custom rack and pinion
#27
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Just to put this in perspective it's taken me 3 months working at it about 3 weekends a month. During this time the plan has been revised many times. I did all of the welding my self with my friends Clark wirefeed (No gas, flux core) except for a few things that I used the ARC for. Other than that the only other tool I used was an angle grinder and hack-saw. When I started the project I had just enough welding experience to do a simple job like welding on a muffler, now I can actually look at my welds an be somewhat happy with them (Although the ARC is still a pain). Basically if you can afford to have your car take-up an entire bay in your garage for a good few months then this should be fine, but it will take time. A good couple weeks were spent on motor mount designs, if you go with the FC motor this will be greatly reduced; but the wiring may take up more of it. So all in all I haven't driven the car enough to make a really good estimate of what it has done to the performance, but that info should be on here soon.
Grant
Grant
#28
lightened fb
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do you have a pic of the 12a or se13b engine mount finished, i want to see how you did it, and the steering column too, did it all line up nice in the car, not too far back or forward? or did you have to re weld the steering column or a linkage or what not?
#29
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I don't have a digital camera. Much of what I did would have to be viewed and explained. The steering wheel is about 1" too far forward for my tastes but I have somewhat short arms, it is similar to stock and totally driveable. The mount is just a piece of angle iron bolted to the front cover and run to where mounts were made on the frame for the stock motor mounts, there were spacers and whatnot involved too and it's more complicated then that but I really would be hard pressed to explain. The FC column will require it's mounts to be taken off and new ones made with the FB spacing, unless a non-tilt one is different. To date I have been unable to find a decent way of mounting my turnsignals, I may have to weld a mount below the column.
Grant
Grant
#32
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The stock FB turnsignals won't fit, if you do the whole thing differently then I did you may be able to make then work but I couldn't.
Paradox: I may bring it out to Timmies but due to it's extreme dirtiness and non-rice aspect I feel I will get no respect from the bing-wing and GTR bumper crowd![Wink](https://www.rx7club.com/images/smilies/wink.gif)
Grant
Paradox: I may bring it out to Timmies but due to it's extreme dirtiness and non-rice aspect I feel I will get no respect from the bing-wing and GTR bumper crowd
![Wink](https://www.rx7club.com/images/smilies/wink.gif)
Grant
#33
Hey Grant, I just got my FC stuff today and actually tracked down that write up. I can already see there's tons of stuff not covered in it, although I'm ahead of the game with the motor plates I installed since my engine is now magically hovering in the bay, with no cross member (magic in this case being a term to describe an 1/8" thick aluminum plate welded to the frame rails). So, at least no motor mounts to deal with. How far back does the sub frame need to go to place the wheel in its proper location in the well, and is there enough space to mount the strut still? I would think the strut would be placed under significant pressure by tweaking it. I'd much rather spend the time now and either relocate the bolts in the frame rail, or re-drill the subframe.
Oh yeah, then there's the joy of the RHD swap..... stupid JDM clips and their cheapness and availabilty.....
Oh yeah, then there's the joy of the RHD swap..... stupid JDM clips and their cheapness and availabilty.....
#34
lightened fb
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Oh yeah, then there's the joy of the RHD swap..... stupid JDM clips and their cheapness and availabilty.....[/QUOTE]
i know what you mean about wanting to do it right the first time, and bring the whole rack &pinion setup back a bit, ive heard that it should be another inch further back, but i dont know what RHD stands for, im guessing something to do with the rear suspension, spindles and stuff from an fc, but im not sure
, is there any more writeups on changing the rear to independant from fc? thatd be cool.?
i know what you mean about wanting to do it right the first time, and bring the whole rack &pinion setup back a bit, ive heard that it should be another inch further back, but i dont know what RHD stands for, im guessing something to do with the rear suspension, spindles and stuff from an fc, but im not sure
![Smilie](https://www.rx7club.com/images/smilies/smile.gif)
#35
RHD is "right hand drive" as in what they have in england, japan etc. He got the front clip from a japanese spec car and hence will be right hand drive. I find it hard to believe that it would be easier to find a JDM front clip than a USDM one, there are plenty of FC's in junkyards, but whatever. This may be a dumb question, but wouldn't moving it back the needed inch be as "simple" as removing the 4 studs on the FB's fram rail, drilling new holes and welding them in an inch back?
#36
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Originally Posted by twigg
those who use honda parts in their rotary cars must be stoned and force to drive the first year of the crx for the rest of their lifes. stock.
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#37
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Basically I'd move it back about an inch. However I have yet to really try it out and see if I like the extra caster, I might! The strut bolts togather as said in the write-up, however the FB spring is a little long and is under significant pre-load in my set-up. A coil-over system would work much better for this.
I'm probably just gonna drop the subframe with the struts and everything still attached and grind the holes into slots with my die-grinder and see how it goes. No doubt other people will come-up with better solutions to the problems I encountered.
Grant
I'm probably just gonna drop the subframe with the struts and everything still attached and grind the holes into slots with my die-grinder and see how it goes. No doubt other people will come-up with better solutions to the problems I encountered.
Grant
#38
Rotary Enthusiast
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On my setup the stock FB light and wiper switches fit just fine. As per pictures:
http://www.bcrx7.com/modules.php?set...view_photo.php
anything on the right of the black part is stock and in stock location.
http://www.bcrx7.com/modules.php?set...view_photo.php
anything on the right of the black part is stock and in stock location.
#39
Originally Posted by 82transam
RHD is "right hand drive" as in what they have in england, japan etc. He got the front clip from a japanese spec car and hence will be right hand drive. I find it hard to believe that it would be easier to find a JDM front clip than a USDM one, there are plenty of FC's in junkyards, but whatever. This may be a dumb question, but wouldn't moving it back the needed inch be as "simple" as removing the 4 studs on the FB's fram rail, drilling new holes and welding them in an inch back?
Yeah, no FC rear suspension. I got to take a good hard look at one last night, I have no idea WTF Mazda was thinking when they designed that thing. I'll stick with the Miata IRS thanks. Much simpler. I'd buy an FC long before I tried to install that rear suspenison.
#41
Senior Member
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Abeomid it looks like you made that from a non-tilt column, mine was unfortunately tilt and it was a bit of a nightmare to fit but it's in now. If anyone has a non-tilt column they'd give me I'd try that. As it stands I'm probably going to move everthing back 1" as this will solve a few of my problems, of course I'll have to redo a few mounts but that isn't a big deal.
Grant
Grant
#42
Rotary Enthusiast
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Originally Posted by grantmac
Abeomid it looks like you made that from a non-tilt column, mine was unfortunately tilt and it was a bit of a nightmare to fit but it's in now. If anyone has a non-tilt column they'd give me I'd try that. As it stands I'm probably going to move everthing back 1" as this will solve a few of my problems, of course I'll have to redo a few mounts but that isn't a big deal.
Grant
Grant
#43
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So did you use the entire FC inner column complete with U-Joint? Your solution seems pretty good but I dunno if I like the idea of the U-joint just rotating without any support at either end, could be I'm just over thinking. I'm probably going to move the entire subframe so the column will come back a bit more anyway, that will solve a number of problems I'm having; this one included.
Grant
Grant
#44
Originally Posted by 82transam
weird that a shop in SC would have 2 jdm FC's at it. Anyway, in you're case that is quite a deal, not sure you could find the stuff that cheap elsewhere. As for the FC IRS I agree its pretty weird, the miata is much better.
#46
Rotary Enthusiast
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Originally Posted by grantmac
So did you use the entire FC inner column complete with U-Joint? Your solution seems pretty good but I dunno if I like the idea of the U-joint just rotating without any support at either end, could be I'm just over thinking. I'm probably going to move the entire subframe so the column will come back a bit more anyway, that will solve a number of problems I'm having; this one included.
Grant
Grant
#47
Senior Member
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Ahh so the colapsable part just slides togather? That makes it much easier! I think I'm gonna do this as it will negate a lot of the problems I've been having. I also have a spare FB column so it shouldn't be an issue if things get screwed-up.
Grant
P.S. Should have the wheel adaptors on this weekend, then I can finally wring it out.
Grant
P.S. Should have the wheel adaptors on this weekend, then I can finally wring it out.
#48
Rotary Enthusiast
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Originally Posted by grantmac
Ahh so the colapsable part just slides togather? That makes it much easier! I think I'm gonna do this as it will negate a lot of the problems I've been having. I also have a spare FB column so it shouldn't be an issue if things get screwed-up.
Grant
P.S. Should have the wheel adaptors on this weekend, then I can finally wring it out.
Grant
P.S. Should have the wheel adaptors on this weekend, then I can finally wring it out.
#50
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A guy told me that mazda made rack and pinion for kia....and some of them would work direct bolt on? but I do not know which models bolt on....I thought he was taking about for
the first gen...anyone know about it?
the first gen...anyone know about it?