I have been on this forum for quite a while, in fact i have just eclipsed my 10yr anniversary for being a member. Over this time I have owned two FDs, learned a lot about cars, and this car in particular, and learned a lot about my self. I have just finished my build of a 1994 RX7 and my friend (boosted414) told me I should do a look back build thread detailing the intricacies of my build and what I wanted to achieve and how I got there.

(this thread will be added to as I go so don't expect the whole story at once)

The thought was simple when I first started out - I just want a reliable fun RX7 for the weekends. I knew absolutely nothing about this car aside from what I could read online. As many of you can a test to, reading is one thing. Reading, understanding, and doing are a completely different world. Invariably, the HP bug got me and I knew I would be building this car.

The final goal that I wanted to achieve, was to have a Low Mileage FD with over 500 RWHP while maintaining Power Steering, Cruise Control, ABS, and of course A/C. I wanted to build this for a great street machine and show car, but also have the ability to hit the local drag strip and more importantly road race and surprise the regulars at the track when the HPDE Day's come around at the many local tracks.

Needless to say I achieved all my goals. This build thread will hopefully shed some insight in my journey and also detail what steps I have taken, lessons I have learned, and share what I think is a gorgeous 3rd gen specimen.

I picked up my second FD In November of 2008. I had just bought one from Tennessee and three weeks after buying it i had someone pull out in front of me across traffic causing me to total that 94 Base model. My insurance was excellent and it put me in the position to find my next FD. My second FD was owned by a forum member (RickRX7) up in Washing State. He had bought it with 5K miles from the previous owner and had babied this car for the next 10 yrs of its life. I happened upon this car on the For Sale threads along with one Fritz Flynn was selling. I called Fritz first and we talked through the details of the FD he had available, and to his credit he told me, "Don, the car you want based on the questions you are asking is the one up in WA. Low mileage in pristine condition, and already tuned to a conservative 300 RWHP." It was more expensive, but completely worth the money.

I flew to Washington State from Chicago on a 1 way ticket to find this beauty:









The Mods on this car were straight forward and very well done:
1994 BB PEP package FD
28K miles on stock motor
Greddy Elbow
M2 Medium IC
M2 CF CAI Box
550 & 1200 CC Fuel Injectors
PFC tuned to 12 PSI on stock twins - 300 RWHP
Turbo Jeff Battery Tray
Petit Aluminum AST
ACT Street Strip Clutch
Racing Beat Exhaust
Bonez Midpipe
3" Petit Downpipe

I picked up the car from Washington State and drove it all the way back to Chicago. A drive and an event I will not forget. And thus the addiction started back in the late fall/early winter of 2008.

 

After going to Midwest Mazda Fest in 2009 and seeing some other FDs and meeting people local to me with RX7s newer and older I wanted to start slowly modifying this car and personalizing it to my tastes. The first thing I had to take care of was to modify the suspension. On my drive home from Midwest Mazda fest I blew a tire in the middle of nowhere at 2AM. Luckily I had my set of wheels from my previous FD that I could swap right on when I got home.



Needless to say... the Baja 4x4 look on an RX7 just didn't work for me anymore.

I went out and found a set of Tokico Shocks and Eibach Springs to lower the car down. This pic was after I took them off as one of the Tokicos was leaking, but you get the idea.



Now the car sat much cleaner.



I then bought the Banzai Racing Diff Brace, and a nice powder coated black R1 strut bar to start dressing up the car.

I also vented the BlowOff Valve so I could hear the nice Pssssshhhhhh



First set of baby steps to making this car the street weapon it is today.

 

I got the suspension updated and I decided it was time to take the car to the track where it belongs for a little bit of fun... This was when the hobby became an addiction and I have never looked back.

Still at 300 RWHP I was out driving many c5 and c6 corvette owners and the handling in the corners with simply upgraded springs and shocks was amazing. Just Time Attack HPDE day type of stuff but enough to make the addiction stick.










After a few sessions at Blackhawk Farms and the AutoBahn in Joliet, it was winter time and with Winter, it was time to get cracking on making this a better track machine and taking advantage of IL's no emission testing for pre 1996 automobiles.

First things first, I needed to eliminate the Air Pump, ACV, etc. I bought Banzai's block off plate kit and did everything except for the OMP, and the ISC. I also followed the advice of many on the forum and purchased Pineapple racing's idler pulley to keep a solid contact patch on my water pump with the Airpump gone.



I then took off my oil cooler and replaced it with a dual setup.

Interestingly enough, I had been driving this car around for a yr plus with over 5K miles on it with an old rusty razor blade sitting in the plastic ducting from a previous owner... the thing almost hit me in the head when I dropped the plastic duct work! :0



The oil cooler lines I bought used had a bend taken out of them and wouldn't line up properly with my stock-ish setup.



so I went to a local hydraulic line company and they made me a nice 1500psi flex hose to conenct the second oil cooler in line (cost all of about $25). While i had the coolers out I cleaned up and straightened the fins so I could get the best cooling possible. I also got a nice new Koyo Nflow radiator and figured I would be all set.

However, while I had everything apart, I decided, why not port the turbo manifold and the twins and the wastegate while I am at it to get the best flow possible. So I had the twins ported and while I was at it did the rich mans non sequential modification as well (maybe the one mod I wouldn't do if I could go back... I think simplified sequential would have been more fun and less laggy - but the extra HP was nice)

 

Looking good Don, what did you use to port the manifold? I'm looking to port my wastegate soon, wanna get whatever bits I need so I have it in hand when I need it.

 

get a set of carbide. and take your time. or just drop it off where don did. I think it cost him like 125

 

Thanks Bill, bits ordered

Don we need more pictures

 

After getting everything back together it was time to take the car to the dyno and just see what the mods had done if anything for power. As expected the HP #s were slightly up over the previous Sequential setup with a nice smooth curve. Lag wasn't terrible seeing full boost by 3800RPM with boost being controlled with the PFC and the waste gate actuation controls.



A few more Hard pipes added in for the intake and an HKS twin power to drive the ignition and this is how she sat for the better part of the summer.

Now after doing this work I joined my buddy to head down to Midwest Mazda Fest down in Indianapolis for a little FD fun and hopefully to pick up some awards for my fairly clean FD. On the way down there I started to notice a terrible sounding exhaust leak. When I put my turbos back on the car from the work I did in the winter I decided to purchase graphite gaskets to seal the manifolds... big mistake. this is what happened after 500 miles...




Luckily the car show didn't require you to start the car. My FD won the first of many show awards and we had plenty of photos to show for it.



On the drive home I realized the Tokicos were going. I turned to Japan2LA (before he went AWOL and was a good vendor) and found these mint Showa Bathurst Coilovers. I put them on full lowered and it made the car sit even more aggressively.







At this point I had it out to the track a few more times and started thinking what's next.

The one thing that kept driving me crazy was this school bus steering wheel so that was next on my list to get solved.

 

Note it should have said full Boost by 4800 RPM... NS twins...

 

Love the stance and the wheels on it.

 

Glad to see it on a track where it belongs! Hope to see more next season.

 

liking it!

 

Great looking FD. In for more on the progression...

 

Looks immaculate & nicely done

Has it been resprayed? The paint looks great.

 

As best as I know the paint on this car is original except for the front bumper. RICKRX7 who owned this car before me was literally the perfect owner to buy a used car from. When I went to pick it up, he pushed the car out of his garage to keep from any door dings. The guy babied the exterior of this car and the interior, but drove it like it was meant to be.

I have a friend who has a new 370z who said, "god Damn, if just bought this car and your 20yr old RX has better paint than my Z.. "

 

After going Non Sequential, I realized that any mod I do to this car that I do it with out giving up a capability or component that came with the car. So I had and still have no desire to rip out things like Power Steering, ABS, A/C, and cruise control. The cruise control posed a challenge however. the School Bus steering wheel that came with this car was just a bit to big. My legs fit a bit tight and as many other members stated, a slightly smaller wheel would be one of the best mods I could do. In wanting to keep this car close to OEM look and feel, and knowing that the Nardi 99 wheels didn't come with cruise control I had to do some real custom work. Luckily I wasn't the first to do this so I had a blue print.

I bought a 99'-02 Nardi wheel from GoodfellaFD3S and discovered the size and foot print of the wheel was exactly like an '03 Mazda protege. So I bought a LKQ protege wheel with the cruise buttons minus the airbag for $30 and took the cuise buttons off the LKQ wheel. I then matched the cruise control housing buttons to the new wheel I bought from Goodfella and realized the fitment would be damn near OEM.



The next issue I came to was realizing that the resistors were different from the 94 rx7 cruise mechanism to the '03 protege. I took apart my FD cruise mechanism and found that the electronics boards were effective the SAME...just with different resistors. So I got out my solder gun and took the resistors out of each board and swapped the Protege's circuit board resistors with the FDs.



Viola.. 100% working cruise control on the new steering wheel with the OEM cruise mechanism.

Not only that, but this wheel looks OEM!!!






My next project was to start to SHINE up the Engine bay components. Since I had never really polished metal before, my buddy let me "practice" on his Subaru Valve covers on his buggy.

They started out looking like this:



Finished product...



Now it is time to get down and dirty with my own engine bay

 

Very smooth Steering wheel mod!