Project FD RX-7

[Goodspeed]

Over the weekend it was finally time to breathe some life back into the stock shifter - a full rebuild kit I got from Pettit Racing came in with a new rubber boot/cover, insulation, and bushings.  To call the original bits totally shot would be an understatement:



I'm guessing the fact that the rubber plate had bowed upwards is what had allowed copious amounts of heat to pour into the center console and slowly cook my right forearm:



The refreshed stocker feels fantastic, which I'm glad to report - short shifters are few and far between these days and $$$.  How anyone lets shift feel get to the point it did is beyond me, but safe to say I'm glad to have that part of the car back in full health.

Beyond that, an oil change w/Valvoline 10w30 dino + Mazda filter, and I ditched the A'Pexi hot air intake for a stock airbox for now.  I'm not too happy with the condition of the stocker so I'm trying to locate a set of minty stock airboxes (I'm currently missing the original 2nd airbox that spans across, in front of the intercooler).  One of, if not the best cold air intakes for the FD is actually a modified stock unit - with some dremeling and a shield/scoop kit that I purchased from the RX7Club forum member that makes them, you get all of the performance of a true cold air unit with clean OEM looks on a budget.

I also elected to replace the aged plastic BOV with a HKS unit.  Nice singular chirp sound without going overboard, and it looks pretty decent if I do say so myself.  Still lots of cleaning up to do underhood - scrubbing, powdercoating, polishing, nice pulleys once emissions stuff gets deleted, new or cleaned-up alternator, new T-bolt or other quality clamps to replace all the worm clamps, repaint the fender sills, replace yellowed plastic tanks, all new or refinshed bolts, and whatever else I can think of.  It's going to be a loooong process in here. 



Hey meet Vlad again, I also purchased and cleaned up a missing shield that sits below the transmission from him, so he was kind enough to swing by and install it along with an air pump hose connection to the catalytic converter, so the car should be ready for emissions soon.



Planning to set up an alignment appointment with Mach V, and then the new wheels should hopefully be here this week.  Then to continue amassing bits and pieces for the winter downtime, starting with an ACT Street clutch because I'm totally at my wits end with the unsprung 6 puck being as grabby as it is!

[Beej]

Fuckin' dope car, and I love the direction you're going with it. About time someone in MM had one of these things.

[CaptainHenreh]

Vlad, он работает на водку, да?

[Ryan T]

Vlad, он работает на водку, да?

but just the tip 

[Goodspeed]

Fikses landed today   I still can't believe the stars aligned such that I got my mitts on these:





They were definitely ridden hard and put away wet, so the finish on each needs some love to bring them back 100%.  I washed them and hit the lips with some metal polish by hand which definitely helped, but I need to really do more
homework on how to care for these.  

Also, it just may be worth it to have a local shop go to town on them - the Technipolish finish on the centers is a machined finish that is then clearcoated, and the coating is a little weak in spots together with some general wear and tear - so a re-machinging/re-clearing and polishing of the lips & barrels may be in order.  They look pretty damn incredible currently, but I think it'd be worth it to go that last mile, we'll see.



One more pic from the previous host. I'm starting to go back on the '99 front end conversion as it's turning out to be much harder than I imagined to find one; I have always liked the '93 front in its own right, and this shot is making me fall for it harder and harder.



Alignment appointment with Mach V is set for Friday, slowly but surely the list is getting checked off....

[.RJ]

YASSSSSSS

This is great. Gonna look real sharp on that car

[ViPER1313]

I'm a fan of the stock front end and stock amber-ish turn signals... doesn't need improvement.

[boosteddorito]

There is a 99 spec front bumper on facebook right now. Its white looks like decent condition. I'll post the link idk if you have to be in the group to see it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/mazdarx7parts/?fref=nf. Seller is Matthew TheTech Sweeney.

[Goodspeed]

There is a 99 spec front bumper on facebook right now. Its white looks like decent condition. I'll post the link idk if you have to be in the group to see it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/mazdarx7parts/?fref=nf. Seller is Matthew TheTech Sweeney.

Good catch! And you reminded me to join that group.  But argh - why did this have to show up now!?  Likely going to be a next-year purchase if it happens.  I'm going to be ordering all new exterior mouldings & trim, and weatherstripping today - I should fix what's broken before modding, or so I keep telling myself...

[*insertusernamehere*]

Mmmm i love all of this. All of it. Now someone just needs to buy an FB next. I gotta say, the engine bay disappoints me. So much clutter, bulk and lack of space. Very gorgeous regardless and i love the new wheels. I can't wait to see it at the car show.

[ScottyB]

i used this gif before in your 10th AE thread when you added the 6UL's, and i don't feel bad at all about using it again, because its the only appropriate response.



anyway.........i'll, ah....be in my bunk if you need me

[Goodspeed]

Mmmm i love all of this. All of it. Now someone just needs to buy an FB next. I gotta say, the engine bay disappoints me. So much clutter, bulk and lack of space. Very gorgeous regardless and i love the new wheels. I can't wait to see it at the car show.

Yeah buddy, I *hope* to have everything planned done by then, it'll be a squeeze but fingers crossed. Totally agreed on the bay, there's a lot of cleaning up to do in there. Can't do much about the tight quarters, but brightening everything up should go a long way - can't wait to get all OCD on it and bring it to the cleanliness level of the Miata:

i used this gif before in your 10th AE thread when you added the 6UL's, and i don't feel bad at all about using it again, because its the only appropriate response.

Great Scott, throwback!  I remember that post, honored that you grace me with its presence once more.  I got a very fair quote from a wheel repair shop in Fairfax to have them refinished and cleaned up so they'll definitely be worthy of that gif once complete.  I plan to drop them off in the next couple of weeks - I couldn't not full-ass it with these.

Minor updates - on Friday I visited Mach V in Sterling for an alignment.  Turns out the car had 0.4 positive front camber, lolwut.  Aligned to popular specs from a longtime RX-7 racer & guru (Howard Coleman) and so far no complaints - turn-in is of course much improved and the car settles into the twisty bits more confidently for sure.






Then a spec of dust landed on it so I had to remove such sick filth





Then Dad and I attended Katie's C&C in Great Falls on Saturday:





And this Sunday morning I put the most miles on it in one day so far by driving out to both the Dulles and Leesburg C&C events - have to take advantage of this weather!  Chatted with a fellow FD guy who was parked up next to a low-mile MKIV hardtop that must be worth approximately 17 billion dollars.  



And in Leesburg, met up with Joey and Zach which was good times - definitely a much more relaxed atmosphere, if the grayhair cranking up his antique record player to provide the tunes is any indication, versus the endless oontz oontz of Dulles.  Had some requests for video of the car, so Joey gets to star in its first feature film debut  :

[SlimKlim]

I'm honored. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this thing since yesterday.

[*insertusernamehere*]

I feel like all of MM has just been by mach V for something or the other this past 2 weeks lol

Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

[Goodspeed]

Nothing much new to report, other than the hatch is filled up with parts and it's starting to overflow into the garage:



This thread will probably be pretty dormant for the rest of the year at least - the plan is to slowly accumulate OEM & aftermarket parts for a "restomod" process to be performed sometime early next year at the earliest.  

I also discovered after the last drive that some oil has started to get swept onto the midpipe while driving which then smokes off when parked, so that's a risk that means I won't be driving it until I ascertain exactly where that's coming from - I've only had the chance to get underneath it briefly after the last drive so I'll hopefully know more this weekend.  The oil pan is notorious on the 13B for leaking and there are proven fixes out there, so I'm wondering if that's the culprit - it’s a fix I plan to do regardless to ward off any future issues, and together with the planned clutch replacement, chances are high that the motor will just get pulled at whichever rotary shop the car visits, which (if I know myself, and I do) will lead me down the “while you’re in there” rabbit hole…

[SlimKlim]

Never change Goody, never change.

Lemme know if you're planning any wrench days on this thing.

[Tyler.M]

Dammit, now I want one of these, too.

[Goodspeed]

Will do on the wrench day planning if much happens here in this area. I'm thinking what'll eventually happen is I'll have enough parts to fill a truck bed, and I'll need to beg/borrow/steal a MM'ers truck and trailer, or arrange shipping again to get the car and everything with it to one of the shops that I have in mind - that could be as far as the NYC area (I'm not sure how commercial auto transport works with extra parts...). Definitely way early, but welcome ideas regardless.

The reasoning for this, and what's more than a bit annoying, is that I'm basically hamstrung in the order of operations when it comes to wrenching on the car. It all centers around the ECU and tuning - I can't add any more power (adding or uncorking) parts to the car without risking overboosting & detonation on the stock computer - one ping and I'm taking the bus. The A'PEXi ECU should be a godsend once installed, but in order to save time and money with tuning (not to mention travel back and forth from said tuner), it'll be best to have the same shop that does the mapping also install all the parts in one fell swoop right before it hits the rollers. And since they'll be elbow deep in car anyways, I'll probably just have them install and perform some of the "restoration" steps as well. I'd like to be able to do more myself - I suppose the brakes will be a home job, so there's that.

So, given said timetable the car will probably stay as-is for a good while - but, the aforementioned "while you're in there" creep could then by that time likely, and more comfortably, accommodate a motor freshening and perhaps a set of upgraded/rebuilt twin turbos : )

Tracked down the "oil leak" to actually being a rear transmission output seal leak, so thankfully not something as immediately worrisome as an issue with the oil pan or turbos. Will be sorting that out along with the clutch in the nearer term.

Tyler - come to the darkside. Rotaries are pretty rad.

[Tyler.M]

If only I had the mechanical fortitude to take care of it like I should. Are you planning to track/autocross this at all or is this going to be a cruiser?

[Senor_Taylor]

Will do on the wrench day planning if much happens here in this area.  I'm thinking what'll eventually happen is I'll have enough parts to fill a truck bed, and I'll need to beg/borrow/steal a MM'ers truck and trailer, or arrange shipping again to get the car and everything with it to one of the shops that I have in mind - that could be as far as the NYC area (I'm not sure how commercial auto transport works with extra parts...).  Definitely way early, but welcome ideas regardless.

Road trip. Joey, you in? My 4runner is pretty comfortable inside.