Papercup's V8 RX7
Discussion
papercup said:
Oh, and the spending continues. The worst thing about this conversion is the gearbox. I had heard this. Most boxes are either vague or notchy. This is both. Notchy to engage, but the middle point, from neutral to each gear, is like porridge. Its a bit crap really, not in any way positive. I have little idea what gear is coming next. So i sat in Craig's car and he has a 'ripshifter' quickshift and its like night and day. Positive, direct, still notchy but I don't mind that if you know where the stick is going. £300 plus VAT. Christ. For a quickshifter? Oh well, ordered and will be fitted when the aircon pump comes back.
Is this something like this one? http://www.rpmoutlet.com/gtosniper.htmAlso, have you considered something like a sequential shifter, something like Ikeya Formula Shifter type shifter for T56 transmission?
tooFATtoDRIVE said:
papercup said:
Oh, and the spending continues. The worst thing about this conversion is the gearbox. I had heard this. Most boxes are either vague or notchy. This is both. Notchy to engage, but the middle point, from neutral to each gear, is like porridge. Its a bit crap really, not in any way positive. I have little idea what gear is coming next. So i sat in Craig's car and he has a 'ripshifter' quickshift and its like night and day. Positive, direct, still notchy but I don't mind that if you know where the stick is going. £300 plus VAT. Christ. For a quickshifter? Oh well, ordered and will be fitted when the aircon pump comes back.
Is this something like this one? http://www.rpmoutlet.com/gtosniper.htmAlso, have you considered something like a sequential shifter, something like Ikeya Formula Shifter type shifter for T56 transmission?
The one in Craig's car was lovely, just what i want in mine. I don't really want anything too different.....just a nice gear-change!
Papercup, thank's for this prompt answer. Would you be able to find out where online I could read more about the said shifter?
The reason behind all my questions is, first, that you have an astonishing knowledge about LS/Tremec combos and, second, that I am considering LS2/T56 setup for my Volvo v90 sleeper I intend to build mid next year. The more verified LS/T56 knowledge, the smoother my project should go.
Cheers and thanks for all your help
The reason behind all my questions is, first, that you have an astonishing knowledge about LS/Tremec combos and, second, that I am considering LS2/T56 setup for my Volvo v90 sleeper I intend to build mid next year. The more verified LS/T56 knowledge, the smoother my project should go.
Cheers and thanks for all your help
Air-con compressor is off for reconditioning. When it gets back the bonnet struts and quick-shift wil be waiting. No hurry to get it back as the car has gone off to my local stereo shop to have all the interior re-fitted (assuming all the bags and boxes full of stuff I was given with the car actually contain all the interior!), an alarm fitted (the original went mental during Craig's work, and had to be put down; I've also always wanted one that unlocked the doors), and a whole bunch of stereo put in. This is the next stage of my quest to make a comfortable, usable car
Most of the stereo I already have from my last van install; its been in the loft for 3 years in its original boxes, waiting for a suitable car to come along.
I also bought an Optima red-top battery. £180. The original battery, a dinky little Odyssey PC680 dry-cell, was woefully inadequate and had to leave. Craig had moved it to the very back of the car, in the spare wheel well, but the new one is larger, and I want the spare wheel and interior back in. So; plan is to put the battery in the rear seat well on the passenger side. Then the two JL amps (one that runs the 6" JL component speakers in the front doors, and another monoblock to run the two 8" JL subs) in the other rear seat well. The two subs are then mounted above the battery and amps, one each side. All boxed in and 'built' with the original interior. Finally a cover on the rear seats that allows me to use it as storage space for overnight bags etc. The rear seats have always been bloody useless on a Rex (unless your passengers have no legs) so its no loss at all.
Hopefully that lot should sound OK. We may possibly have to run a pair of 6x9s in those rear boxes as well to fill in the sound field behind me. If so, we'll just run them off the head unit. We'll see.
Nice double-din head unit on the wayhttp://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/111/241/AV...
Oh, and the registration document has come back from the DVLA with a letter saying I can't change the cubic capacity without an engineer's report, or a letter from the garage who did it, or.......what a pain in the arse.
Craig! Got any headed paper?
Most of the stereo I already have from my last van install; its been in the loft for 3 years in its original boxes, waiting for a suitable car to come along.
I also bought an Optima red-top battery. £180. The original battery, a dinky little Odyssey PC680 dry-cell, was woefully inadequate and had to leave. Craig had moved it to the very back of the car, in the spare wheel well, but the new one is larger, and I want the spare wheel and interior back in. So; plan is to put the battery in the rear seat well on the passenger side. Then the two JL amps (one that runs the 6" JL component speakers in the front doors, and another monoblock to run the two 8" JL subs) in the other rear seat well. The two subs are then mounted above the battery and amps, one each side. All boxed in and 'built' with the original interior. Finally a cover on the rear seats that allows me to use it as storage space for overnight bags etc. The rear seats have always been bloody useless on a Rex (unless your passengers have no legs) so its no loss at all.
Hopefully that lot should sound OK. We may possibly have to run a pair of 6x9s in those rear boxes as well to fill in the sound field behind me. If so, we'll just run them off the head unit. We'll see.
Nice double-din head unit on the way
http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/111/241/AV...Oh, and the registration document has come back from the DVLA with a letter saying I can't change the cubic capacity without an engineer's report, or a letter from the garage who did it, or.......what a pain in the arse.
Craig! Got any headed paper?
Yes, running a KTM supermoto, number 331. Unlikely the Rex will be there though. Feel free to come up and chat.
On a side note, now I have more time to type......all those boxes did indeed include all the interior. Apart from a few missing or broken clips, its all there, including the original toolkit. Its a double-decker arrangement, with a polystyrene tray with each of the original tools clipped in, then it lifts out the way to show a bigger version with the larger tools below. All behind a nice clip-in door. I'm like a kid with a new toy; I've never actually seen the interior of one of these up close. Loving it.
The only thing missing, and it may not have had one, is the parcel shelf. I didn't even know Rex's had them. I found one in supposedly good condition at one of the Rotary specialists and got it sent to the stereo shop.
They've trimmed the original rear panels, the ones that would be by your side if you were sitting in the rear seats, around the cage really nicely. It makes the rear panels a bit useless in terms of putting speakers in, at least as far as bass is concerned as there's no seal at all, holes everywhere. But this won't be a problem as the subs will handle the mid-bass. In my van I used 8" subs to keep the bass punchy, and avoid that whole 'subwoofer' drone you get from big subs, that sounds great with only dance music and wipes out all the bass notes from 'normal' music, which i prefer. I have always wanted car stereo to sound good with music like the Killers' first album, as an example. A whole sound field, no overpowering bass or sub noise. To this end we have fitted rear speakers to try and fill that space behind the front seats more. Nothing too expensive (the fronts were not cheap) as most of it will be lost into the rear panel.
It has a Clifford alarm that opens the doors for me, which never happened with the old alarm.
Looking forward to being able to drive up the motorway and not hear anything but music
On a side note, now I have more time to type......all those boxes did indeed include all the interior. Apart from a few missing or broken clips, its all there, including the original toolkit. Its a double-decker arrangement, with a polystyrene tray with each of the original tools clipped in, then it lifts out the way to show a bigger version with the larger tools below. All behind a nice clip-in door. I'm like a kid with a new toy; I've never actually seen the interior of one of these up close. Loving it.
The only thing missing, and it may not have had one, is the parcel shelf. I didn't even know Rex's had them. I found one in supposedly good condition at one of the Rotary specialists and got it sent to the stereo shop.
They've trimmed the original rear panels, the ones that would be by your side if you were sitting in the rear seats, around the cage really nicely. It makes the rear panels a bit useless in terms of putting speakers in, at least as far as bass is concerned as there's no seal at all, holes everywhere. But this won't be a problem as the subs will handle the mid-bass. In my van I used 8" subs to keep the bass punchy, and avoid that whole 'subwoofer' drone you get from big subs, that sounds great with only dance music and wipes out all the bass notes from 'normal' music, which i prefer. I have always wanted car stereo to sound good with music like the Killers' first album, as an example. A whole sound field, no overpowering bass or sub noise. To this end we have fitted rear speakers to try and fill that space behind the front seats more. Nothing too expensive (the fronts were not cheap) as most of it will be lost into the rear panel.
It has a Clifford alarm that opens the doors for me, which never happened with the old alarm.
Looking forward to being able to drive up the motorway and not hear anything but music
Time for an update I should do this more often, but its been a busy few weeks with not only the Rex but the Speed Trials and work.
OK, picked up the car from the stereo shop. The stereo install is immense; stunning sound, and quite loud enough to drown out ANYTHING (road noise, sound of massive V8, etc)at 100mph+. Ahem. Whats stranger is having a full interior. bear in mind I never had one. We have some (not lots, apparently carpeting it is NOT the way to go) Dynamat and such to deaden sound. There are still a lot of squeaks and rattles, this is a 15-year-old car with a roll-cage and many modificiations, but compared to how it was its.......almost civilised. I'm loving it. Its comfortable, with a stereo, and I no longer dread going distances in it.
So I've done it, I've created a different car. Not only in its feel and interior, but the motor is so very different from the intense, frantic turbo-nutter it once was. I went out for a spirited drive today and making progress is so easy. It piles on speed without incident or alarm. Its VERY easy to drive extremely fast now. Overtaking is done without changing gear. You just leave it in 5th.
Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. Rewind. I picked it up from ther stereo shop. On the way home the rubber water pipe that goes across the front of the engine to the bottom of the rad caught the bottom (large) pulley. Fortunately this happened on my road, so I pulled up on the drive, couldn't quite see where the water was coming from, so reversed violently up the drive which caused the motor to rock more than usual, and it REALLY caught the water pipe. All the water came out. I'd looked down at it before and thought 'I reckon thats a bit close'. Oh well; ordered some Samco stuff from www.f1btn.com and because this stuff is more rigid than the normal rubber stuff, I think it will be fine; i pulled it futher out of the way before doing up the hose clips.
Next problem; car will no longer start when hot. Its always turned slower when hot, these engines are known for it. But that was with the ickle battery. Now as part of the stereo install I put a large red-top dry-cell in the back seat. It should be better. But its worse. Too much of a coincidence that this happened after the stereo install and battery move.
Also, the speedo stops working at 80mph; just hits zero. Again, seeing as the satnav head unit takes speed pulse off the speedo converter, using the output wire to the speedo, this is too much of a coincidence. So, back to the stereo shop and switch it from the output to the speedo (which was a spliced wire, basically) to one of the other outputs and set the head unit to start learnign again (as the pulse has apparently changed) and bob is your uncle.
As for the starting thing; well, she was off back to Craig in Birmingham this week anyway, to get the quickshifter outlined a few posts above fitted (looking forward to this greatly; the gearchange is just nasty and I hate it, it spoils the whole experience) and the air-con pump has been reconditioned (£200) and needs fitting.
So, Wednesday in Birmingham. First things first; starting. We look at the earth from the battery to the body, right next to it. Its thick enough. But maybe the body isn't thick enough. If you've seen under an RX-7 you'll know that all the metal at the back (boot floor, rear seats, etc) is like a tin can. Its lightweight for a reason. So Craig runs another earth off the underneath of the same bolt, up the length of the car, straight to the block. Problem solved. Motor now spins like a nutter whenever key is turned. Sweet.
Quickshifter. Its a sod of a job to fit. I stand around asking daft questions while watching Craig do it properly. It completely replaces the shifter mechanism on top of the box, and some of the metal transmission tunnel of the rex needs to be cut away. He also fits a new seal to stop fumes coming uip from under the car; its been a problem on the run up. I also have a theory that the standard, unvented bonnet is pressurising and lifting at speed, allowing foul air into the heater vents under the windscreen. More on this later.
Quickshifter fitted. I love it. Its wonderful. Short but not heavy, and very precise. I can heartily recommend it. Hold on, i took a pic:
Aircon: the pump is fitted but its 4.30pm and the guys up the road that can pressurise it have gone home
Bugger. Oh well, a job for next time, and its bloody cold now anyway!
I put the towing eye back on while I am under the car. I actually do this myself! Of course I smash one of my fingers and bleed all over the place. Great. I go back to asking daft questions.
More to come, cooling and the return of my original bonnet!
I should do this more often, but its been a busy few weeks with not only the Rex but the Speed Trials and work.OK, picked up the car from the stereo shop. The stereo install is immense; stunning sound, and quite loud enough to drown out ANYTHING (road noise, sound of massive V8, etc)at 100mph+. Ahem. Whats stranger is having a full interior. bear in mind I never had one. We have some (not lots, apparently carpeting it is NOT the way to go) Dynamat and such to deaden sound. There are still a lot of squeaks and rattles, this is a 15-year-old car with a roll-cage and many modificiations, but compared to how it was its.......almost civilised. I'm loving it. Its comfortable, with a stereo, and I no longer dread going distances in it.
So I've done it, I've created a different car. Not only in its feel and interior, but the motor is so very different from the intense, frantic turbo-nutter it once was. I went out for a spirited drive today and making progress is so easy. It piles on speed without incident or alarm. Its VERY easy to drive extremely fast now. Overtaking is done without changing gear. You just leave it in 5th.
Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. Rewind. I picked it up from ther stereo shop. On the way home the rubber water pipe that goes across the front of the engine to the bottom of the rad caught the bottom (large) pulley. Fortunately this happened on my road, so I pulled up on the drive, couldn't quite see where the water was coming from, so reversed violently up the drive which caused the motor to rock more than usual, and it REALLY caught the water pipe. All the water came out. I'd looked down at it before and thought 'I reckon thats a bit close'. Oh well; ordered some Samco stuff from www.f1btn.com and because this stuff is more rigid than the normal rubber stuff, I think it will be fine; i pulled it futher out of the way before doing up the hose clips.
Next problem; car will no longer start when hot. Its always turned slower when hot, these engines are known for it. But that was with the ickle battery. Now as part of the stereo install I put a large red-top dry-cell in the back seat. It should be better. But its worse. Too much of a coincidence that this happened after the stereo install and battery move.
Also, the speedo stops working at 80mph; just hits zero. Again, seeing as the satnav head unit takes speed pulse off the speedo converter, using the output wire to the speedo, this is too much of a coincidence. So, back to the stereo shop and switch it from the output to the speedo (which was a spliced wire, basically) to one of the other outputs and set the head unit to start learnign again (as the pulse has apparently changed) and bob is your uncle.
As for the starting thing; well, she was off back to Craig in Birmingham this week anyway, to get the quickshifter outlined a few posts above fitted (looking forward to this greatly; the gearchange is just nasty and I hate it, it spoils the whole experience) and the air-con pump has been reconditioned (£200) and needs fitting.
So, Wednesday in Birmingham. First things first; starting. We look at the earth from the battery to the body, right next to it. Its thick enough. But maybe the body isn't thick enough. If you've seen under an RX-7 you'll know that all the metal at the back (boot floor, rear seats, etc) is like a tin can. Its lightweight for a reason. So Craig runs another earth off the underneath of the same bolt, up the length of the car, straight to the block. Problem solved. Motor now spins like a nutter whenever key is turned. Sweet.
Quickshifter. Its a sod of a job to fit. I stand around asking daft questions while watching Craig do it properly. It completely replaces the shifter mechanism on top of the box, and some of the metal transmission tunnel of the rex needs to be cut away. He also fits a new seal to stop fumes coming uip from under the car; its been a problem on the run up. I also have a theory that the standard, unvented bonnet is pressurising and lifting at speed, allowing foul air into the heater vents under the windscreen. More on this later.
Quickshifter fitted. I love it. Its wonderful. Short but not heavy, and very precise. I can heartily recommend it. Hold on, i took a pic:
Aircon: the pump is fitted but its 4.30pm and the guys up the road that can pressurise it have gone home
Bugger. Oh well, a job for next time, and its bloody cold now anyway!I put the towing eye back on while I am under the car. I actually do this myself! Of course I smash one of my fingers and bleed all over the place. Great. I go back to asking daft questions.
More to come, cooling and the return of my original bonnet!
Edited by papercup on Sunday 26th September 13:16
Continuation. As said, I thought that the standard bonnet was lifting not because air was getting in around the headlamps, but that its cming in through the front for the rad and not being able to get out of the back. I've always thought this. Even after the bonnet pins stop the lift at the front and sides, I still think its pushing its way out the back at the bottom of the windscreen. This means the car smells of heat and oil when you drive it. We did two things at Craig's to combat this; first he installed the better seal around the gear lever where it enters the car, and second we modified the seal at the back of the bonnet, that sits on the car held by clips and basically seals the back of the bonnet where it meets the car under the windscreen. We thought this was maybe being squashed, or not creating a good enough seal, so we stuffed a length of reinforced water pipe through the centre of it, with the help of some lube. Its now much better on a run.
So, the bonnet. I must credit Re:Worx with this idea. We had to change from my original, vented R-Magic bonnet as it hit the air intake on the front of the engine. I was very, very unhappy about this. I miss it. It looked great. The standard bonnet looks rubbish, and is heavy, and has lots of little dents on it where the bracing was taken out the inside of it. I am planning to get the car sprayed at the front anyway and would have them all fixed then but.....i don't want to spend the money on the standard one. I just dislike it.
I happened to visit Re:Worx last week and they mentioned that the V8 conversion they had done had an aftermarket bonnet similar to mine, and they'd managed to make it fit by turning that intake upside down. So armed with this info, I tasked Craig with making my original bonnet fit. It was late in the day when we started this, so I didn't expect it to happen that day, but I though we could make a start and see what hits what when the bonnet is lowered.
So we turn the intake over, which involves moving the power steering fluid bottle. We just stuff it to one side for the moment. There is also a small hard metal water pipe that goes from left to right, under that intake, which will need to be moved. Again, a job for later; we just remove it.
The next thing to hit was the new brake bias valve fitted by Craig when the ABS was removed. This is right up on the scuttle on the left. That can be moved later as well.
Next its the radiator. Its mounted high, and there is space underneath it. I've thought previously that if it were dropped lower then airflow through the radiator would be improved; right now I think air coming through the air-con rad simply whistles under the radiator. The reason for it being higher was to clear the air intake pipe.
In normal driving temps are fine, but I do think that on-track it will overheat due to the airflow issues. But more urgently we are having problems keeping the car cool at a standstill. There is one fan on the front of the radiator, a 14" Pacet. We did some tests of unplugging it, letting the water temp get to 110 degrees, then plggung it back in. It will hold it there, but it won't go down. This confirms the problems I have had when travelling at speed then hitting a traffic jam, such as a blockage on a motorway - it gets hot then stays hot until I start moving again.
So.....radiator needs more fans. So that 14" Pacet gets moved to the back, still on the left. A 16" Pacet gets added to the front on the right, and they'll crossover in the middle. The rad has to come off for this. So....while its off, mount it lower. This means the water pipe that hit the pulley will be a lot further away, which means that won't be a problem ever again. Airflow under the rad will cease; everything will go through it. The airpipe will have to fit over the bottom hose but that can happen, we think.
Then my old bonnet will fit
So, the bonnet. I must credit Re:Worx with this idea. We had to change from my original, vented R-Magic bonnet as it hit the air intake on the front of the engine. I was very, very unhappy about this. I miss it. It looked great. The standard bonnet looks rubbish, and is heavy, and has lots of little dents on it where the bracing was taken out the inside of it. I am planning to get the car sprayed at the front anyway and would have them all fixed then but.....i don't want to spend the money on the standard one. I just dislike it.
I happened to visit Re:Worx last week and they mentioned that the V8 conversion they had done had an aftermarket bonnet similar to mine, and they'd managed to make it fit by turning that intake upside down. So armed with this info, I tasked Craig with making my original bonnet fit. It was late in the day when we started this, so I didn't expect it to happen that day, but I though we could make a start and see what hits what when the bonnet is lowered.
So we turn the intake over, which involves moving the power steering fluid bottle. We just stuff it to one side for the moment. There is also a small hard metal water pipe that goes from left to right, under that intake, which will need to be moved. Again, a job for later; we just remove it.
The next thing to hit was the new brake bias valve fitted by Craig when the ABS was removed. This is right up on the scuttle on the left. That can be moved later as well.
Next its the radiator. Its mounted high, and there is space underneath it. I've thought previously that if it were dropped lower then airflow through the radiator would be improved; right now I think air coming through the air-con rad simply whistles under the radiator. The reason for it being higher was to clear the air intake pipe.
In normal driving temps are fine, but I do think that on-track it will overheat due to the airflow issues. But more urgently we are having problems keeping the car cool at a standstill. There is one fan on the front of the radiator, a 14" Pacet. We did some tests of unplugging it, letting the water temp get to 110 degrees, then plggung it back in. It will hold it there, but it won't go down. This confirms the problems I have had when travelling at speed then hitting a traffic jam, such as a blockage on a motorway - it gets hot then stays hot until I start moving again.
So.....radiator needs more fans. So that 14" Pacet gets moved to the back, still on the left. A 16" Pacet gets added to the front on the right, and they'll crossover in the middle. The rad has to come off for this. So....while its off, mount it lower. This means the water pipe that hit the pulley will be a lot further away, which means that won't be a problem ever again. Airflow under the rad will cease; everything will go through it. The airpipe will have to fit over the bottom hose but that can happen, we think.
Then my old bonnet will fit
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