My new car!

[chickenwafer]

Thanks, Eric! Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. You can see some wrinkles/gathering but it's honestly not that bad...looks worse in photos.

I want to do the door panels...but I think that will be MUCH more difficult haha.

[VRx8]

That is baller! Have you tried applying some heat to get rid of the wrinkles ? maybe i'll work.

[chickenwafer]

Sooooo....I looked at the interior panels in the daylight more, and I have to say....not too thrilled with it. The suede actually looks more black/purple than black in the sunlight and I don't like that.

Plus, the wrinkles and minor imperfections are even more noticeable out in the light. Not the look I'm after. Matt (alpha) still has his black quarter panels and divider so I think I'll get those off him. Then I'll just need some black seat belts to complete the interior.

[speedjunkie]

My shift boot, seats, etc look purplish like that in pics also. Did you got get Alcantara this time? Because your center looks good right?

[chickenwafer]

No it's just "microsuede" or faux suede. I ordered it online so I couldn't see it in person. If I was to redo it, I would probably take them in to an automotive upholstery shop and have them do it.

The Alcantara center tunnel wrap still looks good...but I may ditch it for the stock center trans tunnel. I'm thinking less is more.

[chickenwafer]

Removed the rear windshield wiper. The rear hatch plastic that hides the motor was difficult to remove without cracking...and yup, it cracked. FML. Still in-tact and not too bad, just aggravating.

Car looks much better without the wiper. Originally I was hell-bent on keeping it, just because it's such a late-80's/early 90's Japanese sports car thing, like the pop-up headlights. But I think it was detracting from the overall "sleekness" of the car. So I'm pretty happy with it.

Worst part was when removing the plug/seal from the stock wiper it was stuck on pretty good, and it took a little paint with it..crap! The rubber plug I used doesn't hide the chip, so I might get a bigger plug. Or just move up my timeline for body work and get the wiper hole plug filled, along with the rear window nozzle deleted and the antenna deleted and painted.

[chickenwafer]

Was a great day out up here so I decided to dust the FD off and take her for a spin. Ran really well, consistent AFR's but she started smoking so that has me a little puzzled...

Anyways, did a quick detail/wax and took some quick pictures. Nothing fancy, but now you can see the new stance and deleted rear wiper. I also scored some OEM black seat belts off eBay for cheap and got those today, so that's nice too.







OMG I'm SOOOOO "FITTED/STANCED YESSSS lolz

[alpha]

Wow, no wiper/wing makes the rear end look naked!

Stance is spot on and looks great, but I couldn't help but notice your pictures were taken without leaving the driveway!!

[chickenwafer]

Haha, yeah, it is a little naked. I think the Shine rear low profile carbon spoiler will finish it nicely.

And those pictures were taken after I drove it, haha!

[chickenwafer]

Forgot to update but I ended up buying the rear quarters and divider panel off Matt (alpha). His are OEM black panels and in great condition, and with no shipping charges and the fact I could inspect them beforehand, I feel like I lucked out over buying off the national forum or eBay.

Installed them and they look great. Much better than my previously painted panels. Plus these new ones have speaker grilles over my old map pockets, so now I can install some 6x9 rear speakers once I get the brackets.

Looking forward I'm hoping to get the Shine/RE Amemyia carbon fiber rear diffuser and Shine/FEED carbon fiber side steps. Hopefully by then I can also sell my current wheels for some new wheels...which I'm not 100% decided on but they will be probably be a different/unique color and definitely 18" in diameter.

Car parts will slow down a little, however, as my wife and I are expecting our first child here at the end of July. We're very excited, but it will definitely put a hampering on purchasing some car parts haha.

[chickenwafer]

Not much happening with the FD, getting it ready to start driving more now that the weather is hopefully getting better.

I do think I've settled on perhaps switching to another ECU. I still really like the PowerFC- it's very easy to use, reliable, and bottom line- it just works! However, it is lacking in some new features, after, the PFC was designed in 1999.

Now, I've always said all those additional fancy features are nice, but what good are they if it's too complicated to use and setup? I think I found the answer in the Adaptronic Select ECU.

Not only is the standalone ECU super easy to setup and use, but it also has a crap ton of additional features that are exceedingly easy to setup. I'm talking advanced features like 2-step launch control, adaptive closed loop tuning (even in boost!), traction control, internal boost management with boost-by-gear, closed loop idle control, safety parameters such as overboost control and protection, soft and hard rev limiters, and CAN BUS capability with the ability to run digital dashes (RacePaq IQ3, AIM PLX, etc) and external dataloggers, etc.

I know there are many other ECU's on the market with similar features (Haltech PS series, Motec M888, AEM Series2, etc). I've downloaded the software for EVERY EMS out there, and the Adaptronic's is by the far the easiest to setup. Not to mention, it isn't too expensive at $1350 for the PnP version for the FD harness. Plus, it reads all stock sensors, so no need to switch sensors. It also has an on-board internal 4-bar MAP sensor, which rocks.

So I'm strongly considering a move to the Adaptronic ECU this Spring. I still need to sort out my hot-starting issues, however, and I'm leaning to only a few potential issues still which still includes the motor possibly have low compression...we shall see.

[Brigdh]

Interesting. I've been considering the PS1000, and it looks like there is a used one in the Springs area for an ok price: http://www.rx7club.com/race-parts-only-228/haltech-platinum-1000-a-1024108/ but I think perhaps I need some more research.

[chickenwafer]

The Haltech Platnium Sport series of ECUs are great, don't get me wrong. Most of the advanced features are similar between the Adaptronic and the Haltech. For me, the software is far easier to setup and use with the Adaptronic than the Haltech.

The Adaptronic also excels at closed loop o2 feedback control, more than most ECUs save for $10k Motecs and Pectel's. It even has rapid learning modes to quickly adjust AFR during idle or cruising.

Supposedly, the tech support for the Adaptronic is another huge bonus. The head engineer also competitively races a Miata with a 13b-rew swap which of course has an Adaptronic ECU, so they know rotary support as well. All those pluses combined with the attractive price point has me seriously considering the Adaptronic.

[iani1.1]

OMG I'm SOOOOO "FITTED/STANCED YESSSS lolz

herrafrush bro

[chickenwafer]

LOL thanks, it's not bad but I know I'm not going to be on Stance Nation (LOL) anytime soon. I think I struck a good balance between fitment and function, no tire rub but it's about as low as it can go and my offsets are about as aggressive as I can go without rubbing and the tire sizes I have.

I even want wider rear tires so I can hook better since I can spin 3rd gear when I'm running just 16psi, and I even want to get up to 24-26psi eventually with a billet turbo so I will definitely need some wider rear rubber.