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I think it's 12? However when adjusting coilovers, always go full hard and adjust down. That way you set them evenly. You know where full hard is, but not necessarily where full soft is.
Make sure you closely monitor engine/oil and IAT temps when you track it. A stock FD is not designed for contuned WOT. That's how i killed mine, but then again it was completley stock (pre-cat, IC, and radiator with no R1 oil cooler).
Finished the brake rebuild last weekend. It went very well. One small hitch but overall pretty smooth. The Endless pads are AWESOME. I went to bed them in during the week morning hours on the freeway and I did 11 80-40mph stops followed by 5 minute cool down and did that twice. Once they warmed up after the 3rd or 4th stop, they were incredible! My buddy had a ton of comments [he was in the passenger seat] on how crazy the stopping power was. I'm VERY excited to hit the track in June! I feel like now I'll be much more confident in getting deep into those braking zones and being able to actually stop the car :P The brakes are also SUPER quiet too. They don't make a single sound. The Endless MX72 pads are SO worth the money. The pads I took off had some sort of blue backing plate to it so I feel they might have been EBC? Regardless, they were shredded. The whole job wasn't too bad. It was very time consuming. If you decide to undertake it yourself, I highly recommend taking two days to do it. Do the fronts one day and the rears the other. The Motive Power Bleeder is a clutch tool for the job too. Bleeding was effortless and the pedal came out nice and stiff. Clutch pedal was also nice and stiff! Two bottles of the RF650 fluid was definitely enough. I guess now I have another bottle on standby for the next flush :P
The quality of the SBG garage lines is top notch! I had a small issue where the front left line was leaking and it ended up being a faulty flare seal on the SBG line. SBG QUICKLY sent me out a replacement. Their customer service is top notch!
Plans now are WHEELS next. I also need to fix my leaking oil pan with a Banzai brace and either new OEM mounts or FFE/Aftermarket. Undecided on mounts so far. I would also love one of those fancy Banzai transmission cross members. Once the oil pan fix is underway, I'm gonna replace my noisy steering rack boots with some new OEM ones I got for a sweet deal in the classified and some new boots for the tie rod ends. Then I'll align it and keep on trackin'!
I would say the dust is average for a brake pad. It's not unnecessarily dusty or anything. The stopping power is what makes the pads shine.
On another note I started a project last night. I still had the bucking issue when hot between 2000 and 3000 RPM. The TSB didn't help so I decided to take it a step further. I pulled my charging harness and replace the ground cable for the battery and the one to the engine block with a 2 gauge battery cable. I purchased this awesome crimper from harbor freight.
This thing has some serious crimping power.
I ran one long cable from the block to the fuse block bracket and one from a new battery terminal to the same spot on the fuse block bracket. After I replaced the ground, I rewrapped the opened areas with self fusing silicone tape and re installed the cable. No comments so far on whether the hesitation/bucking is gone. I'll give it like 2 weeks :P. I'm definitely not going to say this has made my idle smoother/3k hesitation disappear/beer taste better. I don't expect it to. I simply took a factory wire and replaced it with a bigger one.
Im not sure what the difference is between AZ and Ca smog, but when i took mine to smog with a new 3" bonez cat and new O2 i failed! ...twice... however a friend let me use his low mileage oem cat and it passed! Im not sure why that is because isnt the bonez cat supposed to be the best out there? sorry if its a noob questions, as I am but did the premix have alot to do with it running so clean?
Last edited by Takahashi808; 05-08-16 at 04:05 AM.
The brakes were WONDERFUL this time around. Very confidence inspiring compared to my last session. Pedal was rock hard the whole time and I could really get into the brake zones. I didn't need to worry about letting off at the end of straights because I feared my brakes wouldn't stop me :p. The MX72 pads were epic for sure. This event was on my same crappy "Fierce UHP" tires. I had two small issues at the track however. I get a light steamy colored smoke from behind my UIM following a run from a leak I can't seem to spot. There is wetting on my rear iron but I can't seem to pin point where it's coming from. I'm thinking I'll need to pressurize the system and check. She got a bit warm on my last session as well. I've got refurbished R1 dual coolers and a Koyo, yet my coolant temps measured at the throttle body line hit about 230*F. When I noticed it warming up I cooled it for the last few laps. I run 50/50 water and ethelyne glycol, I'm wondering if there are more steps to take to ensure my temps stay down? It was just under 100*F that last run as well. The next event is in September and I will definitely have some new wheels and rubber for it.
Awesome. The stock configuration is known to run too hot for serious tracking.
Do you have the N-flo koyo? If not, that might be an improvement. There's not a lot of air space with the stock setup, in the engine bay. You could switch to a mini battery and aftermarket intake to improve airflow and cooling. A vented hood would help. Running Evans NPG instead of water and coolant could mitigate boiling.
Seems like you're trying to keep it stock, and you're starting to push the limits of the stock setup in terms of cooling.
I had two small issues at the track however. I get a light steamy colored smoke from behind my UIM following a run from a leak I can't seem to spot. There is wetting on my rear iron but I can't seem to pin point where it's coming from.
There's a coolant hose that connects the rear iron to the TB. It might be coming from there
Originally Posted by Mrmatt3465
She got a bit warm on my last session as well. I've got refurbished R1 dual coolers and a Koyo, yet my coolant temps measured at the throttle body line hit about 230*F. When I noticed it warming up I cooled it for the last few laps. I run 50/50 water and ethelyne glycol, I'm wondering if there are more steps to take to ensure my temps stay down?
You may want to try less glycol with water wetter. Water has better heat transfer abilities than glycol, but has a lower boiling point (you'll need a higher psi rated cap). More aggressive mods would be to ditch your A/C condenser (if you still have it), install bigger oil coolers, and enlarge the bumper opening (99 spec or shark tooth mod). Make sure the radiator is ducted as well.
+1 on either getting a smaller battery or moving it out of the engine bay. It's a giant cube of lead right on top of the fans.
With the stock IC, you should also monitor your IAT's.
I've been doing reading on ways to lower my temps and "how hot is too hot". I've definitely hit the threshold for getting dangerous so measures must be taken. I went to look at the mouth of my bumper and noticed that while I had sealed the sides of the radiator with foam, I had failed to seal the lower portion where the undertray is I will be grabbing some more sealing foam and rectifying that issue. I noticed the stock bumper has these black air guides that are on either corner of the mouth of the bumper. If I remove them, it exposes a rather large opening in the sides where air would escape right by. I'm considering removing them and fabbing up a duct to create a larger mouth and to funnel everything to the radiator. I've tried looking for the shark tooth mod on the forum and have only found a few pictures. More research to be done there. Because this is a daily driver, I'd prefer not to remove my nice cold AC in this AZ summer heat I'll drain and fill the system this weekend with a higher concentration of distilled water and some water wetter as well.
I grabbed a coolant pressure tester and pumped up the system. I had no loss in pressure and no leak could be spotted from the throttle body coolant line, the thermowax valve, or frankly anywhere back there. :/ is it possible to have a rear main leak so bad that it's slinging oil onto the top of my rear iron and causing the light smoke? I do have a pretty bad oil leak that I regularly wipe off the pan, transmission pan, etc.
Matt
Edit:
I figured out how I'll make my bumper mouth opening larger! Touring model FD's had foglight and smaller air guides on either side. I'll simply grab some touring bumper air guides and enjoy a factory ducted wider mouth
Edit edit:
Scratch that plan. The touring air guides require the foglight brackets to be mounted :/
is it possible to have a rear main leak so bad that it's slinging oil onto the top of my rear iron and causing the light smoke? I do have a pretty bad oil leak that I regularly wipe off the pan, transmission pan, etc.
Possible sources for oil leaks on the top of the block could be your OMP lines/nozzles, oil filter pedestal, oil fill neck, and turbo oil feed
BTW, I'm having hard enough time trying to balance a street/track car let alone a DD/track car.
Oil nozzles and lines are new. Oil filter pedestal O rings are also new. I'll have to check on the turbo oil feed however.
I loved my first Rx7. But I love this one even more now that I've seen track time in it. I plan on getting a daily within the year. It pains me to put the miles on the seven from the daily commute. She is at 70,500 miles now but at the end of the day, a car is much more fun driven than put in the garage to sit. The seats are uncomfortable, the gas mileage sucks, and I've got a cassette player with an aux cord tape for a radio. But you know what? I love this damn car.
I loved my first Rx7. But I love this one even more now that I've seen track time in it. I plan on getting a daily within the year. It pains me to put the miles on the seven from the daily commute. She is at 70,500 miles now but at the end of the day, a car is much more fun driven than put in the garage to sit. The seats are uncomfortable, the gas mileage sucks, and I've got a cassette player with an aux cord tape for a radio. But you know what? I love this damn car.
Can't beat it, that's for sure. If I had a bigger garage, I'd definitely have two.
Other oil possibilities could be blow by that is leaking somehow. Do you have a catch can? If you track it, you should have one. I was emptying about 2 pints per run. If that get's in your intake and you have any leaks, that could be spraying on your engine.
I actually don't have a catch can. All my intake gaskets are new. So I don't think that would be it. I picked up some water wetter, distilled water, ethylene glycol, and some foam today. I'll be sealing up the bottom part of my radiator this weekend and draining and filling the cooling system with a 70/30 mix. Its getting pretty hot out. its over 100*F every day this week. Good thing I work the evening shift! I'm still having the issue where my FD bucks and jerks after stalling a bit below 3000 RPM with the AC on. Its a condition that is seriously agitated by heat and today I went to flip flop my fuel pump and circuit relay [speed and normal fuel pump]. I have a slight theory that maybe my relay is dying and will flip flop when it gets super hot. Might be a long shot, but this is cheaper than buying new relays [dumb things are like $75 each]. If this doesn't fix it, than I really need to go rent a fuel pressure gauge and just monitor my fuel pressure.
You should get a catch can if you track it and run the oil level a little low. Do you have a PFC? They don't seem to be the smoothest, esp with AC on. It could also be the 3k issue (which I never had BTW until I installed a PFC). If you think it's your relays, they can be tested (test them hot).
04-17-16, 12:47 PM
I will be grabbing some more sealing foam and rectifying that issue. I noticed the stock bumper has these black air guides that are on either corner of the mouth of the bumper. If I remove them, it exposes a rather large opening in the sides where air would escape right by. I'm considering removing them and fabbing up a duct to create a larger mouth and to funnel everything to the radiator. I've tried looking for the shark tooth mod on the forum and have only found a few pictures. More research to be done there. Because this is a daily driver, I'd prefer not to remove my nice cold AC in this AZ summer heat 
I'll drain and fill the system this weekend with a higher concentration of distilled water and some water wetter as well. 