You've made the right decision.

 

Nice recovery from the Konis. Let me know how you like those. One of your better "non stock" choices so far!

 

Quick update: took her for a short 20 mile drive. The tires are awful and my alignment is terrible, but the Ohlins are really impressive. The ride is good, its quieter and the turn-in feels much sharper. I can't wait to take for a longer drive down the coast. For the first time since I bought the car, I really feel like its starting to come together.

Fixed 3 more bugs:
- front parking light (bad connector)
- annoying rattle at idle (re-routed lines around the firewall seems to fixed that)
- passenger side window (replaced driver side switch with new)

 

requesting pic of chicken going for a ride

 

Awesome build

Love all the new & shiny OEM parts! Really nice seeing it all come together.
I had the same issue with emissions in GA. All the test stations were a waste of time..I'd call ahead of time and ask if they could do my car, of course they said yes, and then when I got there it was always "oh our equipment is down" or "your exhaust doesn't look factory, I would have to put it on a lift but I'm too busy right now". Super annoying

Looking forward to more updates

 

those Ohlins are worth every penny, even if you paid full pop. we put a set on the race car, and even after ~10 years of racing, it was still a wow moment. it handles, but you can also hit berms at full chat without upsetting the car, and it seems to ride well on top of it.

the other wow part are the performance friction brake pads, they are really progressive the drivers really like em, they last the whole 25, rotor wear is almost zero, and they don't even dust much, its pretty amazing.

 

Interesting about the pads. I've never seen them listed, where did you guys order them from??

Good to hear about the coilovers, the short time I've driven them, I'm super impressed. It seems crazy, but they are actually quieter than the Koni's on the stock perches!

 

So I found a local place to Smog the car, barely any visual inspection. Unfortunately, I failed pretty miserably. As noted in another thread (https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...hread-1087637/) I replaced my cat and did a "sniff" test and it seemed really good. Well, my sniff test is ****. At idle, its nowhere near passing. Thats with a new cat, new air pump, 1/4 tank of gas with a gallon of denatured alcohol, new plugs, new oil, new engine, stock ecu, etc.

The silver lining here is that there is clearly something up with the air injection. The car runs great, theres no issue with the tune. My guess is the ACV is not leaning out the air. I'll have to run through the factory test procedure and bench test the ACV. Starting to stress me out, tags expire at the end of the month hahah.

 

i don't know, with the honda they actually made some for us special, in compounds they don't list on the website. with the miata, we can just buy them.

 

Finally got past the smog test. For those curious, took test with 3/4 tank of 91 (no alcohol in the tank). Fresh oil change and new plugs.

Did not do any other fancy tricks; e.g didn't rewire the airpump or block the fuel vapor catch. Car passed the 2 speed test easily.

So, I can start ripping into other projects now that its running well and registered.

 

....like the interior!

Interior is a bit tired, so I'm refreshing some of bits. Including a new center console and upgrading to a Spirit R shifter boot.



If you are going to get the Spirit R boot, do NOT throw away your boot retainer. You need it because the Spirit R boot won't bolt up to a US-spec center console.



To remove the retainer, carefully remove the staples from the boot with a small screwdriver or knife



Install the boot onto your old retainer by sliding the leather into the slots in the retainer. I do not recommend attempting to re-staple it. The plastic is very brittle and will break. I left the boot as is:



Lastly, the finished product. Spirit R boot installed in the new oem center console:

 

So the only change over your failed tests was fresh oil and new plugs? Was your ACV working properly, or did you take steps to fix something or double check that? Just curious. Congrats!

 

I pinched a vacuum line going to the ACV. Stupid mistake. Vacuum wasn't getting to the ACV, but it was all hooked up correctly.

 

I got my red FD very close to passing with only a OEM-replacement cat.

I have a good friend in the area who got his rotary (s5 turbo swapped convertible FC) to pass by installing an air pump to pump air into the stock cat. he connected the hose while waiting in line at the testing station, and he passed with flying colors.

yours should pass easily if your stock emissions system is functioning correctly.

if you can't get it functioning correctly, connect the air pump straight to the cat. don't do this for too long though, as you'll overheat the car.

 

Took apart the passenger side door panel. Everything was loose and it rattled like crazy. I tightened all the screws on the defroster, replaced the door panel snaps (Mazda p/n GJ6A-68-AB1). Nearly all of the screw holes in the original door pull were broken and it was cracked in multiple places. So I junked it. I also noticed after I got it apart that the recess panel was broken too (Mazda p/n FD0168DDXE00), so I need to order a new one of those as well.



Here is the finished product. The door panel turned out great after thorough cleaning. Still cleaning the speaker grill.

 

Got any pics of a chicken in the RX7? This would truly combine my two loves: poultry, and the FD!

 

I think those door cups are pretty expensive. I have broke. Tabs on mine too what did you use to clean the door panel? Just regular interior cleaner? Looks great! Love the new shifter panel as well.

 

The door cups are expensive!! I had to buy both sides The driver's side was completely broken and rattled like crazy.

I used the Meguiar's interior cleaner spray and then the protectant afterwards. You could probably get away with using some water with a really small amount of soap instead of the cleaner spray. After cleaning it really good, a few light coats of the protectant and it looks like new again.

 

And here is the interior all back together. One of the few 'mods' on this car was upgrading to the Spirit R bits, including shift ****, boot, e-brake and steering wheel.

All told, the center console is nearly all new. The only parts I re-used was rear defroster switch, switch blanks and security light.

The driver's side panel is new, power window switch, door cup, bubble-tech map lid, new door handle, garnish and sails. The passenger side I replaced the pull handle that was nearly destroyed and door cup. The seats are original. They could use a steam cleaning, but they are in good shape.

 

great build! The interior looks pristine!

 

Awesome work! Really really nice r2.

 

thanks! Its hard to show in pictures how bad the interior was. Nearly all the plastic bits were broken and everything was covered in a film of brown dirt. I don't think It had been detailed in years.

 

Next task: Exterior.

Again, photos don't really show how bad the paint is on this car. The hood looks like it was washed with steel wool, the roof is a patchy, hazy faded mess. And the whole car seems to be covered with either paint overspray or tree sap from a sick tree. I spent 2 hours clay bar-ing the roof and another 3 doing the hood. This is easily the biggest pain in the *** (and the weather is hot) job in the world. You can see in the picture, I've started with the compound on the roof and amazingly removed the old faded paint. I am using the 3M Perfect-It 3 step system, an orbital buffer and pads from Chemical Bros.

I can't wait to see what it looks when I'm done....in two weeks at the current going rate.

 

my Rx8 was like that, i had to take the whole interior out and scrub it in the sink.

don't look at the picture, during or after lunch.

 

My RX-8 was like that too.

Its foundation make-up...