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If you need something to get you by, I have a "greddy style" FMIC that is smaller than your core, and a front bumper support that was cut up to for it. Should fit behind a stock bumper, it was on my car when I got it. May still have some of the piping. You can have it if you want it.
If you need something to get you by, I have a "greddy style" FMIC that is smaller than your core, and a front bumper support that was cut up to for it. Should fit behind a stock bumper, it was on my car when I got it. May still have some of the piping. You can have it if you want it.
Id be happy to take you up on that offer. Sending a PM.
I went to replace my R12 fittings with the R134 fittings in the kit and low and behold, the fittings on there were already R134. They were a little crusty and rusty so it didn't hurt to put new ones on. The system, as expected, had zero pressure and was empty. I pulled a vacuum for 30 minutes and then let is sit for 30 minutes. No leaks!
So here's where it gets a little interesting. I turned the car on, hit the A/C button and turned the fan to max. As previously posted, the compressor did not engage. Per the instructions, I added about 1/2 can of R134 and boom, the compressor engaged! I started charging using the special gauge in the kit. I emptied one can (12oz net weight) and the gauge said the system was overcharged! Also, when then compressor clicked on the, the engine really struggled to idle and eventually stalled. I called Bryan@Rotorsports Racing to pick his brain. He told me to adjust the IDLE A/C setting in the PowerFC. I changed it and nothing happened.
I went into the Sensor Check on the PFC and sure enough, it doesn't show the A/C as running when in fact it is. I know there is a "fix" for the PowerFC and A/C. I need to dig into it more but from what I've seen, people that have the issue don't get the A/C to come on at all. Mine does, the PFC just doesn't know and can't adjust the idle.
I bled just a tad of the R134 to get it back in the "correct range" andI drove the car. While it was in the high 60's, when I turned the A/C on, the air got noticeably colder! So now what I don't get is how the system is supposedly full with only one can? The gauge that came with the kit says to adjust the gauge to the ambient temp and then charge within a certain range vs trying to measure the amount. Also, the can of R134 also had oil pre-mixed in so I didn't have to add oil separately. I'm going to check the pressure tomorrow, but I'm going to need to get someone to sit in the car and hit the gas slightly for me so it doesn't stall out while I I try to read it. Any ideas on why it may have read full? Any suggestion on my PowerFC issue? Ill try the mod but my symptoms are slightly different as my AC does work, the PowerFC just doesn't know it vs not working at all.
If anyone wants to know the process for retro/charging, this is what I watched as it's the video that came (on a CD-ROM!?!?) with the kit:
If you haven't been to the DGRR and you live close enough to make the trip, DO IT! I had a blast. I got to meet some of the people on this forum like @DaleClark and @David Hayes, both of whom were tremendous help with different questions I had and dealing with some minor issues I was experiencing. I got to see SO MANY RX-7s and all the various setups people had. The only downside of going to DGRR is you're going to come back with a laundry list of things to do. My list is probably $5-10k deep now. Everyone there was super friendly and the group drive was fantastic. Great roads and the Tail of the Dragon is a must drive. I already know that I'm going to make this trip every year now.
A few things I learned/need to do with my car:
Now I get why people love these things. Even with a 25 year old suspension, the car handled very well in the mountains
While I'm happy going single turbo, had I driven a twin setup (thanks @DaleClark for letting me drive his), I would have gone to sequential twins. The power delivery is soo smooth. Felt more like a V8.
My car is loud, but amongst probably the 50+ RX7's there, mine was like the 2nd loudest. During the group drive, the guy directly behind me said he thought his car was broken because my exhaust was so loud, he though it was his car. After the 4.5 hour drive to the DGRR, I knew right away that a new exhaust was the next step. My ears couldn't take it anymore. Current exhaust that the previous owner put on is Apexi N1 with straight pipes and no cat. Dale Clark was nice enough to donate an old Turbo Tuff exhaust he had collecting dust to me. It goes on tomorrow. Depending on the volume, I may add a resonated mid-pipe and/or a high flow cat.
Having a good shift **** is key. The POS that was on there was terrible. After driving Dales, I realized how much better the car the shifts with a good weighted ****. I ordered the RX8 style one from RX7.com and now the shifting feels so much smoother. Totally worth the money
My DIY brake job was good. The OEM brakes really do stop well. Dale was surprised when drove my car how good they felt.
After seeing some setups, I decided to pull the trigger on a Greddy V-Mount kit. I have family overseas in the car business and I got hooked with a pretty substantial discount. It won't get here until the end of June but given the money saved, totally worth it. I also ordered a new Greddy BOV to go with it as I tend to get some flutter from my turbo right now.
Dale pointed out that my car never had the brake vacuum check hose/check valve recall. I went to my local Mazda dealer and they actually were still able to order the parts for this 23 year old recall! I got a call yesterday they came in and that I need to schedule an appointment. Because this is a safety recall, Mazda has to do it. They would not just give me the parts. Good thing it's a stupidly simple thing to do. I can't imagine anyone there has much experience, if any, with a FD.
My vacuum lines need to be rerouted and plumbed differently. My MAP sensor is Teed with the Apexi Boost Controller Sensor using plastic T fittings. Dale suggested I plumb the MAP sensor directly and remove any plastic T's in my setup and replace them with brass ones. Ordered some new lines from boostcontroller.com and ordered a brass T off Amazon.
I also ordered a Datalogit so I could back up my tune and start to learn more about tuning and making adjustments. Any advice on how to learn would be greatly appreciated. Didn't see a whole lot of info/how-to-guides out there.
I also got the interior aluminum door handles to replace the plastic ones. Another totally worth it purchase. Now when I go to close my door, I don't feel like every pull is going to break the plastic even more.
The only issue I'm hunting down now is this whine I get occasionally when my A/C compressor is engaged. Sounds almost like a belt but it seems to go away and I can't quite get it happen at idle so I can snag a video (hopefully I can change that). As soon as I turn the compressor off, it goes away.
Anthony, it was great meeting you and seeing the project car in person. Went back to the start of this thread and MAN has the car come a long way in 1 year!
I drove his car around for a quick down and back at DGRR, and I was surprised with how "solid" the car felt. I've driven some ratted out FD's that you can just tell need everything and this car was definitely worth saving. Interior is still decent, you can tell it has reasonable miles on it. His brakes are better than mine - real firm and responsive.
I would wait to get deep into the AC until after you install the V-mount. You can install it without opening the AC system but it's WAY easier to do if you open it up.
I would wait to get deep into the AC until after you install the V-mount. You can install it without opening the AC system but it's WAY easier to do if you open it up.
Dale
That was my plan. The previous owner either had new lines made or bent the existing ones to accommodate the current FMIC. I know the Greddy Kit needs the AC lines moved so I'm sure I'll have to open it up. For now, the AC works so I'll run with it as is.
^ Great meeting you Anthony. If I can help you, please reach out. Our home in Asheville is always available to you should you want to come on over and drive in the mountains of western NC. )
Got the “new exhaust” on that @DaleClark gave me. While it bolted up fine for Dale, I expected to have issues so I took it to my local muffler shop. As expected, the custom exhaust work the previous owner did made things not quite line up. The exhaust would not line up correctly to the mid-pipe. The shop tried to adjust the angle to make it work but the mid-pipe ended up touching the diff. They ended up cutting the mid-pipe and welding in a sleeve to make the right angle. I took her out for a test drive and while I liked the new tone, it was still a little louder than I wanted for a street/weekend car.
I decided to have them put on a Magnaflow in-line resonator (doesn’t restrict flow). Of course, given the size of it and the bend the midpipe makes, it wouldn’t mount up easily without touching the chassis so they ended up having to cut the downpipe a few inches from the downpipe to midpipe flange and build me a new midpipe/resonator. Rather than have the new pipe welded directly to the downpipe since the flange was gone, I had the them put a v-Band connection on so in the future it would be easy to take apart and relatively easy to mount a new system. The tip however was touching the plastic on the bumper so they had to put a new hanger on and drop it just tad so I didn’t melt anything.
The combination of the exhaust and the resonator is almost perfect. I can now drive around in 3-4k RPM and not **** off everyone around me or yearn for ear plugs while being where there is some boost coming on. On the highway, I get some drone in 5th, but it’s much more manageable than before. Overall, I’m really enjoying driving it around now,. I look down and find myself in boost more often rather than short shifting all the time. It’s still super loud when the WG opens up since it dumps to atmosphere though. Even then, the tone of the exhaust sounds great.
On an unrelated note to the exhaust, I was driving home tonight down a dark road going about 45-50mph. I got hard on the brakes a few times and saw sparks coming from my front driver side wheel. I didn’t get any screeching, but it surprised the crap out of me. Those Hawk HPS Plus pads have a ton of dust, but have great bite. Apparently under hard braking, they spark too! The person who recommend then to me said they are semi-metallic so as long as the car wasn’t pulling to a side, it’s nothing to worry about...
I also need to give a BIG shout out and thank you to @Molotovman for all his help. Of all the awesome people who’ve helped me, he’s been the most help. I bought some parts from him last year and since then, he’s always answered any questions I have via text and at all random hours of the day (and night). If it wasn’t for him and Dale, I’d be way more behind on this. I actually can’t believe I’ve had this thing almost a year now. Hopefully at the 2020 DGRR, I won’t have the ugly car anymore. This year it was ugly and loud!
I'm glad to have been able to help along the way! Like Dale said, the car has come a LONG way, whenever you get out o your first track event you'll be smiling ear to ear. As you experienced on The Dragon when you're driving above 4K and shifting in the power band the cars are beasts!
Getting back to the brakes, I haven't seen mine spark yet but I'm sure they do. Here's a vid of a Miata I found with HP Plus pads at night.
Hey all...so I need some input on PFC vs. Haltech. I'm starting to wonder where to best put my money as it relates to engine tuning/EMS.
Right now I'm running PFC using the street tune that Rotorsports did after they did the engine/turbo/fuel system work. The plan was for me to drive it, get a feel for the car, and then come back for a dyno tune when I'm ready. Given that I'm going to put a v-mount on next month, I won't do anything until after that is done.
I was chatting with Molotovman and he said my PFC, Commander, Datalogit, and AVC-R boost controller should sell for over $1000. Add another $800 or so and I can get a Haltech 1500 with plug and play kit. I'd still have to pay for a tune, but that would happen regardless and now I'd be running on a modern ECU. In other words, pay $500-700 probably for dyno time and tune on the PFC or pay $800 and move to Haltech (and then pay for a dyno tune). I guess my question is I don't know what I don't know about what a modern ECU gives me over the old, but reliable, PFC, aside from safeguards.
My original plan was v-mount, dyno-tune, suspension, body/paint, and then be "done". But now, I'm not so sure???
Also, any tuner worth a salt should be equipped to handle multiple types of ecu's. If they can only tune 1 type well, something is wrong with that picture. Of course, if they have a preference, that's understandable. But a professional tuner being able to tune a PFC but not a haltech would steer me away.
My tuner, Rotorsports Racing, has 20+ yeas of experience with Haltech and PFC. I had a long talk this morning with Bryan and he said it's really up to me. He said the PFC, when tuned right, it pretty solid, but the ease of tuning (especially if I want to learn to DIY) is better on the Haltech Elite along with all the safeguards it has. If my factory harness is good, which it is so far, he said the PnP is the easy cost effective way. Otherwise, he said I should go with the new terminated harness they make for the FD. He said no matter which way I go though, tuning is never quite done. He said he still tinkers with all his cars tune every now and then. He did encourage me to learn to tune though and said the support network and ease of use is definitely in favor of the Haltech. I guess I'll get through my v-Mount install and then evaluate.
So I’m pretty sure I bottomed out my suspension as I heard a loud scrape today going over a bump. When I got home I measured from the bottom of the center wheel cap to the top of the wheel well. Both the front and rear in the drivers side is about an inch lower than my passenger side. I checked my garage floor to make sure the ground is level, which it is. I measured again from the floor to top of the wheel well. Drivers side front is about 26”. Passenger front is 27”.
Time for new suspension? Not sure what’s on there now but I assume it’s stock. Def not a coilover.
I checked my garage floor to make sure the ground is level, which it is.
that is pretty amazing! its hard to find a level piece of concrete!
I measured again from the floor to top of the wheel well. Drivers side front is about 26”. Passenger front is 27”.
Time for new suspension? Not sure what’s on there now but I assume it’s stock. Def not a coilover.
if its still a stock based suspension the top shock mount collapses, its the whole mount/bump-stop/boot all in one. they aren't very expensive to buy, but really only work with a stock or stock replacement shock, and these are getting hard to find. it seems like everyone has gone Ohlins. the Ohlins setup is great and is worth the $$.
I jacked her up and pulled the front wheels and from what I see, the rubber is def. worn/compressed/degraded which is what I assume is the cause. What's more interesting is that after I put the wheels back and on lowered her to the ground, both sides were still an inch off, but they were also both an inch higher. The drivers side was 27" and the passenger side was 28". Unloading the suspension on stands must have given it some "slack". It looks like the drivers side has more worn rubber but the passenger side has what I think is a very small leak in the strut. I've started digging into replacement options. I'm hoping to spend no more than about $1300 or so.
The options I've considered are the FD Setup from Ground Control (Eibach Springs and Koni Shocks), Cusco Street Zero A Coilover, and Fortune Auto 500 Coilovers. I have my cousin overseas checking his price on Ohlins DFV just in case he can swing a good deal. His price on the Cusco Street Zero A with Rubber Mounts is like $1200. He says they are a great shock, but it is twin tube whereas Fortune and Ohlins are monotube. Not sure what the Koni is that Ground Control uses. Need to lob a call into them. I'm open to any other suggestions if you have them.
A few updates I've got done:
My idle/stalling issue has been resolved. Turns out I just needed to adjust the dashpot. The white plunger on it was touching the plate on the throttle body but it wasn't pushing back so when I was off the throttle, the throttle body would close too quick and causes me to stall. It's been a few weeks and so far, so good.
Upgraded my clutch line to Stainless. Was a pretty easy DYI job thanks to a few simple instructions @DaleClark messaged me. Clutch feels solid now
My MAP sensor now has its own dedicated line vs. being Teed with the Apexi AVC-R Boost controller MAP Sensor.
Rotorsports Racing sent me a new Map that was run through FC-Tweak. He applied the suggested changes. Car isn't noticeably better other than my car running less rich now. Idle and Cruising is around 13.5-14.8 AFR whereas before I was 12.5-13.5 (they had me rich on purpose until Dyno Tune). On boost, I'm still 10.3-11.0. The car might feel a tad peppier at lower RPM/Throttle tip in, but hard to say (placebo effect)? I haven't had time to take logs but that should give me some insight on how FC-Tweak did.
I hear what sounds like fluttering from my turbo when I let off the gas. I suspect this old Greddy BOV isn't doing the job, especially since it was sitting for 5 years on the car. I tried adjusting it, but didn't notice any difference. I had my cousin grab me a Greddy Type FV since he was already picking up my V-Mount kit in Japan from Greddy/Trust. They are very customer service focused over there for sure. My cousin asked me for several pics of my engine bay for the Greddy team so they can make sure my kit has the right piping. With his discount, I'm saving a bunch compared to buying them in the US. Our markups are absurd. The BOV sells more here than MSRP over there. As for the V-Mount...let's just say I saved A LOT.
With the unforeseen suspension issues, a modern ECU is going to have to wait. The goal now is v-mount, suspension, dyno tune (Rotorsports said my setup can support 400-450WHP safely and reliably so that's the new target), and then decide between ECU or getting it painted and looking new and shiny on the outside. I think I'd rather have a nice looking dialed in car on the PFC, drive it for a while, and then upgrade to Haltech. I'm sure between now and then something else will rear its head and cost more money...
03-30-19, 06:44 AM
You should replace all the bushings while you are in there.