Im well past late on starting a build thread for this car but here it is. The car that made me get a RX7. My older brothers 88' GTU acquired all original back in 2013 with 90k miles.

​​​​​​The car lived mostly stock aside from a racing beat exhaust, massive subwoofers,and all the shift ***** I used to make for it in high school shop class. Always looked forward to hitching a ride with him to school, never a dull ride. He daily drove it a year or so until it was elected at a weekend driver, then yard/garage ornement in 2017 while ambitions for speed and shine took place.

 

Fast forward to 2022 after countless hours of body and paint work his 4 port Semi Peripheral engine from Eddy at Renown Racing came in and it was time to start really putting things together. Only by now, the idea of "speed" had turned into, "As much as it can"...i wasn't gonna argue


​​​​​​So the recipe went like this;
T2 4 Port plates w/ mild street port & Semi PP Housings
9.4:1 Rotors Lightened & Balanced
MicroTech LT-10 ECU
Borgwarner EFR 9280
Walton Exhaust Manifold
Modified T2 Intake Manifold
2x ID1050x 2x ID200
2x 525lph In-tank Pumps
Hopes
Custom 3" turbo back exhaust
Custom V mount 4.5" intercooler
Dreams
Stock T2 Trans
Stock T2 Diff.

 

The results of that go as follows,

https://www.rx7club.com/single-turbo...plugs-1167923/

​​​​​​After our last dyno session we were both impressed with how much power the car was making but couldn't ignore parts of the car that needed attention, with the largest being the t2 transmission (2nd, broke the first one) and rear diff and the next being a more modern ECU for more flexibility

This brings us to now, with just a quick google search you'll find out the best route to go for a strong transmission is a t56, cd009, ect but with a little more looking you'll find a little something called a BMW DCT. Now we weren't thinking of ditching the 3rd pedal, until seeing videos of other swapped cars and their shift times. This seemed like a no brainer seeing it was due for a trans and ecu upgrade

New additional ingredients;
Maxx Race ECU
Gen2 BMW DCT Transmission
M33 Performance 13b->DCT adapter kit ( FD fitment )
Ford 8.8 rear diff & axle kit

While were still acquiring some parts we started the fitment of the DCT







The driver side trans mount was definitely in the way and had to be clearanced, even after a good amount of hammering on the tunnel some of the ribs on the top of the trans needed to be chopped aswell






We managed to get a good amount of clearance all around the trans while maintaining the same angle on the engine. Next will be to fabricate a trans crossmember/bracket along with mounting the rear diff when the kit arrives so we can get a driveshaft made. I'll update as progress is made but for now, this is where it sits

 

that's a monster trans to fit in the tunnel! Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the swap goes! Nice work so far.

 

Didn’t get to finish the trans mount just yet (still cooking some ideas) but still some progress. We went with paddle shifters out of a AMG and a clock spring we had left over in the garage from a 15’ WRX. The main goal was to retain the factory wheel and overall look while adding a pass thru for more wiring (22pins/wires on the clock spring now) Oh and actually put my 3D printer to work

I didn’t realize until reading the wrx wiring diagram there’s actually a steering angle sensor in there too!
Not sure how I’ll get any use out of it w/ maxxecu but if there is any ideas I’m all ears









Once all is said and done for wiring I will double back and make the cover/clam shell to cover it up

Ronin’s ford 8.8 rear diff kit should be here this week too. Looking forward to the garage floor again this weekend

 

Quite a bit more progress on the driveline. We got the Ronin FC --> Ford 8.8 rear diff swap and axle kit in and got to chopping and pressing. First was the fitting of the differential itself to the new mount.

Prior to cutting, both stock ford mounting tabs had to get chopped. Portable bandsaw FTW

Rough Fit

New OEM Bushings

Final fitment and angle check before welding the new mounting bracket to the stock fc subframe

Then was to weld in the nose support brackets/supports to the stock subframe, along with pressing the new wheel bearings and adapter hubs and rebuilding the now custom CV's with ford joints and their "unique" axle shafts, hopefully some high carbon steel like their hubs but they come with a lifetime warranty


Repacked with Redline CV-2 high moly Grease

Old vs. New

Powder coated the joints yellow and the shafts clear, which came out really cool, turning marks are still visible yet coated

final fitting


In between this I was finishing up the mount for the dct shifter. Which proved to be quite a challenge without any hacking of the interior or stock shifter pass-thu but nonetheless..like a glove.

just need to make a cover boot out of the black alcantara material he got.

also fit the drive logic button where the stock cruise/blank gose. but we may try to re introduce the stock cruise control as our maxx pro will have plenty of I/O so this will find another home.

 

Next we had to finalize the DCT position after mounting the rear diff in. We were worried about the drive shaft angle but think we got it damn close with the room available, 2.5 degrees which thinking about now im still not 100% what it should be, but a 3" pvc pipe as a mock shaft looks good enough. Any input on the do's and don'ts of setting up a driveshaft would be appreciated

we were able to utilize the stock mounting points so if ever desired, can be put back to manual/stock.

We did have to trim some of the stock heat shielding but only what had to be.

i didn't get to many other photos of the mount so here it is in the oven, blasted and coated black

Now that the car could roll around without needing the trans supported and rear hubs back on, it was time to get it to the Fabrication shop, "The Fab Lab" for a 4" downpipe and dual WG's tied in along with a true 4" --> dual 2.5" which also proved near impossible to find pre-made and only half the intake tract for now.






I will have to get a few more pictures from the top (it came right back apart once we had it back) but it really is something..looks like it belongs on a diesel truck . There is still quite the list left, for now we're doubling back and installing the flywheel/flexplate, plugging the harness in (inaccessible once installed) and all other final touches on the trans and adapter so the driveline will be ready for the final touch, a driveshaft.
Couple other little things swapped in, a FC auto pedal box for the auto brake pedal ​​​​


i remade the now fuel, power steering, power, and brake line retainers (with room for extra now too) will finish them in some abs or pet-cf

Only thing we won't be able to use is our current DBW pedal, its ends up being too long for the fc no matter how high, angled, or recessed I made the adapter, the pedal or car would've had to get chopped. We will end up with one very similar just much shorter like the stock pedal to ensure a "bolt it fit".


On a side note, it really does take a village. With my brother’s elbow grease and mine, plus all the quality parts and solid advice from the community, this year is looking very promising. The forecast calls for 52°F next week—spring's almost here Hope everyone’s knocking stuff out with their builds too!

 

i must say when i saw the title of the thread, my first thought was ... why???

you went on to make me very happy that i opened it. this is impressive and beyond! you guys have got skills ... and the car is coming out great.

 

Really appreciate that! It’s been a challenging yet rewarding project, and hearing others enjoy it makes it even more worthwhile. The 'why' is still a bit tricky, really just taking one page from everyone’s book. Not aiming to be a record holder, but ready to put it down for a 1/4-mile test & tune night, SCCA TNIA, or anything else you’d want from a turbo rotary rx7, all while keeping it legitimately enjoyable to drive on the street..🤞