Project "Rally 7" - 84 GSL-SE
 

EDIT: I've been putting a new motor and getting it ready for race season for a few months now, I just never remember to post pics or info. Updates on page 3 and 4.

DOUBLE EDIT: My new motor blew before I could drive it. End of the Rally7? Stay tuned.


Action shots: page 1
SCCA Rallycross Nationals: page 3
The Beast gets a new heart: page 3
Replacing random things: page 4
Disaster strikes: page 5

This thread is dedicated to my two-tone abombination from Alabama. It's something a little bit different than what most people on here go for ... but I'll share anyway.

Well for some background I wanted to build a car for rally and race events. My last car was an 87 base model. Unfortunately the car was too nice to treat like this:

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5705/oldcarmr9.jpg

I sold that rx-7 and picked up a first gen instead. I currently autocross and rallycross this car with the SCCA. One day I hope to build the car to proper specs to enter stage rally. No hurry though.

It looked something like this when I got it (aka before I ruined it.)

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/894/originalzc6.jpg

I painted it Spring of 2008. I swapped doors for ones with manual locks/windows, and also swapped a wiperless rear hatch. We filled in the emblem holes, some rust holes, and the antenna hole. I like my paint scheme but no one else seems to :D. It's got to look good while crashing into a tree!

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/774/sanding1if5.jpg

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/827/sanding2wa3.jpg

Here's some action shots of the car.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7961/rx7wj6.jpg


http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/4...llclimbdi1.jpg


http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/8787/autox2kw3.jpg


http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/6050/autox1qx7.jpg


http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/4981/rx72kh8.jpg


http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/7859/fisheyeme0.jpg


If you are a sensitive viewer, turn away now. Here's some dirt action.


http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/4...carallyes5.jpg

i want to get in to rally cross, any tips on what i need ie gear, and car setup. i own a sa rx7 with a re-speed front and rear coil over kit, front sway bar.

depends on the place you run at. My friend Pete runs an FB and he has some interesting suspension modifications done, then again he runs modified two wheel (M2) and hangs with the M4 cars.

well if you have any tips let me know. guess i need to learn new lingo .

the biggest thing is low end power and as good of (rally) tires as your class allows. Everything else is based on many factors from the style of the course to the course conditions themselves (rough, smooth, etc)

well i plan on putting a turbo on my car this winter, do you think that would be a bad idea if i do do rally cross now and then.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7961/rx7wj6.jpg
^^^Nice pic. Is it ok for the tires to flex like that? Look at the inside of the, driver's side, tires.

that pic is not that bad.... iam 99% sure its due to tire pressure.

not sure how to explain / type this.
my uncles 914-6 race car had a weird suspension problem in the rear. the body and suspension flexed so much that the he was eating thru the side walls of his tiers.
it has a irs out back, say he was turing hard to the right the rear drivers side tire was trying to go under his car, ie towrds the left hand side of the car. in stead od the weight shifting and compressing the shock. the shock would be fully uncompressed and the tire would twist counter clock wise....... i know none of that make sense its hard for me to explain.

I have to run in M2 because the car has no interior. This leaves the car open to basically any modifications. I'm just going to go crazy. Your best bet is to run stock class and work on your driving until you get comfortable.

Honestly I wouldn't put money into much else than tires and suspension for a rallycross car. Making power isn't a big priority because you only have so much traction. A set of rally or snow tires will do wonders for the car.

As far as car setup, run as much negative camber as possible. I have also heard recommendations on removing the rear swaybar for the rx-7s. I will be doing this the next event to feel the difference. I have an old british book on tuning rally suspension but most of it goes above my head :D. Personally I like the solid rear axle and loose rear end. Getting some extra rotation definitely helps set up for the turns.

The guy who is setting up the course for this year's SCCA rallycross nationals runs a 1st gen rx-7 in our division. His car kicks ass, I'll try and find some pictures.

I think a small turbo will do fine, keep a broad power-band. If its something that takes 3K rpms to spool and then hits like a ton of bricks, thats probably a bad idea. Of course if you have a boost controller, just tune it down for low-traction conditions.

yeah, a turbo is slightly unpredictable (at least for me) It's easy to give it too much gas and then POW rear end slides. It wouldn't be too fun off road (unless you're a pro).

rallycrossing, as SOON as you even start to see boost, your turning again. The insta-boost subaru turbos have it bad, im sure a turbo II would almost never see a fully spooled turbo.

With a street port and something small like a GT30R with a good EBC you'd see boost very quickly.

That's a nice project! I am considering getting a Scooby coupe to stage rally some time in the future!

PS: http://www.optionimports.com/garrettgt30r.html

/\ Yum! :D

Mmm, rallycross. :D

I'm with Max777. One thing I've been wanting to do is find a Subaru Leone coupe/hatch, gut the interior, and throw an EJ207 in it. Something like this:

Car is looking sweet dude. So uh Pat...whats up with that navigator thing, lol.

If your serious I can try to get the car prepped for Sandblast Rally '09 :D

Oh yeah they shut down our office today, we all move to the AT&T AOC building next week :<.

Dang thats messed up, well not really. I think the AOC would be better IMO. And when will sandblast rally be

Sandblast huh? Isnt that a NASA event? My buddies run that usually in the '88 SE Rally FC. The only rally event we're hitting up this year is Black River in NY. Thus far, we're the only FC in the ESRC (they renamed it now, dont whats its called).. and there was ONE FB in the SCCA rallycross events two years ago, but after an engine failure during the event, havent seen him since...

RX7s actually do really well IMHO. We run stock class in the FC though, full interior :)

Yeah sandblast is a USRC event. It's supposedly good for beginners because the runoff is sand dunes. I worked the international rally new york last year, and may do it again this year. If that's the same as black river I may see you there.

I've gotten a lot of good information on setting up the RX-7s from specialstage.com . Luckily I'm not going to gave to figure a lot out myself. The one bummer for me is rally shocks are only available for the FC. I know I'll get my ass kicked in a prepped class RWD, but it will make me a better driver. When I get to a good level I'll swap to an AWD car.

Well I went to the RallyCross National Championship a couple weeks ago. I had to run in Modified 2-Wheel Drive, so I got my ass kicked by a bunch of FWD neons and VWs. The car is very competitive though, and with some more driving experience there's a lot of potential. I did see a car flip though, so a roll cage will be on my winter to-do list.

At the event I removed my rear swaybar to feel the difference. Lots more understeer, I probably won't put the stock one back on. I also started randomly removing interior bits for intimidation. It didn't work, but I'll probably end up stripping the rest out later now.

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/7431/rally1bl8.jpg

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7324/rally2gh2.jpg

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6624/rally3dw5.jpg


Here's the kind of cars I was up against. This is a mostly fiberglass ice-racing car from Michigan.

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/2887/iceracevq9.jpg


Here's some pictures of the Prepared Rear Champ's car

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1066/prchamptu4.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3500/prchamp2wl6.jpg


Oh yeah, my VW GTI has been down for the past 2 months and has been generally unreliable, so I picked up a new reliable daily driver instead.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8...desktopfl4.jpg

the new daily is more reliable than a NA MA70 supra anyway :D

Well I forget to update this. About 2 days after I got the 3rd gen, my 1st gen (that I had been racing, and driving to work daily) lost all compression. Go figure

Luckily I found out that a local guy had a race-built bridgeport motor for sale. To be more competitive next year (especially auto-x) I know there's a lot to do. Aside from the motor swap I hope to have the interior stripped, battery relocated, at least a rollbar if not full cage and race seats.

No Limit Industries has been gracious enough to let me use their space to work on my car. All those guys plus some local rotary guys and general car guys have been helping me out tremendously. Lots of work has been done so far, but there's still lots to go.

They also remember to take pictures, because I always forget. I need to find all the different stages of what's going on.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9463/new1zc9.jpg

Okay the biggest thing that's been going on is changing out the motor. It's a 4 port T2 block, with a half bridge. My car is a GSL-SE so its made for the 13b. There are however a few obstacles.

-The motor came with an aluminum flywheel and fresh clutch for a T2. We found out this means I would need to use a T2 trans, or change the clutch/flywheel and counterweights. I opted for a T2 trans.

-T2 tranny means we would need to make a trans mount, modify the shifter hole, get a new starter and fool with the wiring a little. Also since I'm using the T2 trans I need a driveshaft to mate the tranny output shaft to my SE differential flange. I believe Mazdatrix can make this for me.

-The motor also came with a nice intake manifold and Weber IDAs. Carbs mean simplicity, I get to throw out a bunch of EFI stuff and get a clean engine bay. I get to find what I need/don't need. I had to get a FPR to step down the pressure from the SE pump. I also need a new throttle cable, I can order one through the Mazda Motorsports program.

-There's little things here and there. I either need to source a 2nd gen clutch fan or go with an electric setup. I may need a better ignition system to keep up with the bridgeport at high rpms. I also need a new exhaust, because this motor has to breath but still be somewhat bearable.

Trimming the floorpan for the new tranny.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3...terholens0.jpg

I look like this
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2416/mejackxw3.jpg

My roomates decide to spraypaint a bunch of stuff yellow. Sadly my yellow tranny (freshly filled with $25 worth of redline) will not be going into the car.
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/5...wtrannymf4.jpg

I came in one morning to find a "Christmas Present". The No Limit guys decorated my car for a combined total of +50hp. Crane Cams FTW.
http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/8836/57355972sd1.jpg

No Limit made me an awesome sidedump exhaust (I want to shoot fire like the Speedsource cars). They were able to get me 2 resonators and a very smooth transition.
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3...exhaustlv7.jpg

The heart of the beast

Physically swapping the motors was the easy part.

Old engine ready to go
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/151/oldenginedy2.jpg

New motor going in, using hard Mazda Motorsports mounts and GSL-SE mount plate (custom yellow)
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/1...wengineis2.jpg

Sitting pretty. In this picture you may notice the notorious yellow spraypainters got the wrong side of my No Limit swaybar.
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4...engine2au8.jpg

Fast Forward 2-6weeks....

We got it to fire up. Of course there's no driveshaft, throttle cable, exhaust, seats .....

RX7 FC TII got a couple videos of it running on his phone. Turn the volume DOWN.

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...t=888b79e4.flv

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...t=b4e53c20.flv

Here's a video of outside the shop to show how insanely loud it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeXBDeeZH4I

Now I need to find the pictures everyone else took, because I always forget.

Looking pretty sweet!

I wish I could find Rally events here near me. It would motivate me to get the 626 running, and actually keep it just for racing. I have been told they are pretty decent at rally.

We need more action pics, get her on the road!!

haha that strut bar is hilarious

Yeah thats why my car is going to be NA, I can drift my AWD A4 wagon pretty well but with the 20v turbo motor there isn;t power at when I need it or the RPM I want without heavy gas pedal action.

I LOVE the look of your car, looks like the classic FB rally paint scheme.

I'm surprised to see as much of us into rally on this forum.:driving::icon_tup:

does no limit industries need a summer intern by chance? :seeya:

Hurray, someone noticed! That's what I was trying to mimic, but not copy. I need to get at least one stripe to cut the two tone. I'm thinking black.

http://www.prorallypix.com/RX-7/90rx4s.JPG

http://www.prorallypix.com/RX-7/84kelsey.JPG

I'm surprised it took this many pages, anyways when in Rome!

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/7...lyfbrx7er6.jpg

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/6...5202053yb6.jpg

How did the trans crossmember come out? I have a TII swapped FB with a kinda modified stock crossmember that sucks...Wouldn't be interested in making a copy would ya? wink wink

As far as driveshaft, I just had a local shop in Nashville make me a 3" shaft with spicer joints for around $300.

The problem with the driveshaft is I don't have a T2 yoke, and I don't want to buy a T2 driveshaft just to cut it up. Mazdatrix said they'd make one I just need to get my measurements.

The tranny mount is still in progress. I'll get some pics of it and see if we could make an extra one.

The shop I used is Clinard's in Nashville and when they made mine, they had two TII yolks so I paid for one and he let me take it home and used it to get the measurements, then I called him with the measurement and he built it for me and I just brought back the TII yolk and swapped it for the new driveshaft :D

yeah so then they can sell the driveshaft to other people with the same situation your in, FB body with TII trans.

cash money, dolla dolla billz yall.

Worked on cleaning up my wiring and stuff the last couple weeks. I also installed an electric fan. I did a pusher setup since I had lots of space in front of the radiator.

The motor as it sits.

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/8541/motordi5.jpg

Here's a bad picture of the battery relocation. I ran the (+) to a cutoff switch in the rear. I also put a breaker in the engine bay where the fuse block terminates. Later when I'm sure of the regulations I will add another cutoff switch within arms reach of the driver.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1035/batterykw3.jpg

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/805/strippingos0.jpg

I also got a friend of mine to start making something to fill in the gray. We are going to work on some rotor stencils (speedsource style, but not knockoffs) to fill in the rest. May or may not do a hood graphic.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6...affittilc1.jpg

You should go double alt pulley to prevent water pump slippage.

I haven't worked on it much lately, I was waiting for my driveshaft. Anyways it got here so here's some updates.

Biggest thing is obviously the trans mount for the T2 trans and driveshaft. No Limit built me a mount, and I finally got a custom driveshaft in from Mazdatrix (took forever :< ).

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2377/driveshaftme3.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8...nsmountwu6.jpg

I fixed up a few things in the engine bay. I cleaned up all the wiring and got rid of all the excess crap. I also installed different plug wires, double alternator pulley, fan relay, and a K&N filter kit for the carb.

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/7229/engineiq2.jpg

I did some little things here and there. Installed 2 of my 4 new pedals from autovation. These are actually made for heel/toeing they aren't entirely rice parts.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6493/pedalsys2.jpg

I finished my battery relocation. Got a tiedown welded to the frame and have a marine box for regulations.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6277/batteryhr1.jpg

The next big thing I'm playing with is the suspension. I'd like to get the car low for auto-x and track days, but be able to raise it up for sweet rally action. I got the RE-Speed coilover kit for the front and rears. After talking with Billy I picked some custom spring rates and lengths. I opted for 10" long springs. Going by recommendations on specialstage I went with 225# fronts, and 125# rears. The softer rears will supposedly squat better for more traction in the dirt. We will see how this works.

The first pic shows the wheel gap in the back, lowest setting on 10" springs. I also have a set of 8" I'll keep for track days. Still working on the getting the fronts fitted.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5169/wheelgaptt1.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5...springsrv6.jpg

The beast as it sits, waiting one day to drive.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/733...ionswapbb0.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/930...ionworkre9.jpg

Next things up are finishing the front suspension, new front sway, steering wheel, and a T2 shifter. We also found out there may be fuel delivery problems. I bought an inline pump, but I don't really want to install it yet. We'll see if some troubleshooting can get me running soon.

yea for progress! Do you have your brake lines run in the cabin and fuel lines protected?

Nah, there's still lots to do if I actually want to run stage rally.

When I put in a new pump I'm probably going to run all the lines inside. I believe this is legal (and preferred) as long as no joints are inside the cabin.