Starting a new build thread - Mostly stock to full track car.
10-10-12, 09:19 PM
#1
Starting a new build thread - Mostly stock to full track car.
I decided to reboot my build thread since the last one below was all over the place on my plans.
Original Build Thread -> https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ebuild-984380/
I’ve shaped things up quite a bit and have a much better plan now I think. First off my original plan was to do a lot of the work myself. It was a bad idea and I’m man enough to admit I was in well over my head. I’ve since handed the car over to a local rotary shop and with their assistance have a reasonably good plan to execute.
Goal: I wanted a car that would be geared towards tracking and HPDEs with the ability to drive it on the street to meets and such. I wanted to keep air conditioning because of the street driving and plan to keep some portions of the sound system although I’ll likely be getting rid of or at a minimum updating the Bose system.
Current Setup: The car is a 1993 touring edition. There were just under 125,000 miles on it when I stopped driving it due to a coolant seal failure that caused the car to basically choke itself out. It was running a stock engine with a jspec ypipe, a yet to be identified am downpipe, all alum SMIC, pettitt ECU and a racing beat dual tip exhaust. It also came with a spare moon roof, wind deflector, stock cat and catback, replacement door sills and some other goodies. Most of the AM stuff I’d placed in a for sale thread to try to raise some of the cash for my build. You can find a link to the thread below. If you fast forward to the end of the thread you should find a current list of what has sold and what is available. Oh yeah and my 5th gear is shot (big surprise at 125k miles).
For sale thread -> https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...lable-1005738/
What I’ve learned thus far:
Trials and tribulations:
My original plan was to pull the motor myself and buy a new one. I’d then port it and install an upgraded single turbo with a goal of getting around 400-450whp. I though the project would cost around $10-12,000. (I’m laughing when I think about this figure now) I got as far as buying a used motor (that was supposedly rebuild 0 miles drag motor) and then just before pulling the motor only to realize my extra-long garage at my house just wasn’t big enough to do the job. I looked around for a bay to rent, lift to rent etc. with no luck at all. In the process of doing this I realized that if I was having that much trouble just trying to pull the motor I should probably seek out some pros for help.
I found a somewhat local shop near the town I grew up in which is about an hour and a half from where I live now. After e-mailing back and forth about what my goals and objectives were we put together a pretty good plan on what needed to be done. The new price tag was north of $21,000 and this wasn’t factoring in the engine, turbo kit and intercooler I’d already purchased.
As it turns out I was basically sold a bum motor and the turbo/ic kit I got was completely inappropriate for what I was trying to accomplish. The kit was a R85 turbo kit and an Apexi FMIC. The R85 setup was basically geared towards a drag setup and much too big for what I was looking for. It was also suggested that a V-Mount setup would be much more efficient for a track car than the FMIC setup I’d picked up on my own.
Those issues aside when we pulled apart the motor I’d picked up we found it was definitely not a zero mile rebuild and a lot of the parts were second rate at best. One there were 2 holes in the oil passages where screwed had been over torqued; the rotor housings were not in the best shape either. Not that all of these parts weren’t useable but it was suggested that if I didn’t want to rebuild again in a year or two I’d be better off subbing in other parts.
The good news is between my motor and the one I’d purchased we were able to put together a reasonably good motor without having to buy any new parts. Even had a few pieces left over to sell.
Parts list for the current build:
Mods still being planned out:
Timeline as of right now:
5/2012 – Purchased car
6/2011 – Coolant seal went
10/2011 – Started planning out rebuild
12/2011 – Starting process of pulling the engine
1/2012 – ADD kicked in and forgot about the project for a bit
4/2012 – Remember about the FD and started working again
4/2012 – Found a motor, turbo and IC setup I thought was good. Contacted a local shop to schedule a tear down once I picked it up for a second opinion.
5-6/2012 – Sent the car to the shop to have them take over the project for me
8/2012 – Finalized plans for the build and started work
10/2012 – we’re piecing together parts of the build. ETA on the VMount is early to middle of December.
Original Build Thread -> https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ebuild-984380/
I’ve shaped things up quite a bit and have a much better plan now I think. First off my original plan was to do a lot of the work myself. It was a bad idea and I’m man enough to admit I was in well over my head. I’ve since handed the car over to a local rotary shop and with their assistance have a reasonably good plan to execute.
Goal: I wanted a car that would be geared towards tracking and HPDEs with the ability to drive it on the street to meets and such. I wanted to keep air conditioning because of the street driving and plan to keep some portions of the sound system although I’ll likely be getting rid of or at a minimum updating the Bose system.
Current Setup: The car is a 1993 touring edition. There were just under 125,000 miles on it when I stopped driving it due to a coolant seal failure that caused the car to basically choke itself out. It was running a stock engine with a jspec ypipe, a yet to be identified am downpipe, all alum SMIC, pettitt ECU and a racing beat dual tip exhaust. It also came with a spare moon roof, wind deflector, stock cat and catback, replacement door sills and some other goodies. Most of the AM stuff I’d placed in a for sale thread to try to raise some of the cash for my build. You can find a link to the thread below. If you fast forward to the end of the thread you should find a current list of what has sold and what is available. Oh yeah and my 5th gear is shot (big surprise at 125k miles).
For sale thread -> https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...lable-1005738/
What I’ve learned thus far:
- No matter what you have forgotten something that should have been updated and it will probably break once your project is done.
- Whatever you estimated for your build isn’t enough, you should probably double it.
- Find a pro and become friends with him/her so you can bounce ideas off them.
- Don’t be concerned about timelines, the project will probably take a long time and it will be torture waiting through the whole process.
- It’s worth the wait.
Trials and tribulations:
My original plan was to pull the motor myself and buy a new one. I’d then port it and install an upgraded single turbo with a goal of getting around 400-450whp. I though the project would cost around $10-12,000. (I’m laughing when I think about this figure now) I got as far as buying a used motor (that was supposedly rebuild 0 miles drag motor) and then just before pulling the motor only to realize my extra-long garage at my house just wasn’t big enough to do the job. I looked around for a bay to rent, lift to rent etc. with no luck at all. In the process of doing this I realized that if I was having that much trouble just trying to pull the motor I should probably seek out some pros for help.
I found a somewhat local shop near the town I grew up in which is about an hour and a half from where I live now. After e-mailing back and forth about what my goals and objectives were we put together a pretty good plan on what needed to be done. The new price tag was north of $21,000 and this wasn’t factoring in the engine, turbo kit and intercooler I’d already purchased.
As it turns out I was basically sold a bum motor and the turbo/ic kit I got was completely inappropriate for what I was trying to accomplish. The kit was a R85 turbo kit and an Apexi FMIC. The R85 setup was basically geared towards a drag setup and much too big for what I was looking for. It was also suggested that a V-Mount setup would be much more efficient for a track car than the FMIC setup I’d picked up on my own. Those issues aside when we pulled apart the motor I’d picked up we found it was definitely not a zero mile rebuild and a lot of the parts were second rate at best. One there were 2 holes in the oil passages where screwed had been over torqued; the rotor housings were not in the best shape either. Not that all of these parts weren’t useable but it was suggested that if I didn’t want to rebuild again in a year or two I’d be better off subbing in other parts.
The good news is between my motor and the one I’d purchased we were able to put together a reasonably good motor without having to buy any new parts. Even had a few pieces left over to sell.Parts list for the current build:
- Rebuild motor as close to refurb as possible. Porting work will include aggressive street ports, oil passages and coolant passages. We’ll be using RA 2mm SuperSeals and probably studding the motor (Yes I know this isn’t necessary for 400-500 whp range but the car should be capable of substantially more than 400-500whp). All unused ports will be blocked off and welded.
- The turbo will be a Precision 6466 CEA: T4 divided turbine housing 1.0 A/R, Ball Bearing center section and billet compressor wheel, oil and air cooled, anti-surge compressor cover. It is used but has under 2k miles and has been inspected for quality. The turbo kit comes with a short runner manifold with Inconel heat shielding. A 3.5in downpipe heat wrapped in a DEI fire sleeve and dual 46mm Precision wastegates with ceramic coated dump tubes. Lastly stainless steel oil feed and return lines with heat shielding also. This was originally an ASpec kit.
- The intercooler is being ordered new from Rotary Extreme and will be their single turbo FD Track/Time VMount with modified radiator. This should be one of the first with their new more aggressive piping design and slight change in IC location to allow the fuse box to remain in its location and out of the way of the inlet from the front bumper.
- The fuel system is going to be upgraded to the IRP Competition Fuel System. The kit will come new with FFE primary and secondary rails, Aeromotive FPR, 725cc Primary and 2000cc Secondary injectors along with nylon braided fuel lines.
- The clutch is still up in the air a bit but we’re leaning towards an Exedy Dual Clutch setup.
- Series 8 transmission with aprox 40k miles on it.
- Battery relocation to the passenger storage bin.
- ECU will be replaced with a Power FC, Commander, Apexi Boost Controler and a 3 bar map sensor.
- AEM Water/Meth injection kit where we are planning to run a 50/50 mixture.
- Sake Bomb Garage dual oil coolers and HID light kit
- At a minimum replace axle seals and diff seals but we are considering upgrading the diff and axles.
- IRP Motor Mounts
- A new or gently used wiring harness modified for single turbo with all emissions deleted.
- Rotary Performance competition fuel pump
- Fikse FM10 17” rims 10” in the rear and 9” in the front. Leaning toward Nitto NT05s
- Plateless ’99 Spec front bumper
- KS style Siebon hood with center and rear vents
- Apexi N1 Exhaust with Magnaflow resonator
- Replace all pillowballs and bushings
- Upgraded head unit with touchscreen interface for carputer that is being installed to help monitor track runs.
- Zeal Function X suspension (maybe) Still debating this one.
- Other stuff I’m forgetting
Mods still being planned out:
- Rollcage
- Racing seats (I’m losing weight and have no idea what size I’m going to end up with
- Harness
- Misc gauges
- 99’ spec tail lights
- Diffuser
- Carbon fiber body parts
- Manual steering
- Other stuff I’m forgetting
Timeline as of right now:
5/2012 – Purchased car
6/2011 – Coolant seal went
10/2011 – Started planning out rebuild
12/2011 – Starting process of pulling the engine
1/2012 – ADD kicked in and forgot about the project for a bit
4/2012 – Remember about the FD and started working again
4/2012 – Found a motor, turbo and IC setup I thought was good. Contacted a local shop to schedule a tear down once I picked it up for a second opinion.
5-6/2012 – Sent the car to the shop to have them take over the project for me
8/2012 – Finalized plans for the build and started work
10/2012 – we’re piecing together parts of the build. ETA on the VMount is early to middle of December.
10-11-12, 02:59 PM
#7
I didn't realize this had to be a gallery thread.
I have a few pictures at this point but I need find them. Right now the car is in pieces but I'm hoping to head to the shop today to check out the rims, bumper, rotor housings and some other stuff.
I have a few pictures at this point but I need find them. Right now the car is in pieces but I'm hoping to head to the shop today to check out the rims, bumper, rotor housings and some other stuff.
Trending Topics
10-12-12, 02:18 PM
#9
Having the guts to rethink your build and plan it all out, with the difference being you'll be getting some help with the more advanced areas can only help guarantee your success in building the car how you want it and how it's supposed to run when the project is complete. I'll be following this one for sure. Congrats on making the change even if your bank account doesn't agree on it, the end result should be worth it though ... A reliable ~440whp with no cut corners.
10-13-12, 05:58 AM
#10
Gallery of pictures - As much as I have right now anyway
Here is a picture of the car the day I picked it up in Michigan a few years ago...
This is a picture of the car about a year and a half ago. My nephew and I spent half a day washing, waxing and claybarring it... I was sooo proud especially considering its the original 20 year old paint job... then it died like 30 miles later.
30 Miles later...
This once I'd brought the casr to the shop after my disasterous attempt at doing a solo rebuild. I think I had just spent about an hour or so degreasing the engine bay.
I don't know if I mentioned it earlier in this post but the car died with about 125k original miles on it, heres what the engine looked like when we pulled it.
Anyway. I did go to the shop this week. I took pictures of the Fikses (one arrived with a scratch, they are replacing it). I also took pics of the SakeBomb HIDs and the '99 spec bumper I bought. I'm not happy with the bumper though. I'm not sure if it arrived warped beyond repair or if it's going t take a bunch of work at a body shop to get it to look right. Anyway i don't have those pics uploaded yet. Will probably do that this weekend or next week. Its 5am and I haven’t slept yet because I have too much to do... Oh yeah I'm also getting married November 18th of this year so I'm trying to juggle that as well lol.
This is a picture of the car about a year and a half ago. My nephew and I spent half a day washing, waxing and claybarring it... I was sooo proud especially considering its the original 20 year old paint job... then it died like 30 miles later.
30 Miles later...
This once I'd brought the casr to the shop after my disasterous attempt at doing a solo rebuild. I think I had just spent about an hour or so degreasing the engine bay.
I don't know if I mentioned it earlier in this post but the car died with about 125k original miles on it, heres what the engine looked like when we pulled it.
Anyway. I did go to the shop this week. I took pictures of the Fikses (one arrived with a scratch, they are replacing it). I also took pics of the SakeBomb HIDs and the '99 spec bumper I bought. I'm not happy with the bumper though. I'm not sure if it arrived warped beyond repair or if it's going t take a bunch of work at a body shop to get it to look right. Anyway i don't have those pics uploaded yet. Will probably do that this weekend or next week. Its 5am and I haven’t slept yet because I have too much to do... Oh yeah I'm also getting married November 18th of this year so I'm trying to juggle that as well lol.
10-18-12, 10:58 PM
#15
+1111111111111111111111
Nice choice on the rims as well .. they look great on a dark car. I have the same style .. except from iforged.
I' have the same lights on their way as well, give me/us a review once you have them aligned please
Nice choice on the rims as well .. they look great on a dark car. I have the same style .. except from iforged.
I' have the same lights on their way as well, give me/us a review once you have them aligned please
Last edited by TougeSpirit; 10-18-12 at 11:07 PM. Reason: Meh.
11-02-12, 09:37 PM
#18
Update...
No news is good news right now. The shop my car is at hasn't had power since Monday. Hopefully they get everything fixed up soon.
Ordered an Apexi ATS (silencer) for the N1.
Debating between the ZEAL Function X and TEIN Super Racing Circuit Masters... I really like the oil resevoir. Anyone have any experience with the TEINs?
No news is good news right now. The shop my car is at hasn't had power since Monday. Hopefully they get everything fixed up soon.
Ordered an Apexi ATS (silencer) for the N1.
Debating between the ZEAL Function X and TEIN Super Racing Circuit Masters... I really like the oil resevoir. Anyone have any experience with the TEINs?
12-01-12, 03:20 PM
#21
Build Update:
Intake, Oil and Coolant porting are completed, saw them yesterday, waiting on pics though as I forgot to bring my camera.
Apexi ATS arrived, dropped it off along with the catback and carputer setup I'm installing in the car.
All thats left with the motor is exhaust ports.
We settled on the Exidy dual plate for the clutch after pondering a triple plate for a bit.
For suspension I think we are going with a Tein Super Racing setup with the electronic adjusting on the fly.
The bumper is another story... we are having MAJOR fitment issues and the body shop believes the bumper won't hold up to a good heat treatment so I'm in talks with the person who sold it to me after returning or something. I still plan to go with the '99 plateless front but I will probably just buy it new from Pettit Racing.
Sorry for the lack of pics/updates. I've spent the last month or so getting married and then disappearing on a 2 week honeymoon so I'm back now and a bit more focused as I want to have the car finished and broken in in time for spring.
If anyone has a good quality plateless '99 and or a lightly used dual clutch hit me up.
Oh yeah! I forgot one of the biggest pieces I'm working on right now... I may be getting my hands on a FEED Type II adjustable spoiler
Intake, Oil and Coolant porting are completed, saw them yesterday, waiting on pics though as I forgot to bring my camera.
Apexi ATS arrived, dropped it off along with the catback and carputer setup I'm installing in the car.
All thats left with the motor is exhaust ports.
We settled on the Exidy dual plate for the clutch after pondering a triple plate for a bit.
For suspension I think we are going with a Tein Super Racing setup with the electronic adjusting on the fly.
The bumper is another story... we are having MAJOR fitment issues and the body shop believes the bumper won't hold up to a good heat treatment so I'm in talks with the person who sold it to me after returning or something. I still plan to go with the '99 plateless front but I will probably just buy it new from Pettit Racing.
Sorry for the lack of pics/updates. I've spent the last month or so getting married and then disappearing on a 2 week honeymoon so I'm back now and a bit more focused as I want to have the car finished and broken in in time for spring.
If anyone has a good quality plateless '99 and or a lightly used dual clutch hit me up.
Oh yeah! I forgot one of the biggest pieces I'm working on right now... I may be getting my hands on a FEED Type II adjustable spoiler
12-11-12, 02:03 AM
#23
More pictures!!! Port work is just about done.
First pic has nothing to do with the thread, but its a warning about what happens when your driving way to fast and hit a massive pothole... Yes my head hit the roof lol.
First pic has nothing to do with the thread, but its a warning about what happens when your driving way to fast and hit a massive pothole... Yes my head hit the roof lol.
Last edited by GoodfellaFD3S; 02-06-13 at 11:52 PM.
12-11-12, 03:53 PM
#24
Thanks! Intercooler should be done soon. E-Mailed with Ben at RE. They are a little backed up so late this month early Jan probably now. Motor should be completed within a week or so.
I'm torn now though on my front end. The '99 plateless in the pics is basically garbage. I'm debating going with a '99 spec OEM or ordering the Mazdaspeed Spec R from RX7 Boutique.... I'm looking for good openings for the oil coolers as I'm planning to run at least 25 row duals...
I'm torn now though on my front end. The '99 plateless in the pics is basically garbage. I'm debating going with a '99 spec OEM or ordering the Mazdaspeed Spec R from RX7 Boutique.... I'm looking for good openings for the oil coolers as I'm planning to run at least 25 row duals...
12-13-12, 12:25 AM
#25
Things are moving slowly but surely!
I have ordered the Apexi Boost Controller, Exedy Dual clutch.
I'm am trying to source a FEED Type 2 spoiler for the car but the only one I've found so far is in pretty bad condition.
I'm also trying to decide between a '99 Spec OEM and Plateless front bumper still and man its a tough decision for some reason!
I have ordered the Apexi Boost Controller, Exedy Dual clutch.
I'm am trying to source a FEED Type 2 spoiler for the car but the only one I've found so far is in pretty bad condition.
I'm also trying to decide between a '99 Spec OEM and Plateless front bumper still and man its a tough decision for some reason!