My (new) FC RX7

[SevPP]

Hey all. I've been pretty quiet here lately so I thought it was time to update you with my new (side) project.

As some may know, remember I was building my 1st Gen RX7 into a reasonably serious track car. As time has gone on just about everything f...ed up with it. Most was custom, outsourced work/parts. Anyway I cracked it and wheeled it to the back of the shed and bought another car. The FC.

I was looking on a forum and saw it for sale, at what I considered to be a good price. Showed my old man and he reckoned I should buy it. So I did!

So heres the specs.
'87 FC3s RX7
extend/mild port 13bt (rebuilt with new housings, rotors, seals, bearings etc)
t4
Turbosmart(dumb?) 45mm external gate (Progate)
Apexi AVCR boost controller
Greddy turbo timer
Microtech ECU and handset
PWR front mount cooler (big...to big as I'll explain)
550cc primary injectors, 1200cc secondaries.
17inch Volk racing rims
JIC coilovers all round.
Cusco front and rear strut braces
Bosch 040 in tank pump (feed for surge tank)
two VL Commodore fuel pumps from surge tank (side by side)
Hawk Black pads

As I said the car was a good price. It wasn't running properly, wouldn't start. Got it home, towed it with the tractor and got it running. Wouldn't idle, revved slowly, tight but kind of sounded ok. Compression came up exceptionally good when we tested it 95 front rotor, 110psi rear. Still wouldn't run right though. Had spark and fuel so I was a bit stuck for ideas. When a mate was watching the engine run he noticed the front pulley was moving around alot. Turns out the motor had spun the front main bearing. So out came the motor. Me and a mate stripped it. The sump was full of shavings, front bearing stuffed and the front rotor had just touched the end plates a bit. We rebuilt it with a few new (old!) seals, new (old)e-shaft/crank, new oil pump and new bearings all round. Basically replaced the entire oil system. Fired up perfectly straight away once the computer was reconnected. Total cost of parts for rebuild was $160. And I bought my mate a 13bt with no compression as payment to help rebuild mine, so another $300...but I got a few bits out of than engine too!

So I took it to the track. Here's a few pics.



I had to fit a surge tank and extra pumps. The in tank pump wasn't enough when cornering hard.

And one from the 6 hour regularity I competed recently.

^This pic is with the front bar on. I had to take it off and box in the front with card board and race tape as the car was running to hot. The IC is massive and blocks the radiator and oil cooler almost completely. This is a pic of what we did at the 6hr event to keep it cool!


Now that it's up and running and run in (or should be haha!) I've gotta do the exhaust as its extremely restrictive and have it dyno tuned. Hoping to make around 225rwkw- 300rwhp. Should really do it easy enough to. This number is farily common for similar setups.

So thats my new toy. Not entirely sure what I'll do with it as I intend to finish the first gen at some stage. Ah toys, Aren't they great!
Cheers, Glen

EDIT: the total time from purchase to rebuild to track was just on 3 weeks!

[01mmmz28]

wow, nice clean looking RX-7. good job !!!

[mattlikespeople]

i'd love to have a car like that. sweet ride, dude!

[97talon]

Very nice car.

[Unit91RS]

Nice car man..always been my favorite RX-7 bodystyle


God do I want an RX-7 haha

[SevPP]

Thanks guys. The car is good from far...far from good haha! It has some accidednt damage on the left hand side. I've replaced the guard. The rest of the body is fairly straight with a few scratches here and there. No rust at all. I've got a spraypainter mate that owes me a few favours so it'll end up getting resprayed if I hang onto it. The wheels have a fair bit of gutter rash but nothing that can't be repaired. The interior is surprisingly clean to.

The car came to Aus under the old 15year rule which has since been fazed out. It's only regoed as 2 seater because of this. Not that it's a worry.

Not sure about the coilovers either. Extremely firm. Think they're set up for drift. Car picks up a wheel going over gutters! I'll prob try and round up something more suited to actually going fast rather than looking pretty(drift) at some time in the future. And the AVCR sucks because it reads boost in Bar rather than psi. All pressures should be measured in psi. I believe that to be a universal fact!

Note my brothers TVR 3000m coupe behind my car in the top picture to!

[SevPP]

One more bigger pic from the 6 hour event.


Just about got my exhaust done now- Straight through 3 inch to twin 2 1/4' into Magnaflow mufflers which I cut open and removed the 1.5' restrictors that were inside for some reason. Also repacked them. I opened up the cat as well and gutted it since the insides were bouncing around. Will be dyno tuned sometime after new years. Was hoping before but time disappears quickly.

[BlairKunt]

Nice rx7, I never saw this thread before.

[Memphis]

^same, looks like a nice ride

[Soup]

I missed this one too, sweet car. You need one of those V mount intercooler/radiator setups.

[EVILZ33]

love the wheels

[v_dub_ya]

Sweet ride, looks like a fun project.

What class are you running in? I do the parking lot racing (SCCA) and am looking at getting my license to race on the track. I race in the SM (Street Mod) class.

[SevPP]

The rims are 8' at the front and 9.5 at the rear. I'm currently looking for a set of cheap 18's of similar or slightly wider width as I have access to cheaper full slicks!

A v mount cooler setup would be ideal! But for now I'll work with what I've got.

As for what class.... When I run sprint meets (3-4 lap dash/time trial) it fits into a class called improved production. There's no class structure for the regularity/6 hour events. Consistency is what counts. As for outright racing the only class that it can really be used in is TT(Tin Tops). Pretty much anything goes in this class so there is a big variance in car speeds!
CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motorsport) and the AASA (Australian Auto Sport Alliance) run these evensts. Not sure what the SCCA equivalents would be. Licensing for these events,apart from the TT racing is a matter of handing over the cash! For a proper race license you have to do a day course (i think it is!)

And before I get it tuned I've got to get a new TPS. One other thing I forgot about haha!

[SevPP]

I'm also looking at other turbo options. Looking on Ausrotary forum there is a possible group buy on GT45 Y2004k turbos for $550. Balanced, inspected in Aus and warrantied (they are a chinese turbo). Probably bit to big but will fit my manifold and fairly certain my dump pipe as well! Already got the external gate....

[BOTLFEDLT1]

hey glenn,
congratulations on the nice car. i've always liked the fc's. it should be quite the track terror!!!