Rotary Car Club - View Single Post - 1994 RX-7: Xcessive LIM & Fuel Rail install (in progress)

scotty305 · 11-07-2010, 01:38 PM

Wow I haven't updated this in a while. The Japanese engine went in right around 30 days from when it was purchased, and is running pretty nicely. The car has done about 500-750 miles on the 'new' engine, went to Sevenstock and back and few other short trips. Found an oil leak that appears to be the rear main seal and/or rear stationary gear o-ring... replacement parts are on the way and I will be tackling that in the next couple weeks. At first it seemed like the leak may have been from the oil pan, but closer inspection shows oil coming from the bellhousing and seeping down toward the engine mounts & oil pan.

I'm not looking forward to removing the transmission and flywheel, but I'm lucky enough to have access to a lift so I shouldn't complain. I picked up an Exedy Stage1 clutch to replace the original, which seems to be doing OK but has nearly ~90k miles on it.

Aside from replacing an old stock engine with a less-old stock engine, the original engine mounts were replaced with aftermarket Himni polyurethane mounts; they added noticeable (annoying) vibration around 1500RPM but are smooth at idle and at cruising RPM. Throttle response is noticeably more crisp, and it seems they transmit a bit more noise from the engine and transmission into the cabin. If I had to do it again I would try to find something slightly less stiff but overall these are pretty nice.

Just for kicks, I haven't reinstalled the power steering pump yet. The PS lines are still installed but the connections are vented where they would usually attach to the pump. The feel is better than having the PS pump installed with the belt removed, but I think I prefer the feel of having power steering. I'm probably going to reinstall the pump and try to get a ride in a few cars that have been converted to manual steering before trying anything more drastic.

Per the advice of someone with lots of tuning experience, I flattened out the idle fuel cells a bit and the car is now pretty happy idling around 13.0-14.0 AFR once the engine is warm. For instance, if the car idles around 30-45kPa those cells are set to deliver the same fuel pulse. If the load increases to 50kPa because of the cooling fans turning on, or from slowly letting out the clutch to creep forward, the fuel map increases quite a bit so the resulting AFR is 12-13 or so.

11-07-2010, 01:38 PM	#36
scotty305 Rotary Fan in Training Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Culver City, CA Posts: 84 Rep Power: 18	Wow I haven't updated this in a while. The Japanese engine went in right around 30 days from when it was purchased, and is running pretty nicely. The car has done about 500-750 miles on the 'new' engine, went to Sevenstock and back and few other short trips. Found an oil leak that appears to be the rear main seal and/or rear stationary gear o-ring... replacement parts are on the way and I will be tackling that in the next couple weeks. At first it seemed like the leak may have been from the oil pan, but closer inspection shows oil coming from the bellhousing and seeping down toward the engine mounts & oil pan. I'm not looking forward to removing the transmission and flywheel, but I'm lucky enough to have access to a lift so I shouldn't complain. I picked up an Exedy Stage1 clutch to replace the original, which seems to be doing OK but has nearly ~90k miles on it. Aside from replacing an old stock engine with a less-old stock engine, the original engine mounts were replaced with aftermarket Himni polyurethane mounts; they added noticeable (annoying) vibration around 1500RPM but are smooth at idle and at cruising RPM. Throttle response is noticeably more crisp, and it seems they transmit a bit more noise from the engine and transmission into the cabin. If I had to do it again I would try to find something slightly less stiff but overall these are pretty nice. Just for kicks, I haven't reinstalled the power steering pump yet. The PS lines are still installed but the connections are vented where they would usually attach to the pump. The feel is better than having the PS pump installed with the belt removed, but I think I prefer the feel of having power steering. I'm probably going to reinstall the pump and try to get a ride in a few cars that have been converted to manual steering before trying anything more drastic. Per the advice of someone with lots of tuning experience, I flattened out the idle fuel cells a bit and the car is now pretty happy idling around 13.0-14.0 AFR once the engine is warm. For instance, if the car idles around 30-45kPa those cells are set to deliver the same fuel pulse. If the load increases to 50kPa because of the cooling fans turning on, or from slowly letting out the clutch to creep forward, the fuel map increases quite a bit so the resulting AFR is 12-13 or so. Last edited by scotty305; 11-07-2010 at 01:50 PM.