Thanks guys. Car is getting better every week. Replaced a clunky pillow bushing and borrowing a datalogit from Dale Clark to smooth out the tune a bit. Ended up deleting the AST as well.

Took 4th overall at a local Auto-X the cars first time really being pushed. Lost out to a fully prepared DSP bmw 330ci and a stock '13 Carrera S, both with excellent drivers. The only problem with the car was the battery leaking acid everywhere on sharp left hand turns... too much G for my cheap oreilly battery so replaced it with an AGM.

Here's a recent engine bay shot:


Footage from the Auto-X...

 

Just wondering, but why did u go back to the stock airbox?

 

I didn't like having open air filter elements in the engine bay, just too hot in there. I ended up modifying the stock airbox to pull air from underneath itself with an adam c heat shield. I also cleaned up the inside of the airbox and removed a lot of turbulance...as well as fitting a K&N filter. Im also fitting some dc brushless fans to the backside of the IC to prevent heatsoak while i sort out the water injection setup...

 

Found a few new issues at this months Autocross...

Issue 1: ABS. Noticed the ABS light on turned the car off/removed key and popped the hood. Walk over to the ABS unit and it's making a humming noise...when I place my hand on the "pump" body below the two relays it feels like it's sitting there running its *** off. Had to pull the 30A fuse under the hood and finish off the day without ABS. After talking to Dale Clark about it he had a similar issue where a relay was continuously cycling. Removing the relay and reinserting it fixed his issue...so I gave it a shot. Seems to have worked so far, did a few quick stops to make sure the ABS was engaging...no light or humming yet.

Issue 2: Fuel slosh on left handers. Have read about this issue being pretty common on these cars but was still surprised when it happened. Long left hand turn on half a tank...sputtering acceleration until i straightened the car out. Added 4 gallons of gas and the problem was gone... Thinking of trying the FEED fuel pump box. Hopefully it will be enough when I step up to some wider tires as well.

Issue 3: HEAT! It was extremely hot this weekend and the car didn't appreciate it at all. Had trouble keeping both intake and coolant temps down. Coolant temps would rise to 94C and stay there with the fans going full blast (my target is 88) Had to spray water on the radiator to keep the temps in check. Was also spraying down the intake manifold and intercooler between runs to keep intake temps down...without doing this there was a noticeable drop in power as timing was being pulled. A vented hood and getting my water injection plumbed are pretty high on the list right now...

 

I really want to get water injection as well. I already have a vented hood, but I still need to get it painted and hood pins.

 

Got a decent deal on a set of wheels...

Enkei PF01 17x9 +60 with 255/40/17. The high offset is because they were on an S2000. The fitment pushed 25mm towards the inside and 5mm towards the outside compared to stock.... zero rubbing, no fender mods required. My car has coilovers so there was plenty of extra room inward. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, wont be using any spacers or anything like that.



I also ended up replacing the ABS unit with another used one...so far so good.

 

NEED MORE PICS.

Wheels look super clean!

Are you going to auto-x on these wheels/tires or get race tires for the stock wheels?

Dale

 

These will be double duty wheels once i put some fresh tires on them. They currently have a very worn set of rs-3 that i will finish off at an autocross this month. Ive been using stock size kumho xs on the stock wheels with some success...after i wear them out i will only be keeping the stockers as spares.

 

Wow nice progress!

When I started looking for an FD I was hoping to find one like yours in the same price point. Is there any reason why you didnt have the car painted while everything was off? I do think you would be surprised what a good buff job would do to that car.

 

That car needs far more than a buff job. You'd have to see it in person.

Kurt has done everything on a smart budget, and that car needed a LOT to get on the road.

Dale

 

Obviously you can buff paint that isnt there but even a buff would brighten a lot of it up and make is look a little better.

 

No doubt. A good detailing will help a significant amount. It wont be perfect, especially with that much fade, but some of it will come back and you may be surpsired at how it turns out. My paint was faded and maybe a 5/10. Compound, buff, wax and now its a solid 7. not perfect but eye pleasing. https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...1046064/page5/ detailing is about halfway down the page for comparison and results.

 

Paint job is just low on my priority totem pole, it normally is with my cars. I'm much more concerned with getting the car to work properly and be fun to drive than I am with how it looks. That being said once I get some slack from wrenching on it I will give buffing the paint a shot.

 

Good shot there! Rims look good!

Dale

 

Nice work, like what you've done with the standard air box .

 

I really like the way you tackled your build. Got the car going quickly and started finding the cars weaknesses at local auto x's. That's super cool, I wish I took your approach. I took on too much too soon and the car ended up sitting for a few years. Keep it up!

 

Finally grabbed FTD at an autocross this past weekend...only had one problem with the car. Fuel dripping from the evap canister After a few runs there was enough to form a puddle under the car... I haven't seen anything about this issue on other cars so I'm not sure if something is wrong with my evap system.

 

I am taking a guess but that hose should be hooked up to something, but you could also just pull all the evap crap out of the car. I did that and just ran a vent up by the fuel filler neck.

 

From what i can tell so far that line is supposed to be open...it allows fresh air to be drawn into the charcoal canister. When the charcoal element becomes saturated its able to drip from that port.

It appears there are 2 check valves in the evap system on top of the gas tank that should prevent this from happening...mine are in place. I would like to delete the evap but i need to do it in a way that wont allow fuel to spill out when the car is over 1 lat G, especially since i have to autocross with over half a tank of gas to prevent fuel starvation. Unfortunately the evap pickup points are located at either end of the gas tank...i feel like this wouldnt be an issue if it drew from the top center of the tank.

 

Installed the FEED internal fuel collector, was pleasantly surprised to find that the gas tank I installed is from a 94 model so the installation was quite easy. Also ordered a pair of the vapor check valves that mount above the sending unit to hopefully fix the fuel spillage issue. If my fuel issues are sorted out then I can start putting effort into improving the car even more...

Here's the FTD lap from last month...

 

picked up a Greddy PE catback from Dale for more flow
Dale hooked me up on making my clutch pedal feel like an FD clutch pedal :]
Just finished installing a Greddy SMIC and Pettit duct...

initial material removal..


dialing in fitment


foam in place



piping in place


RX-7 Fashion intake and Turbojeff battery tray coming soon...

 

I have the same IC and duct, did the trimming the same way but I used weather stripping that I got from the local auto store to seal the duct. I would recommend the same, it will seal better and last longer than the foam.

Looks really good either way. I should show up at one of your AutoX's and challenge you since we seem to have a similar set up

 

I used the automotive weatherstripping on the sides (dark black EPDM) to fill the larger gaps. Hard to see in the pics. The vinyl foam seemed to be a better fit for the top and bottom, although if it doesn't hold up I will use some shorter EPDM weatherstrip.

That would be cool, I'm normally the only RX-7 out there.

 

Intake fitted...not completely finished though, ran out of hose clamps :[

 

Lookin' good! Interested to hear how well that IC performs!

Dale