RX7Club.com - Mazda RX7 Forum - TweakIt Racing 93 LS1 FD Track car build

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TweakIt Racing 93 LS1 FD Track car build

Post from around Aug:

Around November 08, I was just getting back to Afghanistan from my two weeks of Mid Tour leave and on a track/car high. I was browsing the forum and saw an ebay link to a gutted and caged LS1 FD project. Just by looking at it, I knew the owner had to be building it with a Rob and Big Al. My car and Rob's car have alot of the same main components, minus the engine of course.

I picked it up for a really good deal knowing I could part it out and make a pretty good profit, but decided to keep it instead. I really liked the cage in the car and with the car having most of the main components, I decided to finish the project and see how I like it. Since I wasn't going to be home for a while, and I originally wanted the car to be complete by the time I made it back to the states, I sent it to TweakIt Racing(Dan Chadwick/Brian Johns) who are very good friends of mine. I changed my plans after that and we have been taking our time. With my track schedule and Dan's AutoX schedule, the car took a backseat this summer/fall.

The car came with a ton of brand new stuff Here is a run down of some of the stuff that came with it(all of it is brand new) Here is the original listing from previous owner:

hinson super cars v8 conversion pacakge
subframe
transmission brace
torque arm
drive shift

ls1 v8 fully rebulit 0 miles(built for track use)
t56 transmission
stop tech st 40 big brake kit
atl fuel cell(22gal... can you say enduro here I come :D)
magnum racing seat
tein flex coilovers
tein edfc unit for flex coilovers
sparco quick release steering system
seibon carbon hood
front bumper
tilton pedal assembly
remote cable ajuster
front and rear sway bar (racing beat)
full race cage
painted car new but does have some scatches
hinson radiator (premium)
hinson headers
ls1 harness w/switch panel

That isn't a full list, but that was a good start. I have since picked up a few more things. Here are the larger items:
-Seibon Carbon Fiber Hatch w/ RE-A Carbon Fiber wing(currently getting my money's worth on the silver car)
-Accusump.. track essential for piece of mind IMO
-Tripoint Front Sway Bar with Widefoot Sway Bar Mounts and bronze bushings
-Maval converted full Manual Rack(really helps you feel what the car is doing)
-ATL surge tank and pump for fuel cell
-18x10 CCW Classics(currently on the silver car as well). I am prob. going to run these in the beginning, but I have since picked up another set of CCW Classics that are 17x10 and 17x12 which will allow me to run a 335 in the rear to help handle the extra torque the LS1 brings as well as keep the cost of tires down a little being they are 17's. That also means I will be adding Pettit Rear fender flares eventually. Haven't decided on the front flares though
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...90815-1340.jpg

They gutted everything in the car... almost too much. They gutted the rear hatch, doors, and CF hood to where they are just the exterior shell and of course everything on the inside. I'm fine with most of that as the cage is very stout, but the hatch would not support the glass I'm fairly certain(already have the new hatch though so problem solved). They also did things like cut the front bumper/radiator support(which I purchased and will have welded back on) basically leaving my fiberglass bumper as the only thing between the outside world and my engine bay... and the rear bumper reinforcement rebar(which will be going back on the car). I expect the car will weigh around 2400lbs... so prob. more like 2500-2600lbs :D

Here are some pictures of it. There really isn't too much left to do to it. We have to figure out some wiring, route the fuel lines, put the battery in, exhaust from headers back, and a couple of other minor things.

A few of the previous owners pictures from the listing:
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...1FD/7ffd_1.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...1FD/3bb0_1.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...1FD/3c65_1.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...1FD/7ffd_1.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...chmentaspx.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...1FD/3a52_1.jpg

And after I got it home:

https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...D/IMG_0604.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...D/IMG_0605.jpg
https://i211.photobucket.com/albums/...D/IMG_0606.jpg

Update from 11/03/09

The car is coming along and I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of the year, although I'm not in a rush as my goal is Mid January as my first event will be the NASA event at CMP in Feb. most likely. The harness that came with the car was reconfigured by the previous owner and after trying to identify it(many wires had been replaced as well as certain things were not in their correct location) I've decided to pick up one from Rod Tech(hopefully). I've emailed them a couple of times and have not received a response.

The brake system is now done pending pressurizing the system and checking for leaks. Here are a few pictures of the system and the lines Dan and Brian fabricated:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD010.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD004.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD011.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD012.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD005.jpg
The 99+ larger brake duct/shields are a perfect fit for the stoptech's
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD013.jpg

Fuel system is getting there. The pump, in tank surge tank, and fuel cell are complete, hardlines going from the fuel cell to engine bay are made, and now need to connect the fuel cell to the lines and the lines to the fuel rails. The lines are ran on the inside passengerside of the car after thinking about it long and hard(that's what she said). We came to the conclusion that it would be safer running covered lines inside opposed to under the car due to the possibility or crushing/ puncturing the lines due to several different scenerio's. Here are all the fittings left to connect the dots :)
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD006.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD007.jpg

Battery relocation is coming very soon as well. I purchased a Optima Red Top and a box to put it in, but I realized when it showed up that the box is waaaay too big to fit where the bins use to be. Oh well, we'll make one.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD009.jpg

Yesterday, we changed the the Valley cover to a vented one as well as added an LS6 intake. That's one of the advantages of sharing a shop with Jerry, the owner of VetteSport and a Club Racer/AutoXer... good advice on engine stuff and parts available immediately. "yeah, let's do the valley cover and intake" "there is one on the engine right over there you can have for $XX". In order to make it work on my engine, we had to cut off the area you see in the picture:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD001.jpg
Everything went smoothly and installed the new valley cover and intake.
Old and new one for comparison:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD002.jpg

I had been very nervous about the weight distribution of the car. I was afraid it was going to be front heavy since everything in the rear had been removed. We finally put it on the scales a few weeks ago with all the main components on the car. It weighed 2254lbs dry with almost perfect weight distribution. It was a great relief! To give you an idea of how aggressive the car has been gutted, here is a picture of the door:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD003.jpg

A little better pictureof the cage in the rear:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD008.jpg

I think I have the exhaust sorted as well. I have the hinson y pipe and had been trying to figure out the last part of the exhaust and had planned to just put a turn down shortly after the y pipe. Well, I sold one of my other FD's as a roller and was pulling the engine, tranny, exhaust, etc... out of it last week. When I pulled the exhaust off, Dan noticed that it had a more aggressive bend than a normal FD catback. Looks like it is going to fit nicely around the fuel cell and everything else.

That's it for now.

Brent

Update from this weekend:

Well, the last few weeks have been up and down... and all around. I ended up purchasing the Improved Racing oil pan baffle to also help with the oil issue these cars on the road course. The engine had to come back out to put it in. That was no big deal as nothing was attached to it yet. The transmission was already out to make remote bleeders for it. The first hiccup occurred when I purchased the wrong baffle from Improved Racing. I am very glad I purchased the baffle(otherwise I prob. wouldn't of pulled the engine and oil pan to notice I didn't have a windage tray). Mostly because it allowed me to see the bottom end of the engine. I've now seen the top and bottom of the engine and it looks like it's going to be a good engine. I also verified that is was balanced and the components used. I also discovered when the oil pan was off that the previous owner had not put a windage tray on when he was putting the engine back together after getting it back in short block form. I only assume that he was going to go back and put one in. I have now been through everything in the car with the exception of the rearend(which will be opened up to change the 4.1 to 3.9). Here is how the car sat on Friday morning:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD024.jpg

Engine and Tranny out:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD027.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD021.jpg

New Baffle test fit... it fit much better than the other one(the wrong one I ordered... haha):
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD002-1.jpg

With windage tray :D:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD001-1.jpg

Bottom End:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD028.jpg

Engine back in:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD038.jpg

Fuel system is finished minus mounting the fuel filter in the bracket. Dan did a great job on it and I'm very pleased with how clean everything is. I also really like the black fittings opposed to the red/blue ones that everyone seems to use.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD005-1.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD006-1.jpg
Vent:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD007-1.jpg
Dan securing one of his brackets he made:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD008-1.jpg

The engine harness showed up this week. Even though it took a couple of weeks to get here, it was money well spent I think. It is essentially the same thing as the painless, at less than half the price. Everything is nice and labeled and went in without any trouble. The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the split wire loom.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD003-1.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...LS1FD004-1.jpg
Installed in the car:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD039.jpg
Used the factory Mazda grommet to fit it through the firewall:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD044.jpg
And into the driver compartment:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD046.jpg
We have alot of excess slack.

Brakes:
I posted pretty much everything before, but here is a little better picture of the inside. The red line you see is the line for the brake proportioning:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD018.jpg

Time for the tranny to go back in:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD049.jpg
It had bolts that were the wrong size head with crush washers on them previously, so we upgraded to the correct size with the flare head and serrated back.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD048.jpg

Engine, tranny, and driveshaft back in... now we are caught back up :D
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD055.jpg

In all seriousness, the car is getting closer and closer. At this point, it is a million minor things we have to do. Like wiring... to include the EFDC's:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/LS1FD040.jpg

I'll be at Road Atlanta next weekend, but that will be my last track weekend for a while. Hopefully it'll be finished before the start of next season.

Brent

Sick stuff! Keep up the good work!

I'm green w/ envy, VERY VERY NICE, can't wait to see and hear this thing :icon_tup:

I didn't notice the bumpsteer correction spacers on the tie rod ends? They are washers that drop the end links down about 1/2".

Car looks like fun!

Looking good, go order Justin's bump steer kit! Otherwise looking good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by enzo250 (Post 9649735)

Very Nicely Done...

Thanks! That means alot coming from you guys! Dan really does some top notch work! I'm a nuts and bolts kind of guy. I'm just there to keep him from making too much progress :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazda6guy (Post 9649930)

Sick stuff! Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fritz Flynn (Post 9650173)

I'm green w/ envy, VERY VERY NICE, can't wait to see and hear this thing :icon_tup:

Shit man... you know you will be driving this thing around VIR next year. I may even spring for some good tires. Of course, with torque and the way you are on tires... I may not have any left... haha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotoober (Post 9650530)

I didn't notice the bumpsteer correction spacers on the tie rod ends? They are washers that drop the end links down about 1/2".

Car looks like fun!

you'll also notice their is no front sway bar on the car, or sway bar mounts, and it's missing lug nuts, etc, etc.... the car isn't finished yet. :) That's good looking out though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wickedrx7 (Post 9650634)

Looking good, go order Justin's bump steer kit! Otherwise looking good.

see above :)

I just printed this and put it in my wallet just in case you have a lapse in memory :lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by memphisraines82 (Post 9651290)

Thanks! That means alot coming from you guys! Dan really does some top notch work! I'm a nuts and bolts kind of guy. I'm just there to keep him from making too much progress :D

Thanks!

Shit man... you know you will be driving this thing around VIR next year. I may even spring for some good tires. Of course, with torque and the way you are on tires... I may not have any left... haha.

you'll also notice their is no front sway bar on the car, or sway bar mounts, and it's missing lug nuts, etc, etc.... the car isn't finished yet. :) That's good looking out though.

see above :)

No need... just bring your tire contingency form and put that in your wallet(hoping Hoosier has a contingency program again next year)... I think I'm going to run a restrictor plate to get the power down enough to run TTS, plus it'll be much easier on the car all around :)

I can't wait to finally hear this thing roar to life! We made some pretty good progress last weekend. We need to have a few more weekends like that and we will be in good shape.

Brian

It was a much better weekend than a few weeks ago. I have the extension picture to send you. Enduro's here we come Brian!

Wow! I am so glad to see that this project was not lost forever. The car looks Awesome and looks like its coming fairly quickly. I would love to see this thing finished and find out how it performs.

Good Luck!

RoB

hey man hows it goin? Project looks SWEET!! Ill have to get up to vir next year and see that thing first hand. Good Luck!!!

You may want to consider ditching the hinson torque arm. Myself and lots of guys over on the v8 forum get rid of it, hard mount the tranny to the chassis, then get a diff cradle from Justin. This seems to eliminate the wheel hop largely assoiated with running the torque arm. This will keep your diff from getting shredded by all the torque you are going to be making as well.

Looking great though. That was a great buy with all those goods that came with the roller. Mind if I ask how much you paid for the original purchase?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob20rx7 (Post 9662690)

Thanks Rob, if I ever make it down to Florida I'll let you guys know. If you guys make it up this way, you do the same. I'll be at alot of the NASA-SE events next year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by catch-22 (Post 9662707)

hey man hows it goin? Project looks SWEET!! Ill have to get up to vir next year and see that thing first hand. Good Luck!!!

Thanks. Hope you can get that monster of yours out on track as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cgotto6 (Post 9663566)

Yeah, I'm aware of Justin's product and I'm on the V8forum as well. Thanks for the pointer. How long have you had your V8 FD? How long did you run the Hinson Torque Arm?

Yeah, I'm aware of Justin's product and I'm on the V8forum as well. Thanks for the pointer. How long have you had your V8 FD? How long did you run the Hinson Torque Arm?

Still havent had a chance to drive it with out the rotary yet as its still undergoing surgery so to say. Ive just heard about the torque arm being a problem from forums and a couple local LS FD guys have verified they had real bad wheel hop with hinson's set up, but it was cured with the diff cradle.

You might have said already, but what rear brakes are you going to run? 99's or racingbrake? Stock?

Cool man. I can read too :D

It has stock rears.