Project FD RX-7

[JPolen01]

I thought that shop name sounded familiar. Please don't do it Goodspeed!

[Goodspeed]

Oh damn, when did that happen? The one out near my parent's house has always been good to me, and I used to see lots of enthusiast/higher end cars getting work done there, so they were first to mind if I had to drive the car a couple of miles to a shop. Hrm, good to know, I'll try to find another business.

[.RJ]

Those were the jabronis that couldnt keep my lug bolts straight

[Jake]

Deren at Mach V is the easy button.

[Goodspeed]

So I linked up with a fellow FD guy from the area via the RX7 boards, who does a decent amount of side work servicing them either in his garage or by traveling. He's planned to come over this weekend so we can crack on with the fuel issue and generally geek out diagnosing other systems.

Deren at Mach V is the easy button.

Good call, I was really hesitant about driving the car even a short distance, so I'm glad the above option came my way but I'll definitely keep them in mind for the future :thumbup:

[Goodspeed]

Hey MM, meet Vlad:



To call Vlad a rotary whisperer would be an understatement. Vlad's got a couple FD's (including one of the 500 '95 models) and offered his services when called upon to first and foremost perform a compression test with a proper rotary tester, as well as to check out the fuel issue and give the car a general once over.



Good news: the FPD doesn't seem to have gone out after all. I pre-emptively ordered a replacement kit, so it'll be getting changed sooner rather than later just cuz, but it turns out that catless rotaries that are running rich just stink like you wouldn't believe and the gas smell was overpowering a closed garage.

Once that potential cluster was avoided, Vlad set to work performing the compression test. There I sat, behind the wheel, listening to the "PAT-A-PAT-A-PAT-A" twice over as I cranked the key, a single perfect bead of sweat cresting my furrowed brow each time. Worry had no reason in this instance:

On a cold motor:

Front rotor: 92 - 90 - 90 psi @ 226 rpm
Rear rotor: 101 - 94 -101 @ 227 rpm

Numbers would go up on a warmed up engine, so signs point to a healthy motor

Beyond that, the Bönez catted mid-pipe was installed along with a new set of NGK platinums. Oh, and a heap of janky dicking-about by previous hands was undone: boost leaks were found and fixed, a handful of vacuum lines were reset properly, the goofy "Engine Start" button install was undone, and some haggard stereo wiring was vacated from the dash. There's a few things yet to do, and a few OEM parts from his "FD parts shed" that will likely find their way on the car, so a round 2 will likely be in the near future.

Result: the car runs SO much better now. I knew the car was stumbling, hunting to idle, and generally falling flat last I drove it (last Sunday) and that's all gone now, to hilarious effect. From the passenger seat, as Vlad and I took a quick blast up and down the parkway, the sequential turbo's went through their "10-8-10" psi (stock boost) transition around 4500rpm which was fun as all get out - shove, pause, bigger shove. God I missed boost - the car just squirts *rightnow* and driving around this evening had me falling pretty hard for this wacky little motor and its turbos. This is going to be a fun car with a few more bolt-on's and a bit more boost.



Speaking of, my A'Pexi Power FC ECU landed today from Japan, so fingers crossed I can get through my one and only emissions inspection before this becomes an antique, and I can then green-light the deletion of a lot of emissions complexity (will remain catted) and give it a solid tune. Back home in Vienna for the weekend, I think I'll take the long way to everywhere tomorrow.

[.RJ]

one and only emissions inspection before this becomes an antique

I swear to god I am stuck in some kind of automotive time warp where cars dont really age.

Your FD looks fucking fantastic and I'd be proud to drive that thing around. I saw an E36 M3 for sale in money shape and thought its a damn good thing its silver, because I'd sell my 135 to be able to own that. And so on it goes... guess I should post a new project thread :twisted:

[CaptainHenreh]

I approve of all of this.

[boosteddorito]

Build the Rotary!! I don't think we've met but I'm a current T2 FC owner graduated 2017. Rx7s have run in our family.... Dad had a 87 GxL and me and my brother currentl have Turbo IIs. I don't know where your at but if you ever need a really solid rotary shop theres Angel Motorsports in Chesapeake and Advanced Rotary Performance in Jersey I think. I've had good experience with Angel. All I can say is PREMIX. Idemetsu works real well but for longevity its highly recommended. The casting for the TTs tends to crack eventually and thats generally the point when everyone goes single. The Power Commanders can run a single set up but if you ever want a real nice Standalone set up Adaptronic makes a plug and play ecu for the FD ,currently a few on facebook marketplace, and they do everything you could ever want. I have a pnp in my FC now. Im down in Norfolk about 20 minutes from angel motorsports. Let me know if you need any help. I have ripped apart many a rotary.

[Senor_Taylor]

Dr. Nut knows his stuff^^^^^

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Goodspeed]

Build the Rotary!! I don't think we've met but I'm a current T2 FC owner graduated 2017. Rx7s have run in our family.... Dad had a 87 GxL and me and my brother currentl have Turbo IIs. I don't know where your at but if you ever need a really solid rotary shop theres Angel Motorsports in Chesapeake and Advanced Rotary Performance in Jersey I think. I've had good experience with Angel. All I can say is PREMIX. Idemetsu works real well but for longevity its highly recommended. The casting for the TTs tends to crack eventually and thats generally the point when everyone goes single. The Power Commanders can run a single set up but if you ever want a real nice Standalone set up Adaptronic makes a plug and play ecu for the FD ,currently a few on facebook marketplace, and they do everything you could ever want. I have a pnp in my FC now. Im down in Norfolk about 20 minutes from angel motorsports. Let me know if you need any help. I have ripped apart many a rotary.

Hi (Dr. Nut)! I don't believe we've met either but the reputation of your car precedes you, I've heard hilarious things about your T2

I just recently heard about Angel - I got in touch with Unique Precision Rotary in MD as well and plan to visit their shop as a possible candidate to work on the car over the winter, but good to know there's several competent rotary shops up and down the Mid-A into the NE. I definitely plan to start a premix regimen with every fill up - in fact, I'm at about a half-tank currently and am hoping I can get some Idemitsu in before the next tank.

The twins vs. single discussion was actually a big part of my talk with Mike @ UPR - he was definitely in the small-single camp for simplicity's sake (and, one must assume, the chance to sell a 'spensive single kit), but I was sold on the twins from the first sorted WOT run in the car. If they crap out that'll be another discussion, but for now I can't explain it any better than Fritz over on RX7Club:

DON'T give up on the twins because they are the single coolest thing about this car for street driving from the down low response/torque to the super cool feeling that the extra boost of the secondary coming on line provides (priceless stuff and one of the hallmarks/trademarks of this car). I've driven them all and nothing comes close to a really nice twin turbo FD for having fun around town or out in the country/mountains.

Thank you for the offer to help and share knowledge, seriously - the rotary community has so far felt very tight-knit and it's much appreciated to a noob like me :thumbup:

In other news I got my Greddy stock-mount intercooler in the mail today. They're not made anymore and I was lucky to stumble on one that was lightly used and kept in a storage unit for many years. It needs some polishing up so I'll have some befores-and-afters before long, but the end result will look like:



^That is my engine bay role-model. Unfortunately the $800+ dollar AutoExe carbon intake is a bit out of reach at the moment, but I plan to get somewhere similar once I have the time to do some serious cleaning up under the hood.

I also received some URAS '99+ turn signals, that are OEM replicas but are de-ambered, like this:





The '99 front end conversion is a ways off, but I wanted to make sure I got my hands on these which I found via RHDJapan, which I'll pause and state for the record was an extremely painless process - think of it as a western introduction to the vast JDM marketplace and all the little boutique shops in Japan. So glad to have them as a resource as I was worried I'd have to crawl and decipher Yahoo!Japan auctions or some such for a set.

Speaking of being lucky to stumble on rare, slightly used parts, I.....uggghhhh I shouldn't have done this, but I also bought a set of (metal things) that may very well be 1 of 1 in the US and exactly what I had in mind for the car. When I realized they were being offered at a fraction of the cost to duplicate new, and in excellent shape with the chances of finding them again being zero to nil, I had to get it on.



Shifter rebuild kit from Pettit Racing on the way as well, time to kill the slop in what feels like the untouched 23 year old original. More pics to come once the dust of walletpocalypse settles and I get some time with the car

[fiveoh2go]

Speaking of being lucky to stumble on rare, slightly used parts, I.....uggghhhh I shouldn't have done this, but I also bought a set of (metal things) that may very well be 1 of 1 in the US and exactly what I had in mind for the car.

Killin it bruh :thumbup:

[.RJ]

I also bought a set of (metal things) that may very well be 1 of 1 in the US

Dorito-shaped anal beads?

[JPolen01]

That description from Fritz sounds glorious. I've never experienced a rotary let alone a twin turbo. I need a ride ASAP. The intercooler is going to look so baller as well.

[ViPER1313]

Expecting these

[Goodspeed]

Killin it bruh :thumbup:

That description from Fritz sounds glorious. I've never experienced a rotary let alone a twin turbo. I need a ride ASAP. The intercooler is going to look so baller as well.

It's definitely a characterful part of the car - I totally get that modern turbos are the bees knees and can make all the horsepowers with few if any drawbacks, but I don't really want to sacrifice the experience for modernity's sake. Going single is total overkill for my power goals too.

I also bought a set of (metal things) that may very well be 1 of 1 in the US

Dorito-shaped anal beads?

Expecting these

Close! I thought I'd be able to resist spilling the beans until they get here but what the hell. So, I stumbled on this '95 Chaste White base-model FD (1 of 13) on Instagram a while back and fell in love, largely because it was adorned with a set of perhaps my favorite aftermarket wheels, Fikse Profil 13's.





Lo and behold, the car popped up for sale on RX7Club a few weeks ago and was sold almost instantaneously to a seemingly long-time FD owner/builder/enthusiast in Tennessee. He hinted in a post that he may change the wheel setup on the car, so I dropped him a line and ended up purchasing the wheel & tire package off this car.

I've never seen another set on a FD - my 1 of 1 statement is a stretch, but who knows - and I've always loved Fikse wheels for their clean, simple designs and knew one day I'd have a set on something. I just never would've thought the stars would've aligned on getting this exact set They're 17x8.5 front, 17x10 rear so a modest +1 bump that'll maintain enough sidewall for some street comfort and protection from DC area roads.

They should be here next week, not quite sure exactly when they'll find their way on the car as I'm sure mounting them will push me to lower the car a hair and suspension work is probably last on the list with how well the car rides and handles currently, but we'll see.

[Jake]

Ooh, those will look good!

[boosteddorito]

I would definitely get in on the facebook marketplace. Theres occasionally some FD gold to be collected.You'll have to come out to East Coast Rotary Classic next Summer. I would have to agree on the uniqueness of the twins. I'd keep them as long as possible and when they go then consider single. I've met a couple guys that have done hybrid set ups on their twins (so they can keep stock manifold) in order to make a bit more power reliably. In the end you'll take them off once or get charged labor to take them off and you'll hate yourself. Single set ups are cool and all but everyone has them. Angel motorsports built a twin turbo T2 in a FC and I got to see that car up close. They weren't a sequential set up but pretty damn cool. Looking forward to your build. Whats the oil cooler and radiator status?

[.RJ]

East Coast Rotary Classic

Great, a whole festival of unmuffled rotaries revving their nuts off :lol:

[Goodspeed]

Ooh, those will look good!

Yesss, they're in the Technipolish finish which I'm definitely excited for :o

I would definitely get in on the facebook marketplace. Theres occasionally some FD gold to be collected.You'll have to come out to East Coast Rotary Classic next Summer. I would have to agree on the uniqueness of the twins. I'd keep them as long as possible and when they go then consider single. I've met a couple guys that have done hybrid set ups on their twins (so they can keep stock manifold) in order to make a bit more power reliably. In the end you'll take them off once or get charged labor to take them off and you'll hate yourself. Single set ups are cool and all but everyone has them. Angel motorsports built a twin turbo T2 in a FC and I got to see that car up close. They weren't a sequential set up but pretty damn cool. Looking forward to your build. Whats the oil cooler and radiator status?

Good deal, I'll check out the FB page. To edit my earlier comment, if the twins went out, I'd probably go BNR uprated twins in their place and keep them sequential. They're just too much fun, and the "holy cow" moment my Dad had on an on-ramp the other day when the secondary came online was priceless :lol: The radiator is some form of aluminum unit (not sure on brand) with Samco hoses, and the oil cooler is the original, factory single unit on the driver's side. I un-bent some of the fins but it's on the list to get replaced - looking at SakeBomb Garage's kit currently.

East Coast Rotary Classic

Great, a whole festival of unmuffled rotaries revving their nuts off :lol:

Man, you just gave me a throwback moment to being at the NASA Nats in 2010 and getting my ears asploded by the Renesis RX-8 & Formula cars, they were so god damned loud :lol: