Ice Racer/Rally Rx7 build
10-05-18, 12:08 PM
#277
I'm just using a stock s5 NA intake right now with the VDI wired open.
10-05-18, 02:38 PM
#278
Countdown to LSPR 2018 is in full swing!
New MRF tires softcompound on some freshly coated wheels (got to make it pretty for all the nice colors up there)
3 lefts and 3 rights, 1 pair will be cut, potentially 2 pairs depending how the event goes.
Belts and seats at the correct length and installed?
CHECK!
skid plates ready to go and the full underbody protection is in place?
Check and check!
Also a good helping hand is a trans jack when you got these awkward sheets of plastic hanging around and need to bolt it in quickly:
Have a beer and not bolt anything down because you wanna see how the dashboard looks in the freshened up interior and you're too tired to go because there is work in the morning...
yeah we can do that too!
now today is finish up the dash and get everything electrically hooked up and test drive tonite in preparations for the rallycross tomorrow that will likely be canceled due to rain since the site is in a dirt cricle track and becomes pretty much useless over a .5" of rain...
New MRF tires softcompound on some freshly coated wheels (got to make it pretty for all the nice colors up there)
3 lefts and 3 rights, 1 pair will be cut, potentially 2 pairs depending how the event goes.
Belts and seats at the correct length and installed?
CHECK!
skid plates ready to go and the full underbody protection is in place?
Check and check!
Also a good helping hand is a trans jack when you got these awkward sheets of plastic hanging around and need to bolt it in quickly:
Have a beer and not bolt anything down because you wanna see how the dashboard looks in the freshened up interior and you're too tired to go because there is work in the morning...
yeah we can do that too!
now today is finish up the dash and get everything electrically hooked up and test drive tonite in preparations for the rallycross tomorrow that will likely be canceled due to rain since the site is in a dirt cricle track and becomes pretty much useless over a .5" of rain...
10-06-18, 07:31 AM
#279
I did, its a few pages (and years) back but it did about 132whp and 125tq at 6800 RPM but managed to runs 14s with it in the 1/4 mile which wasn't so bad but that was the old engine, I never dynoed this engine with the mikuni.
I'm just using a stock s5 NA intake right now with the VDI wired open.
I'm just using a stock s5 NA intake right now with the VDI wired open.
I have a hard time "going back" with this infinite scroll feature this forum has. Blows my mind.
10-25-18, 03:00 PM
#281
LSPR 2018 is over and we made it through alive and the car intact!
Had we not got so many penalties due to co-driver errors (seriously not causing blame on this he owned up to it lol) we would have podium'd both days of the rally! We were working on the car the day before the drive up to the rally and had some minor issues to fix for tech (lights/stickers/etc) and got an alignment only a few days prior to the start of the rally.
The front is lowered, the rear is lifted and I have .1* positive camber in the back but that didn't stop us from sending it!
Day 1 was dry and fast/smooth roads - we had some long stages 10-13miles long with some medium 6-8 mile long stages thrown in. Weather was great and we were doing pretty okay figuring out what limits of the car we can take and what lines not to take. We have basically DNF'd every rally we have entered in some shape or form so we wanted to be cautious and check that everything was working like it should, and it did!
Day 2 was a whole new animal, we went from 36th on the road to 20th which was great because we took 3rd the 1st stage, then 1st on the second stage and then 3rd overall on the 3rd stage (missed first by several seconds and 2nd by about 1 second).
We were actually leading the regionally rally overall going into service. Stage#10 we saw a lot of cars off, got caught in a few slippery moments where I had a few brief moments panic (of getting stuck) and other areas were grippier than expected. Our road placement was key as the other cars helped sweep away some of the snow from the other road or we would have started the day with snows instead of gravels but we gambled on tires and it worked! I always liked racing in the slop at rallycross so this was right at home to get the car sideways and rotate how I wanted. Post stage we can't help but think how awesome Yokohama A034's are for LSPR and how we wished we would have had them but the MRF softs were pretty predictable and were brand new so every little bit helped, You can tell in a lot of areas in the video where I was not on the gas and a general lack of grip. I did improve the time on when we re-ran the stage in the afternoon and I took 10th overall on it during that time.
here are a few more of our favorite shots seriously considering a championship regional run next year, before year end the front shocks are getting updated and the car will sit more level and a scary moment almost hitting a rolled car, they were okay luckily otherwise we would have stopped. They had told us later that the triangles were pinned in the carb between the door and they could not get to them.
Had we not got so many penalties due to co-driver errors (seriously not causing blame on this he owned up to it lol) we would have podium'd both days of the rally! We were working on the car the day before the drive up to the rally and had some minor issues to fix for tech (lights/stickers/etc) and got an alignment only a few days prior to the start of the rally.
The front is lowered, the rear is lifted and I have .1* positive camber in the back but that didn't stop us from sending it!
Day 1 was dry and fast/smooth roads - we had some long stages 10-13miles long with some medium 6-8 mile long stages thrown in. Weather was great and we were doing pretty okay figuring out what limits of the car we can take and what lines not to take. We have basically DNF'd every rally we have entered in some shape or form so we wanted to be cautious and check that everything was working like it should, and it did!
Day 2 was a whole new animal, we went from 36th on the road to 20th which was great because we took 3rd the 1st stage, then 1st on the second stage and then 3rd overall on the 3rd stage (missed first by several seconds and 2nd by about 1 second).
We were actually leading the regionally rally overall going into service. Stage#10 we saw a lot of cars off, got caught in a few slippery moments where I had a few brief moments panic (of getting stuck) and other areas were grippier than expected. Our road placement was key as the other cars helped sweep away some of the snow from the other road or we would have started the day with snows instead of gravels but we gambled on tires and it worked! I always liked racing in the slop at rallycross so this was right at home to get the car sideways and rotate how I wanted. Post stage we can't help but think how awesome Yokohama A034's are for LSPR and how we wished we would have had them but the MRF softs were pretty predictable and were brand new so every little bit helped, You can tell in a lot of areas in the video where I was not on the gas and a general lack of grip. I did improve the time on when we re-ran the stage in the afternoon and I took 10th overall on it during that time.
here are a few more of our favorite shots seriously considering a championship regional run next year, before year end the front shocks are getting updated and the car will sit more level and a scary moment almost hitting a rolled car, they were okay luckily otherwise we would have stopped. They had told us later that the triangles were pinned in the carb between the door and they could not get to them.
Facebook Post
02-13-19, 11:16 AM
#282
Rally-America does this for the overall stage winners: was happy to see this!
Some updates I “made” to frankenburban but in reality: it was just being better organized. I wanted to improve the service tool situation as the first sno*drift was a cluster F and it turned out work great during LSPR .
We even managed to do Recce (both times) with the toolbox in the trunk, its more organized than my boxes at home! But it rattles around too much when empty and basically takes up the whole back of the truck which can be inconvenient…
Some more truck updates to come before Southern Ohio Forrest Rally (SOFR – May 18th) like onboard air and general suspension maintenance that has been postponed
I know it was a few months in between the two events and I mostly didn't waste the free time (mostly) as I did make up a pretty good “TO DO” list:
So I definitely had my work cut out of for me…
I had noticed some play in my steering hub adapter, even so lightly as if it seemed to have play in the splines as you rotate it you could feel it but its hard to tell when you’re bouncing around a stage road at speed so I made it a point to replace this. Imagine my surprise when I saw this!
Replaced it with an NRG hub adapter (billet) and after watching the Ken Block video where the cozzie burns to the ground abruptly out on stage after a brief roll I went with a works bell quick release hub, AWESOME product.
So meanwhile I know I have to do the shocks and one of the tie rod ends was starting to wear so I decided to freshen up the steering system as it will need an alignment anyways and now I have spare tire rod ends if I need to finish a rally – spares are good but hopefully never needed…
But that’s not all for the suspension – I saved the best for last. Bilstein 46mm universal motorsport shocks – custom adapted for the rx7 FC and rally application, the top hats are a custom design from TRF who I had assemble and install these pieces, these things are serviceable with an off the shelf bearing and simple to replace. This allowed me an extra 1.5” of travel and ride height (from stock) so now I won’t be lowered in the front and raised in the rear, the car should handle much better and boy it sure did – noticeable improvements as the next day I took 2nd in rallycross (with 2 spins) and only lost 1st place by 1 cone.
The strut tower tops were already a bit beefy and they got even beefier.
I got tired of throwing cones in the front wheel bearings and if anyone here knows how much of a pain these things are a new hub is about 500 dollars but a new bearing is about 20. Don’t follow mazdatrix’s design of grind at 2 opposite ends and that gives you the space to press out the old races, just get a welder and start making a bead all the way around, then you will hit it with a mallet and it will just fall out due to the thermal expansion, it may take a few wacks but it works, you can get it most of the way and use a punch to get the race out the rest then it is just install races as you would normally would with a press.
With the suspension done it was time to move onto the fuel system.
Some updates I “made” to frankenburban but in reality: it was just being better organized. I wanted to improve the service tool situation as the first sno*drift was a cluster F and it turned out work great during LSPR .
We even managed to do Recce (both times) with the toolbox in the trunk, its more organized than my boxes at home! But it rattles around too much when empty and basically takes up the whole back of the truck which can be inconvenient…
Some more truck updates to come before Southern Ohio Forrest Rally (SOFR – May 18th) like onboard air and general suspension maintenance that has been postponed
I know it was a few months in between the two events and I mostly didn't waste the free time (mostly) as I did make up a pretty good “TO DO” list:
So I definitely had my work cut out of for me…
I had noticed some play in my steering hub adapter, even so lightly as if it seemed to have play in the splines as you rotate it you could feel it but its hard to tell when you’re bouncing around a stage road at speed so I made it a point to replace this. Imagine my surprise when I saw this!
Replaced it with an NRG hub adapter (billet) and after watching the Ken Block video where the cozzie burns to the ground abruptly out on stage after a brief roll I went with a works bell quick release hub, AWESOME product.
So meanwhile I know I have to do the shocks and one of the tie rod ends was starting to wear so I decided to freshen up the steering system as it will need an alignment anyways and now I have spare tire rod ends if I need to finish a rally – spares are good but hopefully never needed…
But that’s not all for the suspension – I saved the best for last. Bilstein 46mm universal motorsport shocks – custom adapted for the rx7 FC and rally application, the top hats are a custom design from TRF who I had assemble and install these pieces, these things are serviceable with an off the shelf bearing and simple to replace. This allowed me an extra 1.5” of travel and ride height (from stock) so now I won’t be lowered in the front and raised in the rear, the car should handle much better and boy it sure did – noticeable improvements as the next day I took 2nd in rallycross (with 2 spins) and only lost 1st place by 1 cone.
The strut tower tops were already a bit beefy and they got even beefier.
I got tired of throwing cones in the front wheel bearings and if anyone here knows how much of a pain these things are a new hub is about 500 dollars but a new bearing is about 20. Don’t follow mazdatrix’s design of grind at 2 opposite ends and that gives you the space to press out the old races, just get a welder and start making a bead all the way around, then you will hit it with a mallet and it will just fall out due to the thermal expansion, it may take a few wacks but it works, you can get it most of the way and use a punch to get the race out the rest then it is just install races as you would normally would with a press.
With the suspension done it was time to move onto the fuel system.
02-13-19, 11:17 AM
#283
I had about a 1 psi fuel leak at the sending unit assembly area. The threaded holes are blind and an M3 or M4 fine thread with a very short size overall so very small hardware but if you decide to use a longer bolt (which is easier to install) YOU WILL PUNCTURE THESE BLIND HOLES AND MAKE THEM THROUGH HOLES! Which means that the gasket no longer serves its purpose as it was designed to do. SO I went all out on this repair and was hoping to do it before LSPR but I was able to mend it enough where it was only a weep instead of a leak. Still not ideal though
So I went with the Stu Kelly Motorsports billet aluminum sending unit for AN fittings, also allowing provisions for fuel level sender w/ electrical hookup. Assuming that my existing sending unit was bent or warped.
And a new gas tank! (which you can still order from Mazda) as for me to repair the threads on the old gas tank was not working with epoxy/JB weld, it would need to be braised and repaired accordingly. Not something I wanted to attempt but I’m sure there are places nearby me in Metro Detroit. You do have to swap over those foam pads ontop of the tank as they are needed to position the tank correctly, this sending unit is a bit tall so I had to put more of the foam on one side so it would tilt downward slightly so the fittings would clear the floor, otherwise they were too tall and it was impossible to install the AN hoses. FYI for anyone using this sending unit.
I already had AN bulkheads to getting hoses to make the tank to bulkhead connection was easy. Since I was doing all this work and I wanted to do it once, I replaced the fuel pump with the Mazda motorsports fuel pump (stock 20B pump apparently) Now I have a very robust fuel system and out lots of money but at least it is safe and unlikely to burn down now…
Here is good comparison of it next to the walbro
So with fuel upgraded and an alignment done, wheel bearings replaced in the front the key parts were completed in preparation for SD2019.
Found out I can’t grease my u-joints with the driveshaft installed in the car so I skipped that step and just changed the rear diff fluid because the vent is relocated in the car so I hit water puddles without worrying about water contamination – problem with this is that when you cook the fluid the cab stinks like hot diff fluid which isn’t so great smelling. Never got around to dropping the trans or doing any clutch stuff, everything was working so I didn’t mess with anything, plus if I drop the exhaust I would probably just replace it, it is getting to be in poor shape and I had to patch a few welds to prevent the leaks.
After that it was just remove all of the old Rally-America stickers (that I bought for LSPR… and paid a premium for…) only to install the American Rally Association stickers another big change is going from G2 (2wd limited) to G5 (2d open) because of the rule differences – body work may be modified but must be original material/construction/resemble OEM.
Well my lights are different, the hood is fiberglass, the roof is aluminum and the hatch is plastic.
Also G2/L2WD state no porting can be done but the rule is intended to keep cars under 210-225whp so with the streetport and bodywork and with some recent stage times being overall competitive it was time to go to open class. Now I can loose about 300lbs off the car and still be in the class which will be like adding 30hp in an already quick car for ~190whp.
So Sno*Drift prep is done well what about Sno*drift itself?
1st in class regionally! (out of 3) but the other car got stuck for a long time on day 1 as well and the 3rd car DNF’d due to some car issue on Friday. Big change is that the regionally rally is 2 days long instead of two 1 day rallies.
But here is the re-cap:
Day 1 was WITHOUT HEAT!! (due to my own fault for having the heater core plunger in the wrong direction inhibiting the flow of coolant) and temps were as low as -20F. so stage 2 I stuffed it right out of the hole for no reason other than being a jerk, was able to get pulled out minutes later but ended up holding several cars up, only to crash about a mile later (going about 8mph) due to fogged up windshield with our heavy breathing from trying to be unstuck. Got tugged once more and meanwhile struggling to see and concentrate in the cold I biffed a 90* right hand corner that was deceptive #930 in the honda CRZ K series swap pulled us out with extreme enthusiasm (A+ for effort & force) and a few tugs later we were out! The rest of the day was uneventful and we managed to keep it on the road for the tight and rough stages of day 1.
Day 2. was more promising back up to middle pack out on road (and with heat/defrost!, easy fix Friday night, 5 zipties and beer) and I really enjoyed the fast wide roads but managed to make a stupid mistake on a 90* left hander, went wide and beached it about a half mile from the finish at that point, got tugged out again and carried on but this time we did not hold up anyone. Had really enjoyed the 16 mile stage, took 9th overall on the first running of that stage and was 2nd in 2wd behind #845 in the civic (which is a feat in itself as that guy is a local and the honda makes about 250whp) only to find myself passing by camp 8 on the same spot where we visit the folks of Griffin Thermal Products every year for the past 12 years to get stuck on the icy downhill section (I literally have seen dozens of cars get stuck here over the many years, it was no surprise just hot doggin' it like a jerk) Lake Effect Rally Team pulled us out quickly and then had to get the car fired up quickly (fuel pump relay got disconnected on accident by myself) and we continued on the remainder of the stages without incident and placed 10th overall on bonfire alley which was a riot!
Car came out unharmed and we had a great time! So here are the action shots!
So I went with the Stu Kelly Motorsports billet aluminum sending unit for AN fittings, also allowing provisions for fuel level sender w/ electrical hookup. Assuming that my existing sending unit was bent or warped.
And a new gas tank! (which you can still order from Mazda) as for me to repair the threads on the old gas tank was not working with epoxy/JB weld, it would need to be braised and repaired accordingly. Not something I wanted to attempt but I’m sure there are places nearby me in Metro Detroit. You do have to swap over those foam pads ontop of the tank as they are needed to position the tank correctly, this sending unit is a bit tall so I had to put more of the foam on one side so it would tilt downward slightly so the fittings would clear the floor, otherwise they were too tall and it was impossible to install the AN hoses. FYI for anyone using this sending unit.
I already had AN bulkheads to getting hoses to make the tank to bulkhead connection was easy. Since I was doing all this work and I wanted to do it once, I replaced the fuel pump with the Mazda motorsports fuel pump (stock 20B pump apparently) Now I have a very robust fuel system and out lots of money but at least it is safe and unlikely to burn down now…
Here is good comparison of it next to the walbro
So with fuel upgraded and an alignment done, wheel bearings replaced in the front the key parts were completed in preparation for SD2019.
Found out I can’t grease my u-joints with the driveshaft installed in the car so I skipped that step and just changed the rear diff fluid because the vent is relocated in the car so I hit water puddles without worrying about water contamination – problem with this is that when you cook the fluid the cab stinks like hot diff fluid which isn’t so great smelling. Never got around to dropping the trans or doing any clutch stuff, everything was working so I didn’t mess with anything, plus if I drop the exhaust I would probably just replace it, it is getting to be in poor shape and I had to patch a few welds to prevent the leaks.
After that it was just remove all of the old Rally-America stickers (that I bought for LSPR… and paid a premium for…) only to install the American Rally Association stickers another big change is going from G2 (2wd limited) to G5 (2d open) because of the rule differences – body work may be modified but must be original material/construction/resemble OEM.
Well my lights are different, the hood is fiberglass, the roof is aluminum and the hatch is plastic.
Also G2/L2WD state no porting can be done but the rule is intended to keep cars under 210-225whp so with the streetport and bodywork and with some recent stage times being overall competitive it was time to go to open class. Now I can loose about 300lbs off the car and still be in the class which will be like adding 30hp in an already quick car for ~190whp.
So Sno*Drift prep is done well what about Sno*drift itself?
1st in class regionally! (out of 3) but the other car got stuck for a long time on day 1 as well and the 3rd car DNF’d due to some car issue on Friday. Big change is that the regionally rally is 2 days long instead of two 1 day rallies.
But here is the re-cap:
Day 1 was WITHOUT HEAT!! (due to my own fault for having the heater core plunger in the wrong direction inhibiting the flow of coolant) and temps were as low as -20F. so stage 2 I stuffed it right out of the hole for no reason other than being a jerk, was able to get pulled out minutes later but ended up holding several cars up, only to crash about a mile later (going about 8mph) due to fogged up windshield with our heavy breathing from trying to be unstuck. Got tugged once more and meanwhile struggling to see and concentrate in the cold I biffed a 90* right hand corner that was deceptive #930 in the honda CRZ K series swap pulled us out with extreme enthusiasm (A+ for effort & force) and a few tugs later we were out! The rest of the day was uneventful and we managed to keep it on the road for the tight and rough stages of day 1.
Day 2. was more promising back up to middle pack out on road (and with heat/defrost!, easy fix Friday night, 5 zipties and beer) and I really enjoyed the fast wide roads but managed to make a stupid mistake on a 90* left hander, went wide and beached it about a half mile from the finish at that point, got tugged out again and carried on but this time we did not hold up anyone. Had really enjoyed the 16 mile stage, took 9th overall on the first running of that stage and was 2nd in 2wd behind #845 in the civic (which is a feat in itself as that guy is a local and the honda makes about 250whp) only to find myself passing by camp 8 on the same spot where we visit the folks of Griffin Thermal Products every year for the past 12 years to get stuck on the icy downhill section (I literally have seen dozens of cars get stuck here over the many years, it was no surprise just hot doggin' it like a jerk) Lake Effect Rally Team pulled us out quickly and then had to get the car fired up quickly (fuel pump relay got disconnected on accident by myself) and we continued on the remainder of the stages without incident and placed 10th overall on bonfire alley which was a riot!
Car came out unharmed and we had a great time! So here are the action shots!
Last edited by fidelity101; 02-13-19 at 11:19 AM.
The following users liked this post:
fidelity101 (02-26-19)
02-26-19, 10:52 AM
#287
Definitely had some teething problems getting to this point but this should be a strong season - aiming for Southern Ohio Forrest Rally in mid May as the next event. might sneak in a rallycross and an open track day beforehand but thats about it. No major car setup changes either, its basically going to stay this way until something breaks
the 09 rx8 daily driver had the engine go out so now its just sitting waiting until this shell is used up and I will then frankenstein parts from the one to the other for the next rally build but that will still be a few years down the road.
the 09 rx8 daily driver had the engine go out so now its just sitting waiting until this shell is used up and I will then frankenstein parts from the one to the other for the next rally build but that will still be a few years down the road.
03-25-19, 02:41 PM
#289
With ice racing season over it is onto to tackling the to do list for SOFR race prep:
out with the old and jank!
and in with some fresh floor/heavier gauge way overbuilt nonsense! but now there isn't a rust hole by where I rest my clutch leg heel on the driver floor...
the old oil cooler is actually fine but was mounted poorly and getting bad airflow. the 2 mile course on the lake I would get oil temps at 250* by the time I crossed the line. something something 8000 rpm constantly might have had something to do with it...
so I called up my friends at Griffin again and got this sucker mounted up:
its the same volume as the stock one (~1cu inch) the but shrouded/fan poweredness of it should be a nice touch, the haltech is already setup to trigger this so I have the wiring ready to go, but here are the overall specs:
out with the old and jank!
and in with some fresh floor/heavier gauge way overbuilt nonsense! but now there isn't a rust hole by where I rest my clutch leg heel on the driver floor...
the old oil cooler is actually fine but was mounted poorly and getting bad airflow. the 2 mile course on the lake I would get oil temps at 250* by the time I crossed the line. something something 8000 rpm constantly might have had something to do with it...
so I called up my friends at Griffin again and got this sucker mounted up:
its the same volume as the stock one (~1cu inch) the but shrouded/fan poweredness of it should be a nice touch, the haltech is already setup to trigger this so I have the wiring ready to go, but here are the overall specs:
- Overall Height (in):12.470 in.
- Overall Width (in):12.060 in.
- Overall Thickness (in):6.500 in.
- Cooler Material:Aluminum
- Inlet/outlet Size:1/2 in. NPT
08-14-19, 08:30 AM
#291
I don't have any in progress photos of the roof stuff but I added a scoop and I added a vent within side to help combat the internal oven conditions but I do have an obligtory "drive (shakedown because you ran out of time) commute your race car to work day.
The 2nd part of that battle is adding these bad boys for impromptu picnics!
Okay no... not actually, BUT I downsized them a bit to fit the conveniently placed tubs where the rear seats normally would go - and because of this they have rubber drain plugs which is perfect because this cheap cooler strapped down does cause some leaks, but nothing to worry about or notice but is a pretty stout/simple design.
On the left is the unfinished setup on the right is a ratchet strap bolted down with a weldnut covering an existing chassis hole with a random pair of powdered coated brackets I had in my scrap pile (prob some extra HF pieces laying around) and with some quick disconnects you can remove the cooler toss the ice out and be ready rock after leaving service, it was about 300$ per side (w/ shirt) in total to do and worth every penny in the 90* humid weather heat soaking with the rx7 exhaust.
I added some insulation by the amazon foot for the leads running from the cooler to the shirt with some briggs n straton 1/4" hand shut off valves (for fuel) so I don't pee everywhere when I get up and disconnect.
after that it was prep the car and get everything as ready as I could be (and I did) but it still was not enough - but that's rally!!!
The 2nd part of that battle is adding these bad boys for impromptu picnics!
Okay no... not actually, BUT I downsized them a bit to fit the conveniently placed tubs where the rear seats normally would go - and because of this they have rubber drain plugs which is perfect because this cheap cooler strapped down does cause some leaks, but nothing to worry about or notice but is a pretty stout/simple design.
On the left is the unfinished setup on the right is a ratchet strap bolted down with a weldnut covering an existing chassis hole with a random pair of powdered coated brackets I had in my scrap pile (prob some extra HF pieces laying around) and with some quick disconnects you can remove the cooler toss the ice out and be ready rock after leaving service, it was about 300$ per side (w/ shirt) in total to do and worth every penny in the 90* humid weather heat soaking with the rx7 exhaust.
I added some insulation by the amazon foot for the leads running from the cooler to the shirt with some briggs n straton 1/4" hand shut off valves (for fuel) so I don't pee everywhere when I get up and disconnect.
after that it was prep the car and get everything as ready as I could be (and I did) but it still was not enough - but that's rally!!!
08-14-19, 08:33 AM
#292
Event did not start out smoothly.. nor was it smooth at any point in the event...
we Failed tech Thursday due to co-driver's HANS expired luckily JEGS had one in stock and hurried there to be back in time for the 1st stage later that night, it was only a 1.5hr drive. ..
The car felt funny and thought nothing of it until the failure became obvious. which didn't bode well into Friday's stages, I had lost rear shocks a failed bearing support component rendering them useless and incredibly noisy. here was a lot of confusion after service on a stage late in the day that was amplified by a communication breakdown (storm) ultimately leading to a re-seed and just as we hand in our time card at FTC we lost battery power. Got flat towed back made for an interesting Friday because we could not fix the car in service due to the severe hail storm! Was able to fix it friday evening going into saturday and had no real issues that day but I did manage to get the car airborn on one stage and hit a water crossing as speed so thats pretty much worth it. 1st timer for those events in car, a lot over the weekend actually... POR!
74 cars started, 45 finished, we started 28th overall and finished 22nd with 5 in class out 24 cant be more proud of the results and awesome spread of competitors - which was good enough to take 6th over all in the River City Rally - RCR 2wd challenge which is good for 50% off entry to Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR)
amazing roads ands a crazy good fun adventure so here are the action shots!
we Failed tech Thursday due to co-driver's HANS expired luckily JEGS had one in stock and hurried there to be back in time for the 1st stage later that night, it was only a 1.5hr drive. ..
The car felt funny and thought nothing of it until the failure became obvious. which didn't bode well into Friday's stages, I had lost rear shocks a failed bearing support component rendering them useless and incredibly noisy. here was a lot of confusion after service on a stage late in the day that was amplified by a communication breakdown (storm) ultimately leading to a re-seed and just as we hand in our time card at FTC we lost battery power. Got flat towed back made for an interesting Friday because we could not fix the car in service due to the severe hail storm! Was able to fix it friday evening going into saturday and had no real issues that day but I did manage to get the car airborn on one stage and hit a water crossing as speed so thats pretty much worth it. 1st timer for those events in car, a lot over the weekend actually... POR!
74 cars started, 45 finished, we started 28th overall and finished 22nd with 5 in class out 24 cant be more proud of the results and awesome spread of competitors - which was good enough to take 6th over all in the River City Rally - RCR 2wd challenge which is good for 50% off entry to Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR)
amazing roads ands a crazy good fun adventure so here are the action shots!
08-14-19, 08:34 AM
#293
Okay so I have been bad in updating this but I have also been bad at doing actual updates the car, last few summers I spent 90% of the time in the garage and this summer I made a point to take a well deserved break. I did manage to upgrade the trailer (instead of fixing it) too so this will have its own mini project for cleaning and organization sake. Sold the open trailer for 1700 w/ the aluminum ramps and picked this up for 2900, its 8.5x20" and can fit the car + a snowmobile with little room to spare so it should do me fine!
so post SOFR I knew I needed to do shocks, left the car with a shop not too far from me to get done, well it took a lot longer than expected and a few hiccups along the way but it didn't matter as I had a busy early summer of family events so it was a moot point. However, that is done and gone and the new shocks are here and ready to rock!
I ditched the off the shelf bilsteins and went with a bilstein motorsports SL style. They have more valving options and with the shrader valve the pressure is adjustible, nothing too wild but should be interesting to see how it performs this weekend during summer sno*drift.
Heim joints on both ends and a double shear bottom bracket for extra robustness.
but god damn are they clanky! I was not anticipating the noise from bumps on these, because of the heim joint the shock can rotate a little on the bearing but when it reaches its stopping point its quite loud. 1st time even running shocks like this - is this normal? Without a rubber bushing of a sort its to be expected to be harsher but wow, was not anticipating that. Big difference will be for this weekend's event and see if I need to drop my spring rate to the lower style because of the increased damping. I'm not super knowledgeable in the suspension tuning area so I will just play it by ear and go from there.
Final prep for the weekend, knock out all the tasks on the white board nearly, leaving alignment & oil change for last until I find this.
Co-Driver side:
Driver side:
Que sesame street's "one of these things is not like the other" song...
What you are looking at is the outboard attachment point for the rear trailing arm which has the cam for toe adjustment.
This must have happened during SOFR because the rust and dirt is showing that this has been happening already. Surprised I didn't notice it so tonite will be welding gussets and reinforcing the affected areas and re-try the alignment tomorrow.
its always a last minute rush before the race even when you are not trying to. Granted I spent about 3 days touching up the paint from the giant subaru sponsor sticker from the prior event but at least I have a little bit of time still so no worries, quick push and be all ready! Lets see how this event goes because in about 6 weeks - STPR is up and I won half off entry which makes this event very appealing...
but the event went badly. Brake caliper bolts backed out and the brakes were dragging a bit as well.
so post SOFR I knew I needed to do shocks, left the car with a shop not too far from me to get done, well it took a lot longer than expected and a few hiccups along the way but it didn't matter as I had a busy early summer of family events so it was a moot point. However, that is done and gone and the new shocks are here and ready to rock!
I ditched the off the shelf bilsteins and went with a bilstein motorsports SL style. They have more valving options and with the shrader valve the pressure is adjustible, nothing too wild but should be interesting to see how it performs this weekend during summer sno*drift.
Heim joints on both ends and a double shear bottom bracket for extra robustness.
but god damn are they clanky! I was not anticipating the noise from bumps on these, because of the heim joint the shock can rotate a little on the bearing but when it reaches its stopping point its quite loud. 1st time even running shocks like this - is this normal? Without a rubber bushing of a sort its to be expected to be harsher but wow, was not anticipating that. Big difference will be for this weekend's event and see if I need to drop my spring rate to the lower style because of the increased damping. I'm not super knowledgeable in the suspension tuning area so I will just play it by ear and go from there.
Final prep for the weekend, knock out all the tasks on the white board nearly, leaving alignment & oil change for last until I find this.
Co-Driver side:
Driver side:
Que sesame street's "one of these things is not like the other" song...
What you are looking at is the outboard attachment point for the rear trailing arm which has the cam for toe adjustment.
This must have happened during SOFR because the rust and dirt is showing that this has been happening already. Surprised I didn't notice it so tonite will be welding gussets and reinforcing the affected areas and re-try the alignment tomorrow.
its always a last minute rush before the race even when you are not trying to. Granted I spent about 3 days touching up the paint from the giant subaru sponsor sticker from the prior event but at least I have a little bit of time still so no worries, quick push and be all ready! Lets see how this event goes because in about 6 weeks - STPR is up and I won half off entry which makes this event very appealing...
but the event went badly. Brake caliper bolts backed out and the brakes were dragging a bit as well.
08-14-19, 08:34 AM
#294
After fixing the DNF issue. We ran SS5 and SS6 - without the brakes dragging the car was feeling much faster but got a little lost in the "notes" and had "intercom issues" which turned out to be the camelback hose bouncing around and adjusting my volume, you can hear the confusion between us a bit but tried to give the best I could. unrecorded time of ~5:54 would have put us 3rd overall on this stage. Getting more used to the car at higher speeds and the recent shocks were a HUGE improvement. time for more driver mod and better pre-race inspection. Enjoy the braps (be sure to click the setting for HD)!
here is the video
here is the video
Facebook Post
Facebook Post
Last edited by fidelity101; 08-14-19 at 08:36 AM.
08-20-19, 02:56 PM
#295
The worst part about having the brake failure is trying to look under the engine bay for a bolt that would suffice, and after being disappointed that there are no "available" M8x1.25 hardware there you close the hood and get passed by sweep, by being passed by sweep you have to hand in your time card for the day resulting in a DNF...
Meanwhile all of this is happening and you have the hood come up on you at about 45mph on the way back to service in yet another defeat because you were too distracted to re-install the hood pins.
only a few years ago I had put the cage in and I was worried about getting glass, seemed to be no problem well that's not the case anymore - this is an old car and is starting to get old car problems (hence why the rx8 chassis is so tempting...) so ive been scrounging around looking for a replacement glass which I think to have found a replacement but won't know for a few days as it needs to be shipped to the service location and make sure its not cracked or chipped. Not exactly sure how much that is going to cost either now that I think about it...
which also means a new 45 dollar sticker because that one is never coming off in 1 piece... hooray!
compound the fact that the hood is broken, I have already removed it and dropped it off for repair (time to polish the turd) I am not willing to replace the hood yet as I would like to cut & tube the front end sometime when the time is right (think smashy smashy mr tree or something) so a quick n dirty job and it should be on its feet again.
countdown to STPR? I leave for PA on Sept 9th and the clock is ticking... FAST!
I spent sometime to inspect/clean and properly toque/threadlock the rear brake parts. The initial Idea of having the rear brakes upgraded before the next event is likely not going to happen but I do have some spares so a quick mockup of whats to come.
ditch the integral parking brake garbage, go from sliding to fixed piston style, eliminate moving parts, go from iron to aluminum components, the hydraulics are already setup for AN fittings so adapting is easy, not to mention the brake adjust valve at the handbrake so this should be a pretty great upgrade! These reman rx7 calipers are getting worse and worse and I have gone through many a rear set through the ownership of this car come to think of it.
300zx rear rotors are 11.7" diameter a touch larger and do not fit on the rx7 rear suspension, factory vented rx7 rear brakes are 10.7" diameter, the overall thickness between the 2 rotors is 2mm and these calipers seem to be more readily available and similarly priced, sometimes even cheaper.
Some people put rx7 front brakes on the rear and run four 4-pot calipers but that seemed like overkill, ive searched other brake swap upgrades and nothing really works back there, some FD upgrades but you still have a similar caliper style as the FC so its not a big difference. STI/Evo brembos are impossible to find and 3 times the cost per caliper nearly. CTS V stuff is all 4+ piston ginormous and a lot off off the shelf solutions for 2 piston via willwood or brembo were either too large/small or even more expensive...
So now I have gone down this brake upgrade path and potentially can make kits in the future with the DMLS 3d printer for others so this may be a slow roll...
People have used these calipers on FC where they put it parallel to the existing caliper and use a standalone e-brake but I think that bracket setup isn't going to be robust enough for rally.
(stolen from the internet)
this bracket does fix a key issue though, placing the z32 caliper offset a touch rearward as the offset of the rotor to rotor hat are different between the two, so to center the brake caliper pads on the rotor you have to raise the entire hub surface by 5.5mm, so a spacer needs to be made to accommodate the hub bore of the wheel and the hub bore of the rotor.
Luckily 1 factory brake caliper attachment point bolts up and works out pretty okay!
see? not too shabby!
depending on your wheel offset you may also need spacers. for running stock wheels like me 10-15mm is plenty and with these ARP extended studs I don't think adding a little bit of spacer will cause issues, especially in the back.
I made a preliminary prototype for the bracket out of scrap steel and weld, its too ugly to share but will do a side by side with the actual milled piece.
aside from that the car didn't get much abuse at summer sno*drift so prep is minimal, I need swap out the window regulators and crank handles and sort this whole hood/windshield out
more to come!
Meanwhile all of this is happening and you have the hood come up on you at about 45mph on the way back to service in yet another defeat because you were too distracted to re-install the hood pins.
only a few years ago I had put the cage in and I was worried about getting glass, seemed to be no problem well that's not the case anymore - this is an old car and is starting to get old car problems (hence why the rx8 chassis is so tempting...) so ive been scrounging around looking for a replacement glass which I think to have found a replacement but won't know for a few days as it needs to be shipped to the service location and make sure its not cracked or chipped. Not exactly sure how much that is going to cost either now that I think about it...
which also means a new 45 dollar sticker because that one is never coming off in 1 piece... hooray!
compound the fact that the hood is broken, I have already removed it and dropped it off for repair (time to polish the turd) I am not willing to replace the hood yet as I would like to cut & tube the front end sometime when the time is right (think smashy smashy mr tree or something) so a quick n dirty job and it should be on its feet again.
countdown to STPR? I leave for PA on Sept 9th and the clock is ticking... FAST!
I spent sometime to inspect/clean and properly toque/threadlock the rear brake parts. The initial Idea of having the rear brakes upgraded before the next event is likely not going to happen but I do have some spares so a quick mockup of whats to come.
ditch the integral parking brake garbage, go from sliding to fixed piston style, eliminate moving parts, go from iron to aluminum components, the hydraulics are already setup for AN fittings so adapting is easy, not to mention the brake adjust valve at the handbrake so this should be a pretty great upgrade! These reman rx7 calipers are getting worse and worse and I have gone through many a rear set through the ownership of this car come to think of it.
300zx rear rotors are 11.7" diameter a touch larger and do not fit on the rx7 rear suspension, factory vented rx7 rear brakes are 10.7" diameter, the overall thickness between the 2 rotors is 2mm and these calipers seem to be more readily available and similarly priced, sometimes even cheaper.
Some people put rx7 front brakes on the rear and run four 4-pot calipers but that seemed like overkill, ive searched other brake swap upgrades and nothing really works back there, some FD upgrades but you still have a similar caliper style as the FC so its not a big difference. STI/Evo brembos are impossible to find and 3 times the cost per caliper nearly. CTS V stuff is all 4+ piston ginormous and a lot off off the shelf solutions for 2 piston via willwood or brembo were either too large/small or even more expensive...
So now I have gone down this brake upgrade path and potentially can make kits in the future with the DMLS 3d printer for others so this may be a slow roll...
People have used these calipers on FC where they put it parallel to the existing caliper and use a standalone e-brake but I think that bracket setup isn't going to be robust enough for rally.
(stolen from the internet)
this bracket does fix a key issue though, placing the z32 caliper offset a touch rearward as the offset of the rotor to rotor hat are different between the two, so to center the brake caliper pads on the rotor you have to raise the entire hub surface by 5.5mm, so a spacer needs to be made to accommodate the hub bore of the wheel and the hub bore of the rotor.
Luckily 1 factory brake caliper attachment point bolts up and works out pretty okay!
see? not too shabby!
depending on your wheel offset you may also need spacers. for running stock wheels like me 10-15mm is plenty and with these ARP extended studs I don't think adding a little bit of spacer will cause issues, especially in the back.
I made a preliminary prototype for the bracket out of scrap steel and weld, its too ugly to share but will do a side by side with the actual milled piece.
aside from that the car didn't get much abuse at summer sno*drift so prep is minimal, I need swap out the window regulators and crank handles and sort this whole hood/windshield out
more to come!
08-20-19, 11:45 PM
#296
but god damn are they clanky! I was not anticipating the noise from bumps on these, because of the heim joint the shock can rotate a little on the bearing but when it reaches its stopping point its quite loud. 1st time even running shocks like this - is this normal? Without a rubber bushing of a sort its to be expected to be harsher but wow, was not anticipating that. Big difference will be for this weekend's event and see if I need to drop my spring rate to the lower style because of the increased damping. I'm not super knowledgeable in the suspension tuning area so I will just play it by ear and go from there.
After fixing my dumb AWR rear mounts (with the wrong bearings in them) and the crappy bilstein bearings my ASNs don't clank at all... but I have stud mounts on the top of mine.
You either have bad bearings (the bilstein bearings suck) or it's the spring unloading....(how much preload do you have?)
I replaced my crappy bilstein bearings with aurora bearings:
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...asp?RecID=7433
the double shear stud mounts are probably a bit overkill (I haven't had problems with my single shear ones yet) but better safe than sorry
08-21-19, 08:53 AM
#297
They are bilstein bearings and I have very little preload on the spring as I can tell. I wont name the shop that did the bilstein setup on my rear as it was a less than pleasant experience that took way too long regardless how much I liked the shop owner. I agree the double shear is overkill and I've never had an issue with it before but now im going faster and its no longer rallyX so some different abuses are happening in places highlighting weakpoints.
04-20-20, 09:38 AM
#298
swapped the s1 rx8 gearbox for an s2 rx8 gearbox, all good -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzk...ature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzk...ature=youtu.be
09-21-20, 04:55 PM
#299
Haven't made much progress on the brakes and the tow vehicle has taken up about 95% of my time this year but!things are happening!
in the exhaust anyways....
3D printed inconel anyone?
So right now the first 12" are sch40 piping so its a true 2" ID, the inconel outlet flanges taper gradually to this size for a perfect flush fit. the rest of the tubing will be done with 1.875" 16 gauge, my overall runner length is now 1 foot shorter but I have also now made it equal runners.
in the exhaust anyways....
3D printed inconel anyone?
So right now the first 12" are sch40 piping so its a true 2" ID, the inconel outlet flanges taper gradually to this size for a perfect flush fit. the rest of the tubing will be done with 1.875" 16 gauge, my overall runner length is now 1 foot shorter but I have also now made it equal runners.
The following 2 users liked this post by fidelity101:
diabolical1 (03-08-23),
gracer7-rx7 (10-18-22)
09-24-20, 12:37 PM
#300
That looks very nice. Have you considered incorporating the exhaust sleeves (that traditionally fit in the housing) into those exhaust pieces? From my understanding the OEM pieces expand too quickly and produce inefficiencies in the exhaust flow; somewhere I saw someone do a custom design which expanded much more slowly and incorporated the sleeves into the header design.
If that's already done, good work, I just couldn't tell from the pictures.
If that's already done, good work, I just couldn't tell from the pictures.
The following users liked this post:
fidelity101 (09-24-20)