My new car!

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

Haven't posted any updates in a little bit because, well, there hasn't been anything too noteworthy.

Car ran fantastically on the cruise, cold and hot started great as well. I think (knock on wood) I finally have the hot starting issues sorted. The problem was once I fixed the boost leak from around the primary injector with new grommets and o-rings it effectively sealed up my air bleed since the air bleed screw in the throttle body was basically completely screwed shut. So I opened it up a few turns and pulled fuel from the cranking map and bam! Cold starts and hot starts like a champ. Granted, I haven't driven it a whole heap of a lot since the cruise and it was starting good, but I think it's better.

I plan on pulling the fuel pumps tonight and double check why my fuel gauge is on the fritz. Matt came over the Saturday before the cruise to help me troubleshoot the gauge issue. We should be seeing variable resistance on the senders arm but it was an open circuit, so I believe the problem is either the wiring inside the tank or the sender unit itself. Hopefully I'll find out today.

I have already started planning on some stuff to tweak over the winter haha. I wanted to get some body work done but I think I may hold off on it (depending on funds) and focus on suspension on some engine stuff.

Suspension will be new coilovers. I have it narrowed down to 3 choices; Apexi EVX coilovers, STANCE GR+Pro with custom Swift 10kg/8kg front/rear spring rates with rear helper springs, or Fortune Auto 500 series coilovers. Tough choice, they are pretty close to the same price within a few hundred bucks of each other. I'm leaning towards to the STANCE coils though just because the Swift springs were specifically designed for the FD chassis.

Under the hood, I'm going to remove the water neck and get some -6AN male bungs welded on for the turbo coolant hoses, -16AN radiator bungs for braided stainless AN radiator hoses, which also means I'll be removing the intercooler and radiator and getting -16AN bungs for radiator as well.

That's mostly cosmetic stuff. I also plan on adding AEM Smart capacitive ignition coils with custom MSD plug wires and a custom wiring harness. These coils are bullet proof and will allow me to finally start venturing to 20+psi of boost on my 62-1 and crack 500rwhp. Additionally, I'll be deleting the old school 3-channel ABS system, which will significantly improve looks under the hood.

Last thing I'm planning on is swapping in the RX-8 ring and pinion gear. It's a simple mod, and changes the rear end ratio from 3.90 in the stock FD rear end to 4.44 for the RX-8. Talk about a huge difference! I think it will make a huge acceleration difference. I checked RPM on the highway in 5th gear and it only drops about 8-10mph. And, of course, while I'm in there (famous last words) I might as well do the Banzai diff brace and RP solid diff mounts so I don't have to mess with it again.

So that's basically it, I'll be driving the car in the meantime and slowly turning up the boost to point where my stock ignition system can't handle it and see what she does. I also plan on hitting up Bandi for a Wednesday night drag session sometime this month to see what I can do on low boost.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

For the diff brace, I'd wait for the Tweakit one coming out. It's a cradle and brace in one package. I'm waiting for it now. They've been doing testing this summer and I'm still waiting on them to start making them. Still not sure on price yet though.

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

Yeah $364 for the 2 in 1.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

Wait, are they selling it already? Last time I looked they didn't have a price for it yet.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

Hmmm, $360 sounds a little pricey considering the Banzai brace is $170. I'm not planning on aggressively launching the car really, it's more or less just an extra line of defense. I'll probably add the Banzai cross member brace eventually as well, which is $250 or so, making it more than the Tweakit kit but it's two separate braces. Who knows, I'll weight my options when the time comes.

I am excited about the RX8 4.44 ring and pinion though. Fits in the FD diff housings so it's a pretty easy job. Should make a huge acceleration difference.

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

Yeah I think the first batch goes out in mid September. Eric I think you are the only one left to send the payment on the GB list lol!

My only concern is, is the rx8 ring going to be able to handle the power that the FD puts down. Lunching and power shifting.

Ryan95 · Postby **Ryan95** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:14

Stock FD rear end is 4.10 unless it's an auto rear diff.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:14

VRx8 wrote:Yeah I think the first batch goes out in mid September. Eric I think you are the only one left to send the payment on the GB list lol!

My only concern is, is the rx8 ring going to be able to handle the power that the FD puts down. Lunching and power shifting.

From what I've heard, it can. Granted not a lot of people have done the swap, so I guess we will see. I know the guys doing 20b swaps in the RX8 run the stock rear diff pushing over 800rwhp.

Ryan95 wrote:Stock FD rear end is 4.10 unless it's an auto rear diff.

Shit, you're right. Good catch. Still, going from 4.10 to 4.44 will be a great difference.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:14

chickenwafer wrote:Hmmm, $360 sounds a little pricey considering the Banzai brace is $170. I'm not planning on aggressively launching the car really, it's more or less just an extra line of defense. I'll probably add the Banzai cross member brace eventually as well, which is $250 or so, making it more than the Tweakit kit but it's two separate braces. Who knows, I'll weight my options when the time comes.

I am excited about the RX8 4.44 ring and pinion though. Fits in the FD diff housings so it's a pretty easy job. Should make a huge acceleration difference.

I don't think you're picking up what I'm putting down lol. This is a cradle and brace in one. It's like the PFS cradle so it holds together the pumpkin which is prone to cracking and leaking oil all over after launching, and it's also a brace to fix wheel hop. Although if you're not launching I guess it's really no big deal.

VRx8 wrote:Yeah I think the first batch goes out in mid September. Eric I think you are the only one left to send the payment on the GB list lol!

WHAT?! I've been waiting to hear back from them. Dammit! One more thing to buy right before SevenStock! I can't afford it right now lol. Can you email me or text me a link to the thread? Thanks!

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:14

Here
http://www.rx7club.com/group-buy-center-69/group-buy-hpp-2in1-diff-cradle-brace-1002000/page4/#post11210764

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:14

Yeah I get it Eric, I looked at it online and it looks pretty good. I'm just not sure I need it without launching the car but we will see I guess.

On another note, I think I found the perfect seats for tall people with an FD. The Tillett B1. It's a full carbon fiber shell seat, and due to its design it requires no padding so you sit on the bottom on the bottom of the seat which can be bolted straight to the floor. Yes, the stock seats are already low, but they have a minimum of 6" of padding and springs. These seats would probably get a little lower than stock, and without padding, means I would guess these would put you 5-6" lower.

Only bad thing is they're $2000 a seat. Uhhhhhh...anyways, here's some info for anyone interested;

http://tillettseats.com/products/full/b1

Website · Postby **Shadowden** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:14

those are nice seats!

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:14

Wow. I am liking those seats but it would only be for races, I'd have to put stock seats back in for regular driving I think. I think these seats would make me a few inches shorter as well lol.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:14

Yeah, I thought about just getting one for the driver seat for track only stuff and stock seats for street duty. Although I have heard these seats, despite their lack of padding, are really comfortable. They are one piece, so no seams to pinch or fold. They just kind of cradle you.

But it would be difficult to spend $2k on a seat plus the associated installation hardware to only use it for a few days per year haha.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:14

Well if it was comfortable enough I'd leave it in all the time lol. I do like being able to see over the hood of the car, but can't do that with a helmet on.

My new car!

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