FD3S RX7

[CincinnatiFiero]

Awesome Levi, I was at a family party yesterday talking to my cousins boyfriend about RX7s. He had one and we both want to buy them again. I'm on the hunt for an N/A FC at first though.

[Atilla the Fun]

I like FCs. I drove one, then nearly bought one. Those floppy multi-position, dynamic-toe rear hubs probably don't age well, and even when new probably wouldn't like serious acceleration. I was thinking I'd swap in a live axle, like a Ford 8". But a Camaro came along at a good price...

[crzyone]

I like FCs a lot as well. One of these days I'll pick one up as well. They are cheap enough.

Well here she is in my driveway. Drove 4 hours today to take the other one to the new owner and back.







We removed the front spoiler and raised the front coils to make it easier to get on the trailer. It's going to stay like that until I get a new motor put in.

[Atilla the Fun]

Those wheels make the overall look...work. It's good. Is it a boring RX-7, or is it the RX-7 R1? I'd only want a virgin R1, they're the only ones that could average 1g cornering pure stock.

[crzyone]

I personally hate the wheels. Once I get the engine done I will get a respray, body kit and new wheels. It will be my summer daily driver.

[Atilla the Fun]

Please shoot me a nice pic with the chin spoiler back on before ruining this beautiful look.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Needs those little plastic shark's teeth that people put in the fascias of their Miatas.

[CincinnatiFiero]

Not digging the Z wheels, but digging the JDM goodness.

[crzyone]

There it is with the front lip attached. Still have massive wheel gap but I forgot to grab the coilover wrench...

With paint and wheels it would be nearly identicle to this car. The bumper openings are slightly different.

[CincinnatiFiero]

Needs the 99+ Spec Bumper. But I like the color.

[Atilla the Fun]

Thanks. It's still poster-worthy.

[befarrer]

So, what happened with this project?

[crzyone]

Got a line on a rotary to put in to get it running for next summer and I'll end up rebuilding the current motor.

[crzyone]

I'm copying this post from another forum I'm on, and I have another update I'll put in a new post.


I recently purchased some Mazdaspeed MS-02 rims from Japan (thanks Zhao for the link). I'm sure a lot of you will be familiar with them, same as the yellow FD on Initial D.



I'm currently swapping out the motor on my car. So far this car isn't very much fun to work on. Pulling the motor the 1st time on any car seems to take a lot longer. Everything is basically ready to go. Next days off the motor will be out.



Replacement drivetrain waiting to go on the ground. I bought the drivetrain for $1800 assuming it runs I think I got a good deal. The plan is to have Conroy rebuild the motor I take out while I drive on this motor for a while.



I kept the A-Spec front bumper from my other RX7 before I sold it. I will be salvaging the lights and buying a new bumper to put on.





So if anyone has noticed yet, I will have the same rims and bumper as the Initial D FD. I've always loved the way it looks, so I'm going to paint mine yellow and copy it.

Plan is for this car to be my summer daily driver / occasional track car. I will update as I go along.

[crzyone]

This last weekend I finally managed to swap engines out on the RX7. It was my first time pulling a rotary but it was fairly straight forward. Thanks to Ben (befarrer) for the help, he did most of the work under the car which was good for my back.

I think a RHD 7 engine is a little trickier to pull. The steering shaft is in the way of the exhaust and the wiring harness comes out from behind the ABS pump which was a PITA! Pulling and re-installing the wiring harness was probably the most frustrating part of the whole swap.

Carefully pulling out the engine, making sure everything is disconnected.


Success! Engine out of the car


Amazing how tight a fully dressed 13b is in there, and an LS1 can slide in so easily...


Engine in and running



So after the new engine was installed I put in 5gal of fresh gas. Not sure how long the car had been sitting but the tank was nearly empty. The engine fired up after only a few rotations which was pretty awesome. It does sound a bit rough, so I'll go ahead and install some new plugs and such to see if it runs better. Worst case scenario the engine is bad, but on the upside I'll have 2 engines to bring to our local rotary specialist to rebuild 1 good engine from the 2.

I debated whether to leave the A/C in or not but in the end I left it in. I plan on using this car as a summer daily driver so it will be nice to have. I also found that this car has dual oil coolers which was a bonus.

I had a line on a Mazdaspeed wing to complete my "Initial D FD" but the guy that listed it for sale decided to keep it... Still on the lookout so if anyone spots one for sale, let me know

[The Dark Side of Will]

Amazing how tight a fully dressed 13b is in there, and an LS1 can slide in so easily...

Awesome work, Mang! That's a hott car!

If you're used to seeing piston engine cars, it's wild how high in the engine bay the transmission is, but the eccentric shaft is basically in the "middle" of a rotary vertically, while the crank is at the very bottom of a piston engine. That's part of the reason they can take V8's so easily

[crzyone]

Thanks!

What you say is true, the transmission tunnel is huge, and amazingly you can reach all but one bellhousing bolt from under the car. Lots of room.

The oil pan is really shallow on these cars, so the ecentric shaft isn't That high. I would say the shaft is about the same height off the ground as a piston engine with a larger sump. I have the old trani on the ground, maybe I'll measure to the center of the shaft. Would be a neat comparison.

[CincinnatiFiero]

Well Levi, I'll be expecting a keyboard in the mail from you, I blame you for me ruining mine. Those wheels are fucking amazing.

[Aaron]

I was expecting a porn flick so I can get my dick up, because it went limp after looking at those. Not my cup of tea.

[CincinnatiFiero]

When he said no LSX is where you whiskey dicked I'm sure.