FC RX7 5.0 race car thread

[LowElementStar]

Bring it to life!! The build is very interesting keep it up man

[LaMaR-]

thanks, kinda wondering how your clearance will be when you add the down pipe, I'm guessing a lot better then mine lol.

[Teeson1111]

Bring it to life!! The build is very interesting keep it up man

thanks! glad you enjoy

thanks, kinda wondering how your clearance will be when you add the down pipe, I'm guessing a lot better then mine lol.

ya I think it will have to be a custom exhaust but one of the things I got from the SN95 was a 3" catless X pipe I'm going to see if I can use somehow.

you not use a granny's kit? if you did and used any shorty mustang header the clearance should be the same...

[LaMaR-]

i bought the car with the motor in it, it had a ton of wiring issues and didn't run for shit. The headers are BBK, not sure if those are shortys or not

[Aristo]

This is great. Love the manhours going into this and I cant wait to see more!

[Teeson1111]

i bought the car with the motor in it, it had a ton of wiring issues and didn't run for shit. The headers are BBK, not sure if those are shortys or not

ah, i'd imagine they're shorties. Theres supposedly only one set of long tubes that fit, and they aren't bbk

This is great. Love the manhours going into this and I cant wait to see more!

thanx!

[Teeson1111]

this weeks album of choice:



it feels a little early to break this out, as I would normally liken it to end of summer type music.
really southern and soulful, Ray's voice is just something all on its own. Pariah Dogs make it even better, I like this even more than Ray Lamontagne on his own.

So put the Abercrombie kit on the steering rack



fairly certain this is per instruction (someone correct me if I have to cut anything) but i'll find out when I go to align it.



then I welded 2 caps and 2 grease nipples out of the old line ends. Had to grind a bit to make my grease gun fit on the nipple, which surprisingly survived the heat of welding.

finished the fuel lines and rear brake lines









glad thats over, 3/8s line is a bear to work with...



this is where good tools come in. I wasted an entire roll of 3/8"s line trying to figure out how to safely bend it with out kinks. Couldn't. Bought a cheap bender, still kinked. does smaller 1/4" and 3/16" fine though. Ended up borrowing a bender from a friend that goes up to 3/8", still not easy to work with, but did work.

will be getting some braided steel line to go from the tank to the lines, and then the lines to the engine via Ford EFI connectors.

then went and busted out a bunch of wiring



to find these:



I have about 3 and 1/2 cars worth of wiring in that pile, I definitely have my work cut out for me. In the harness that came from the 98 Explorer is the same type of connector thats on the mustang. I'm going to have to do a pin count and see if I need both of these, but this is what I'm using for a bulkhead connector. Its not baller mil spec stuff, but its free and was good enough for Ford to use for over 6 years of production.



cut a hole that i'll be plating with the piece I have yet to figure out to connect to the Ford connectors.



mocked up an intake tract, probably going to work as is with a little trimming of the other pipe (not pictured)

now going to get specific for a bit, and explain my T5 hydro conversion mount in detail.

started here



we have a NA Miata slave cylinder, which came with a pin and dust boot, also a carefully selected bunch of bolts from previous cars (great idea to keep these when doing projects)
2 are for mounting the slave to the bracket (also in there, but not yet welded) and 2 are for mounting the slave to the bell house.

now to mount it to the bell house I first grinded off the logos and numbers that wouldn't allow it to sit flat.



then welded up the bracket being careful to make sure everything fit and no bolts interfered with each other.



also made a plate for the back nuts to spread load, and make it easier to disassemble and reassemble. I can get the bracket mounted with the clutch fork in place if need be.

Then drilled holes for the bracket to bolt to, and ground off a little nub preventing the bolt plate from siting flat





then took the bolt I planned to use for the rod, and rounded one of the nuts to allow for some necessary pivoting



made the same type of seat but inverse (obviously lol) on the fork. Which btw is hardened steel, nothing I had wanted to even scratch it unless it was carbide.



then cut the rod/bolt and rounded the end to mimic the stock miata rod



I later ended up taking off another 1/2" or so off (where the rod flares in, basically its the same length as the stock miata one, just the threading goes longer)

mocked up on the floor








and in car (with the slop taken out but hidden behind a boot)



an Earls adapter to go from stock M10x1.0 to -3 AN, and boom hydro T5

heres a blurry shot of the Grannies trans kit, had a bit of trouble lining it up too. somethings got to be off a hair



which let me cut the required hole in the trans tunnel (yay)



and the dashboard too



however, it hits my panel :'(



so I'm going to have to make the ashtray a cover, and cut the Steeda shifter. It has 3 bolts when it only uses 2 so between those 2 things it should fit.

ran a few other small things while working in the area



and heres how the engine sits with the trans in place



and that is all for now, a few more things to do and I start disassembling for paint (yay but ew)

[M.Doban]

I love your quality of work. Great update!

[LaMaR-]

looking awesome man, why not build a shifter extension? Or if you want Grannys sells the extension to bolt to the T-5. Thats my personal plan I **** that my forward gears hit my switch panel.

Either way good job and cant wait to see what you do for the alternator.

[Teeson1111]

I love your quality of work. Great update!

thank you, I do try to not hack things. lol

looking awesome man, why not build a shifter extension? Or if you want Grannys sells the extension to bolt to the T-5. Thats my personal plan I **** that my forward gears hit my switch panel.

Either way good job and cant wait to see what you do for the alternator.

oh maybe I wasn't clear, yes there will be a grannies style shifter extension. I don't actually have one from my kit and haven't found a picture of one. Anyone able to help with a pic? Im planing to just make one that will extend it to where the original hole is but the steeda itself hits the panel. So room under there will be tight.

and funny you mention the alternator...



I put the hood on the hinges and the alt was still hitting but only a little corner. So I covered it for protection (nobody wants bits of metal near magnets in their alt right?) and took a grinder to it.

worked!



this is my final hood trimming, just a little bit here and there to allow some wiggle room. And then debur those sharp edges

and to be absolutely sure heres the headlights in place with the hood on the rubber stops



no nothings lined up at all



then put the gas door in place, I deleted the cable pull so I got creative and have it staying closed but openable with a self tapping screw. I just push on the front side before the hinge and it pops open, pressure keeps it shut. simple. until the first wall tap lol



then striped the car of everything. I mean everything. the plumbing, engine, little rubber grommets clips etc. Some welding will take place before paint, but I'm basically now waiting for warmer weather. will do small things until painting happens.



also organizing and labelling this time! should make putting it back together a breeze.

and that was my night, now I'm going to stay up all night to watch Canada hopefully win gold!

[LaMaR-]

awesome update bro, and super glad to hear about the alternator. Ill be sure to update my build as soon as deployments over.. Since Blake never updates his thread yours is the only one keeping me motivated.. Keep it up

[Zach Thomas]

So much update, I feel pathetic Good progress though, it looks like it's coming along great!

[FunfGang]

Love it! I've been wanting to convert my Wilwood pull- type slave cylinder setup to a push style, so the write up on the Miata Slave conversion is awesome!

[Teeson1111]

awesome update bro, and super glad to hear about the alternator. Ill be sure to update my build as soon as deployments over.. Since Blake never updates his thread yours is the only one keeping me motivated.. Keep it up

ya man, looking forward to seeing progress with your car!
Blake appears to be busing getting sideways lol, lucky guy

So much update, I feel pathetic Good progress though, it looks like it's coming along great!

haha ya I managed a pretty productive week, thanks

Love it! I've been wanting to convert my Wilwood pull- type slave cylinder setup to a push style, so the write up on the Miata Slave conversion is awesome!

your experience with the pull slave made me lean to a rear slave setup. And the fact that the Miata slave was like $15 and readily available...

[Teeson1111]

small update

started a new job, so I've been a bit too busy to post an update.

but long overdue...



Young The Giant - (self titled)

most underated band around (in canada, my opinion) but their new album Mind Over Matter could change that. Alt rock with just a really good sound, a good album front to back. If you've only heard "My Body" or "Cough Syrup" give the rest a listen, its even better.

so finished the gauge cluster





and cut/bent/welded an ECU mount



have some room to put foam or rubber to dampen vibrations

did the same to the ignition module (TCI)



but first I took the time to fix Ford's genius. They put these stupid 5.5mm bolts to hold the TCI to the heat sink. So when the module inevitably goes bad, you have to grind a socket to get the bolts off, then replace the module. They don't sell the heat sink either.



so I drilled out the 5.5mm's and found some phillips head ones to replace them.

Made these real quick too



When I pulled the engine last time I spent more time trying to find bolts and washers then pulling the engine. The chain also hit the fuel rail.
These plates make it easy to pull and block off the EGR ports on the back of the heads.
I'll probably get some prettier ones CNC cut, but I think i'm going to mount the ignition coil to the one pictured first.

all for now, just saving up a little to buy paint. I don't want to rely on the weather (which is warming up..) so as a test I through a tarp over the car and put a heater under it. An hour later the car was an average of 20*. So I'm going to get some plastic and make a shelter for the car, and paint it in the shelter.

I also went back tonight and edited a bunch of typos and corrected a piece of information in the thread, just for the skimmers.