Project RX7 Turbo II. Track toy or not?
Discussion
The RX7 has got its first track day under its belt.
It performed without a hitch. I was impressed with the CL pads, no fade and also the lack of brake dust was good. Not cheap at £250 a set but well worth the money. The Koyo radiator kept coolant temps around 86c and peeked at 89c, so no problems with cooling. It all went very well with not a jot of trouble
With the track day being held at Bedford. I was a little concerned about noise limits after reading about the low drive by at 87db. But the car was 86db static, so no noise problems there.
There are a couple of improvements I'm looking to make. Slow tight bends would see the car lift a rear wheel, being an open diff just spun all the power away. I've bought a stiffer front antiroll bar and also I'm on the hunt for a LSD.
I did manage to get a no drifting board waved at me. Which was a bit of a joke being that the car wouldn't drift for toffee. The only reason the back came out was I out braked myself following a Caterham into a corner trying to keep up. Which just wasn't going to happen.
So now just got to plan its next outing.
It performed without a hitch. I was impressed with the CL pads, no fade and also the lack of brake dust was good. Not cheap at £250 a set but well worth the money. The Koyo radiator kept coolant temps around 86c and peeked at 89c, so no problems with cooling. It all went very well with not a jot of trouble
With the track day being held at Bedford. I was a little concerned about noise limits after reading about the low drive by at 87db. But the car was 86db static, so no noise problems there.
There are a couple of improvements I'm looking to make. Slow tight bends would see the car lift a rear wheel, being an open diff just spun all the power away. I've bought a stiffer front antiroll bar and also I'm on the hunt for a LSD.
I did manage to get a no drifting board waved at me. Which was a bit of a joke being that the car wouldn't drift for toffee. The only reason the back came out was I out braked myself following a Caterham into a corner trying to keep up. Which just wasn't going to happen.
So now just got to plan its next outing.
Edited by TVR Tommy on Thursday 13th June 09:33
The car has under gone a few improvements this week. I had to get shot of the open diff that was in the car, so bought an FD torsen LSD off the bay for the princely sum of £25. I was a little worried about taking on the transplant into the old diff case. But lucky was far less difficult than I was expecting. I'm glad I didn't send it off to be done, as they quoted £250 for the swap. Whilst the diff had to come out I decided it would be a good time to replace the 23 year old bushes and also remove the rear steer bushes for solid items. There is no rear camber adjustment on the RX7, so had to buy some adjustable links. I also went for solid subframe and diff mounts. Getting out the old bushes was a pig of a job. Made even more troublesome when I dropped the rear subframe on my finger nail, which was on top of the vice. That quickly turned red with blood under the nail. Now that was painful, I was close to passing out when I did it and the finger was throbbing for the rest of the bush removal session. A tip for anyone that ever does that to there nail. Get a paper clip heat it up so it's red hot and then stick it through the nail. When the blood escape the pain relief was instant. To get the bushes out I had to press, burn and finally resorted to cutting some of the buggers off. All new bushes went in lovely.
The guy that I bought the bushes from was going to stop making them, so the only option in my mind was to buy everything he produced. He was half the price of all the other places that sell bits like this, so wasn't a difficult decision to make. I bought solid gearbox and engine mounts. Gearbox ones went on nice and easily but the engine ones where a sod. Bit of brute force and ignorance had the old ones out, nearly dropped the car off the axle stands when jacking the engine up and bashing bits around. These where well worth removing as the old ones had seen far better days.
Now for the test drive. The LSD is a huge improvement no more spinning the inside wheel on tight bends and the car gets the power down far better. Oh and the oversteer is a bit of fun. I think I need to get the car a little better set up as it's presently a little snappy. But the old hard tyres could do with going in the bin. So the £25 was well spent on that diff pumpkin off ebay. The road noise is a lot louder inside thanks to the bushes, plus you can really hear the diff humming. Everything lightly vibrates due to the solid trans and engine mounts. Being a solely track car now all that doesn't really matter, I'm looking forward to getting on another track day soon, I think it'll be much improved.
The car has now cost around £3000 all in and I've put a good deal of hours making the car into the car it is now. So that is going to be everything major I'm going to do on it this year. I think it's time to just have some fun with it for awhile with no mass disassembly. Next year I think I'll get a full cage welded into it may looking at upping the Bhp.
Here are some crappy pictures I took whilst working on the car
This is what I dropped on my finger
And this happened to the vice I was using. Irwin customer service is rather good. After I did this to the 12 year old vice, I sent them and email and they are sending me a new one.
The guy that I bought the bushes from was going to stop making them, so the only option in my mind was to buy everything he produced. He was half the price of all the other places that sell bits like this, so wasn't a difficult decision to make. I bought solid gearbox and engine mounts. Gearbox ones went on nice and easily but the engine ones where a sod. Bit of brute force and ignorance had the old ones out, nearly dropped the car off the axle stands when jacking the engine up and bashing bits around. These where well worth removing as the old ones had seen far better days.
Now for the test drive. The LSD is a huge improvement no more spinning the inside wheel on tight bends and the car gets the power down far better. Oh and the oversteer is a bit of fun. I think I need to get the car a little better set up as it's presently a little snappy. But the old hard tyres could do with going in the bin. So the £25 was well spent on that diff pumpkin off ebay. The road noise is a lot louder inside thanks to the bushes, plus you can really hear the diff humming. Everything lightly vibrates due to the solid trans and engine mounts. Being a solely track car now all that doesn't really matter, I'm looking forward to getting on another track day soon, I think it'll be much improved.
The car has now cost around £3000 all in and I've put a good deal of hours making the car into the car it is now. So that is going to be everything major I'm going to do on it this year. I think it's time to just have some fun with it for awhile with no mass disassembly. Next year I think I'll get a full cage welded into it may looking at upping the Bhp.
Here are some crappy pictures I took whilst working on the car
This is what I dropped on my finger
And this happened to the vice I was using. Irwin customer service is rather good. After I did this to the 12 year old vice, I sent them and email and they are sending me a new one.
Edited by TVR Tommy on Monday 22 July 09:30
Thanks guys. Glad you enjoyed the read. I was thinking I would be nice to come back every so often to have a read myself. Even now looking back on the first post the car looked like such a s
t heap.
The nail trick isn't painful in the slightest. Well that is if you don't hit the skin underneath
A few pictures to finish this bit of the tread off.
t heap.The nail trick isn't painful in the slightest. Well that is if you don't hit the skin underneath
A few pictures to finish this bit of the tread off.
I've had the car out again. Did an evening TD at Brands Hatch. The car performed impeccably once again. Some kind fellows managed to catch me in a couple of there videos. No wonder fuel consumption is so woeful, with the car spitting unburnt fuel out of the exhaust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDGjPYVphKg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPEYugMWYEg&fea...
I'm going to have a bit more power out of the car. I think another 100bhp should give it enough edge. Also a trailer needs purchasing. Driving the car to get to Brands wasn't a pleasant experience. The car is the wrong side of being a road car now. But does mean it's great on the track and carries good corner speed. The LSD makes it much more fun especially when it rains at the end of the evening. Took a friend out for a ride and he was giggling away as we where getting well out of shape. Well until I got black flagged and got told to stop prating about. Most probably down to spinning it at the bottom of paddock as I run out of lock and talent. Oh and also spinning at Surtees. No harm done as the track was nearly completely empty once it started to rain.
Next update may include a couple of days out over the channel, one at the ring and the next day at Spa. Should be fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDGjPYVphKg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPEYugMWYEg&fea...
I'm going to have a bit more power out of the car. I think another 100bhp should give it enough edge. Also a trailer needs purchasing. Driving the car to get to Brands wasn't a pleasant experience. The car is the wrong side of being a road car now. But does mean it's great on the track and carries good corner speed. The LSD makes it much more fun especially when it rains at the end of the evening. Took a friend out for a ride and he was giggling away as we where getting well out of shape. Well until I got black flagged and got told to stop prating about. Most probably down to spinning it at the bottom of paddock as I run out of lock and talent. Oh and also spinning at Surtees. No harm done as the track was nearly completely empty once it started to rain.
Next update may include a couple of days out over the channel, one at the ring and the next day at Spa. Should be fun.
Edited by TVR Tommy on Thursday 22 August 07:20
thebutch said:
Saw this heading up the A331 this morning. Knew I had seen it somewhere before!
Shame you decided to sell it on as it really does look quite cool on the road, something a bit different. Hope the new owner gets some fun out of it
I saw it last night, he appears to be getting some fun out of it, but i reckon if he carries on driving that badly he'll crash it before winter is out. Shame you decided to sell it on as it really does look quite cool on the road, something a bit different. Hope the new owner gets some fun out of it
I was just about to get a mug of tea and read about you fitting a cage and upping the power!
How come you sold it?
I have a soft spot for these 7's. I worked for Mazda back in 88/89 and looked after their press fleet. I was only 23 and I got to drive brand new turbo 2's and 323 turbo 4x4's etc. The RX7 was the first properly quick car I ever drove.
How come you sold it?
I have a soft spot for these 7's. I worked for Mazda back in 88/89 and looked after their press fleet. I was only 23 and I got to drive brand new turbo 2's and 323 turbo 4x4's etc. The RX7 was the first properly quick car I ever drove.
GC8 said:
How come you decided to sell? Offer you couldnt refuse? Marital pressure? Impending disaster?
I just stuck it up on the classifieds here in the mind set of if sells it sells. I got £2400 for it, which wasn't a bad price for the type of car and its cat C status. I've not worked out all the costs, but I think I've lost a bit of money. not a substantial lose but around £500 at a guess. I got to use it on a couple of track days so had enough fun out of it.When I bought the car at the beginning of the year I was single with a lot of spare time on my hands. With work getting busy and using all of my spare time I have with my misses I just don't have the time. Also having three cars they do have a tendency to constantly rinse your wallet. I'm keeping my TVR t350t as a toy and can take that on track if I get the urge.
I hope the car doesn't end up crashed. I put a lot of time into getting to where it was.
Please do post up some pictures of whats it's like now.
I did enjoy building it up to be a cheap track car. Unfortunately I didn't get much use out of it. I'm mulling over buying an S2000 and building that up to become a track car. But would need to part with my TVR to do that project and struggling to put it up for sale.
I did enjoy building it up to be a cheap track car. Unfortunately I didn't get much use out of it. I'm mulling over buying an S2000 and building that up to become a track car. But would need to part with my TVR to do that project and struggling to put it up for sale.
I've always been interested in the Rotary. Saw this came up for sale with bits missing and such. I took the plunge without even really viewing it. Since then its been off the road since October having the rubbish removed, The floors completely redone.
Hopefully intend to get it out on a few track days this year. Once ive got some photos ill throw them up.
But yes. Its been saved. From a life of being drifted and eventually scrapped..
Hopefully intend to get it out on a few track days this year. Once ive got some photos ill throw them up.
But yes. Its been saved. From a life of being drifted and eventually scrapped..
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