Buildup: 91 Vert, A-spec 500R + lots more.
 

Well its been a work in progress for quite some time. At this point the turbo isn't in yet and I don't have pics of it, but its comming.

The car started out its life as a slow automatic pig. A friend of mine bought it from a dealership a few years ago, drove it for 1 month and then the engine siezed on him due to carbon lock. (Note to auto owners, rev that engine, I've seen the insides of an engine that never gets close to redline... Carbon buildup up the ass.) The original engine died at 87K miles from the excessive carbon buildup. Pretty low miles for an NA engine. An 87 NA engine was rebuilt and dropped in. My buddy drove it for about 1500 miles then sold the car to me. I put another 3k miles in it and decided I needed more. Suspension was upgraded to RB Vert springs with Tokico Illuminas and RB swaybars. I also added an RB strut tower bar. An RB 2.5" NA exhaust was also installed. But this was still not enough.

I then took the car to Kevin Landers for a full(complete TII drievtrain) S5 TII swap(street port, FD corner\side seals, rotors milled for 3mm apex seals) and auto to manual conversion, A REV II RB TII exhaust was also waiting there for me and I brought a new koyo rad with me(little did I know it was not the usual koyo, more on this later) an ACT clutch setup, walbro fuel pump, and an FD alt. Gotta say, TII swap = GREAT investment! The car is infinatley more fun than it was before. :D Kevin is a kickass dude too, I got nothing but good things to say about his work and support. Kevin fabbed up a temporary x-member for the tranny swap too. We had an issue getting a TII ecu to work, so I drove home on the NA ecu being careful to stay out of boost. The transmission kevin swapped in for me wound up having a 2nd gear synchro issue. Being the A+++ guy that kevin is he offered to refund me some dough so I could get a TII ecu and some funds to grab another used transmission.

After some time the Ecu issue was discovered to be a broken wire in the harness that plugs into the ecu. So a TII ecu was installed an functioning and a replacement transmission was ordered, delevered, and installed with a nice beefy X-member to replace the temporary one Kevin made. A black magic extreme 3300cfm fan was also installed, the shop that installed it immediatley fried the controller for by hooking it up to a live circuit.... So they hooked it up to run all the time till I got a replacement from Flex-a-lite(which they sent right away and was a new upgraded unit not even available to the market yet).

So I drive the car home from the shop. Get up the next day to go to work and I take the vert to show some people what I have done to the car. I get on the highway, and as I am getting up to speed I casually check the guages and I see something that makes my heart just skip. S5 temp guage is begining to move from the operating temp to the your fucked temp. Now keep in mind that this is a brand new engine with just over 700 miles on it! I pull over kill the engine and coast to a stop, pop the hood and let the mid winter chicago cold do some magic. I call a towing company and have the car towed back to my house. I top up the radiator and see theres a leak somewhere. The next day I drive it back to the shop, with 2 big bottles of coolant in the car, stopping every few minutes to top up the coolant again. Turns out the Koyo I got was defective. I bought it from Rx7store(not that its their fault) when they had a GB going on. It was pointed out by Kevin Landers during the TII swap that it was not the regular Koyo it also did not fit as well as the regular one.(apparently there are 2 different Koyo rads for our cars the regular one that you see on most peoples cars and a race version I guess) Well apparently I got the race version because that was what Jason had left, but unfortunatley it wound up being defective. On the drivers side of the rad some of the fins had, well, kinda disconnected from the end tanks(best way I can describe it there were clear gaps where you could see the coolant had leaked out) causing all the coolant to just dump out onto the highway. My add coolant buzzer never went off, I was lucky to see the guage so soon.

So the radiator is sent back to Rx7store and a regular Koyo(that fits properly too) was sent back. I also decided to add a few more goodies. Banzia Racing motor mounts, Jspec chrome powdercoated LIM & UIM, SAFCII, Greddy Turbo Timer, Crane HI-6, High Imp. 780cc secondary injectors, corksport steel braided brake lines, all brake calipers replaced with remanufactured ones, Hawp HP+ pads, and Powerslot cryo treated rotors on all 4 corners.

The shop that did this work blew up 2 sets of leading coils just trying to get the Crane box setup. They also could not tune the car worth a crap. Their first pull did 90 hp..... They managed to get it up to 126 hp before I told them to get it off their dyno. When I brought the car to them it drove like a beast. When they were done it was a neutered dog. Realizing I had gone in the wrong direction with where I wanted the car to be I limped the car to a storage unit and parked it for a few weeks. Long story short, I had been contacting Sean at A-spec about a FMIC and getting my car to him for some much needed work. :) Once he got the FMIC core in I brought my car to him and threw a few deposits down on a 500R, Microtech setup, and bought a new Exedy Twin plate clutch.

Currently my car is at A-spec getting the following done. Microtech Lt10s with x4 ignition, 500R turbo kit (1.00 A/R, polished antisurge compressor housing, ceramic coating on turbine housing, manifold, and downpipe), A-spec FMIC, 850cc/1680cc injectors, Dual Walbro 255LPH fuel pumps, Tein Flex coilovers with EDFC, Energy suspension bushings, mazdatrix comp diff mounts, mazdatrix adjustable rear camberlinks, DTSS eliminator bushings, Blitz i-Color boost controller.

Now for the pics.

Goodies: :D
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5...ckparts4ut.jpg
Flex: :)
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1830/flex0an.jpg
Can you believe these rotors have less than 200 miles on them???!!! They were brand spanking new only a few months ago.... Oh yeah the coilovers are installed in this pic. :D
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6...stalled7dx.jpg
Before the flex install:
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8...nalong23kn.jpg
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2...inalong7wy.jpg
Flex install, bushings, diff mounts, adjustable camber links and flex all being installed.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8...exandic4uh.jpg
Look at that nice shiney IC!!
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/779/shineyic8ld.jpg


Pics of much much more soon to come.

P.S. Sorry for the longass story, most probably won't read it. Some may find it interesting though. :D

Here's two fininshing touches to consider.
For the look & extra cooling, a chin air splitter from www.demonspeed.com
For the ultimate in free flowing exhaust on demand, a header dump from www.badlanzHPE.com

ha, demonspeed was pwned

LoL, yeah last time I checked Demonspeed was dicking customers over left and right, kinda like CP racing... Thanks for the suggestion though SureShot. :D I do have the finishing touches on the way though.
https://www.rx7club.com/group-buy-center-69/gb-rx-hevens-fc3s-widebody-kit-480742/

As for the header dump, i saw you had one running, looks really slick. I'll keep it in mind, don't know if I'll really need it though.

*edit*
Just watched the vid of the header dump mechanism in action. Thats pretty sweet that its adjustable like that.

Should be a real monster when its done - good luck!!

Man, congrats sticking with it through all the setbacks. When it's done your car will be a monster....I own a slow-as-shit vert, and I can only imagine the power of my FD in a droptop :)

That looks great, good luck with everything. This is basically what I want when I am finished with my vert project although I am a long ways away from that still trying to finish my TII swap. I'll shoot you a pm a little bit down the line once you have your car all set up and running, I'd like some feedback on the Tein Flex's with the EDFC. Thats actually what I wanted in my vert and I doubt anyone else has this setup.


Good luck with everything,

Ark

Lol Thanks! You have no idea how many times I've actually thought about cutting just my losses, towing the car to a crusher, watching it get cubed and walking away. But I can never do that because when it runs right its just a blast to drive, even when it was an underpowered NA. With the NA RB exhaust on the 87 NA engine I think the 5-6 ports were shut. They may have been wired open I don't remmember, but it was still fun with the top down on the highway. :D

But slow-as-shit is an understatement. I would race and lose to SUV's..... 4k rpm neutral drops off the line to a floored accelerator only did this twice with an auto trans that wouldn't shift out of 1st sometimes unless you let off for a second and then would slip out of 2nd gear around 4krpm under heavy load, had to use the hold feature to get it to shift to 3rd early to avoid free revving. Eventually 2nd was completely toast and I had to just shift from 1st to 3rd. Racing a ford explorer that wasn't even trying would be a challenge to me. It was really sad.

Sure thing man, hit me up in a few months and I'll have some feedback for you on the setup. IMO I think for a coilover setup with a vert the EDFC is a must, since adjusting the rears is a big PITA on a vert. Being able to adjust dampening force from the drivers seat in a vert is well worth the cost I think.

I know of one other person who has Tein Flex coilovers on their vert, RX-Heven. I dunno if he has the EDFC though. I haven't asked him what he thinks of the setup, you could probably shoot him a PM and see or he may chime in on this thread. I did a bit of research and it seemed that these would be a pretty good choice for my goals. So I just went ahead and bought them.

That's sexy!

Is that a Mariah cold air box?

Just wow. I want a vert now :(.

Thanks for the compliments bro! Yeah, thats a mariah cold airbox and ducted headlight cover.

yea I had talked to Douglas and he was pissed at me for telling everyone that I hadn't been paid (I only told those who wanted/had done business with him in the past). I emailed him and got no reply so I took down his site, and since I had full copyright to it (never transfered) and since he hadn't paid me, I own the usage, I have every right.

I have another client I may have to do this too. It's not something I'd like to do and Doug always treated me good in the past, but people change.

^^^ I think you are in the wrong thread buddy.

it's to be expected to run into problems with a large project like this, i always have to remind people of that, or you can pay the shop to R+D their work. :)

it scares me to think of having a droptop with that much power!! please be safe...however, I wish my fd was a home for that turbo

LoL, yeah it kinda scares me too! I will be safe man, after all I been thru with this car the last thing I need is to crash it and die. I'll probably get a custom cage built for it along with some nice racing seats and 5 point harnesses. I know I'm gonna have some traction issues too so the car will be babied for a bit until I get the widebody and wider rubber underneath.





More pics comming soon!

I love your car!

Black verts are soooo seksi! :D

Nice car, black turbo verts rawk :D

good point
 

Good point. It is an issue with any convetable. Since we are on the subject does any one know of a decent roll bar for the rx-7 vertable? I have shopped around but have not really found any thing I liked.

Kirk Racing makes a roll bar.
http://www.fc3s.org/how_tos/safety/c...e_rollbar.html
RX-Heven runs one of these bars. I think he has door bars custom welded onto it too.


Thanks for the compliments guys. :bigthumb:

I've always wanted a TII DD Vert - the GXL has no balls :(

I forgot to add this pic before. Heres a lil eye candy for you guys. :D
https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/...roilpan4fu.jpg
Pineapple Racing FC oil pan. :p: Also in this pic you can see the Banzia Racing motor mounts & RB swaybars that were put in a while back.

wow...great project! your way further along than me! im still in the "buying" stage... nothings been put on..... keep up the good work and dont get discouraged!

that oil pan is sex!

I'm going to buy me one.

"The Demonspeed.com Speed Shop site is down until further notice
due to an outstanding balance to the web designer April Smith. Usage rights cannot be granted from her the copyright holder to
Demonspeed until payment is received. The site can be
relaunched once payment has been made"

BWAHAHAH, that's kinda hilarious :)

seems like you've had alot of trouble here and there, glad it's working out now! nice car.

my turbovert has very similar wheels on it :)

Trials and tribulations. Sounds familiar.
Nice to see your sticking with it and everything is looking good.
I do have one in the car. Originally it was just the main hoop.
Since then custom triangulated doorbars have been added along with reinforcing the top bracket plus diagonal bracing of the main hoop and a harness bar for each seat. Of course it was all chromoly tubing, TIG welded and still allows for normal operation of the top.

I do run the Tein Flexes but have the manual version. I don't think they offered the electronic stuff when I bought mine. The last thing my car needs is more damn wiring. It is still easy to adjust as I just figured out where to put a small hole in the cover directly above the shock so I can stick in the allan wrench to turn the adjustment knob.
The hardest part is getting out of the car https://www.rx7club.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif

I think the newer Tein Flexes have a stiffer spring rate than mine. Do you know what it is...in lbs/inches?