Papercup's V8 RX7
Discussion
The car ran yesterday for the first time. The ECU came back from being unlocked and she started up. My dinky dry-cell battery from a Harley Davidson started it many times; good news! There was a question over whether it would be man enough. We'll see what its like when the car is hot; thats the real test apparently.
Its not right though; it starts and ticks over, but there is nothing from the throttle pedal; it doesn't do anything. Turn it off and it won't start again until you query the ECU and get some fault codes about programming. There is also, mysteriously, as I thought (or hoped) it was from a complete untouched production car, a sticker on the ECU saying 'remanufactured'. So maybe something wasn't unlocked or there's a glitch somewhere. The ECU guy is to visit today and wipe it completely, then install a base map from a UK 6-litre Monaro. We'll see what happens I guess.
Onward and upward......
Its not right though; it starts and ticks over, but there is nothing from the throttle pedal; it doesn't do anything. Turn it off and it won't start again until you query the ECU and get some fault codes about programming. There is also, mysteriously, as I thought (or hoped) it was from a complete untouched production car, a sticker on the ECU saying 'remanufactured'. So maybe something wasn't unlocked or there's a glitch somewhere. The ECU guy is to visit today and wipe it completely, then install a base map from a UK 6-litre Monaro. We'll see what happens I guess.
Onward and upward......
It runs
The ECU wipe worked, and she runs and ticks over and is driveable. Well, it would be if it had front wings and a bumper.
Next is tidying up, fitting the bodywork back on and driving it to the aircon place to get that all working. Once thats done we may attempt getting the full climate control working from a japanese Touring X model.
Soon....it will be mine!
The ECU wipe worked, and she runs and ticks over and is driveable. Well, it would be if it had front wings and a bumper.
Next is tidying up, fitting the bodywork back on and driving it to the aircon place to get that all working. Once thats done we may attempt getting the full climate control working from a japanese Touring X model.
Soon....it will be mine!
Costs Update:
engine and box etc - £5700
sump kit - £365
cam kit - £585
remote oil thingy - £80
gauges - £230
aircon fans - £190
= £7150
PLUS £3000 paid to Craig within a week or two of him starting.
= £10150
MINUS £3300 from the bits sold so far from the Mazda
Money spent so far: £6850.
Craig needs another £2000 from me to get to the £5000 agreed. Also, we agreed a price of £600-odd to get the aircon working. Also, he is doing some other bits and bobs for me (harnesses) and he really didn't want to do the 'dashboard out and swap the gauges' bit so there are some extras. However, I'll split this all out when the job is finished and do a 'normal' price for those just having the conversion, then outline the extra costs for aircon (around a grand I would assume) and other bits and bobs.
I did all this on paper at the start and assumed I'd have little change out of £12k. I was right, and the aircon and those few extras would just take it over. But all that money I spent on the nice bits in the engine bay of the Mazda have done me proud, so we are looking at around £9k out of my pocket for the whole thing.
Andy
engine and box etc - £5700
sump kit - £365
cam kit - £585
remote oil thingy - £80
gauges - £230
aircon fans - £190
= £7150
PLUS £3000 paid to Craig within a week or two of him starting.
= £10150
MINUS £3300 from the bits sold so far from the Mazda
Money spent so far: £6850.
Craig needs another £2000 from me to get to the £5000 agreed. Also, we agreed a price of £600-odd to get the aircon working. Also, he is doing some other bits and bobs for me (harnesses) and he really didn't want to do the 'dashboard out and swap the gauges' bit so there are some extras. However, I'll split this all out when the job is finished and do a 'normal' price for those just having the conversion, then outline the extra costs for aircon (around a grand I would assume) and other bits and bobs.
I did all this on paper at the start and assumed I'd have little change out of £12k. I was right, and the aircon and those few extras would just take it over. But all that money I spent on the nice bits in the engine bay of the Mazda have done me proud, so we are looking at around £9k out of my pocket for the whole thing.
Andy
papercup said:
Costs Update:
engine and box etc - £5700
sump kit - £365
cam kit - £585
remote oil thingy - £80
gauges - £230
aircon fans - £190
= £7150
This thread is such an inspiration. In particular, I really appreciate that you are upfront about the costs of the whole projects. It helps a lot when estimating the costs of putting individual's ideas into practice. engine and box etc - £5700
sump kit - £365
cam kit - £585
remote oil thingy - £80
gauges - £230
aircon fans - £190
= £7150
Cheers
Picked it up yesterday from Craig's and paid him for the remainder of everything. I need to do an updated 'costs' thing as I had forgotten about a bunch of stuff. I went up with 4 grand and came back with six quid!
It sounds immense
Drove it around the block but its unmapped and was a bit of a pig, not ticking over, weird laggy throttle response etc so really all i did was chuck some fuel in it and take it back. I would rather wait until its mapped to give true indications of whats its like.
So...put it on the trailer and took it to Wortec in Chichester and left it with him last night. He's mapping it today and tomorrow. Should have it back saturday morning at which point I'll see if i can get a video or something up.
It sounds immense
Drove it around the block but its unmapped and was a bit of a pig, not ticking over, weird laggy throttle response etc so really all i did was chuck some fuel in it and take it back. I would rather wait until its mapped to give true indications of whats its like.
So...put it on the trailer and took it to Wortec in Chichester and left it with him last night. He's mapping it today and tomorrow. Should have it back saturday morning at which point I'll see if i can get a video or something up.
KB_S1 said:
Papercup,
wrt to a discussion on another thread regarding weight advantages of the original rotary engine, do you know how the centre of gravity is affected by the transplant?
not yet, but I'll be corner-weighting the car soon. I had planned to change nothing and do it, but we had to lift the front to stop it scraping on the floor. Bottom line; Its heavier. wrt to a discussion on another thread regarding weight advantages of the original rotary engine, do you know how the centre of gravity is affected by the transplant?
I can't check CoG, only weight distribution. To do so utterly I will have to lift the rear coilovers by 5 turns of the collar as that is what we did on the front. Then i can tell you how much more it weighs, and whether its been added to the front or middle of the car. I am tempted to do this as I want to know. Then I'll set my heights and corner-weight properly. Then I'll get it on track and tell you how it feels. The rex was stunning under braking into a corner. Thats balance and low CoG and light weight. NOTHING I ever met on track beat me into a corner. Thats where I think this will matter.
I am not in any doubt this will make it a different car. That was the idea. Also, for what this has cost I could have rebuilt a rotary 3-4 times. People reading this need to realise that before they talk about the holy grail of cheap V8s etc etc. I've heard it all and argued against it on the rotary forum myself.
The fact is I did 4 years of over 400 horse in the rotary, and I wanted to do something different but I still love the Rex. This seemed like a good idea. I am under no illusion that it will be 'the same but better'. I think it will be different. I have always thought I'll be able to feel the change in weight, and weight distribution and I'll be documenting my thoughts utterly here as things progress.
Andy
papercup said:
Picked it up yesterday from Craig's and paid him for the remainder of everything. I need to do an updated 'costs' thing as I had forgotten about a bunch of stuff. I went up with 4 grand and came back with six quid!
It sounds immense
Drove it around the block but its unmapped and was a bit of a pig, not ticking over, weird laggy throttle response etc so really all i did was chuck some fuel in it and take it back. I would rather wait until its mapped to give true indications of whats its like.
So...put it on the trailer and took it to Wortec in Chichester and left it with him last night. He's mapping it today and tomorrow. Should have it back saturday morning at which point I'll see if i can get a video or something up.
Very very cool.It sounds immense
Drove it around the block but its unmapped and was a bit of a pig, not ticking over, weird laggy throttle response etc so really all i did was chuck some fuel in it and take it back. I would rather wait until its mapped to give true indications of whats its like.
So...put it on the trailer and took it to Wortec in Chichester and left it with him last night. He's mapping it today and tomorrow. Should have it back saturday morning at which point I'll see if i can get a video or something up.
Nice to see a project like this get completed. I do admit that having the funds up front to do it in one hit must make a huge difference to trying to do something like this more on a peace-meal basis over a few years.
Really looking forward to your thoughts and views on it once it's all up and running properly!
Thanks again for running such a good and informative build thread too.
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