RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

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Kaerar
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RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

Post by Kaerar »

Well after acquiring an FC RX-7 a couple of years back and having a bit of bad luck with a mates Ford and a Kangaroo I have been pining to get it back on the road or at least a replacement. Well the time has come and I've nabbed a non-running car for $2500. There are a few issues though:
  • (*) First up is the rear wing on the new car is as buggered as the one on mine, so going to have to order a new one or get a fibreglass one made up.
    (*) Second is that I need to get my motor running again. Means taking it out, and cleaning it up a bit (not too bad) and hopefully no new seals needed.
    (*) Third is the Diff. My diff is missing a stub axle currently (dunno where it's got to!) and the diff on the new car is an unknown quantity. Hope it's an LSD, otherwise I have a diff transplant happening too.
    (*) It also has the most god awful bomex style bodykit on it. Trying to source some stock parts but I think I may just get them cloned without the bumperstrips. Smooth the shape off nicely :)
Once that's done it should be good for harassing coppers again :D

Pics to follow upon delivery...
Last edited by Kaerar on 27 Oct 2010, 11:01, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

Post by boganbusman »

Kaerar wrote:Once that's done it should be good for harassing coppers again :D
Good luck with that . . .

I know that if I get pulled over in my MR2 just once, it would be taken off the road forever. So harrassing cops is probably not the way to go. It doesn't even matter if your car is road legal, they will just make up a fine/defect because you annoyed them.

Good luck with the build though, looking forward to some pics.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

Post by Kaerar »

That was meant to be facetious :P
Also a topic for a different thread. Great fun though as they have no jurisdiction over International Licences ;)
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

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Kaerar wrote:Great fun though as they have no jurisdiction over International Licences ;)
Er, okay, but they still have jurisdiction over your car :|

Sorry for going off-topic anyway... I noticed that you're not really a 'local' so just making sure that you know cops around here are ars3holes.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

Post by Kaerar »

Yeah can this topic stay about my car build please ;)

Continue the cops chat here
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

Post by Zotic+ »

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2010/08 ... uring.aspx i =f you keep on scrolling down a little you can see this sick FC, maybe that would be nice kit you would want?
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

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Not bad, the front bar is similar to what I have in mind, though the rear diffuser is different. I'm aiming to go Side Exit if I can but with the way the engine mounts it may be tricky. If I can I'll be exiting before the rear right tire. The bottom gets the venturi treatment, and the back gets a proper diffuser based off the original bumper with the strip removed.

As you probably guessed I couldn't give a fig about the ADR's here, so eventually roll cage with 4 points too. All depends on part availability, and of course funds ;)

Should be arriving this week :D
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

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pics?
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

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Kaerar wrote:Not bad, the front bar is similar to what I have in mind, though the rear diffuser is different. I'm aiming to go Side Exit if I can but with the way the engine mounts it may be tricky. If I can I'll be exiting before the rear right tire.
Side exits are astonishingly, brain-bleedingly loud. I tried routing a side exit on my S2 from the cat but had nowhere to fit a silencer. I ran it about a week like that, popping and flaming, scaring small children and igniting dogs by the side of the road. I then lost my hear in both my ears, and when I took it to the track they wouldn't let me run. I've got no idea why they wouldn't let me run, cos I couldn't hear them over the noise of the car. ;)

It was awesome for oooh, about 15 minues. Then tedious. Then painful. Seriously, about 115db at 4000rpm. I ended up switching back to my homebrew miltek/high-flow cat/S1 Quattro downpipe and mani with T04 flange combination.

If I'd cut a chunk of floorpan out and welded in a box section to fit a silencer, I would have run it like that. Unfortunately due to the driveshaft sitting rather centrally, the manifold coming down the drivers side and the fact I couldn't exactly weld a box section under my seat, I couldn't do it- there was no way I was going to route it over or under the driveshaft.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

Post by Kaerar »

Pics are coming. Just got the second shell here only to find it's got tons of rust compared to mine though admittedly no damage ;)

So gotta get it stripped and sanded, then painted and back again :(

I have a plan for the side exit as I've had a couple before and yup they were stupidly loud, though the 205 was great fun for scaring everything :D
I can get these very good noise damping mufflers that are known as hotdogs here. Very small in diameter and if you stick 3-4 in series through an exhaust system you don't need a huge muffler (like most RX's). Seeing as they are about $100 per section ($400 for the Carbon ones...) I thought I'd give them a trial and if they work then use them. If not it's going to be a single through to the back. Oddly enough though last time I had a straight through there was barely any cabin noise, but anyone behind me got seriously deafened :D
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

Post by steelsnake00 »

Kaerar wrote:I have a plan for the side exit as I've had a couple before and yup they were stupidly loud, though the 205 was great fun for scaring everything :D
I swear that side exit systems are the only ones in existence where the volume is louder on forced induction cars than N/A ones. Mind you, that might have been due to a combination of the wastegate venting into the pipework and the early I-can't-believe-it's-not-anti-lag mapping. I kid you not, I saw foot-long flames out of that exhaust. Properly dangerous stuff.

I might set up my bike exhaust as an underbelly straight through, but I fear that might be even louder than the S2's was.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

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LOL, yeah the side exits can get loud hence the 3 small mufflers instead of 1 massive one. Problem is Rotary's have a habit of blowing the muffler contents straight out the back/side usually accompanied by a foot long flame...

My last RX-7 still had a twin exhaust system on it and used to fire a good foot or longer on downshift :D
That even had it's innards still in the muffler!!!

EDIT: BALLS...
Looks like I'm going to have to sell this car and wait until about March next year. Kinda need the cash at the moment so will continue the build on an S5 chassis instead...
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - Finally!

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Kaerar wrote:LOL, yeah the side exits can get loud hence the 3 small mufflers instead of 1 massive one. Problem is Rotary's have a habit of blowing the muffler contents straight out the back/side usually accompanied by a foot long flame...
How often was that followed by what was left of the Apex seals? ;)

Shame about the slowing of progress, I was interested to see where this one was going.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

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It's slowed mainly because I can get about 4K for this one as is, and get a good condition S5 from Japan landed and unregistered for about 4K...

Also the Japan one is guaranteed rust free whereas this one has been mistreated and needs a full body recondition. Seeing as that costs a lot, I'll have to punt for the easier route of grab the S5 chassis and do it that way.

Also gives me more time to find an engineer who builds engines...
I have plans for a rather different engine replacement and it needs a Supra gearbox (unless you know of a stronger manual box that's relatively stock and fits in the stock Mazda housing) :D
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

Post by boganbusman »

Supra Getrag is the way to go. The Holden/Chev guys around here seem to love them, and therefore you can get a new one (or just parts) from any shop that deals in drag racing gear. Not to mention that reco'd and s/h units are all over the place too.

If you're making enough torque to smash a V160 (unlikely with a rotary eh) then you'd probably want to start looking at autos.
Unless you want to fork out for a proper race 'box.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

Post by steelsnake00 »

boganbusman wrote:Supra Getrag is the way to go. The Holden/Chev guys around here seem to love them, and therefore you can get a new one (or just parts) from any shop that deals in drag racing gear. Not to mention that reco'd and s/h units are all over the place too.

If you're making enough torque to smash a V160 (unlikely with a rotary eh) then you'd probably want to start looking at autos.
Unless you want to fork out for a proper race 'box.
E36 M3 box might also be worth a look. Pretty much identical to the Supra one AFAIK, but unless I'm mistaken the ratios are a little closer. They'll take up to about 700bhp without needing any real reinforcement and people have seen north of 1000bhp with nigh-on standard boxes.
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

Post by Kaerar »

The M3 sounds like a good idea, dunno how easy it'll be to get fitted to the chassis, but I'll give it a go if I can find and fund one. Thing is the new motor is gonna chuck out tons of torque (300ish Bhp and roughly 450lb-ft of torque) vs power.

Though I need to get a new chassis now. Both my current ones aren't suitable :(

So the long process of selling what I have and getting new stuff starts again...

However the result will be a damn good FC :D
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Re: RX-7 FC rebuild - False Start...

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Kaerar wrote:The M3 sounds like a good idea, dunno how easy it'll be to get fitted to the chassis, but I'll give it a go if I can find and fund one. Thing is the new motor is gonna chuck out tons of torque (300ish Bhp and roughly 450lb-ft of torque) vs power.

Though I need to get a new chassis now. Both my current ones aren't suitable :(

So the long process of selling what I have and getting new stuff starts again...

However the result will be a damn good FC :D
A few people have pushed 800lb ft+ through the E36 M3 box on standard ratios. Usually with heat-treated or otherwise hardened gearsets but they seem pretty sturdy. Like I said, they're basically the same Getrag 6-speed as in the Supra, with different ratios. Even the casings are the same size- hence why the 2JZ swap is so common on budget drift BMWs.
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