One of these days I'll be able to come...

I'm never off work on Saturdays

 

21 here.. I would have to agree with the majority of you guys that having a formal meeting would kill the meets. Maybe every once in a while we can get together and have a dicussion on an issue someone is having with their car?

 

My MSCCNC comerades and I have spent way too much money on making obstinate RX-7's pass smog in NC (heck, I had my bullet-proof Honda fail once).

It's a "fun" game you learn to play...

Officially, you will fail visual inspection primarily because you only have 1 catalyst (pre-cat go bye-bye). No precat also makes it harder to pass a ported motor. Pish-tosh, that's most FD's, but that downpipe is hard to see (heck you can't see the EGR and there is an addendum in the Cali inspection to "pass" the EGR since it can't be inspected).

Losing the airpump isn't a big thing if your cat will work without it. A few claim to work without the airpump, however, the airpump also supplies air to the exhaust ports when not supplying to the cat which will help to clean up the exhaust readings.

As for the airpump, I already have a fix for that problem and you can run whatever turbo kit you want.

tookwik, as for the RX6, I see you have been looking at the same stuff on ebay that I have? Expensive buggers those ball-bearing units are, ain't they?

Now you know why those stock turbos are going back on mine until I have a new solidly built engine!

Bottom line:
1) If you go to Jiffy Lube or known station that doesn't care about visual (most of them don't even know what the heck they are looking at to begin with since there are so few of the FD's) you can pass that part
2) Proper tuning of an aftermarket ECU and folks have passed without a cat (HARD)
3) With a functional cat you can pass the sniffer (EASY)
4) In '05, they are going to be ditching the sniffer and only using OBD-II, so a 93-95 RX-7 should, in theory, only get a safety (A Godsend, we hope for!)

 

I should have said that I was assuming a midpipe or maybe a high-flow cat, not a stock cat. Also, whats this trick you have for keeping the airpump???

How did you know?


WOW! I can't wait for this one.

As for the age count, I'm 20.

 

Thanks for the input on how the drive-ins should go. That is one reason I started calling these get togethers drive-ins instead of meetings, meetings sounded too formal for what I thought would get people to come out and participate. I just don't want people to loose interest because they're not getting what they want out of the meetings.

I guess if a few people have an issue they would like to discuss or if someone has a particular problem they need need help with they can add a reply here and make it known in advance of the meeting so that anyone who wants to help can be prepared to bring the tools or do the research or whatever it takes to help someone out. A group can always break off and work on a problem they have an interest in.

Well, we'll continue like we have and anytime someone wants to comment on things feel free to make your thought known. These drive-ins are for all of us.

Bert

 

Thanks for the input, Y'all have been at this longer than I and if the informal format still works for you it should allow us the flexibility to meet as many needs and expectations as we can.

I'll try to make it over tomorrow night for the meeting.

Bert

 

HFC is a legal modification once the original cat is out of warranty (that would just about 99% of RX-7's) AND it is pronounced "dead" by an appropriate authority (technically, not the owner, but really...it is pretty obvious when your cat is dead in a rotary).

To be 100% compliant you would do what Tri-Point offers for Cali customers and have a HFC in the downpipe.

You'll see the "trick" when my car is running although if you dig around enough in the Single Turbo section you'll probably stumble across it.

You know guys, I hope my car runs before this month is out, because I delivered a stockish 3rd gen back to its owner last night and I was kind of bummed out about how a FD "feels" on the road compared to my daily driver Miata.

I need to put mine on a 400 pound diet for it to "feel right". These darn things just feel HEAVY compared to a '94 Miata. 400 pounds is about 1/7th of the weight. I guess I'm really spoiled and I'm starting to hate heavy cars. Sigh...maybe I'll be the next guy to defect from the FD camp and get an Elise (and turbocharge it!) or buy a '90-93 Miata (2200 lbs), lighten it up a little more, and put a 1.8L engine in it with a T3/T4 turbo.

 

start ripping out interior panels, glass, and carpet.

 

I might as well let someone else do it for me:
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=322947

...but that car isn't streetable. Hrmph. I can't enjoy triple digit speeds on the street anyhow...(gears turning in head...checks bank account...bank account says no way...)

I didn't have ANY of the rear hatch trim or insulation for 2 years because of the bloody Kirk rollbar. I'm looking forward to driving a car with LESS road noise. There has to be 400 pounds I can find somewhere elsewhere...

Carbon fibre race seats
Fiberglass hatch
CF hood...

I could also get back to running on a regular basis and drop 10-20 pounds, which is like, oh, 0.5% of the total weight and it's "free" (probably save on food money to pay for lightweight mods). It wouldn't hurt in the "I lack a female companion" department, either.

--Ashraf

 

Hey who has the 3 FC's on Page rd in Durham? I noticed them today along with a Civic in the yard, just wondered if anyone knows who is that lucky.

 

That would be me, but you must have driven by at a bad time, cus there's usually 4 out there, somtimes 5.

 

It was around 230 this afternoon on my way to install a t1 and caught me by suprise because I am up and down that road all the time and have never noticed them. Are they all yours and do they all run?

 

Smoken
Don't answer too many questions for this guy he just jumped ship. OH hello FORD FOCUS GUY!! Congrats anyway!

 

The two white ones are mine. The red TII in the garage belongs to myself and Dave(NCTII87). We just got done putting a jspec motor and transmisison in it tuesday, and it will soon be ready to be sold. You will also see a red gxl that belongs to Dave's boy ken and a black TII that belongs to my brother. Stop by sometime and i will give you a tour.

Steve

 

I did not jump ship I still have my RX 7 . I jus could not figure how to legally get my 2 kids in it and cant afford a RX-8 so I had to get something almost practicle. Besides this means I can do some serious work to the RX and still get my speed fix while it is down.
I am slowly starting to get stuff done but there is a lot needed and not a ton of time or money to do it.

 

Damn 180 bucks a month car insurance REALLY sucks ***

Oh well... SOON GOD DAMMIT, SOON!!!

*sigh*

Guess I'll have to make the Aug meet

 

Be happy its only $180... mine is 2 times that.

You can still come on out to the meets in july... we're always glad to see a fellow rotary enthusiast.

 

You guys have got to understand the concept here. Some people spend quite a bit of money to improve the appearance and appeal of their home by using landscaping, others plant a lawn jockey or a few plastic flamingos in the yard, but Steve,being the practical, mech. engineering student that he is, uses RX7s to enhance the appeal of his digs.

It works 'cause whenever have you seen someone take notice of a few flamingos or want to buy your landscaping? You know, they say your home should relfect who you are - 'nough said.

 

Damn I don't miss the high insurance. Being the old man, conservative driver that I am, I pay about $55/month for full coverage. Slow down on the road guys...you could have another car for that kind of money; a daily driver. OK now I am off my preachy soapbox

Tarheel don't pay any attention to Smoken What happened is that we voted at the last meet and decided you should have gotten rid of the kids, instead of getting a Focus. j/k

 

Replce the bins with back seats. You can even do that to a FD.

--Ashraf

 

Who is your carrier and how many cars are you insuring for $55/month (or is that for just the FD)? Sounds like I need to go insurance shopping again if your carrier isn't USAA (don't have any military connections in my family).

That doesn't _sound_ like full coverage to me. What is may be, is that you may be fully covered, but you may have different limits on the liability/comp/collision (renters tend not to have their limits as high as home owners due to the possibility of some yahoo suing you and trying to take your house as a result of an accident...)

 

well i pay about $100 for my 3 cars; the fiero and the camry only have liability.

I can't remember off top what my limits are, but they are relatively low. Which, may be part of why I pay less. However, I do know I have a $50 deductible on my comp and a $500 on collision.

State Farm is my agent; been with them for about 7-8 years. Nobody has been able to beat their price. I've compared with GEICO, Allstate, Progressive, USAA, etc. Of course, my whole family is insured with same agent so he may be cutting us a break. I do get the multicar discount. Also, my record is completely clean for 5-6years too. *knock on wood*

I guess there are a lot of factors that could affect my lower rates. I would assume that for most part it has to do with the clean record, limits, and my deductibles.

 

Thats good stuff Bert, guess i never really thought of it that way but it makes since. LOL

Steve

 

Anybody tell you lately that you do good work? My A/C is still running strong with the jumper wire in the plug. I'm still looking for working main relays and if I can find a couple I'll have you one at the next meeting. From what I remember you did say that you were still running with the jumper wire? If I can find two good relays would you want one?

Bert

 

You should be able to adapt a standard automotive 12V relay with a little bit of wiring. A relay is a relay.