Team's still chipping away at the intricate details


Grabbed a new hood release cable (FD01-56-720C)




Found out why my reverse lights weren't working through some good sleuthing




New spot for the LMS-EFI harness relays





I wasn't able to head down to NJ today, but Ihor and Renna were able to make some magic on the dyno regardless


Swapped the MAP from an external 3bar GM to the Elite 2500 internal, as well as the new IAT in the UIM

We were seeing 120% VE values around 5K in vacuum before, and are now at around 100% at full load with great reaction

That resolved, good to make some noise









RACECAR




455rwhp / 361rwtq kept at 13psi and held to only 7,000 due to the R7420-10's race plugs breaking up, misfiring the front rotor

Team moved coils, plugs and wires around, cleaned the plugs, swapped wires trying to troubleshoot last night but had to call it - I appreciate it Ihor and John

Swapped to the break-in BUR9EQP plug set today which seems to have fixed the ignition issue, and backed it up with a 445whp 13psi held to only 6,500rpm

I believe we're swapping to another set of 10 plugs tomorrow (Denso?)


As far as my concerns for holding lower pressure, Renna was able to get the IWG 8374 to hold 13 up to 13.8psi mid range than back to 13.1psi at 7,000rpm - hoping this follows up to 8,000+


I am pretty sure 455whp will be our 13psi low boost floor and should go up from there to 8,000rpm+ with the misfires sorted

Goal is to go up to 20psi for a high track boost setting

...and a little devil on my shoulder has me wanting to turn it up to 26+psi to see what this monster can do


Looks promising

 

Those numbers are so good for 13 psi!
Sucks you couldnt make it down to see the car on the dyno.

Those magazines are like time capsules.

 

Sunday morning decision decisions




Coordinating with Simon and Michal (Czech carbon fiber all the things hill climber) on importing some door cards

I have a feeling Benny is about to tell us all he's going to get back into composites : )






This should free up some room for the Xero that my Evo desperately needed








Cleaned up the E92 and stretched her legs a little bit today - drove her less than 500 miles this past year / no autocrosses : (









Swapped out the NGK R7420-10 to BUR9EQP, now swapping to Denso Iridium IRE01-31's - thanks Rich

I will keep the R7420-10s (breaking up) and BUR9EQP's (no ignition break up but a little too hot for where we're going powerwise?) in my tool box and grab a few spare IGN1-A's for track day back ups




I think I will eventually go to a 10.5 or 11 (Denso 32 /34) - found myself in my own trial and error 7 eleven Big Gulps fun too

 

It was a really weird "huh, that's it?" feeling until Ihor and John told me that was at "only" 13PSi

Some more tuning hopefully this coming Friday, and I am looking forward to digging into the chart and datalogs this time next week

 

I know it's not Friday but Denso Iridium dyno run results just came in from today


Anecdotally lost 9whp over 9's but still looks promising






436rwhp / 363rwtq shortshifted at 6,500

...and still climbing




13psi lightning in a bottle "sledgehammer"

 

Those plugs will serve you well up to and a bit over 20 psi. I love them, vastly superior to NGKs with their resistance to fouling on the street in my experience.

 

Which plugs are they?

 

Denso Iridium 10s.

 

The dyno day finally arrived this past Friday


Packed up the Air Taniguchi's (18x10.5 with 285 TE37s) in case the shop shoes (16x8 with 225's) were slipping on the dyno

They stayed in the car, but they were nice to see again




Out the door early as usual - but there is no honest way to beat traffic through Connecticut and NYC




New Jersey bound like a Porsche on the Autobahn - see Super Troopers whippersnappers

My kids and wife hate this song, but how else does a grown man get hyped on emptying a dishwasher?! Or half asleep driving 95 south?!



Walked in to the shop and saw a familiar set of fenders off on the shelf - more on that in a second




Heard the beautiful wail of a two rotor at full tilt('ish), followed by a Racing SQV tsssssh <3

That must be my girl




and saw John Renna working the one's and two's




Not all Superheroes wear capes - some wear ear protection




Ihor christened my FD The Sledgehammer - I am nicknaming her Miajölnir

Kind of like Thor's hammer, but with a lot less power




Pulled the passenger fender to get a better view of how the EGT sensors were mounted




Had a 10* difference front to rear in EGT readings, so pulled two of the Denso Iridium Racing IRE01-31 (10's) to see what they say

Look good

 

Ihor calibrated his Mustang Dyno (-10 to 12% versus a Dynojet?) between session days

A lot of comical speculation on the initial numbers, but also a lot of crazy expected results thrown out there based on the initial 13psi 455whp/396wtq result a few weeks ago

I think Ihor and Elliot were just as excited to see this happen as I was - painting happy lines of power




John picked up where he left off with the breaking up R7420-10's out and new plugs in, smoothing out 13.0psi for where we will eventually land as my 13.5psi low boost setting

13psi - 436.4 whp / 363.9 wtq




14psi - 450.0 whp / 361.5 wtq - aborted test




16psi - 479.8 whp / 383.8 wtq




Most veterans know this, but the dyno is a tuning tool and not a manhood yardstick, and my FD is a track toy and not a dyno queen (more on why that's an important distinction later)

That said, John and I got to a point working our way up where he looked at me and said "I kind of want to see that number over 500... what do you think?"

I know it doesn't matter, but there is something like a siren call about breaking through that 500whp ceiling - and we were soo... damn... close!

Let's do it


BOOM - 500whp ✔ full boost around 3900 and tabletop torque before smoothing out

18.5psi - 504.3 whp / 402.2 wtq




Went up incrementally from 18.5psi, to 19.5psi, then to 20psi where we hit our high mark powerwise

20.0psi - 513.9 whp / 411.5 wtq

We found we weren't able to hold the pressure as efficiently, and would have to adjust preload or possibly swap out the 10psi springs on the IWG75

John and I had an easy heart to heart (the dyno queen vs safe and reliable track car point I was mentioning earlier), and agreed we have a sweet spot 13.5psi / 455whp no boost spike set up that we shouldn't mess with

 

Went through the build a little bit more in person - Ihor sends me pictures all the time, but it's great to see it all finally coming together in person




Saw it mounted a while ago, but never got around to switching it on - that Cartek Rain Light is bright and the flashers are perfectly obnoxious for safety

It isn't a requirement for my Club time trials, but I would advise mounting dead center for a better gauge on where the car is with no visibility - mine mounted on the left may skew the perspective of how much free room isn't available on the right











Muchacha sucia








This Roarin' Kitty holds

 

Made a plan and stuck to it

 

Here's the video from the high mark 513/411 20psi dirty run






Where we set my low boost at 13.5psi - 454/365






Where we set my high boost 18.5psi - 510/397






This is just the tip of the iceberg but it is a damn good start for 2025 time trials season




A happy boy and his toy (not angry here, that dyno room is loud and assaulting)




Lights out on the dyno




I am not fully out of the woods yet, but I'd like to thank Ihor Huk, John Renna, Peter Hahn, Costas Papadopoulos, Mike Boulanger, Jamie Gowing, Carlos Iglesias, Rich Farrell, Kris, Kevin, Brandon and Brian at the shop, Elliot and Shawn, Ludwig, and the RX7Club community, and especially my friends up here, my family, and my Wife and Kids for their patience for getting me over this big milestone

What a great day

 

Great news and numbers too!

 

Congrats on the progress!

Now we need some on-track video!

 

Soooo sick! Congrats!

 

Thank you - I will probably do some autocross events at Fort Devens with her to get a feel for the new set up

COMSCC time trials season kicks off in May, and I could skip the first few points events for dialing it in through cone killing

The nut behind the steering wheel needs some tightening - it has been a while






I can almost see where I left off if I squint






As an FYI for anyone else like me who enjoys the details with the results, here are the relevant pieces for the dyno tune


Dyno - Mustang Dynamometer
● Elite boost settings 13.5psi to 18.5psi with 11 increments of adjustment
● Low boost track setting - 13.5psi 455.0whp / 349.5wtq
● High boost track setting - 18.5psi 509.9whp /396.7wtq


● Brand New 13b from Mazda - 0 mile rebuild
Bought back in 2016 - if only I knew then what we all know now...

Ihor Huk built
● Stage 4 Ports
● Goopy Apex Seals
● Oil Passage Modification
● Coolant Passage Modification
● Proprietary Side Seal
● Proprietary 2 piece Corner Seal
● Mazda Competition Race Rotor Bearing
● Large Clearance Stationary Main Bearing
● Competition Oil Pressure Regulator

Rotary Science Machining
● Scalloped
● Lightened
● Side Clearance
● Balance Rotating Assembly

John Renna Tuned
● Haltech Elite 2500
● Haltech NSP
● ID1050 x2 ID2000 x2
● Walbro 450lph x2
● Turbosmart IWG75 10psi springs
● MAC 3 Port Boost Control Solenoid
● AEM 35% Meth Injection V3 nozzle 250cc pintle

● Turblown EFR 8374 IWG
● Turblown Studs
● Turblown One Piece Dowel
● Turblown Upper Intake Manifold
● Xcessive Lower Intake Manifold
● Rotary Extreme Monster V-mount Intercooler

 

Very nice congrats.

Not sure about you but I'm always a nervous wreck at the dyno and always relieved once the session is over.

 

Awesome results! Congrats!
Will you trailer it or drive it back home?

 

Thanks Johnny - I was definitely happy when the day ended well without any breaks, but Renna talked me through the changes he was making run to run, confirmed what I have in mind for my set up to dial in, as well as how he diagnoses his changes in NSP and what to look for on my own down the road


My friend Phu had me run my own tests on his Uncle's PSi shop Dynapack - that was an interesting view but not too nerve-racking


Dave Barringer ran the dyno pulls on my FD at KDR back in the day (a fun one day round trip MA to PA with my then girlfriend / now wife) on his Dynojet, but I think we were both excited to see what power proper (or just cleaned up) grounding straps made, washing over any nerves I might have had.

Plus I left with a solid tune on the Power FC and 50 extra whp's low and 70 extra whp high - exciting stuff


Anecdotally, Dave made 330whp on my low boost twin turbo setup (348whp on my high boost setting) on a Dynojet dyno, and we topped out at 335whp on a DynaPack dyno (just fun runs no tuning)


Assuming a +10-12% difference in results from Dynojet to Mustang, I am going to gain an E92 Bianca N51's worth of crank horsepower to my FD's rear wheels at high boost (330whp to "575whp") -

Now THAT makes me nervous


I'll have to dig those old dynosheets out for twin turbo to single turbo comparatives



Thanks Jake! My friend Jamie is going to give me a hand trailering her home

 

Dave *Barninger if memory serves

 

Well I'll be damned, you're right Rich - sorry Dave


Dave Barninger - far left - he does cool sh*t with rotaries and can build a 13b in his sleep







Dyno results with some detail from the day

HKS Circle Earth Product Review here










Memories from around these days

 

Would love to see this at Devens, are you a part of NER SCCA discord? I did about 20 events there this year in my rx8.

 

I will be at Devens with BMWCCA most likely - haven't been an SCCA member since I used to autocross and TSD road rally regularly back in the day

Sounds like it was quite a season for you - I enjoyed competing SCCA SM2. Switched over primarily to track days before I could move into SSM

SCCA has always been a great group of competitors, some of the fastest ladies and gentlemen in the area



In other, sadder SCCA news, our community (rotary and Club) lost a fellow enthusiast

My condolences go out to Chris's family and friends






Rest in Peace Chris Huyler

 

Omg! I used to mountain bike with Chris years and years ago. I remember when he picked up that repu. This is very sad news.