How did you mount the struts to the chassis? I know the bolt pattern is slightly different. How did you mount them to the control arm?

Thank you!

I'm not sure if your idea would work, I think mustanghammers few options, replacement, upgrade to FC, or custom KC Raceware rotors are probably the best ones.

I have been in TX for the past week, waiting on wheels they should ship next week, need to put harnesses back and bolt everything back in. I have moved past the fun creative fabrication phases and I need to do the boring bolt ons to get it running.

Peace,
Al

 

I used the Fb struts mount and changed the ball joint to get the spindle to mount to the control arms. Ran new brake lines and extended my tie rods.

 

Making the wheels hub centric is a good idea. I don't know if this will help the GSL/SE rotor failure issue or not. It couldn't hurt but I think the issue is with the design of the rotor/hub.


From our observations, wheels that are not hub centric "walk around" on the hub face even when the lug nuts are properly torqued. Worse if the wheels have aluminum lug seats. Aluminum hub centric rings fix this. My race car has them front and rear.

 

You're right, the failure issue is probably in the design, and the "walk around" is just scary. Thinking about either finding some Brembo or Powerslot replacement rotors, think they'd be stronger? If not I might just upgrade to FC, although my budget dictates my decision. The FC route is a plus since I can also throw on some T2 calipers. Planning on running the hubcentric spacers regardless.

Good info on this thread. Cant wait to see this builds progress!

 

I would completely recommend the fc swap to everyone. I went out last night to an event and this is the first time being able to test after my swap. It was so awesome and the angle was unbelievable. This was one of the best things I've ever done to improve this car especially in drifting. Now I have to figure out what to do to get the tire off the tension rod at full lock. Possibly a one piece control arm with tension rod integrated like an fc control arm.

 

This is getting me way excited hearing about all the steering lock!
Effectively the T3 Kit does what you've done without the bigger brakes. Maybe at some point I will buy a big brake kit or convert to FC.

I have the radiator out at SPS Autosport changing the inlet and outlet to the FB hose size. Going to mount it up once it gets back at the end of this week.

By then I should have everything bolted back in and then can put fluids in and start'er up!

Peace,
Al

 

When I was racing my car in ITA/IT7 I experimented with GSL rotors from Mazda, Brembo and Auto Zone. The result was that there was no difference. Now these are the rotors you find on the front of a 12A powered FB so hub failures were not a concern. But rotor wear and cracking was an issue and what I found out is that they all wore out at the same rate.

 

Will need to watch the front rotors and replace often, I can probably get away with ordering a set from Charlie soon.

I have some good news and some bad news to update with!

The good news is way awesome, I have the car rolling for the first time in over a year! It is full of fluids, gas runs and does not leak, ready to break in the axle once I get it running.

I was able to find wheels for my wonky setup (5x114.3 rear X 4x114.3 front) through Discount Tire Direct on eBay, this seems like a fantastic source for deals on wheels.

Pictures below.

The bad news is way awful, however, I keep burning up ECU's.

I have made a separate thread in the First Gen section to try and troubleshoot this, I would like to invite all of you to go there and cuss me out, call me stupid, and help solve this issue.

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...oking-1082260/

When I get this ECU thing handled this car will be running again and I am so thrilled just to drive it. I get to drive a ~$200k car in anger pretty frequently and it still doesn't compare to the memories I have with the RX7.

Gratefully,
Al

 

Check out my thread in the non tech section for help with the SE wiring. Its a very simple electrical system. Only three relays and a couple power and ground wires.

 

Thank you for simplifying things.

Its easy to get lost looking at wiring diagrams.

I think I am ready to start the car when the new ECU comes in!

Peace,
Al

 

She RUNS!!!

It looks like I added wayyyy too much premix or it didn't mix very well with the gas, smoked up the whole damn block.

Either that or an oil seal, but this is a pretty fresh engine. Either way will keep an eye on oil level.

I have a couple of leaks to address and need to break in the axle then its time to shred some tires!

Peace,
Al

 

I am so happy with this whole project it is incredible, I highly recommend that anyone building a car try drifting, it may not be for everyone but it is a blast. A helicopter pilot told me its the closest feeling he's had to being in combat.

I will warn anyone (generally younger guys/gals) that you will want to start with a large budget for a full build. I didn't touch the engine or transmission for this build and I think there is easily $10-15k in it. I read a long time ago for any car project you should make your budget and then add 30%, this is the best advice I have read. If you are tight on funds, I suggest collecting parts before tearing anything down, if I had done that I could have been driving this whole time. Lastly, your car build is NOT an investment, I will NEVER see the money I spent on this car in a resell situation.

So after a year without the car running you would think that once I get it running I would drive it some... drove it for two days and decided some things could be better. Whats new?

I added DEI gold foil to all the heat shields under the car, no pictures of that. I also added some DEI fiberglass insulation with a thick metal covering around the gas tank. It is holding well so far, I was concerned the gas tank was getting too hot being so close to the muffler. All is well now.

Next up is putting the doors and bumpers back on so it looks less mad max. Also ordered a Sparco Sprint V seat because the Kirkey is nice but it isn't holding me as well as I'd like. In addition I have a couple of Auto Meter gauges (oil pressure, water temperature) to wire in, using a Racing Beat oil filter bung for oil and the Auto Meter inline radiator hose kit for water.

I was experiencing a weird stutter under WOT in drifts so I decided to wire up DLIDFIS. Still had the stutter, turns out I was low on gas.

Having so much fun shredding tires its insane, I will get some videos together shortly and share with y'all, will be getting to a track soon, for now Im just doing donuts and 180's followed by donuts in abandoned cul-de-sacs. Very glad I bought four wheels for the rear, the new gearing (4.88) is destroying tires like nothing.

Right now all I can use is first gear, I try flat shifting to second mid drift and it spins past my wheel lock and stalls. This could also mean I need to get faster with my steering inputs

What we have in the pictures is the DLIDFIS, I am so proud of the wiring, I used mesh loom on everything and adhesive lined heat shrink, I added red heat shrink to all positive cables. Shout out to this awesome thread DLIDFIS How-To for being such a wealth of information on here. Also shout out to Jeff20b for answering so many questions.

I put two new MSD blaster vibration friendly coils in the stock position, wired them up to two MSD Street-something HEI ignition modules that are mounted to steel with heatsinks for each one. Right now trailing ignition is handled by a stock coil mounted under that tray and still using a j109 ignition module. I have a third HEI on the board for when I decide to wire that up too.

For anyone looking to try DLIDFIS, it is WAY easier than I thought it would be starting out. Use the thread above and follow the picture diagrams for wiring, the easiest for me to understand was the one posted here, the only thing it is missing is you have to wire up each ignition coil positive to the battery (preferably through a relay) or there will be no power.









Made a metal plate to go between MAF and aftermarket air filter, would be using the stock airbox but I sold it and forgot. Will probably try to buy another stock air box as it looks way better, please PM me a price if you have one in good condition.

 

Wow. Having a blast.

The Sparco Sprint V seat is a WAY better option than Kirkey seat, if you are trying to decide between the two I recommend the former. With your seat "you get what you pay for" rings true. It may be that even nicer seats than the Sparco are more comfortable.

The suspension, gearing, ignition, and fuel upgrades on this thing are turning out to be so worth it.

I can highly recommend the 4.88 gears on a GSLSE with a street ported 13b, its a little too much if you're looking for top speeds, but for drifting and track use its fantastic.

Here's a quick few clips. Filmed at an empty concrete lot, will be heading to P1 Kart Circuit in Tucson later this week to try it out there. I do not have experience drifting on track, will be awesome to learn. Will try a few laps for time too.

Peace,
Al

 

That's cool you like the t3 coil overs, I've been thinking of trying them on my se.

 

Highly recommend, I have no idea how mine are set, I think I turned them to the stiffest possible. The springs are a lot stiffer than stock also, I have forgotten, basically I told Gabriel the car will be used on track for drifting.

The other kit I have seen on the forums is made by Stance, this wasn't available when I purchased from T3.

Haven't communicated at all with Stance but I will say Gabriel at T3 will take care of whatever you need, very responsive and easy to talk to.

 

Awesome, I hadn't heard of stance, but I do like t3 stuff it seems well built.
How do you like the 488 gears? I just pulled some 4:78s from a kia but have yet to install them I'm pretty excited though, my car is daily driver that I take to curvy mountain climbs on the weekends, with the stock gears it takes too long to get back up to my power band coming out off a turn. I'm hoping this will fix that, but not be too much for the daily driver part.

 

I think you'll really like the gearing. The pros are a little more torque feel, of course, that being said make sure you get used to it before any mountain curves because it's way easier to break the tires loose.

I don't have a lot of cons, some people might prefer a higher top speed but I was past 100 today in fifth and wouldnt want to take it any further. The Wonder Steering (wonder where it's gonna go) is scary.

Maybe MPG would suffer? Honestly don't know, I don't pay attention, someone else can chime in on that.

Let me know how you like it!

 

What did you use for brake hoses? I can make up some braided stainless Teflon pieces, but I could buy a set of DOT-certified hoses for about the same price if I can find a match. I want something that will clip into the tab on the strut, like the OEM ones. The OEM FB hoses are way too long to use with the caliper placement of the RE-Speed kit. FC hoses look about right -- has anybody tried them?