FC RX7 5.0 race car thread

[FreshLikeSushi]

so im gonna be awesome and help you with your little ugly ass alternator/tensioner belt setup

I run a 302. With a clockwise rotating water pump (which yours is) from a late model fox body/early 90s crown vic.
SO. Ill make it super simple.

you need a March alternator bracket kit

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/mch-1465-09

This kit actually is designed to keep the alternator in the stock location. Well, if you bolt it up as said, then rotate the alternator 180degress, it underslings it. Then you route the adjuster between the crank and water pump and use a water pump stud that would normally hold the PS bracket in place, and mount it there.

This then uses the alternator to adjust pulley tension. ALSO get yourself the ribbed 90s crown vic pulley.

i would say just go get a crown vic water pump from auto store, and a pulley from a junkyard, its the old box crown vics.
All Imported-50 by Flsimages, on Flickr
All Imported-75 by Flsimages, on Flickr
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392536_3465183102901_1202704238_n by Flsimages, on Flickr

and done! for not much money you can make it beautiful and non ugly


Oh, and i used the miata slave also. Use a 3/4 bore master for perfect feel. Thats what i using

and yes. i actually read all 8 pages this morning

[mikey G]

So much awesome info in this thread. Sushi that build is sick as well. Ill return to my normal car now

[Teeson1111]

thnx Mikey!

wow sushi, that looks awesome! link to build thread? I see a turbo pipes, and is that tube chassis the same miata in the first pic? crazy

my pump is actually a counter clockwise pump (reverse rotation) ala SN95 or explorer.
so i'm kinda stuck with this unless i switch timing covers. Which i kinda want to do anyway because these:



are much cheaper and more available with a fox style cover. Which will let me run just an alternator, but if it fits with the march bracket and off the shelf solution sounds great! good find

I want to fix the ugly very badly, but it works for now lol

and yes the 3/4 master on a miata slave is defs the way to go,

haha glad you read all of it, I hope you enjoyed

[Teeson1111]

I gave it its first bath today, I plan to take it out to a rather large meet on sunday (Revscene summer meet for you locals) and I didn't want it to look any worse than stock wheels and weak stance already do.

I give it a 5/10 on water proof-ness, my shut off switch leaks, and the rear of the sunroof leaks.

I also blew my radar detector when trying to hardwire it in. I'm pretty choked.. I liked that thing
That was my plan for a speedo, iPhone you're up

[FreshLikeSushi]

You dont have to switch timing covers. I didnt and have no cooling issues.
Even IF you were worried about it. if you get a crown vic timing cover and pump from the junkard (all of 40 bucks i think i paid after i damaged the stock one from the 70s that was on my car) Its still cheaper than an electric pump. AND also realize. an electric pump flows how many GPM?

Im looking at summit racing. and i see:
Proform -180.00 - 35gpm
Moroso - 310 - 35gpm
mmeziere - 450-55gpm
stock waterpump - (from my research when i was debating electric vs mechanica) 200+ at 3000rpm GPM - 60.00

The thing is. Electric water pumps are meant for drag cars. One pull, let it cool. For drift, autox, etc you will overheat and i guarantee it. Mechanical water pumps push multiples of water per minute than an electric pump at speed which you require.

That being said. For roughly 200USD you can get a BRAND NEW univseral timing cover (what i ended up FINALLY getting when i put in the 91 roller 5.0 HO) and brand new ford racing water pump and be done with it.

there is a build links

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37777

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30450

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31619

https://www.flickr.com/photos/yokotas13/sets/72157623946703386/

from miata to exocet
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about it
and my channel has some drifting shit on it too.

i built the whole thing in a one car garage haha

[Teeson1111]

Just spent my entire morning reading/watching your flikr, threads and YouTube.

That thing is insane! It must be an absolute riot, really unique build too. The miata in final form was pretty cool too, even if a little best up.

I'm surprised those Hoosiers work well on the front, normally they need time to heat up before lapping on them effectively.

You raise a good point regarding the electric water pumps. I've done a lot of reading and it looks like one needs a 55gpm to keep up with non-drag related activity. A buddy had a Proform pump on his street driven fox, he ***** having to turn it on each time. It gets tricky to use GPM because the electric pump will always be flowing the same, where as a mechanical changes it's flow rate constantly. And it can cavitate (not likely in a stock config)

I like the idea of being able to sit in the pits and cool the engine down without the engine running. On the other hand being able to use an off the shelf easy to get fox mechanical pump is great too. And they're cheap!

Here's a pic of the difference in early and late timing covers



The late covers were designed to use a trigger wheel for the EDIS ignition, which wasn't used until the obd2 explorer came around.

Swapping them also means going to a longer front crank pulley, or it sticks out farther. I have very limited clearence between the rad fan and pulley as it is. So doing that will *sigh* involve reworking my radiator mount.

Also any opinion on high output pumps? I don't see a need, and it's a bit harder to know if the radiator will still cool it if more fluid is passing through because I don't have a standard rad setup.

[FreshLikeSushi]

i run a mishimoto miata rad, stock water pump and have no issues overheating. and yes, i had to use a ford racing pulley spacer to line everything up.

[Zach Thomas]

I completely removed the wires for anything EGR, Evap, a/c or auto trans related. I de pinned the harnesses (really easy) and I do have codes for them, but they don't affect anything I can notice.
If your are using a fox ecu (a9p, or a9l or other) make sure to keep the altitude sensor.

I even left the fuel pump signal wire loose and ungrounded just to see if it needed to think it was controlling a relay, nope. My last mazda KL engine needed to see ground on the wire if it were to start, not the case here.

Any more questions, fire away haha

Thanks again for the help! And just to be clear, is the altitude sensor the same as the barometric pressure sensor? Pin 38 on the ECU plug? I'm rocking the SN95 computer and that crap diagram on veryuseful shows pin 38 W/Y going to a barometric pressure sensor, which appear to not exist for the SN95. Its crazy, the mustang crowd is so much larger than RX7 owners but I feel like I have an easier time finding specific info on the RX7

I gotta say, I stare at your thread every few days and just try to take in everything you've done lol. Especially because I'm feeling a change of heart on my build...I might not be going as deep into the racecar build as I thought I would. But your build is still my inspiration!

[Teeson1111]

Thanks again for the help! And just to be clear, is the altitude sensor the same as the barometric pressure sensor? Pin 38 on the ECU plug? I'm rocking the SN95 computer and that crap diagram on veryuseful shows pin 38 W/Y going to a barometric pressure sensor, which appear to not exist for the SN95. Its crazy, the mustang crowd is so much larger than RX7 owners but I feel like I have an easier time finding specific info on the RX7

I gotta say, I stare at your thread every few days and just try to take in everything you've done lol. Especially because I'm feeling a change of heart on my build...I might not be going as deep into the racecar build as I thought I would. But your build is still my inspiration!

yes lol, barometric is the proper name. Didn't realize you have an SN95 harness and ECU though sorry. The SN95 doesn't have a baro sensor regardless of what the internet says haha. When I was doing research theres a lot of confusion.
I think I said it before, but the Veryuseful diagram isn't that great for the SN95. Ford added a lot of wiring for various pieces that may or may not have been on the car. somewhere around 94 Ford ushered a new era of wiring, which mean one size fits all harnesses (to a degree). Its basically how its done now.
An ECU pinout and wiring tracing is what I used, once you break it down its less daunting then it seems, even if time consuming. Being extremely familiar with your engine swap specific (even more so with the wiring) isn't a bad thing at all

The mustang community is a funny one, theres just too many cooks in the kitchen. The guys who know the truth are too annoyed to post quality answers or something, where the ones who do all the talking don't know and haven't done it. its frustrating.

And the rx7 forums are just a flame show, its hard (but still easier than mustangs haha) to find answers there too. They at least are able to think outside the box. Just don't mention v8's unless its No-rotors. Which is an awesome site, its just a little lacking in the ford 302 knowledge.

maybe I ought to join there and spread some knowledge, get some people to crawl out the woodwork....

lol ya the depth of race car isn't for everyone. Its pretty raw and extreme even for me, but I'll feel better once I can start tracking it.

Glad to hear it helps! I've definitely done the same with Blake's thread and George's and a few others. Visualizing and thinking through how you're about to do something will save you time and money in the long run. Plus it gives me something to do at work haha

[Zach Thomas]

Thanks again for the help! Yeah the SN95 info is lacking pretty bad. I feel like once I'm completely done with my swap and up and running fine it's my obligation to make a diagram that shows exactly how to wire up an SN95 ECU lol. For now I'll just keep plugging away at it, mind-numbing as it is.

[Teeson1111]

wow it has been a long time, and I apologize

been listening to what I consider to be another summer band







NeedToBreathe

they have newer albums but th Outsiders is what did it for me. Also their most popular... They consider themselves "Southern Rock" which is a pretty good descriptor. Not country, not rock, not down south style but kinda all three at the same time.

Been working away at the exhaust for the last 3 weeks probably. Its time consuming and I wanted a good fit so I took the time to do it to the best of ability.



the new mufflers are a bit smaller than the old ones, but they will obviously do better than those rusty things.

so took all the jackstands I could find (no really, I had 4 pairs tied up for this and a jack or two) and mocked the mufflers and went shopping again.



got 4 180* bends, 7ft of 2.5" tubing some hangers and some 02 bungs that I didn't use. They were too short, the 02 stuck in farther than the X pipe I had placed them.

Soooo I made a trip down to a very expensive place also called Mopac; my local speed shop/performance parts place.



got some vibrant ones, which are very nice. stainless steel, thick and the right depth. They were only like a dollar more each than the other ones too

but I also got this when I was there



I've been waiting for them to get their RCI shipment, and I also kinda wanted platinum from the get go. Not only are they silver and cool they can be restitched and rectified when they expire. I got a voucher that I mail in with the harnesses.

Fun fact, the build date on these was for October 2014, a month after I bought them. They do this because they know most of them sit in race cars before being used, so this is a nice way to prolong the SFI certification.

because I cheap I re-used the tips from the previous mufflers



truth is I like them, they are a little subtle though..

I have a pro tip for figuring out the bends required. I don't have a lot of leftover curves from the last custom exhaust I did (because this was my first time doing one) so I grabbed tie wire and bent it to copy the curve on the inside of the 180



I would make 2 of these and trim them back until they were just fitting between the 2 pieces i had set of jacks. The trick is to remember that your going from the inside of the curve to the inside of the next curve. With this I think I had 2 or 3 mis-cuts (minor ones, and 2 were the last 2 curves i did) from the whole project. I really didn't want to have to buy another 180

I took some of the straight pip I had and made my own X pipe (this took some serious time, yay angle grinder skillzzz)



I cut off the ends from the existing X pipe and used that for the flanges and getting it from the headers down.

some time later...





fits as tight as allows, the driver side has the slave cylinder in the way, and the trans crossmember is shaped a little differently than the passenger side, so the muffler was forced t sit about a 1/2" lower.

the unnecessary bits of the clutch fork were also in my way. So that got cut



(scratches on the fresh paint. yup)

then gave it to my buddy to weld 'er up



he also did the bungs and the patch from the old 02 which was now hitting the bell house. I also put an extra bung on for a wideband. While I'm here amiright?



then came the fun part; trying to build the rear but keeping the mufflers a mirror image of each other.



but much much much much time (and frustration) later we had 2 of these



brought those to be welded and viola



the completed system, hangers included.



I used slip-band clamps, I like them. They are easy and seal without gaskets, the only downside is they may not go back on exactly the same way each time like bolt together ones would. But when the exhaust is on all the hangers its pretty easy to line them up.



I did 2 rubber hangers (not the donuts that rx7's used) on the back of each muffler, a pair hanging from the subframe and thats all. The X pipe hangs and self aligns from the headers, its just the rear that uses hangers.

final results








compared to how it was with the mustang X pipe in place, this is much better. Everything fits nice, all the bolts are easy to get to, and I gained about 2" of ground clearance (maybe more actually but seeing as how the x pipe was temporary I never bothered measuring. But at current ride height it almost touched the ground.)

now the sad part. I tried to post this video before, but it won't embed. So here it is in link form

(haha lost the passenger mirror glass when I shifted hard into second)

http://vid1191.photobucket.com/albums/z474/Tyson_Floris/IMG_1377_zps5028644c.mp4

that was with the X pipe hanging and dumping under the car. Was stupid loud but so awesome.

I expected to lose a lot of that scream and overall volume, but I was hoping not to lose this much tone.

here it is in my drive way today

http://vid1191.photobucket.com/albums/z474/Tyson_Floris/B277765B-863B-4834-A30E-12B24CF853BF_zpsstxnzlpi.mp4

in person it sounds a lot different than it used to.. Video may not too it justice.

but according to a very not-accurate-at-all app on my iPhone it maxed out at 93 Db, which probably means ill make the 92 Db on course limit at the local auto cross!

[Teeson1111]

oh and heres 2 pictures of my X pipe next to a fox body H pipe, you know for comparison

[hey will]

What is the benefit to running an x pipe? couldnt you just run two separate pipes all the way back? I mean they just cross then go back to separate pipes. Im asking because I honestly dont know

[Teeson1111]

What is the benefit to running an x pipe? couldnt you just run two separate pipes all the way back? I mean they just cross then go back to separate pipes. Im asking because I honestly dont know

Without getting too specific, yes there is a good reason for the x pipe. It creates better scavenging, the exhaust gasses get pulled out from the vacuum created from the previous exhaust pulse. Connecting the 2 banks creates even better scavenging than 2 separate pipes, and while it's up for debate X shaped pipes may do it even better than H shaped pipes.

There a lot of research on can do on this topic, we've been messing with gas engines exhaust for like a 100 years and we're still learning things even today

[LaMaR-]

hey man I'm finally back state side trying to figure out how to make this motor fit under my hood, quick questions though, does the SN95 motor sit lower then the fox body?? Or is the difference the SN95 upper and lower intake manifold??