Right now, because we had swapped over to the GTE coil-packs and additional GTE components, the wiring harness simply has to be re-done..

The problem has been that my brother, who did the original wiring job, moved away. So the guy who's been dragging his feet on the car this whole year is left trying to re-wire it, and it's definitely not his specialty.

The deal is, if it's not done by the time I come down to Georgia for New Years on leave, he isn't charging me anything...and I'm going to ship it out to San Diego IMMEDIATELY and have a local shop just finish it.

I'm buying my wife a turbo-charged RX-8 tomorrow, actually, so you bet your butt I need to have my FD up and running.

No way I'm going to let my wife have a faster car than me.

I'm driving my BPU'd 2011 Sonata 2.0T right now.

I'm having Tri-Point Engineering do a full rebuild/tune on the RX-8. Currently it's got a full turbo set-up, but the motor lost compression naturally. That's how I'm scoring it for such a good deal, with enough to afford even having Tri-Point build it. hah

Here's what it looks like:





You'll never believe this, but..

My wife has suddenly become OBSESSED with Initial D.

We've been watching all of it on Netflix.

The fact that it has Funimation voice actors, which her and I are a big fan of is a HUGE plus.

My wife FINALLY understands the emotional attachments that come with cars, and she's been asking me questions and showing an honest to God eagerness to learn about cars.

I couldn't have been any more blessed, than to have a wife like her.

hahahahaha....

2JZ FD RX-7.....turbo-charged RX-8 for the wifey.....I'm in heaven.

^.^

 

badass bro u still keeping the daily though right

 

I love you build! Cant wait for it to be done.

 

Car looks great, can't wait to start on my own fd swap.

 

Oy vey...


Saw my FD for the first time in over a year.

The guy who's been "working" on it this whole year wasn't even able to get the thing started after him and I spent 4+ hours working on it today.

Inside and outside the car looks visibly WORSE than it did the last time that I saw it. New scratches, damaged body pieces...it was f-ing ridiculous.

The guy and I agreed that if the car wasn't up and running by the time I came home that he wouldn't charge me anything. That guy got my hopes up so many damn times I am beyond words right now with how pissed off I am.

I am shipping the car IMMEDIATELY to San Diego, and I will find myself a local shop to finish up the car.

As it stands, it is pretty much AT the point where it can be started and running, but God knows how many problems are going to come up.

Right now I am looking at having Speedforce Racing in San Diego finish the car.

Anyone else have any other recommendations for seasoned 2JZ guys?

On a different topic..the new turbo RX-8 is great.

Since I saved so much getting it running again, I had some leftover money to purchase a replacement urethane Mazdaspeed replica front-bumper, as well as a Kendwood DVD/navigation stereo w/ rear-view camera, bluetooth hands-free, etc.

I also re-located the A-pillar gauges to a center dash-style pod gauge. Looks much better.

Some recent pics of the RX-8..





Re-programmed the LED screen to read "Hachi " That's the car's name. hehe

The RX-8 and the Sonata...



So yeah. The FD is coming to San Diego ASAP, and that's all there is to it.

I'll it finished at a shop that will actually WORK for the money I pay them, and at least I can feel better knowing they'll do it RIGHT.

 

Been a while...

Stopped by Speed Force Racing in Santee, CA where my FD's at.



www.speedforceracing.com

As of today, all we're waiting on a custom 2JZ GE-GTE wiring harness from Chase Bays, out of Alabama. http://www.chasebays.com/

I opted for the full shabang with fuse panel/box and everything to make wiring as plug and play as possible.

Besides that, we're also waiting on a custom Ron Davis radiator.

Once those come in, it's just a matter of putting it all together.

Gotta wait on the radiator before they can finish all the piping/plumbing, though.

Car is dirty as all hell, but here are some quick pics I snapped this afternoon while the shop was busy fabricating me up a nice custom FMIC w/ Synapse BOV setup for my Sonata.









Gonna be rocking some new shoes for the FD, too.

The 19" iForged Retro's currently on my Sonata are gonna be swapped over to the FD...but not after I throw on some 3.5" lips on the rears to make them staggered!

Can you say 255/35/19 and 295/30/19 Hankook V12's? Yeeeaaahh buddy! No "hellaflush" crap here. I'm all about PURPOSE. 400-500+ 2JZ FD, you damn straight! ^.^

So believe me when I say....

More updates coming soon!!

^.^

 

Very sick swap! Can't wait for updates.

 

very nice... how much did that harness run you? the 2j swap is something im REALLY interested in. with the abundance of the 2j over here it would be wrong of me to NOT get one just to have...

 

http://www.chasebays.com/brands/chas...te-for-oem-ecu

I opted for the CM-2 model harness IIRC. The harness is costing me $1,100 total. Tim @ Speed Force Racing ended up placing the order for me. I don't remember the specifics, but it's basically going to be 100% plug and play, with additional labeled fuse boxes/relays in place to make wiring in RX-7 components exceedingly easier. I'll have full working power-steering, A/C....everything short of cruise control. lol

UPDATE: April 3rd, 2012

Yay updates! lol it's about time, right? :P

I am finally having the larger lip barrels put on my 19" iForged Retro's rims that were previously on my Sonata.

The fronts are 19X8.5 and the rears now measure 19X10.5 according to my guy at San Diego Wheel & Tire who's doing the barrel swap and putting on my tires.

Here's a pic he sent me today:



*DROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL*

I'm going to end up running 255/35/19's on the 19X8.5 fronts and 295/30/19's on the rear 19X10.5's. I am going with Hankook Ventus V12 tires. Overall diameter is exactly 26" IIRC, which is the same overall diameter as my previous 18X8 w/ 245/40 tires.

I'm most likely going to have to roll the fenders as a temporary measure, until I do my Shine Auto Burnout widebody fenders down the road. Speaking of which, I still need to get them shipped from back home. >_>

Still waiting on the Ron Davis radiator and the wiring harness for the guys @ Speed Force Racing to continue working on the car, though!

OFF TOPIC

Since I took the iForged off the Sonata...I opted for some nice 19X8.5 gunmetal BBS LM replica's. What do you think? ^.^





I also had a nice custom bar and plate FMIC installed with a Synapse Synergy BOV. This week I'm also having a custom "cold-air" intake fabbed up to replace my Injen intake, along with a test-pipe to replace the cat. I've also get an ECU reflash/programmer from PowerAxel.

The car made 293hp/256tq BEFORE doing the FMIC, intake, and test-pipe....So I'm excited about getting it dyno'd again and breaking 300hp! By the way....the Sonata still gets 33-34 MPG highway!! Can we say AWESOME daily-driver??? lol

^.^

More updates coming soon!....and boy have I waited a long time to be able to say that and KNOW it's actually true! lol :P

 

your gonna blow up the sonata. just be happy it runs!!! your only supposed to let the mod bug bite one of your arms... not both your legs!!!!!!!! leave the sonata alone!!! LOL

 

LOL!!

It already bit me, bad.

I blew the turbo 8 a little over a month ago.

It's at Mazdatrix right now having a zero-mileage Mazda reman motor installed, fuel surge tank with additional pumps and lines to prefer sloshing (which is why it blew in the first place)....850cc injectors X 4, new fuel rail and pressure regulator, Koyo radiator, Water/Meth injection and some oil-cooler fans...So far..Gonna be a $7k-ish build. But at least it'll make a RELIABLE ~300rwhp @ 10psi....and the idea of a zero-mileage motor definitely makes me feel good about it too.

The 2JZ swap/project tab @ Speed Force is at $7,000 right now. It's paid off, at least. I'm definitely in a world of debt though between the 7 and 8. The Sonata is the cheapest of the 3. haha

Speaking of the FD though...the Ron Davis radiator is supposed to arrive next Monday. Still haven't heard anything about my wiring harness from Chase Bays yet, though. Starting to frustrate me.

The Sonata is so rock solid, and yeah...I'd say the mod bug bit me again on that one....though at the same time, I knew from the beginning what my plans for mods were...

Before I did the FMIC and new custom intake, the Sonata dyno'd 293hp/256tq. At that point I only had the Injen intake and Borla cat-back.

Once I get my ECU reflash working (again) on the Sonata, and have some 3" exhaust fabricated to replace the Borla cat-back....the Sonata should make an easy 300-325hp and still get 30+ MPG.

Now y'all know why I love the Sonata.

LOL



Love.

Oh, btw...

I red'd out the tail-lights on the RX-8:





hehe...had to rock the FD's license plate until the RX-8 plate finally came in about a week ago...........



bahahahahaaaaaaa

I'm bad, I know...

I said to my wife tonight.... "You know what, babe? At least by the time I'm 30 I should have all this debt paid off, and have all 3 cars rockin' and rollin'..." LOL

 

did you already order the harness through chasebays? I'd hit up ryan from rywire if not.. he knocked out my harness from scratch in seriously 4 days and had it ready for me within a week. The guy's a work-a-holic..

ahhh... so nice..

 

Wow, that's nice harness.

Yeah, I've already paid for the harness through ChaseBays a while ago, though... I'm just waiting on it. Seems like it's taking forever!

>_<!

 

Would a stock hood clear on your setup? if not how much off is it?

How much did you lower the steering rack if at all and what bumpsteer kit are you planning on using?

 

Would a stock hood fit? Probably.

Would be better if I didn't have the valve covers on, sure..

The steering rack was lowered 2" IIRC. No bump-steer issues yet/to-date...then again, I haven't even driven the thing yet, so I couldn't tell you.

On another note...

MY WIRING HARNESS FINALLY FREAKING CAME IN ON FRIDAY (20APR)...

The Ron Davis radiator will be in on Wednesday, finally.

Now the shop can start working!

Hopefully I'll have some progress pics by the end of the week or something.

:]

 

You may want to start working out your bump-steer correction plan since you will run into some trouble trying to correct a 2" rack drop.

I've currently got a Tech2 kit, but am weighing various other options, one of which was a 2" motor/rack drop to get under a stock hood. The issue is that the largest commercially available correction kit maxes out at about 7/8". The other problem is that, while you could probably make a custom correction kit, you are actually spacing the rod-end down from the knuckle and this requires more wheel clearance. A normal V8 correction kit won't clear 16" wheels, and you need 17" wheels. To make a 2" correction you would likely be cutting it close on 18's and need 19's. That, and you are attaching the rod-end to the knuckle by a 2"+ lever, which just seems unsafe.

 

I'll be honest, I'm really not well-versed on the physics or mechanics that are really associated with having lowered the steering rack. My brother and the other mechanics I've had work on the car could explain it to me, I'm sure...but at the moment, I'm drawing a blank.

My understanding is that yes, the rack is lowered..and then if anything, you simply have to just extend the control arms/tie rods or whatever to get them to reach....

So after doing that, how are the steering physics and "bump steer" changed? I'm still not really well-versed on what's involved, or what the actual changes/affects will be on drivability will be.

Enlighten/remind me?

 

Stopped by the shop today.

First off...they completely re-did the welds on my custom intake manifold....and I MUST say...HOLY CRAP





Finally got to see my Ron Davis radiator in person. It's gonna need the end-tanks fabricated and a little custom-work. Apparently Ron Davis thought the radiator needed OEM Mazda fittings or something...they screwed up the shop's order a little bit..but at least it's the right size/dimensions!

Also...that Chase Bays custom retardedly expensive "custom" wiring harness. I'll be honest, the craftsmanship really IS impressive. The little fuse/relay boxes they installed to wire in the RX-7 components was actually really impressive...I should have taken more pics, sorry.



And then lastly...The shop surprised me by cleaning the car up for me! She was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dirty, and hadn't been washed in FOREVER













I dropped off some AEM boost solenoid hardware that they'll need to have the AEM EMS V2 controlling the boost.

At this point, the shop has all of the parts and people necessary to start making some SERIOUS headway on this thing.

I'll be stopping by the shop again in about 2 weeks to check on progress!

By then I should have my new wheels ready too...BUWAHAHAHA...just wait!!

Stay tuned!!

^.^

 

The angles of the suspension arms and the steering tie rods need to maintain a very specific relationship to one another. Moving the steering rack in relation to the suspension will induce bump steer-- that is, "steering input" as the car goes over bumps and the suspension travels. So, if the steering rack gets moved down 2", the tie rod ends must connect to the knuckles roughly 2" lower in order to maintain the same relationship to the suspension arms.

The main issue that I was trying to point out is that the largest correction kit readily available is only able to correct roughly a 7/8" rack drop. If your rack is dropped more than 7/8" (which it has to be if you can close the stock RX7 hood over a 2JZ) then you will need to come up with a way to correct it.

In this pic you can see the kit/spacers lowering the attachment point of the tie-rod to the knuckle to correct for the rack having been lowered.


Further reading:
http://www.circletrack.com/chassiste...ned/index.html

 

:/

You can't simply extend the arms on the steering rack, or fabricate an extension like your picture, that is 2" long to match the distance that my steering rack was lowered?

 

You could have someone fabricate a longer correction rod-end, but there are 2 issues. One is wheel clearance. A 1" correction usually requires a 17" wheel to clear. A 2" extension may need a 19" wheel? (remember wheel is only going to get 1/2" more clearance for each 1" of overall size) The other issue is how long a "lever" you are comfortable creating with that extension. You certainly don't want it to fatigue and break.

I'm building a 2J/FD as well and weighing all these concerns.

 

where did you get the trunk and mazdaspeed front bumper on the rx8?

 

I will be running 19" wheels, so that helps...I'll talk to my shop about possibly fabricating some extensions. I'm probably going to wait until the car is running and driving to see where it's at, before I go about throwing in more changes to the suspension.

Thank you VERY much for your insight and suggestions. I really appreciate it.


I got the trunk from a local friend. It was made by VIS Racing. Fitment is 9/10...it's just a little bit high on the driver's side.

The Mazdspeed front isn't authentic. The manufacturer's branding says "KDM", it's urethane, and was purchased through VIS Racing. Fitment on the bumper.....sucks, to be honest.

 

this is a megan kit i modefied...




after.

 

How long is that, and how much was it?