core support. I know you can still get new core supports for around for $200 so aside from the labor to get a new one put in, I guess I could always go back if I needed to. I really think what I'm going to do is just bend the hangers back, but everything back to the way it was an wait until DGRR to see what others have done and get feedback when people can see the hack job the previous owner did with the IC, rad, and condenser setup. That way I can spend April driving the car more vs having it sit on stands while I figure this out.
If I was to get a new IC, would I need a new tune? I was planning on getting my car dyno tuned, esp since she's running a little rich but if I need to get it tuned, I might as well wait until after my IC dilemma is solved and just run rich a while longer.
