arghx

iTrader: (3)

Ahh funny you should mention Rick's car and the phrase "back on the road." He's run into a little setback. You see, he went to Rotorsports on Monday. They drove the car around for a bit then came back so the guy could help him get his wideband system configured correctly and fix a couple boost leaks. Well apparently when they were working on this the mechanic dropped a 3/8 - 1/4 reducer into his primary turbo. Ugh.

They had no idea this had happened, as it makes no sound when you drop a tool into that thing. When they started the car there was a loud sound and Rick pretty much got that "oh ****" feeling. When they figured out what had happened Rotorsports promised to send him a new turbo ASAP and not charge him for tuning and fuel maps. Since they are booked up for a while Rick has decided to just go ahead and put it in himself. The car runs right now but won't boost right obviously--the blades on the primary turbo are damaged.

It was all an honest mistake though and he's glad they are making restitution. I believe he will be heading back to Rotorsports when he gets it fixed, so l don't think we should get a bad impression about them from this incident.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

You did it correctly. As the third line in question went from the AST to the overflow tank in front of the passenger wheel So in actuallity you are only "eliminating" 2 lines and "re-routing" 1, the overflow hose( Third hose)

AntiVenom7

i got a sinking feeling when Rick told me that story yesterday. hopefully some good will come of it.

glad i did the AST right, I started getting nervous.

Johny zoom

iTrader: (5)

[QUOTE=GTUser]. Its disturbing that Johny hasn't posted with these progress reports being made.

I'm glad to hear of everyone's progress, I hope tomorrow my car will have some white paint on her. The engine and tranny are together awaiting he arrival. I may get it back Sat. or Sun. I have a lot of work to do to get ready Iam going to try my best to get her ready for TOTD, but if not Ill put the F-1's on Brenda Sue and ride. It would be sweet to take my freshly built Tiffany, but I would rather not take a chance, so Ill keep yall posted.
I won't be posting any pics until she's up and running

Johny

Horse

Cool, I love doing this stuff, it gets addicting I am powder coating everything I can get my hands on. The TII is coming along pretty well, I have been doing some "dry run installs", no gaskets, just to make sure evrything is going to line up and fit right. Once I get it all toghter and fitted right I will take it back apart in an organized fashion and then put it back together with the gaskets. Man it looks mean, the turbo looks huge of this engine I will grab some pics and load them up tonight. The RX-8's power steering is shot, the Power Steering Control Module is fried and since my warranty is void due to my modifications it is going to cost me $880 to repair. But the reason why it fried was because of an aftermarket alarm system I had installed nad since I do so much business with the installer they are most likely going to take care of it, they are going to talk to the dealer today to see if it could have possibly been caused by them, but they said they would take care of me either way. The RX-8 will be turbocharged soon, probally not by TOTD, since I am doing the install in my garage, but who knows.

arghx

iTrader: (3)

Hmm what does the Rx-8 turbo kit consist of? I imagine with what, 10:1 compression you can't run more than maybe 8 or 10 psi on pump gas. What turbo is it and what engine management system will you use? Is it pretty different from the older 13B's due to the side ports? I'm definately curious about what you've got planned there.

I presume you are getting rid of your nitrous soon then. I have a sort of halfass nitrous setup put together from what I got off ebay. I believe I'm gonna need an arming switch and a bottle heater at the very least, plus an external temperature gauge. I'd be interested in those when you pull them off your car. As it stands now I've had other priorities come up with my car like bodywork that has delayed the nitrous indefinately.

I think the next thing I'm going to do is upgrade my alternator. The place in Raleigh called Triangle Alternator and Starter, which rebuilt Rick's alternator, told me they could take the core of my shitty s4 NA alternator and upgrade it to 100 amps, the equivalent of an FD alternator, for $150. That will eliminate the need to do any custom wiring or pay shipping.

AntiVenom7

Ray, planning on running some extra electronics?

TO, i know what you mean about the powdercoating, the finish is so nice it makes you wish everything was coated.

arghx

iTrader: (3)

Running extra electronics? Yeah how does the rear window defroster sound? I hit 12 volts with just that and my stock sound system on. When it's cold and rainy out I put the rear window defroster and A/C on, plus the windowshield wipers and I'm under 12 volts. The cabin air circulation fans and stuff run kinda weak too which I'm told can be helped with a better alternator. When I'm sitting at a traffic light with nothing running in the car my dash board lights dim with the brakes depressed.

Granted, my alternator is probably not in the best condition, but remember that my factory alternator makes 60 Amps vs. the FD's making 100 Amps and the S5's making 80. Huge difference there. The highest voltage I can get is about 13 crusing on the highway with no A/C running.

AntiVenom7

ok, ok, i didn't know it was like that. I can see why you are getting a better alternator

bond007

<snip lots of AST discussion>

Time to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, just like usual.

1) Aforementioned vehicles - do any of them see time on road courses? I think you'll find that more hardcore trackies continue to run the AST with all the other mods they have. I don't think bypassing is more reliable unless you have a custom radiator and water pump section - hose caps/clamps can fail just as likely as a hose. I'll continue to argue you should replace hoses on a regular basis anyhow even if they look okay. Cheap insurance.

2) The guy running "hotter" with an AST, maybe has a waterpump wearing out, t-stat not opening up all the way, etc...not necessarily an unbiased statistical sample.

If one did a back to back comparison in the same ambient weather with and without AST on the same motor, then I think I'd be more inclined to believe it, instead of across several cars, given my training as a scientist...

You forgot one positive aspect of the AST - increased coolant capacity and while not a very efficient one, a small auxillary radiator (if it is metal aftermarket).

I do agree that a stock AST has NO place in a FD. I used to believe the mantra that you need it because of baffling. Well, I have the pictures of one sliced apart to prove it ain't there and there's no reason to use a stock one - either upgrade or eliminate. I ran eliminated for a couple of track events because the pathetic piece of plastic blew up in the Wal*Mart on the way to Summit Point and the car was okay, but I personally wouldn't say one thing or another about temperatures without more test equipment.

Recall the FD was under development in late 80's early 90's and the Supra came out about 2-3 years after the FD - long enough for them to see Mazda's "mess", snicker about it, and then find a better way - kinda like the new "zoom-zoom" commercials showing the Toyota/Honda/Nissan whitecoats...

Recall that the FD3S was the first production vehicle with a sequential turbo system (well, the Porsche 959 had it, but production numbers in the hundreds vs thousands and sticker price comparison). Give Mazda some credit for a unique engineering solution to turbocharging.

I'm looking forward to meeting you when you get on the mainland US, err... "Big Island" of North America.

Respectfully,
--Ashraf

bond007

Contents of GReedy [sic] kit:
http://www.rx7.com/store/rx8/greddyturbokit.html

I know of some folks that have hacked/re-flashed the stock ECU for use with forced induction. I'd prefer that over the E-manage that looks like is included in the GReddy kit.

Regards,
--Ashraf

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Hey Ashraf, I agree that more testing is/was needed. Hence me saying it was just my "theory" The engine was a new reman with a new WP and T-stat. Not that a new one can't fail) And yes,... Mazda definetly gets the creativity award for their system

I actually did not know that Mazda was developing before toyota.( when was the supra offered in Japan with sequential twins? Apparently after the 92 model year yes?) They came out within months of eachother on the US shores( 93 1/2 for the Supra) so i was reaching I suppose. But at least Toy learned from the Mazda mess. The point could still be made that after Toyota's system was released that Mazda should have re-engineered ours. But copyrite or other patents may have made that impossible. Not sure what intelectual property rights Japan has. if they are similar to ours here then as long as Toy got the "rights" to the design everyone else was screwed so to speak. like Honda did with V-tech until the patent/copyrite ran up. Then every japanese and US car had some form of variable valve timing.

The added capacity of even an aftermarket AST is not big enough of an advantage for me to go back. I think that a properly operating coolant system should be able to handle just about anything. Within reason of course When i do get the car there I plan on getting to as many track events as possible. So i will be willing to make the needed addition of a AST for testing purposes. Just to get a better idea if it really helps on a track car, run longer,harder and hotter than most street cars.

I look forward to meeting you as well when i get the chance to get to a Raleigh meet or meet up at VIR, CMP or where ever.I 'd like to pick your brain and just swap ideas on track set-up tunes etc.. Hopefully the track in Salsbury(sp?) goes thru by 06 i think it was. that would be even closer for you and I.

Take care all, see ya soon. Less than a week till I am in state!!

Aloha , Dave

AntiVenom7

alright, i will put the damn thing back in. it def cant hurt anything.

GTUser

Anybody gonna be out to the drive-in on Saturday and y'all gonna be crawling around under your cars? This will be the last time before TOTD and we need to get a final rotor count, make sure we're ready to roll with squared away cars and make sure we know where to meet and when we're gonna leave on 4/8. Also want some feed back on when you want to make the down east drive May 8, 15, or 22.

Smoken'

iTrader: (1)

I will be there on saturday, but not in my newly moded TII. The motor was getting weaker and weaker and it finally gave way today. No big deal though, when i bought the car, the guy had already condemned the engine. I'm just glad that it let go b4 it made it to TOTD. I still plan on going, but i will probably ride shot gun with my brother or one of my buddies coming from Goldsboro. Hope everybodys projects are going well. And Josh, pm'd ya about that extra room you said you had.

Steve

rx7guy1

Won't be there... Easter weekend... see you next time.

capn

im not gonna be there, wrenchin on both the caddy and rx7 (caddy needs oil change and a little tune up) and as always the repair ridden 7 needs work too.

and since TOTD is up next when will we start to resume the char grill meets?

Horse

sorry going out of town tomorrow so I will miss the meeting.

Johny zoom

iTrader: (5)

I won't be there to much work to do

AntiVenom7

i prob won't be out this weekend. trying to get all the loose ends tied up before TOTD. now i have some electrical gremlins that I am chasing. however, I still need to tie down all the grounds, and get everything installed properly before I will really know what is going on. was planning on taking a half day off today, to get a jumpstart on it. I am getting annoyed and nervous, if it isn't running I will probably skip the Gap event, which would really bite.

Batguano

I had planned to come but something came up at the last minute. I really want to meet all you guys. I met some of you at the GRR. Great bunch. Maybe next time.

GTUser

Ok, no one showing up. I we will cancel the Drive-In and decide later if there is any interest in meeting the following weekend to set things up for a meet before we head up to Deals Gap. I also have several things to take care of and can use the time to work on the car, the GRR shirts, the Deals Gap Car Show awards, and the Owner's Award that the RRDI will sponsor, that means pay for. Y'all have a enjoyable Easter weekend and I'll see you in April.

Bert

capn

YOU GUYS WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT I RACED LAST NIGHT... A FREAKIN MASERATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i know i cant believe it either, it still had the 30 day tags on it it was silver and man it was hot, the exhuast had the ferrari race car sound to it. BUT to the race, we lined up, i gave him the thumbs up for the car and we were set. light turns green i got him off the line revvin up to 2nd gear still pulling hes gaining quick, REDLINE shift to 3rd, OPpSSS mis-shift into 5th. and he was gone. awesome race he beat me pretty good and well, by like 1.5 car lengths before mis-shift. trully once in a life time race.

and bert i got your fender on too

capn

OK heres the specs on the maserati i raced

The Maserati GranSport’s normally aspirated 4,244 cc V8 has all the structure of the most advanced racing engines with dry sump lubrication and twin overhead camshafts per cylinder bank with four valves per cylinder hydraulic tappets.

The intake cams also feature variable phase timing. Its maximum power delivery has been upped from the original 390hp to 400hp too, thanks to special development work to reduce internal attrition and careful work on the intake manifolds and valve seats. The engine has been combined with a sports exhaust system that is instantly recognisable, thanks to the unusual design of its twin chrome exhausts and was designed to give enthusiasts that instantly recognisable deep, full-bodied rumble. Thanks to an electronically controlled pneumatic valve system, even more can be made of the exhaust by pressing the “Sport“ button on the central console too.

0-60 mph--------------4.85 s
Engine-----------------90° V8, crankcase and cylinder heads in hardened aluminium silicon alloy. Crankshaft in refined forged steel, balanced individually on five main bearings
Bore and stroke-------3.6x3.0 in
Total displacement----4244 cc
Compression ratio-----11:1
Maximum power-------295 kW (400 CV) at 7000 rpm
Maximum torque------451 Nm (46 kgm) at 4500 rpm

GnubberLang

hey anyone going to char gril at 5 today? My FC isn't done yet so I'll be rockin the turbo brick. BTW that kicks *** that you saw a Maserati period, and then you got to run with it! even better. Not a bad car to loose to tho, there like $250 grand?