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Curious, why are you going through all the effort on fans for the oil coolers? Are you having some kind of issue?
I plan on driving it on the weekends and traffic in the bay sucks. Sometimes you'll be in stop and go for an hour and without fans these big oil coolers turn into big heat sinks until you get moving again.
I also need to make a set-up for C.Wan's car so he will have the cooling needed for drift and track.
Touge style, very very windy roads we have here in the bay, (calaveras) dont give you a lot of straight away for air cooling. One road I like to go on is 12 miles of hairpins and I like that road because what ever is a weak point on your car - itll find it.
I also like to build for precaution and what if's.
I learned a lot just by letting the car idle in the driveway and if it cant keep temps while idling for an hour then what ever that issue is needs to be addressed.
The motor in the car now has some type of oil modification and acts like it has a thermal pellet because it takes forever for the oil to warm up.
C.Wan's car, In between drift battles and time attacks the car has to sit in line, sometimes there is no cool down lap and he has to be ready to go again.
I am also replacing his older oil cooler fan set-up so I need to make sure I have a robust set-up.
I am installing the Apexi AVC-R in my car which requires splicing into the engine harness and body harness where they connect to the main ecu. The Apexi AVC-R instructions are easy to understand and they give you a lot of pictures and take time to explain things in the instruction manual.
The Apexi AVC-R has 6 wires and 3 go to the body harness and the other 3 go to the engine harness. Thankfully I only had to get 3 pin connectors. To prevent any accidental mates I put a male on 3 wires and then a female on the other 3 wires on the Apexi AVC-R side and then I installed the other connector gender for each on the harness side. The connectors I used also have a press lock feature so you don't have to worry about it vibrating loose.
01 – Greddy Profec-01 Removed
02 – AVC-R Boost Solenoid
03 – AVC-R Pressure Sensor
04 – Fix AEM FPR Vacuum Nipple
05 – AVC-R Harness Routed
06 – AVC-R Harness Spliced
07 – AVC-R Bracket
08 – Interior Together
09 – AVC-R Verified
01 - Greddy Profec-01 Removed
The Greddy Profec-01 was a gift from C.Wan from over 10 years ago. (No it's not for sale). The boost solenoid was in the front of my car so it would be in a cool environment and it's the only place left in my engine bay as well. It's amazing the size difference between the Greddy and Apexi boost solenoids. Thank goodness my seats are removed because I had to get on my back in the car to remove the vacuum line and power wires from under the dash. I also had to remove the glove box and take it apart to get my hide-away swing arm out that the Greddy boost controller was on. It looks like the pressure sensor is integrated into the Greddy BC whereas the Apexi BC has a separate pressure sensor. After everything was removed I placed it back into the original box.
02 - AVC-R Boost Solenoid
The Apexi boost solenoid had nipples sticking out in a 90 degree orientation which made it a little difficult to install in my cramped engine bay. Luckily I was able to make a custom bracket to hold it in a specific orientation to work with the Greddy boost solenoid turbo / waste gate vacuum set-up. I routed the Apexi boost solenoid alongside the airbag harness and through the fender behind the liner where it goes through the firewall. I put the HKS intakes back on and made sure everything fit and that the harness and vacuum lines would be free from potential abrasions.
03 - AVC-R Pressure Sensor
My firewall is crammed with so much stuff it was hard to find a spot close to the stock map sensor. I found a little spot on my custom FPR bracket. I quickly Macgyverd something up to hold the pressure sensor in place. I put a panel behind the bracket so I could drill and tap it without hitting the firewall. The mounting holes on the pressure sensor were a little small for an M6 so I massaged them open a bit. M6 bolt heads were too big and hitting the top of the pressure sensor so I found some pan head M6 screws. The pan heads were still too big so I put the screw in my hand drill, took it over to the sander, and spun the bolt while the sander was shaving down the diameter of the head. I added some spacers to hold the Apexi pressure sensor in the exact position needed to prevent it from rubbing on anything. I Tee'd the vacuum line into the stock map sensor as directed. I did not install the Apexi filter inline since the Tee was done after the stock filter that already goes to the stock map sensor. I routed the pressure senor harness along the brake lines and through the fender behind the liner where it goes through the firewall.
04 - Fix AEM FPR Vacuum Nipple
While I was in the area of the AEM FPR I realized I could take the top cap off and spin the vacuum nipple to a better orientation. I undid the top screws, rotated it so the vacuum nipple, and bolted it back down. The new orientation is so much better and allows for a shorter vacuum line.
05 – AVC-R Harness Routed
I routed the Apexi AVC-R harness through the fender grommet that goes through the firewall. It took some time since you have to get the harness to go down behind the blower motor. I would recommend to pull the harness through the grommet first so there is less risk of the vinyl to twist on you, then you can pull back into the engine bay what you need.
06 - Apexi Harness Spliced
I read people cut the harness and re-splice, other pull the pin back and do the work. I decided to cut little windows on the wires and use the Apexi supplied clips to make the connections. I wrapped the connector wire around the harness wire in the window and used some pliers to scrimp it in place. It looked like a venus fly trap when crimped. The connection feels ok, I tried to apply some pressure to push it off and it held. I put electrical tape on each individual wire and then taped up the harness connectors to hold everyone in place. I added the opposite gender connectors to the Apexi side of the harness so now I can disconnect them when I need to do any major work. In the future I will be removing the engine harness so this will help out a lot.
07 – AVC-R Bracket
Ever since I got the AVC-R I was having trouble finding a place to put it. I did not want to use the super cool bracket to stick it on the dash and I wanted to preserve it. I was looking at the glove box, but I wanted only the FC-datalogit in there. I looked at the dash and nothing felt right. Then I had a revelation, I think thinks it's so cool maybe some of you guy might want to do it too !!!!! I have the Banzai PFC Commander holder and I realized the AVC-R bracket is the same width and its very thin. The AVC-R can fit on top by sticking it to the AVC-R bracket and then sliding it between the commander and the commander bracket. Unfortunately you cannot stick the AVC-R bracket to the commander holder because it will lock the commander in place. So, I made a little finger bracket to hold the AVC-R bracket and riveted it to the commander bracket. Now I can take both units off individually when needed, and mounted together they look hella friggin awesome !!!! (to me at least ..lol). I also added a cable clamp to hold the commander, AVC-R, and the radio rear USB interface cables.
08 – Interior Together
Now that everything is wired up it was time to secure all the cables and put all the interior pieces back in. On the right side I pulled up the ECU connections to make sure the kick panel would not pull them out. The AVC-R harness from the engine bay is tied up under the blower motor. The PFC commander extension cable, FC-Datalogit, PFC commander cable, AVC-R control cable, and the AFR signals all go up under the dash and into the glove box from behind.
The driver side kick panel side had some clean up too. I was able to cut out an ACC 6 foot extension not needed anymore, the power and ground wires that went to the Greddy boost controller since the AVC-R gets power from the engine harness, and I took out the vacuum Tee for the Greddy boost controller internal pressure sensor since the AVC-R pressure sensor is in the engine bay and relayed into the cabin via an electrical connection.
I'm super happy how the interior is ending up. It's like a throwback for me since everything in the cabin looks like it was available 20+ years ago, and most of it was. I was also able to get the front bumper back on along with all the other stuff I had to take apart to do this job. I found my garage life stickers from when I did my dyno withy DK at the last sevenstock, so I put them on and now I'm ready to hit the dyno again with DK this year the friday before the 25th anny of sevenstock.
09 – AVC-R Verified
Now that everything was hooked up I turned the key to ACC and did a quick sensor check, boost and throttle position checked out from min to max range. The next step was to start the car and pray to GOD everything works. And - IT DID !!!!!!!!! When I first started the car the RPM and Speed was off. The AVC-R operates like the PFC commander so in the AVC-R I found the settings page and saw it was on 6 cylinder, I changed that to 4 and the rpm's and speed showed correct. Boost vacuum and RPM at idle was very close. Next I held the car at 100 km/h and verified rpm and speed again and everything checked out. There are a few other setting I need to adjust and a few things left to install before sevenstock but for the most part I'm done and I can sleep easy tonight
Enjoy the pics.
01 – Greddy Profec-01 Removed
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Sep 5, 2023 at 09:19 PM.
A small update. Some cool stuff and some scary stuff.
01 - Props To Garage Life
02 - Zone Out
03 - Apexi GT Reservoir Tank
04 - HKS Stuff
05 - AST Swirl Pot
06 - Floor Mats
07 - Broken Floor
01 - Props To Garage Life
Daniel Kuo is an amazing guy. DK is one of the very few people I have met that I would consider an all around amazing dude. DK is a one man stop for the RX7, from car builds to engine building and tuning he can do it all. Additionally he makes his own music and DJ's when he wants to let loose in the night life. I also want to give a shot out to the KUO's !!! (Daniel and Tiffany). What I like most about DK, maybe I'm biased because most my family is in health care, is that DK pursued a career as a EMT. Now DK is saving your car life, your night life, and your real life. This is why I'm honored to fly the Garage Life banner.
02 - Zone Out
Sometimes the work is so tedious I need to listen to some music to zone out on. Most of the time I go to the live LOFI stations, but lately I have been listening to LULU BEATS. I just stream it on my phone and Bluetooth it to my radio in the garage. I like this retro radio since it has the needles that swing the louder it gets, super cool.
03 - Apexi GT Reservoir Tank
I finally scored an Apexi GT Reservoir tank, I also got a Apexi GT radiator cap that uses silicon instead of rubber for the sealing faces. I saw this on C.Wan's car and it's placed where the ABS used to be. I am keeping ABS so I don't know how I will use it with my next set-up but I'll figure it out then.
04 - HKS Stuff
The GT3-4R downpipe has a flange welded to it that is meant to hold a heat shield. I found an HKS heat shield that is meant for the HKS T04R kit which is very similar. I went to mount it and only 2 of the 3 legs lined up. I'll deal with this once the turbo kit is installed, but at least I have the shield. A few years ago I picked up an AST delete kit from BANZAI Racing and I choose to get the HKS radiator cap. I decided to keep an AST so this cap will be used for the cover on that. Sometime ebay has some dope stuff, right now they have an HKS 10mm key chain ratchet. Definitely going to install this on the RX7 key.
05 - AST Swirl Pot
Again another ebay find. I was looking for a replacement AST because the one I have now leaks where the top is internally welded to the body. I see on all the new ones they are welded on the outside to prevent this from happening again. I came across an AST that has a swirl pot design where the coolant goes in on the side and swirls it internally to help the air escape easier. I tried the KKS cap and it fit - awesome! Then I googled AST swirl pot and saw all the RX7 shops have updated their AST's with this design. It's funny sometimes the order of sequence in which we find things.
06 - Floor Mats
The pink camo floor mats looked like they needed some love so I tried to clean them up the best I could. I soaked them in water and poured some oxi-clean laundry detergent on them and lathered it in the camo side. I let it sit for 30 minutes and then used the power washer to spray them clean. I let them sit in the sun to dry. They looked a little cleaner but I wanted to go another round this time I wanted to use the old faithful TUFF SCUFF cleaner. This stuff is amazing. I soaked the carpets with water again and sprayed a few coats of the tuff scuff and let the foam do it's work. After 30 minutes I power washed them clean and they looked a little better, just a little.. lol. There was a cut out section on one floor mat so I added some black RTV to prevent it from fraying. I let them dry over night and put them in the car after I got the seats in. The carpet itself also looks fluffier and more plush as well.
07 - Broken Floor
The house I am renting has a small waterway behind it. I hope and pray a sink hole is not forming. I have been here 12 years and over that time it feels like the back of the lot is leaning like the SF Millennium Tower. The garage floor has begun to crack and one section is starting to drop. I put some tape across the cracks to monitor how fast the sections are separating. I think it is safe to say they did not pack the ground enough and did not use rebar when laying the concrete. This situation makes me want to move ASAP !!!!!!
This will probably be one of the last updates for my RX7 for a while. The only other updates for my car will be when I take it to Sevenstock 25 and get it dyno'ed at Garage Life. After that I will be focusing on C.Wan's RX7 refresh. I was able to get the AVC-R, midpipe, and the electrical panel all sorted out and then when I went to try the autotune on FC-Tweak I got an error that my AFR was out of range and the water temp was out of range. Crap, no time to troubleshoot the AFR thing since I had to go to NM for training, but the only thing I could think of was that I pulled the AFR to FC-Datalogit wire loose when I pulled out the Greddy BC power wires. Well it looks like my hunch was right. Back from NM, fixed the issue, and now the car is ready for tune.
01 - Midpipe Block Off Plate
02 - Cat Off
03 - Midpipe Installed
04 - GND DL AN2
05 - FC-Tweak Warnings
06 - FC-Tweak Nope
07 - Fix AFR Log
08 - FC-Datalogit Logging
09 - Autotune
10 - Verify Lights
01 - Midpipe Block Off Plate
The resonated midpipe that came with my car has the air pump pipe. Since I will not use that I needed to make a block off plate. I pressed some construction paper against the flange and then outlined the impression with a sharpie. I cut out the shape and transposed it to some aluminum. After the aluminum shape was cut I double checked the holes prior to drilling them. Notice the very reason why they sell 1/2 sized Shorty sharpies. I drilled out the holes and bolted on the block off plate. There was some silicone in place to help create a seal. Next was to wrap the front half of the midpipe to reduce heat around the transmission area. Some heat wraps are woven differently so you have to pay attention on what side needs to overlap the other side. You also want to fold the start and end sections to prevent any unraveling or fraying. I like to use stainless steel safety wire to hold the wrap in place. I have a pair of safety wire pliers that has a spring loaded lock to hold the wires and as you pull the knock the pliers twist the wire. Once the wire is twisted you make a circular motion and it pulls the wire a little tighter, then you bend the tail to prevent it from unwinding, and last cut the excess off.
02 - Cat Off
To work on the center of the car I decided this time to do a half n half with the lift and jack stands. I like to try different things and see how it works out. I removed the cat and set it next to the midpipe and thats when I noticed the size difference. The midpipe was 2.75 inches on both sides. The cat pipe is 3 inches on both sides, the down pipe is also 3 inches, but the Apexi Dual N1 has a 2.75 inch flange. Oh crumbs.
03 - Midpipe Installed
I was able to find a 2.75 gasket in my stash and I used that on the midpipe to catback side. For the downpipe side I used the 3 inch gasket since the flanges at the interface were able to cover it. Initially I was going to get a 3 inch downpipe but then I thought of 2 reasons not to; 1. I will save 400 bucks so bambi's mom can still have clientele at the club, 2. I'm not going for max dyno power. This should work.
04 - GND DL AN2
I follow the google group mail threads and someone said FC-Tweak flagged their noisy ground signal for the AFR AN1/AN2 FC-Datalogit logging function. FC-Tweak says you need to ground the AN2 wire to ground to reduce noise. I was like cool because in my schematic I even show doing that. BUT....... I forgot to actually ground the wire going to AN2, no worries, I added a ground. Thankfully I had the seats out still and I was able to rest my feet on the roll cage as I had my head under the glove box. It was kinda comfortable and I passed out for a few minutes. My shirt has a picture of a cat with a backwards bandana pouring milk on the ground, his name is 2paws Shapurr.
05 - FC-Tweak Warnings
I loaded a map after it was tweaked with the midpipe change and I got some warnings. Do not exceed 1.25 (17.8 psi), thats fine since I only want to go to 1.05 (14.9 psi). I made sure the car was set to FC-Tweak recommended temperature settings, and took note of another warning the new settings need to be autotuned. It looks like V30.0 has alot of new safety features built in.
06 - FC-Tweak Nope
I started the car and started logging while it warmed up. Once it was warmed up I revved it a few times. I imported the map into FC-Tweak for autotune and got some flags. The car was out of temp range and the wideband was not working. I tried some setting in the FC-Datalogit but nothing worked. It was working before and I had a feeling I pulled some wires loose when I was redoing everything. I called it a day and got ready to go to NM for my training. It was a rough training because the whole time I was thinking about the AFR logging issue... hahahaha. Thankfully no other warning popped up.
07 - Fix AFR Log
Now that I am back from NM it was time to troubleshoot this logging issue. I unplugged the connector at the wideband junction box and the connector going to the FC-Datalogit. The AN2 grounds all checked out but the AN1 hot signal was open - YESSSSS !!!!!!! The wire was broken but the shrink tubing still held it in place. I cut the connection off and redid both of them, added additional heat shrink and zip-tied everything in place. Once I had everything pulled and re-routed I did another continuity check to make sure I didn't pull anything loose again. I button everything up and started the car to get it up to operating temperature before logging this time.
08 - FC-Datalogit Logging
It was time to log. I tried my best to do all the tricks to get the best logged data possible.
A). Car was warmed up.
B). FC Commander un-plugged.
C). FC-Edit cmd prompt short cut created to give it priority.
D). FC-Datalogit logging only on advanced and wideband.
I let the car idle going through a few cooling cycles then I revved it through it's range a few times. I took note of how the car sounded at certain rpm's. At 5k ish it sounds crazy when the 2nd turbo starts to pre-spool and the exhaust note changes to a jet afterburner sound. I actually did a small autotune and the car revved so much smoother and the crazy afterburnner sound was now at 6kish rpm. When I felt I had enough time to try another autotune I saved the log file as the default setting of date and time and verified it went into the FC-Tweak Logs Directory. This was the second try but I did it again for these screen shots.
09 - Autotune
A). To autotune you want to Import a file. You hit "I" and the directory will pop open to the file that was just logged, that needs to be in the FC-Tweak Logs folder. You will see the file in blue on the FC-Tweak screen once it's imported.
B). Select the log file, open it and verify it is the same set-up as your car set-up listed in car setup details.
C). Select [A] to autotune. This will pull up an automated target AFR map.
D). Hit [Enter] to proceed. You will see your logged AFR reading populate the screen. On the bottom left you can see the logged duration, quality, quantity of the samples. On the bottom right you can see what was the source of the samples, which for me was advanced and wideband. I do not have an EGT source hooked up.
E). Hit [Enter] to Validate data & proceed. This is where you will get to autotune or get stuck fixing all your issues. If all is good a map pops up with options to select. Since I am just trying to learn how the software works I selected [Alt-A] All zones. Once done it gives you a score and shows a map of fields affected.
F). Reload the autotune map just like you would any other file and see how it goes. Mine was amazing. It revved so much more smoother and the afterburner sound didn't start as early as before.
Now I can do some auto tuning of my own and try reduce the time on the dyno. I also need to do this at different boost setting while trying to mess with AVC-R duty cycle as well. Oh Boy - it's gonna be fun.
10 - Verify Lights
One last sanity check was to make sure all the light worked since I had the bumper off and the electrical panel completely disassembled. I really feel good about what I learned and accomplished in this journey. Yes I have had to redo a bunch of stuff, but the experience of doing it firsthand really pays off.
01 - Midpipe Block Off Plate
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Sep 16, 2023 at 10:00 PM.
