FC RX7 5.0 race car thread

[Zach Thomas]

For hood clearance I still want to know if the Turbo 2 hood offers any more space. It looks like the position of the scoop would be pretty close to helping for clearance. And personally I'd rather do small hood spacers (on the rear of the hood) if my stock SN95 intake doesn't clear.

And 3 relays for the wiper motor?? Ouch, that sucks. I haven't started wiring that bad boy up yet. You need to get some manual windows, this is a racecar after all right? I just finally figured out how I wanted to do my manual headlights, I posted it in my thread. Once I finish both sides and clean up my welds I think I'll be quite happy with the setup, even if I do have to get out of the car to raise the headlights lol

[Teeson1111]

And 3 relays for the wiper motor?? Ouch, that sucks. I haven't started wiring that bad boy up yet. You need to get some manual windows, this is a racecar after all right?

yaaa lol 3. I'm trying a fancy latching setup to make them park. I'll post up my diagram if I can get it to work. Still have to de bug those..

And lol yes #becauseracecar but the first time I saw a guy have to open his door to be able to roll up his window because his roll cage interfered with the handle I knew I was keeping power windows. I love power windows. Worth the 2 lbs total weigh gain (if that, the manual mech isn't no feather weight)

So this weekends entertainment was brought to me by:



Watching race cars while working on race cars. again.
I was only half paying attention but I did follow enough to see Vaughn take another win and Chelsea monster truck/fly.

Had the crew down to help today, really pushing to get this done. I basically have this week to get it done, monday I'm going to book the glass appointment and then do my best to drive it there instead of trailering it.



setup the brake masters. I will note that a 7/8ths master is still very stiff. I'm probably going to go down a size or maybe even two. More math will ensue. It actually feels like a king cobra which makes me think I should check the part number on my clutch....



front brake lines in, fancy holder as well



reservoirs mounted, lines ran everything plumbed. Then add fluids. This is the sucky part, I broke the driver's front bleeder... which is where the night ended (but I don't go in order (no onecaresreally))
That will be fun with an aluminum calliper.
also hat tip to Alex for dealing with the reservoirs because it turned into a gong show



Continued to tidy wiring, also vacuumed all the wiring scrap out. My OCD was calmed for a minute lol



Got the diff, driveshaft and axles in. Even with the all solid PBM everything and the pinion snubber it wasn't nearly as bad to get in as everyone on the interwebz says it was supposed to be. pro tip: use 3 floor jacks and a mallet.



Emailed Zak to figure out how much I had to trim. I think I took off about 1.5" and then another 1/4" off the tie rod ends (non heim side) and then a bit more than a 1/2 off the tie rods. This got me really close, I think its toed in a little but thats ideal because I can adjust the heim joint out when it gets aligned. Which will most likely be with a string haha



For whatever reason I couldn't find a solid answer on any mustang forum, just to many cooks in those kitchens, but anyway the cap required for the SN95 EGR tube off the header (yes mine are BBK but they are the same thread) is a 5/8" flare cap fitting. I got this at my local Home Depot Racing Supply in the plumbing section.



got the EGR block off plate done, the one I had didn't fit worth beans so some modification required.



Then Andy threw on the intake manifold and intake tract as well as played around with coolant hoses. He was all practiced up as he drove his fox for the first time this year. He brought it over to do burno- I mean set the timing and idle lol



Fuel lines are in, had to tweak the hard lines a little to keep them from rubbing the subframe.
Tank was a real PITA to get in tho, hat tip to the Mazda engineer who put that little hook on the one strap so you can hang it while you wrestle the thing in place.



tucked the wiring out of harms way also.



bought some cheap cheap cheap crap oil and some quality ATF for the trans. I plan to run the cheap oil for long enough to sea foam it and flush out any remains from sitting, then buy a K&N filter and more Mobil1.
Was pleased to find quite clean fluid leftover in the trans and equally clean leftover oil in the engine. Car must have just had an oil change not long before it got written off. No metal chunks and no mud or coolant so good signs.
Turned the motor over by hand a bunch of times to cycle the oil in before using the starter and everything feels proper.

So whats left to do? needs a belt assembly, ignition coil bracket, fix the brake calliper and reassemble the fenders/hood. ok well a few more small things, but its close!1!!!!1!!!11!1 (excite)

[unii]

I hope my build ends up this clean awesome work

[anth]

love this thread.

[Mtt]

brilliant work dude
can't wait
do you think you're gonna make the deadline of your buddys wedding?

[Teeson1111]

I hope my build ends up this clean awesome work

thanks man, I think it can just takes time and effort

love this thread.

thanks!

brilliant work dude
can't wait
do you think you're gonna make the deadline of your buddys wedding?

its getting close lol. His stag is basically all next weekend so I have the evenings of the next week and a bit to finish things...



IT STARTS!





Set the timing properly (lol i just put the dusty in before without evening thinking about timing) so once that was in and done it fired right up and ran good.
However my rear main seal appears to be leaking so that will have to be dealt with later.

No pics because my camera battery died, and no music because it was open headers and you couldn't hear it lol. Will update tomorrow (hopefully)

but I posted a vid on my instagram, @teeson1111

[Teeson1111]

got some work done, and a few from the day before



need music I can jam out to get stuff done, Eminem fits that category. I know a lot of people will disagree but I think this is his best work. Recovery is fitting in so many ways, and I actually learned things! ya thats right Eminem taught me positive things.

haha onward



got the belt system figured out, well ish. This ghetto fabulous bracket it temporary until I have the time to either do it properly or change the timing cover/water pump setup. But it works well and holds the slightly modified (custom) (just kidding I bent it) ignition coil bracket.



also things I may do over later are the coolant hoses, these are actually the ones from the Sn95 mustang, the bottom one has a 1 1/2" to 2" coupler and a 90 degree bend random hose

rad fan just fits all that business



so I finished wiring it in, burned my hand pretty good with dripping solder.



then painted some things, the sunroof



windshield cowl



and the top of the fenders



along with their bolts. I kinda want to get those fancy aluminum ones the Honda kids all have..



then I spent the remainder of the night chatting and fighting with bleeding the brakes. I appear to have air trapped in the lines at a point above the masters. It will build pressure but as soon as I let off its spongy/loose again. Will have to try pumping up the brakes before cracking the bleeder. Or maybe residual valves...

lol I never have good luck with brakes. That said none of my fittings are leaking.. so thats good.

I so just jinxed that

once the brakes are bled its drivable!

[Zach Thomas]

Awesome! Looking really good. For the brakes look up gravity bleeding, it works wonders for me and I also have had bad luck with brake bleeding.

[LaMaR-]

this just keeps getting better and better, I wish I knew half as much about motors and wiring as you seem to lol. Start up is coming soon I'm sure.

[Teeson1111]

so I'm quite behind on updating this. excuses are many, working crazy long days, wedding stuff, sleep, etc.

no music, due to no time. I literally spent the occasional minute here and there to get things done.

got the brakes mostly bled, still takes a pump to get them useable. buddy has a power bleeder so I may try that. They feel good when they're working tho.



built my throttle cable. Used some aircraft cable and the original mustang cable housing. I cut the old end of the throttle side, drilled a hole and looped the cable through.



then I used the RX7 firewall bushing, had to drill it out and strip the mustang's housing a bit for a perfect wedge fit. then re-used the rx7's end and oem pedal.
only issue i have is the flex brake lines contact the cable a bit under braking. need to fix that. The bracket i made for the pedals to mount to is flexing more than I'd like, so I will probably be bracing that.



mocked the aluminum panel I had CNC'd, some trimming required haha.



took apart the hatch some (forgot to take an after picture) before putting in on



spent the evening doing the hood pins, then painted it all



welded up the EGR tube of the x pipe



found this stuff at home depot racing to make a shift boot. Roof flashing, pretty strong, heat resistant and comes in many sizes. I went with 3 inch, some trimming required.




put the dash in




cleaned the windows



which I forgot were tinted haha



then put them in

assembled the interior



and the rest of the body panels



(haha note the wedding gifts)

so I think I missed the part where it fired, after setting the timing properly it fired. When I reassembled the engine after cleaning I just threw the distributor in without thinking. So once that was figured out, everything went smooth. All my wiring appears to be working perfect, that said the engine won't rev over 4k under load, so some tweaking will have to happen.

now you're saying to yourself "under load? how would he know that"



well the morning of the stag, we threw the seat in and drove the car around the block!

then the morning of the wedding (week later) I had the rest of the car together and we drove it out. It was raining and I still don't have a windshield in it so driving it for the wedding wasn't optional.



we're counting this as "goal met", even though its not 100%

speaking of the stag

we had a pretty good time. Took a van and a civic up to a local off road area, and chaos ensued.

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no, no one was in the van lol. We cut the roof off the night before and painted it up. also disabled the airbags and things. Took the abuse quite well, it did die once because the coil power wire got ripped out. exhaust also had to come off. chain and a tree took care of that.


the civic got the General Lee make over, and after a full day of abuse we fin-allied by driving it into a puddle, hydro locking the engine.

[IMG]

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the original plan was Andy was going to drive the civic in said puddle solo in his underwear. somehow the whole grooms party was roped into this haha.

all in all a great time, a miracle that no one got hurt. Super happy for him as well, as the wedding was yesterday.



so I did work a lot of overtime this week, and it looks like more this coming week. This means I'm ordering wheels

[Zach Thomas]

Car's looking great! I don't really know what to say other than that haha

[pDubs]

Coming along nicely!

[hey will]

This build is awesome, subscribed because I cant wait to see more

[Teeson1111]

Thanks gents!
Work hasn't slowed down yet so not too much progress. I've done some small things here and there, I'll update when I have a chance.

[Teeson1111]

well I suppose I should update this eh?





been listening to Mac Miller for quite a while throughout this build actually, especially K.I.D.S.
Not a huge fan of everything he does but for the most part I like Blue Slide Park and On And On And Beyond as well. Dope beats to work to, message keeps me motivated as well (mostly haha)



and because i've been working alongside my dad lately had to get a little more old school with the best of U2. So timeless



so this is version 2.0 of the plate I had cnc'd in aluminum for the firewall connectors, but it didn't work so great. I have version 3 waiting for me at the shop, so hopefully third tries the charm lol



bought a whole bunch of split loom. already been back 4 times for more loom and rubber straps. thus is car projects haha



also got some roll cage padding, so I can stop bashing my head/knees/elbows on hard metal. The SFI stuff is for the head contact areas, and wow I used 3 pieces of it. stuffs expensive compared to the non SFI stuff



to ensure a good fit around the door bars I trimmed the seam area a little. then I forgot to take a completed picture. rain check



got a D button from a local shop, had to grind down the button a little to make it fit the way I wanted, as the button was s13 fit. minor detail



labeled everything. not happy with how it turned out on the fuse holders, but I'll live with it for now



sorry for the bad pic (theres a few of those this time) bought a fuel pressure gauge that mounts on the factory fuel rail's Schrader valve. super cheap and easy with the right adapter.



scored a volvo lip from a local, super stoked about this. I've been trying to find one for a while, and the price was good. needs some trimming to make it fit right, but test fit looks good no?
It does go to the back of the fender in front of the wheel, the curve on the front bumper needs work.



did sills which for the sake of my hands I should have done a long time ago haha. And if you can see it hiding in there the trunk release lever is down there. I had cut off the factory mount when I did the seat rails so I found a hood release from a saturn ion or something for $20. fits good, perfect length.



you can see here I've loomed the trunk area as well as ran the cable for the release. aircraft cable again. may redo it after making it black.



something I am happy with is this! roof flashing and a aluminium piece that took my buddy at the metal supplier/cnc place literally a minute to make. I was impressed.



then fabbed up a seat bracket for the monster sized seat I'm using for the passengers. Its just too big, even the small guys heads are almost touching the roll cage padding. Fit width wise is really tough too.



but after a lot of aggravation and fighting its bolted in.



shout out to Alex for helping get the gauge cluster mounted again. A long time ago I dropped the dash when cutting it and broke the tabs that mount the cluster on, so no more zap straps.



made up some nifty aluminum brackets and glued them in



some time not long after my dad accidentally let all the freon out of the truck he was engine swapping, so I called it a night. Got the engine harness loomed first tho.



everything labeled and colour coded. also figured out why the brakes weren't bleeding, loose hose clamps on the masters. those are important as it turns out. It was drawing in air with each stroke. I also relocated the bias adjuster cable, lol when I drove it every time i used the brakes the cable pulled the throttle cable a little. But no more.



this is my key chain at the moment. kinda like it.



now as I type this I'm pissed off about this panel... its too big. I though I measured it all out carefully etc but when I went to test fit the dash its preventing the fuse panel from going in the right place. So I will be re-doing it, its just a set back I really didn't need...

anyway work has slowed down (finally!) so I can resume working on it after work again. I can also use some of that overtime pay
none of the wheels I want are in stock anywhere.. but its probably better I spend it on getting the car 100% anyway...