88 RX-7 JDM 13B-RE Twin Turbo
Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:14
Formerly known as FD3Sguy, I thought it fitting to change my user name since the FD is gone and now sits an 88 FC in its place.
After selling my FD I decided I wanted to go FC hunting and I found a couple that caught my interest, mainly a 13B-RE twin turbo cosmo swapped FC. Found the ad on Craigslist where the guy was asking $5k for the car located in Santa Fe, NM and I was willing to pay the full price. Upon further investigation I recognized the car from 4 years ago in a for sale ad on RX7club. The Albuquerque based rotary shop known as Rotary RX built the motor, performed the swap, and tuned the microtech for 18psi on pump gas. Well, I had to hassle with the owner to get me pics of the car and actual info of the condition. Decided to roll the dice and make the 3 hour trip and to my disappointment the car was in ROUGH shape! I couldn't believe that someone would spend their hard earned money on a really clean FC and then turn around and destroy it the way this person did! The owner was drunk off his a** upon my arrival and the entire passenger side from the quarter panel to the door was crushed in and peeled back (he stated that he just wrecked that side by going into a ditch while taking ONE LAST drive just 10 minutes before I arrived at 1030pm)! The entire roof was scratched with deep grooves like a giant tree branch caught the top of the car! The driver's seat adjust was broken and would not lock in place and would just crush you when you hit the brakes as you slid forward! No seat belts, only crappy 4 point harnesses that wouldn't lock! The exhaust was busted all to hell and dragging on the ground! There was a HEAVY vacuum leak at the Apexi bov due to a missing vacuum nipple! The only lights that worked on the car were the headlights but they did not retract, NO dash lights OR tail lights OR side markers! The car was running PIG rich and not boosting at all (1 or 2 psi MAX)! The two rear tires were bald and the passenger rear was almost flat! I could keep going on but I decided to make a final offer and rescue this car from a very sad sad owner! I gave the guy $3k knowing that the short block motor build alone was at LEAST that much. Just to recap here is a list of known problems:
Passenger side wrecked and roof scratched all to hell
Big vacuum leak at BOV
No boost
Broken dragging exhaust and rich running condition causing flames beneath the car on high revs
ZERO tail lights, side markers, dome and dash lights
Bald and flat rear tires
Air intake CAKED with mud
VERY high idle (2600rpm)
Spotty starter that must be pumped at the clutch to catch and start
more I can't think of right now...
So I brought the car back to Colorado Springs and with my work cut out for my I began this PROJECT lol! So far I've fixed:
Had a machine shop fabricate me a new nipple and press it into the BOV
Ran new vacuum hose for the BOV and fixed the vacuum leak
Had the dragging exhaust cut out and new stainless piping welded in place
Replaced the two rear tires with good ones
Fixed ALL the lights in and around the car that did not work
Replaced the 3" open intake
Found that the clamp at the intercooler inlet was not tightened down at ALL and was robbing my car of ALL boost (solid 8psi now without adjusting the boost controller)
The car is currently under the knife at a paint shop getting all pretty again with fresh new stock body panels and ruby red paint! I should have the car back from the shop by the end of the week. The only problems I have yet to iron out are:
The spotty starter
Super high idle (2600rpm)
I also bought a Dell D630 laptop last weekend that has a 9 pin serial port for tuning the Microtech and I have verified that it indeed works well with the ecu and software. I've tried just about everything i could think of trying to get the idle down to something reasonable but to no avail! Anyone have any ideas?
After selling my FD I decided I wanted to go FC hunting and I found a couple that caught my interest, mainly a 13B-RE twin turbo cosmo swapped FC. Found the ad on Craigslist where the guy was asking $5k for the car located in Santa Fe, NM and I was willing to pay the full price. Upon further investigation I recognized the car from 4 years ago in a for sale ad on RX7club. The Albuquerque based rotary shop known as Rotary RX built the motor, performed the swap, and tuned the microtech for 18psi on pump gas. Well, I had to hassle with the owner to get me pics of the car and actual info of the condition. Decided to roll the dice and make the 3 hour trip and to my disappointment the car was in ROUGH shape! I couldn't believe that someone would spend their hard earned money on a really clean FC and then turn around and destroy it the way this person did! The owner was drunk off his a** upon my arrival and the entire passenger side from the quarter panel to the door was crushed in and peeled back (he stated that he just wrecked that side by going into a ditch while taking ONE LAST drive just 10 minutes before I arrived at 1030pm)! The entire roof was scratched with deep grooves like a giant tree branch caught the top of the car! The driver's seat adjust was broken and would not lock in place and would just crush you when you hit the brakes as you slid forward! No seat belts, only crappy 4 point harnesses that wouldn't lock! The exhaust was busted all to hell and dragging on the ground! There was a HEAVY vacuum leak at the Apexi bov due to a missing vacuum nipple! The only lights that worked on the car were the headlights but they did not retract, NO dash lights OR tail lights OR side markers! The car was running PIG rich and not boosting at all (1 or 2 psi MAX)! The two rear tires were bald and the passenger rear was almost flat! I could keep going on but I decided to make a final offer and rescue this car from a very sad sad owner! I gave the guy $3k knowing that the short block motor build alone was at LEAST that much. Just to recap here is a list of known problems:
Passenger side wrecked and roof scratched all to hell
Big vacuum leak at BOV
No boost
Broken dragging exhaust and rich running condition causing flames beneath the car on high revs
ZERO tail lights, side markers, dome and dash lights
Bald and flat rear tires
Air intake CAKED with mud
VERY high idle (2600rpm)
Spotty starter that must be pumped at the clutch to catch and start
more I can't think of right now...
So I brought the car back to Colorado Springs and with my work cut out for my I began this PROJECT lol! So far I've fixed:
Had a machine shop fabricate me a new nipple and press it into the BOV
Ran new vacuum hose for the BOV and fixed the vacuum leak
Had the dragging exhaust cut out and new stainless piping welded in place
Replaced the two rear tires with good ones
Fixed ALL the lights in and around the car that did not work
Replaced the 3" open intake
Found that the clamp at the intercooler inlet was not tightened down at ALL and was robbing my car of ALL boost (solid 8psi now without adjusting the boost controller)
The car is currently under the knife at a paint shop getting all pretty again with fresh new stock body panels and ruby red paint! I should have the car back from the shop by the end of the week. The only problems I have yet to iron out are:
The spotty starter
Super high idle (2600rpm)
I also bought a Dell D630 laptop last weekend that has a 9 pin serial port for tuning the Microtech and I have verified that it indeed works well with the ecu and software. I've tried just about everything i could think of trying to get the idle down to something reasonable but to no avail! Anyone have any ideas?