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New Suspension - Feed Pro F09 Coilovers 16kgs Front 18kgs Rear
These were too harsh for daily driving. However, they transformed the fd when driven on smooth slick roads. That woolly feeling of the car being a wet noodle in the corners was gone. However, they were not suited for UK roads and Ideal for track use.
Next Mod full 3.75" exhaust system from down pipe back
The Feeds were too harsh for street use; so after lots of contemplation I went for the Ohlins DFVs. These are ideal for what I will use my FD for which is 80% Street and 20% Track.
No coil-over setup is complete without corner weights and full geometry setup to maximize its potential
At Avia autos to get this sorted
Weighed in at 1264kgs with all fluids at MAX. As you can see the right side is lighter compared to the left. The FD is almost perfectly balanced with me in the drivers seat. It would seem the Ohlins setup up data is accurate as long as your FD is close to stock weight.
All Tweaks and final suspension tuning dialed in....How the FD sits now.
Final Setup Front Camber -1 Degrees Rear Camber -2 Degrees 0.5mm Toe in front and rear. Caster 7 Degrees
Its a neutral setup and feels very agile and nimble. Also confidence inspiring in a straight line.
Able to hold its own against a CBR600cc and runs Head to Head which was a bit unexpected.
Got new wheels and tyres Advan RG2 GOLD 17x9 et35 with Toyo r888 255 all round; 5mm spacer rear. Got the FD detailed and this has been the cleanest its ever been in my ownership so got the Go Pro out and took some pics while the sun was still shining
My good friend is a very talented photographer and did some light painting for me. This is the best my FD has ever looked.
More Pics of the small aesthetic changes I made
Before
Knightsports front bumper Oem 92 wing
Veilside rear spats
After Reamemiya Front Bumper ADGT Sard 1500mm GT PRO Rear Wing Removed the ugly veilside rear spats kept the side skirts as it flows well with the re front bumper
Track days in 2017... multiple track day pictures lost due of Photobucket hosting issues!
Whats happening in 2018?
Its the dreaded rebuild time.
Car has been with Frank @ FB Rotary since Feb 2018 to August 2018.
This means I've missed a lot this year in terms of building and developing this FD. Missed pretty much everything from track days to car meets to Sunday breakfast drives to driving the car itself in general. Been a slow year for the FD.
I had nurburgring trip booked and planned for October 2018 but was unable to make it as the car was not ready.
So whats is Frank been doing to my FD since Feb 2018 to August 2018? Large Street port rebuild Engine bay respray with a complete wire tuck Final drive has been changed from oem 4.1 to 4.44 Bosch 044 Fuel Pump Line lock and tilton flow valve
I've missed a few things for sure but the biggest change will be how the current engine bay looks Before After
I ran into a lot of issues with Engine Builder Frank and there were more delays so 2018 was quite a disappointing year for the RX7.
However to fill the void I got a new toy. Enter E92 M3 V8. The throttle response is unreal. Lightning fast! Even my good friend was tempted to get a E92 M3 after he drove mine! It was real fun driving this around. 2019 Silverstone Track Day - Finally back on track although some would argue not with the right car! ha I was also tempted to buy this wonderful cayman
The Engine builder Frank was terrible, took 6-7 months to build me an engine which blew up within 2000 miles and he shut down shop and did a runner. Apparantly he was a conman who messed about 7 fellow rx7 owners and to date owes me an engine and turbo.
So after much deliberation and lack of passion I started researching engine swaps and for a few months was quite serious about putting a M5 V10 engine in my rx7. However, after a few months and after speaking with a lot of owners who swapped their cars...and some who even regretted it I decided to keep it 13B.
This time i went to Tim at RX Motors, he's been in the business of building rotaries in the UK for over 20 years and came well recommended.
In early 2019 the RX7 went to Tim to rebuild the engine and fix the issues created by the previous engine builder.
Got a new Link G4+ ecu to replace the apexi pfc
Got Haltech Coils
Also got a 19 row setrab oil cooler
However, Engine builder Tim was not happy with the 5.5m pipework which was sent with this kit. So he reduced the pipework to 3m and used an12 lines with ultra full flow fittings only to remove any restrictions.
Mid July 2019 I had the RX7 and It was working as it should have been the year before! However, I was just glad the rotary was brapping again. All that remained was to run it in and get it mapped.
As the RX7 was back I sold my E92 M3 and potentially on the lookout for newer DCT vehicle as my 2nd car.
August 2020 - Got some ANSU 1500cc injectors as I've been told they have better spray pattern and atomization.
I've also booked a track day on 17th September at Spa. There's a lot of my mates going so should be really good. R35 GTRs, E92 M3s, VX220, Noble M12, F Type V8 and i'm really looking forward to take my FD there...will be a dream come true!
Not sure how my FD will perform in that pack of cars as they are all stupid fast and very capable but i'll do my best to represent the old skool JDM RX7.
Engine Extended large street port Studded Balanced RA apex seals
Turbo Garrett dual ball bearing TO4Z turbo 3"v band downpipe Custom 3.75" midpipe and catback exhaust
Oil cooling Setrab 19 row twin oil coolers Mocal thermostat 3m custom an12 braided full flow AN lines
Cooling Radtec V-mount system Idler pump pulley
Fuel system Bosch 044 fuel pump with 30 micron fuel filter sock AN6 inline fuel filter with 30 micron stainless steel AN6 full flow braided fuel lines KG parts secondary fuel rail ANSU 1500cc secondary injectors OEM 550c primary injectors
Ignition Haltech smart coils New Rework MSD bespoke ignition leads
ECU Link G4+ 10" windows tablet to monitor engine parameters
Suspension Ohlins DFV Coilovers 11kg springs all round Oem bushes and arbs
Brakes Stoptech slotted discs all round ferodo dsuno 1.11 front pads ferodo ds2500 rear pads project mu stainless steel braided lines
Exterior OEM Montego Blue Re Amemiya front bumper Veilside side skirts Sard GT pro rear wing 1500mm Advan racing RG2 Gold 17x9 wheels 245 40 17 Michelin pilot sport 4 all round
Interior Sparco racing bucket seats Sparco 4 point racing harness Short shifter oem efini steering wheel
Might change the sparco bucket seats..so if anyone wants my current buckets with seat rails for bolt in application send me a pm. Potentially swap out the steering to a 330mm personal with red stitching etc Otherwise quite a simple spec.
Its got 500 miles of run in to be completed before i can get it mapped and get on the boost. Then I can post up some dragy gps times like 60-130mph, 100-200kph Finally picked the car up in July 2019. Back home and cleaned.
2nd August 2020 - I've completed the run in mileage and now patiently waiting for 1st engine check up with Tim and for Stu Rotortorque to book me in for a dyno mapping session.
Gave the RX7 a full clean today ready for a drive tomorrow with one of my mates who got his 1000bhp GTR back from Jurgen at JM Imports. There will be some current age modern machines also joining us.
As my RX7 is only on a basemap guess its safe to say I'll be at the back of this pack.
Got my tablet setup to monitor and log real time engine parameters. Much better than the older PFC.
Made a small tweak to the bay by getting rid of the silver tin foil turbo intake pipe with some proper ducting. May even swap that out to a custom ally intake.
Doubt my RX7 will be will be able to live with this 1000bhp GTR. Its clocked an impressive dragy gps time of 100-200kph in 3.96s so im interested to see where my RX7 stacks up. Stock Mclaren 720s does a 100-200khp in 4.7s Stock GT2 RS does a 100-200khp in 5.5s My E92 M3 Stage 2 does a 100-200kph in 9.6s so im hoping my rx7 is faster than this at the very least.
In the meantime I bought another E92 M3 as i cant use boost yet on the RX7. Made a rookie error and sold my previous E92 M3 too early!
August 8, 2020 - First check up done by Tim today and everything went well. Oil and filter changed but slight hick up with installing the oil temp, pressure and fuel pressure sensors. The dual oil sandwich plate i bought was leaking from the 2nd O-ring.
I was tweaking the layouts on the Link ECU and ended up with a couple layouts.
I think if you track FDs, you need two engines. That way you're not down for a year waiting on a rebuild. And if you do it enough, it may be worthwhile to learn how to rebuild them yourself
You may also want to look into a roll bar vs using the rear strut bar for the harnesses
All Run in and patiently waiting for mapping session.
Sep 10, 2020 - Progress has been slow as I need the new sandwich plate to plug in the sensors. Fuel pressure, oil pressure and oil temp.
Spoke with Stu Rotortorque and advised to get the sensors fitted and then he will get me booked in for a map.
Got the car cleaned and detailed. Routine maintenance is going well....just eager to get mapped and feel some boost. It's been too long!
Removed the passenger seat to clean the interior.
Oct 4, 2020 - Quick Update
Got my mapping session booked in with Stu Rotortorqueand jaydee next sat (weather dependent, hopefully it doesn't pour down) Providing this goes as planned I should have some dragy gps acceleration times to post to compare a single turbo rx7 with current gen cars! Also got all my sensors installed and car is running sweet without any issues.
Oct 10, 2020 - Mapping was cancelled due to poor weather and stu and jaydee do road mapping only. Also due to Covid-19 they have been unable to give me any firm date to reschedule.
Dec 3, 2020 - Mapping session has now been booked in with Pip for...so fingers crossed I can get some boost action soon and then I can finally overhaul and restore the interior and underside bushings in the winter and enjoy the car next in 2021.
Dec 13, 2020 - Got the car mapped by Pip today. Mapped at 0.75 bar and made 391bhp and 316lb ft.
I'm very happy with it, the pull is smooth and strong and at least I can safely floor it now and feel the boost again (its only been 1 year and 10 months or 22 months to get to this point since the engine needed a rebuild in Feb 2018!) It would have been sorted out in 2018 but it was my fault for giving a newbie engine builder a chance. Lesson learned!
My AEM WMI controller failed and I was unable to get it working on the day. Also my rotary omp did not play ball...thus the 0.7 bar tune just to be on the safe side.
Things to do before I can go back for more boost
1. Fix my wmi controller i.e get a new one!
2. Remove omp and run a premix instead.
Than I can go back for 1.2-1.4 bar of boost and hopefully make 500+BHP at the flywheel.
Did a few Dragy GPS runs to see what my 390 Bhp RX7 at 0.7 bar of boost can do.
The below runs were done in rainy and wet conditions with poor traction, so you can see the granny shifts in the graphs below. It was a bit sketchy out there but the below are the best runs I managed given the conditions. In dry conditions with warmer tyres and faster shifts I would expect the below times to improve.
I logged all runs on my link g4+ and due to poor conditions I was shifting well before 7000 rpm between 6500 rpm and 6700 rpm. My engine has been studded and fully balanced by Tim to run well over 8000 rpm. So there is still a bit of improvement that can be made to the below acceleration figures in the dry with warm tyres and good traction revving out to 8000 rpm.
60 - 100 mph in 4.46s wet conditions - (Shift from 3rd to 4th - Id imagine with a dct gearbox it would be even faster) For reference an oem spirit r in optimal conditions will do 60 - 100 mph in 7.6s
80 - 120 mph in 6.51s wet conditions (can be better as there was a slight incline. shift from 4th to 5th) For reference an oem spirit r in optimal conditions will do 80 - 120 mph in 10.6s
63 - 125 mph or approx 100 - 200kph in 9.29s (wet conditions) this is very popular among the 1000bhp GTR Battalion. (My mates 1000 bhp GTR does this in 3.96s in dry conditions with warm tyres)
3rd to 4th is no too bad but 4th to 5th is defo a granny shift plus shows a bit of deceleration as I was going uphill which would not have helped. This can easily get into high 8s range without much trouble.
For reference an oem spirit r in optimal conditions will do 100 - 200 kph in 15.3s
60 -130 mph in 10.55s wet conditions - For reference an oem spirit r in optimal conditions will do 60 -130 mph in 18.6s
60 - 120 mph in 8.50s wet conditions - For reference an oem spirit r in optimal conditions will do 60 to 120 mph in 13.7s.
That's it you guys are now up to date with the build so far.
England is currently in a Tier 5 stay at home lock down until Mid Feb so I doubt i'll be able to go back for a remap anytime soon.
Did an impulse buy and built a full sim rig setup as these Lock-downs are never ending! Fanatec DD2 V3 Pedals Porsche GT3 Podium Wheel Formula V2 Wheel GT1 EVO cockpit Advanced paddle module
All built and ready. It is so much fun.
I think if you track FDs, you need two engines. That way you're not down for a year waiting on a rebuild. And if you do it enough, it may be worthwhile to learn how to rebuild them yourself
You may also want to look into a roll bar vs using the rear strut bar for the harnesses
Yes indeed, that would have been the better option.
I have got a DM Motorsport rear strut bar with dedicated harness inserts. However, I will certainly be looking into a half cage once I overhaul the interior and underside.
How do you like your ferodo brake pad setup for the track? I’m looking to get a set for my car this year which will probably be 90% hard tracking and 10% Sunday cruises. I currently have EBC yellows but I have been hearing a lot of horror stories at the track speaking with fellow drivers (this was my first time at the track which was very slow and technical. I know I will need some more braking power as i will be hitting faster tracks this year)
I’m shocked of the lack of info on these brakes in here but I would do the ds3000 up front at ds2500 rear instead from the little info I found. How are they on the street? I will drive it occasionally on the street and I just want to make sure they are capable of a quick spirited drive up in the mountains every occasional Sunday.
How do you like your ferodo brake pad setup for the track? I’m looking to get a set for my car this year which will probably be 90% hard tracking and 10% Sunday cruises. I currently have EBC yellows but I have been hearing a lot of horror stories at the track speaking with fellow drivers (this was my first time at the track which was very slow and technical. I know I will need some more braking power as i will be hitting faster tracks this year)
I’m shocked of the lack of info on these brakes in here but I would do the ds3000 up front at ds2500 rear instead from the little info I found. How are they on the street? I will drive it occasionally on the street and I just want to make sure they are capable of a quick spirited drive up in the mountains every occasional Sunday.
and sick build thread!
The DS2500 I found would fade on track use after repeated hard braking so I had to manage them on track...a bit of lift and coast and pick my braking zones after 2-3 hot laps. Perfect for road use, low dust and no noise. Good for light track use
The current setup with the DS UNO's front and ds2500 rear's I have are fantastic for repeated hard braking. Only issue is the DS UNO squeak when cold and when coming to a stop at traffic lights and they are also rather dusty I'm afraid but than again they are more track focused.
The DS3000 fronts in the cold are not great but good once they come up to their operating temp. The setup I can 100% recommend is the DSUNO up front and DS2500 rear, this combo wont upset the car under hard braking and feels very natural. The UNO have a much stronger bite from cold over the DS2500 and on the street you have to a bit more mindful you dont brake too hard incase the guy following behind doesnt have good brakes.
The DSUNO have a much higher friction coefficient and this can be felt from cold when you step on the brake pedal compared to the DS2500s and DS3000 up front.
I would recommend going for the DSUNO brake pad over the DS3000 for fronts. Overall its a much better brake pad and works well with the ds2500 as a rear pad.
No worries, for circuits with high speed braking zones like Silverstone's hangar straight where you can get up to 140+mph; dedicated brake ducts are also very helpful for keeping heat in check. I haven't had brake fade issues with the Ferodo DSUNO and good brake ducts on high speed circuits.
For stock calipers, i highly recommend Hawk DTC 60 (front)/30 (rear), if you can get them. And second having brake ducts, but you need to take into account the lower temps in selecting pads. Also, don't forget the fluid. I boiled mine going into a 90 deg corner at 70 mph. Luckily, it just needed some pumping
Only caveat is these are race pads. They are shitty at low temps (i.e. on the street)
Surprisingly ran out of injectors at 1 bar as inj duty hit 85% at higher rpms. I am running 550cc primaries and 1500cc secondaries with a Bosch 044. Does anyone know if I should be hitting 85% DC on this fueling setup. Base fuel pressure is 50psi.
Raising boost to 1.4 bar still eludes me. However, still happy with the performance at 1bar....picked up approx 60rwhp going from 0.7bar to 1bar...so a fairly decent result going up 0.3 bar. Following that trend going up another 0.3 bar to 1.3 to 1.4 bar should get me closer to the 450rwhp goal.
The weathers been real bad so have not had the chance to do any Dragy GPS runs. Will do as soon as the weather permits.
After recently completing a course in engine mapping and tuning. I took the car out to increase the boost to 1.2-1.4 bar (depending where fuel ran out) and noticed on my logs I either have a boost leak or my Wgate is not shutting causing significant lag.
Logging and reviewing data on the Link G4 ecu is truly amazing, you can review issues the "butt dyno" would suggest is not there. Reviewing the data confirms 1. I am making 1 bar of boost on a T04Z at 5839rpm. If I had a HKS T51r SPL this would make sense but on a TO4Z I expect 1bar before 4krpm. 2. Even on 65% WGate DC I'm getting no increase in boost pressure.
After thoroughly going through all my vacuum lines and BOV in the engine bay I could not find a boost leak, so next step will be to check the lines on the wgate itself and if no obvious damage or leaks there than I suspect my Wgate is either stuck open and not shutting as it should.
01-05-21, 11:16 AM
