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Just get the bolt on T3 setup, then you don't have to worry about which shocks fit.
It's a little late for that. I already have the weld on kit installed. Really would rather not have to spend 800$ on coilovers for a car that isn't going to be raced.
I don't have the part #s handy but the word on the street is you can use Koni shocks for the rear of a MK1 MR2 on the front of the FB RX7, and Mustang shocks for the rear.
I don't have the part #s handy but the word on the street is you can use Koni shocks for the rear of a MK1 MR2 on the front of the FB RX7, and Mustang shocks for the rear.
I would think rear MR2 shocks would have horribly wrong valving for an rx7 front.
Nope, think about it. MR2 engine is mid-rear layout, RX7 is mid-front layout, and you are taking the shocks from the REAR of the MR2 and putting them in the FRONT of the Rx7.
RX7 GSL-SE
Curb weight: 2,500 lbs
Weight balance: 50/50
Front corner weight:
2,500 x .5 / 2 = 625 lbs
Those numbers get closer when you start removing weight from the front of the RX7 like using a light weight header, deleting the A/C, emissions, air pump, etc, etc.
The only concern I saw was that you may need to shave down the weld points to get the MR2 shocks to fit, and I got mixed reports as to whether the shocks will fit the stock strut hats. If they don't fit, you can get camber plates that match.
Nope, think about it. MR2 engine is mid-rear layout, RX7 is mid-front layout, and you are taking the shocks from the REAR of the MR2 and putting them in the FRONT of the Rx7.
RX7 GSL-SE
Curb weight: 2,500 lbs
Weight balance: 50/50
Front corner weight:
2,500 x .5 / 2 = 625 lbs
Those numbers get closer when you start removing weight from the front of the RX7 like using a light weight header, deleting the A/C, emissions, air pump, etc, etc.
The only concern I saw was that you may need to shave down the weld points to get the MR2 shocks to fit, and I got mixed reports as to whether the shocks will fit the stock strut hats. If they don't fit, you can get camber plates that match.
Fair point. I didn't really think about the MR2 being MR layout, thanks for the correction. I'll definitely look into that.
I think an ideal setup would be a number of holes on one end of the tent, and put furnace filters on those. On the other end of the tent, all the fans blowing out. Probably do 1.5 or 2X the surface area of the fans for the number of filters.
Ok ok ok, I know I dropped off the face of the earth for a while. My granparents have been in and out of the hospital so I've been caught up in family stuff. I have a little bit of time so here's what progress has been made: The big one The engine and tranny are in!
Now, this was the biggest pain in the a$$ engine install I've done in a while. Stupid, ambitious me thought it would be a good idea to drop the engine and tranny in together... "ThEy CaME oUt thAt WaY tHey ShOUlD gO bACk iN tHat WaY!" I know, famous last words. It was a mess, every time the tranny would almost fit on its mounting points, the engine would move from whatever precarious position I had it in and the whole thing would misalign. I've put engines in this way with miatas, but for some reason, this really didn't want to work. After about three hours of playing the, "drop the hoist, raise the jack, oh nope start over" game, the assembly finally sat right. Now, the engine isn't mounted just yet, still working on that. BUT IT'S IN. Maybe it's dumb to be excited about fitting a similarly sized engine in where the old one was, but let me be a little enthusiastic. I've waited more than a year to see that engine in that engine bay, so it's an amazing feeling.
Back to work though. I finished up the rear end: Parts: Hawk Performance HPS 5.0 Pads, Koni Red Mustang Foxbody Shocks, Stoptech Slotted & Vented Brake rotors, Mazdatrix Steel Brake lines, Ground Control/Eibach Lowering Springs, eBay Pro SPEK JDM tyte yo wheel spacers ;-P All installed on a GSL-SE rear end filled with Lucas Oil 75w-90 Gear oil
With that Frankenstein's monster completed(seriously, the rear end alone has parts from 6 different cars), the wheels can go on the rear. Well except my pinion seal left a pacific ocean of my nice new fluid all over the floor so I gotta fix that.
I have a ton of parts in to do the oil system, fuel system, radiator hoses, engine mounts, and front end rebuild. Look forward to seeing that soon.
In addition, I'll be sending the stock RX8 PCM to Racing Beat for a tune and an immobilizer delete. I'm going to begin wiring so that by the time I get the ECU back, it's ready to just drop in
Things are going to be moving pretty fast from here on out. I don't know who all saw, but my FC was broken into and torn apart pretty badly. My goal is to get this car on the road as soon as possible so I can give my FC a full workover. Poor Roxanne(my FC's name) is looking pretty wallered out these days.
More updates soon, enjoy the view of a 2006 engine in a 1982 chassis, I know I will.
ah cool. I hadn't seen it when i went i scrolled through. A friend of mine put a 04 Renesis into his 82 about 8 years back. Literally the best thing an FB can become.
I'm in.
Kudos on using the stock tranny. My guess is you will not be missing out on much (and that's not a slight against the 6-speed because I happen to love it). I am curious about something you said about the 6-speed though - you mentioned something about modifying the tunnel. Is it wider than the FB's tranny or were you referring to having to modify for the shifter position? I just want to clarify.
Also, I'm curious to see what you do with mounting the engine.
ah cool. I hadn't seen it when i went i scrolled through. A friend of mine put a 04 Renesis into his 82 about 8 years back. Literally the best thing an FB can become.
Holy sh*t you know him? That guy and his car were my inspiration. Do you know any way to get ahold of him? I have so many questions and I'd love his insight!
I'm trying to figure out what kind of exhaust setup to run. My 91' vert is straight piped(no silencer, resonator, or mufflers. It's loud as f*ck). While I do like being a scumbag and driving something that loud every once in a while, it's become pretty miserable to live with after daily driving it like that for a few months. That said, this orange car will be my daily after I get done with it, so I want it to be much quieter. I like setups that are very loud at WOT, but not droning away when cruising. From what I've read, a RB presilencer is a must for getting rid of drone, then again renesis engines are pretty quiet because they aren't peripheral exhaust ported. I also know that I want this car to be side exit. I want to lower it and I don't want to worry about the axle to exhaust clearance. I also like the look of side exit. What I was thinking of running is a stock header, borla silencer, and borla XR-1 muffler exiting on the passenger side. All 2.5" pipe. Thoughts?
In other news, I finally figured out the koni shock debacle. Turns out the welds at the bottom of my Koni Reds (for the front) were sloppy, which is why the shock wouldn't sit nicely in the strut. A little bit of belt sanding and now they slip right in :-)
Maybe try contact Black Halo Racing (https://black-halo-racing.myshopify.com/) to see if they will sell the resonator they use on their midpipes. They typically have great feedback about their midpipes. And the resonator is not a packed design so there’s no packing to burn up. Though that’s a 3” midpipe so might not fit with your pipe size plans.
I'm in.
Kudos on using the stock tranny. My guess is you will not be missing out on much (and that's not a slight against the 6-speed because I happen to love it). I am curious about something you said about the 6-speed though - you mentioned something about modifying the tunnel. Is it wider than the FB's tranny or were you referring to having to modify for the shifter position? I just want to clarify.
Also, I'm curious to see what you do with mounting the engine.
Keep up the good work.
I was referring to two problems with the tunnel. the first problem with using the RX-8 transmission is that the shifter location would be set back wayyy too far for the FB's tunnel. The second problem is that the RX-8 Transmission is MASSIVE (or thicc as the kids say). There is absolutely no way that transmission would've fit in the stock tunnel without some serious impact therapy.
As far as engine mounts, I am open to input if anybody has any. The way I see it there are only a few good options:
1) Create a mount that connects the stock hockey puck style FB mounts to the mounting holes on the sides of the renesis "block" (I know, wrong terminology).
This comes with a few challenges. First of all, the renesis is a mid-mounted engine while the FB front subframe is made for a front mount engine. This means the arms for the mount would have to extend at least a few inches towards the back of the car. This sounds ugly just describing it.
2) Create a mount that somehow bolts to the front of the renesis and connects to the stock front engine mount bracket
3) Weld on some dog ears to the frame rails and connect the engine directly to the frame.
Like I said I'm open to input. I plan on sketching these out in AutoCAD over the next few weeks to try and determine which option is best. In other news, I will be putting the front suspension together this weekend(finally got my new wheel bearings), and after that I will be able to rest the car on all 4 wheels! I'm not going to post pictures of the car, even though it has made some progress until I have most of the aesthetics back together this weekend. You guys are going to be blown away with how good this car looks. Those Nismo Ray's wheels I bought ages ago were definitely the right choice, they look absolutely stunning. I have also started the awful task of making a wiring harness for this thing. That RX-8 engine bay harness had about 20 lbs of uneeded wire in it. I hav'e stripped the RX-8 wiring down to the bare minimum for the PCM to work, and I should be able to power the harness pretty soon to make sure everything is working.
I've still got a ways to go, but everything is slowly starting to come together.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I don't know why I thought the 6 speed was going to be too short. I never removed the tranny from my Rx-8 so I simply did not know how much larger it is.
For the mounting, I think you should take #2 off the table. Right now (at the keyboard), I'm thinking there's just too much to risk if that ever went wrong. I will try to take a look at one of my Renesis front covers and see if my feeling has any merit, but that's what I think right now. I wish I could help you more on that front.
Kudos on simplifying the harness. Keep plugging away. I, for one, can't wait to see whatever progress you continue to make.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I don't know why I thought the 6 speed was going to be too short. I never removed the tranny from my Rx-8 so I simply did not know how much larger it is.
For the mounting, I think you should take #2 off the table. Right now (at the keyboard), I'm thinking there's just too much to risk if that ever went wrong. I will try to take a look at one of my Renesis front covers and see if my feeling has any merit, but that's what I think right now. I wish I could help you more on that front.
Kudos on simplifying the harness. Keep plugging away. I, for one, can't wait to see whatever progress you continue to make.
Yeah I'm leaning that way too. Too much risk of damage if it cracked or something. I found another guy who did this swap and his engine mounts seem to follow idea #1. Might go ahead and try that first. I just worry about how long the mount will have to be, and how that might weaken it. I'm gonna play with some ideas on fusion 360.
05-15-18, 10:49 AM
