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The bushings arent terribly expensive its just quite the bear to tackle.
my HKS v-mount was about $1k cheaper from japan ($3k vs $2k) without shipping. I understand businesses have to make money but the difference is wild on some things.
It's always something. Contact Ray Crowe (crowe.ray@aol.com) for what you need for the front. I just ordered the pillow ***** for the back end of my car and it was $480. Not cheap but they will last 15 years or so.
The bushings arent terribly expensive its just quite the bear to tackle.
my HKS v-mount was about $1k cheaper from japan ($3k vs $2k) without shipping. I understand businesses have to make money but the difference is wild on some things.
Yeh. I saved bit more than that for the vmount and my cousin already had a crate coming stateside so he is just throwing them in there and I just pay US shipping to me. Isn’t a full set of bushings all around like $800 for front and rear?
i was looking at J-Auto.net. Any feed back on his bushings vs poly vs OEM?
There is an aftermarket company that sells front control arms that would save you from having to replace front bushings if you weren't up for it, or just needed instant gratification like I did ( I also had worn ball joints). Also, since you mentioned the koni/gc kit, I'll vouch for it, while I've put very few miles on mine as my build is still in progress, I think it is a legit setup and is a good choice (the best of the ones you listed), and they give you choices on spring rates too, I went with a stiffer more aggressive rate. Call them, the person I got on the phone was pretty knowledgeable about their FD kit and readily answer all my questions before I placed the order.
There will be some varying opinions, but many people have gone with superpro, powerflex, oem, or oem equivalent. and been satisfied. The only thing to avoid like the plague is delrin.
The sag you're seeing is most likely the rubber mounts at the top of the shock/spring combo. I can tell they are worn down, they compress a lot over time.
Most coilovers replace the entire assembly including the rubber top spring mounts.
Other bushings may be worn but with the mileage you have I doubt they will be a problem, or enough of a problem to warrant going all in replacing bushings.
Get coilovers first then see how the car is before deciding on anything further. The rubber mounts at the tops of the shocks aren't too pricey if memory serves (like $80 each) but they don't need to be replaced if the coilover is replacing them.
There is an aftermarket company that sells front control arms that would save you from having to replace front bushings if you weren't up for it, or just needed instant gratification like I did ( I also had worn ball joints). Also, since you mentioned the koni/gc kit, I'll vouch for it, while I've put very few miles on mine as my build is still in progress, I think it is a legit setup and is a good choice (the best of the ones you listed), and they give you choices on spring rates too, I went with a stiffer more aggressive rate. Call them, the person I got on the phone was pretty knowledgeable about their FD kit and readily answer all my questions before I placed the order.
Any reason you think it's the best of the ones I mentioned (Cusco, Fortune Auto)? I'm also considering the HKS Hipermax GT as well.
Those are some crusty looking suspension parts you have there. You should replace all the bushings while you are in there.
Originally Posted by Djseto
Ugh. That sounds expensive?!
Price of ownership
My recommendation is only use poly for the differential and steering rack and OEM (or even better Mazda comps) for the rest. I have all poly and it is rough. For springs/shocks, if you want to lower your height, you need to go coilovers. GC is a cheap way to do it. if your are good with stock height, springs/shocks is much more affordable with similar performance. Believe you can adjust height minimally with koni sports
If you're running a tight suspension, then those rubber bushings are the only things dampening NVH. If you make those rock hard you might as well be skateboarding in dress shoes.
Well..after a long hiatus and some issues with getting my parts, I got my Ohlins DFV’s put on last week. The install itself took way longer than it should have but I bet if I had to do it again, I could knock it out in 2 hours or less. The biggest lesson I learned is that for the front, you want to disconnect the sway bar otherwise, you’ll never get the rotor/lower control arm to drop if you have one of the new coil overs mounted on one side. The FSM did not mention needing to do this...
Once I got them on, I took them out for a quick drive and the difference over the stock suspension is, as expected, night and day. Car felt compliant over bumpy roads but very planted on the few exit ramps I drove on. I am really looking forward to driving it more, but.....
Now the damn thing won’t start. I got home from my test drive and when I tried to fire her back up, nada. Starter spins, but she never fires up. Ugh. First thing I checked was fuel pressure. When I put the key in and turn to On, I hear the Fuel Pump (FP) relay click and I see my Fuel Pressure Gauge hold steady around 30-35psi. When I crank the car, I see my gauge drop to zero...as if the system is losing pressure during cranking or the FP is losing power. I then jump the FP port in the Diagnostic Port and I see pressure and hear the pump running. I go to fire the car up. Nothing still. At this point, I turned to the RX7 Facebook Group and quickly get a list of things to check and goose chases to go on. People here are way smarter but the feedback on FB is almost instant which helps when you have limited time to work on the car and need some ideas quickly.
I measured the voltage at the connector to the pump and it’s a strong 12V when the Diagnostic Port is jumped. When I turn the key and the starter fires, it the voltage at the pump drops so to zero!? I don’t think this is right but I also know the starter uses so much current that maybe a transient loss is OK because I think once the car starts, the voltage should return to 12v. I think? Anyone?
Ok...so more down the rabbit hole. As I’m working on my issues, I disconnect the battery for obvious reasons. When I go to reconnect it, no power to PFC (It doesn’t turn on so unless I fried it, no power). Effing great. I pull the kickpanel and take a look at my PFC where I am once again reminded of the hack job splicing the previous owner(s) have done to this car. I quickly notice my front secondary injector wire (pin 4X) is no longer connected to the harness. I suspect this may have come out when tried to take the connectors off the PFC since there is very little slack to work with down there so any tugging could have dislodged it. Well great..now I can’t connect it back because I can’t get the pin out of the connector to fix it (and I tried). Was texting @Molotovman who’s been helping me a lot and he’s going to cut an old harness he has lying around from the firewall back because it’s going to be easier for me to splice in a new connector than to fix all the random splices in my harness. I literally unwrapped some electrical tape and found splices there were hand twisted and holding on by like 3-5 strands of copper. Ugh.
So....that issue aside, my PFC still doesn’t have power. I put a test light on the 12V pin and I get 12V. I put it on the pin for the FP and I get 12V. I put it on the pin for the Ignition ON, turn the key, and I get no light. Wiring Diagram says I should get 12v while cranking so I’m guessing my PFC isn’t powering on because it’s not getting 12V from the Ignition ON Pin. More texting with Molotovman and he suggested I pull out the wiring harness for the turbo timer. I removed the timer when I first got the car, but I just left the harness in place rather than mess with it since it’s spliced in all over the place. We suspect that could be Ignition ON issue (or my Ignition barrel is bad). So that’s where I am now. Hoping to come back to this issue over the weekend.
My plan now is:
Remove turbo timer harness and solder/butt connect any splices from the harness and see if that gets signal to turn on PFC
If PFC powers on, spray some starting fluid into the throttle body and see if she turns over. This would at least validate that I have spark. If no spark, change spark plugs (existing ones only have 1200 or so miles on them) and try again
If spark, start diagnosing the fuel pump
I want to pull my hair out right now. Part of me also wants to say screw it, and just move away from PFC and go to a Haltech. After getting quotes on an Elite 1000 or 1500 plus install and tune though, I kind wanna take this PFC as far as I can first.
Also...my VMount Kit still hasn’t shown up and it’s been an utter **** show with my cousin who was supposed to help me get it for cheap that I’ve actually ordered one from a vendor stateside and now I’m just waiting for it to show up as Greddy says it will be here end of this month. If the one I ordered from my cousin ever shows up, I’ll just sell it.
so yeh..I hate my car right now. Oh...to add insult to injury, the stupid amber colored stopper behind the break pedal broke so my brake lights are constantly on so I had to disconnect the brake lights temporarily too. I’m sure I’ll say it again as this build goes on, but I really hate this car right now.
These cars definitely kindle some serious love hate relationships. Especially when it comes to wiring issues. Mine has definitely put me through the ringer throughout my build, thankfully previous owner never installed a turbo timer.. Sounds like you've got a pretty hacked up wire harness. I'd be really surprised if your powerFC is the problem. A new or good used dash harness and engine harness should do the trick. Ohming, splicing, checking voltages with your current harness will probably just cause you to pull more hair out, and just creates fail points and future issues, IMO
These cars definitely kindle some serious love hate relationships. Especially when it comes to wiring issues. Mine has definitely put me through the ringer throughout my build, thankfully previous owner never installed a turbo timer.. Sounds like you've got a pretty hacked up wire harness. I'd be really surprised if your powerFC is the problem. A new or good used dash harness and engine harness should do the trick. Ohming, splicing, checking voltages with your current harness will probably just cause you to pull more hair out, and just creates fail points and future issues, IMO
I’m now debating ordering a Rywire replacement engine harness vs trying to splice and repair all this ****. My first order of business will be to remove the wiring for the Turbo Timer and if that doesn’t work, a new harness might be easier when I weigh time against money.
Made some progress over the last few weeks when I had free time. After a lot of pulling my hair out, I finally figured out why my car wouldn't start: Blown 15A Engine Fuse in the Drivers Side fuse box! Ugh. I checked the fuse to the Fuel Pump since a lot of the folks I was asking for help guided me down that route. It didn't occur to me check any other fuses. So So so dumb. However, since I was so intent on hunting down all the crappy wiring in the harness, I took the time to clean up the connections with butt connectors vs. hand spliced and electrical tape wrapped crap. So not a complete loss and I learned a ton about the wiring. No need to get a new ECU yet...
Since I was going to have the car down for a while to troubleshoot I figured it would be a good time to send my Gauge Cluster off for repair since my Tach bounces all over the place. Of course in the process of pulling the cluster out, my meter hood, in its 25 year old glory, shattered into like 9 pieces. Effing Awesome. $400 later from Ray Crowe plus $200 for the Gauge repair + replacing the components that tend to go bad, I now have a nice new meter hood and working tach. While the meter hood was for a '93, the finish of the new hood is more flat and not shiny like the rest of the original trim in my '93. I guess this is pretty common from what I've read.
So...now the the good news: my V-Mount kit has arrived! I'm hoping to get started on it this weekend and I'm sure it's going to take me a week or two since I can only chip away a few hours at time in the evening after my kid goes to bed or on the weekends when he naps or I can convince the wife to take him somewhere for a few hours. Since I'm going to have stuff out of the way in the engine bay, I ordered a reman AC Compressor with Clutch from O'Reilly Auto. Everywhere else I checked was out NLA. That should be here tomorrow.
Thankfully I found the old post where someone translated the instructions for the V-Mount but it still looks a bit daunting as I'm sure I'll run into some issue somewhere that's going to cost me.
Also... I can't say enough good things about Graveyard Performance (https://www.graveyardperformance.com). The owner reached out to me on Facebook when I posted about where to get Ohlins and the Greddy Kit. I have never heard of his shop and they don't currently show FD parts on their website. He was super responsive and his price for the V-Mount and Ohlins was better than anyone else I talked to. I'd definitely recommend you call them if you're looking for aftermarket parts. Buying them together, my Ohlins DFV was $1850 and the Greddy was $2470. Those prices included shipping.
I also just registered for this years DGRR! I can't wait to meet more people and see everyone who helped me out last year.
Man, you've really tackled a lot with this car so far. I appreciate the candidness of your thread in what it takes monetarily to build it (you know FD stands for financial disaster, right?). You mentioned you sent your cluster off for repair - do you mind sharing who/what company you used?
That's really good to read!
that would have been sooo sad to give it up after all the investments you already made. I hope you can enjoy it for a long time before the next trouble 😅
Man, you've really tackled a lot with this car so far. I appreciate the candidness of your thread in what it takes monetarily to build it (you know FD stands for financial disaster, right?). You mentioned you sent your cluster off for repair - do you mind sharing who/what company you used?
I sent it to Geoff Pritchett. He is on the Facebook RX7 Group and was recommended to me by @Molotovman and Bryan @ Rotorsports Racing. As for Financial Disaster...yeah..sounds about right. I keep a spreadsheet of every penny I've put into this car (parts, labor, fluids, nuts, bolts, etc.). Excluding the cost of the chassis, I'm currently at $24,231.04 and I'm pretty sure everything got more expensive tonight. I'm fortunate that I can afford this, but as some point, the bleeding stops right? I always have "I can" but "should I" debate when it comes to dumping more money into this.
I pulled pulled my AC system out and the lines to the AC Condenser from the AC compressor have nuts that are so rusted, I'm pretty sure getting them off might be impossible. I'm going to try some heat tomorrow I think. I assume my condenser is OEM but it was mounted behind the Fluidyne radiator that one of the prior owners put in. If I'm lucky, maybe I can keep these lines if I can mount the AC in the correct position for the V-Mount and still get the lines to bend and reach. We'll see. Also, previous owner also had a battery tray welded to this cross member and I wonder if it's required for the V-Mount. I pulled the cross member out for now (4 bolts) and I'm sure I'll need to find someone to un-weld it as it's going to get in the way if I need to put this member back. Ugh.
I really do hate this car right now.
Rusted nuts to the AC Condenser Cross member in front of engine with battery tray Battery tray is def welded on.
The AC lines I would soak in some PB Blaster then hit them with some heat. Make sure to use 2 wrenches, the one on the condenser side is stationary, the one on the line side spins. I've also taken the whole thing out of the car and chucked up the side that doesn't spin into a vice then worked on the line with a wrench. That will let you get some more oomph into breaking it loose without the risk of bending the aluminum line on the condenser.
The welded on battery tray can probably be ground off. Even something simple like a Dremel with a cut off wheel and some time will probably get it. Worst case buy a good used cross brace.
Couple months ago, I did buy a good used cross brace for like $50, it wasn't very hard to find on ebay.
I don't have a V-mount and I'm definitely no expert, but I'd say it has to be removed to let some space for the vmount.
Keep it up, man !
And yes, it stops at some points.. but we never know when, and for how long...
You're making good progress. Dale Clark gave some great info. I'd add to that, a wrench and some vise grips should take the nuts right off those condenser lines. And a Dremel tool or a new crossmember to get rid of that ratty battery tray, depending on how good you want it to look. As for your $$$ investment. That number hits home hard. I feel your pain. I'm into my project a little more than that, but it's about the ride, and the learning experience, albeit a tough one. Keep chipping away at it!
Contact Ray Crowe (crowe.ray@aol.com) for what you need for the front. I just ordered the pillow ***** for the back end of my car and it was $480. Not cheap but they will last 15 years or so.
