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So this is my second FD, but the first RX7 that I rode in back in 2001. My best friend in HS bought this car back in 2000. We went to watch the Fast & Furious in it in 2001, and I always loved the car. I bought it off him in the spring of 2015.
He originally bought the car off of a guy out of NY and had it shipped to Indiana. AIM in Indy did a lot of work on it in the mid 2000s to include a Atkins Reman when the engine blew. The good thing about the car is I have known the previous owner my whole life and have all of his receipts, but it did sit for nearly a decade!
I bought the car for a really good price understanding that it need a lot of TLC. The bushings in the rear end were gone, it was leaking oil, engine had 60k on it, and the interior needed a lot of attention.
Like I said, it was the first RX7 I rode in and fell in love with, so I wanted to restore and revive her to her former glory...this is my Labor of Love!
The car was set-up running the stock twins on the stock ecu with many of the reliability mods done. It had an upgraded Koyo radiator, but stock plastic AST so that thing was changed out. The down pipe was upgraded to remove the pre-cat. Almost all of the reliability stuff was done down to the vacuum lines replaced/upgraded to silicone, but most of this was done a decade ago or so.
The first thing I did last year was work on getting the car set-up to make power down the road, so I dug into the suspension and drive train.
I started by replacing all the pillow ***** and other bushings in the front and rear, upgraded to ISC Coilovers, adjustable trailing arms, Banzai's differential and transmission braces, and going over the brakes.
Of course I added some wheels too. That is how she stayed for most of 2015.
The car's interior was in pretty rough shape. I pulled just about everything out of the car to redo tons of stuff in the fall of 2015.
The red leather seats were bad, so I found a nice set from Jim down in TN. Luckily his brother lives close to me and brought them up for free while traveling.
The 93 plastics were horrible, so I media blasted them with Walnut. I tried to recover them myself, but I am too OCD and rattle cans weren't going to cut it. I had them professionally redone and I am glad I did! They turned out great.
I also added a RX8 shift **** and new leather boots.
I also added an Innovate Wideband and Boost Gauge that are wired into the Power FC. I also added a 3" catless exhaust all the way out too while adding the wideband.
So the winter time has come which means big overhaul!
Kerosene heater is a must for all the garage love. I was able to squeeze all three cars in the garage and still have a second make shift work bench area in front of my daily driver. I just leave it in the drive when I'm working on the 7. The system works really well actually.
I removed the condenser, radiator, stock IC, and AC stuff. I am redoing the entire AC system, so it was more for the extra space during engine removal.
The transmission only had 5K miles since it was rebuilt prior to me purchasing the car and I recently redid all the braces, so it stayed in the car!
Once I got her out and stripped down, the motor went to a good friend and engine builder down in GA.
So here are a bunch of pics from the engine tear down and porting over the last month. Engine was running fine and had 100psi on both rotors before the tear down.
There were a few surprises and issues, but overall the engine was in real good shape. There were some collapsed springs, stripped threads in the pan, and bent banzai pan brace and cause of my oil leaks...
So the engine cleaning brought good news. The engine was in great condition overall
So street port love before the plates were sent off to be lapped. Then my buddy turned his attention to the housings. Adding some goodies to the engine when assembly time comes in a couple of weeks!
So while the engine is getting reworked I did a lot of parts buying, cleaning, and rebuilding/reconditioning:
So I powder coated the UIM, LIM, AC/PS mount, and a bunch of the accessories Satin Black. I even had the Banzai block off plates coated too.
The Y-pipe items were ceramic coated along with all the twin turbo manifolds and other parts were powder coated.
It was 60 degrees Saturday so I pulled out the de-greaser, purple power, and my power washer to clean up the engine bay. I will repaint the lower section in the next couple weeks since they are pretty rough.
I purchased a set of lower mileage twins with about 40k miles on them. I went the route that most people say not to go and had them rebuilt by an old friend out in AZ. He procured the parts and triple balanced the turbos. The wastegate was ported and then the housings were ceramic coated along with the heat shields.
Always nice to hear stories like this. Now I may have missed it but why did you tear the motor down? Love the red as well
Because I'm insane... No reason other than I wanted everything to be redone and I didn't want to wait for it to blow. It will basically be a brand new "stockish" rebuild when I'm done.
My other FD was a GT35 car with AI, but the future for this car is an EFR IWG 8374. Look at the bottom center of the pic...already ceramic coated!
That is the result if improper installation of the pan brace. If the installer had inspected the pan lip, it would have been avoided. Interesting that they went through the trouble of counter sinking each hole and changing out the hardware. We have never offered it without the stud kit.
That is the result if improper installation of the pan brace. If the installer had inspected the pan lip, it would have been avoided. Interesting that they went through the trouble of counter sinking each hole and changing out the hardware. We have never offered it without the stud kit.
I completely agree. There were a few things that I had a shop do for me due to a lack of time, but that will never happen again. There is a reason I usually do my own work...attention to detail and making sure everything is 100% correct! (Not a knock on all vendors, just some!)
I decided to create my own oil cooler kit because I am a DIY guy. The left side took a bit to figure out how I wanted to mount them, but the right side took 10 minutes. I bought the hardware from home depot or had it laying around. I cut the stock cooler rubber bushings, but need to find some additional maybe even thinner bushings to avoid all metal on metal contact.
I have about $300 in the setup total with 2x 25 Row Coolers, -10AN fittings, black nylon hose, and a derale thermostat.
I still need to paint the brackets. Once they are dried I will add the proper hardware and bushings. Once I get the engine back I will mock up the lines.
Yesterday I went a little crazy. I started by pulling out the condenser to check it out and clean it. It had a good amount of debris inside the plastic housing. I have a new compressor and drier. I am going to take the evaporator, condenser, and lines to be cleaned and pressure tested. I ordered a new expansion valve and o-ring kit too. I will probably order a new thermo switch since everything else will be new too. The shop that is cleaning everything has R12 for $50/lb, but I have a buddy that has 5 - 12oz cans he is going to give me. I am hoping the AC system will perform like new when I'm done!
From there I decided I should pull all the interior minus the dash out so I can run the new battery cable, rewire the fuel pump, put in a Supra fuel pump, and run the amplifier cables. All that is pretty easy and straight forward.
I decided to drop the fuel tank and redo all the high pressure fuel lines. I still need to clean the tank. I am going to relocate the fuel filter while the tank is out too. I don't think there is anything I haven't or won't touch on this car!!!
Last edited by Show_off; 03-13-16 at 10:34 AM.
Reason: Updates
I finally completed the fuel system. I changed all the rubber hose under the car with new 1/4" and 5/16" high pressure line, put in the supra denso pump, and I changed the fuel filter to an inline Earls unit that I mounted on top of the tank where it is accessible through the pump access plate.
With the fuel system done, I then turned my attention to the sound deadening.
I've got some goodies coming in theail before I put the hatch area back together. The battery and cabling install should go down tomorrow.
I finished up the sound deadening and mocking up my battery relocation mount and cabling yesterday.
I'm using a WestCo Sealed Battery.
Removing the stock matting was a pain. I had to chip that crap out, but it came out good in the end.
0 gauge battery and ground cables should handle the car, lights, and stereo stuff nicely.
I ran two 3/8" rods through the chassis, bolting them in place with SS hardware (flat washer, lock washer, and lock nuts) outside and inside the chassis.
I then added another nut with a flat washer to adjust the height and to sit the 3/16" x 3" steel plate platform on. I then added another set of flat and lock washers and nut that I tightened down to lock in all in place. It came out very sturdy. I also added a Stinger 150 AMP breaker.
The battery and terminals fit in the bin perfect. I am going to use a 200lbs strap to hold the battery in place. I still have to run the fuel pump and amplifier power cables before I lock it all back down and finish up putting the interior back in.
So I actually finished up all the wiring today. I decided to use a step drill bit and make 3/4" holes through the bar on the trans tunnel the bins set on to run the wire through it. It came out very clean.
The fuel pump was rewired too. I'm glad all the wiring is done. I started putting the interior back in, but clips and retainers are needing resourced!
My engine is finally being stacked! Super Excited!
It is a large street port with RA Classic Seals, Atkins kit w/ solid corners, Freelance Motorsports Dowels, lapped and hand polished. Credit to my buddy Myles for the awesome build.
02-21-16, 06:29 PM
No reason other than I wanted everything to be redone and I didn't want to wait for it to blow. It will basically be a brand new "stockish" rebuild when I'm done.
