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I hate when I write a lengthy reply and don't hit submit....here it goes again
So PFC installed and working wonderfully. I am very pleased. The boost restriction to 7 was left alone and she creeps to 8. Maybe with the hiflow cat she will creep a little more?? Anyway, I am not upset with the performance.
Next is sending my cluster to rx7.com to have all the caps replaced. While waiting for that I have a dual air temp gauge from glowshift, AEM oil temp, press, and boost that will be installed. I will start monitoring temps, intake, intake at the actual cones, under hood temp, oils and water to see if any of the up coming "thermal management" actually does anything. This will include the vented hood. After $ recovery of the hood (I am married lol), I will have to decide wether or not to start on paint or suspension. I am leaning towards suspension as power is nothing without control. It would however be nice to open the garage and see her freshly painted. What would you guys do?
Can't argue with that. Looking more and more like suspension. She will be a rat rod lol.
I also am not gauging this thing out. I will add an oil temp, wideband, new boost (all aem). I will put the dual temp in a non permanent location as I still want to see how the temps will work out.
1st finish gauges which includes rebuild of cluster, then hiflow cat. If boost isnt up to 10 we will put her back up. The map in the PFC is awesome so I am not worried about a hard core dyno tune at the moment. Finish up the thermal stuff. If oil temps are ok we will move onto suspension. If not upgraded oil cooler with possibly adding a second. I am going to try and fabricate a rear enclosure behind the k&no and possibly a heat shield over/in front of the turbos. Pettit will be the answer for the coilovers, and probably RB for the front sway. I will leave the rear stock. Maybe pull it for the bushings and refinish it. Not sure who to go to for bushings yet. Trailing and toe links will probably be from rx7.com
I guess after suspension we will she how she runs the 1/8 and 1/4. I will address the rear end of needed as she is still on the 390.
Gauges: Important to know engine status, but logging is better than trying to look at a small dial while you are driving that keeps changing. Water temp is more important than oil because water temp is in some degree caused by oil temp, ie if you have high water temp you probably have high oil temp. The PFC shows water temp. Boost is kind of like air/fuel mix. Once you know it, it shouldn’t change much. Believe that can be read on the PFC commander as well. Not trying to talk you out of getting gauges, just saying where they are relevant, and again IMO
Oil Cooler: If you plan to drive the car hard, this is a recommended upgrade. Stock dual R1s at a minimum (not sure how stock duals compare to a single 25 row cooler though)
Suspension: Don’t need to spend a lot. Sure Olins are nice, but good quality lowering springs and shocks are sufficient for 90% of the time. That said, if coil overs are in the picture, don’t spend money on a partial solution.
Replace only bushes if they are worn. Poly is cheapest, but ride will be noticeably harsher. Mazdacomps are the way to go, or in combination with poly bushes that don’t see a lot of movement, ie differential. Don’t forget to check your pillowballs as well
Aftermarket trailing arms and tie rods are a waste unless they are cheaper than replacing their bushes (again if the bushes are worn)
I found the Banzai transmission brace a good enhancement, especially if the motor mounts are a little worn
Thx TomU. All is noted.
my FC as I recalled had to tokico illum, springs, ST away bars and all poly bushings. It was a phenomenal handling vehicle. I don't mind a little harshness if the results are good. Again thanks. Your intel is very much appreciated.
I'm a big fan or Super Pro bushings. They dont bind like other brands due to the design. Also the honey comb on the inner part of the bushings where the metal sleeve goes in helps keep lube where it should be so they dont squeak after a while like other bushings do.
AEM installed. She is permanently wired, but not locked in. I have to remove the cluster to send it away for tach.
Ordering a 3 gauge pod for center speaker and once it arrives oil temp, dual air, and a/f will be installed. Getting there slowly but surely.
Supra TT pump on the way also. Once all these are I stalled... a bit of logging on temps before and after thermal management work, then hiflow cat and dual coolers of needed.
TT Supra pump installed today. Couple runs with her and my boost seemed to spike around 12 ish. I called BS because my commander was showing the usual. I hooked back up my autometer analog did some pulls and she was no more than 9psi. Hooked the AEM back up and it was back in agreement. No idea wth was going on. Rather frustrating and I hope this AEM isnt going to give me any issues.
Wires are through the firewall for the AEM oil temp, afr, and the glowshift dual temps. Pod should be here in a couple days. I will change the oil again and go with 20w50. It is just too damn hot in miami to run 10w40 dino. Running castrol. I thought to change to Idemitsu, but I think I will be changing the oil so often that it would be a waste of $$. Like every 700-1000 miles.
Next after gauges is still hiflow cat and add one oil cooler if temps are too high which I can imagine they will be. (I am still going to log temps while adding additional "thermal management items". I think I will keep stock on left and just add one on the right.
I will probably aggravate Cam at Pettit to perform a street tune if my afr seems off or maybe try and snag a dyno. Hopefully with the addition of the hiflow I will be right at 10-11psi without any pills or controllers. That will have to suffice on the power until I finish everything else up. I am still hoping for 300+. I will be happy.
Sakebomb's oil filter pedestal installed. The old o-ring appeared to be pretty worn out. What a pita that rearward m6 bolt is. I am pretty darn sure I have the rearward m6 right, but we shall see soon enough. I used locktite 592 on one of the threads so I will wait a day or 2 to start and check for leaks. Want to make sure it is bonded all the way.
I am quite amazed at how diluted the 10w40 is so as stated earlier I will change it out for 20w50. The warm up for oil change will be the initial leak check.
Highflow cat will be installed once I know there are no leaks. She is sitting here waiting for me.
Still waiting for my flyrx7 pod to show up and finish gauge installs.
All jokes aside, I haven't installed to see fit yet, but very impressed with the quality. There is an a awesome review of this on this forum. Apologies for not remembering who it was, but the review seems spot on so far.
Bose system in rear removed along with the spare tire and accessories. I have some carpet I will fab and will figure out something for the spare tire cover. That's probably 40-50lbs. Should more than offset a 5 channel amp and small sub.
Hopefully tomorrow I will start her up and check for leaks on the oil pedestal. I may need to bend the return line slightly and maybe get the wideband sensor installed.
The temp sensors are placed. One by the intake and the other by the uim. This is temporary just to screw around with a few ideas I have and log some temps for under the hood.
So I definitely have hotter oil temps that I would like. It hit 230 at one point, but came back down pretty quick. I was on and off the throttle with a few wot. I would say average is around 210-220.
So I know what my next mod will be!! Time for a 2nd oil cooler. Not sure if I will just add one yet, or if I will buy 2 . At these temps 2 may be in order.
Coolant temps are still around 90-95c when getting on it or sitting in traffic. Was around 88f when I was out playing around. I did do an oil change and switched to 20w50. I see plus and minus to this. May take longer to cool, but I also feel like she has a little more protection at these temps. Of course it is all just my opinion.
Boost gauge was acting up again a little. 11.9 recorded max. I still find that hard to believe. I repositioned the wire and boost tube so maybe I just kinked it again or something. I will look into it later. Also showed vacuum around -8,-10 which she is around -14 to -18 normally.
Oil type and thermal management. I guess this will be part of my thermal management "experiment". It is very frustrating that there is still so much conflict on what oil to use. I was a little scared with synthetic, but then I started thinking.... geeeee the premix I use is protek. Protek is synthetic. Most premix are. Why the hell would there be any issue with motor oil being synthetic (given it is a brand mean and/or meant to burn). Most people skgiving the excuse of Mazda says no synthetic are running a 20w50 weight and Mazda doesn't recommend that weight. Anyway, I have the gtx 20w50 in now and will be logging some temps and will switch to RP 10w40 probably and maybe 20w50 after that. I think whatever gives me the lowest oil temps and adequate pressure is what I will stick with. Cost for me with oil is not an issue. I will still probably change the oil every 700-1000 miles as she won't driven that much to begin with. People claim 10° avg reduction in temps on synthetic. That alone is a big deal to me especially running on one cooler still. 220 sounds hell of a lot better than 230. As does 200-210 when 210-220 has been my avg. If it is 20° as some people claim then damn that has to lower temps all together which I should see in my coolant temps and possibly even intake and underhood temps. Sounds very trivial to most people probably, but sometimes you have to figure stuff out for yourself I guess. Here are what a few "extreme" pros have told me. Will not give their names, but I can assure you they all know what the hell they are talking about.
1. 15w40 diesel (Rotella) lives in very hot climate
2. 10w30 Idemitsu (he changes it often and lives in a Very hot climate)
3. 20w50 Idemitsu (lives in very hot climate)
4. 20w50 GTX lives in moderate climate cold in winter and can get very hot in summer
I obviously would never bring this up in the forums as it has been beat to death. I need a damn answer, so I guess I will see what my car likes
Highflow cat installed today along with afr sensor. Wow, what a difference!! This thing has to be at least 300 to the wheels. She feels awesome. Unfortunately it was a little damp still after some rain earlier and I couldn't get on it as once the secondary comes on in 2nd she spins. (Starting from a bogged 2nd gear pull). Anyway, with my very minimal knowledge of afr everything looks good from idle to wot. Of course I have much more observation to do.
The temps I am logging are surprising for under the hood and intake. I am not sure if many are actually aware.
I am amazed at the size and weight of the factory main.
I personally would not be too concerned about using synthetic with an OMP. That said, i have a dedicated tank which injects clean pre-mix.
Idemitsu was designed for rotaries, so that's saying a lot. I'm currently using Motorcraft 5-50 synthetic so i get good initial start protection. Only problem with such a wide range is it breaks down quickly so i need to to change it more often (and that oil is not cheap).
Awesome Tom, thanks for the link. That will take awhile to read, but I like the research.
The owner or "main guy" at Royal Purple use to race rotary and well, you guessed it. He supposedly ran royal purple. I am trying to figure out what I want to do when I install the oil coolers. I may just stick with gtx 20w50 for now and finish my temp logging. Trying to get some accurate data. Oil coolers will be installed this Saturday and I am excited and curious for the temps. Not only the oil, but what affect it will have on intake temps if any. My coolant temp is optimal imo, but I am curious to see if the fans will work as hard. I assume there should be a difference.
Now I am also into the spark plug debate lol. I am researching what temps etc. What temp plugs are you running?
I can almost feel a water/meth injection in the future.... WTH am I getting myself into lol
Added one oil cooler today. Unfortunately had an issue with a fitting and left the car at the shop. I only had a chance to give it one good test drive. So there are some positive and negative things to this. One positive is the temp drop was unbelievable. We are talking 35-40°f for a quick avg. I was expecting 25°-30° On the boost with some 95-100mph some moderate traffic and a few back road squirts at full boost. Way better than expected. Bad news is had a fitting fail. Good news is, since she has to come back apart we will just go ahead and replace the stock cooler also. I dont expect another insane drop in temp, but another 10° for sure and maybe 15° is possible. Quite obvious the the factory cooler isnt flowing air to well. The fitting failure resulted in just about a total oil loss. I am 99% sure she was shut down in time and will have no issues engine wise. This probably should have been one of the 1st mods I did. I am curious to see how the temps will play out.
So quick update on new coolers. At 90-95 mph the temps really didnt get over 165°f. Getting on the boost a bit she went up to 170 at slower speeds (55-75mph). This is a different oil. 15w40 dino. So I cant compare it to the 20w50 yet, but coolers are definitely working. In traffic after off i95 stop and go she got up to 200 once and would go into the 180s once moving even like 10- 15mph. Temp was 78 out so cant compare it to our 90°days yet. I still need to make a couple mods on the brackets.
My thermal management tests may be skipping a couple steps. I will be pulling the nose off for the cooler brackets and will be filling gaps in for the rad. I was initially going to see if the intake temps were affecting by the coolers alone. I still might have time for this depending on when I get brackets for the oil coolers get here or I make them.
07-13-18, 11:19 AM
