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speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:14

Haha, surely you jest. LOL I would probably still scrape going into my driveway haha, AND I wouldn't be stanced and hellaflush, yo!

Brent got back to me about the JRZs, but I forgot to message you when I was back in the room haha. So I'll have to wait again til I get off work.

So all that work I did on the fuel pump wiring...lol. Chris said we could run sensors in each of the lines and then run them to the ECU and set a failsafe on it. If the pressure gets too low, it will go into limp mode. Also, he said I could set warning lights on the display I'm planning to use to show if there is a fault, so I won't need the lights in the dash anymore. This also means I'll have to rewire some things in the fuel pump wiring though haha. But I'm sure he can help me sort that out.

I'm going to call back to whichever GM dealership there in town today to see how much it costs for a flex fuel sensor. If it's any more than $55 I'm going to buy one online like the one in the pic I attached and I'm going to get swagelok type fittings to use so I can use AN fittings, or I'll get some stuff like what I got from Whisler Bearing to use on the fuel lines and just flare the ends like I did the lines and hope they don't leak lol.

I also talked to him about IC cores and he said Treadstone IC cores are made in Taiwan. He suggested going with Garrett but they don't really have one that fits my setup, so I guess Bell it is.

I'm going to have to make the in-tank-surge-tank out of stainless steel so the E85 doesn't oxidize it. That'll be heavier, but hopefully still not too bad haha.

For the fuel rail, I'm going to take the secondary rail to a machine shop to see if I can get the two extra injector holes milled out. I'm going to call Beauchamp Racing first to see if he can do it. Then I'll get two more ID2000s to put in there, and that will also solve my problem of the freeze plugs (that are blocking the two extra holes in the LIM) blowing out under boost. He warned that the ID2000s have ferrous metals in them that will rust eventually if using only E85, but if I run fuel occasionally it should be fine. However, he said 1680s are the largest they make with all stainless internals. If they have them in the EV14 variety, I might look at getting some of those. Then the only things I'll have to worry about are my filter bodies since they're aluminum, and the part of the rail that is milled since it won't be anodized. And I just now thought of that. Dammit lol.

FDEEZ · Postby **FDEEZ** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:14

Eric, thanks for the detailed info on your PM!

I just pulled the trigger on a pair of fiberglass doors (even though I said I would never do that), but on my quest for weight reduction...I caved in. That being said, I now need to expedite building a cage with door bars. Bottom-line...I need to focus on finishing up my current setup before I can think about getting a new suspension...if I keep wandering off doing other things, I'll never finish my winter goals (with winter being almost over). Once again, thank you for gathering up that info on your PM to me, I really appreciate it!

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:14

No worries! I hear you, I go about 16 different ways with everything I do lol. I'll let him know you're going to pass on them.

Zico had CF doors on his car but I think he just took them back off. He said he pulled the rest of the CF stuff off anyway, I'm assuming he did those too. I hope you're not planning on using windows in them, unless you're going to modify them to be hand operated and not power windows. Zico heard cracking in his door when he tried to roll up the window on the passenger side, so he just never put the driver's side in. Just something to think about.

FDEEZ · Postby **FDEEZ** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 9:14

For side windows, I was going to gut the doors and run polycarbonate (MR10). For autox, I'll most likely run without windows.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 9:14

Oh you'll be fine then. SUPER light! lol

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 9:14

Zico got back to me with measurements for the new IC. I finally decided on one. I got a Bell IC core from Verocious Motorsports. I bought it there instead of directly from Bell only because I would have had to call Bell and I paid online through Verocious, and that's easier for me while I'm here. The dimensions are 4.5" thick, by 9.4" wide and 14" long. It will flow 690 CFM, which I'm told is tested at 10psi. Honestly, I'm not sure how much my turbo will push, but this one isn't too far off from the current IC so it should flow about the same. It's .5" thicker, but it's 1.75" shorter in length and not quite .75" shorter in width. Zico sent me some pics, but because I'm at work I'll just attach a couple that were the most helpful.

I'm having a local guy make the end tanks and I'll redo the piping and put on the intake elbow I've been wanting to use for years (and apparently is pretty hard to find), which will make me move my relay boxes (which I was planning to do anyway), which in turn will make me move the 2-cycle tank (which is something else I've been thinking of doing for a while). I plan to remake the ducting out of fiberglass and I may move the relay box along the front support to right next to the end tank on the turbo side, and that way I could do a ducting piece off the front of the IC and directly down under the front support.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should recoat everything in something besides plain black. I was thinking about doing a slightly lighter color, but I've always really liked crinkle coat like on Honda valve covers. I'm thinking about doing that, but maybe not until next winter when I can't drive the car anyway. I may end up waiting until then to do a lot of the mods I want to do, like suspension, brakes, etc. Because I want to sandblast the suspension arms again while I'm swapping coilovers and then clearcoat them, and I also want to put zerk fittings in and relube the bushings. I also want to respray the wheel wells with underbody coating to freshen it. I figure I'll do all this while doing the brake upgrade again, and everything together makes a long project that I don't want to do during the summer when I can be driving the car. BUT, I REALLY want to try out the suspension ASAP lol.

I bought a flex fuel sensor from Pace Performance and turbo speed sensor from Full Race the other day too. I'm still looking for hose suitable for submerging in E85. I'm told to get PTFE teflon but everything I've found so far is stainless steel braided and I'm afraid it won't be flexible enough.

I spoke to Tom Beauchamp and he said he could mill my secondary fuel rail, so that will save some money over buying new. I did some searching on the FIClinic 1680 injectors and I've seen some stuff that makes me not want to use their injectors over ID. ID does WAY more to match up their injectors and it ends with better results. So I emailed T1 Race Development where I got the ID injectors and asked if they had anything that is good for E85 or had plans for anything in the future.

I'm also waiting on pics of the front harness that I need, and I can send some money to Fritz Flynn for a dash harness, but I'm not absolutely sure I need one of those. And I'm finally getting a replacement center AC vent haha.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:14

Sparco finally got back to me about the Grid. They updated the pics on their site to include one with dimensions. It looks like it's somewhat similar in size to the EVO II. So I'd still have to shave down the shoulder bolsters, not sure on the leg bolsters though.
http://www.sparcousa.com/product/grid

I bought the dash harness from Fritz Flynn, a center AC vent from a guy on facebook (I broke one of the vanes a couple years ago and super glue never really fixed it), and the guy emailed me pics of the harness that he had and it was the wrong one. I found a guy on facebook that has one off of another 94 Touring and he said he'd sell it to me for less than what people were asking. So I showed him what people are asking and he came up with reasons why theirs wouldn't work for me, presumably so he could charge more lol. Granted, they were a lot cheaper than what I expected them to be going for, but I'm not telling them what to sell their parts for and I'm not making it up, I gave him the links and everything. So I made an offer on it but when I left for work he hadn't told me yet whether he accepted. If it falls through, I'll keep looking with the plans of just fixing mine I guess. I'd really like to just replace it altogether instead of fixing mine, but I'm not going to be strongarmed. The offer I gave him was still lower than what I expected and I gave myself some negotiating room, but I won't go up too much over what I offered.

I got an email back from T1 Race Development and they have an ID1300 injector that is made for alternative fuels. What I'm thinking of doing is swapping the four injectors I have now, and adding two more to the secondary rail and making them all ID1300. That would give me 7800cc of fuel, and hopefully would be enough for E85. There are other ways to help with having injectors not suitable for it, but I'd rather just not worry about it at all if possible. They said I could use a Lucas Oil additive in the tank that would help, and to start it at least every week, and to pickle the system with pump gas. I don't plan on using it enough to worry about it though. Only on weekends and track days. Everything else will be pump gas.
http://injectordynamics.com/injectors/id1300-2/
http://lucasoil.com/products/fuel-treatments/safeguard-ethanol-fuel-conditioner-with-stabilizers

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:14

The guy I've been talking to about the chassis harness is trying to strong-arm me I think lol.

I believe these harnesses are around $1800 new from Mazda. Simon bought his a few years ago for around $1k, but since I'm coming near the end of this deployment and I'll need the money I've saved up for the ECU and harness, I'm trying to save as much as possible. The ones I found for sale were around $140, which is WAY cheaper than what I imagined. I told him I'd offer more than that since I knew for sure it would work, even though he originally told me he'd sell it to me for less than what others were. I offered him $300 yesterday and he hadn't messaged me back so I sent him another message asking if he accepted or if he had a counter offer. He said another guy offered $400 and he was waiting to hear back to see if the guy wanted it. I told him I'd go up to $400 but I wasn't interested if it was more than that and I haven't heard back from him. Then I decided to check for myself and see if it's the same part number across all three years of S6 FDs (someone had said there are different part numbers), and sure enough it's the same. I found one on 7club from a guy that I've bought parts from before and it's about the same price but the ignition harness is included, and this guy is trustworthy and he takes the part back and gives a refund if it doesn't work for some reason. So I think I'm going that direction as long as it's original condition and not repaired due to previous damage. If that's the case I'll just go through my current harness, no sense in spending money on another damaged one.

Website · Postby **Shadowden** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:14

speedjunkie wrote:The guy I've been talking to about the chassis harness is trying to strong-arm me I think lol.

I believe these harnesses are around $1800 new from Mazda. Simon bought his a few years ago for around $1k, but since I'm coming near the end of this deployment and I'll need the money I've saved up for the ECU and harness, I'm trying to save as much as possible. The ones I found for sale were around $140, which is WAY cheaper than what I imagined. I told him I'd offer more than that since I knew for sure it would work, even though he originally told me he'd sell it to me for less than what others were. I offered him $300 yesterday and he hadn't messaged me back so I sent him another message asking if he accepted or if he had a counter offer. He said another guy offered $400 and he was waiting to hear back to see if the guy wanted it. I told him I'd go up to $400 but I wasn't interested if it was more than that and I haven't heard back from him. Then I decided to check for myself and see if it's the same part number across all three years of S6 FDs (someone had said there are different part numbers), and sure enough it's the same. I found one on 7club from a guy that I've bought parts from before and it's about the same price but the ignition harness is included, and this guy is trustworthy and he takes the part back and gives a refund if it doesn't work for some reason. So I think I'm going that direction as long as it's original condition and not repaired due to previous damage. If that's the case I'll just go through my current harness, no sense in spending money on another damaged one.

I'd definately not buy it from the guy pushing his price up on you. Seems like a Dick. Go with the one from 7 club. At least that guy sounds trustworthy.

FDEEZ · Postby **FDEEZ** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:14

Shadowden wrote:I'd definately not buy it from the guy pushing his price up on you. Seems like a Dick. Go with the one from 7 club. At least that guy sounds trustworthy.

^ Agreed! Just recently, I really, really needed a fuel tank...and a seller from a forum (not Rx7club) offered me a low price for a '94 FD tank. I accepted the offer. After I asked him for shipping costs, he replied back a few days later with shipping costs + doubling the price of the tank from what he originally offered. I asked wtf? He said after doing some research, he found that he offered a price too low and now wanted "market value". What b.s.!

The new price was no big deal (from a personal financial standpoint)...but I do not tolerate "shady" business practices. Despite me really needing a tank...I ditched that POS seller. Legally...a contract was formed when I accepted the seller's offer; which meant I could've taken him to court if I wanted. But that crap & @ssh0le is not worth my time. I'll just make my own tank.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:14

I agree completely with both of you! It was more expensive from the guy on the forums (and I didn't realize he's 73 lol), but I'd pay the extra money out of principal alone. I bought it from the guy on 7club for $480 shipped. He gave me a good iTrader rating haha, and he even told me good news about fitment. He's swapping things over from his 94 into the 93 he's parting out, and he said his 94 harness he put into the 93 this harness came from fit without modification, so that puts me at ease too. But if it doesn't work for some reason I'll just return it for a refund. The only thing he said I'd have to do is remove the pins from the Haltech connectors on it and repin them into stock connectors for the ECU. No biggie. I thought about just waiting for Chris to change it since he's going to need to change it for the Syvecs anyway, but I want to see if this fixes the starting problem before I take it to Chris. I also emailed Ray Crowe, the guru of FD parts that works at Malloy Mazda, to make sure all these harnesses are compatible. The other guy that was trying to rip me off sent me pics of the harness haha. I guess his "other buyer" fell through. I told him I already got one lol. It does look good, but I won't deal with shady people. What really gets me is I told him up front that I'd give him more than what others were selling them for because I felt it was worth more and I wasn't trying to rip him off, and he still had the nerve to pull that crap. I was in the same boat, FDEEZ, it's not that I couldn't swing it (obviously, since I bought the other one for more lol), but I can't handle the deception. It cracks me up when people try to make up for low prices by charging extra for shipping lol. Yeah that pressure sensor is $20, but $300 shipping. LOL ok.

I'm currently in the market for some rear speaker brackets and covers. I don't listen to music in the car much, just because I have to turn it up so loud to hear it over the exhaust. But I thought that might have something to do with the door speakers being down by my feet and these rear speakers being right behind my head might help. Also, ever since Simon installed the microphone in the Pathfinder and I've been able to make calls through the stereo, I've wanted it in the FD. But I figured it was pointless if I can't hear the person talking, and they still probably won't be able to hear me over the car lol. But I'm going to try it anyway with this new stereo/tablet setup.

I'm getting picky again lol. I don't really care for the shape of my new ebrake handle lol. I never really did, but it was the only one I could find at the time that I knew would fit. I mean, it looks OK, but I like the shape of the stock ebrake handle better. I just wasn't a fan of the old "leather" deteriorating and how it didn't match the shift knob. So I'm thinking about taking the old stock handle to a machinist when I get back, probably the same one I take the wheel job too, and see if they can machine a new shift knob for me, and then engrave the turbo rotor design and "speedjunkie" into the top of it, running longways down the handle. Also, I'd kinda like a shift knob like the one in Eric's car (post #55 in the link and also attached pics), along with his suede interior lol. It looks sooooo good. So maybe I'll see if I can find one or have them machine that too with the logo and name in it too. I really like the suede, and I want to cover most of the interior, but I'm afraid of messing it up, and also too much suede might look worse. I like how his silver contrasts with the suede, but I'd do something closer to the coating in the Spirit R, a charcoal rubbery feel coating. Anyway, Eric's build is ridiculous.
http://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-292/grandmighty-coms-project-r2-1009458/page2/#post11768932

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:14

Well the deal on the height adjustable suspension fell through. I told him I'd just buy the springs too if the piston diameter was the same and I was getting the whole kit, but he said he sold the tank already.

I needed to get some push-pull circuit breakers to replace the ones for the water injection so I can disable it when I run E85. I found some used ones on eBay because they are expensive new. I also got a couple 30a ones for the batteries but those were new so they were about $50 each, YIKES. In retrospect, I probably could have held off on those and at least looked for a better price lol. Damn, I wish I'd thought of that before buying.

I found a guy on 7club that has the rear speaker covers for $75, and shipping is another $25...riiiiiight. $25 to ship two plastic covers from Vegas. Weird how it just so happens to total $100, which was the original price. I am so sick of scumbags and scam artists in the car world. Reminds me of FDEEZ guy selling the fuel tank. Now I'm looking for the brackets still and there are some in England for about $40 each. Rear speakers are kinda expensive for what they are, not being a performance part and all. They better sound AMAZING.

FDEEZ · Postby **FDEEZ** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:14

speedjunkie wrote:I'm currently in the market for some rear speaker brackets and covers. I don't listen to music in the car much, just because I have to turn it up so loud to hear it over the exhaust. But I thought that might have something to do with the door speakers being down by my feet and these rear speakers being right behind my head might help. Also, ever since Simon installed the microphone in the Pathfinder and I've been able to make calls through the stereo, I've wanted it in the FD. But I figured it was pointless if I can't hear the person talking, and they still probably won't be able to hear me over the car lol. But I'm going to try it anyway with this new stereo/tablet setup.

Unless you have rear passengers, I would reconsider investing on rear speakers. I've had an Eclipse Spyder GS-T since college, and just recently gave it away. I had a simple Boston Acoustics sound system on that car...but it sounded amazing, even with the top down. What I came to realize from that car is that rear speakers don't really do much for the front occupants. In fact, I ended up deleting my rear speakers completely. That's probably why FD's with the touring package didn't come with rear speakers.

For the best bang for your buck (especially since we drive a hatchback), is for you to relocate your tweeters to a more optimal position (triangle above door, A-pillar, stock location on dash, etc.). For my Eclipse, the tweeters were pointed towards the windshield...thus creating better resonance. If you can fabricate a setup like that...that would probably create the best audio experience. Also, instead of rear speakers, a small quality sub-woofer (e.g. I like the JL W7 series) would do wonders back in the hatch area (if you don't already have a woofer). If designed right, you can easily take out the sub-woofer/amp assembly for competitive driving.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:14

I'll have to ask Zico or someone else with rear speakers if they're worth doing. The only reason I was thinking about adding them is because I figured it would be cheaper and easier to install since the provisions are already there, and because they're right behind my head so I figured I would be able to hear music or the phone conversation better. This is more expensive than I thought, but it's still easier. I really don't want to change the look of the interior too much by adding extra speakers, tweeters or whatever. Plus I'm really not married to a sound system more than just adding these rears and possibly a sub in the back. I've been thinking about subs for a long time, but I'm not really into music as much anymore and I found more important things to spend my money on. I have a small box that would fit under the rear strut bar and it fits two 8" subs. I was planning on putting that in with a small amp attached to it, that way I could disconnect a couple wires and pull the whole thing out. I'm just gonna ask around and see what people think. I could always reinstall the Bose snake system hahaha. I might end up skipping the rear speakers anyway because I'm getting discouraged about finding a carpc that will be capable of working with the Syvecs app, whereas I know a regular Galaxy Tab would. I just have to buy the other stuff to make it work to play music.

I asked the FD parts guru Ray Crowe about the front harness part numbers and he said they're different...uh oh lol. The guy on facebook sent me pics the other night and I told him I bought another one already, and then he posted his up on facebook for $350. I might go back and try to get it anyway just in case. OR I'll just pull mine out, strip it down to only what I need and check it out while I'm doing that, and reinstall and see what happens.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:14

So the guy I bought the center AC vent from said he broke it while removing it from the dash. ARGH!!!!! So now I'm on the hunt again for this piece that's hard to find, a race against time so I don't have to pull the dash again at a later date just to put this vent in.

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