update on rx-7 nightmare...project

[murphy]

Ok its been nothing but a pain in the ass. WE are STILL doing the pre-fit stage and fabing crap..
some problems that have come up..1 the HKS manifold I had for the project fit fine on the engine however did not fit in the engine bay..pushed turbo to far out (hit strut tower) and also sat to low (hit frame rail). The WG also was hitting the floor pan of car.. FIX: contacted a shop in AZ to make a new manifold specific for me.. 2 went to mount engine/tranny and mounts are 1 inch off (forward of mounting point on car. Fix: make new crossmember. Not done yet. Need parts back from shop fabing my manifold/downpipe set up. 3 Hot side of turbo has shitty design kind of chokes turbo spool at high rpm. FIX: Guy doing my man/dp set up swaped me a new hotside and did a V-band for me..Went from a .81 to a 1.0 hotside.
Here are some pics of the work-in-progress of the manifold/ DP set up..will post more pics of project later in this thread.

[MikeK]

That thing is going to be a beast when it is done. I still remember the guy with the black RX7 who showed up at winnemucca last year and ownded everyone.

[dknv]

That was Alan, when I saw him at Atwater he was selling that car, since he bought a corvette. I would have LOVED to have bought that car, but it sounded like it would've required much maintenance.

[sperry]

Chris, I know your pain buddy... nothing ever goes the way it was originally planned... and you're doing an ass-load more work than I did to the WRX! Just keep your eye on the prize and you'll get to it... though your wallet will probably be twice as light as you originally thought.

Stupid cars and mods. Makes me thing just buying a Porsche GT would actually be less of a head-ache and cheaper than trying to mod a slower car into a fast one.

[tysonK]

That's a lot of turbo. I hope the guys pull of some nice parts for you and get it fixed up well!

[murphy]

Tyson- thats actually my hotside in the pics w/ a nice 3.5 inch DP. have not gotten around to getting the other pics off camera yet..will soon.

[murphy]

ok more shots for you guys and gals

[murphy]

Another for you guys of the dual oil cooler set up

[AtomicLabMonkey]

That's a lotta oil cooler. I assume it's going to have a thermostat in there somewhere to control oil flow through the coolers?

[murphy]

rotary need instant , constant cooling the more the better. When I had the engine built it got an oil pump/passage mod and a water passage mod..should get almost 20psi over stock oil pressure. Water passages have been enlarged.

*edit* forgot this...on the radiator I'm going to be using a 3200cfm e-fan.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

I'm no rotary expert, my concern would just be overcooling the oil. At least in conventional piston engines the oil temp can take a very long time to come up if there's no thermostat controlling flow through the cooler(s), and it's not a good idea to hammer on it until the oil is at operating temp.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

I'm no rotary expert, my concern would just be overcooling the oil. At least in conventional piston engines the oil temp can take a very long time to come up if there's no thermostat controlling flow through the cooler(s), and it's not a good idea to hammer on it until the oil is at operating temp.

Something tells me that he's going to be seeing 1200F EGTs at idle... and since it's not a street driven car (well, not supposed to be anyway) it should see proper warm-up, then be run hard when it's run, so oil cooling shock shouldn't be an issue.

That said, tossing a 180F Mocal oilstat in there would be nice for peace of mind, even if it's always open.

[murphy]

you have a link for that Scott or a diagram on where it would go in the system.

[sperry]

It's simply a thermostat that goes between the motor and the oil cooler. Here's where I bought mine: http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/mocal.htm

I used a sandwich adapter version which isn't as nice as the H style, but I had some packaging issues getting it all to fit in the car.

[murphy]

Thanks Scott I'm going to do a little Q&A with the guy who did my engine. I will have to go with the H style due to the oil filter relocation kit.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by sperry

Something tells me that he's going to be seeing 1200F EGTs at idle... and since it's not a street driven car (well, not supposed to be anyway) it should see proper warm-up, then be run hard when it's run, so oil cooling shock shouldn't be an issue.

Yeah it might be a non-issue, I just remember how long it took the oil temp to come up on the yellow car. If you went out cold in the morning it would take at least a couple full laps at Buttonwillow before the oil was fully up to temp... and that cooler setup had a thermostat.

[WRXRallyBlue]

Originally Posted by murphy

Went from a .81 to a 1.0 hotside.

That thing is going to be a screamer once you get everything sorted out.

[murphy]

another shot for you guys. Got the gauges arranged. They are not all wired in yet still need to mount the defi control box and run the sensors into engine bay.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by murphy

another shot for you guys. Got the gauges arranged. They are not all wired in yet still need to mount the defi control box and run the sensors into engine bay.

Is that the space shuttle? Which one's the Mach number gauge?

[tysonK]

Originally Posted by sperry

Is that the space shuttle? Which one's the Mach number gauge?

The Big one.

[sp00ln]

Looks bad ass.

[Bob Danger]

From a former FC owner to another, your my hero dude.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Bob Danger

From a former FC owner to another, your my hero dude.

He's not a former FC owner!

Semantics.... ATTACK!!

[murphy]

Its comming along slowly and in steps. Should be worth it when its done...but my pocket hurts like hell...I guess I'll give you guys a run down of whats in it and what not.
13b-re cosmo engine (only sold in japan some aust) ports 25% larger than 3rd gen rx-7 engine stock.
custom ported engine (special port from speedmachineperofrmance only 4th car to get it) cryo treated apex seals, worked oil pump, ported oil passages and water passages.
custom manifold downpipe setup (Elliot White Turblown.net)
custom primary and secondary fuel rails -6, 550 cc pri. 1600 cc secondary (yup 4300 cc's at w.o.t) sx fpr -6 aeromotive 1000 ext fuel pump, 10gal. fuel cell.
solid engine and tranny mounts, semi solid rear diff. and subframe mounts. Rear stear eliminators. Rear camber adjustment hardware 3 pieces. Tein full coilovers. Fluidyne rad, w/ 3200 cfm fan. dual oil coolers, large fmic 24x12x3. Kazz 1.5 way lsd, power slot rotors x4, 5zigen proracer gn+ wheels. Haltech E6K standalone ecu. + all that yummie stuff you see in the pics....And by no means was any of this smooth going..nothing but problem after problem.

**edit** forgot turbo...turbonetics T04E Dual ceramic BB. 57 p trim and 1.0 hotside

[Bob Danger]

What are you building this car for murphy?