yolo good luck at the track
So glad to see your at this point after such a journey
Also your car looks very tidy and clean great work on your build

Thanks Gordie

unfortunately things didn’t work out today. I loaded up all my tools, the car and my daughter and I drove over an hour to the track only to find out they canceled the event due to the rain in the forecast. Crappy.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it out there by the end of the year. December will be busy with holidays and all.

I will still calculate this as a victory for my 2019 New Years Resolution - in that the car did make it to the track, just not down it.

Currently Building an 80 Sa 5.0 RX7
 

Hey i know the post is old but im stumped right now. Currently stripping my 1980 Rx7 to get ready for the 5.0 swap. Not sure on what wires from the rx7 i need to keep (in engine bay and behind dash)

I bought the 80 rx7 a week ago for 100 bucks with a blown motor. Found a complete 5.0 that was in a fb rx7 before so guy has ecu wiring harness motor mounts and brackets driveshaft etc for 1600. From my knowledge of cars even if the wiring harness he has came from an rx7 i would Still have to modify my wiring behind the dash or simply plug the ecu to motor and bam... ??

been reading grannyspeedshop wiring write up and this but im still not completely understanding what exactly needs to be cut out or kept

That stinks! Glad to see it moving under it's own power!

Hey all – it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything. To start – yes I’m alive and I still have the car. And will admit that my 2020 New Year resolution didn’t happen. Which was to get the seven to the track. But I’m sure it’s not the only broken N.Y. resolution of 2020.

Two main things caused this to happen. The first, which is the larger of the two problems, is transportation. I need a trailer. I have been monitoring Craig’s List closely for the last year looking for an acceptable car hauler. When a suitable one did popup, the owners usually didn’t have the title or ghosted me when you asked about them. I have seen a few people I know be screwed by titles issues and trailers coming up stolen. So I am looking for a solid transaction. I am now starting to shop the new market.

As for the car, it is mostly unchanged over the last year. Many other projects around the house took my attention away from it, and had trouble getting into the groove with the car. I think knowing I wasn’t getting the track also plagued my desire to work on it. This month, however, I changed the oil with anticipation of making it happened. I’ve also been playing around with radiator ducting.

The two tiny fans are definitely going to struggle, if not incapable, of managing the engine temperature. Just letting the car idle in my driveway, in the rain, at about 60F, the fans came on and never turned off. They can only maintain the temp of idling in the cold. So I really want to do some radiator ducting to optimize the air flowing through it.

The ducting I am trying to do is by first adding a skid plate or lower engine cover between radiator and subframe, so to create some negative pressure on the backside of rad when moving. The other is by creating a top, bottom and sides forward of radiator to create channel into the radiator and prevent air from escaping around it. This is proving to be really challenging. There are a bunch of obstacles to overcome.

Fingers crossed I’ll overcome the cooling concerns and transportation issue to make it to the track soon.

thanks for the update. not looking through the whole thread, as i have long ago. does this have a roller cam/push rods? curious, cause mine does not and i was wondering if that might be why mine runs hot. I've done the things you mention to no avail. it's stay managably cool while driving...just don't let it sit and idle and pray for no traffic. I'm in S. FL...so my issue is probably even worse. On a side not, and hopefully this helps. I change the radiator fan in my other car about a week ago and noticed something that is probably applicable. The electric fan goes into the housing about 1/8 to 1/4 inch and the housing/shroud has an L shaped lip. The fan to housing clearance is literally maybe an 1/8 of an inch if that. I've built custom shrouds, used electric and flex fans and it pulls tons of air....but nothing like this tight of clearance which I am sure would equate to only pulling from through the radiator. I have 2 small pushers in front and flex on motor now...and panels to only let air go through the radiator and it's ok in winter...but i wouldn't dare risk traffic in summer. Everyone says 1/2 inch clearance on fans etc, etc....but seeing this fan i just took off a newer car was eye opening in how tight the clearance is. My radiator core is 18x18 and I may look for a factory radatior fan shroud combo with those dimensions and make it fit provided it is slim enough to clear which is another story. I hope you get it figured out, as I could use someone else's experience here.

Mine is a roller cam. I can’t think of a reason why that would play too much difference. A puller fan is always going to best when it sealed off as close as possible to the radiator core. Thats why OEM and aftermarket use/recommend them. It allows the fan to extract heat from whole core and not parts of it.

i really wish i could find a puller fan that would fit. I just don’t have the room. If remember correctly, 1
3/4” from core to water pump shaft.

How much room do you have?

1 3/4 sound about right. maximum. It was so tight I ground off some of the water pump nipple and ground the bolts a bit. I would buy a fan shroud combo even though it will cost more if you go that route.

Honestly the first fan shroud combo I made seemed to flow the best...pulled more than the other 4 or so things I tried. It was a 6 blade solid fan and my 1st shroud. I ended up cutting on it and trying different things, but it seemed to pull the most air. was like a fricken blower coming out of there, but not enough for S. FL and I had not put pusher fans on front or made channel to direct air only through the radiator core. It wasnt that difficult to make, just some sheet metal a vice, rivet gun and metal snips. use a 3/4 (our whatever depth strip of steel and vice grips and/or vice to make the bends.

I would say it pulled 2-3x any electric fan I could fit in there. and use whatever adapter you can to get the fan as close to the radiator as possible.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...17c8d125b6.jpg

I have a custom fiberglass one on there now and flex fan. It was a real pain in the butt to make and looks great....guess how hard it was to make and the look is the only thing thats kept me from changing it...that and I fried my clutch and not driving it.
lately.

net-net though is the mechanical fans seem to pull more air given the depth restraints which I am sure equates to the fan strength of electrical.

I figured a roller cam would have less friction and create less heat than hydraulic lifters. I did some digging on my computer.

This is the electric fan I tried. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...RoCEwcQAvD_BwE
It's about 2", but it does not sit center of the WP on my car so the center nipple part of fan and WP did not line up and gave me that extra 1/4" ish. but like I said BARELY. The last pic is my current setup, which still pulls better than electric. I could not find HIGH CFM electric that thin.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c1fa52dcaf.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...89a422cbe4.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...245b134419.jpg

very nice job

Hey all. Still alive and have some small but big updates.



I’ll start with the exciting part. I finally got the car out to the drag strip yesterday! The best of news, I didn’t break down, overheat or spend anytime having to work on the car. Those were my biggest concerns going into it.

The bad news, the transmission isn’t doing so well. I had a lot of trouble shifting gears, especially as things got warmed up. It was taking me 2-3 tries to shift into 1, 2, 3 & 4. This cost me some serious time on the track. My best run, with a passenger, was at 15.5s @ 96 MPH. You can count several seconds in the video of the delayed shifts. But man, the car felt good. Easily a 13s car once sorted out.



As for what has changed with the car. I finished completing those cooling system changes and they seem to have paid off. I started by removing one of the 8” pusher fans and replaced it with a 10” 800 CFM SPAL puller fan. I also changed the thermostat to an 185F from the stock 195. I made a lower engine cover out of plywood and pieces from the original cover to seal off the side and behind the radiator. To help keep that positive pressure higher in front, I added aluminum sheeting around the radiator core.

All this seems to have paid off. The car does great while moving. Staying right 185. In the staging lanes, it hovered around 200. The fans seems to be good enough to keep it from getting over that.



Not so car related. I finally came up on a trailer. I got a good deal on it too. I had to build some lumber ramps to get the car on/off it, however.



Two big things that need addressing before going back out. One is the transmission, as mentioned. The other is the exhaust. That flex piping and turndowns is just way too low. The track paddock and return lane is not level and the exhaust hits all over the place. Needs to go to exhaust shop and have a proper exhaust welded up.



This brings me to a difficult choice. This project has been fun. But managing work, family and everything in life, makes it difficult for me to get much done on it. I’d have to say, my passion for the projects isn’t like it once was either. I am now in a bit of dilemma on whether I want to invest more time and money into the project, versus selling it.

My goal in the last few years has been to just race it a few times before letting it go. I am too tall for the car and getting old enough that climbing under the car to work on it, isn’t as fun as it once was. I’ve also developed a desire to have a car that I can drive on the street.

With that said, if anyone is interesting in taking over the project, I’m happy to work out a good deal. I have tons of extra stuff to go with it. Otherwise, I’ll contemplate things for a few weeks before deciding if I want to post on CL.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...834763fe5c.jpg
The new 10" fan. The largest I could make fit.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...fc1204b823.jpg
The Frankenstein engine cover. I cut off the side pieces from the original cover and fastened them to the plywood. I can see the aluminum sheeting acting as an air dam on the leading edge. I did have to make once change after this photo. And that is a cutout in the rear-middle for jacking up from crossmember.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...18dbc6f950.jpg
The new look.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...1002be867f.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0fbbd6f6d8.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...223defbee5.jpg
Car at the track before unloading.

Give it time, the bug will hit you to get in it again!

Yolo man great to see you are still making some progress in this now crazy world we all live in.but I feel your pain in the build. It is very easy to lose interest .
I wish things were better for us all I am even questioning my own build . Parts were so damn hard to get and now with gas prices out of controlI don't know if it even makes sense for me anymore

Guys. Don’t quit on me. I just got mine sorted out. And I can tell you there ain’t shit on the road, short of a few cars (haven’t found on yet from a rolling start) that will touch these things if finished. Suspension included and you have a flat out sports car that gets comments and videos every time you go out. Usually after you dusted them. Mine handles like a champ now and fuck is it fast……and drivable after going to heavier flywheel and clutch.