Holy ****. So happy for you! What an accomplishment!

Ok, so you DID Make AMERICA BRAP my friend. Money in hand for my HAT!! Congrats!

 

my fellow rotorheads,

very nice to see you guys as pumped as I am!

ok, so I've been pulling the hours hard over the weekend and tonight. Fouled out some spark plugs, because the AFR gauge is foolin' me. The overlap I believe is causing a false lean.

We also have a bad TPS sensor, completely bad. So i was adding fuel to the zero cell to try to compensate and allow to rev but it falls on its face above 3k rpms.

New TPS should be in this week and we should be good too go.

Developed a small leak from a 16an water line which has been replaced tonight, only to leak again. I think I'm maybe not tightening the big 16an's enough, need to buy a bigger crescent wrench to get some more grip on it.

Everything seems pretty solid, besides the dead plugs. Rotor #2 has been down completely hahaha didn't even realize it. OMG can't imagine when that one comes online fully.

I think this engine really needs to seat in at 2k rpm+ at whatever AFR it want. It will register 17afr and run smooth as can be, with full rotor down on spark...so there's definitely a false lean misfire going on. It's definitely just fouled plugs. Good news is 1-3-4 rotors are running around 280F, like 15* varience with the infared gun. Rotor 2 was running 100F less which told me it was mifiring. Traced it down w/ timing light, and swapped wires over to other rotors w/ cranking / no fuel and ruled it on the plugs. They are covered black.

So next up, #1 new plugs and fire away keep the RPM's up for a good 30mins or so.


The fuel level sensor is dancing around its weird, when I switch on the pumps it drops and then slowly returns back. Must be fuel outgoing into the lines and then slowly returning to fill up the tank. Anyhow, I don't trust this speedhut gauge on the stock sending unit. Does anyone know of a universal or more accurate float or measurement system that can be installed into a tank?


Engine does fine running for 10min intervals up to 160F. Stays rock solid at set temp of 160 and oil temps lead it by 100F.

Water to air works insanely well. Air temps after 6mins or so will reach 105F, switch on the pump and they drop to 75F ambient, incredible to see it happen in a matter of 120 seconds.

I've ordered large magnaflow 4" oval muffler and tail pipe circular muffler and stainless piping with v-bands which will be welded up next week. The motherF*cker is so god d*** loud that you can't even think or breathe. ITS ABSOLUTELY MONSTEROUSLY LOUD. SOUNDS INSANE EVEN W A ROTOR FOULED OUT YOU CAN"T EVEN TELL!

Its literally like starting up a NASA launch. The whole ground shakes, you can feel the pulses through you body. Nothing can describe it.

When you see the videos on youtube you hear the firing of the motor. But you don't get the bass. In person you get the high's that you hear in the vidoes but you get bass that's so insane that my tools shake and laptop vibrates. The AFR gauge vibrated out of the damn dash! Its absolutely outstanding haha

Anyhow, soon as we get the exhaust on and the new TPS its time to start screwing with the throttle and get it revving.

Smone told me today he believed the intake manifold intercooler is going to restrict the response of the peripheral runners and cause idle issues. To me is seems no issue as these intercoolers are rated at literally 0.5psi pressure drop. I'm going to install a post intercooler vac gauge to measure the difference between the map sensor on one side and vac on the other. I'll just utilize the existing port that occupied right now w/ post IC air-temp

Can't wait to get this bastard on the road.

I've ordered more All-Star performance black coated PTFE stainless lines. 3an for the wastegates and instead of using external T's, the lines will be ran in series, from wastegate to another, with a T fitting on the actual second wastegate. Hopefully it works out and looks clean. Really love the idea of stainless overkill vac lines. I'm so sick of silicon lines and zip ties and leak and worry. Even the coolant overflow line is a brake line haha

So we're getting close to completion of the drivetrain. The trans is filled, driveshaft is in etc. Just needs a little testing to ensure no leaks, and that all is running right. Really need this TPS to make sure it rev's correctly and we can setup the basemap for driving

Then, comes body panels, doors, seats, 6 pt carbon lock Sabelt harnesses. Can't wait to see those on the car.

Windshield is installed and went on perfectly.

Wow I can't wait to put this whole car together.

In retrospect, I'm so glad the engine came late and I was driven to absolute insanity to finish all the things that have been completed on the body. Its so nice to be able to know that the body and suspension etc is just ready and waiting. No more wiring

So now its time to get prepped, and get ready for the official video, of the full product.

Please continue to follow because from here, its going to get FUN!


PS. On a side note, now after hearing how ridiculous this is going to be in sound, its apparent that its going to absolutely destroy the drivetrain. So glad though that I haven't spent the cash on a transmission yet. Really comforting to have a tiny bit of cushion to get running and tuning. It just hit me again just how much is required to get one of these things actually reasonably driving. The difference between an engine in the car looking like it runs and the car actually moving on its own power, running correctly, and safely and reliably with no bugs is really the entire game at this point!So much tweaking and testing and trail and error. The 20b was a handful, this is another level. Always spend your money on whats most important first.

So proud that this RX-7 will still be a RWD FD3S, with stock engine mounting setup and stock transmission, and as close to OEM body lines a possible. The vision for this car and the last has always been, bodybuilding on the fd3s. Adding muscles to these things but keeping them sleek and respective of Mazda. I just can't wait to see how it feels on the OEM trans / PPF set-up as funny as it sounds. T56, sequential and all those upgrades sound outstanding, but at the same time, its not the same car anymore. I just so badly want to see what it feels like to let off the clutch and pull away w/ the same synchros, the same clutch, the same steering etc. At least for the experience before totally changing the driveline. After going from twin turbos, to single turbo, to 20b, to 26b but feeling the same overall car underneath

 

Ah... I kind of suspected it didn't have an exhaust in the video.

 

For some reason "great build" alone doesn't seem like enough of a statement, but words are escaping me... Is the monsterbox the keg you have strapped to the chassis? I believe the sound alone defines the word

I'd vote Monsterbox - Make America Brap Again 2016


...for America of course

 

Helll yeaaaaahhhh

 

Congrats! That thing sounds wicked regardless of how many rotors are running.

 

Check the mating surface of your 16an bung to make sure it's not warped before wrenching it down. It just needs quarter turn after finger tight. Did you check to see there is no leak from the intercooler into the runners? Weird only r2 is misfiring. I assume you tracked down all the usual player like ground and wiring. I tend to agree that preIC vac should be fine for your set up. You're amazing to have come this far so quickly!

 

Hey so turns out the coil is fine, it was just bad plug. Swapped all the plugs and all is good.

The reversion or something is messing w/ the O2 readout. Its idling happily around 2200rpm and screaming brap orchestra now with new plugs. It seems it doesn't have enough velocity to brap until 2200 where as the ITB cars do the characteristic brap much lower rpm some as low as 1500 or 1200, it must be the restriction of the throttle and intercooler. I'm going to try lowering the timing, to slow down the engine, and then increase the throttle to make up the difference and provide more flow, but then that might make it worse who knows just trial and error. I'd like to see it cleanly breap around 1600rpm in a perfect world, because anything under 2200 and its just so stumbly and misfiring. Maybe the charge pipe will help too

Anyhow just waiting on the new TPS so can start revving!


Stickman, yes I even replaced the hose end with another. Still a small leak. The male end surface doesn't appear to warped or galled. Maybe it needs a little tightening a quarter turn is a good distance on a 1inch fitting

Engine starts so fast its so insane. Less than a second. The only way to even measure cranking rpm is with the fuel off lol. And its coming in at 315rpm.

So pump. Thanks for support. The key to everything to this point is always be thankful, but never be satisfied. Always keep pushing. Take time to look back and be thankful of the progress, but always remember greatness is found in constantly outdoing yourself. Keep the challenge rolling. Look into the future not the past or the present, always see the next step and the next goal and where you want to be. If you see other's who are knocking doors down, figure out how they do it, figure out how they think, and outwork them. Never sell yourself short, anything is possible with time. Work while everyone else is sleeping, believe anything is possible. If people say you're unreasonable or silly, use it as motivation. Its all a matter of sacrifice. Forward momentum always! Now, to pretend mentally like this milestone is just another body panel, because the goal is to drive this thing, and have to stay focused.

Now the challenge is body panels, exhaust, alignment, saving more money to afford a tune, balancing some time with family, and getting this thing road ready. Lots of things to do, little time to waste.

 

I'd like to see it cleanly breap around 1600rpm in a perfect world, because anything under 2200 and its just so stumbly and misfiring.

Any load you can put on the engine will help lower the idle as well while running clean (because larger throttle opening). This is one thing the OEM p-port engines did to aid idle quality.

So, if you are turning off aux fuel pumps or IC circulation pumps or e-water pump at idle/low load/low temps etc.... don't. Get as much load on the engine as possible at idle.


The reversion or something is messing w/ the O2 readout.

O2 readout won't help tuning partial load on p-port. Just give the engine whatever it wants to run best (always try more more more fuel first).

You've got massive misfires with the throttle plates closed dumping intake air into the exhaust and also lots of intake air into the exhaust from overlap with throttle open at low rpms when not misfiring plus you have constant external combustion changing the O2 balance in the exhaust manifold before the O2 sensor.

 

Great feedback, thank you. This info is hard to come by. Yes it makes total sense now. It just needs more velocity / get the plate open to overcome the pull-up. its so gnarly that if you turn off the motor, you can crack open throttle and exhaust/two stoke colored smoke bellows out. The pport is absolutely no joke with the overlap holy hell.

Yes, going blindly, I'm finding more fuel slows down the engine, and then misfires heavily and then eventually stalls without more gas pedal. Killed my plugs chasing the 02 sensor trying to see a 12.0 before I realized its non-nonsensical. So its certainly getting enough initial fuel.

Is it safe to lean it out until it tries to stall? and then add back in to that point.

 

I can't think what it would hurt leaning it out until it dies at idle as long as you are keeping your oil temps down.

I wouldn't do this at low load operation (cruising) because EGTs could get really really high and kill your turbo/exhaust manifold.

 

Leaning it out at idle shouldn't hurt it, but you may want to see if anyone has idle EGT's you can go off to set idle. The intake reversion is too much for the wideband to handle, so you are chasing pink unicorns there.

 

does the wideband o2 have any place in tuning during load or positive manifold pressure? surely it has to have some stability once there's enough load and intake velocity?

 

Yeah, wideband will work under load.

 

Once under load, the intake reversion is minimized since the airflow velocity is higher.

 

great! thank you guys

 

The O2 sensor might be more useful at low flow / low RPM when you install an exhaust. On setups with a very short length of pipe after the sensor, it's common for the reading to indicate lean because it is measuring the oxygen that is briefly making its way back to the sensor due to reversion. Think about the air/fuel measurements you are expecting to see (12:1 AFR is twelve parts air for every 1 part fuel), it doesn't take much air to skew that reading.

Keep an eye on your new TPS sensor as well... I think some designs are simply prone to fail when you expose them more vibration than they would have encountered in their intended environment. We ran into this when using cheap aftermarket throttle position sensors on college Formula SAE cars. I think we encountered two different failure modes: sometimes the sensor would develop 'dead spots' where it wouldn't detect shaft rotation, other times the reading would jump around as though the little wiper inside the sensor had come loose and was moving around when the shaft was not moving.

 

with mine i found that the o2 does give a bum reading at part throttle, and it does work when at WOT.

so at idle, and part throttle just give it what it wants. at idle and fast idle this is easy, just pick a timing, and then try it lean and try it rich and let it tell you what it wants.

part throttle will be harder, you might want to just use a dyno that lets you hold rpm, and vary throttle

with mine, the o2 reading is actually consistent so i found i could tune idle/part throttle, its just that it gives you a number that isn't real. unless you believe that a P port idles at 14.4:1 AFR.

its kind of a funny deal, as the engine will tell you what it likes, but there is all this chaos going on....

 

This thread is amazing and full of win!
Awsome job so far!

 

Here a vid of it on his Facebook page
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...9&id=607807138

 

We need updates Zach!! We know there has been progress since your last post!!

 

Hey guys,

been extremely busy.

The car runs and drives and its hands down incredible. The power delivery is absolutely insane. It braps at 2k rpm idle, the clutch is incredibly smooth, easier than the twin-plate, and when you let it out she goes. The thing is when she goes, SHE GOES.

I forgot to put the wastegate flanged seals on, so we've been leaking exhaust out of the wastgates, preventing boost. (also a great mistake to find as it explains the AFR skews) Keep this in mind.

So took the car out for a drive after finally getting her on the ground. I take her around the block of the unit. Give this thing about 5-10% throttle in first, and let me tell you what; the torque hits you like a F*CKING cinderblock in the face. So much acceleration so hard, like whiplash torque as soon as you even sneeze on the throttle. I figured i must have been hitting spring pressure. Nope, no boost because later found out hte wastegates were expelling the exhaust.

And the sound. O my; its a total riot squad of satan's hornets. A constant anger, and it gets SO high strung as soon as you're moving. Sounds nothing like I expected from videos. Totally different then I imaged and it shakes your body and the car. So much tone. It feels like youre at 10k rpm while your running around at 3k, its just the nature of the 90* firing order causing a higher frequency that goes through the chassis and your body. You can feel it in your chest. Its absolutely mind blowing to me how this feels in person. I can't handle myself. lol

Mental note from that day was:

13>20b felt incredible. 20>26b feels like DOUBLE the difference from 13b>20b. So whatever you might think in your mind of a 26b's torque feeling, multiply it by 2x and you're around what it really is like. Its absolutely hands down insane just from a slight drive around the block. Brent Curran told me it would feel like a viper motor on steroids. He wasn't kidding. Not one bit. Its not just 4 rotor power, its like exponentially more powerful because of the high idle. Imagine letting out of your clutch at 2k rpm on a regular engine, that's alot of RPM to start out with...then the engine wants more accelerator as to not stall, soon as you give her more to keep her alive, you're on a missle launcher. Its just comical. I can't keep myself together, makes me bust out laughing!

I need to order the sequential as soon as get the cash together as this thing is going to f*cking destroy the transmission.

This is the first time I dare say I've built something thats actually too much. Its actually too much for my taste I donno WTF to do. Its insane!

haha

Anyhow, its at exhaust shop now. As its so loud it destroys your soul. The first thing out of Walker Morgans mouth when we rolled it into the bay was "ok ok I F*cking get it now, now I know why you said f*ck in the video) hahahah! YEs

So excited so happy to share with you all.

I'm moving to another unit for better ground clearance and preparing for the Nov 1st video. We are going to make the most epic start-up video honoring our country that you've ever seen. The video will make you proud to be a part of this country and proud to be a rotor head. It's going to be as genuine and as real as it gets. Ground up build from the storage unit showcased right here on site, and we have a surprise for you. We've got some awesome rotor-heads from around the nation who have been following, coming down to participate. This is what rotary is about. Thanks for following and god bless.

 

I am excited just reading that! Cannot wait for the big reveal. I do have a solution to your problem of not knowing what to do having built something too insane. Ship it over to the UK and I will look after it for you! Engine will just fine on it's own. Not sure I could drive a left hooker on top of all that mind blowing power!

 

 

Mother of god!