Build thread

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 9:14

Are you talking about the ones that were on it when you bought it? They look kinda like Work Meisters? If they were 3pc you could have just bought new barrels.

Website · Postby **Shadowden** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 9:14

I like those wheels Junkie. I'm looking around for modular wheels for my wife's 238 xi. A couple different sets of CCW look good, but at ~700.00/wheel. I'm not sure I could stand to see them get rashed. Not that any wheel rash on any wheel makes sense to me.

Have you contacted them about custom colored barrels by any chance? Wanting to do a Black face with a deep purple barrel for her.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 9:14

That's the good thing about modular wheels. If you hit a curb or something, you just replace the outside lip instead of buying a whole new wheel or having to find a place that repairs them. That's what I love about them. Plus, I've always wanted a wheel with a good lip on them. The fronts won't be too impressive, but the back should be.

What I REALLY want, is for someone to copy the face of the TM02 that I currently have, or even copy the face of the RPF1, and use that for the center of a modular wheel. I think that would be tits. And I've contacted companies about it before but no one seems to want to take that on.

Either way, yeah they're pretty pricy. I think HRE is about the same price or maybe even more. I have my other wheels that I bought back in 2011 that I ended up not liking, and I think Zico is putting them on Zilvia for me. If I can get pretty close to what I paid for them, I should be able to roll that right into a set of these no problem and maybe still have some money left over.

I haven't talked to them but they can do just about anything. I'm just not sure what the price would be. If you look at their color options, they have "other", so I'm assuming they'll do whatever you want.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:14

The brakes came in the other day and Zico took some pics. Now all I need to do is buy the rotors and I'll probably replace the wheel bearings all around while I have everything apart. I also thought about putting longer wheel studs in, but I doubt I'll do that.

I'll either get Project Mu rotors like Andy, or the ones from APP Sports. They look exactly the same other than the rotor hats on the PMu are teal and the ones on the APP look more blue, which I like better. The only problem is I can't find replacement rotor rings for the APP but I can for Project Mu, and RHDJapan said the rings for the PMu won't work on APP, even though they look exactly the same.

http://www.rhdjapan.com/project-mu-scr-pro-rotors-front-mazda-fd3s-se3p.html
http://www.rhdjapan.com/app-sports-brake-rotors-set-rear-mazda-rx-7-fd3s-17in.html

And here are the brakes. They look no different than the ones that came on the car, but these are from an RZ which is a later model and although they use the same amount of fluid, you can see that one piston is larger than the other and this changes the way the pads wear. Also, the rotors are larger diameter and thicker on the front to help cooling, and they are larger diameter on the rear. I'm also going to put my cooling duct plates behind the front rotors and run ducting to them. I've also been debating just installing them when I get back, but I think I'll go ahead and rebuild them, and I might get them powdercoated instead of just painting them, and I'll get the rears done too at the same time. I painted them years ago when I rebuilt the calipers but they're pretty beat up at this point.

lOOkatme · Postby **lOOkatme** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:14

looks good. I went with the project mu's since they were the cheapest and easiest to replace option.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:14

Yeah I'll probably do that too. It doesn't make sense to get the APP if I can't find replacement rotor rings for them, regardless if I like the color better haha. Teal isn't bad by any means, but I have kind of a black and blue theme going so I was trying to stick with that. I can't even find an APP rep or anyone to talk to other than RHDJapan.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:14

After doing some searching on 7club, someone said the Autoexe, Project Mu, and APP rotors are all manufactured at the same place and they use the same replacement rings. I'm not 100% sure of this but it looks to be the case from looking at pics. So I'm going to chance it and get the APP rotors.

Now I just need to decide on brake pads. I'm thinking about trying the EBC Bluestuff pads. I've had the greens and I'm currently using the yellows and I've been happy with both of them so far. I've read some bad reviews from some GT-R guys, but their cars are quite a bit heavier so I might be alright. I'm going to keep looking anyway though, and checking out reviews on other pads.

I just picked up another Mikuni OMP. They are off the later RX-7s and are a little more advanced than our original ones on the older models. I was using one a couple years ago but the harness got in the way of the crank pulley and got chewed up a bit, so I switched back to the original OMP. I didn't want to take any chances on using the Mikuni, even after fixing the wires, and even if I am premixing also.

I'm also looking at getting another speaker cover for the center of the dash. My original one broke and I got Zico's for when I get rid of the wideband and EGT gauges on the dash, but I want to have another one just in case Z wants his back at some point. These are kinda hard to find.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:14

Oh yeah, and I'm also researching which air compressor I need to use on the HF blast cabinet I got last year, and I'm looking at getting the two-rotor compression tester because they're on sale right now...

http://rotarydiagnostics.com/pricing%20combined.htm

Website · Postby **Shadowden** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:14

Junkie, if at all possible, I'd get a compressor that can run the blast cabinet, and any paint or sanding tools you might want to use for bodywork.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/air-compressor-faq-t.aspx

Might consider a ROTARY screw compressor to go with your car. :lol:

Postby **RX-7 Chris** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:14

For a compressor, I would recommend something that could handle painting a car. 60gal 3hp.

this one would be great: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-60-gal-Stationary-Electric-Air-Compressor-C602H/205389936?N=5yc1vZc27p

$crillaTor · Postby **$crillaTor** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:14

I've got one of the center speaker covers. If you want it, I'll set it aside until you get back. It's a deal at only $1200

Seriously though, if you want it I'll sell it to you for whatever they're worth.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 9:14

Shadowden wrote:Junkie, if at all possible, I'd get a compressor that can run the blast cabinet, and any paint or sanding tools you might want to use for bodywork.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/air-compressor-faq-t.aspx

Might consider a ROTARY screw compressor to go with your car.

Thanks for the link! I was planning on getting something to use with the blast cabinet, and I figure as big as that would be, it should be able to do anything else I asked of it. I'll see if I can find a rotary screw compressor haha.

RX-7 Chris wrote:For a compressor, I would recommend something that could handle painting a car. 60gal 3hp.

this one would be great: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-60-gal-Stationary-Electric-Air-Compressor-C602H/205389936?N=5yc1vZc27p

Yeah 60 gallon is the biggest I've been able to find online for a do-able price, and I saw the 3hp and a 5hp, but I wasn't sure if I'd need the 5hp. That seems like a pretty good price on the Husky.

$crillaTor wrote:I've got one of the center speaker covers. If you want it, I'll set it aside until you get back. It's a deal at only $1200

Seriously though, if you want it I'll sell it to you for whatever they're worth.

$1200 is a good deal. LOL Actually the guy on 7club is already sending me pics of the ones he has, so I'll stick with those unless I don't like them for some reason, then I'll hit you up. Thanks!

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 9:14

I bought the center speaker cover; if it's not at the house yet, it should be any day.

Now, on to more serious purchases. As I've said before, I'm looking at different ECU options. When I got the Adaptronic, I just went on the hype and a few features and thought I was getting top of the line. While it is, I feel, well ahead of the Power FC, and I think Andy (the owner of Adaptronic) is a great guy and very helpful (along with Elliot of Turblown), I just feel like I didn't really do my homework. The issues I've had with trying to get the PLX gauge to work and get the ECU to read the wideband and EGTs have really burned me on that computer, especially when I see other options that should be much easier to install. That being said, the ones I'm looking at are not plug and play, so that part isn't exactly an easy install. But linking everything together should be much easier with them. Also, these units are quite a bit more expensive than the Adaptronic, but you get what you pay for I guess.

I've been talking to Chris Ludwig of Ludwig Motorsports (LMS-EFI.com) and he's been schooling me on features of the different units and the pros and cons of each one. For several years his company has mainly dealt Haltech, but when they were putting out really bad products several years ago, he started looking at other options, which led them to start offering AEM and Syvecs. There are certain things I'm looking for, and there don't seem to be any that offer everything, but one that comes ridiculously close...Syvecs S8. I'm very sleepy so I'm going to do my best with this list lol.

The ECUs I'm looking at are Syvecs S8, AEM Infinity, Haltech Elite, and Link G4 RX.

The Syvecs supports everything but OMP control, but I'm hopeful that can be fixed with a software or firmware upgrade. Other than that, it checks off every single box and it's the one I'm leaning toward most. I can plug both EGT sensors, the wideband, and I believe my other aftermarket sensors directly into the computer and log them and then run them out to gauges. I can run dual knock sensors and the ECU has actual knock control instead of just listening to knock like Adaptronic and Haltech Elite, and it can actually weed out what's just noise and what is actually knock. It has drive by wire with cruise control...I would get an adapter so I can use a GM throttle body with drive by wire, then I can get rid of the throttle cable and the stock cruise control module. It has flex fuel capabilites, engine protection measures, direct fire for coils, injector staging, fuel map switching, race dash integration if I want to do that, traction control, VE tuning, I can use AC/heat, there are GPS and accelerometers available for showing lateral and longitudinal Gs...there are probably some things I'm forgetting. The only downsides to these are that it's not very intuitive and there is a steep learning curve to tuning it, and although I probably wouldn't tune it myself, I'm not sure if there is anyone close that can tune it. Also, the price is ridiculous. It'll come out to about $3900. This ECU is used primarily on Porsche, Lamborghini, GT-R, TVR, etc, as an aftermarket ECU. AEM Infinity and Haltech Elite are way more intuitive and easy to use, and I'm not sure about the price of the AEM, but the Haltech would be about $2500.

The AEM and the Haltech are both really good ECUs with a lot of capabilities, but neither of them have everything I'm looking for. Or I should say it has less that matches my list of wants than the Syvecs does.

Chris has never messed with the Link before, so he doesn't know anything about it. But he said some guys he trusts say that it's a good ECU. I'm going to email the company and see how it stacks up against the Syvecs. I'm curious because it is quite a bit cheaper, around $1500 I believe.

Alright, I'll have to finish this tomorrow. I keep falling asleep while I'm typing it lol.

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:14

Man just get a Haltech and call it a day. They sell the plug and play harness patch.

You are not the first one moving away from Adaptronic.

I can help you tune it remotely.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:14

But the Haltech doesn't do knock coontrol, just listening. If they change that I'll think about it, but I'm trying to get one before I get back, and the Elite just came out, and they're not fully up and going for rotaries yet. I'm checking to see if the AEM is all set up for us yet. I'm also still checking the Link G4 RX. And Chris is going to check and see if Syvecs will write the software for OMP control, but we're not holding our collective breath lol.

Yeah it seems like a few are leaving Adaptronic already. That was short lived haha.

I appreciate that you'd tune me though. That helps on one ECU at least lol.

Build thread

Who is online