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Thread: Dandan's FD - Project Lifetimer

  1. #1
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    Dandan's FD - Project Lifetimer

    Hi all,
    Welcome to my project thread, this one is many years in the making, and i'm hoping it will be a good one.
    So without further ado, say hello to Lisa, my new FD RX7, seen posing here with her desperately uncool owner.



    This is called project lifetimer because I fully intend to keep this one for life. This is my third FD, I already know how much I love them and I know how much I missed not having one, so this is a keeper, for good. I've got a great new job which means I can comfortably afford to splash out on the very best for this car while affording to run another daily, and possibly even having another project on the side in the future!

    From the beginning, my mate Rich bought the car several years ago, and when the water seals gave up we did a spot of rebuilding, all of which can be found here:
    http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=244980

    He now says he doesn't have the time or money to treat it to the things that could make it a really nice car, so I offered to buy it from him, joking that i'd give him 4k for it. For some reason the idiot agreed, so yes, I paid 4000 pounds for the car, and I got this under the bonnet:





    Deal of the day there I reckon.
    The car was tuned to 459fwhp at 1.0 bar, it overboosted to 1.6 last summer and threw a tip but has been fully rebuilt and run in since then.
    I'm currently running .7 bar because i'm petrified of crashing it on the winter roads and i too don't want to throw a tip quite yet, the overboosting is an issue high on my already long 'to-do' list.

    Plans are many and exciting, foremost of which is a list of niggles like a larger steering wheel, servicing the door handles and hinges, patching the rear glass rubber leak, getting some gauges, checking drivetrain mounts (engine, gearbox, powerplant frame) for play, loads of stuff.
    The first major mod will be when I send it to Will West from Streetoptions once his new unit is open, he will be doing a full restoration of the underside, all metalwork powdercoated, body stonechipped, new bushes and a full engine bay clean up.

    Current spec as it stands and based on what I can remember:
    Homebrew large streetported 13b
    All new plates and housings
    OEM rebuild parts
    New thermostat, water pump, underdrive pulleys
    HKS F-Con pro-V ECU and harness
    OS Giken TS2B twin plate clutch
    Greddy inlet elbow
    Batter relocated to boot
    NGK R-7420 10's and 11's
    Walbro high flow pump
    Sard FPR
    A-Spec GT35r with ceramic coated downpipe and hotside
    Carbon/kevlar turbo beanie
    60mm wastegate with screamer pipe
    Full 3 inch exhaust W/silenced decat
    850cc injectors all round
    Large V mount intercooler and rad
    Mazdaspeed MS-01 17 inch alloys
    Stupid tiny steering wheel
    Electronic boost controller
    JBL stock mounting speakers all round
    Shiny gearknob

    I'm sure i have missed a few things, I have a wad of receipts here that Rich was too scared to add up, but it comfortably goes into 5 figures...

    Here are a few more pictures as she stands today, I took a couple of videos as well so will try to upload them in the next few days. She's a bit of an ugly duckling at the moment, very tatty vinyl wrapped bodywork, and the rideheight is not exactly ideal, but all in good time, it will be addressed









    Snap of the fwhp and the awesome ability of a rotary to produce torque...


    Snap of the rwhp and the overeager boost level, this is with the controller set to 1.0 bar


    That's it for now, lots more to come!

  2. #2
    Guest Hugh Janus's Avatar
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    Hey Mr V, well done on new job i assume you still in sign industry?

    cars looking well

  3. #3
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    Hey mark, not exactly in the sign industry, no. I'm somehow now a design engineer at Aston Martin! Beats making signs any day of the week!

  4. #4
    Guest Hugh Janus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dandan View Post
    Hey mark, not exactly in the sign industry, no. I'm somehow now a design engineer at Aston Martin! Beats making signs any day of the week!
    how the hell did you go from Signs to Aston Martin?? well played matey

    hope everything all good mate..

    subscribing to thread mate

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    Guest Stiffler's Avatar
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    careful the reg says heg

    nice

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    Guest Si's Avatar
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    Absolute win

    Is it up here or down there? I still haven't driven a mapped one

    Is that some sort of Re:A front bumper?

  7. #7
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    Cheers Si
    It's down there at the mo i'm afraid, but i'll bring it up in the new year for sure. I have no idea on the origin of the front bumper, all i know is i don't much like it.

    Even at 0.7 bar it is quite, er, exciting...

  8. #8
    South West Rep Evilchap's Avatar
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    I am 'down there' at the weekend and for a few days... you about for me to come and investigate?

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    Ex Mod & Crabbit C**t Rubix_Cube's Avatar
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    I want an FD badly!!!



  10. #10
    Guest Si's Avatar
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    Then buy one

    Good work on the front bumper, I was putting out feelers to see if I would offend your sensibilities by ragging on it
    It's horrible

    How far are you going with the engine bay tidy dude? Happy to share ideas if of any interest There's also access to a 10 ton press around here if you fancy giving the bushes a DIY

  11. #11
    Guest Quail's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dandan View Post
    Hey mark, not exactly in the sign industry, no. I'm somehow now a design engineer at Aston Martin! Beats making signs any day of the week!
    Wow, congrats man, what a job!!

  12. #12
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Evilchap View Post
    I am 'down there' at the weekend and for a few days... you about for me to come and investigate?
    Yeah of course, i'll be home from Friday onwards, you've got my number

    Si, yeah it's pretty horrid, whoever decided putting straight lines on an FD bumper needs their eyes testing, and then poking out with a sharp stick.
    The engine bay will be done by Will so it will be basically how much I can afford for him to do, wiring clean up, fuse boxes moved, ABS removal and bracket deletion for sure, plus whatever i can afford in terms of money and time, happy to talk about suggestions of course.
    I would try bushes myself but everything will be getting powdercoated at once and then it's probably easier to let Will chuck new bushes in when that happens, saves downtime on the car too.

    Thanks Quail, it really is a dream job, I can't believe I landed it to be honest.

  13. #13
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    So I went to see Will West yesterday, what a lovely man!
    We talked all things bodywork, drank tea, and watched his girlfriend/partner/female acquaintance build his workbench!
    I'm sure he helped out when I left...

    Whenever he is up and running, I will be getting a full underside restoration/preventative workover with everything painted, powder coated or stonechipped in white.
    The way I see it, if I dont clean the underside then it will look like any other car, but if I do decide to clean it, it will look really neat, and finding leaks will be easy too! Plus hopefully before long the car will have an indoor home and will never go out in wet weather after that so it should stay clean.

    He will also be doing a tidy on the engine bay, deleting unused bracketry, relocating fuse boxes, wiring, alarm, ABS, and again painting it in white.
    Looking forward to that, should happen sometime in the next couple of months.

    I've also started hoarding for the bodywork stage, first thing I spotted was this uber rare Mazdaspeed spec r rear bumper with diffuser, I did want a re-am diffuser on standard bumper but I really like the look of this:



    That will be going in the loft until I can afford a respray.

    That's it for now, on the lookout for a new steering wheel and some gauges, not having an oil pressure gauge or decent water temp gauge is a bit scary...

  14. #14
    Guest Jaymo_sx's Avatar
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    Nice dude, not digging the wing personally. And not a fan of matt body work lol, but all it'll take is lowering a bit and it should sit well


    Some serious engine work there dude! Could do with some video's

    Also.....Maybe a silly question but wouldn't that air filter be sucking in mostly hot air? Surely it'll get quite a bit of heat soak being so close to the turbo?

  15. #15
    Guest Ed's Avatar
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    Nice one dude, I'll pop round to see it on 27th or so

    Nice wheels too, the best for FD's

  16. #16
    Guest Ed's Avatar
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    Oh, and I fully support your "lifetimer" ideal

    I was thinking of selling mine, as its just sat here doing nothing, but when I started it up today, selling it couldn't have been further from my mind

    So when's the matte black coming off?

  17. #17
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jaymo_sx View Post
    Nice dude, not digging the wing personally. And not a fan of matt body work lol, but all it'll take is lowering a bit and it should sit well


    Some serious engine work there dude! Could do with some video's

    Also.....Maybe a silly question but wouldn't that air filter be sucking in mostly hot air? Surely it'll get quite a bit of heat soak being so close to the turbo?
    the matt black is only temporary until I get a respray, I used to like it but it's definitely a fad colour that is not really my thing any more. Lowering and new wheels are on the cards, just need to find and afford the right parts...
    Videos to follow soon, just need to find time to upload them. I'm not sure on the intake subject, most single conversions seem to be like this, there isn't really anywhere else to put it. A heatshield could well help though I suppose.

    Ed, hoping to get it resprayed sometime in the coming year, funds allowing

  18. #18
    Guest dandan's Avatar
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    Picked up a stock front bumper today, I forgot just how nice the standard ones are, expecially when offered up against the abomination that I have on there at the moment. It's going into the loft until I get a respray, but I will be trying a little modification of the running lights while it's off the car, i'll document that as I do it.
    I also blagged a free rear light casing today so I can experiement with a rear light mod too.

  19. #19
    Guest Delboy's Avatar
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    Will keep an eye on this one I think, love FD's and if I had the space to keep one off the road I'd have had one ages ago. Just couldn't bare the costs of running one as a daily!

    Also, amazing new job!! Slightly jealous right now!

  20. #20
    Guest Si's Avatar
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    Went for a trundle in this yesterday - wonderful car. Power delivery is so smooth and progressive, pick up is SO quick.

    I thought I'd built a reasonably comfortable compliant car, then I went in this - I'd be ecstatic if mine were half as comfortable, refined, and quick as this when it's anywhere near done. Lovely.

    Dan's plans for it are pretty inspired as well, I'll be watching it with long term interest

    Now, buy at least one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless-...item4a9f19a21b

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