The Mid Night Club Wangan Run Touge Monster FD RX-7 RZ!
Discussion
Very excited now! I've got my car booked in to be mapped by Ross at Dragon Performance on Friday 
Originally I was looking for a place to do a rolling road map because like everyone else I love a power graph print out but the nearest rolling road tuner doesn't have the datalogit software for mapping an APEXi ecu so he'd have to map it using the hand controller which I'm less keen on (there are features / functions which can't be twiddled with the controller) and also he has a 3 week waiting list to rolling road time.
I decided to go with Dragon Performance instead and have it mapped on the road since Ross has a great reputation for RX-7 tuning including the old 9.1 second quarter mile drag car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS6XmblVbOc
Anyone have views on on-road versus dyno mapping?
I'll update when I've got the car back with its new map.
Originally I was looking for a place to do a rolling road map because like everyone else I love a power graph print out but the nearest rolling road tuner doesn't have the datalogit software for mapping an APEXi ecu so he'd have to map it using the hand controller which I'm less keen on (there are features / functions which can't be twiddled with the controller) and also he has a 3 week waiting list to rolling road time.
I decided to go with Dragon Performance instead and have it mapped on the road since Ross has a great reputation for RX-7 tuning including the old 9.1 second quarter mile drag car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS6XmblVbOc
Anyone have views on on-road versus dyno mapping?
I'll update when I've got the car back with its new map.
rampageturke said:
What kind of figures are you hoping from the remap?
Also from what I found, a lot of specialists for this car are based far down south, sucks for future me haha
I was browsing this thread on RX7Club and the same turbo is good for 390rwhp at 1bar/15psiAlso from what I found, a lot of specialists for this car are based far down south, sucks for future me haha
http://www.rx7club.com/time-slips-dyno-121/dyno-gr...
Dragon is just down the road from me in Exeter. RE:Worx are in Portsmouth, Hayward are in Berkshire but you've got WGT in Cheshire and they have an excellent reputation.
rampageturke said:
Thanks, will be interested to see how the car is at that power compared to now, around that power would be my target. What did you say you were running at now? mid 200hp?
I know it's a silly question, but I'd love to know what MPG you get after the remap
just out of curiosity more than anything.
When I first got the car it was running about 0.85bar but I was worried that the fueling was all wrong since fuel injector duty was reaching 100% The car felt monstrous at that boost level - faster than anything else i'd ever been in, including AMG Mercs, Monaros, M3s etc. I'd say it was in the ball park of 400 flywheel hp. I turned the boost down to 0.6bar to make sure I wasn't bothering the injectors and the car still felt faster than my old 323 fwhp (271 whp) twin turbo RX-7. I just changed the exhaust and kept the restrictor bung in to keep it quiet and with the reduced flow with everything else the same with no change to the boost controller it was hitting 0.4bar which feels about 250 fwhp.I know it's a silly question, but I'd love to know what MPG you get after the remap
just out of curiosity more than anything. Just dropped my car off at Dragon Performance for mapping - pretty lucky to have an RX-7 specialist 30 mins away. Ross had a customer car in all the from Sardinia!
Here's a couple of snaps of the shop:
Lambo GT car
Sardinian FC - Ross said they'd done A LOT of engine work on it! and also another black FD RX-7 complete with ducktail spoiler
I took the bung out of my exhaust to take it for mapping but it's not antisocially loud without it in so it's staying out - the boost restriction and potential turbo damage from high exhaust gas temps and back pressure was scaring me.
I can't wait to see how the car runs once properly mapped
Here's a couple of snaps of the shop:
Lambo GT car
Sardinian FC - Ross said they'd done A LOT of engine work on it! and also another black FD RX-7 complete with ducktail spoiler
I took the bung out of my exhaust to take it for mapping but it's not antisocially loud without it in so it's staying out - the boost restriction and potential turbo damage from high exhaust gas temps and back pressure was scaring me.
I can't wait to see how the car runs once properly mapped
When I last left off the car was in the capable hands of Ross at Dragon. On Friday I went to pick it up. Ross was really positive about the whole car, commenting on the high quality parts used all round rather than many tuned in the UK he sees with cheap Chinese parts from ebay. It was good to have an expert's opinion. Before he took it out on the road to fine tune the AFRs he'd reviewed and rectified the map already on the ECU which in his opinion was 'not bad' once he'd removed some of the 'oddities', although once out on the road it was apparently too lean all over for his liking. This is what I'd been worried about - detonation is one of the top rotary killers leading to chipped tips. Bear in mind he thought it was too lean on the boost setting I'd brought it in with ~0.65bar and now think how lean it must have been running with the old unobstructed exhaust at 0.9bar 
Ross confirmed that the installed injectors were 660cc primaries and 800cc secondaries so the only increase was actually 110cc over the standard 550cc primaries - an odd amount to increase by when usually most people just simply put another set of 800s on the primaries to add more fuel. We decided to map for most safe boost on the current injectors and that number came up to 0.68bar (10 psi), seeing on road, on boost AFRs between 10.8 and 11.1 - rich enough for a rotary while retaining a healthy safety margin. This puts power at somewhere between 360-400bhp at the flywheel so I'm going to say 380bhp until I get it on the rolling road 
Ross' comment was that it felt fast even at that level of boost. He also said that all it needs is a couple of bigger injectors and it'll run 450+bhp at 0.9-1.0bar so I might buy some to fit once I get used to the current power (which might take a while...)
Here's the exhaust bung / silencer I removed for any interested:
When I got back into the car and given it a chance to warm up it was immediately obvious that the new map had made everything smoother, throttle tip-in and response was definitely improved without any flat spots anywhere along the rev range and it felt subtly faster. Ross had also increased the idle revs from 800 to 1000 giving it more of a regular hum at warm idle than the slightly variable burble tone it had before. I think it's plenty fast enough for a while - we'll see what it makes on the drag strip and rolling road before any more engine tuning I think.
Anyway - being please with the car once home I decided to give it a (minimal) clean and take some pics!
Yesterday I went along to another local meet in Crediton, this one was actually a charity fundraiser, arranged between the car club and Tesco (the car park where it was held). I was actually quite blown away by the scale of it - something like 300 cars with press, Fire, Police and Army in attendance! There was also some exquisite machinery on show alongside my RX-7
So there are a couple of things still niggling with the car. I did install the new uprated Osram nightbreaker headlight bulbs but they are still poor compared to everyone else on the road and not confidence inspiring. I'm even considering getting some 80W bulbs (along with ceramic holders) to enable night vision on a par with everyone else.
The other thing is the erratic tachometer / rev counter which now barely ever works at all with the needle just wildly bouncing all over the place. Replacements are £100+ on ebay so I might break out my soldering iron and see if there's anything I can do.
I'm also probably going to buy a wideband AFR / Lambda probe and gauge. So far the AEM with Bosch LSU 4.9 seems to be the budget choice.
..and then those injectors - just in case I need more power!
Ross confirmed that the installed injectors were 660cc primaries and 800cc secondaries so the only increase was actually 110cc over the standard 550cc primaries - an odd amount to increase by when usually most people just simply put another set of 800s on the primaries to add more fuel. We decided to map for most safe boost on the current injectors and that number came up to 0.68bar (10 psi), seeing on road, on boost AFRs between 10.8 and 11.1 - rich enough for a rotary while retaining a healthy safety margin. This puts power at somewhere between 360-400bhp at the flywheel so I'm going to say 380bhp until I get it on the rolling road Ross' comment was that it felt fast even at that level of boost. He also said that all it needs is a couple of bigger injectors and it'll run 450+bhp at 0.9-1.0bar so I might buy some to fit once I get used to the current power (which might take a while...)Here's the exhaust bung / silencer I removed for any interested:
When I got back into the car and given it a chance to warm up it was immediately obvious that the new map had made everything smoother, throttle tip-in and response was definitely improved without any flat spots anywhere along the rev range and it felt subtly faster. Ross had also increased the idle revs from 800 to 1000 giving it more of a regular hum at warm idle than the slightly variable burble tone it had before. I think it's plenty fast enough for a while - we'll see what it makes on the drag strip and rolling road before any more engine tuning I think.
Anyway - being please with the car once home I decided to give it a (minimal) clean and take some pics!
Yesterday I went along to another local meet in Crediton, this one was actually a charity fundraiser, arranged between the car club and Tesco (the car park where it was held). I was actually quite blown away by the scale of it - something like 300 cars with press, Fire, Police and Army in attendance! There was also some exquisite machinery on show alongside my RX-7
So there are a couple of things still niggling with the car. I did install the new uprated Osram nightbreaker headlight bulbs but they are still poor compared to everyone else on the road and not confidence inspiring. I'm even considering getting some 80W bulbs (along with ceramic holders) to enable night vision on a par with everyone else.
The other thing is the erratic tachometer / rev counter which now barely ever works at all with the needle just wildly bouncing all over the place. Replacements are £100+ on ebay so I might break out my soldering iron and see if there's anything I can do.
I'm also probably going to buy a wideband AFR / Lambda probe and gauge. So far the AEM with Bosch LSU 4.9 seems to be the budget choice.
..and then those injectors - just in case I need more power!
rampageturke said:
Looking good. Mind me asking how much the whole mapping service was? And what's it like to launch off in first now it idles at 1k compared to 800rpm?
Ross at Dragon charges £250+ vat for on road mapping as long as there's no remedial work to be done but I also found his views after driving my car invaluable since he's such a legend in UK RX-7s so getting his seal of approval was more than worth it.After mapping the car feels much more tractable in normal driving and the new idle no doubt helps there.
I'm still researching various bits and pieces on my car but it's always a pleasant surprise to find out exactly what something is.
(This post is mostly for my own reference later.)
My wheels are fully identified as Forged 17" Mazdaspeed MS-01S made by Rays Engineering - I've been trying to work that out for ages, kept going over the Subaru STI Rays but none were quite right.
The rear brake disks are Project Mu SCR-PRO 314mm, still not sure on the front although I'll replace them with bored out subaru STI disks eventually.
The External Wastegate is a Greddy Type C (not Type R) as far as I can work out ( http://toyspeedmotorsports.com/id177.html )
The coilovers are Quantum Racing "RE Spec Coilover kit" developed for RE Amemiya http://www.rhdjapan.com/re-amemiya-quantum-re-spec... (and worth nearly £4K new on their own!!!)
Ross from Dragon also confirmed my car has a drift-friendly 2-way LSD.
Updated car spec looks like this:
1997 RX-7 RZ Special Edition
Original Recaro RZ Carbon Kevlar seats
Momo (copy?) Steering Wheel
RZ alloy passenger footrest
RZ rear bins not seats
A'PEXi Power FC ECU, Commander, boost controller and upgraded MAP sensor
HKS T04r single turbo conversion
HKS Turbo Timer
HKS Coil Leads
HKS Twin Spark ignition amplifier
Knight Sports WT Controller (controls the aux. fan)
Knight Sports V-mount radiator / intercooler
Knight Sports throttle body
Knight Sports vented bonnet
Knight Sports vented headlight cover
Knight Sports side skirts
Knight Sports bolt on wide arch kit
HKS coil leads
Greddy Type C wastegate
HPI Induction Kit
Cusco Front Strut Brace (standard rear?)
SARD Fuel Pressure Regulator
Twin Front Mounted Oil Coolers
Quantum Racing "RE Spec Coilover kit"
Trust exhaust manifold
Custom down-pipe
3in silenced mid-pipe and cat back exhaust parts
Screamer pipe
Uprated Primary Injectors - 660cc
2-way (Kaaz?) LSD
ARC Magic GT Rear Wing
Continental ContiSportContact tyres
Competition race clutch (not really much fun)
Evo Brembo front brake calipers with ~335mm disks
standard RZ rear calipers with Brembo pads and 314mm Project MU SCR-PRO disks
My todo list currently looks like this:
Convert speedo √
Fix tacho (hopefully soon with this guide http://www.wrex-racing.com/docs/fd/Tach_Repair.pdf...
Fix interior passenger door pull
FC commander mount √
Sidelight bulb √
Headlight bulb √
Headlight angle √
Patch Recaro drivers seat √
Fit double din stereo - replaced with single DIN and cubby √
Check and replace brakes as necessary - rear pads done √, front should take evo pads and sti wrx 326/330mm discs bored to 72mm
Pad garage walls with foam
Investigate clutch drag (input shaft play?) - possibly just noisy due to solid gearbox chassis brace?
Source quieter midpipe or fit spare 3" system √
Replace cig lighter √
Vacuum interior
Replace rusted screws on bodykit
Wash, polish, wax
Fit boost gauge √
Investigate Power FC settings (injectors, single turbo setting, boost control) √
Fit Wideband O2 sensor and AFR gauge - ordered
Fit battery cut off switch and cover terminals
Investigate coilovers and damper settings - dampers seem non-adjustable although Quantum website slightly confusing! √
Fix rattles from bootlid and boot area - mostly done but still rattly! √
Check boot and spare wheel area for rust - none! and none under the car either √
FC Datalogit kit for PowerFC tuning http://www.fc-datalogit.co.nz/pricing.html
Wheel spacers (got some somewhere…?) - not sure about these.
New front bumper
Uprated headlight bulbs √ Osram Nighbreaker still not bright enough
80W headlight bulbs and ceramic holders
Uprated 850cc primary injectors in bored out rail - ordered
As mentioned in the list I've now ordered my wideband AFR kit and some 850cc primary injectors in a pre-modded rail.
(This post is mostly for my own reference later.)
My wheels are fully identified as Forged 17" Mazdaspeed MS-01S made by Rays Engineering - I've been trying to work that out for ages, kept going over the Subaru STI Rays but none were quite right.
The rear brake disks are Project Mu SCR-PRO 314mm, still not sure on the front although I'll replace them with bored out subaru STI disks eventually.
The External Wastegate is a Greddy Type C (not Type R) as far as I can work out ( http://toyspeedmotorsports.com/id177.html )
The coilovers are Quantum Racing "RE Spec Coilover kit" developed for RE Amemiya http://www.rhdjapan.com/re-amemiya-quantum-re-spec... (and worth nearly £4K new on their own!!!)
Ross from Dragon also confirmed my car has a drift-friendly 2-way LSD.
Updated car spec looks like this:
1997 RX-7 RZ Special Edition
Original Recaro RZ Carbon Kevlar seats
Momo (copy?) Steering Wheel
RZ alloy passenger footrest
RZ rear bins not seats
A'PEXi Power FC ECU, Commander, boost controller and upgraded MAP sensor
HKS T04r single turbo conversion
HKS Turbo Timer
HKS Coil Leads
HKS Twin Spark ignition amplifier
Knight Sports WT Controller (controls the aux. fan)
Knight Sports V-mount radiator / intercooler
Knight Sports throttle body
Knight Sports vented bonnet
Knight Sports vented headlight cover
Knight Sports side skirts
Knight Sports bolt on wide arch kit
HKS coil leads
Greddy Type C wastegate
HPI Induction Kit
Cusco Front Strut Brace (standard rear?)
SARD Fuel Pressure Regulator
Twin Front Mounted Oil Coolers
Quantum Racing "RE Spec Coilover kit"
Trust exhaust manifold
Custom down-pipe
3in silenced mid-pipe and cat back exhaust parts
Screamer pipe
Uprated Primary Injectors - 660cc
2-way (Kaaz?) LSD
ARC Magic GT Rear Wing
Continental ContiSportContact tyres
Competition race clutch (not really much fun)
Evo Brembo front brake calipers with ~335mm disks
standard RZ rear calipers with Brembo pads and 314mm Project MU SCR-PRO disks
My todo list currently looks like this:
Convert speedo √
Fix tacho (hopefully soon with this guide http://www.wrex-racing.com/docs/fd/Tach_Repair.pdf...
Fix interior passenger door pull
FC commander mount √
Sidelight bulb √
Headlight bulb √
Headlight angle √
Patch Recaro drivers seat √
Fit double din stereo - replaced with single DIN and cubby √
Check and replace brakes as necessary - rear pads done √, front should take evo pads and sti wrx 326/330mm discs bored to 72mm
Pad garage walls with foam
Investigate clutch drag (input shaft play?) - possibly just noisy due to solid gearbox chassis brace?
Source quieter midpipe or fit spare 3" system √
Replace cig lighter √
Vacuum interior
Replace rusted screws on bodykit
Wash, polish, wax
Fit boost gauge √
Investigate Power FC settings (injectors, single turbo setting, boost control) √
Fit Wideband O2 sensor and AFR gauge - ordered
Fit battery cut off switch and cover terminals
Investigate coilovers and damper settings - dampers seem non-adjustable although Quantum website slightly confusing! √
Fix rattles from bootlid and boot area - mostly done but still rattly! √
Check boot and spare wheel area for rust - none! and none under the car either √
FC Datalogit kit for PowerFC tuning http://www.fc-datalogit.co.nz/pricing.html
Wheel spacers (got some somewhere…?) - not sure about these.
New front bumper
Uprated headlight bulbs √ Osram Nighbreaker still not bright enough
80W headlight bulbs and ceramic holders
Uprated 850cc primary injectors in bored out rail - ordered
As mentioned in the list I've now ordered my wideband AFR kit and some 850cc primary injectors in a pre-modded rail.
So my AEM 30-4110 Wideband AFR gauge with Bosch LSU 4.9 sensor kit arrived as well as my 850cc primary injectors in a modded, polished primary rail. I also bought a couple of tie rod ends since my MOT man noticed that mine had seen better days. Here's a pic:
I need to get the bung for the sensor welded into my mid pipe so not sure on a timeline for when it's going to get done. I've also ordered a new rhd(!) gauge pillar to hold both gauges. The injectors will probably wait for a while at least until the car has been timed on a drag strip and dyno'd for a baseline.
I also decided to take my cluster apart again to try to fix my intermittent and annoying rev counter. I followed this guide: http://www.wrex-racing.com/docs/fd/Tach_Repair.pdf It took me an hour, I haven't tested it yet but I tried to get every possible solder joint so fingers crossed for next time I take the car out.
Here's the abridged version in pictures:
Binnacle / cluster out:
Disassemble cluster to get tacho out:
Twist the face so that the needle shows its resting position and mark that point for later when the needle goes back on:
Gently pull the needle off and continue disassembly:
Get the motor out and re-flow/re-solder all the connections:
I reassembled it all and turned on the ignition to check I hadn't blown anything - I didn't want to start the car without warming it through or flooding it cold since I had limited time over lunch so it will be a surprise if it's worked when I next take the car out
I need to get the bung for the sensor welded into my mid pipe so not sure on a timeline for when it's going to get done. I've also ordered a new rhd(!) gauge pillar to hold both gauges. The injectors will probably wait for a while at least until the car has been timed on a drag strip and dyno'd for a baseline.
I also decided to take my cluster apart again to try to fix my intermittent and annoying rev counter. I followed this guide: http://www.wrex-racing.com/docs/fd/Tach_Repair.pdf It took me an hour, I haven't tested it yet but I tried to get every possible solder joint so fingers crossed for next time I take the car out.
Here's the abridged version in pictures:
Binnacle / cluster out:
Disassemble cluster to get tacho out:
Twist the face so that the needle shows its resting position and mark that point for later when the needle goes back on:
Gently pull the needle off and continue disassembly:
Get the motor out and re-flow/re-solder all the connections:
I reassembled it all and turned on the ignition to check I hadn't blown anything - I didn't want to start the car without warming it through or flooding it cold since I had limited time over lunch so it will be a surprise if it's worked when I next take the car out
rampageturke said:
Any luck? Seen before on someone elses build log that some RX7 dashes go for silly money
Yep completely fixed it! I did manage to ruin my speedo calibration though 30mph = 42 on the speedo
doh! I'll have to recalibrate it again now so not completely finished with my instruments yet.Been busy with work the last few weeks, three countries in 10 days kinda thing. Anyway this morning was pretty glorious so I took a little car time to get a couple of jobs done.
First up I went for a drive up and down the A30 to recalibrate my speedo. Instead of the wooden stick like last time, I used the smallest cross-head screwdriver I had and held it in place with an elastic band while I had the binnacle slightly leaned to one side. It worked just fine and the speedo is accurate again! Now I have both the speedo and tacho working correctly for the first time since owning the car Although the tacho is working it had a tiny blip when I first started the car up - maybe the earths need looking at?
I also fitted my new double gauge pod to the driver's pillar - now I have a place for my wideband gauge which I wired up as far as getting the sensor connector to the gear stick area ready to pass through next to the gearbox for when I get my sensor bung welded into my midpipe.
Anyway here are some interior shots:
First up I went for a drive up and down the A30 to recalibrate my speedo. Instead of the wooden stick like last time, I used the smallest cross-head screwdriver I had and held it in place with an elastic band while I had the binnacle slightly leaned to one side. It worked just fine and the speedo is accurate again! Now I have both the speedo and tacho working correctly for the first time since owning the car
Although the tacho is working it had a tiny blip when I first started the car up - maybe the earths need looking at?I also fitted my new double gauge pod to the driver's pillar - now I have a place for my wideband gauge which I wired up as far as getting the sensor connector to the gear stick area ready to pass through next to the gearbox for when I get my sensor bung welded into my midpipe.
Anyway here are some interior shots:
Not too much to report, I guess I've been enjoying the car a bit really. Not yet fitted the sensor for the AFR gauge or the bigger injectors.
The rev counter has been playing up again much to my annoyance but I don't really need it that much to know when to change gear since the engine note tells you everything.
An eagle-eyed reader of my thread on FD:UK spotted that the harness holes on my Recaros were not standard and having never given them much thought I looked a bit closer - turns out they're aftermarket Bride ones!
Last weekend I joined some PH'ers for a run up to the Haynes Motor Museum for the November Breakfast Club. I gave me a chance to stretch the car's legs and give it a little test against some other interesting machinery. I now know for instance that my car will edge away from a Noble M12 GTO-3R in a straight line - I can't wait until my injectors are fitted and I can run more than 10psi/0.68bar or boost!
Here's some pics from Haynes:
This week I also took the car up to Bristol so I could fly to Rome for a day and a night - I always photograph my car when I leave it in a car park just in case, anyway the sky was looking particularly dramatic on Wednesday.
I landed late last night and crept back home since my headlights are still pants. Oh well, I've got drag racing at Smeatharpe in Honiton tomorrow so look out for pics and videos!
The rev counter has been playing up again much to my annoyance
but I don't really need it that much to know when to change gear since the engine note tells you everything.An eagle-eyed reader of my thread on FD:UK spotted that the harness holes on my Recaros were not standard and having never given them much thought I looked a bit closer - turns out they're aftermarket Bride ones!
Last weekend I joined some PH'ers for a run up to the Haynes Motor Museum for the November Breakfast Club. I gave me a chance to stretch the car's legs and give it a little test against some other interesting machinery. I now know for instance that my car will edge away from a Noble M12 GTO-3R in a straight line - I can't wait until my injectors are fitted and I can run more than 10psi/0.68bar or boost!
Here's some pics from Haynes:
This week I also took the car up to Bristol so I could fly to Rome for a day and a night - I always photograph my car when I leave it in a car park just in case, anyway the sky was looking particularly dramatic on Wednesday.
I landed late last night and crept back home since my headlights are still pants. Oh well, I've got drag racing at Smeatharpe in Honiton tomorrow so look out for pics and videos!
So last weekend I went to Smeatharpe for the Straightliner's "Dakota Drag and Drift" event. It rained the whole way through. At previous drag events I've done up at Santa Pod they would never let you run in the rain but on an airfield in Devon they're a bit more relaxed. I waited and waited but it wasn't going to clear so I ran anyway. There were a couple of 1200+bhp GT-Rs spinning 4 wheels the length of the strip and it was super tricky to launch the car with anything other than crowd-pleasing wheelspin. The best quarter mile I managed was 14.08 @ 105mph with a 2.5s 60 foot time. Pretty poor but the conditions were never going to make for a good time, lack of traction was a bit scary too. Anyway here's a little video:
RX-7 Drag Racing in the rain
And some pics:
RX-7 Drag Racing in the rain
And some pics:
There's another shorter video of the car here
I think it's probably time for an update, the cold and wet seasons aren't the best time for RX-7 ownership and the car spends quite a lot of time in the garage needing the battery charged at the moment but here's what's been happening:
Billy, who shot the videos i've linked here and in my previous post found this awesome little photo shoot location so here are some of my attempts at smart phone photography:
I managed to do something a bit stupid and scrape one of my overfenders on the garage door (always tricky reversing up a hill and round a corner into a tight garage at night). So I did a quick ghetto repair - should last until I decide to do something about the aesthetics (I think I like the idea of the car going a frosty white colour eventually...)
I've still got a pile of fuel injectors and bits waiting to go on, only recently done the headlight bulbs with these LED ones - finally I can actually see at night!
So I've got the two 850cc injectors already in a standard primary rail and then i've got the two Bosch 1680cc injectors with 14-11mm hats on in a custom top feed secondary rail. I still need a couple of AN fittings and I'm experimenting with O-rings to make sure everything is a good tight fit.
This week I have mostly been messing about with taking out my exhaust midpipe to fit my wideband O2 sensor (you might remember I got this months ago and previously only installed the gauge in the cabin).
First thing I did was get the car in the air as safely as possible. So this meant ramps under the front wheels, jackstands along the chassis rails, wood blocks under the rear wheels and the jack under the diff, the car felt rock solid with this configuration.
The midpipe came out without any drama although I did snap one of the M8 bolts holding it in (I've replaced them with new shiny M10 ones)
What I didn't expect was the struggle to drill a hole in the stainless pipe for my sensor - I think it was a solid hour of drilling before I was done!
My orignal intention was to use on the of those no-weld AEM clamp/cuff things for the bung but I ordered one and got the wrong size so instead of waiting out the replacement I found a local guy who was willing to weld stainless at 7:30pm on a Sunday night and go it done that way instead.
I got the pipe back in with no dramas (fresh bolts make all the difference). Then all that was left then was the wiring - i'd left the loom from the gauge free just behind the stereo so I dropped this down beside the transmission after unbolting the gear lever boot and seeing a neat gap out to the underside of the car.
I then connected everything up and pulled all the slack back up into the cabin and tucked it neatly away and buttoned up all the trim i'd disturbed. Here's the sensor all done under the car.
A quick start up showed that the sensor / gauge combo were working
It started raining as soon as I got done so no test drive yet but I'm very interested to see what my AFRs look like under boost. While the car is up in the air I might do a few more jobs - change the oil and do the track rod ends.
In other news the E30 now has a fresh MOT after 3 weeks of waiting around for the steering rack to be reconditioned, oh well done now!
I think it's probably time for an update, the cold and wet seasons aren't the best time for RX-7 ownership and the car spends quite a lot of time in the garage needing the battery charged at the moment but here's what's been happening:
Billy, who shot the videos i've linked here and in my previous post found this awesome little photo shoot location so here are some of my attempts at smart phone photography:
I managed to do something a bit stupid and scrape one of my overfenders on the garage door (always tricky reversing up a hill and round a corner into a tight garage at night). So I did a quick ghetto repair - should last until I decide to do something about the aesthetics (I think I like the idea of the car going a frosty white colour eventually...)
I've still got a pile of fuel injectors and bits waiting to go on, only recently done the headlight bulbs with these LED ones - finally I can actually see at night!
So I've got the two 850cc injectors already in a standard primary rail and then i've got the two Bosch 1680cc injectors with 14-11mm hats on in a custom top feed secondary rail. I still need a couple of AN fittings and I'm experimenting with O-rings to make sure everything is a good tight fit.
This week I have mostly been messing about with taking out my exhaust midpipe to fit my wideband O2 sensor (you might remember I got this months ago and previously only installed the gauge in the cabin).
First thing I did was get the car in the air as safely as possible. So this meant ramps under the front wheels, jackstands along the chassis rails, wood blocks under the rear wheels and the jack under the diff, the car felt rock solid with this configuration.
The midpipe came out without any drama although I did snap one of the M8 bolts holding it in (I've replaced them with new shiny M10 ones)
What I didn't expect was the struggle to drill a hole in the stainless pipe for my sensor - I think it was a solid hour of drilling before I was done!
My orignal intention was to use on the of those no-weld AEM clamp/cuff things for the bung but I ordered one and got the wrong size so instead of waiting out the replacement I found a local guy who was willing to weld stainless at 7:30pm on a Sunday night and go it done that way instead.
I got the pipe back in with no dramas (fresh bolts make all the difference). Then all that was left then was the wiring - i'd left the loom from the gauge free just behind the stereo so I dropped this down beside the transmission after unbolting the gear lever boot and seeing a neat gap out to the underside of the car.
I then connected everything up and pulled all the slack back up into the cabin and tucked it neatly away and buttoned up all the trim i'd disturbed. Here's the sensor all done under the car.
A quick start up showed that the sensor / gauge combo were working
It started raining as soon as I got done so no test drive yet but I'm very interested to see what my AFRs look like under boost. While the car is up in the air I might do a few more jobs - change the oil and do the track rod ends.In other news the E30 now has a fresh MOT after 3 weeks of waiting around for the steering rack to be reconditioned, oh well done now!
I guess I'll just start with this....
That's where I'm at now but I'll rewind a few steps as to how we got there!
A forum member over at FDUK was selling some spares so I picked up the rear top mount trim covers that had been bothering me with their absence:
Then I saw that a chap up the road from me was selling a fibreglass replica C-West bumper for a total bargain price (£40), it had damage and bad paint but I thought it would be a neat project, especially since I had decided that C-West was the style I wanted to go for.
This is the state of the bumper when I got it:
A few cracks like this:
...and my daughter mocking it up in place over the old bumper
I got straight to it, rubbing the thing down and then the fibreglass repair - which I could see underneath the paint that a few people had done before
Ready for priming:
Primer done
I was really happy at this stage everything was going pretty smoothly, the primer went down perfectly and all of my repairs were completely invisible
Next came the base coat, I probably made a poor choice here, I was using only rattle cans for this job and rather than order some Mazda PZ Brilliant Black I looked for a readily available substitute. I went for Halford's 'Ford Black' since it was one of the few non-metallic blacks and there was plently of stock - I also thought that it might well be pretty similar since Mazda was crossing over with Ford in a big way back in the early 90s.
Then I probably didn't quite wait long enough to do my lacquer coats (real life etc.) here it is mocked up on the car:
And off again for wet sanding 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit
In the mean time these all arrived...
Mounting the bumper was a real nightmare! I couldn't use the original aluminium brackets since the fibreglass wouldn't fit with them but it also didn't have any holes in the right places. In the end I made a couple of very small brackets to bolt onto the lip of the bumper and used the two tabs that were already there and drilled through them. I also used a bunch of zip ties in places where the bumper was likely to sag like under the headlights and the wings.
Here it is finally mounted before any polishing or buffing
I had to get pretty serious with the cutting compound to get a shine out of the rattle can finish, after reading a surprising number of positive reviews I used Halford's own 'rubbing compound' and an orbital machine polisher. I think I did four or five passes before there was a reasonable shine to the lacquer and then I used some Black T-Cut 'Color Fast' for a better colour match.
Once I was reasonably happy with the bumper I went on and fitted my new 30mm H&R wheel spacers - this was a doddle, except the part where I try to drive the car and realise that I now only have 20 degrees of lock! Both front wheels were catching on the rear of the inner arch so I bit the bullet and hacked out part of the inner arch, the side skirts and persuaded some of the metal underneath to bend out of the way
While I was in there I realised that Quantum coilovers use Swift springs
New stance
Post polishing
and some glamour shots
That's where I'm at now but I'll rewind a few steps as to how we got there!
A forum member over at FDUK was selling some spares so I picked up the rear top mount trim covers that had been bothering me with their absence:
Then I saw that a chap up the road from me was selling a fibreglass replica C-West bumper for a total bargain price (£40), it had damage and bad paint but I thought it would be a neat project, especially since I had decided that C-West was the style I wanted to go for.
This is the state of the bumper when I got it:
A few cracks like this:
...and my daughter mocking it up in place over the old bumper
I got straight to it, rubbing the thing down and then the fibreglass repair - which I could see underneath the paint that a few people had done before
Ready for priming:
Primer done
I was really happy at this stage everything was going pretty smoothly, the primer went down perfectly and all of my repairs were completely invisible
Next came the base coat, I probably made a poor choice here, I was using only rattle cans for this job and rather than order some Mazda PZ Brilliant Black I looked for a readily available substitute. I went for Halford's 'Ford Black' since it was one of the few non-metallic blacks and there was plently of stock - I also thought that it might well be pretty similar since Mazda was crossing over with Ford in a big way back in the early 90s.
Then I probably didn't quite wait long enough to do my lacquer coats (real life etc.) here it is mocked up on the car:
And off again for wet sanding 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit
In the mean time these all arrived...
Mounting the bumper was a real nightmare! I couldn't use the original aluminium brackets since the fibreglass wouldn't fit with them but it also didn't have any holes in the right places. In the end I made a couple of very small brackets to bolt onto the lip of the bumper and used the two tabs that were already there and drilled through them. I also used a bunch of zip ties in places where the bumper was likely to sag like under the headlights and the wings.
Here it is finally mounted before any polishing or buffing
I had to get pretty serious with the cutting compound to get a shine out of the rattle can finish, after reading a surprising number of positive reviews I used Halford's own 'rubbing compound' and an orbital machine polisher. I think I did four or five passes before there was a reasonable shine to the lacquer and then I used some Black T-Cut 'Color Fast' for a better colour match.
Once I was reasonably happy with the bumper I went on and fitted my new 30mm H&R wheel spacers - this was a doddle, except the part where I try to drive the car and realise that I now only have 20 degrees of lock! Both front wheels were catching on the rear of the inner arch so I bit the bullet and hacked out part of the inner arch, the side skirts and persuaded some of the metal underneath to bend out of the way
While I was in there I realised that Quantum coilovers use Swift springs
New stance
Post polishing
and some glamour shots
Edited by declasm on Tuesday 18th April 06:45
TheLordJohn said:
Just read the lot, well done on putting in so much work.
It looks a hell of a car and must be so much fun
Thanks It looks a hell of a car and must be so much fun
TheLordJohn said:
PS, that front bumper looks gash. Previous/standard ones is infinitely better.
Enjoy!
Noooo! You hurt my feelings! Enjoy!
Oh well, it was a fun project and I like it 
Quick update:
Got my proper camera out, took a pic I'm really pleased with:
I need some kind of permanent mounting for the plate though.
I've been doing a bit of research and I now realise that my wheels, usually known as Mazdaspeed MS01s are actually much more rare than I realised previously, especially in the staggered setup that I have. I've never been completely content with the colour so at some point I'm interested in changing them to a dark bronze/gold - I might do a plasti-dip rather than paint first to see how it looks first.
I think the new fibreglass bumper is going to cause me more issues than I thought, I've noticed a few cracks here and there already and I've only used it for ~200 miles!
The slight increase in track with the new spacers has produced noticeable positive changes to handling. I took the car to one of my favourite local back roads and the thing feels so planted and the go-kart character has been enhanced to even more confidence inspiring levels.
I'm starting to get a bit annoyed by some of the more pronounced rattles and clunks inside the car so I might investigate the rear hatch as well as pillow ball bushes in the rear.
I still need to get around to fitting my new fuel rails, bigger injectors and mapping too.
I turned on my stereo the other day and now it has a very loud high pitched whine at all times. I traced this to the presence of the AFR gauge (the whine stops when I unplug it) so I will try adding a noise filter to the power wires and see if that fixes it.
That's all for now.
Got my proper camera out, took a pic I'm really pleased with:
I need some kind of permanent mounting for the plate though.I've been doing a bit of research and I now realise that my wheels, usually known as Mazdaspeed MS01s are actually much more rare than I realised previously, especially in the staggered setup that I have. I've never been completely content with the colour so at some point I'm interested in changing them to a dark bronze/gold - I might do a plasti-dip rather than paint first to see how it looks first.
I think the new fibreglass bumper is going to cause me more issues than I thought, I've noticed a few cracks here and there already and I've only used it for ~200 miles!
The slight increase in track with the new spacers has produced noticeable positive changes to handling. I took the car to one of my favourite local back roads and the thing feels so planted and the go-kart character has been enhanced to even more confidence inspiring levels.
I'm starting to get a bit annoyed by some of the more pronounced rattles and clunks inside the car so I might investigate the rear hatch as well as pillow ball bushes in the rear.
I still need to get around to fitting my new fuel rails, bigger injectors and mapping too.
I turned on my stereo the other day and now it has a very loud high pitched whine at all times. I traced this to the presence of the AFR gauge (the whine stops when I unplug it) so I will try adding a noise filter to the power wires and see if that fixes it.
That's all for now.
About time for an update then!
I'm on the lookout for another C-West (or good copy) bumper since I don't think the one I have is ever going to be a great fit along where the bumper meets the bonnet and it always catches my eye now and annoys me, also the fibreglass had a small crack where the bumper meets the wing so I had to patch that up and it doesn't look great
The pic above is the (small) convoy I was part of on the way to the JDM Combe show a couple of weeks ago. The car on the left belongs to a guy named Curt (https://www.instagram.com/rocketracer7/) - it's a custom blended Rocket Bunny kit with an insane JDM GT wing on the back. The car on the right belongs to Jay (https://www.instagram.com/jrmotorworx/) and is actually an FD RX-7 too but this one has a full Rocket Bunny Pandem Boss kit in the style of the RX-3. Both of these cars got A LOT of attention at their first showing.
I'm starting to get serious about overhauling my fuel system, I decided I didn't want to mess around with the secondhand Bosch 1650cc EV-14 CNG injectors that I bought a while ago (£100 anyone?) so instead went ahead and ordered some Injector Dynamics ID1700's and a DM Motorsport secondary fuel rail and ACV blanking plates. I still need a few hoses and connectors and I'm yet to decide whether I'm going to replace my primaries with the secondhand 850cc injectors that I bought or splash out on a new set of more modern top feed injectors for the primaries too - decisions!
Once I have the whole fuel system decided I will fit it but I also want the option to do some of the ECU setup at home (setting injector sizes and timings) so I'm now on the lookout for an interface box for my Apexi Power FC ECU - either a Datalogit, FC Hako or Sonicrats box but they're all pretty hard to come by...
In other news I finally did a job I'd been putting off for a while...
My track rod ends had been wearing these attractive wraps! This stopped me from seeing what kind of condition they were in underneath. Thankfully once the wrap was off I could see that the boot and grease was all present and correct but I swapped them out anyway, and didn't re-wrap them! They were in tight though, necessitating the purchase of a ball joint splitter - my new favourite tool!
I love checking out these brakes when the wheels are off!
While the wheels were off I gave them a clean and also cleaned up my coilovers and springs a bit too.
Hopefully won't be long before the fuel system is all done and I can get this thing mapped to its true potential to try to get somewhere near 450-500bhp
I'm on the lookout for another C-West (or good copy) bumper since I don't think the one I have is ever going to be a great fit along where the bumper meets the bonnet and it always catches my eye now and annoys me, also the fibreglass had a small crack where the bumper meets the wing so I had to patch that up and it doesn't look great
The pic above is the (small) convoy I was part of on the way to the JDM Combe show a couple of weeks ago. The car on the left belongs to a guy named Curt (https://www.instagram.com/rocketracer7/) - it's a custom blended Rocket Bunny kit with an insane JDM GT wing on the back. The car on the right belongs to Jay (https://www.instagram.com/jrmotorworx/) and is actually an FD RX-7 too but this one has a full Rocket Bunny Pandem Boss kit in the style of the RX-3. Both of these cars got A LOT of attention at their first showing.
I'm starting to get serious about overhauling my fuel system, I decided I didn't want to mess around with the secondhand Bosch 1650cc EV-14 CNG injectors that I bought a while ago (£100 anyone?) so instead went ahead and ordered some Injector Dynamics ID1700's and a DM Motorsport secondary fuel rail and ACV blanking plates. I still need a few hoses and connectors and I'm yet to decide whether I'm going to replace my primaries with the secondhand 850cc injectors that I bought or splash out on a new set of more modern top feed injectors for the primaries too - decisions!
Once I have the whole fuel system decided I will fit it but I also want the option to do some of the ECU setup at home (setting injector sizes and timings) so I'm now on the lookout for an interface box for my Apexi Power FC ECU - either a Datalogit, FC Hako or Sonicrats box but they're all pretty hard to come by...
In other news I finally did a job I'd been putting off for a while...
My track rod ends had been wearing these attractive wraps! This stopped me from seeing what kind of condition they were in underneath. Thankfully once the wrap was off I could see that the boot and grease was all present and correct but I swapped them out anyway, and didn't re-wrap them! They were in tight though, necessitating the purchase of a ball joint splitter - my new favourite tool!
I love checking out these brakes when the wheels are off!
While the wheels were off I gave them a clean and also cleaned up my coilovers and springs a bit too.
Hopefully won't be long before the fuel system is all done and I can get this thing mapped to its true potential to try to get somewhere near 450-500bhp
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