FD #6 "build" - combining two cars into one
12-26-16, 08:36 PM
#28
time for a big update. it's been awhile.
pics of the completed custom VMIC. (well, minus a few panels to block air, and re-doing IC piping)
the bracket isn't beautiful, but I haven't time to make it look pretty yet.
part of the problem of flipping the radiator orientation is the fan wiring, which i had to extend for the driver side fan:
I installed my wideband in my DIN pocket:
I installed an S4 FC filler flange/cap and deleted the AST
you can see the AST delete again here. I looped the radiator port to the water filler port. you can also see my finished 51R battery and battery tie down I've done on all my cars. it works so well.
pics of the completed custom VMIC. (well, minus a few panels to block air, and re-doing IC piping)
the bracket isn't beautiful, but I haven't time to make it look pretty yet.
part of the problem of flipping the radiator orientation is the fan wiring, which i had to extend for the driver side fan:
I installed my wideband in my DIN pocket:
I installed an S4 FC filler flange/cap and deleted the AST
you can see the AST delete again here. I looped the radiator port to the water filler port. you can also see my finished 51R battery and battery tie down I've done on all my cars. it works so well.
Last edited by jacobcartmill; 12-26-16 at 08:42 PM.
12-26-16, 08:41 PM
#29
i installed the washer bottle, because i'm finally at that point!
I installed the fender liners, and cut the bottom front of the liners because they were damaged from previous indiscretions:
I installed the mud guards. these are such a simple/cheap addition that make the car look so much better.
I installed the fender liners, and cut the bottom front of the liners because they were damaged from previous indiscretions:
I installed the mud guards. these are such a simple/cheap addition that make the car look so much better.
12-26-16, 08:50 PM
#31
onto the doors... what a pain in the ***.
the door panels on this car were in very poor shape, much like the other parts of the interior. it's like a gorilla has been driving this car its entire life. the door panels were the worst of all.
i saw a thread on here about a guy using ABS cement to repair some plastic stuff, so i tried it out. my broski johnnyK also used rivnuts to repair some of his broken plastic thread/rods on his center console, so i figured i would combine those two concepts and see how well i could repair my passenger door panel.
i started with installing Second Skin. i noticed this in GrandMighty (farkel?)'s thread, so i copied what he did:
then the passenger door panel handle. everything is broken... every attachment point but one:
i made an amazing discovery; M6 rivnuts slight perfectly over these broken rods, and as long as you can secure them on there (epoxy or ABS cement) and shorten the overall height a little, you can have a new solid mount with threads.
(notice the previous owner's interesting grab handle brace here):
rivnut/post height shortened:
ABS cement applied to strengthen everything (after an initial application to hold all the rivnuts on):
the door panels on this car were in very poor shape, much like the other parts of the interior. it's like a gorilla has been driving this car its entire life. the door panels were the worst of all.
i saw a thread on here about a guy using ABS cement to repair some plastic stuff, so i tried it out. my broski johnnyK also used rivnuts to repair some of his broken plastic thread/rods on his center console, so i figured i would combine those two concepts and see how well i could repair my passenger door panel.
i started with installing Second Skin. i noticed this in GrandMighty (farkel?)'s thread, so i copied what he did:
then the passenger door panel handle. everything is broken... every attachment point but one:
i made an amazing discovery; M6 rivnuts slight perfectly over these broken rods, and as long as you can secure them on there (epoxy or ABS cement) and shorten the overall height a little, you can have a new solid mount with threads.
(notice the previous owner's interesting grab handle brace here):
rivnut/post height shortened:
ABS cement applied to strengthen everything (after an initial application to hold all the rivnuts on):
12-26-16, 08:55 PM
#33
i installed the LRB dash vent. i ordered mine with the logo (which i slightly regret) and unpainted, so i painted it, and the paint is too dark.
also, i hate to say, but i'm not really impressed with this piece. i think i should have bought the mazda plastic pieces. they went on sale with Ray Crowe like 3 days after i bought this damn thing.
why didn't LRB countersink these bolts? it's 1/8" aluminum. it would have been fine, and the allen head woudnt be sticking up out of the dash...
it looks OK, but it's just decent. the part was 70$ plus shipping new, which is cheap, but i would rather have the OEM stuff for $90 i think.
anyone want to buy this thing? 60 bucks shipped... i'll even countersink it for you and give you the bolts.
also, i hate to say, but i'm not really impressed with this piece. i think i should have bought the mazda plastic pieces. they went on sale with Ray Crowe like 3 days after i bought this damn thing.
why didn't LRB countersink these bolts? it's 1/8" aluminum. it would have been fine, and the allen head woudnt be sticking up out of the dash...
it looks OK, but it's just decent. the part was 70$ plus shipping new, which is cheap, but i would rather have the OEM stuff for $90 i think.
anyone want to buy this thing? 60 bucks shipped... i'll even countersink it for you and give you the bolts.
12-26-16, 09:02 PM
#34
i installed the aluminum kick plates that came with the original salvage car.
also, i didn't have any push-in-plastic-thread fasteners, so I've temporarily used body push-in clips to hold these in. it's not ideal, but i will change it as soon as my other fasteners get here and i can use normal silver screws.
i drilled holes in the car. it was painful, but had to be done!
and here's what's crucial:
after all this work, i spent Christmas at a large log cabin in pigeon forge TN with my family.
my 63 year old mother actually drove the FD when we had a cars/logistics mix-up, in the rain, and had no issues. her only complaint was "i couldn't get up the steep hill in 2nd gear... i had to go into first
why?" (this little access road is so steep it's almost not drivable in general)
i said "it's a rotary engine, not a v8 auto truck."
pic of her and my aunt in the car (hard to see):
the vacation trip was about a 4 hour drive from Nashville one way, and i got 23mpg on the way back (i didn't measure the drive there). not bad.
so what's left to do:
repair of the driver side door panel (hopefully).
fix passenger interior door pull, which won't open the door latch for some reason.
install a few misc interior pieces I've ordered.
the car is coming together. it's been a lot of work.
also, i didn't have any push-in-plastic-thread fasteners, so I've temporarily used body push-in clips to hold these in. it's not ideal, but i will change it as soon as my other fasteners get here and i can use normal silver screws.
i drilled holes in the car. it was painful, but had to be done!
and here's what's crucial:
after all this work, i spent Christmas at a large log cabin in pigeon forge TN with my family.
my 63 year old mother actually drove the FD when we had a cars/logistics mix-up, in the rain, and had no issues. her only complaint was "i couldn't get up the steep hill in 2nd gear... i had to go into first
why?" (this little access road is so steep it's almost not drivable in general)i said "it's a rotary engine, not a v8 auto truck."
pic of her and my aunt in the car (hard to see):
the vacation trip was about a 4 hour drive from Nashville one way, and i got 23mpg on the way back (i didn't measure the drive there). not bad.
so what's left to do:
repair of the driver side door panel (hopefully).
fix passenger interior door pull, which won't open the door latch for some reason.
install a few misc interior pieces I've ordered.
the car is coming together. it's been a lot of work.
01-08-17, 08:32 AM
#42
Original Gangster/Rotary!
iTrader: (213)
I'm glad I surfed into this thread---- lots of good stuff going on in here, plus seeing Jeffy's face makes me want to visit the local rescue shelters around here. Not kidding either 
I'm glad to see you ordered the hood bumpers, I've been snagging those from Ray Crowe for every FD I own--- they're a little known piece that make a nice improvement for hood fitment and anti-rattle
Consider replacing that driver's side fender liner, you'll be able to see the wiper bottle from outside the car and plus that bottom piece helps keep it all nice and in place during high speed runs.
Speaking of high speed runs, a little bird tells me you might be at Road Atlanta in March?
I'm glad to see you ordered the hood bumpers, I've been snagging those from Ray Crowe for every FD I own--- they're a little known piece that make a nice improvement for hood fitment and anti-rattle
Consider replacing that driver's side fender liner, you'll be able to see the wiper bottle from outside the car and plus that bottom piece helps keep it all nice and in place during high speed runs.
Speaking of high speed runs, a little bird tells me you might be at Road Atlanta in March?
01-08-17, 11:14 AM
#44
my only issue may be dropping $1000 on a travel weekend. the car can easily be ready (I basically just need brake pads and some minor tinkering).
I was chatting with Dalton a little about doing a single day instead, which I need to check into. (the only option I saw on the NASA registration was the full weekend).
I won't be able to afford a two day track event at RA, then deal's gap the following month!
short answer: hopefully, depending on money and registration.
Last edited by jacobcartmill; 01-08-17 at 11:18 AM.
01-08-17, 03:37 PM
#46
Nice work buddy, shes coming along great 
.
Will keep an eye out. Yeah there are white faced 6'o'clock tachs in FD's built from sept 2000 onwards. I've got one in the for sale section actually 
, no black '99 tachs at the moment.
., no black '99 tachs at the moment.
Last edited by Ceylon; 01-08-17 at 03:41 PM.
01-08-17, 11:59 PM
#47
here's a little more tinker work I did tonight while bored.
new fuse box stickers via ebay, and they weren't cut straight... I had to make them fit.
out of the box:
fixed:
and I added a ground wire where the stock one was missing:
don't worry about the brake booster hose. I will change it with a real hose eventually.
new fuse box stickers via ebay, and they weren't cut straight... I had to make them fit.
out of the box:
fixed:
and I added a ground wire where the stock one was missing:
don't worry about the brake booster hose. I will change it with a real hose eventually.
01-09-17, 05:50 AM
#48
Nice job cutting the sticker. I wasn't so ambitious when I saw mine were not going to fit into that recess of the fuse box cover. It's sometimes the little things that separate the men from the boys.
After selling a nicely modded FD with an EFR Single Turbo is there any reason you decided to go back to a twin turbo car or is this just the first evolution of this build?
You def took on quite a project.
After selling a nicely modded FD with an EFR Single Turbo is there any reason you decided to go back to a twin turbo car or is this just the first evolution of this build?
You def took on quite a project.
01-09-17, 03:29 PM
#49
my red FD that i owned in 2012-2013 had the EFR, haltech, hard 12k/10k stance coilovers, fixed back sparco seat, all poly bushings, and 18x9.5 wheels. the car was too hard, and i wanted something a little more weekend/cruiser, and to have tracking as a secondary thing. so i sold that red car and got my nice white 94 touring FD. after trials and tribulations and getting that car where i wanted it (engine rebuild, haltech install, budget single kit, etc.), my roommates all split up and had to move out of our big bachelor pad rental house, so the time came to buy my own house. i owed money on the white FD, so i basically sold it to get into my house.
between then and now i created an sc300 budget track car, and it was not enjoyable; it was too damn big, and the lack of LSD and manual trans (~$4000 combined to swap LSD and trans in, ridiculous) made me lose interest and want to get back into an FD, so that's what i did.
the stock twins have always been love/hate for me, and i've never had functioning sequential twins on any of my FDs. they've all been non-sequential and laggy, and i've had two sets start blowing oil out of the back side of the CHRAs. so now that i have a good low-ish mileage engine with 99 twins i really want to utilize them and enjoy them. in short, i am experiencing a well-running sequential twins car with intake/exhaust/powerFC, and it is quite capable and i enjoy it. i am going to track it, so we will see what happens then, but i am really liking the sequential 99 twins with bolt ons and PowerFC.
in retrospect, this was probably the wrong way to do it (combine two cars into one), and i would have been better off paying 16-17k for a decent complete FD, as that's the total i'm up to in this project. however, the car is exactly what i want, so the end result is still good.
this is the most work i've done to one car, and i have learned a LOT, and it's over all been a good experience. i'm not in my 20s anymore, and i find myself enjoying replacing all the little parts i used to not care about (rear carpet, floor mats, stickers for the fuse boxes, tiny covers for the sun visor screws, tiny bulb for the ignition lock cylinder light, etc.) and making sure everything is 100% working (i'm not quite there yet) but i am getting close.
the biggest mistake i made was getting a donor car that had a perfect powertrain but a very rough *interior* beneath the surface (almost every interior piece had a broken tab or two or three --the bins,s the interior 1/4 panel plastics, the center console, the prohibitively expensive freaking door panel plastics, etc.). it would have been much easier to start with a donor car that had a mint interior and zero powertrain.
however, at least i'm doing something different from what i've done in the past. i can take time and make each interior panel nice and fix all the little things without getting nasty underneath the car.
