FC RX7 5.0 race car thread

[Profitable]

Loving this thread and music suggestions

[bdesmarteauej205]

The amount of detail and the quality of work that has gone into the car is incredible. Keep up the good work!

[Teeson1111]

Man this is a work of art!

thank you, I try to take into account the aesthetics of something when I'm fabricating.

Loving this thread and music suggestions

I realized I forgot to add one for that update. But 6 months is too much music for one post lol

The amount of detail and the quality of work that has gone into the car is incredible. Keep up the good work!

thank you!

[Profitable]

Hey Music updates are totally welcome!

[Steven_318ti]

This build!!!

[whyisthernousernames?]

Quality build! Youve gone through alot of changes, but it keeps getting better, personally my favourite build on here, and made me get a fc of my own

Quick Q; Is the welding of the flex joint a necessity? And how do you find the depowered rack for drifting?

[Teeson1111]

Quality build! Youve gone through alot of changes, but it keeps getting better, personally my favourite build on here, and made me get a fc of my own

Quick Q; Is the welding of the flex joint a necessity? And how do you find the depowered rack for drifting?

I read a few de-powering threads, mostly Miata where guys welded the quil to eliminate any slop. I never had it without that welded and powerless so I really can't comment. I'd be curious to learn what manual racks have there though.

And no power steering pretty much sucked lol. If my car setup was better maybe but I got the wheel ripped out of my hands a few times and had to have 2 hands on the wheel. The missile was a ton easier to drive with power steering but it also was setup better. Going forward I will have power steering, I'll trade a bit of loss of feel and feedback to make the car easier to drive. Helps with big corrections too, which can avoid a crash.

Appreciate the positive comments too! Always glad to help make another person spend money lol

[sjokolai]

FC looks baller! Really digging the amount of quality work in this thread, in for more updates!

[Teeson1111]

Kinda small update, been busy doing the garage instead of the car so I can have more time to work on the car (ironic no?) but now like 6 weeks later finally getting somewhere.

Was getting pretty frustrated with my old situation. Seemed like every time I went I spent more time setting up and cleaning up than making progress, more and more water on the car as the roof started leaking a little and the tarp just didn’t get every drop. Then distractions (love the fam and all but need time for both that is not at the same time), also my stupid truck breaking on the reg (a different story for later), etc etc. First world problems fully and don’t mistake my frustrations for ungratefulness to my parents for the use of their property. But it was time to grow up and get my own space on my own dime.

Didn’t take before and after pics, cuz it was that bad. Like 4-5 dump runs and a few scrap metals runs, couple hundred dropped at home depot, and many hours of hard physical labour we had something to work with. Also learned I kinda suck at things when I don’t plan it out beforehand. We’ll just not talk about the first tire rack though lol.

Very much grateful to my new garage mate Kris and his mom for their hospitality and this opportunity. Space feels very much like my own and feels very permanent. You’ll be seeing more of his skyline in future updates when its more… straight.



Built a shelf and tire rack.



Put some stuff on it.

Since then I re did the tire rack as we came up with a better design mostly measurements wise. That one was a little big and with wood we had kicking around.



And then on what turned out to be a magical monday after work (and a late one), brought the car to its new home.

This is one of those times where I’m grateful for the people in my life, namely Kris. We swapped the t case in my truck, then loaded the car and the last of the parts and dragged the thing 35 minutes away. Finished all but 10 minutes before it started to rain, then took the trailer all the way back to my dads, got home somewhere near midnight. On a monday. We both start before 7:00 am.



Theres still some stuff that we’re planning on having leave such as the big block and brake lathe etc. But I have decent space to open the doors and work around the entire car. It’s around the size of a 1 car garage, which is all I could ask for. Especially since I can leave it in pieces if I want









Spent the next while getting more and more setup, bringing stuff over, organizing. Bought some LED strips to try using as the primary light source as the current fluorescent tubes were pretty weak. Weeeeellllll its kinda worse. More evenly lit on my side but not gonna cut it. The bench light was a neat touch even though its terrible as working light. But i had it laying around so why not.

Before I took it there though I did do some final playing around.





Put everything in place and plugged in just to see if my wiring was going as planned. One or two small surprises but nothing that worries me. Also trimmed the vents out to fit the gauges like I had planned so long ago.



One challenge I was expecting but am not prepared for is how to deal with this. has to go here



This is kinda the main point of having the full interior, for the window defog. But I put a roll bar in the way. Really want it to line up with the factory vent assembly so it looks clean and un altered.





Any ideas that doesn’t involve fibreglassing a new shape and is still removable hit me up.

Moving forward and downward tho





amongst all those Home Depot trips I bought a sheet of 1/2 ply for a wood splitter.
Traced the bumper out then added an inch all around the outside. Thought about tapering it in where it meets the tire but nawww, like this better.



Can see my links chilling on the floor



Going to make a set or two for my buddies and see how they go. Kinda need 6 mount points to really make this stable though, it gets tricky from chassis to chassis but we’ll see what we come up with.



Still dreaming up the best way to make this part quick release but for now 2 long M6 bolts to where the old under tray used to mount to works.



It does have some give to flex around any obstacles it encounters so just to be safe I gave the tire more than enough room







While I can reach the pins with the bumper on, I really don’t see myself removing one without the other.

Here’s hoping that it keeps my bumper from exploding, as Nate from villains tells me it does for them. Also have to acknowledge Kam Cadwells design on these. His are better though haha

Finally got around to this. Love the ability to just knock out a 20 minute job when I have only 20 minutes. Garage is 5 minutes from home and on the way from work.



Any hope I had of reselling this Steeda Tri-Ax is gone lol. Took the last little bit I didn’t need off the top and took pics of the shifter.





Until I determine what knob height and throw length I like the ugly bits stay ugly. Though the centre bit really needs some horizontal pieces to stabilize it…



It feels really good though, much better than the dog leg shifter thing abomination I had before.

Then I spent/blew my tax return



18x9.5 +12 (i think….. either 12 or 15) Enkei RPF1 in SBC





Surprisingly aggressive in the front.





But with a small spacer pretty ideal in the rear.

Pretty stoked on having another set of 18” wheels, the SBC is cool and when a pair is scratched and chipped enough I’ll paint them white to match. I kinda want to buy one more pair of wheels but at the moment I have enough 18” alone (planning to run 18/18) for a healthy track day.

Also made a relevant discovery to any FC owners with a swapped car. Well at least to me, I feel like this is old news to may ppl on the inter web but I have spent hours searching for a solution for the sway bar hitting the oil pan. Closest thing I found was a rumour that a specific e36 bar fit (never found out which though) and that a Mercedes ML suv rear bar fit.

But an S13 bar fits





top to bottom we have an R32 front bar, what we think is an s14 front bar, then an s13 front and the stock FC. They both weigh a ton so I think they are both solid and they happen to be the same diameter. Kris had a bunch laying around so I tried them all lol.





room for oil pan clearance, still clears the diffuser too. Has a decent amount of wheel clearance but I feel this could be improved. It will still hit at max lock.





obviously gonna have to make custom end links of some kind, s chassis is a different style and it doesn’t sit exactly the same as the FC bar. I’m sure this will affect its effective stiffness depending on where I attach it but probably try for same place as stock.





and the S13 bushings and brackets even fit. The only catch there is they are at the limit of the straight part of the bar before the bend. So I will probably have to make a plate moving it in like 1/2 a side or something if I’m finding it binding. Ignore the tube front in this case, I put the sway bar mounts in the stock location.

Also promising is the GK tech sway bar kit may fit. Its a splined bar with high steering angle in mind.









I actually email GK a long while back before the bar was for sale and asked for rough dimensions. He emailed me back the drawing for it and it looks very close. the last pic is pretty telling, I also don’t think the bushing can ride on the splines so a bracket to move it in will be a must I if ever try that. The end plates are a slight gamble if they’ll clear as well….

[Teeson1111]

FC looks baller! Really digging the amount of quality work in this thread, in for more updates!

thanks mang, lol you're in luck I just posted another

[Teeson1111]

Before I get into whats new with the car, J Cole though



I have some random older songs and always like him, but KOD is fantastic. Real rap, same reasons I like Kendrick and rappers like them. Not just flash and the usual money and derogatory references to women etc, has substance. Beats are good too.


Have a whole list of little things to do before I can begin tear down for paint




ran the hose for the rad sprayer and put some rivnuts in for the holders. For the tube sections though I wasn’t a fan of rivnuts so I welded nuts in




Next up was to test if the power steering works and doesn’t leak, but need to swap racks to the 2 hole rack I have. Didn’t want to remove the whole engine to drop the crossmember so I built a lift plate.





My dad had one of these engine supports for doing fwd clutches but works well for this too. I’m not 100% sold on it though. When I bolted it all back together the intake had lifted and formed a vacuum leak, I guess the weight pulled the manifold and the engine apart and the gasket lost its seal. Not sure if the bolts stretched or were a bit loose or what but I’m going to be careful going forward. I hope it was just loose cuz this thing is very convenient.



rack out



this crossmember has the poly bushings in it, but also an 3 hole rack in it. Have a 2 hole for simplified plumbing (though I could just block the otters hole on a 3 hole but this is tidier)



was painted black from before, gave it a quick wipe clean and put it together with the poly rack bushings



Getting the power steering lines in and connected was sure a hassle. Feel like the cradle could be better here..

routed the wire for the wiper motor



I didn’t want to see the wires but I also didn’t want them in the way of the assembly or in a spot they would let water into the cabin





worth mentioning that if I need to remove the wire it now involves de pinning the connector to fit through the hole. More work to service but really how often will I be pulling it out?

Wanted to fill with water and bleed the coolant and power steering but needed a working gauge to see what the thermostat is doing



I bought a low t stat and it opens at like 70*, but the low speed fan doesn’t come on until like 93* so I’ll need to get a programmer to change that… but it keeps it cool idling on stands



put a jack point and tow hook mount up front



then painted my splitter black and coated it with this awesome clear stuff (which i spilled the remainder of immediately after this photo)





Was a good suggestion on Johno’s part.

The idea here is I can slip a pipe into the jack point and lift the front easier. Its pretty tricky getting a jack under with all the aero on



Found a place and a way to hold the rear running wiring connectors that I like. Need to weld in the nits but I’ll wait until everything else is removed.





somewhere in there I mocked up a switch panel in the ash tray. 5 switches is too many, space is tight and I’ll probably be soldering onto the switches,.



4 seems just right



Picked these up to make sway bar end links some day in the future

next was the exhaust. Shout out to Neil for letting me borrow his chop saw. This is at least the 3rd time redoing this exhaust haha





with the clutch slave out of the way i could get it good and tucked up

added a little keeper so that the flange doesn’t fall down. the one side the 02 is right there, but this makes the other side easier











much better place than before when it was hitting the front U joint….

I cut off the old flange on the stainless axle back I had



I wanted to use slip joints again, as that are easy and low profile. They can also handle mild - stainless transition





never that easy though, Had to shim it a little



sits as high up as it can. It dips below the frame rail to go under the rear subframe but I can’t do a lot about that… This is much better than last time though and should scrape less



got these sweet lights from china, they were like $25 cdn shipped and i got 15 off because the one was missing a charger cover and a cover on the top light. But they are super bright, light, magnetic and have a hook. charge over USB too



played around with my new crimpers and got the senders ready to go

After 3 tries to bleed the coolant, it finally did. Runs well once bled, power steering calmed down after a bit too. this is peace of mind for me and to hear the exhaust roar without fear of cooking something was nice. debugged a broken wire in the alternator harness and its basically ready to drive. But more things to do first

made a kinda big purchase for something that I’ve wanted for a long time, my own tire machine.



buddy got a new fancier on and gave me his for a good deal. Pulled the tire tire off the broken wheel (long story short, its cracked deep through and not by my doing but i aint mad about it)





its now a trophy/cable holder lol



for my birthday recently my fiancé spoiled me by adding another member to the milwaukee family. This thing is sweet and super powerful.



made fender holders to keep the fenders out where they should be and tighten the gap between them and the front bumper.



its the little things I love



somewhere in there we got a shop doggo



her name is Roxy and she’s a perfect shop doggo because she’s 11 and basically deaf and blind so not much phases her

And here we are, basically ready to start tearing it apart to paint the underside and interior and engine bay.





I start 3rd term school on monday so I’m on target for where I wanted to be. Theres a local show i’d really like to make but its june 10th, so I have a lot of work to do to make that as it’ll need to be fully painted and assembled for that…

[DawsonLiri]

Before I get into whats new with the car, J Cole though



I have some random older songs and always like him, but KOD is fantastic. Real rap, same reasons I like Kendrick and rappers like them. Not just flash and the usual money and derogatory references to women etc, has substance. Beats are good too.

My man, I'm like at four time in a row I listening to this album!

Sorry for the OT

[Teeson1111]

My man, I'm like at four time in a row I listening to this album!

Sorry for the OT

It's been an almost a constant loop for a week now haha. Also been re listening to A$AP Rocky's At. Long. Last. again...

[DawsonLiri]

It's been an almost a constant loop for a week now haha. Also been re listening to A$AP Rocky's At. Long. Last. again...

When it went out I did the same, over a week of only that

[JhonnySantos]

Really nice build soo far.
Work really well done, I love to see this race builds because I'm a little suspect when it gets to racing or racing inspired builds.
I really want too see where it will get.