When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Thought to share my build with the community here, as it is a project that started two years ago when I had several thousand $$$ in my account, and still goes on (obviously not that much $$$ left in the account)
So it all started when I bought my 2001 FD3S Type RB. The car was originally automatic and it was converted to manual by the previous owner. It was also converted to non-sequential turbo. Unfortunately the car was not taken care properly and it had several problems:
1) Bad water coolant seal (=> new engine was needed)
2) Aftermarket adjustable Silkroad suspension was useless (oil leak etc)
3) exhaust leak from supposedly the dp.
The goal was to do any repairs needed by the car and ultimately build a streetable, good looking FD for frequent use. But alas, fate had different plans...
First and foremost, the engine needed a rebuild. I was completely ignorant of the technicalities and the details of a good rebuild and in general of how a healthy FD should work. (I still am to some extend as I do not claim to be a mechanic ) In addition, I didn't know what was going on on the local rotary scene. A friend introduced me to a local shop which was supposedly to be rotary experts. And the 1st rebuild begun... (yes, more rebuilds followed...)
Knowing what you been through, it ******* sucks
But thats what happens when you trust (and you have trusted) idiots with 0 mechanical experience or understanding.. hence the title odyssey
Knowing what you been through, it ******* sucks
But thats what happens when you trust (and you have trusted) idiots with 0 mechanical experience or understanding.. hence the title odyssey
Unfortunately you are very true Costas, things can go very bad when you show trust to the wrong people. Allow me though to disagree on one and only point: these people have say a 10% mechanical understanding, which is more dangerous than 0%, since they can convince people like me that they are experts on the field. I.e. people whose occupation has nothing to do with mechanics or engineering and hence are prone to believe the bullshits that the so called "experts" serve. On the bright side, I have been forced to learn a few things about mechanics over time, so that I am in a position to distinguish the "sexperts" from the experts. And surely Costas belong in the latter group, as hadn't been for his help my FD would have been on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea long ago
P.S. The downpipe in the pictures above is a Knightsports one. The so called "expert" said that it is a cheap Chinese downpipe that doesn't fit well and that I should swap it with a Greddy one. And so I did. (The dp was swapped for something else I needed)
Unfortunately even after the rebuild, major problems were left unattended by the mechanic. There was an exhaust leak from somewhere. After indicating the problem to him, he said that he could not tell from where exactly the exhaust leakage was coming from...
The car went to another "sexpert" mechanic in another town, long away from were I live, to check the exhaust leak. He decided it was due to a bad turbo. So eventually I have decided to go single, and scrap all the complexity of the twins.
So there was a big list of upgrades that went into the car...
So the following were used in the single turbo setup:
- GT35R turbo with 1.06 A/R T4
- Greddy style manifold re-enforced
- Custom downpipe 90mm
- Tial 44mm external wastegate
- Mishimoto aluminium radiator
- PLX multi-gauge monitoring AFR, EGT, Water temp, Oil temp, Oil press
- Denso fuel pump (otherwise stock fuel system for the time-being)
- racing tow links and tie rods
- HKS EVC 5 boost controller
- A-tech 18x8 and 18x9 wheels
- Banzai idler pulley kit
- Cusco Carbon Fiber front strut
- other goodies shown in pictures
- Tuning at 0.8 bar
Then my rx7 developed an oil leak from somewhere (how unusual). The worrying thing was that the oil was going down to the external, posing the risk for fire when the external was firing.
Unfortunately I chose the worst possible mechanic to take my car and fix the problem, and at this time a really bad trip (a real odyssey) was starting for me.
It turned out that the oil leak was coming from the front engine gasket. What an easier thing to fix?
Well bad choices turn simple things to nightmares.
While the car was on the garage, a, back then, 'friend' who is calling himself rotary expert suggested that my engine (with hitherto 7000 km on it) was on a very bad state, and that the rebuilt I had was of very bad quality. Hence, he suggested that I should give him my engine to re- rebuild it, otherwise it would need a rebuilt very soon as the housings were not sealed properly and they would start to fall apart (!).
Unfortunately I was not aware of how a bad or good rotary engine is rated (apart from the classic compression test), so I was convinced to his advice.
P.S It was only after some time I found I could easily test the water pressure and just see if it remains stable.
Then the mechanic (who apparently smelled money), suggested that I convert my harness to single turbo harness, since it would be a piece of cake for him. That was the most fatal decision I ever made for my car.
The guy turned out to be completely incompetent and ignorant.
Something went really bad during the single turbo harness conversion.
A sign of that it was that the OEM water temperature gauge was working as a boost gauge.
The mechanic cut some plugs and melted some iron to attach them somewhere else. I think that created a very bad malfunctioning of the whole system.
The damages that have been caused from the malfunctioning harness were extensive. I will cut the long story short and just list them, without narrating how I had to found each time that another part ceased to function.
- 5 apex seals were broken (needless to say what happened to the rotors and housings). Thank God turbo had no damage
- Speed sensor was damaged and stopped functioning
- Speedometre was damaged and was malfunctioning
- Wires of reverse gear were slaughtered by the mechanic (still for unknown reasons)
- Engine harness had to be replaced altogether, as the one which was converted to single-turbo type was pretty bad malfunctioning.
- HKS Boost controller solenoid stopped working
- Fuel pump stopped working
Last edited by Carpe_Diem_7; Nov 19, 2015 at 05:54 PM.
It was about that time that I started to listen up to the advises of an experienced and very knowledgeable man (almost Godsend at that point in time), Mr. Costas (r-r-rx7).
From that point on, the car was seeing upgrades, instead of downgrades that were happening before due to the mechanical accidents occurred.
P.S. the rotary expert eventually accepted to fix the engine at his cost. It is still unknown what was the quality of the parts used, as both chambers have very low compression (5.7 and 6.5 after rebuild). However, the engine seems to work fine after 10.000km.
) In addition, I didn't know what was going on on the local rotary scene. A friend introduced me to a local shop which was supposedly to be rotary experts. And the 1st rebuild begun... (yes, more rebuilds followed...)
