My First Build - Video Build Log
Yeah, feels pretty good to get it running again.
Didn't upload these pictures this morning because I was at work.
When the TB, UIM, coils, oil filler neck, and rats nest were removed for the 10th time
uncovering the primary injectors for testing
The old injector plugs
New injector wiring soldered in place
Didn't upload these pictures this morning because I was at work.
When the TB, UIM, coils, oil filler neck, and rats nest were removed for the 10th time
uncovering the primary injectors for testing
The old injector plugs
New injector wiring soldered in place
For those wondering why I'm going to sell my 1994 R2 after it's done... well, here it is:
It's a 1992 R1 that I bought last week. Mechanically, this RX-7 is what my end goal for the 1994 R2 was eventually going to be in 5 years. To meet my end goal I would have had to put almost as much in to my R2 as this one cost me to buy. The price was goooood and it was only 35 minutes from my house. The car isn't perfect and has some squeaks here & there but mechanically it's in A1 condition.
The car was imported in to Canada in 2007. In 2009 it was sold to someone in Saint John, New Brunswick. At the time it was in rough shape and the guy had to trailer it home. Over the next few years, he did all the work and also built a couple more FD's since then. In 2014 it was sold to another guy who only occasionally drove it on weekends and stored it the rest of the time. Then I bought it last week.
The interior is nice and clean. It even came with floor mats, two spare shift *****, one spare steering wheel, and the removed JDM fog lights.
Here's the main reason why I bought the car:
Car specs:
110,000 Km on body
10,000 Km on engine
Street port 13B (pineapple template)
Goopy Apex seals
Aeromotive stealth 340 fuel pump
fuel pump rewired
550/1600 injectors on KG rail
single turbo conversion
full 3" exhaust with HKS Super Dragger
OMP delete
Koyo rad & v-mount
battery relocated to trunk
all useless stuff removed
PowerFC & commander
Boost gauge and innovate wideband
357WHP @ 12Psi tune by thewird in Halifax
I'll drive this car all summer. Then I'll get to work on it come winter time when it's in storage.
But now it's time to finish and sell the R2.
It's a 1992 R1 that I bought last week. Mechanically, this RX-7 is what my end goal for the 1994 R2 was eventually going to be in 5 years. To meet my end goal I would have had to put almost as much in to my R2 as this one cost me to buy. The price was goooood and it was only 35 minutes from my house. The car isn't perfect and has some squeaks here & there but mechanically it's in A1 condition.
The car was imported in to Canada in 2007. In 2009 it was sold to someone in Saint John, New Brunswick. At the time it was in rough shape and the guy had to trailer it home. Over the next few years, he did all the work and also built a couple more FD's since then. In 2014 it was sold to another guy who only occasionally drove it on weekends and stored it the rest of the time. Then I bought it last week.
The interior is nice and clean. It even came with floor mats, two spare shift *****, one spare steering wheel, and the removed JDM fog lights.
Here's the main reason why I bought the car:
Car specs:
110,000 Km on body
10,000 Km on engine
Street port 13B (pineapple template)
Goopy Apex seals
Aeromotive stealth 340 fuel pump
fuel pump rewired
550/1600 injectors on KG rail
single turbo conversion
full 3" exhaust with HKS Super Dragger
OMP delete
Koyo rad & v-mount
battery relocated to trunk
all useless stuff removed
PowerFC & commander
Boost gauge and innovate wideband
357WHP @ 12Psi tune by thewird in Halifax
I'll drive this car all summer. Then I'll get to work on it come winter time when it's in storage.
But now it's time to finish and sell the R2.
Nice find on the new FD! Looks like that will be fun!
As always, a few notes -
- The new car doesn't look to have Greddy pullies, just looks like stock pullies painted or powdercoated blue. Real easy way to tell - stock pullies are steel, aftermarket is aluminum. If a magnet sticks to the pulley, it's steel and stock.
- An airpump idler pulley can help with belt slippage and overheating, but that is typically only something you would see doing LOTS of high RPM driving, like a track day. The biggest advantage is actually less wear on the airpump and wear on the stationary gear bearings. I just replaced a water pump and housing on a motor I built, the car had Greddy pullies and had a lot of side load on the water pump. Not only did it damage the water pump, but the pump's blades ate into the housing from being pulled off center. Had to junk both parts.
- The main fuse block under the hood that has the main power wire going back to the relocated battery has an exposed bracket sticking out and left over from it being connected to the battery. That bracket just bolts in to the fuse block, you can unbolt it and bolt the power wire directly to the fuse block. Makes everything nice and covered so you don't have a hot 12v post exposed that could short out.
- The seats are base model seals, the R package had a microfiber suede seat. Hard to tell what the car originally was, also the JDM packages are different. The US R1/R2 didn't have a rear wiper, so the fact that it's removed and plugged up is interesting. Most likely the car has just had parts swapped around on it. But, the biggie is no sunroof - that's VERY hard to just swap out
.
- You mention the turbo being slow to respond. Most single turbos should be at full song by 4000 RPM if not sooner. Does the car have a boost controller? A good boost controller can help ramp the boost up quicker - if you're waiting that late for power, that's power you're leaving on the table. Or, could be a boost leak or something else that's causing an issue.
Can't wait to see more adventures with your 2 cars!
Dale
As always, a few notes -
- The new car doesn't look to have Greddy pullies, just looks like stock pullies painted or powdercoated blue. Real easy way to tell - stock pullies are steel, aftermarket is aluminum. If a magnet sticks to the pulley, it's steel and stock.
- An airpump idler pulley can help with belt slippage and overheating, but that is typically only something you would see doing LOTS of high RPM driving, like a track day. The biggest advantage is actually less wear on the airpump and wear on the stationary gear bearings. I just replaced a water pump and housing on a motor I built, the car had Greddy pullies and had a lot of side load on the water pump. Not only did it damage the water pump, but the pump's blades ate into the housing from being pulled off center. Had to junk both parts.
- The main fuse block under the hood that has the main power wire going back to the relocated battery has an exposed bracket sticking out and left over from it being connected to the battery. That bracket just bolts in to the fuse block, you can unbolt it and bolt the power wire directly to the fuse block. Makes everything nice and covered so you don't have a hot 12v post exposed that could short out.
- The seats are base model seals, the R package had a microfiber suede seat. Hard to tell what the car originally was, also the JDM packages are different. The US R1/R2 didn't have a rear wiper, so the fact that it's removed and plugged up is interesting. Most likely the car has just had parts swapped around on it. But, the biggie is no sunroof - that's VERY hard to just swap out
.- You mention the turbo being slow to respond. Most single turbos should be at full song by 4000 RPM if not sooner. Does the car have a boost controller? A good boost controller can help ramp the boost up quicker - if you're waiting that late for power, that's power you're leaving on the table. Or, could be a boost leak or something else that's causing an issue.
Can't wait to see more adventures with your 2 cars!
Dale
Nice find on the new FD! Looks like that will be fun!
As always, a few notes -
- The new car doesn't look to have Greddy pullies, just looks like stock pullies painted or powdercoated blue. Real easy way to tell - stock pullies are steel, aftermarket is aluminum. If a magnet sticks to the pulley, it's steel and stock.
- An airpump idler pulley can help with belt slippage and overheating, but that is typically only something you would see doing LOTS of high RPM driving, like a track day. The biggest advantage is actually less wear on the airpump and wear on the stationary gear bearings. I just replaced a water pump and housing on a motor I built, the car had Greddy pullies and had a lot of side load on the water pump. Not only did it damage the water pump, but the pump's blades ate into the housing from being pulled off center. Had to junk both parts.
- The main fuse block under the hood that has the main power wire going back to the relocated battery has an exposed bracket sticking out and left over from it being connected to the battery. That bracket just bolts in to the fuse block, you can unbolt it and bolt the power wire directly to the fuse block. Makes everything nice and covered so you don't have a hot 12v post exposed that could short out.
- The seats are base model seals, the R package had a microfiber suede seat. Hard to tell what the car originally was, also the JDM packages are different. The US R1/R2 didn't have a rear wiper, so the fact that it's removed and plugged up is interesting. Most likely the car has just had parts swapped around on it. But, the biggie is no sunroof - that's VERY hard to just swap out.
- You mention the turbo being slow to respond. Most single turbos should be at full song by 4000 RPM if not sooner. Does the car have a boost controller? A good boost controller can help ramp the boost up quicker - if you're waiting that late for power, that's power you're leaving on the table. Or, could be a boost leak or something else that's causing an issue.
Can't wait to see more adventures with your 2 cars!
Dale
As always, a few notes -
- The new car doesn't look to have Greddy pullies, just looks like stock pullies painted or powdercoated blue. Real easy way to tell - stock pullies are steel, aftermarket is aluminum. If a magnet sticks to the pulley, it's steel and stock.
- An airpump idler pulley can help with belt slippage and overheating, but that is typically only something you would see doing LOTS of high RPM driving, like a track day. The biggest advantage is actually less wear on the airpump and wear on the stationary gear bearings. I just replaced a water pump and housing on a motor I built, the car had Greddy pullies and had a lot of side load on the water pump. Not only did it damage the water pump, but the pump's blades ate into the housing from being pulled off center. Had to junk both parts.
- The main fuse block under the hood that has the main power wire going back to the relocated battery has an exposed bracket sticking out and left over from it being connected to the battery. That bracket just bolts in to the fuse block, you can unbolt it and bolt the power wire directly to the fuse block. Makes everything nice and covered so you don't have a hot 12v post exposed that could short out.
- The seats are base model seals, the R package had a microfiber suede seat. Hard to tell what the car originally was, also the JDM packages are different. The US R1/R2 didn't have a rear wiper, so the fact that it's removed and plugged up is interesting. Most likely the car has just had parts swapped around on it. But, the biggie is no sunroof - that's VERY hard to just swap out
.- You mention the turbo being slow to respond. Most single turbos should be at full song by 4000 RPM if not sooner. Does the car have a boost controller? A good boost controller can help ramp the boost up quicker - if you're waiting that late for power, that's power you're leaving on the table. Or, could be a boost leak or something else that's causing an issue.
Can't wait to see more adventures with your 2 cars!
Dale
I was going to buy one from a guy in Halifax but he doesn't seem to be interested. He posted pictures on his instagram of the idler pulleys that he's manufacturing and said that he has one set aside for me but he never seems to answer emails and I can't get through to him at his shop. I've asked him 2-3 times how I can order one and how I can pay him but he just stops the conversation and never replies. I might have to go with a Pineapple pulley although it'll be much more expensive. It won't be until winter anyways, when the car is in storage. I want to do a few more things to it at that time too but, for now, I'm just going to leave it as is and drive it. Everything's working fine so I don't want to mess with anything...and I still need to finish the R2. It's been slow progress on the R2 because I haven't had much free time.
My JDM R2 still has the rear wiper. I don't know why the US models did not have one. I agree that there were some parts swapped out. The wing is not original (black paint) and it is possible that the seats were swapped too. The seats are in better shape than my R2 seats so I'm going to keep them. No sense in fixing something that doesn't need to be fixed.
No, the car does not have a boost controller. It's running on the wastegate spring at 12psi. I want to eventually get it retuned around 14-16 psi and hopefully make 425 whp. Maybe I'll buy an electronic boost controller for it but that won't be for a long time. 357 whp is plenty fast for me right now. I need to get a learn the car first, change the suspension, brakes, and then maybe up the boost.
I did a bunch of work on both cars this week. I put everything back together in the engine bay on the R2. Unfortunately, all the footage had audio issues and I couldn't use any of it. It was some good stuff too and I went through how to disassemble the throttle body, UIM, oil filler neck, coils, and rats nest. I didn't find out until the other night when I wanted to start editing. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.
The other things I did was take the Ground Control Advanced Design coilovers and Improved Racing sway bar links off of the R2 and put the stock suspension back on. I then took the GCAD coilovers and IR sway bar links and put them on the R1. The R1 had a mish mash of old Ohlins in the front and stock struts in the rear, which were all sitting on Tein lowering springs. The ride was terrible. It was very bumpy and the car felt loose when driving. The front end also felt a little loose under heavy breaking. The GCAD coilovers should fix the bumpy issues and the loose feeling while replacing the brakes, which I'll do in the near future, should solve the braking issue.
I also changed the fender liners and brake ducts from the R2 to the R1.
Anyways, here's the video. I split it in to two pieces because it would have ended up being over 25 minutes. I have the first par uploaded and will have the second part ready by next Saturday.
The other things I did was take the Ground Control Advanced Design coilovers and Improved Racing sway bar links off of the R2 and put the stock suspension back on. I then took the GCAD coilovers and IR sway bar links and put them on the R1. The R1 had a mish mash of old Ohlins in the front and stock struts in the rear, which were all sitting on Tein lowering springs. The ride was terrible. It was very bumpy and the car felt loose when driving. The front end also felt a little loose under heavy breaking. The GCAD coilovers should fix the bumpy issues and the loose feeling while replacing the brakes, which I'll do in the near future, should solve the braking issue.
I also changed the fender liners and brake ducts from the R2 to the R1.
Anyways, here's the video. I split it in to two pieces because it would have ended up being over 25 minutes. I have the first par uploaded and will have the second part ready by next Saturday.
Finishing up the coilover install. The ride feels much better now. I have the GCAD coilovers set on their softest setting for daily driving but the car feels more planted and less jumpy on bumpy roads, which there are a lot of around here, haha.
I had some more time to work on the R1 last week. The single turbo set up came with a straight through mid pipe, which was way too loud for me. It was so loud that I couldn't hear what the passenger way yelling at me while driving on the highway at 110 km/h (cruising speed). It didn't help that this is a JDM car and that the exhaust comes out directly behind my right ear.
I looked in to buying a resonated mid pipe from rx7store.com, and they were a lot of help with shipping, but because of the low dollar and the $100+shipping charge to Canada, the final price would have come out over $550 for a resonated mid pipe. I also checked Banzai Racing and Pettit but it was much the same story.
So, I looked at pictures of resonated mid pipes installed on cars to get an idea of how big the muffler was. After I knew the approximate measurements, I bought a 5x8x14 straight through muffler off of ebay, cut up my old high flow cat (which wasn't a cat at all as it turns out), and welded in the muffler. It worked like a charm and I'm pretty pleased with the results.
The car is still loud above 3000 rpm but it is much more manageable when cruising. The resonated mi pipe made a big difference in the drone of the exhaust. It sounds deeper and I don't feel embarrassed to drive the car around town. I can actually have a normal conversation with my passenger now while cruising and the exhaust is very manageable below 3000rpm.
Best of all, my wife likes riding in the car now.
I looked in to buying a resonated mid pipe from rx7store.com, and they were a lot of help with shipping, but because of the low dollar and the $100+shipping charge to Canada, the final price would have come out over $550 for a resonated mid pipe. I also checked Banzai Racing and Pettit but it was much the same story.
So, I looked at pictures of resonated mid pipes installed on cars to get an idea of how big the muffler was. After I knew the approximate measurements, I bought a 5x8x14 straight through muffler off of ebay, cut up my old high flow cat (which wasn't a cat at all as it turns out), and welded in the muffler. It worked like a charm and I'm pretty pleased with the results.
The car is still loud above 3000 rpm but it is much more manageable when cruising. The resonated mi pipe made a big difference in the drone of the exhaust. It sounds deeper and I don't feel embarrassed to drive the car around town. I can actually have a normal conversation with my passenger now while cruising and the exhaust is very manageable below 3000rpm.
Best of all, my wife likes riding in the car now.
I did a few things this weeks. We've been having a crazy heat wave, which has had us around 33*C - 38*C for the better part of two weeks, so I decided to take on a not-so-hot project.
I know that the PFC commander fits perfectly in the little ash tray on the centre console. It's a nice spot for it but this location really bugs me. I like to have all my gauges in easy view and was finding that I had to look down for one or two seconds (taking my eyes off the road) whenever I wanted to look at the commander screen. Then I saw a video on Youtube of the FEED RX7's, which all had the commander installed behind the steering wheel. This seemed like a perfect position for me. So I got to work.
The commander in the centre console location. Really not ideal.
Time to remove the Commander Plug
The big mess of wires that I found under the floor mat. I will tidy this up when the car is in storage during winter.
Commander out
Ready for it's new location. Notice my $9 it's-too-damn-hot-out short
Ready to feed the wire through the back of the dashboard.
Great Success!! Is Naice!
Using some velcro that I had left over. This will secure the commander to the steering column and make for easy removal if I ever have to move it.
All done.
Commander lit up
One last picture
On a side note. The commander blocks the water temp gauge on the instrument cluster. That's not a problem for me. The water gauge does not work because one of the previous owners clipped the plug for the water temp gauge while they were playing around on the wiring harness. And everyone knows that the stock water temp gauge only has three readings: cold, ok, and screwed. The water water temp gauge on the commander is much better.
The fuel gauge is still perfectly visible from my driving position.
I know that the PFC commander fits perfectly in the little ash tray on the centre console. It's a nice spot for it but this location really bugs me. I like to have all my gauges in easy view and was finding that I had to look down for one or two seconds (taking my eyes off the road) whenever I wanted to look at the commander screen. Then I saw a video on Youtube of the FEED RX7's, which all had the commander installed behind the steering wheel. This seemed like a perfect position for me. So I got to work.
The commander in the centre console location. Really not ideal.
Time to remove the Commander Plug
The big mess of wires that I found under the floor mat. I will tidy this up when the car is in storage during winter.
Commander out
Ready for it's new location. Notice my $9 it's-too-damn-hot-out short
Ready to feed the wire through the back of the dashboard.
Great Success!! Is Naice!
Using some velcro that I had left over. This will secure the commander to the steering column and make for easy removal if I ever have to move it.
All done.
Commander lit up
One last picture
On a side note. The commander blocks the water temp gauge on the instrument cluster. That's not a problem for me. The water gauge does not work because one of the previous owners clipped the plug for the water temp gauge while they were playing around on the wiring harness. And everyone knows that the stock water temp gauge only has three readings: cold, ok, and screwed. The water water temp gauge on the commander is much better.
The fuel gauge is still perfectly visible from my driving position.
Earlier in the week, I decided to put the exhaust back on the R2 and see why my clutch wouldn't engage. Turns out that my clutch slave cylinder's piston/ push rod had fallen out. I found it at the bottom of the bellhousing when I removed the starter. I decided to get a whole new slave cylinder, which should be here in a couple of weeks.
My wife and I decided to take a mini vacation this weekend and head to Halifax. It's a 4.5 hour drive so I had to make a decision: Which car to take.
Nope! Too loud
Not this one either
Bingo.
So we packed up the cooler with some snacks
And bought some ice
And got ready to hit the road
After two hours, we stopped in Moncton for a quick break before getting back on the road
Coming in to Nova Scotia
Driving past Amherst
We stopped in Shubenacadie to visit Atlantic Canada's only race track
It was closed so I walked around for a few minutes and took some pictures.
Nope! Too loud
Not this one either
Bingo.
So we packed up the cooler with some snacks
And bought some ice
And got ready to hit the road
After two hours, we stopped in Moncton for a quick break before getting back on the road
Coming in to Nova Scotia
Driving past Amherst
We stopped in Shubenacadie to visit Atlantic Canada's only race track
It was closed so I walked around for a few minutes and took some pictures.
We finally made it to our hotel after a long drive
What do you do after driving for 5.5 hours? More driving of course. We took a drive to Peggy's cove to see the light house.
It was quite busy
There were many smooth rocks
And a boat
And some ocean
And some buildings
We drove for a couple more hours but I didn't take any pictures. We took the scenic route along the coast to Chester, NS, and then took the highway back to our hotel.
The next day we went downtown to the Farmer's Market
Where we ran in to many people
And even more people
We also saw Theodore
And went to Pier 21. The immigration museum
I also took a picture of an island in the harbour
We took a trip to Lunenburg too. It's the home of the Bluenose, the fastest sailing ship at the time (100 years ago)
Downtown Lunenburg
Some boats at the docks
Another boat.
The two boats with the flags on them are owned by the Lunenburg Museum. We bought a museum pass and had full access to go through the two boats
The Museum & restaurant
The museum also had a replica of the biggest cod ever caught by hand. 211 Lbs
We drove for a couple more hours but I didn't take any pictures. We took the scenic route along the coast to Chester, NS, and then took the highway back to our hotel.
The next day we went downtown to the Farmer's Market
Where we ran in to many people
And even more people
We also saw Theodore
And went to Pier 21. The immigration museum
I also took a picture of an island in the harbour
We took a trip to Lunenburg too. It's the home of the Bluenose, the fastest sailing ship at the time (100 years ago)
Downtown Lunenburg
Some boats at the docks
Another boat.
The two boats with the flags on them are owned by the Lunenburg Museum. We bought a museum pass and had full access to go through the two boats
The Museum & restaurant
The museum also had a replica of the biggest cod ever caught by hand. 211 Lbs
There was also a fisherman's memorial next to the water
As we waited, the Bluenose 2 pulled in from a trip. You can book tickets and take a trip on it if you want but you have to book month's ahead.
While the Bluenose 2 is docked, you can step on board and walk on the deck
One final picture of Lunenburg form across the bay
We headed back to Halifax, got something to eat, and went back to the hotel.
The next day (Saturday) we headed downtown again. This weekend was the Buskers festival in Halifax so we caught some acts. I didn't take many pictures because there were so many people and I was tired.
My parking job. Parallel parking FTW
A group from Australia
Chrome Elvis
We saw 4-5 shows but I didn't take any pics.
We headed back in the afternoon and took the Gloosecap trail home. It's a stupid twisy road along the coast that turns in to winding road. The whole thing is about 200Km of twists and turns. Needless to say, I didn't take any pictures because I was having too much fun.
We got home at 10:30pm and went to sleep.
As we waited, the Bluenose 2 pulled in from a trip. You can book tickets and take a trip on it if you want but you have to book month's ahead.
While the Bluenose 2 is docked, you can step on board and walk on the deck
One final picture of Lunenburg form across the bay
We headed back to Halifax, got something to eat, and went back to the hotel.
The next day (Saturday) we headed downtown again. This weekend was the Buskers festival in Halifax so we caught some acts. I didn't take many pictures because there were so many people and I was tired.
My parking job. Parallel parking FTW
A group from Australia
Chrome Elvis
We saw 4-5 shows but I didn't take any pics.
We headed back in the afternoon and took the Gloosecap trail home. It's a stupid twisy road along the coast that turns in to winding road. The whole thing is about 200Km of twists and turns. Needless to say, I didn't take any pictures because I was having too much fun.
We got home at 10:30pm and went to sleep.
Also, got the R2 driving again. Having to wait two weeks for parts is really killing the build. The engine's been in the car and running since early May but little things have come up and it's taken 2-3 weeks to fix each one.
Last edited by H_M; Jul 31, 2016 at 11:08 AM.
The R2 has stock twins and I think the R1 has a T76. It looks like one of those $500 ebay T76 turbos. I want to eventually switch it out for a smaller turbo. The lag is huge and I'd rather have something with quick response than 600 hp.
The interior pieces in the R1 look nice but are all in pretty rough shape. The previous owner(s) broke a lot of mounting brackets, lost screws, and zip tied some things. These were things that really bugged me. I knew that I had to do something when I grabbed the gauge cluster and the whole hood came off and the cluster fell forwards because almost every mounting point was broken.
The Interior pieces on the R2 are in rough cosmetic shape but the mounting points are almost all still in good good condition. And I have all the screws for the parts.
So, tonight I began "Operation Interior Swap."
The interior of the R1 after I took off all the panels
The inside of the R2 after I removed the better pieces
R2 pieces that are going to be prepped for cleaning, sanding and painting, and refurbishing
I plan on sanding and painting the gauge face, A/C panel, and centre console in black. I'm also going to be making a new steering column mount for the PFC commander since I'll be switching steering wheels. And I'm going to put the efini steering wheel in the R1 so I can see the top of the gauges again.
The Interior pieces on the R2 are in rough cosmetic shape but the mounting points are almost all still in good good condition. And I have all the screws for the parts.
So, tonight I began "Operation Interior Swap."
The interior of the R1 after I took off all the panels
The inside of the R2 after I removed the better pieces
R2 pieces that are going to be prepped for cleaning, sanding and painting, and refurbishing
I plan on sanding and painting the gauge face, A/C panel, and centre console in black. I'm also going to be making a new steering column mount for the PFC commander since I'll be switching steering wheels. And I'm going to put the efini steering wheel in the R1 so I can see the top of the gauges again.
