History on the car...

More goodies!

 

Some parts started coming in faster than I could keep up with and I got really involved with a relationship so the car (and photo taking) took a back seat. I'll try to list what else I've bought since this last photo.

Dual Earl's 19 row oil coolers
Mocal oil thermostat
Synapse BOV
FFE fuel rails
550/2000cc Bosch EV14 injectors
Pineapple racing BT idler pulley.

I've also done some modifications to motor parts as well. I'll snap a few photos of those mods and will post them up in the next couple of days.

At this point, I had the motor installed back in the car and something just wasn't right to me. I had a hunch that the motor was bad when I bought it.

The previous owner told me a nice little story about the motor that wound up being false. So I pulled the motor back out and dropped it off with Fris down at Lucky-7 Racing.

My hunch was right...

The motor was never ported like the previous owner told me.
One chipped apex seal in the rear rotor
Main gear bearings were toast
Rotor bearings were toast
Eccentric shaft was toast
Rear rotor was toast
Oil pump was on the verge of dying, as well.

So Fris at Lucky 7 Racing took care of me and I also had him give me a large street port(raceport) while it was all apart. He also tapped the rear iron coolant fitting so I can run a temp sensor. He also pulled and tapped the heater core fitting so I can plug it. And I decided to go with the Rotary Aviation master kit with super seals. (Yes I've read the threads pertaining to damage done by those kits)

I picked up the motor on Tuesday and I couldn't be any more excited to know that I have a GOOD motor.

 

Dammm Liars smh! ..

At least is all good and wont have worries down the line with the engine, Props on the parts veryy Nice John

 

I started working on installing everything back on the motor this weekend and....

I broke the oil filter pedestal. I was torquing my oil temp/pressure sending adapter and the damn thing just snapped.



Thankfully, my buddy Jaime is a packrat of FD parts and he had an extra for me.

 

My Xcessive lower intake manifold showed up today and while I think it's awesome, there is about 3mm of space between the turbo and the front runner...

You guys let me know if this is too close.

 

Update on the turbo manifold fitment...

It's entirely too close for comfort

I had to put it up for sale and I started shopping around for another manifold...you'll see at the end of the post.

And...

Couple things came in the mail today.

A custom air separator tank from one of my fellow members on RX7Club forum. Looks to be a carbon copy of the REVO. I'm impressed with the craftsmanship!

Little Rx7 engineering lesson: Because the way a rotary cools itself, air is consistently introduced in to the cooling system. So, Mazda came up with a separate tank to remove the air from the system. However, everything about it was crap. All plastic and doesn't last very long. So a lot of people delete the "AST" altogether and purge the cooling system every couple thousand miles. And then aftermarket companies found a solution...

And this is what it is! It replaces the coolant filler neck with this piece and you have a filler neck and air separator tank all in one!



And an eBay B&M replica short shifter. B&M stopped making these a while back and were made out of aluminum. The replica ones actually last longer and feel better lol.




I've decided to give the DOC Race turbo manifold a shot. I got a pretty good deal on it so I won't be too upset if it doesn't perform very well.

 

Oh..."sexy" build!! Subed for updates!

 

Comin together nicely John.!! Sweeeet...!

 

Ready to sell those NT03+Ms yet?

 

Coming along nicely brotha!

 

I sold them to a local guy about 2 months ago.

 

Another update. Still accumulating parts...



I picked up a square set of Enkei RPF1 in 17x10 +38 with a set of Falken Azenis RT615k in 275/40 17

These will be my dedicated track wheel and tire setup until I know I can stay on track and be able to justify spending big money on a set of TEs or Advans in 18"





Although I picked the bumper up a while ago, I must have forgotten to post it. But I'll post all aero at the same time.

All of this stuff is made by Shine Auto Project and the quality is top notch. Fitment is on point as well. They're not a vendor here on the forum but I highly recommend using them for your some of your body kit needs. He has a set of fiberglass Impul replica sides that he makes in house and fits almost 100 percent perfect.

Anyway...

The front bumper I decided to go with is the Sanai Works replica. I really like the larger openings in the bumper for the intercooler and oil coolers. That's the only reason why I chose this bumper...

To compliment the bumper I went with the FEED replica +25mm wide body front fenders and rear over fenders. (rear over fenders not pictured since they're still wrapped up in plastic)



I also snagged a set of FEED replica side splitters. I'm not a fan of the full side skirts for the FD3S and I needed something to go with the rest of my aero. And these are perfect for me



Since I ditched the terrible looking frog eye headlights a week after buying the car, I set on a quest for popups. I did pick up some stock popups but decided I wanted to do something a little different. I WAS going to get the Hot Water Labs headlights but decided not to and since my buddy Ryan offered me a price I couldn't resist, I picked up his old setup. I'm sure you guys know by the color of the lids, you know who's car it came from



I picked up a billet battery holder a while back and decided it was time to try and get this thing mounted behind the passenger seat. Since I didn't feel like hammering the hell out of the floor pan to make it fit, I cut up some steel tubing and made some spacers. I drilled some holes in the floor and voila! Battery mount installed!





I picked up a couple of new tools as well.

Back story: When I got out of the Air Force back in 2009, I moved to Texas in to an apartment complex that had detached garages. Assuming that my collection of over $5k in tools would be safe in the garage, that's where I put them...only to get them stolen a week after I moved in. My renter's insurance wouldn't cover storage units NOT attached to the place where I lived. (fine print, apparently). So, it's taken quite some time to rebuild my collection. So these two new additions were exciting for me nonetheless...



Some of my steel braided lines are now going to be hard lines since space is a little limited with the combination of parts I'm running for fuel and air. Hence the reason for the flaring tool. And...who doesn't need a 1/4 inch impact?

Now on to some bad news...

I wanted to pre-fit the front fenders, bumper and headlights so I knew where to mount my dual oil coolers to find out that the "minimal" front end damage I found on the car was more than minimal.

The following photos are the BEST I could get after adjusting everything as much as I could...

Notice how far off that is!!!!


These are the inside edges of the headlights and their proximity to the core support...looks sketchy, doesn't it?

(excuse the shadows but I'm sure you can tell the difference)




So now I have scheduled an appointment to take the car down to Auto Explosion in Gardena, CA to have them fix whatever is wrong. Hopefully it isn't too bad. And while it's down there, they're going to get the rest of the body work done other than prime and paint. I want to wait to paint the car until I'm done crawling all over it doing wiring and other nonsense.

 

Dropped the car off at Auto Explosion in Gardena, CA and I found out that I will need to completely replace the front support from the strut towers going forward. At least the chassis is straight.

So I started hearing the dollars being ripped from my pockets trying to source new parts to rebuild the front and I decided to give one person a call...and he had a whole front clip for me!!!

And cheap, too!

So I will be hacking up that front clip next weekend and Auto Explosion will be performing surgery!

 

Awesome news man! Slowly turning into a beast!

 

Man I wish I could stay home for more than a weekend at a time...traveling for work takes a toll...

I received my Doc Race turbo manifold and I must say. This thing is beefy. The 3/4" flange is insane. I had to pick up some longer studs!

The build quality is really great, as well.



I also got a nice little shipment from Elliott at Turblown. My PnP Adaptronic ECU and Innovate MTX-L Wideband



Next chance I get, I'll be bending some tubing for the coolant feed/return.

Oh! and I almost forgot. Fris, over at Lucky 7 just so happened to have a front clip laying around that was in GREAT shape. So he let me cut off the front support and I took it over to Auto Explosion for them to start working on the car!