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theorie's new Daily Driver. 1993 BB Base Model Build
As some of you might know, I'm currently building a single-turbo 20B SSM 1993 RX-7 "weekend warrior". In the mean time, I picked up a second FD to drive around town / take to meets / maybe do the occasional track day / etc.
I bought this car locally and got a really good deal on it. The owner move out of the country and left the car sitting for several months before I was finally able to convince him to sell it to me. I picked up the car last Friday as an early birthday present to myself. The first thing I did, before even taking the car home, was to install a RE-Amemiya Dolphin Tail cat-back exhaust. http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1380931899 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1380931842 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1380931912 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1380931846 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381191153 Step two: Install SakeBomb Garage HID Projector Headlights: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381191153 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192671 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192684 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192699 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192716 |
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192716
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192716 The interior was tan with red seats. Pulled out everything that was tan and replaced it with black, except for the carpet and headliner. http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192729 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192730 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1381192730 |
Nice buy! Looks super well kept.
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Awesome. Love the plate
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Not sure what happened but there are posts missing from this thread. Forum hiccup or something. Anyway, I'll repost the photos that disappeared.
I installed an Innovate MTX-L boost gauge in a center-speaker dual pod: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382716715 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382716715 Also got a new downpipe and a Bonez resonated midpipe. Decided to wrap both with Titanium exhaust wrap. I also had Advanced Race Technology weld a bung for the wideband's O2 sensor. http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382716269 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382716269 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382716287 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382716324 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382921108 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382921108 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382921118 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1382921118 |
Somehow I forgot to post photos from the other day when I had the car's paint professionally detailed. The back-story is that that this car had a brand new (and very nice) paint job done about a year and 1/2 ago. It then sat outside in an industrial park for several months. There was even a cement factory nearby so there was a lot of dust sitting on top of the paint that wouldn't come out from normal washing. I didn't want to risk messing up the paint, so I brought in a professional to work his magic.
It took the guy an entire morning, but the results were night & day. What originally felt like sandpaper to the touch came out smooth as silk. Here are a few after photos: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383233920 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383233803 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383233921 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383233964 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383233974 The silver car's new heart sitting in the background... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383233964 |
Last night I swapped out the downpipe and resonated midpipe that were on the car. Apparently the previous owner had these "custom made" by a truck exhaust shop...I think the photos speak for themselves. The car didn't sound very good and clearly had some exhaust leaks (you can see where some of the welds were leaking).
I swapped them out with the downpipe and Bonez resonated midpipe that I wrapped. Just swapping them out changed the tone of the exhaust dramatically. It's now a bit quieter, and the tone is deeper than before. Definitely happy with the results. I'll have to get a video at some point... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383247097 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383246893 Check out the awesome crushed-bend...I'm sure that flows really well... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383246893 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383247238 Nice leaking weld on the midpipe... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383247092 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383247097 |
I was parked and rev'ing the motor and out of nowhere the rear main popped out. I heard a loud pop but thought it was just a backfire. Next thing I noticed there was oil under the car. Seemed like it was coming out of the bell housing and when I looked in with a flashlight I could see the rear main popped out.
2 hours later, had the transmission off and pulled out the rear main. It had a slice in the side and also part of the center lip was torn. I had to wait 2 days to get a new one, but got it, installed it, and bolted everything back together last night. I decided to swap-on my spare 5-speed transmission (off my SSM) since the black car's transmission had the 4th-to-5th gear grind and way less miles on it. Check out the differences in the rear main seals in the pics. I think the new one should hold up a lot better. http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703831 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703813 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703814 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703804 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703831 Out with the old... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703804 Old rear main on the left, new on the right. Obviously not all seals are created equally... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703853 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1383703854 |
Any numbers or brand on the old seal? I guess it was supplied with a non OEM rebuild kit.
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nice car. i like what you're doing so far.
question: what theme plate is that? i've never seen that at the DMV before. |
^ He painted that plate and put stickers on it for the numbers.
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Installed the dual Setrab 25-row oil coolers (SakeBomb Garage kit) that I used to have on the silver FD. I realized I would need different lines (and maybe different brackets since I plan to use a different bumper) so I put the kit on the black FD. Few pics...
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1384789925 Off with the old: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1384790620 On with the new: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1384790617 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1384789926 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1384789926 Lines, crash bar, and ducting installed: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1384789926 Was gonna get a shot of the coolers with the bumper installed, but it was too dark outside after I did a test drive and checked for leaks. |
Your car seems to sit lower than stock. Do you know what kit was used on it to lower the stance? I love the look of that and want the same for mine.
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That's one bad ass daily driver. I also like the look and stance. I would do that with mine but ohio roads suck. I have to keep my cars stock just to get into my driveway.shit
I'm movin to fla. |
Nice find. I wish my rust bucket had half the stuff you got there. lol keep at it.
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Here's the wing I recently designed & fabricated. It attaches to the car WITHOUT any permanent modifications to the car - no cutting / no drilling. I designed this because I want to have a wing for weekend track time, but didn't want to drill holes in my trunk lid. This is the prototype - I'm going to run a group buy once I finish the design work and complete testing. The setup uses an APR GTC-300 carbon fiber airfoil. The risers are 6061 aluminum and the brackets (inside the bumper / under the car) are steel.
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1590.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1570.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1598.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1577.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1573.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1592.jpg And here are a couple photos with the bumper off to show how it attaches to the rear of the car: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1517.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1518.jpg |
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So....how about an update. Well, I'm currently with not one, but TWO non-running RX-7s. ..here's the story.
When I bought the black car, I knew it had an issue and wasn't running right. Everything I diagnosed pointed to bad injectors. I swapped the primary injectors and the car still wouldn't run right. Then I thought it might be the ignition system causing a problem on one rotor. Swapped all the ignition system (with the ignition system off my silver car) and even ohm'ed out the wiring harness. Everything was fine. Finally I caved and did a compression test...bad results - the front rotor was making very, very low compression. I also noticed that the oil system was getting pressurized, so I realized the problem may be one/multiple side seals on one rotor. I hoped they were only "stuck" since the car sat for so long (and previously was running rich due to leaky primary injectors), so I gave the old "steam cleaning" method a go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e46zbcJ8Hg Well, unfortunately that didn't help...even after the "steam cleaning" the motor was having starting problems and barely idled. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-H_XJwseOc So I guessed the motor had bad side seals and decided to pull it. I've been super busy with work and decided it would be easier to ship the motor to IR Performance to pull it apart and do a rebuild. Rich (GoodfellaFD3S) got the motor and cracked it open. He quickly found the problem: all of the side seals on the front rotor's front-most face were broken. Here's why: when I rebuilt the motor for the previous owner, he provided me with a set of new (used) irons that had been previously ported by another shop. I inspected them and thought they were good to use, but it turns out the front iron was just ever-so-slightly over ported and it was causing the side seals to catch/chip and eventually break. I bought a new (used) set of ported irons from IRP and they even cleaned up the ports for me. Here's a shot that Rich sent me: http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1392138669 Hopefully I get the motor back soon because I hate having 2 non-running FDs. lol |
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More recent update:
Shouldn't be down for too much longer. The motor is getting buttoned-up this week by Rich "GoodfellaFD3S" Farrell up at IR Performance. He said he can likely ship it back to me within the next several days. I also decided I'm going to single-turbo the black car while the motor is out. The stock turbos that were on there were really bad and I didn't want to even bother putting them back on a new motor. I have several sets of disassembled twins sitting around, but I'm really tired of building "franken-twins" at least once a year since I can't get new parts and they don't last long at the boost level I'm hoping to push on this car (1bar). I talked to my friend Kirk, owner of The Boost Lab in Tampa, Florida, and he's suggested for a street 13B-REW I should go with the Borg Warner S363 turbo. Here are the specs on this turbo: Quote:
I was looking into the EFR line of turbos, specifically the models with the internal wastegate, but I decided against it. Here's why: First, obviously the price. The EFR turbos are far more expensive. Now, you would think the cost would be offset by not having to buy wastegates and also not needing a more-complex turbo exhaust manifold, but there's still a large gap in price when all is said and done. Second, and this is a big one, Borg Warner doesn't sell replacement parts for the EFR turbos...this means if a turbo ever needs servicing for non-warranty repairs, you can't get it. Let's say a motor goes and apex seals go through the turbo causing damage, well tough luck, time to buy a new turbo. Anyway, I think the S363 setup will be great for my needs and also fit to my budget. Here's the line item list new setup going into the Black car over the next few weeks: Street-Ported Rebuilt Motor from IRPerformance New Apex Seals from RXParts (figured I would put in something a little nicer while the motor was open) Borg Warner S363 turbo from The Boost Lab Custom Dual-Wastegate Turbo Manifold from Advanced Race Technology Dual Tial MV-S Wastegates from The Boost Lab Custom Downpipe from Advanced Race Technology Greddy Type-S BOV (already have, might upgrade though) *** I definitely want to thank all of the following people for helping me out with this build! *** IR Performance Advanced Race Technology The Boost Lab RX Parts I'll post some photos once I get the motor back from IR Performance and also the turbo parts from The Boost Lab - hopefully within the next 2 weeks. |
I didn't know you couldn't get replacement parts for the EFR turbos. That would have been nice to know before I bought mine lol.
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If anything damages that turbo and it's not covered under warranty, you have to buy a whole new turbo. :banghead: |
I'll have to check the terms of the warranty I guess. I do know the titanium alumide they use on the turbine wheel is supposed to harden when hot, but I'm not sure how hard they get and if it's durable enough to take a hit from an apex seal. Thanks for the heads up!
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Not much to report yet, but The Boost Lab sent me this teaser photo from my new turbo. In the background is the factory 7-blade cast wheel and in the front is their 11-blade billet wheel that will be going on my s363. I might have this turbo by the weekend, but I'm still waiting for the motor to come back from IRP. I think the motor should be back in a week or two and then it will be time to get the manifold fabricated.
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1393289486 |
The "IRP Stage 3" motor came back from IRPerformance. I also received my new turbo from The Boost Lab. At the last minute, I decided to go with the Borg Warner s366 instead of the BW s363 as previously planned. I won't get into the reasons why, but I think I'll be happy with this turbo.
I haven't had a chance to take any proper photos. I decided to clean up the waterpump housing and filler neck while it's off. It had some surface stains and was kinda of grimy. I also checked the thermostat which was dry rotted and needing to be replaced. I installed a Banzai Racing oil pan stud kit and have a brace to go on as well, but couldn't find my motor mount arms so I decided to wait on sealing the pan until I have those arms available. http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-06-205501.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-07-182659.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-07-183513.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-08-084859.jpg http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-08-190313.jpg I'm going to pick up a new thermostat and another set of motor mount arms today or tomorrow so I can get that oil pan sealed with the brace and start to put the accessories back on the short block. |
Nice and good info on the BW turbo.
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Any updated pics from the first page of the thread? Either they're not showing up anymore or the net is being crabby this morning here!
Was sad to see this car had been sold but I'm glad to see you're taking care of it quite nicely. Now that you've fixed all the problems, let me know if you decide to consider selling it. ;) |
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Dropped the motor in a few weeks ago then had the car brought over to Advanced Race Technology here in Sarasota, FL. He'll be making the manifold & downpipe.
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397781379 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397781378 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397781376 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397781408 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397781399 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397781380 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397780020 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397780020 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397780037 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397780037 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1397780020 |
Advanced Race Technology got started on my dual-wastegate single-turbo manifold...
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732957 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732858 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732956 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732861 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732861 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732862 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732865 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732864 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1398732955 Wastegate bungs, EGT bungs, dump-tubes, and downpipe to happen tomorrow... |
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Manifold, wastegates, dump tubes, and turbo installed. Decided to not ceramic coat the manifold yet because I want to have EGT bungs installed first - instead sprayed it with clear VHT header spray to keep the manifold from surface rusting. Not gonna bother with that now though because I really want to get the car back on the road. ART also finished fabricating the downpipe and I wrapped it. Car might be running by this weekend...hopefully.
http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1399070407 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1399070406 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1399070417 |
Boner tubes!
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anything to update this week, theorie? i just caught up on the last couple pages. very nice :)
i decided to go the other route (EFR 8374 IWG) instead of the airwerks series, mainly just to remove the complication of the dual wastegates, as the car sees a lot of track time. i was utilizing the MV-S water lines, and it was a little "complex," to say the least. at least the price of the expensive turbo was offset by a cheaper manifold and not having to purchase tial wastegates... i'm interested to see how your response and power is with your medium-long runner 366 setup compared to my shorty manifold and much smaller 8374. also: FD for a DAILY DRIVER? are you insane? :) |
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When I first went to start the car, the starter wouldn't crank. Got that fixed, then wasn't getting any power to the fuel injects. Got that fixed, then noticed the map sensor wasn't reading (it had no power or ground). All of these issues were due to me not hooking up wires from the X-05 connector on the MT engine harness. After fixing those wiring issues, the car fired right up. Had to lean out he fuel map, but so far the car has been driving great. The motor definitely has very strong compression (thanks IR Performance!!!) and runs great so far. Now the break in begins... |
I am convinced reading your threads forces me to spend money!
Sweet setup! |
Well I've had the car back for a few days now, so here's a half-assed update. No pretty photos yet because the car needs a serious detail and I've only had time to give it a quick hand wash.
The car is running great and I'm really looking forward to tuning and turning up the boost. I've been driving around keeping it under 4000rpm and the turbo really wants to start pushing positive boost. I keep having to ease off the throttle to prevent that. I think this turbo is gonna be a lot of fun on this car... I did a couple other things after getting the car back. As I mentioned before, this car was an auto-to-manual conversion and it was never really done right. I swapped the engine harness with a spare MT harness I had, when I installed the motor, but there were various other things that needed to get wired in, so I did those over the weekend. The first thing I did was wire the lower clutch switch inline after the OEM security relay - this makes it so the car won't start without the clutch to the floor. I also installed and wired in the upper clutch switch - the one that lets the ECU know the state of the clutch. I had to make the wiring for both since the car's AT "front harness" didn't have connectors for either. The car also had 4 different sets of locks on it for some reason...I one key for the ignition, one for the doors, one for the trunk, and one for the bins (didn't even have that key). I decided to take the key sets off my silver FD since that's becoming more of a track car anyway. After swapping those onto the black car, it now requires only one key for everything (except the bins, oh well). Swapping the door key cylinders was easy - each one took about 2 or 3 minutes to get the old one out and put the new one in. The trunk was kind of a pain because I had to partially remove the rear bumper. The ignition was a bit interesting - you can't just remove the cylinder, so the whole mechanism needs to be removed from the steering column. It's secured using two bolts but there's no hex or drive so you have to cut one using a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. After cutting a groove, you can screw them out using a flathead. Just for comparision, here's a pic of the automatic vs. manual versions - they're nearly identical except the automatic has some sort of extra sensor/switch. Now that my car is manual I'm pretty sure it's not needed to have that but I switched it over anyway. http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400506089 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400506089 AT ignition key mechanism on left, MT on right: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400507095 You can see where I had to cut grooves in the heads of the bolts to unscrew them: http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400507214 |
I believe that extra module on the automatic ignition is an interlock that prevents you from removing the key/shutting down the car unless the trans is in Park.
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Recharged the A/C yesterday using my Harbor Freight compressed-air-powered vacuum pump and A/C Manifold Gauge set.
I still had several bottles of ES-12a left over from the last time I charged my silver RX-7's A/C (that must have been like 4 years ago) and I had good results with that stuff so I used it again. The first thing I did was pull a vacuum on the system to check for leaks. I let it sit for over half an hour and found it held just fine (no leaks!) and then released the vacuum (since you're not supposed to charge with a vacuum when using ES-12a). I used about a can & 1/2 (and they are 6oz cans) to charge the system. At idle, this gave me about 45psi on the low side and 175 on the high side. The high side seems a little low, but that's expected when using this stuff, as I understand. Anyway it blows nice and cold now. Haven't done a temp test yet - just glad it's blowing cold air with FL summer heat coming... http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400679982 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400680000 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400680146 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400680000 http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g?m=1400679982 |
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