'Ellie'/Project Panda - My FD

[panjy]

Could you keep us all posted on how you get along with this car. I.e. reliability etc please.

I posted the same thing on a tvr tuscan post on here recently as there is so much talk (mostly by people who have never owned them and are going by hearsay) about engine rebuilds that many folk are put off buying them.

I for one would be very interested in hearing how you get along as i've always wanted an rx7

[Si]

But of course, you try shutting me up about it
Not sure it's a fair compariosn for some though as it's only insured for 3k a year and will be a weekend toy
So far it's only had one issue - a flat battery after being left for 3 weeks!
Most of the mods i've done are reliability based, Rad, V mounts, IC, breathing, PFC) however some have a nice side effect of giving healthy power
I've replaced a large amount of the services items (fluids, fuel filter, sparks, etc) and a lot of the other things i've got on my list are reliability based too. However, some of the rear pillowballs are knackered,so i'll be replacing all of those too to keep things tip top in the handling dept

[panjy]

Good man

How would you say it compares handling wise to your s14a?

Also, any idea what power it is currently running?

[Smoothound]

BGW FTW

[BBB]

Looks gorgeous Si.

[mattkeeber]

How would you say it compares handling wise to your s14a?

Night and Day.

Wouldn't be fair to compare, the S14's a tourer, the RX7 is a sports car.

Out of the box, the RX7 would win hands down - one of the best chassis to come out of Japan IMO. If you ever get the chance to drive one fast-road or on a track, do it.

[panjy]

But i don't think his sx was standard and neither is this (nor are most on this forum). I know the rx is alot better as standard
So what i suppose i'm really asking is: is there a big difference between an uprated rx7 and uprated sx?

[Si]

It's hard to say about the handling - I had a bushed, Tein'ed stiffened (not with cage though) 14a, and one drive of an FD made me sell the SX
Mine has a few bits on it though, so i can't really make a fair comparison - It's running a Mazdaspeed (I think, not sure) front ARB, RSR springs, Bilstein Shocks (although i think they are the Type R2 Standard ones) and MS front Strut Brace. The turn in is the best thing - it's absolutely amazing - Mid corner it feels a tad more twitch, but it's hard to compare as it's currently running crap tyres. When i get my RE70's on it, i'll give you a full run down.

As said though, totally different car - you can 'feel' that it's designed as a sports car, rather than a tourer.
Power wise, It's not shy . With just breathing mods, PFC and remap...

However, that was on the mapping run. I've tweaked it down a fair bit to be on the safe side It's running a bit over 300 i suspect, still feels plenty quick though - the delivery is sooooo smooth!

As for the Wing - As said, the onyl one i'd think about putting on it is the '99 spec - and they are silly money. Especially with the carbon blade I don't think a BGW would suit it really. I've also got to decide what to do about skirts - whether to get the factory skirts and get them body coloured, or whether to paint the front lip satin black and get FEED carbon sidesteps.

[Quail]

Id love an FD. One of the few cars Id consider swapping my S14a for! That or an NSX

Stay wingless! Not many wingless FDs about. It really suits it!

Nice power figures too!

[panjy]

I think it looks good without the wing too

Good power for not many mods also - very impressive

I've read they are very good in the handling stakes, and i'm guessing its even better now. Was just trying to get an idea really of how they compare with a similar sx as sx's are sooo bad standard that just fitting an uprated arb and better shocks transforms the car imo
But like you say, probably not worth comparing.
Very different cars and yours is a beaut

[Si]

Well, thought it was probably about time for an update or twenty - I suppose it's sort of a project on the panda.
This is a long one, so if you're bored easily, just wait for the pics to load and scroll down

Every time I looked at Ellie (as she had now been named officially!) I thought something wasn't right - I could never put my finger on it though. Then, one day while geeking up on a load of other stuff, i came across some photos of a completely bone stock white 1999 Spirit R RX7 - I realised that was what I wanted - to me, that was the perfect evolution of the car I'd wanted since i was about 14. I wanted to go to a stock body, but was worried about the heat in the bay, especially with the V-mount.

So i set about a bit of testing (see thread: http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=359562 ) - hardly conclusive, but the

net result seemed to indicate that the vented bonent was hardly making any difference to my crucial temps. This gave me the excuse to go ahead.

So the RE-Amemiya bonent was sold, as was the vented headlight cover (which was actually blanked off behind - so served no purpose whatsoever - thank you C-West, my least favourite kind of cosmetic mod!)

And I picked up standard versions, which some of you may have seen at Prescott:

(Cheers Juz for the photo

So, time to get it sprayed. I got a few quotes, but having seen the work they had done on Ross (S14Boss)'s 14, combined with the price I was quoted, the car was in Hinckley Car Bodies' Workshop a few weeks later. A few weeks after that the car was ready to collect, so I eagerly bounded up the M69 (Cheers Ross G for the lift ).
A nervous low speed trundle back down the M69 with the knowledge that there wasn't a full compleement of bolts holding my car together and she was back on my drive. I just wanted to get out and drive, but as it was a fresh import, it seemed daft not to look at properly protecting the chassis, so it was out with the POR15.

I wire brushed back the one tiny bit of surface rust I found, and everything else was painted with 2 coats of POR15, then two coats of chassis black as a topcoat - the arches were POR15'd as well, chassis blacked, and then were given two coats of the tarry gloopy underseal.
Noice.




Not bad for a 14 year old car:



All credit to Marine Clean degreaser here - that stuff is the shiz. Mix up, spray on, leave, come back with hose, job done
2 coats of underseal on the arches, and chassis black on the rails etc afterwards.

[Si]

Finally, I could get her back together. Unfortuantely this didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. In reassembling the front end, yet another bodge was found on the car (I won't go into my previous issues with the wiring...) - the previous owner had managed to cross thread the top nut on one of the factory Bilsteins as a result one of the shocks was making a horrendous clattering (I guess that refitting the shocks moved it sufficiently to fully disloge the thread), and rendered junk

A few posts later and Pete Barber had sorted me out with a set of GAB adjustables for a decent price - Plonked these one, and she was finally driveable on the road again, it was a good feeling. Chuffed? More than a little I think she looks so much better than before. The shocks still don't feel quite right though.









A few weeks later i picked up a bargain CoolingMist kit from local metalwork genius, and all round good egg ex-ctr, and promptly fitted it.
It's quite a basic setup, with a single stage boost activated switch, but i never plan on mapping for it - I'm using it as a safety net more than anything, rather than getting it tuned for it. So I installed the nozzle into the TB elbow, and using all of the skills that my 'E' in A level physics gave me, knocked up this little beaut:




It's a simple on/off for the system, but with a manual override push to make button so i can give it a squirt at will - just to bring temps down when at a standstill, and occasionally blast the chambers to clear out some of the carbon.

All seemed fine in testing

Chop out a few weeks and cut to a Curborough track day - she performed very well, but it became obvious that there were a few issues:





It was the first test for the WI - I hadn't really wired it up, so it was bodged in on the day - and it showed For some reason(I'm guessing dodgy ground) it would only fire in very short bursts, BUT it was proving hugely effective in dropping the temps - an elevated idle for a few seconds and a quick burst would see inlet temps plummet. Great, great stuff.

However, I'm pretty sure my wiring needed some work! (AdrianStokes' scathing comments were testament to that...

More pressing though,. was the handling - the car was all over the place. I was still running the JDM tyte y0 'Maxgrade II' 255's it came with, as despite my best efforts, they just wouldn't die! And these were holding the car back so much. Grip in the corners was non existant, turn in was just a swathe of understeer, and there's no point in having reasonable power if you just can't put it down.
Combine this with the racket from the rear end due to the knackered bushes and pillowballs, plus dubious alignment, and you end up with a car that went, stopped, and cornered pretty much worse than any other car there.

I reckon my braking point for the first corner was twice that of what it was in my other half's Eunos. Let's just say i was disappointed.

The car has also developed a misfire when the second turbo comes online - I'm pretty sure this is down to igniton, and the prime suspect is the leads, but i haven't had a chance to change them yet

[Si]

So i decided to take the plunge for a complete overhaul.
After a bit of saving, I then started to strip her down - The whole of the underside was dropped - Rear subframe, propshaft, brakes, fuel tank, rear diffuser, heatshields, brake lines moved... - everything. It also gave me a chance to have a look at the bracing that is stock underneath the car - there's some pretty cool stuff here. If you're not a geek, skip these bits...

First, there are these braces that run across the transmission tunnel - cast alloy affairs (this is them after i cleaned them up with a wire brush)


Then, these fore-aft braces across the subframe.


Then, most significantly, what Mazda call the 'Powerplant Frame' - Basically it's an enormous girder that runs from the gearbox to the diff, to brace the whoel drivetrain, reducing wheel hop and shocks on the drivetrain.



So, the underside was cleaned with marine clean, any surface rust wire brushed off, and then metal ready was applied - all smooth surfaces were keyed with 400 grit.

Then, a couple of coats of POR15, and a couple of coats of underseal later:












And then started to refit the lines and heatshields - I've taken the opportunity here to replace all the non load bearing bolts i come across with stainless cap heads, just to make stuff a bit easier in the future. (Althoguht the corrosion situation was nothing like that seen on my old 14a - imports really do have some distinct advantages!) You can see this on a few of the photos.

I've now filled all the box sections with a few cans of Dynax S-50 as well, to keep the nasty tin worm at bay

As for the suspension - I delivered the suspension arms to the guys at Atomic Rex Racing a few weeks ago, where they are being blasted to a nice shiny finish, and having all bushes and pillowballs replaced - the bushes are having Powerflex bushes

(I've gone for the fast road rather than full on motorsport options) and all the pillowballs are being replaced with brand new OEM ones.
So that's all of the front and rear arms, and in addition to that, poly bushes are being supplied for the steering rack and diff mounts. We're currently waiting on Mazda to supply the pillowballs, and Powerflex to send the bushes!

[Si]

So that's the main part at a bit of a standstill right now, so I've set about sorting some other stuff out.

The Water injection has now been re-done - the wiring has been replaced and routed behind the trim, and the pump is now hidden behind the rear boot trim.

The bottle has been ditched in favour of an OEM Mazda one (the rear washer has a seperate tank, but my model doesn't have a rear washer so there was just empty space), which means i can hide it behind the rear boot trim.

Unfortuantely it's a little small - I'll see how i get on with it, and then try to source a UK spec one, which is about 5 times bigger, but as there were only ever 120-something uk RX7's, they're a little tricky to get hold of! Still, winter's coming, the roads are greasing up...

True to form I've also rebuilt the brakes - the Sumitomo calipers bear a remarkable resemblance to the ones on an S14...


Larger discs though,


And noticeably different spacing on the mounts. Pistons and seal kits are VERY similar - I forgot to measure them though. All the pistons were in good nick with only a few deposits, and polished up A1, so they've gone back in with new seals.

The rears wound in and out very easily, so i decided not to strip them, and just painted the whole lot up.
I can't abide brightly coloured calipers, so black won over - I know i should have gone white, but i just couldn't face the maintenance - black is easiest to look after!

While i had the brush out, I've also painted the diff, subframe, power plant frame, end of the driveshafts (not the splines ) and a few other bits to neaten them up:







I've also swapped my exhaust for something a fair bit more subtle, as i felt too self conscious with the NUR, so I swapped it for a rather beautifully made and understated Racing Beat twin exit affair - love the look.



I've now turned my attention to the interior - taking pride of place are these:


Bride Gias Sport's - lovely, lovely seats. I've had them a while, but it's taken 4 months for the company I was dealing with to supply the subframes from Japan - I'm more than a little miffed to be honest, and won't be using them again, despite the discounts they are offering me by way of apology.

To add to this they didn't even come with all the mounting hardware, so the seatbelt angle is a little awkward, and I had to buy a ton of bolts to fit them - ah well. They're mounted on the rails but the sliders on the driver's side do seem a tad sticky - is suspect this is due to the alignment of the rails - i had to 'tweak' the rails to get some of the holes to line up tbh, not what i expect with stuff that costs this much.





Test fit at night to check they all fit in, then taken out and filed away to keep them clean while I'm working on the car.
I've complemented this with a second hand MazdaSpeed steering wheel and 10mm spacer to replace the stupidly undersized and slightly ugly Momo one that came on the car - this is only temporary and I plan on replacing it with a Nardi 'Deep Cone/Corn' (whatever they are calling it this month) with red stitching. I'm also going to get new shift and handbrake boots with the same scheme.



I never liked the lighting in the cabin either, so I have removed the gauge cluster and am 'redoing' the lighting - all the tint has been stripped off from the clocks with Nail varnish remover, and I'm currently trying to source suitable wide angle LEDs to finish it off with - I'm going for a white backlit effect to match the gauges i plan on buying at some point.
At the same time, I've got a replacement instrument binnacle as mine was cracked, and am planning on sorting out the tacky carbon fibre 'effect' dome that covers the gauges.

[Si]

On the outside, I happened across a set of these:


For a bargain price.
Mazdaspeed MS01s's by Rays - the centres need a refurb, but the lacquer on the wheels is ok. The fitment isn't that great (easy FD fitment - also known as 'sunken' ),but they're 8's and 10's, and I have fitted a suitably aggressive size tyre to enable me to use a hefty spacer on the back
225's all round:






And these are in the post right now:



Wheel fitment on FD's is one of my prime beefs, with not that many going for hardcore fitments, so i plan on being a bit adventurous. It probably means getting some new barrels for the front though, but as they are Rays wheels that shouldn't be too hard.

So that's where I am right now so:
My scuffed front undertray and rear diffuser are away with a friend who is very kindly repairing the damage caused by Leamington Shell station's entrance.
I've got a red top on the way and a cut off switch to stop it draining while the car is parked up (it's not a daily drive) as I wasn't happy with a lead acid battery in the boot of a hatch, no matter how well fixed down it was.
I'm sourcing a new fuel system for the new year to max out the stock twins.
I've stripped the diff and cleaned out the inside, and need to order some new oil seals for the driveshafts.

And I'm basically just awaiting parts before i can put it back together! It seems to be taking forever I miss driving her

Sorry for the long post
Si

[Quail]

Whoa! I didnt realise the overhaul was so extensive! (Bet your neighbours love you )

Car looks great

[docwra]

was the handling - the car was all over the place

Perhaps you could try evicting the family that have clearly set up home in your front arches

Seriously though, this is awesome mate - its got to be one of the best in the country when its done

The Gias are gorgeous (dibs if you ever sell them) but Im niot sure it might look better on white wheels than the Mazdaspeeds ...........

[Si]

lol The shots of the front arches were taken with the back decked on gravel and the front on a raised bit - that's my excuse
It scrapes at that height getting onto my drive, and the local Shell So far it's started to lay waste to my $800 discontinued rear diffuser and similarly rare and overpriced front undertray

Cheers for the complements, but i think the piccies make it look better than it is - My painting really isn't that hot! Function > than form though, should be protected and i plan on keeping her a good while

Neighbours seem pretty understanding actually!

It's one of those projects that kept getting punctuated with thoughts of 'well,while I'm here'...
Oh, and the engine bay is a shambles

The MS's were too cheap to refuse and i love them muchly - I'm going to run them until i get the pennies for LM's or VSXX's, but they'll do right now

[Yakko]

Wow, looks awesome with the bodywork returned to standard (as it should be on an FD).

Beautiful car Si.

[Fake Ben Taylor]

the pictures arent loading on my shittty mobile dongle cry:

still enjoyed the read though sounds like youre doing a shed load of work