Build thread

[speedjunkie]

I am back but the car is still in Indiana. He's still waiting on the ECU, but Syvecs finished or is finishing testing on the less expensive S6 Plus so I decided to go with that one. Turns out it has more inputs so I can run even more sensors, and it also does OMP control which he discovered he couldn't do on the S8 without software and firmware updates. I'm going to add another temp sensor so now I'll be able to monitor pre-turbo, post-turbo, and the OEM location and I'll be able to see the efficiency of the IC and it will give me another way to see the efficiency of the turbo. I also planned on testing all our ICs this way if you guys want me to.

He also ran those two fuel pressure sensors separately into the ECU, which is what I was hoping for. I'm hoping to get the car back this month sometime. I really don't want to wait until August to get it back.

[Shadowden]

Sounds like mostly good news.

Hope you get it back soon!

[speedjunkie]

Thanks! I actually talked to Chris yesterday. He emailed with the guys at Syvecs.

So as it stands right now they have an S6 Plus that's ready to ship, but they wanted to make sure all the code written for it was good, and they have to write the code to run the OMP. I'm not sure how long that's gonna take, but I would guess I'm not picking the car up until August since I'll be gone for work all next month and unable to get the car. Chris said if he gets the ECU next week he might be able to have it done for me to pick up before I leave. I'd much rather have it at my place next month while I'm gone than still stuck in Indiana.

At this point, I'm going to wait to do the brakes and all that until it starts getting too cold to drive it. I really wanted to have them on this summer, but I don't want to put the car down again, I just want to drive it. NEXT summer, it'll be on lol.

[speedjunkie]

Chris sent me all the email traffic between he and the Syvecs guys about the OMP control. From reading it, it sounds like this will be a custom ECU due to the work they have to do to make the OMP work. While that kinda sounds cool, it kinda sucks if the ECU ever goes bad because I'll have to go through all this again, and also I'm not sure how long this is gonna take. And I think they need info from a stock FD with stock ECU hooked up and hooking up some kind of scope to it. Ugh, I wonder if I'll ever get my car back lol.

[Shadowden]

Having followed through most of the car's history, I still wonder what the cause/need for a custom computer would be. What aspects have other FD owners not incorporated back into their cars once they go to a turbo that allows them to use other engine management solutions, or are they just getting by on luck and prayers? Surely others have hooked up for corn, turbo, and water/meth injection? I have probably wrongly assumed that OMP is used by all rotary engines, whether mechanical or controlled electronically. How have other's gotten around the OMP issue with other ECU's?

Lots of questions, I know, but would really like to see you up and running again and would like to know what I'm missing in your build that is causing all the added complexity.

Thanks for sticking with it though. It's pretty cool seeing someone actually do so much to a car.

[speedjunkie]

Having followed through most of the car's history, I still wonder what the cause/need for a custom computer would be. What aspects have other FD owners not incorporated back into their cars once they go to a turbo that allows them to use other engine management solutions, or are they just getting by on luck and prayers? Surely others have hooked up for corn, turbo, and water/meth injection? I have probably wrongly assumed that OMP is used by all rotary engines, whether mechanical or controlled electronically. How have other's gotten around the OMP issue with other ECU's?

Lots of questions, I know, but would really like to see you up and running again and would like to know what I'm missing in your build that is causing all the added complexity.

Thanks for sticking with it though. It's pretty cool seeing someone actually do so much to a car.

The only way it's custom would be because of what it takes to make the OMP work. Most other ECUs either support the OMP or the owner will delete it altogether and just premix. I want to keep it, but this ECU starts life at Life Racing being made strictly for racing. No AC, no power steering, and most certainly no OMP, among other things. Syvecs adds AC, power steering, etc, but being that the RX-7 is the only car that uses OMP, they don't know what to do to add it. That's where my problem lies. And they don't have an ECU strictly for rotaries, so they've never broken into this market. Again, I'm a guinea pig lol. Well, kind of. One other rotary guy uses a Syvecs, and that's Carter Thompson, but it's on his race car and I don't believe he uses an OMP. Chris installed that ECU also.

Chris emailed me this morning and said Syvecs is shipping the ECU on Friday, but they're still working on the OMP issue, so I'll need to premix for now. I might just tell him to tell them to keep it for a bit longer if they need to if it will help them get it working. It's not like I can pick the car up for another month anyway.

Thanks!

[Shadowden]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the insight. With a lot of rotary guys going to aftermarket engine management, it would seem a stock ECU would be available.

Quick google
http://www.ebay.com/itm/N3c1-Fd-Rx7-Twi ... 1795894881 45.00 shipped ECU from a twin turbo FD.

[speedjunkie]

Well that only solves one part of it though, I need a stock ECU on a stock car lol, and probably with the OMP that I'm using which is the later Mikuni model. That might not matter, they might be the same, but I'm not sure.

I'm looking for a harness to use with the new seats when I get them, and I think I landed on this one...
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vms-754004
But I need to make sure I can swap the ends on the subharness so that I can bolt them to the rails. An eye bolt would be too large.

I was also looking at brake pads again today and I'm not sure Winmax makes pads for my car lol. So I might just go with Carbotech anyway, although I'm thinking about stepping up to the XP8 instead of the AX6.

[speedjunkie]

Got a bit of good news today. Chris said that Syvecs told him he should have the ECU tomorrow, and they also have an idea for getting OMP to work so they're sending him an update for the firmware that he's going to test. I hope it works. Unfortunately I'll still be picking up the car in August since I'm too close to leaving for Vegas and getting a plane ticket home for a decent price. Not to mention I want to spend a few days on the trip. Oh well, that'll give him an extra month to get any bugs worked out.

[speedjunkie]

Chris posted this pic on facebook today and tagged me in it. It came in today. WOOHOO!!!

[speedjunkie]

I've been doing a lot of research on brake pads again. Luis was pointing me towards Carbotech, either AX6 or XP8, and I had looked into Winmax too but I think they only make one pad for my car and I'm not sure they're aggressive enough. I like the Carbotechs except for the reviews that talk about how much dust is produced and how much noise they make, I'm not crazy about either one of those things. Dust I could get over, but I don't want to squeal every time I pull up to the light. I started seeing posts about Endless MX72 and ME20. Both of those seem to be really low dust and noise, but still perform great with good modulation and initial bite, with the ME20 being the more aggressive pad. Reviews have said that even the ME20 isn't even close to the Carbotechs with noise and dust. I think I'll go with the MX72...however, as with everything else these days, they are EXPENSIVE. $555 for a full set. Although people say that they last a long time too, and if I have to pay a bit more to get low noise and low dust, I guess I'll do that.

I was looking for new brake lines also since my driver's front was worn through on the steel braid. I wanted some with a dark plastic cover over the braid and my buddy Alex Rodriguez was able to come through with some Earl's lines, along with a matching clutch line (my current line has some fluid under the plastic cover, and while I think that might just be from spilling it when the line was disconnected, why take the chance?).

I'm still trying to decide if I should powder coat the calipers or paint them again. I'm still going to rebuild them all either way. And the other night I ordered the remainder of what I need for the brake swap.

I thought of trying to add a ring to the brake duct plates to direct the air into the brake rotor, but after taking some measurements I don't think it will be beneficial the way I'd have to have it.

I called around today to find a machine shop to machine some rear caliper brackets based on the OEM Mazda pieces since they discontinued them. And I also found out that the front passenger hard brake line that goes through the firewall is discontinued and I bought the last driver's side one from Ray Crowe. This is depressing seeing all these parts no longer available.

I bought an Earl's 35 micron oil filter with -4 at both ends for the turbo oil feed line, based on Adam Griffith putting one on his car, but I want to look into it more before I put this in. I want to make sure it won't restrict flow to the turbo too much. I emailed Full Race about it a while back but I haven't heard from them yet, so I guess I'll have to email again.

I only have a couple things left on my old list (things to do prior to taking the car to Indiana), and even those things aren't mandatory. But I made a new to-do list for when I get it back, or more likely, this winter when I can't drive it anyway. I plan to drive the hell outta this car while I can before winter. The problem is most of the things on this list I can't do until I get the car back, but there are a few I can do right now, and it's best to get these ducks in a row early.

Fix fuel gauge issue
Replace rear tires
Buy and install seats and harnesses
Swap brake setup
Install brake duct plates
Install brake ducts (figure out where to draw air from)
Get rear caliper brackets copied before installation
Rebuild brake calipers and powder coat calipers and brackets
Replace brake lines (including hard line from Ray Crowe)
Get brake pads
Get brake fluid
Sandblast suspension arms and clearcoat them
Lube suspension bushings
Clean and re-coat wheel wells
Sandblast engine bay pieces and get them powder coated (either super black chrome or crinkle black)
Get Swift springs if Ohlins springs aren't good enough
Get cross bar made for new strut bar, and get anodized black
Reinstall Noltec mounts
Buy and install Banzai trans brace
Install filter for turbo oil feed line (make new line?)
Get surge tank modified and anodized
Get fittings for Walbro pumps to work with surge tank
Install surge tank and Hydramat
Make new 2-cycle tank and water injection tank
RX-8 starter mod (maybe)
Looking into getting shifter and ebrake handle milled
Mount fire extinguisher in the rear
Fix cruise control issue
Install iPad to dash
Possibly install rear speakers
Install roll bar
Get AC lines made
Hard mount fuse box
Possibly make cover for fuse boxes and air filter
Remake air filter pipe and look at using a velocity stack

[JTurton7]

holy list batman

[speedjunkie]

Keep in mind that's only one part of one of the many lists over the years lol. Although this list is very detailed.

I got the brake lines from Alex last night. The only problem is they aren't brake lines. He sent me the version 2 replacement lines for his ABS delete kit which I'm not using haha. So I'm sending the lines back to him and I bought a set of lines with matching clutch line from SakeBomb Garage. I'm going to get the brake pads from HorsePower Freaks or Vivid Racing probably.

[speedjunkie]

I just bought the Endless MX72 brake pads from SakeBomb with a coupon code to match the price everywhere else. I haven't seen anything about the brake lines shipping or being delivered yet. Also, SBG said they could get the ME20 or whichever pads if I wanted to go more aggressive at some point.


Chris told me he's going to be working on the car this week to get it finished.


Injector Dynamics just released the ID1700 which is good with all fuels, soooo....I guess I'll be getting those now and swapping out the 1300s I just bought and have never even used LOL. Chris said he'd buy four of the 1300s from me at his cost, but said he'd supply the 1700s at his cost too, but he doesn't know what his cost is going to be yet. I bought the 1300s for $225 each, his cost is $180, so I'd be losing $45 on each one. However, I'd be saving money on the 1700s also. I figure there are a couple different options here...
1. Stick with the 1300s. However, if I'm going to upgrade later anyway, I might as well do it now since I'd need it to be tuned again later anyway. Also, if I used the 1300s and sold them later, I imagine I'd lose quite a bit more than $45 each.
2. Keep the 1300s to sell to someone else and probably get more money for them, but I'd imagine this deal hinges on selling them to Chris for his cost if I'm going to get the new ones for his cost. I really doubt he'd sell me the new ones for his cost if I kept the 1300s, and I wouldn't expect him to.
3. Go with the deal that's been offered, and I think that's what I'll do. But I'm still waiting to hear back about cost. I can't imagine it'll be much more.

I just looked and found this, I hadn't seen this link before. So I guess the 1700s are $25 more each than the 1300s, so assuming his cost is commensurate, I should only pay $100 more on this deal and have the larger injectors. That's not so bad.
http://injectordynamics.com/injectors/id1700/
And here is the thread on GTRLife about them.
http://gtrlife.com/forums/topic/118474- ... t-release/


I met up with the local Sin City Rotary group last Friday night at In-N-Out. Earlier that day I met another member and got the non-Bose rear cargo cover from him. He gave me a good deal, even with this part being somewhat rare. I didn't really NEED it, but I'm kinda swapping the car over to non-Touring, aside from the sunroof.



Speaking of the sunroof, I learned about another rare part, way more rare than the cargo cover. I didn't even know this thing existed until yesterday haha. It snaps into the glass sunroof to block out the sun completely. Mazda no longer makes it, go figure, and I know of only one guy right now that owns it, which is where I got these pics. Now, I MUST HAVE IT. lol The search begins. I wouldn't mind getting one and seeing if I could copy it somehow. I'm not sure where to find the clips or whatever it uses though.




I've been in Vegas since the 1st. I've been having a pretty good time haha.

[RX-7 Chris]

When will you be back in town with the car? We need to get a meet going.