I'm back! 1994 CW PEP to Slick Top and general overhaul.
 

After stepping out of the rotary game for roughly a decade, I decided to get back into it. I had another FD with an LS2, but honestly, I didn't feel like I was in an FD, and I missed that. Fast forward, I start hunting for a car and come across one which I felt was reasonable.

This was a 1994 Chaste White PEP, optioned without a wing and had a total of 2 previous owners. Stacks of paperwork and a 1 year warranty on the motor by APU.

The car already had a laundry list of things I wanted to do, but it had a solid foundation:

-Fresh Rebuild
-Turblown 8374
-Coilovers
-1994
-Black Interior
-SBG Ignition
-Working A/C

Anyway, after arrival I started to tinker around with it to see how it was doing. Plugs needed replacing and after that I realized the car was running super rich. This wasn't a huge issue as it's hard to tune for various climates if the ECU can't adequately compensate, so I figured a retune was necessary upon purchase.

I ended up replacing the plugs and driving it on a warm morning (around 93F) and a few miles from home, I was on the freeway and saw the coolant temp hit 101F. It didn't climb beyond that, but I turned around and went home. At this time, I figured I might as well install my Greddy V-mount kit that I had been sitting on.

This is where I fell down the rabbit hole.....

The exterior paint was in pretty damn fine condition. A few dents on the fenders which could be removed from PDR, but it looked great. However, the engine bay was another story. It looked like things had been in and out of that bay dozens of times over the history of the car, it was filthy and no amount of cleaning would save it. The paint was missing, minor surface rust in various places, it was enough to make me start yanking things out right after I saw it all.

Here's where we're at with the body:

-Removed sunroof
-Replaced with OEM slick top and all appropriate supports
-Purchased spare hatch with glass
-OEM 99 Rear wing on spare hatch
-Repainted slick top rear hatch
-OEM 99 Front
-Resprayed car OEM 99 Pure White
-Let Goodfellas talk me into some wheels (not pictured)
-Went back and shaved the rear antenna

Right now we're reassembling the bay with the main harness and I'll need to mock up the Greddy A/C condenser mounts temporarily so I can have custom A/C lines made, rather than bending the OEM stuff - which is fine - but I just want it to look proper.

The engine is sitting on a stand at my house and is undergoing a bunch of changes.

-High output alternator
-Custom LMS EFI harness
-Banzai Racing Mounts
-Banzai Racing Pulley Set
-Excessive LIM
-CJ Fuel Rails (6 injectors)
-New Fragola fittings/lines
-Radium FPD
-New OEM A/C Compressor
-Overhauled OEM P/S Pump
-FFE Hall Effect Trigger Kit with 36-1 Wheel
-Greddy V-mount as previously mentioned

Other stuff to include:

-SBG HID Headlight Kit
-CJ Dual fuel pump kit
-Flex fuel setup
-Injector Dynamics Fuel Filter
-Chip Motorsports custom master cylinder

On the list or up for debate:

-Feed Hood
-99 sides or Feed sides
-BBK

I'll post them as I make progress. Hope to have this guy up and running sometime in September/October. At this point it's just time and I'm running short on it these days!

You're welcome for getting you back into the FD

Actually, a local friend bought a CYM FD that was posted here. That was what did it.

Wow, nice looking car! The hardtop is icing on the cake. Congrats!

New paint looks great! and x2 on that hardtop swap...


Curious as to what skirts you go with as im a sucker for the FEEDs :icon_tup::icon_tup:

Have a set of OEM, but it'll likely be FEED.

What wheels and tires are you planning to run?

fikse's on order - tires up in the air

Nicely done. I like the Fikse 701s in 17" on the FD personally. I feel like it fits the car well.
I run Federal 595s on my 7 in a 275/35-18 R 255/35-18 F and love them for the price. $92 shipped, but for the money your spending on a set of forged Fikse im sure your not even considering cheap tires lol

Federal 595S are terrible tires that don't belong on a sports car like an FD.

On a budget I would and have used the Federal 595RS-R as it costs about the same as the 595S and has damn good performance (though not great quality).

welcome back....

Let me rephrase... Im running 595RS-R tires. When I say 595s im meaning plural not the SS595. But yet again "for the price" I love these tires. Under a $100 a crack compared to an R888 or NT01 at $250 so it makes me happy

:icon_tup:

Beautiful car Darren! & Welcome back

What alternator did you go with?

I've run the 595RSR in the past, decent tire until it gets real hot, then it's a bit sketch. Used to track with them on an M3 I had years back.

Up in the air on tires, I do like the Michelin PSS, but there are tons of options. I'll be using the current TE37 wheels for a track setup with a much stickier tire.

Not sure? I'll see what the stamping says. I picked it up from another member.

Thanks! Too bad it wasn't your old car, looking back on things now it would have cost me less!!! LOL

Thanks Elliot, hoping to make it to SS this year. Will you be there?

Love the hard top addition.

Good luck with it and look forward to some killer track videos :icon_tup:

PS White is the new black :nod:

Looks great, welcome back. The hardtop conversion is one of the most eccentric yet best things I've done to mine.

Yes sir! :nod: so I hope that you make it down.

from the looks of your build... youre probably right :D
would have been nice if you ended up with the old fd... she needs to be rescued

Eager to see more updates, great choice on wheels and I may be able to help on the tires if you'd like..... reach out sometime old chap, I miss all our conversations from back in the day ;)

If it can go wrong, it has... but I am moving along and she's almost ready to fire up.

One of my blankets had something on it and it absorbed whatever it had into the clear coat, looks like we'll be repainting a fender and a headlight cover and doing some small work in the bay to get rid of the staining. It won't buff or cut, will either be a wet sand or a repaint.

Dropped the a/c compressor on my radiator, put 3 holes in it. It's been welded/fixed. Banjo bolt for P/S went missing, as did the cable. Banjo bolt for the oil thermostat snapped off, it was some cheap thing, I've replaced that as well. One of the Bosch 044 pumps was dead, I had a Walbro 450 in tank and I used the CJ fuel rig to mock up a dual 450 bracket setup, now the tank has dual 450 pumps... way more fuel than I'll ever need. A bunch of other things along the way that stop me from finishing one thing and forcing me onto the next.

Picked up some Tyco heavy duty latching relays on the advice of Abel Ibarra, also used Prowire Tefzel wire at his request... it's some serious stuff and they ship extremely quickly. Very happy with their product.

Wired in the relays into the bin, which was already cut out for a battery, just put some nutserts in place for both of them, the breaker and the 12v bus bar for misc stuff. I'll need to do more wire cleanup later, but this will do for now.

To Do:

-refill coolant
-tighten alternator and belts
-connect second drive belt
-run input cable from wbo2 gauge to ecu
-check oil thermostat bolt
-wrap excess ecu wires
-wrap downpipe
-connect egt sensors
-make boost controller adapter cable
-wrap boost controller cable with fire sleeve
-load base map onto ecu
-test / configure ecu gauges
-charge a/c
-start car
-leak check
-wire in stereo amp

if its just clear... have you tried buffing it out

I’ll have my body guy take care of it when he paints the side skirts - I haven’t tried anything that’ll get heat under it

I can tell you’re frustrated with the car, you should unload it on me. ;-)

Sure thing. 50k ;) Haha

didnt think id see another pure white, mine was a 98 cw and due to a friend painted it pure white, it should be finished in a matter of days.

your car looks awesome.

Been a while since I updated. To sum it up? Blown motor on the dyno a week before seven stock. No need to elaborate, I've already moved on.

Purchased a brand new OEM Mazda engine from Ray and sent it off for a build. (Still looking for a second as a spare if I don't rebuild the current one for later use).

I did experience some boost creep issues with the EFR8374 turblown kit. Couldn't keep the boost under 17.5psi no matter what we did. That's unrelated to why the engine gave, but I'm considering an dual external gate setup to correct all that.

Parts are still rolling in. Received some 99-spec rear hatch shocks, which will be a lifesaver.

Most notably on purchase I ordered so long ago that I nearly forgot about, are my Fikse wheels.

First of all, Rich (GoodfellasFd3s) and I have known each other through the community for nearly 15 years now. I was in the market for some wheels and I was familiar with Fikse from some of my other vehicles. I will also say that I've owned a ton of cars and never has my cheap ass purchased a brand new set of wheels from anywhere. I've always picked up HRE, CCW, Fikse, etc. second hand and have them refinished because it saves a ton of money. The downside - you usually have to deal with sub par offsets, widths, and sometimes minor or major curb rash. I generally estimate $200 a wheel.

Fast forward and Rich sold me on a new set of Fikse with proper offsets. I got to choose every bit about the wheel, with some of his personal recommendations on sizing, width and offset based on experience and I got a KILLER deal. Now, Fikse was going through some supply chain changes and Rich informed me that there was going to be a fairly substantial wait time on the wheels. I bitched and moaned, but I didn't give him too much grief. Well, 4.75 months later, here we are! BTW - Fikse has been back in the production swing, so I'm sure the wait time is much more reasonable, though still slightly delayed.

Smooth transaction, great looking wheels. The pictures DO NOT do them justice. These are the Profil 10's, with a step lip and anodized center. I'm super excited to have them and can't wait to get them on the car. If you're in the market, hit up Rich, he's got the connection on Fikse (and a ton of other FD parts and hard to find stuff from Japan).

I am hoping to have the new engine back in in late December, but depends on how long the build takes. Here's to hoping!

Sorry to hear about the engine but those wheels 👀👀👀

Was your engine ported? It seems like aggressive porting leads to creep on the IWG setup.

Yes, aggressive street. New setup will be medium to medium-large, not nearly as aggressive.

Hey man,
Wheels look great, I seriously considered some Fikses from Rich.

On your turbo... consult my build thread or my thread in the single turbo forum on the 8374 IWG. The ported turbine housing is the fix with that setup. Kills 2-300 rpm of spool but got my boost down to manageable levels and I made tons of power.

Thanks for that. Did you end up sending your housing back to Turblown to have him port it?

I'll do some digging on your thread.

I actually bought an extra housing and Turblown ported it, because I didn't want down time, but yeah, Turblown were kind enough to do it for me as an experiment that ultimately worked. ... and honestly, check the pics, if you have the tools you could probably do it yourself. I'm not even sure it needed to be as aggressive as that, but basically you need to make it so the front rotor/runner can vent some exhaust flow. That's the part that has trouble.

Slick wheels!!!!!

Engine undergoing break-in. 500 miles on it and 110+ on all faces. She's solid!

Will update with some photos soon.

Sakebomb BBK on the way - Wilwood reds with AP floating rotors, Rear competition Kit
Ohlins FP Spec currently being valved
Swapped the shit autometer gauges with some Defi Racer's
Works Bell Short + Works bell GTC Tilt + Nardi Deep Corn (Nardi Poo Corn as Rich calls it)
Redline Goods boots / handles on order
Looking to get some boost in it soon!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f87b6470a2.jpg
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Love the Nardi wheel and Hub!
Who built the motor?

Time to give this thread some love....

Engine built by none other than Rich Farrell aka GoodfellasFD3S aka Captain Kill aka a real muthafuckin' 'Merican Hero

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...8df02fbd33.jpg
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more https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...141fb39db7.jpg
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When you want that 99 hatch / wing to pop without trouble

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...6f52a2b455.jpg
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Rich (GoodfellasFD3S) took care of all the work for me. I provided him a BNIB OEM crate engine from Ray Crowe and he got to workin'.

Some of the things we optioned for:

Street Port
RX Parts Seals
Excessive Motosports Single Piece Dowel Pins
Excessive Motorsports Oil Pan
Exedy Twin Disk courtesy of Sake Bomb Garage
The blood of Rich Farrell, courtesy of the ports

One thing I'll tell you about Rich in relation to other shops / individuals / builders I've worked with on various other cars - Rich is a good dude. I mean that genuinely, he doesn't bullshit, if he doesn't know about something he won't feed you some horse shit. I plan to run ethanol and he doesn't have a good feeling about it, but he also mentioned he's never run it despite lots of people having success. We did go viton rings for all that, he was sure to ask how I planned to use the car and what my power goals were, fueling, etc. Now Rich has a full time job in sales, so he's not doing this for a living - it takes some time. However, I got frequent updates, frequent pictures, even as parts arrived. I know it's easier to communicate when you're a one man show with only a customer or two at a time, but believe me, it's easy to screw up or blow a customer off. I never felt like I was just the side job.

I've got about 600 miles on it now and Rich is checking in frequently, providing break-in instructions, asking how it's running, providing some input/pointers, etc. I performed a boost leak down test yesterday and found about half a dozen leaks which I've buttoned up. I did an oil change around 200 miles in and plan to do another at 1500.

Fuel changes - moved to a weldon regular with a -8 return, because I like overkill. It's not necessary. CJ provided me with a one-off fuel hat with one of his -8 returns. He doesn't sell these anymore, but I had asked for it and he had one floating around. Fuel pumps (dual 450's) are staged by ECU. Both prime at start and then kick over to single pump until ECU conditions are met to trigger second pump. Added a bypass line for the ethanol sensor so it has a -6 and 3/8 return to a single -8. Added the fuel pump level sensor gasket/seal so the car doesn't smell like gas anymore. Deleted the factory/oem hardlines under the car.

Interior changes of note:

Removed crappy autometer gauges, which I wanted to do earlier and finally did. Autometer boost gauge uses crappy plastic / nylon line into the cabin (dumb). Oil temp was also reading about 20-30F under correct temperature compared to the ECU sensor I had in the oil filter pedestal. Removed the A-pillar in favor of a prosports triple pod and relocated gauges. Now running the Defi Racer gauges with proper sensors and no BS.

Replaced the cluster bulbs, need to pull the HVAC panel again as a couple bulbs aren't properly seated. I opted for incandescents because I don't like hot spots from LEDs.

Ordered new vinyl and new center console pieces so everything will sit nicely (Thanks Ray!)

Other stuff:

Added some KTS braces under the car. I have an LRB undertray I need to install, 99 sides to get painted and installed, Fikse wheels to mount and install. SBG Wilwood Kit and Ohlins FP Spec on order. Will need a corner balance and alignment after all that fun stuff. Removing my hyper sport combo lines in favor of Stanley OEM combo lights as I prefer the smooth face rather than the two bulges the hyper sports have.

Added a banzai trans brace, new clutch lines, rebuilt the slave.

More to come, hope to get it under boost soon!

intake ports look smoother than other port jobs out there. is this the case or do the pics just make them look that way? mine have always been more roughed up for better atomization.

pics and progress looks great.

I agree, that Rich dude is pretty cool.

Rich's ports look great!