Just here to tell my story if anybody is interested and such. Long read...so bare with me if you would like

So I purchased my FD in Bellvue last July. I was dumb/naive/arrogant and didn't get a compression test...or even get to see the car from a cold start. Well I took the car to work that day (work the late shift) and when it was time to leave around at 3 in the morning I got the "standard" plume of white smoke. I was totally new to rotaries, but obviously my first thought was "ohhh no." I had my buddy come who has a T2 who knows plenty about RXs and he just told me I was out of luck. This was terrible, but I knew anyways that it would need a rebuild sometime, someday.

I took the car to a shop in Tacoma called Illtech. They did the rebuild for me for a pretty decent price using new housings, Atkins seals, and Atkins street-port. This took forever but I was happy to get the car back. Well, I got the car but they said there was an "issue." The twins were now somehow bad...The odd thing is that Jerry's Little Car Shop replaced/rebuilt them less than 1,000 miles ago. He however, wouldn’t warranty them for whatever reason I couldn’t remember.

I took the car up to him and he said the rebuild was pretty shanty and that it wasn't the twins, but after further inspection from the Mazda shop and TurboTech they were bad.

Then the car was back to Illtech to figure out what to do about the twins. I ordered two pairs from forum members...both of which were not in usable condition. So we decided that I would bite the bullet and go single.

I purchased a single kit from a member without a downpipe...one would have to be custom made. Also, with my kit, we couldn't find any kits for an intercooler so one would also have to be fabricated.

I always would ask Illtech for an estimate but they would never give me one. This worried me a lot. So after about six months...yes six months!! In the shop I decided to take it back from them. They said they would prepare my bill and I would be free to go. I was then shocked for a bill of $7,400. Now I am young, and I know to a lot of owners this is nothing. But to me this was shocking. The only work they really did was make a shitty front mount for me and a custom downpipe. Granted they did other installs such as fuel pump, exhaust, gauges, greddy pully, etc.

When we asked what was wrong with the car we simply got the "we have no idea" answer. This was hard to hear, but I have to live with it. So now it is sitting in the driveway and my buddy Jesse is working on it (his handle is "microdrifter" I believe) and hopefully I can get Anochie (boost_lee) to give it a soft tune so I can get it to Portland for the Steve Kan tuning in June. So currently, we are waiting for block of plates to simplify everything. My buddy, noticed that they connected almost none of the vacuum lines back up, not to mention that everything else wasn't even bolted down. It’s a pretty lame situation, but one that seems to happen quite often with RX owners. So if you are a rotorhead and would like to possibly help...you are more than welcome!

Mods: New rebuild/housings/street port (71,000 on everything else)
T04E single
Supra TT Pump
Nurspec R exhaust
Rx7store midpipe
custom downpipe
Rx7 ultimate fuel
Power FC
Honeywell Bar and plate FMIC
Air Pump removed
Pettit AST on the way
Rats nest to be removed/simplified
Koyo Radiator
HKS Electronic boost control/turbo timer
HKS ignition on the way soon.
Feel like I'm forgetting a lot more...but its late.

I can take some pics tomorrow for anybody that is interested.

Thanks for your time and hopefully you aren't bored to death

 

$7400?? If that doesnt include the price of a reman or other big ticket item at least, you got robbed. I'd be curious to see an itemized receipt to see where they came up with that figure.......

 

I can scan or type out the repair tomorrow...well today ha. No, that wasn't for the rebuild...the rebuild/clutch/few other misc. things came out to around 5K hahah. So all in all they have taken a big chunk of change from me.

 

time for a v8... ?

 

Because that makes any sense at all...

 

Honestly, if i would of known it was going to be this bad, I might have gone with a higher series LS. I try not to look back though and only ahead.

 

ouch! So what exactly is wrong with your car right now? After that big long post i still dont know what is currently wrong. No tune right now? What do you need help with exactly? And how did you do a single conversion without block off plates exactly? I didnt think aftermarket fuel rails fit without block off plates.

 

There are some of the plates installed. I don't know exactly what is wrong...hence why I take my car to a shop to get worked on. My buddy thinks its a vacuum leak. So hopefully this fixes it or helps...Jerry's Little Car Shop looked at the timing and couldn't even get his light to match up..so that could be an issue also. So honestly, I don't know what I need help with. Just maybe looking for somebody that has gone single and actually knows what they are doing.

 

Didnt have time to read the whold thing, but this is exactly why you dont take RX's to any shop other than a strictly rotary oriented shop. Good luck with everything, try doing research before you purchase next time, you wont go out and spend 7400 for nothin.

 

Paying other people to work on your rotary is a recipe for financial ruin.

 

ok, more specifically, what is the car not doing that you want it to do? Start? Idle nicely? Drive smoothly? Also, the timing mark is 20* ATDC, so if you are connecting the timing light to the lead plug you will most likely be no where within the ballpark. Recomended way of zeroing timing is to set the trailing plug up to fire 20* atdc and then use it to set the timing.

 

Yes, I am aware, I stated this in my original post.

Right now it won't idle or start.

 

some spark and some fuel and the thing should start. Even with a horrible vacume problem it will probably still start. If you didnt live so far away ide come help

 

I am always frogetting to put on a vacuum line here or there, car starts and runs fine, albeit at a higher idle. Zero out the pfc, and restab the cas,. Then start it up and go through the initial pfc idling stuff. Real basic stuff,. BTW who the hell is "Illtech" never heard of them, been into sevens quite a while. Best of Luck

 

I took my car to get rebuilt at Pineapple, I would say that my communication with Rob about the fees and stuff was lacking but I am pretty happy with the job that they did and I love having my car back. Next time give Rob a call. Might take time for him to get done but to me it will be worth it.

 

omg.. dude are you the one who has the green fd? if so i do remember seeing your car there. a couple times actually if i remember right. man that sucks that they couldnt take care of the problem. i have always liked illtech though. but i know the are not too confident in rotory. thats why i even bit the bullet and made the haul down to pineapple.

 

Ok, I will try or have my buddy who is more proficient try the things that you guys recommended. Illtech isn't a rotary shop. Two guys worked there that had 7s and had done rebuilds before. The guy that did mine finished it, but then left for else ware. Then the other guy quit and went to a different shop...so after that I defiantly should have pulled out. Oh well though, life is short and HOPEFULLY it is all legit...

 

Hello everyone, we caught this thread this afternoon and we thought it would be fun to actually reply with the other side of this story. After all it is pretty convenient and rare that the two parties are aware of each others threads on these types of subjects. Obviously desperate attempts have been made to gain acceptance and further justify his/her poor decisions. What is gained out of this, I do not know. Starting with our consultations with this client, we suggested to upgrade from his dead factory twins to installing a known Mfg turbo kit with a warranty. This was not an option due to his/her budget! The client declined and purchased parts on his own! Some fine examples of these poor decisions would involve the following: Client purchased a used "FC specific turbo kit with a cracked manifold. The manifold was clearly not designed to be used with an FD due to clearance issues nor was it structurally sound to hold up a USED and heavy FORD, yes FORD/Dodge-hybrid turbo. Im sure he got a killer deal off of ebay or whatever, but in the end you only get what you pay for. This started a snow ball and nothing available on the market would fit this car anylonger, eg Custom FMIC,Down pipe with Ford v band,etc,etc... Another thing that you should all be aware of is the reason why this vehicle does not run. The client simply did not have the money to pay his bill to date. To keep things short we had to internally write off over $1000.00 off his bill to get him to pick up his car! We definatley stopped working on the car at that point as we were not paid for the work we did or to finish the car. I suppose we should have made the client pre-pay like we do now and could have avoided the kid in a candy store problem. The fact is that our client added ALOT of parts to his build along the way, eg gauges,fuel comp, exhaust, you name it. I suppose I would be shocked by a large bill if I had not kept track of my purchses either. In closing we do not enjoy or appreciate being included in the poor decisions and lack of research, etc made by our client in this "build". We are a stand-up shop staffed with Factory trained techs and parts advisors. We hope anyone who reads this is compelled to think before they believe everything they read.

 

Wow, so asking day after day, after day for an estimate isn't enough? You are the one that told me that you wanted to take on the project. You inspected everything and said that I would receive a "good deal."

Don't act like you "stopped work" on the car on your own account. You know very well that the car was in the shop for MONTHS and NOTHING was completed. Every week I got the "it will be done soon." When I would ask what progress was made you could not give me the answer. It was me that called your phone jockey to tell them that I had to come get it, since you obviously didn't know what the hell was going on.

I enjoy as well that your former employees think you are a joke as well, which is why they have left you.

I guess the little things really do add up. It really surprises me that your trained factory techs take 2 hours to to take off a front bumper cover. It's also great to receive a car in which I am told that the front bumper was cut to fit...but isn't even close....yes I am charged 1.5 hours of labor

Admit it Illtech, you took on way too big of a job with your knowledge of the subject.

 

Yeah, thats never good. I mean, I'd be pissed too if the boys at Illtech motorboated my Mom on the regular

 

You know, you can expect to make mistakes when you first get the car. I did. I recommend taking the blows and looking toward the future.

Your doing the right thing, your asking questions and trying to get your car fixed. I would be.... livid....?.... if any shop posted what they did on a forum but thats just me. In fact, I will never deal and won't suggest anyone to go to that shop by what they just said about you, its completely disrespectful.

Lets get your car fixed!

If your simplifying emissions what are you still running?

You will need at least:
TPS
MAP sensor
Coolant Temperature sensor
ETC.....
Let us know what you have hooked up and we can probably tell you if theres anything your missing.

I haven't worked with the Power FC so I don't know what it needs to run but I know a rotary needs very little. Onces your done if you simplify all the way it will look like a 70's V8, minus the pistons = ).

This will probably take time since your working through the forums but at least you have more knowledge on these forums then any one shop.

Good luck Take your time and it will be worth it. Do everything as right as you can the first time!

 

DAMN! lol. hey ill come over sometimes and check it out with jesse, i like the fd ne ways

 

Well its all over with now...kinda. The boost gauge wasn't installed, AC was broken, the coil plugs were backwards, but everything worked out. Steve Kan tuned it today and since my boost controller is bad he just used the spring. My car runs and now makes 312whp at 9 pounds of boost.

There are just a few things to button up and I will finally be happy with the FD

 

I can attest that the coil plugs were wired incorrectly and were therefore firing 180 degrees from proper timing. Had Steve tried to tune the car that way the motor would have immediately gone POP. Oh, and it took Steve about 2 minutes to figure out what was done incorrectly on the car.

Hopefully you get boost controller re-installed correctly, get a new boost gauge plumbed in and enjoy a few more pounds of boost. Once you get everything installed talk to Steve to see if there is anything you should know about the tune to get it to run just how you want to.

And for the AC lines just call Ray at Malloy mazda and he can get you the lines you need. It is really easy to remove and install those lines. Then you can have some AC too.

Did you try to drive the car yet?

Good luck,
Justin Wade

 

Yeah Illtech should just stick with Subies and EVO's....Im suprised you even let them touch your car without even knowing how much money would be involved... Where in Oly are you from? We should meet up because i never see FD's around town