pics Part 2 – Dash 4 Gauge Pod Install (part 2 of 3)

 

pics Part 2 – Dash 4 Gauge Pod Install (part 3 of 3)

 

pics Part 3 – Roll Cage 3 Gauge Pod Install (part 1 of 2)

 

pics Part 3 – Roll Cage 3 Gauge Pod Install (part 2 of 2)

 

pics Part 4 – Glove Box Electronics (Greddy BC/ FC Datalogit) - (part 1 of 3)

 

pics Part 4 – Glove Box Electronics (Greddy BC/ FC Datalogit) - (part 2 of 3)

 

pics Part 4 – Glove Box Electronics (Greddy BC/ FC Datalogit) - (part 3 of 3)

 

pics Part 5 – IC test fit

 

pics Part 6 – IRP IGN-1A

 

pics Part 7 – Final Wiring

 

pics Part 8 – Gauge lights

 

I swear to God, If the RPM Act does not pass I will go to the dark side and get this.... j/k

https://www.gmperformancemotor.com/parts/19416893.html


VOTE TO SAVE OUR RACE CARS - https://www.votervoice.net/SEMA/campaigns/45394/respond

 

The rpm act doesn't actually do anything. It's only trying to make it so you can still turn a street car into a full out track car, e.g. not road legal.

If you remove emissions, it's likely already illegal and the EPA is just cracking down. RPM act would not help that even if it went through.

 

I get your bro I mean I know it's really just so we can have our race cars on the track but it's really about the aftermarket manufacturers and that's what's going to get the Big Hurt. So it's not just for me and a little bit of fun I want to have ... for the manufacturers they won't be able to sell products that we can use to make our cars faster. We're going to lose our scapegoat.

living in California makes it really hard to thinker with your car.

I just think the whole situations a big mess a lot of performance shops and tuners are going to get hurt by it.

 

I get what you're saying but the rpm act won't save the shops and manufacturers of the EPA enforces existing laws to the full extent. Being able to manufacture an "off-road use only" part is just something that has been ignored by the authorities. My interpretation of the RPM act doesn't actually prevent that kind of thing from being enforced, it literally just means you can turn a car with a vin into a track car, there are not enough people interested in removing their car from road use to save manufactures and tuning shops. All the you tubers posting about this act like it will save everything, but all those you tubers drive their cars on the street. I could be wrong...

I might be being dyno cal, but I feel like this is just publicity by SEMA. Their website about it doesn't give much info for anyone that wants to know more than a headline.

 

your right,

Let me try to explain myself another way,

Based on what I read a track car must remain emission compliant as it was sold off the factory line. You can not tamper with anything emission related. From what I read EPA wants to enforce that specific issue of not modifying cars for track use, the RPM act allows us to modify emissions for dedicated track car. From what I understand the big picture is EPA can not enforce the emissions for a track car which in turn allows the manufacturers to continue to legally make "off road equipment only". So thats why I say its our scapegoat and work around to have fun modifying our cars.

If the RPM act does not pass the only things we can do legally for our track cars is..

1. Safety Equipment.
2. Monitoring Eguipment.
3. Brakes
4. Cat back exhaust.
5. Carb-Legal only Intake
6. Carb-Legal only headers
7. Carb-Legal Cats
8. IC kits that do not affect factory airbox/emissions
9. Might be able to sneak in a very basic turbo upgrade.
10. We will be back to piggy back computers
11. Body kits are OK.
12. E-Rod kits into 1995 and older cars.. 430hp with 25mpg being 50 state emission compliant does not sound that bad (IF THATS MY ONLY OPTION)

Im know there is more.

But everything that is not CARB legal and sold for off road use only is done, gone, zip, zilch.

So from what I understand is that the RPM act will allow the motorsports community to remove emissions legally for track dedicated cars and thus it will continue to allow manufacturers to produce off road only parts. But imagine - no more off road parts. Upgraded turbo kits, stand alone ecus, midpipes, headers, internal engine modifications.... All of this will become illegal because to make this stuff work you have to modify the ecu and all this emission defeat stuff will no longer be available legally.

So from what I understand it is kind of a big deal, I already sent like 10 emails asking to pass the RPM act... lol

 

Day 70



THE ENGINE IS IN !!!!!!!!!!!!



I did run into a few issues, damaged some stuff and had to re-do some things but in the end I got it done. I want to give Dale Clark a special shout out for verifying some questions I had after the engine was in. Dale was my search button for the day. Thanks Dale!



Part 1 – Whoops, hit the fuel tank.

Part 2 – Engine install.

Part 3 – Drivetrain woes.



Part 1 – whoops, hit the fuel tank

Unbelievable, seriously what was I thinking. I needed to lower the car to move it back so that the engine lift will not hit the pop-up tent frame. Should not be a problem right – WRONG! I raised the rear right side first, took out the jack stand and lowered the car. Next I raised the rear left side, took out the jack stand and lowered the car…………. right onto the hydraulic jack. At first I thought ok Ill just use the other hydraulic jack I have to raise the back a bit to get the other one out. When I did this I saw the dent in the gas tank right where the plastic in tank fuel reservoir sits. ****. Also when the jack hit the tank it scraped away some of the rubber coating and then I peeled off the hanging parts to inspect the metal for gouges. Structurally the tank looked fine so I cleaned it up and hit it up with a few coats of flex seal.



I lowered the front and pushed the car back, then put it back up on the jack stands. I really did not want to take out the fuel pump again, but I needed to inspect the reservoir to make sure everything is ok. After I got the fuel pump out I took off my Garage Alpha reservoir cover – a very interesting find. The rubber on the back of the cover was swelled up and wavy as hell. I have no gas in the tank so this was caused by fumes alone with a time period of about 2 months. So – should I be concerned. Maybe that’s why there are so many rivets holding the rubber to the cover because it was a known issue the rubber would do this. Any who, onto the plastic bucket in the tank. I checked all the retaining brackets and the gap between the fuel tank and the bottom of the plastic reservoir and all looked good, no cracks anywhere. The only thing I noticed was the tank was closer to the reservoir just near the corner but not pushing it up. I put everything back together with a sigh of relief. Still, what’s up with that rubber on the reservoir cover ???





Part 2 – Engine install

I did a dry run with the engine lift to make sure it would clear the pop-up tent and to verify the pathway the engine lift would be moved once the engine was on it. Since I’m trying to do this by myself I put moving blankets to protect things from catching and getting scratched. The first time… think about that statement, that means there will be a second time..lol. Ok, so the first time I tried to put the engine in I got it all the way in but it stopped about 5 inches away from where the motor mounts are supposed sit in the frame. I had 3 issues, preventing me from going in. 1st issue was the hydraulic jack on the engine stand was hitting the front cross bar on the car preventing me from going further in. 2nd was the chain was going straight down through the slot holding the engine and that was costing me a few inches. 3rd was I could not get the motor high enough to clear the motor mounts which I had installed on the engine at this time. I pulled the engine back out placed it on the engine stand and took a few minutes to figure out what I needed to do.



Well I can’t do anything about the hydraulic jack hitting the frame, but I can fix the other 2 issues. I pulled off the motor mounts and put them on the subframe and then I ran the engine lift chain out the front of the beam. The engine has a tilt with the tranny down which will help me get it into the tunnel as I lower it down. Now time for the 2nd install, I raised the engine up as high as I could and then I swung it over the fender while rotating the base of the engine stand and then pushed it inwards. I started to slowly lower the engine and it went in at a nice angle clearing the hood latch and tunnel. I used the leveler to tilt the tranny down more which caused some gear oil to come out the bottom, made a small mess on the driveway but brake fluid helped with that. I continued to lower the engine at a nice angle until the lower motor mount cleared the power steering gear box and hose. I placed my transmission jack under the back of the transmission to act as my second person as I lower the engine. It was a lot of back and forth between the operating the engine stand and transmission jack, but I eventually got the engine where I needed it. I did break a piece of the connector on the alternator with the engine lift leveling hardware but the other connector still mates fine.



Now the fun begins, because I have that modified mess of a harness behind my UIM sitting on top of the transmission bell housing I am unable to get the engine in and high enough for the engine mount arms to sit on the motor mount studs. How in the hell can I raise the engine to get it above the studs… thinking…. Light bulb! There is this special brake caliper tool that compresses all 4 pistons at once, you insert it and then racket it open and the 2 faces hit the pistons on both sides. This is the tool I used to raise the engine. I put it between the engine and the subframe and I was able to lift the engine just enough to get the motor mount arms to sit on top of the motor mount studs. I reversed the brake tool and lowered the engine weight on the studs and pulled the brake tool out. Now I used a rachet strap on both engine motor mount arms to slowly pull the engine back. I got it to where the holes line up but the engine was not sitting down – duh – I still had tension on the engine stand. I released the engine stand and the motor popped right into place. Engine Installed. !!!!



Now I took a step back and looked at it and thought – why does my engine look crooked. I read somewhere its supposed to be off like a few degrees to accommodate for the RHD steering shaft. I also read about the pins in the motor mounts not lining up. I got ahold of Dale and after a few minutes he assured me I should be ok and once the PPF is in everything should be OK. I wanted to use the stock motor mounts (even though I bought solid mounts) since they are still good. For now I just wanted to take care of getting the engine harness into the cabin. I forgot how the harness is routed when its stock but there is only one way I can do it now. The harness was not long enough to reach the hole in the firewall, so I had to loosen all the clamps behind the engine that secure it. I massaged it and pulled it until it was long enough to reach the hole – that’s what she said. I got the connectors into the cabin and the grommet pushed into place. I made a quick little extension bracket to hold the harness up against the firewall and re-secured the clamps holding the harness behind the engine.





Part 3 – Drivetrain woes

Again thanks Dale, PPF then drive shaft. After doing it, its obvious as hell. I know it should be common sense, but I think I’m traumatized from all the modification needed in this build. lol. My diff bolts were loose so it rotated easily and with the transmission jack manipulating the tranny the PPF went on with ease, all 8 nuts and the 1 side bolt on the diff. The drive shaft slip yoke, the part that goes into the back of the transmission had some surface rust on it so I grabbed some WD40 and some steel wool and went to town, now it’s nice and smooth. Last I installed the cross brace that goes through a hole in the PPF near the diff as well. I crawled out from under the car and the engine looked more aligned in the engine bay. Now its time to install my Banzai Racing transmission and rear brace.

For the transmission brace I read that the solid energy suspension bushing can introduce some NVH at certain rpms. Noise, vibration and harshness, also known as noise and vibration, abbreviated to NVH and N&V respectively, is the name given to the field of measuring and modifying the noise and vibration characteristics of vehicles, particularly cars and trucks. I stumbled upon this accidently in this thread. https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread.../#post12465837

So I went to Autozone and picked up that #2378 transmission mount – POS more on that later.



Banzai has a good reputation with parts and I have bought a lot of things from them (cnc’d pieces) so I figured what could go wrong. Ok onto installing the rear diff brace.



OHHHH MAAAAA GAAAADDD - WTF



There are so many variables as to why mine didn’t just bolt up. You can use the search button for Banzai diff brace fitment issues. The issue with my diff brace was it was not wide enough where the 2 sides bolt to the body and it had to be spread out. I dropped the rear subframe to body braces to see how close the diff brace was to the holes where the cross-bar bolts to and it wasn’t even close. I literally had to massage the 2 outer bracket holes outward and beat the **** out of the left side to get the wire part that holds the flat bar to go behind the body where it drops behind the bolts. I also had to tweak it so that all the mating faces sat flush to eliminate uneven tension between bolts. I’ll tell you what though, after it’s on its solid as hell and yes I do have peace of mind.





Heres some reasons for not working I found with the search button.



1. Your car has to be supported on the sub-frames, if the car is on jack stands it will stretch body and the holes will not line up.



2. Your diff bushings are bad.



3. Your PPF is not aligned.



My answer to #1 – Seriously. My set-up is jack stands on front sub-frame and a jack stand on each side behind where the door closes. My cross brace near the diff comes on and off easily with no tension. I can’t believe this car will flex as much for the holes to be this far off. Ok lets play devils advocate – I installed the roll cage on my car with it on the jack stands in this configuration. There rear hoop lined up with the rear bottom alignment holes and the cage went in fine. And to give the benefit of the doubt I lifted the back of the car and sat the rear subframe in the jacks – no change in hole alignment. Could my cage be holding it in this position where it wont line up – I don’t think so.



My answer to #2 – Diff bushing were inspected when I had the diff out and are good. Full weight of the diff and bushing are uniform with no sag whatsoever.



My answer to #3 – PPF is fixed on the Diff so your adjustment must be on the transmission side. But it is more of an up and down adjustment which might help a little bit but you won’t get the adjustment you need if you can’t even see the body hole though the diff brace bracket hole.



Now Banzai please do not take offense, Im not knocking your product but its not just a bolt up affair for everyone and Im just curious as to why.



So here is what I am wondering.

WHAT YEAR WAS THE DONOR CAR???

There are some under body braces that will fit the 92/93/94 upto 03/95 (Type 2) cars but not the later model 95 car (Type 3), for example the carbing underbody brace. Im willing to bet the Banzai brace was designed on a US 93/94 but not verified for all the months of 95 year cars. My car is a US car with a build date of 12/95 (Type 3) and I think this is why it was so off. Yes the bolt pattern under the car is different where the cross brace goes - its wider.



link - https://www.rhdjapan.com/okuyama-car...-bar-fd3s.html



What was the condition of the donor car and all us customers that are having issues? Any modified bushings, any worn out bushing? Replaced/rebuilt engine with motor mount arms off a bit? Only factory engine mounts as far as I know has alignment pins for the subframe and aftermarket engine mounts can make it higher and offset. Aftermarket hard motor mounts should be made to match the height of the stock bushing under compression like the engine would normally sit in the car. So we can potentially have an offset motor, higher motor. The top bracket bolted on the diff that has the bushings in it, is there any play in that mate if its been off/on. One diff mount bad and one good inducing a twist? Tweeked PPF?



So is the Banzai diff brace the new calibration tool to tell us how mis-aligned our cars are after being worked on?



Now that the diff brace is on I can move onto the transmission brace – easy peezy.



I just did this #2378 swap and 100% the bolts on my mount were not the same, they were smaller at 10x1.5. I think we need to reference which brand uses the same hardware as Banzai's.

I can tell you what you do not want - Mine was in a duralast box but the brand was "ANCHOR-KOREA" with 2378 on it under the brand name. The rubber coating was inside the threads and I had to drill it out just so I could chase the threads.

The 2 big outside bolts were fine and my holes lined up - dont forget to use the spacer that is under the energy suspension busing.



I crawled out from the car and looked at the engine one last time and thought to myself – is this really happening – will I really be able to drive my RX7 soon… lol



So now I need to finish the harness going to the alternator, starter and other stuff. Need to make a bracket to hold the IGN-1A coils, finish vacuum lines, fuel lines, make a v-mount and oil coolers and hook up all the sensors for the gauges. Set-up the exhaust. Damn I still have to do so much to start the car still. Oh well – at least the engine is in !!!!!!



Pics Part 1 – Whoops, hit the fuel tank.

 

Part 2 – Engine install. Section A

 

Part 2 – Engine install. Section B

 

Part 3 – Drivetrain woes.

 

Yes yes yes! Good for you bro

 

Thanks bro!

 

Quick question.

I have searched the elusive fuel pump feed tube mod and only found a few threads.

I understand people do it to eliminate fuel blowing past the o'ring due to the o'ring failing or a bad install.

I myself had to make a spacer plate to push my rx7.com pump up to close a gap and to hopefully seal this issue.

I would like to know if it is worth it to just cut the pipe and install a small fuel injection rated hose to the pump outlet using the correct baby t-bolt style fuel hose clamps. I wanted to make sure that I am listing the correct nomenclature of parts to use .. lol

Pros - no leaky / blow by o'ring issue.
Con - hack up my stock fuel pump assembly.

Why did Mazda change to the new design? (o'ring)

Anyone's experience and thoughts greatly appreciated, so I can do this mod this weekend if it is that beneficial.

Thanks, Ben

 

YES it is entirely worth it!

At least, it was for me. I was having terrible fuel pressure drop at high RPM high load and had no idea where to start troubleshooting. I started with what I thought would be the easiest and cheapest option, cutting the pipe and just doing the direct-hose mod (and I had the same hesitation as you about hacking up the fuel pump bracket assembly to do so). I was A M A Z E D at how much of a difference it made, there must have been a massive leak at that o-ring, and my issue was essentially solved. After that experience, I highly recommend anyone do this.

 

This is good to know.

From the white cap "expected" cracking when you press a new one on per rx7.com to me having to make a spacer to push the pump up to the flare for the better fitment - I will do this mod this weekend since I still have not put gas in the tank and my lines have no fuel in them.

Also - just a thought... Since there are tons of threads about the primary rail FPD and secondary rail FPR failures, I wonder how many have acted up due to the o'ring failure?