This next piece is going to be put in the too much time for what should have been an easy fix category. HVAC dash panel should be get equipment, drill holes for buttons, install. Done

I am big on aesthetic (yea yea my bumper headlight and fenders need to be realigned - I'll get to it), and am big on if you're going to do it might as well make it look good if you can. I appreciate a little extra effort and thought on the front end

Full disclosure, I am not a graphic designer. I am in finance, and excel has been my bread and butter for over two decades - might as well stick to what you know. Coincidentally, my wife's a graphic designer but I am stubborn with too much OCD and figured it would best if I muddled through the design than bothering her.

Step one - set everything to scale with 1/16" grids





Step two - design trial and error



Step three - problem solve. I really didn't want everything for HVAC other than full blast fan, full heat towards the windshield only. Talked with Paul in person on a solution all ran through an on off latching



Step four -finalize and prepare for print. I left this one up to the professional. Finding a vinyl shop to actually print something this small was the trickiest part. The pieces were too small for my sister's Cricut, one shop said they could do it then their machine mysteriously broke and they stopped returning phone calls. We found a shop my wife works with who said on the backend they will do this only once - luckily we have three sets of backups










Mundane "so what?" kind of a project, but waaay too many hours into it. Looking forward to how it comes out all mounted up and electronically squared away

 

Amazing rebuild!!!!

 

Thanks Ben - same with yours

 

Great work. Great read. Since I gather you track this a lot, perhaps get the Banzai tranny and diff braces.

 

Thanks Gordon! I hope all is going well with you - it has been a while.

I was actually talking with Peter a few weeks ago about the Chris Carlisi memorial meets down at your house from way back when. They were a lot of fun - even that one part when Dan goaded me into a speeding ticket on our way to get ice cream! I had tried looking for my pictures on an old hard drive and laptop. I'll share them again if I can track them down.


Here are a few spottings of when I used to get out for more than just track days

love Renna and Dan playing little rascal adults trying to get a loan


Your recommendations on Banzai braces are spot on. I have a few multi-point Autoexe braces going in at the strut towers, and had initially wanted to import a set of their chassis braces. A little trickier with JDM to USDM mounting, so I will eventually grab Chris's set instead

 

Found my pictures from the 2010 Chris Carlisi Memorial Meet.

Rest in peace friend

 

The good old days

 

Always good in hindsight

I think staying at your house in CT took out at least 2 and a half hours commute the next morning (compounded exponentially on comfort without A/C and radio )

 

Those were good meets. I still had some hair back then that wasn't white...

RIP Chris

 

You can always get some dye.

Anyone know whatever happened to Dennis/sinned? Haven't seen him in 10 years until seeing that pic

 

Not sure what happened to him. I had seen him a few times at a few cruises / meets over the years and he had always asked for my red trunk divider when we saw eachother - always a "maybe, not right now but maybe eventually" hard to part with one offs like that even more so 12 years later. Chris actually snagged the set of my red door sills (was awesome to see a tiny part of my build in his) and I sold my red leathers for a song - a few feelings of regret now that I see how far from stock my interior is (*something something always good in hindsight something something*) A full red interior (sans race seat) with super tight roll cage up to the A-pillar could fill that regret a bit...

I have always been on a bit of a rotary island up here in Massachusetts and have been out of the loop for years (if not a decade plus). Unfortunately haven't stayed as connected as I used to be, and getting around in my RX-7 had turned into an anxiety riddled time on the streets - some of these New England roads are terrible and running low hanging carbon fiber gets stressful. Hoping to make it out to more than just the racetrack once I am squared away

Great to see some old schooler builds still going - yours included Colin

 

JRZ's prepped for hibernation (depressurized) - thanks Peters (Mr. Hahn and Mr. McParland) for your help on what I now know is a simple exercise (better safe)! We'll touch base on a good nitrogen tank setup most likely next year (already sent me some great ideas)

 

Adding these beauties from Mr. Mui into my growing "jump the shark" column. Looking into large piece carbon fiber bits from Kawato-san to make this addition proper








I think the next logical step will be to buy a full roller - I'll have enough mechanical and bodywork to build a complete FD from the ground up at this rate...

Logic is one thing, getting approval from my better three-quarters is another thing... See you guys eventually in the marketplace :/

 

Too bad rollers go for $15k+ these days.

 

*if you can find a roller


Brought some things in from the garage for the fall/winter last night. I was sitting in a meeting this morning and had an idea of what to do with the box sitting next to me...

nerds gonna nerd






Surprisingly not as uncomfortable over the long haul as I thought. Or is this what Stockholm syndrome feels like... Not sure when this will be going in the FD. I had a dumb idea of putting it in my bimmer but it would be a nightmare on the streets (especially with a five year old kicking that super aramid in the backseat). Figured I might as well get some more use out of it in the meantime. Maybe some hibernation sim racing?

 

Sweet calculator.

 

I have had my TI-84 Plus since college pre-req's and still use that thing everyday (even with a large calculator in front of me at all times). The thing would legally be able to drive at this point!

: )

 

Nice shelf, I have the same one in my office as well, mainly fill with manga and manhua lol.

You need bigger screens

 

You're absolutely spot on with needing bigger screens, Henry!

I think one of these monitors is going to have to go back to the office once we finish up 100% remote, so I might go full Swordfish with something much bigger then


My manga collection is a little light, but I nerd up for it on the WOTC / Salvatore side : )






Let's see your office set ups!

 

I re-arranged it at the very beginning of the pandemic, I'm glad I did as we might move toward more working from home from now on, might only go back once a week and that won't even start till 2022.

Definitely need a better office chair tho.

 

Legend has it, the screaming 787 pumpkin was banished by the frightened villagers for fear of facing it head on!

Anyone else getting in the Halloween spirit?!




Went back to my roots a little bit this year in bringing my E92 out for some autocross fun with bmwcca up at Fort Devens. Pretty good group compared to what I remember running with scca in the SM2 days.

I knew it would be a bunch of fun runs since I took myself out of contention in running all seasons on my EC-7R's vs a decent 180TW, but in my defense I had no intention of doing anything close to motorsport with my overweight bavarian beauty. It ended up being a lot of fun, and the sauerkraut handled better than expected





Sometimes those cones bite


Went a whopping 10.1 miles after eight hours and four sessions... I used to love days like this, but the ROI isn't what it used to be compared to a good ol' track day (100+ miles of seat time on a bad day)



TBT Flashback to SCCA nationals at Fort Devens June 10th & 11th 2006



Not sure how they stack up to comparable tires of today, but the V710's were amazing that day





Heading to NJ this Thursday to drop some parts of at the shop - should have some updates after

 

I am still mentally unpacking progress with my build and trying to get back on a normal sleep schedule (melatonin gummies only go so far), hence this early morning rambling. I really should be out running instead, something to put me back to sleep. Maybe next time


Made it down to IRP Thursday.

The one day round trips down to New Jersey haven't gotten any easier (3:45am wake up -> 4:30am out the door -> Hutchinson / NYC all the traffic -> 10:00am shop arrival -> rotary shop shiny distractions -> eventually leave -> CT all the traffic neverending state up 95 -> 5:15pm walk through my door), but this trip showed some great progress on my build

As far as my RX-7 goes over the past almost to the day 5 years of dormancy, this was a site for sore eyes. I mean, still dormant but getting there - sleeping beauty won't be fully awake until she's dialed in and puts in some solid laps









Old remanufactured 13b engine out

We got no engines! Just kidding - I've got two of them, and Ihor has all the rest




Going to grab the compression numbers then figure out next plans for this one - approximately 50K miles, but it has had a hard life




That 8.8 pound ACT prolite flywheel on a non-balanced assembly wasn't helping. Will be taking the proper approach on my round two (my chassis' round three) where I can run any clutch and flywheel set up without sacrificing balance going forward - more on that in a minute




No other way to say it, this is gross. Blow by issues plagued me for a whole track season while I tried to find and remedy the issue - clearly the catch can missed a few (alright, it was actually me).



I have seen this line up change many times between Ihor's various shops over the years (three shop location visits at this point), and the site of various 13bs (and the occasional 20b) never gets old on rotary rad




The GReddy diff cover is in, Cusco 1.5way RS has been rebuilt, and I was able to ship the 4.777 just in time to be added (scope creep - I can't get out of my own way) with the usual overhaul suspects (Side Differential Bearing, Pinion Bearing, Axle Seal, Front Differential Bearing, Crush Collar, Oil Seal Behind Companion Flange, Companion Flange Washer, Companion Flange Nut).

Bonus, Mr. Ari Yallon's 16 year old Rotary Performance diff bushings are holding up nicely

 

TCP Magic CF front diffuser has seen some action but is holding up. Will add some extra racebred braces on the backend of this overhaul portion




Axles weren't looking too bad






Making some progress on the inside, freeing up some room for the AiM MXG dash and accessories, Haltech Elite 2500 and accessories, LifeLine fire suppression kit, and some other pieces




I am not overly psyched on replacing this with a carbon fiber hood, but it seemed the best approach for the digital dash when I made the call (before we had some better nested setups)






Not sure if any of you guys have also had fuel starvation on a racetrack or autocross, but it's a little terrifying when it kicks in mid-way through the physics of a corner (and also doing terrible things for your engine). My Radium fuel hanger surge tank isn't quite overkill here, but this in tank setup will do the trick

Had to grab a second Walbro 450






Shameless personal plug, my Garage Alpha fuel baffle / surge tank cover is for sale. Brand new never installed if you're interested
F/S Listing

 

Now this is, as they say where the magic happens. Or in Mike from Rotary Science's case, most likely black magic... but mostly science

I had gone back and forth on opening up the brand new keg, just doing port work, upgraded apex seals, and not touching these brand new rotors. I ultimately landed on in for a pinch in for a pound (see above comment on scope creep)


There are some beautiful machined rotors out there that look good enough to hand out as awards or mount on your wall as art pieces. I'll admit I was a little distracted and initially swayed on who I thought should do my machining.

Mike's rotors are not these art pieces. But what they are is a set of meticulously worked rotors and assembly for precise balancing. A beautiful set is nothing if just machined and not properly balanced.

Here's where we landed

• Rotor scalloping
• Rotor side clearancing
• Rotor lightening
• Assembly balancing

If I am safely spinning to infinity, I could care less what they look like! (Note, infinity in this case means dash programmed shift light points set well below the limit for longevity but with the feeling of some assurance / built in insurance)

























Alright, might as well grab a run now before the kids wake up!

 

I hope everyone is doing well and recovered from this past weeks Nor'easter

We woke up super early Wednesday to a snap and a surprisingly lite fall. Looked outside to see our 45 year-old / 45' tall linden Treedbeard down. It had fallen away from our house, garage, car, fence, and power lines and fell perfectly into nothing in the cul-de-sac. The town came by and cleaned up most of it, so in a pretty okay spot. Damn do I miss that thing, but mostly just fortunate that no one was hurt. Figuring out what to go with next, leaning towards a sycamore




Rainy October days are for pumpkin carving and RX-7Club updates


Stuff and things - a retrospective of hoarded parts over the years that are actively going in. Todays posts will be on the interior updates


AiM MXG dash logger with GPS-08, data hub, and remote button interface













Some of Jay's carbon fiber panels - instrument hood, HVAC panel (day one before I went over the top with vinyl), and shifter panel






My son's new favorite window toy (thanks Jay!)