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completed another 3 tanks of fuel on road tuning for 8psi and back on the rollers
finding the standard efr wastegate actuator isn't up for the job in the rotor she pulls like a train but it drops off fairly quickly despite what the graph looks like; very happy how its running plenty of power for the street! we have would the preload up as much as it can go so ive ordered a new new turbosmart actuator to replace.
*edit* i can highly recommend anyone gets one of these for your efr turbo is you are running an internal gate like me, we found with the much larger than standard exhaust ports the gate just couldn't keep shut
working on the audio gear, defiantly wouldn't recommend this erisin amp/deck its not loud enough to drive anything decent. i went cheap on the radio as i figured i wouldn't be able to hear it anyway
making it all fit back together:
first shake down drive day, and a proper decent drive. 24hr Lemons race where my mates are competing together with another drift practice. Still not ready to enter it in as yet, im not 100% on this suspension setup as yet, simply need more kms on the car. Loving the new steering rack feels alot more direct and theres zero play compared the to two inches i had before!
Was great to see so many tuff cars out and im going to eventually get my confidence up and get out there. As always the stand out car there was my friends FD rx7 and it is like no other:
its showtime! first cruise for me in 10yrs its ready for the unveiling!
and came home with first in class!
considering ive never won anything in my life except for my good wife i was completely blown away!, there was over 160 cars that attended, and i managed best first gen out of 30 cars! made me feel that all those nights spent stressing about getting it together were worth it! its still not complete, nor finished but i got some merits from the engine bay, general tidyness and homemade interior
after driving around with the car as it was for a few months i was shopping around and really good driveline, and subframe conversion came up and i couldn't resist. Has come out of a s1 with all required mods and fittings accounted for, so its was had not to pass this one by. I just wish it came up a year sooner.
fc subframe
fc adjustable coil overs
fc brake kit + 5 stud oversized hubs
steering rack and rack mods to existing FB wheel
mazdaspeed top and bottom brace
whiteline thick *** sway bar
fd front calipers
toyota hilux 8" rear end conversion, huge 30 spline axles
rear adjustable coil overs
300mm rear brake kit, dr30 skyline brakes
t3 panhard rod
all powdercoated and ready to fit in! i had to do two runs in my car to fit it all in!
this of course is going to render my two sets of rims, new crossmember steering rack, upgraded front brakes, FB coil overs which have a grand total of 3 days dyno time and 4 tanks of road use having to come out of the car and sold... i was considering just getting the rear end but ive been finding it harder and harder to get parts for my FB, and FC stuff is much more common and given the suspension improvements and the added power steer (which we never got here in aus) i was sold. Changing over to 5 stud was also another harder one as ive got the rims ive wanted since i was a boy! ill just have to rebuy them in 5 stud...
Very happy with the postage and the quality of the finish, not to mention the instructions. i ordered Mitsubishi Evo X Rear rotors (330mm) and used the adapters with my FD calipers no issues. Took a while to file some edges off the inside of the caliper and i turned down the rotors down 3mm (in total diameter) on the lathe to save getting too close to the through bolts on the calipers. All i can say is these brakes are MASSIVE, i probably didn't need them this big but i figured i would need to fill up the inside of my 17's and i plan to do some track work once she is all complete.
Also to note that the evo rotors are cheaper than the mazda rx7 fronts here in aus too i settled with EBC Red's as i was on the fence with the hawk 5.0 pads so will see how they pan out for mainly street use.
first bit of drama regarding the brakes, found out one of the knuckles i have is 2mm bent was running the rotor round and round and it was off balance slightly and found the culprit to be the front left, so im on the hunt for a pair and grab some spares while im looking.
EFR replacement actuator and boost controller have arrived time for some serious power !!!!
Far out. I didn't manage to log in on here for a short period of time and this is what I have missed?! Jeez. Everything is looking and sounding so good! I'm very jealous of your steering rack aye. Definitely high on my to-do list in the future! Awesome work
Far out. I didn't manage to log in on here for a short period of time and this is what I have missed?! Jeez. Everything is looking and sounding so good! I'm very jealous of your steering rack aye. Definitely high on my to-do list in the future! Awesome work
hardest part was getting the unions to work together, lots of trial and error
if i was to do it again i would of opted for more expensive CV joints as the angle of the rack (as its mounted to the rear of the engine) is tighter than most would like. i can see why the FC opted for front steering arms.
if you were to get an ae86 rack in yours, youd need to get the crossmember modified in such a way that the bump steer is in the same place
Second hand diff arrived only to find its got the ratio (4.11) i was chasing but no lsd centre... so looks like ill be ordering a Detroit true track sooner rather than later, was hoping the LSD was going to get me at least up and running
without taking to it with a grinder it wouldn't be easy to weld him up anyway, teeth and pinion are in good condition
starting to mock up some parts hopefully it all fits, got the local engineer out to inspect what we are planning to do
replacement knuckles have been found, so will fix that issue soon enough
decided to go EBC RED's for the front, was trying to decide between them and hawk 5.0 pads will give these a go first
hardest part was getting the unions to work together, lots of trial and error
if i was to do it again i would of opted for more expensive CV joints as the angle of the rack (as its mounted to the rear of the engine) is tighter than most would like. i can see why the FC opted for front steering arms.
if you were to get an ae86 rack in yours, youd need to get the crossmember modified in such a way that the bump steer is in the same place
Yeah, I get you aye! I had thought the angle looked quite intense. I have briefly looked at adapting an AE86 rack to the OEM subframe, but that will be a future job hahaha.
I forget about the engineering certs back home and in Aussie aye. I'm living in the UK these days and you can do pretty much whatever you want to the car, as long as you tell the insurance company. The state of some cars are quite scary
rftahrs - thankyou kindly - lots of effort and time gone into it over the last year!
right so before i do this huge conversion front and back and given its birthday i thought it was the right time to SEND IT while the dyno is free, and give me some numbers.
changed over the actuator and wound up the boost something chronic, on final pre flight checks we noticed that ALL of the hot side bolts on the EFR 7670 were as loose a ****** i was speechless as last time i did re tightened them i was almost certain i was going to sheer one of the bastards off!
Of course there is no locktight you can use for something as hot as a turbo so its going to have to come out and we will have to put some spring washers on there - and of course that's really difficult as the turbo is rusted in position and you cant just take the bolts out completely.
i did find a method online, so you turn the turbo upside down and load the **** out of it with wd40/penertrine/brake cleaner anything you can to dissolve the microscopic bits of rust and heat grind on the seat. Leave for 20mins and give it a tap with a nice rubber mallet. What ever you do dont force him, those rear impellers arent made of diamond but they cost as much.
so the first order of business after consulting the engine builder (Parker Rotorsport) was to wind it up to 20psi and see where the tables were at:
again a huge jump from the 220kw/500nm we were hitting with 14psi, we then proceeded to page up and page up some more
the little EFR 7670 is tapped out, even with the boost wound up to 32psi it doesn't make much more difference, was hoping we would crack 300 but with this much torque and this quickly i was most impressed on the hot lap put simply there isn't much steerage even in 3rd gear
I would be very interested to see how well a 8374 would do on this little engine, most of the results ive seen show the 8374 spooling only a few hundred rpm behind the 7670 but with ALOT more top end
rftahrs - thankyou kindly - lots of effort and time gone into it over the last year!
right so before i do this huge conversion front and back and given its birthday i thought it was the right time to SEND IT while the dyno is free, and give me some numbers.
changed over the actuator and wound up the boost something chronic, on final pre flight checks we noticed that ALL of the hot side bolts on the EFR 7670 were as loose a ****** i was speechless as last time i did re tightened them i was almost certain i was going to sheer one of the bastards off!
Of course there is no locktight you can use for something as hot as a turbo so its going to have to come out and we will have to put some spring washers on there - and of course that's really difficult as the turbo is rusted in position and you cant just take the bolts out completely.
i did find a method online, so you turn the turbo upside down and load the **** out of it with wd40/penertrine/brake cleaner anything you can to dissolve the microscopic bits of rust and heat grind on the seat. Leave for 20mins and give it a tap with a nice rubber mallet. What ever you do dont force him, those rear impellers arent made of diamond but they cost as much.
so the first order of business after consulting the engine builder (Parker Rotorsport) was to wind it up to 20psi and see where the tables were at:
again a huge jump from the 220kw/500nm we were hitting with 14psi, we then proceeded to page up and page up some more
the little EFR 7670 is tapped out, even with the boost wound up to 32psi it doesn't make much more difference, was hoping we would crack 300 but with this much torque and this quickly i was most impressed on the hot lap put simply there isn't much steerage even in 3rd gear
I would be very interested to see how well a 8374 would do on this little engine, most of the results ive seen show the 8374 spooling only a few hundred rpm behind the 7670 but with ALOT more top end
first drama, the rear brakes are fouling on the coil overs the only place they will happily fit is in the 6 oclock position, off to find a remedy as i really need a handbrake. calipers are r31 skyline with in build handbrake
tried this as an option, Holden VT commodore rear calipers, they are still VERY close to to the coil overs, and there isnt an included handbrake. We spent alot of time trying to find something that would work including using a ford drum handbrake but there is no clearance with the brake mount nor room for the handbrake cable
took me ages to figure out what i had to do here, including ordering the wrong length pins twice!
on to finding what offset i will eventually have, today in the shop we had a R32 GTR so i figured i would try the wheels on they are put simply MASSIVE 18x10
they dwarf my 17x8.5" i had on the back before
starting the steering changeover: here is the stock s3 vs s4/5 note the different keyway, and bore size for the ignition barrel. fortunately you can interchange the lower section and it works a treat
s4/5 top, s3 lower
more french was coming out of my drivers seat, as i thought id hit a wall yet again..
tailshaft has been dropped off to suit the new hilux/land cruiser rear end, and ive started taking the front half of the car apart. Sourcing a powered steering rack, and the mounts to suit (note powered rack and non powered rack use different mounts...)
these brakes are lucky to have done 500kms, it all does seam a shame to remove after id spent ages getting these sorted
fc subframe was modified to fix the 30mm distance that would of been any issue: i would suggest you get this done before you put it in the car, dont use the hole that is already there your wheels will be alot closer to the front of the car
note the additional welding to the front of the subframe:
we used ratchet straps to hold the engine up (12A not a 13b) while we changed out the frame, a plate was welded onto the side of the subframe to use the standard idler arm/steering box holes. lots of meat there
As we didn't have a use for the front engine mount anymore it was salvaged for the mounts to be made up; i am yet to find anyone that provides engine mounts to suit a 12A for a fc subframe. It would not be a regular swap even in japan/uk. they are solid enough even if not billet and pretty. The other side is a bloody nightmare, ive got my coil packs there, oil lines, fuel, electrical; it was tight but we made it work somehow!
rack finally located in this crazy corona virus world, shipping takes more than 3 times to get anything delivered! note the difference in mounts to suit the powered and non powered racks:
fitted the front wheel speed sensor for the traction control, and crazy hard launches! we got a few off bmw's, volvos and holdens to see what would work: i think this one was a bmw:
like a heatbeart she tested perfectly, the pickup is off the wheel studs - we had to grind them flat to get a good reading on the sensor. this sensor will get wired into the link fury
been a great week with lots of progress getting close now to the end and then ready for historic rego and engineering
Hilux Trutrac centre arrived and it was nice for something to just bolt up and not have to modify every thing about it, going to great to have a torsen back on the street again. fresh set of bearings all round should keep it running well for another 100k
installed the electric power steering pump in the front nose cone, its a standard pump out of a ts astra - mr2 and ford focus was also considered, these units are tiny and very easy to hide. the mount they come with is also quite handy as it has rubber gromits on it to dampen the vibration
parts needed for fittings, my rack was rather strange and took a m12 x 1.0 thread to block the port on the rack, note that the top fitting is the 'return line' and the left fitting is the 'feed line'
t3 panhard rod installed and looks the part, not sure how well this will work given i have removed the superior watts link, im also concerned about getting the jack under the diff for events as its pretty close to the housing:
new turbo for a 2jz that is getting built in the shop was dropped off so i had to see if the mighty 8374 would fit maybe one day when i win the lotto
same size rear housing, but much larger front wheel, would love to see this on the dyno for science at least, left efr 8374 ewg, right efr7670 iwg
finally got the rear brakes sorted, with the fouling on the calipers i had to space out the rear disc brakes 10mm and likewise do the same withe brake wishbones, only thing left to do is the solid rear brake lines and fittings. all painted and in for final setup
plenty of clearance now:
all cleaned up and ready for final install!
front fc3s sway bar installed, currently a little grubby will need to come out again and get some powdercoating when they are open again, i used some 30x30mm shs to set the bracket off the body
need to find a home to sell off all these parts, all done less than 500km if only the setup im running now was available a year ago!
as my combo switch was in dire need of replacement, i was lucky to be suggested to order a local ford part as they are near enough as identical!, will need the cruise control stick and the wiring changed over. To install it on the standard steering shaft i had to drill one hole and its now nice and tight. am yet to try and change over the switch mech as my full river hc28 battery decided to die completely, one year and one month after i bought it
note the slightly different mounting method
started the wiring up for the front speed sensor, this is the wiring youll need, regular stuff wont cut it. as its doing tx/rx to the ecu for the count
02-26-20, 05:48 AM
she pulls like a train but it drops off fairly quickly despite what the graph looks like; very happy how its running plenty of power for the street! we have would the preload up as much as it can go so ive ordered a new new turbosmart actuator to replace.
