93 RX-7 FD Project

[AdamGaltress]

Thought I'd get a few pictures and details up about the new set of wheels. I got myself a 93 RX-7 FD imported from Japan Android unregistered on the road from BigPete. He got it through an MOT and got most of the paperwork together for me.

I've been waiting some time now for the DVLA to send the V5 so I can get her on the road, with the new 68 plates being released I'm expecting to wait the full 6 weeks that the DVLA quote and maybe a bit more. Doesn't help that I was missing paperwork the first two times I sent it. 3rd time lucky and all that

The 8 and 7. Just before the 8 was stripped

[AdamGaltress]

The car is completely standard, apart from the huge exhaust and the different coloured body panels, a little rough round the edges, but what project isn't! Whilst waiting for paperwork to come through I've bought a few little bits, mainly trim and a new os mirror. But with the help I also found a second hand Apexi Power FC & Commander for a reasonable price.

[AdamGaltress]

Pete dropped the car off at mine about 2-3 weeks ago and was advised that there was a hell of a bang coming from the suspension, after a quick drive it was clear that the suspension had something a little wrong with it. Narrowed down to the rear left and found that the strut had started to bulge at the bottom. That might explain the horrendous bang over even the smallest of bumps! At a first glance you'd probably miss it and the remaining struts weren't damaged or corroded, just a bit of wear on the paint from the dust boot.

After a bit of contemplation I decided to buy a new set of Tein Mono Sports from Clive & Lisa at MRP. They arrived the next day and I had them on shortly after. Banging has been resolved and the car feels much better on the road. Note to anyone doing this on an FD, don't remove the front drop link. Took me forever to get that damn thing back in!

With the new coilovers fitted I could now feel the car pulling left/right when coming on/off throttle, I suspected I had a sticking caliper and someone else confirmed this to me when I explained the behaviour. So the next job is to pull the calliper off and see what is causing it to stick.

[AdamGaltress]

A show plate that I picked up from Forge at Castle Combe

I'm back at work now so the car will be moving at a more leisurely pace. The plan is to have her ready for use as soon as so I can get her on the track. I have a day booked at Rockingham with a few people from the RX8oc. I have pads lined up, but could do with some new wheels and tyres. Over the winter I would like to fit poly bushes as some of the rubber bushings are quite tired. Caliper this Wednesday hopefully

[AdamGaltress]

I've found the cause of the sticking calliper and have a replacement part ready to go on next week.

I lost a headlight cover on her first drive out when putting down the lights, snapped mounting points, new Concept7 covers coming soon

I started to take some of the intake and rat's nest apart to test various valves and actuators as the sequential system isn't working correctly. I found some little black bits in the charge side, quickly found the culprit. That was whole before I drove it how many miles do we think it has left?

And whilst the intake was out I noticed the fan resting against the radiator

And of course the old rubber pipes in the rat's nest fell apart, even most of the silicon hoses that have been put in are brittle and split!

[boosted]

Ohhh lovely project....if you can replumb rats nest and get it the sequential working you will be rewarded with lovely almost lag free turbo response...mines still working and love it.
Lol when i finished repair m8ne its gonna be a harelquin like yours!

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[boosted]

Dont forget when servicing the pig almighty fuel filter...if unknown it needs doing.

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[AdamGaltress]

I've got a silver mirror to go on. Driver's side has a lot of silicon which appears to be holding it together. Hopefully will get the sequentials working. Need to find some more information on the movement of the manifold actuators as I don't think they have full travel.

Not looking forward to doing fuel filter, but it's on the growing list

[boosted]

The pressure and vacuum actuator ...lol...i used a big syringe to generate pressure and vacuum to test. Rx7club.com...massive of info....its frikin mind blowing under the uim, slow n steady 1 at time.

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[boosted]

Another tip whilst manuals available i printed the lot off, got 2 lever arch files on shelf in garage...sometimes easier to read and understand piece of paper than a laptop.
And i run mine at 14psi on the twins...at 16 psi it quickly killed the turbos...and thats another pig job...defo dont wanna be changing them in the car..done it 3 times...wont be a fourth itll go single.
And keep eyes peeled ebay etc...for a hks twin power spark amplifier...awesome really cleans up top end pull on an FD. Rare as mind.

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[AdamGaltress]

Will acquire the lever arches from work. Another thing to buy. Will keep an eye out for the hks amp

[boosted]

Do the printing at work too

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[AdamGaltress]

All monochrome printers so no good if any of it is in colour. Got a laser printer at home anyway

[boosted]

Vac lines chart colour rest black n white.

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[AdamGaltress]

A little update for you as its been a while

Now on to the boost issue. I bought the car knowing it had a boost issue, no boost at all! It's still running the stock twins so I knew I had a bit of work ahead of me. I had a little play with it but with a pre-booked track day approaching quickly and little time to work on the car I palmed the work off to a specialists with a month or so until the track day. Unfortunately they weren't able to look at it in time.

I collected the car shortly after the missed track day. Between work and the kid I found a few hours here and there to try and make sense of the rats nest. I found loads of broken vacuum and pressure lines. I think I had one working check valve, and a dead solenoid or two. All changed out and I went from no boost to a little bit of boost here and there. I started checking the actuators moved without any issues. The odd one or two loose pressure very slowly but I don't see that being the cause of my issues.

I found that the turbo control actuator wasn't moving because the valve was stuck. I couldn't get the thing to move and I really didn't want to pull the turbo pack off to replace or repair it. So I thought I'd smack it with a persuasion device a few times. I had nothing to loose. If it didn't work I'd be taking it off and I had a spare twin turbo set up on the shelf for spares. I got some movement. Between pressurising the actuator and my hammer skills I got it moving fully. Result.

Test drive. Same issue. Damn.

Found the actuator arm for the waste gate wasn't attached. Explains why I had some random boost here and there. Clipped it back on and I had boost at the top end. About 4.5k upwards. Felt great.

Had a bit of a lul period and finally came back to the car to find it had no boost. Someone's messing with me! I swear! Turns out the actuator arm for the turbo control had fallen off. Understandable, it did have a bit of grief.

Back to having boost at the top end.

Pulled the rats nest apart looking for any obvious torn or broken vacuum lines that I might have missed or damaged. No luck. KOKO test shows everything working.

Stumped.

Figured I'd check the condition of the elbow before the primary turbo. Apparently they collapse sometimes. Took it off, figured it check the play in the turbo. And I think I found the issue.



Looks like I'll be taking the turbo pack off after all! Guess I've got some reading to do on my night shift then

[mi60o0]

figured it check the play in the turbo. And I think I found the issue.

[zippyonline]

Woah
Impressive stuff

Good luck

[AdamGaltress]

Started the process today, going better than expected. Just 1 bolt snapped so far and everything else nice and easy.

Exhaust off next and I'll drain the fluids. Not too much left really

Part way

How she stood before I had to get ready for work

[Essex2Visuvesi]

If you're going with the Power FC I highly reccomend you look at the FC Hako interface cable
https://fc-hako.com/
Makes tuning and modding the ECU much easier than the handset.
It also adds a couple of extra inputs like wideband O2

[ChrisHolmes]

I thought I was brave tackling my RX8 engine but yours sounds like a major challenge. Major bravery award due Adam, good luck with it all.

[nightfire10]

Turbo pack out of the car

[attachment=3]IMG_20190711_104719.jpg[/attachment]

New to me turbos in place

[attachment=2]IMG_20190711_182843.jpg[/attachment]

And finally back together, changed the radiator fans over too which was a bit of a pain as the fans were seized to the motors

[attachment=1]IMG_20190714_093828.jpg[/attachment]

Filled with fluids, spent some time bleeding the coolant. Think I've overfilled it as it leaked out of the top of the overflow tank shortly after start up, but I can't see how full the tank is so who knows.

Took it for a quick spin round the block, surprised myself pulling away as she boosted instantly. Result. Now to get an MOT done

Then a bit of paint and a tune up
[attachment=0]IMG_20190716_171016.jpg[/attachment]

[boosted]

Bravo well done....pig of a job.

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[GreySilver Beast]

Hey fantastic Adam

[chiron]

If you want to sell any of the OEM engine bay bits I may be in the market for some! e.g. air box etc

[Scotty PZ]

I just read this all the way through, brilliant work. I absolutely love these, now I don't really need a car day to day I will be on the hunt for one!