1987 Mazda RX-7 "Bought Not Built" Track Car & Rebuild Thread

[Nismonic]

Like every car guy, I've been given 2 pieces of advice... "Never buy another Man's project, it will never run right' and "Never build your own track car... buy a complete one, for cheap, after it has bankrupted the builder/ previous owner." I usually stick to the first piece of advice... but yesterday I dove head first into the 2nd piece of advice and bought this:






 

So long, Rotary... Hello Torque 


This car is super quick... it fights for traction on the 335 wide tires. The previous owner claims it has just over 400whp on his tune... and after driving it, I believe him. I'm going to spend the winter cleaning up the many loose ends in the car and tweaking it for my needs to have it ready to race next spring.

Parts list from the previous owner:

- tri-point wide body (very wide)
- CCW 17x10" wheels up front, 17x11" in rear. 285/335 width Michelin Pilot Sports
- RE Anemiya-like front bumper w/fixed headlights w/bi-xenon HID's
- huge aluminum radiator w/built in oil cooler (not connected)
- Futral FM13 cam
- trunion bearing upgrade
- LS6 intake/valley cover and ported TB
- Comp-r lifters
- chromoly pushrods (properly sized for pre-load)
- swain coated long tubes from JTR
- fly-cut pistons
- FFHP ported 853 heads (~10.9:1 compression)
- ARP head bolts
- ARP rod bolts
- 2000 LS-1 block - has been rebuilt w/new bearings, oil pumps, all TTY fasteners replaced during rebuild w/new ones (700 miles on rebuild)
- ported LS-6 oil pump
- Hinson swap parts
- aluminum flywheel, custom clutch from carolina clutch (as $1000 for both, feels great, holds great and at ~29lbs, spins up great)
- aluminum driveshaft
- recently rebuild T56 (shifts perfectly, carbon synchros, billet pads)
- Custom Stop-Tech front calipers (ST40s) and discs, custom spindle mounts, all properly sized to work w/stock rear brakes, manual rear prop valve, 1" MC (vacuum assist intact), stainless lines
- RacePak digital street dash (has dimmed, still works)
- PLX wideband
- 4 point chromoly roll bar
- 15 gal fuel cell, high flow racing fuel pump (300gph), custom fuel lines; 36lb injectors, return-style fueling setup
- custom koni/ground control spring/shock setup (spec'd by Lee Grimes, firm, but better ride than any of the Japanese setups)
- delrin suspension bushings
- new wheel bearings
- AWR rear rods (forgot exact name, need to machine the rear arms to get these in)
- solid diff mount, reinforced diff subframe mount (add'l material welded in)
- Momo racing seat, steering wheel, G Force 5 point (cert date has passed)
- custom 3" to 2.5" exhaust
- poly engine and tranny mounts
- no radio
- roof (that had sunroof) cut and replaced w/roof from an RX7 GTU
- shaved side moldings
- British Racing Green paint
- percy's speedglass in front and rear
- custom fuse box setup (to handle all the additional electronics and bypass the old wiring)
- manual steering rack
- no A/C
- custom cold air intake
- battery relocated to behind pass. seat, in cubby (in battery box)
- fully rebuilt T2 diff, slightly thicker clutch packs for better lock-up, all new bearings, cryo'd.
- roll bar has been painted silver
- I may have forgotten some additional items, but if it could be done, I probably did it.
- over $35k in parts
- weighs 2650 w/quarter tank of gas
-car was built for One Lap of America race but never entered.
 
I still havent decided if this is the best thing I've ever bought... or the dumbest  . Only time will tell.

[spoolordie]

I hate you......that thing is so fucking sick.  nice snag Rob

PS sell me your supercharged FC

[phong]

I approve.   Looks like one of the most fun vehicles I've seen in a while...

[Nismonic]

I approve.   Looks like one most fun vehicles I've seen in a while...

Dear Subiyota BRZ-FT86,

Suck it!

Sincerely,
1987 Mazda & 2000 GM

[TheBigChill]

 That thing is tough.

 Start saving for final expenses.

[Turbaru]

SICK!
And, I see room for a Holset! That Ls-1 does not look as snug as i would have imagined!
Enjoy!

[stylesrex]

that shit crack!

that thing is so fucking sick.  nice snag Rob

PS sell me your supercharged FC

+eleventy...i want your FC

[spoolordie]

is that gonna be your drifto mobile? You have the power to run with the pro's now lol

[Nismonic]

is that gonna be your drifto mobile? You have the power to run with the pro's now lol

I may keep my other FC to start off the 2012 drift season since I'm not sure it would be wise to jump from a low-powered but pretty sorted chassis to a high-powered unknown car with only a few drift events under my belt (the last LVD I was at was only my 4th event). I had HPDEs and AutoX in mind for this car early next year to get comfortable with it. It really all depends on if storage space or money gets tight over the winter.     

[KA_Killuh]

My approval...this car gets it !

[hydrochloric]

Is this gonna be street-legal, or is this track-duty exclusively?

[Nismonic]

Is this gonna be street-legal, or is this track-duty exclusively?

It's going to be registered and inspected so I can drive it to events... but I'm not sure you would call it "street-legal"

I'm still on the fence about registering it here in NJ or in NY... the NJ emissions inspection may be and issue.

[hydrochloric]

NY isn't immune to emissions crap, either.  Dunno about your LS, but in my Fiero, even though it's old enough to not need any cats/etc, because it originally had one, it's supposed to have them.  Plus, I have to fake the Subaru through.

I wish you luck, but I suspect you'll have some serious issues passing emissions anywhere.

[Nismonic]

NY isn't immune to emissions crap, either.  Dunno about your LS, but in my Fiero, even though it's old enough to not need any cats/etc, because it originally had one, it's supposed to have them.  Plus, I have to fake the Subaru through.

I wish you luck, but I suspect you'll have some serious issues passing emissions anywhere.

In Otsego county, where my parents live, there are no emissions inspections on cars older than 1996 (pre OBD-2). In the case of cars with OBD-2, they just plug them into the computer and expect the car to tell them if it passes or not. I have no emissions equipment on the RX-7 and it passes the visual portion of the inspection with no issues because my mechanic has bad eyesight  I had no problem with my bugeye on the obd-2 test either because I had asked my tuner to click the option to "force pass readiness tests." I'm hoping my mechanic's eye sight hasn't improved since I got the 89 RX-7 inspected 2 weeks ago... in which case he will not even notice that it has the wrong engine and just treat it like a 1987. In the case that he suspects something is different about the rotary motor in this car, he is more than welcome to scan the OBD-2 port... it won't tell him a thing since it also has the force pass enabled. (The PO never had any problems in Rochester, but I suppose if it reports that its a 2000 Camaro instead of an RX-7 it could get a little interesting)

I guess I will find out on Friday   

[hydrochloric]

Yeah, the non-matching VIN numbers might cause a slight issue, but if he's actually treating it as a 1987, he won't plug in.

In Otsego county, where my parents live, there are no emissions inspections on cars older than 1996 (pre OBD-2).

I was gonna point out that NY law requires an emissions inspection no matter what.  If not an OBDII, there's a visual inspection.  But then I saw

I have no emissions equipment on the RX-7 and it passes the visual portion of the inspection with no issues because my mechanic has bad eyesight 

Which mechanic is this?  I have to find someone that won't complain about the Fiero! 

[Nismonic]

Which mechanic is this?  I have to find someone that won't complain about the Fiero! 

I'm surprised you don't have a local mechanic that can't be bothered to do much more than slap a new sticker on for $21... that all you need to find is one that is overworked or can't be bothered to waste his time for the full inspection.

I'm really not sure what my mechanic will say about the engine swap. He never said anything about the supercharger on the other car so I think he won't care.   

[BoostSpike]

  sick! Always wanted to do an LS swap into that body style rx7 and with the widebody damn.

[hydrochloric]

I'm surprised you don't have a local mechanic that can't be bothered to do much more than slap a new sticker on for $21... that all you need to find is one that is overworked or can't be bothered to waste his time for the full inspection.

I'm really not sure what my mechanic will say about the engine swap. He never said anything about the supercharger on the other car so I think he won't care.   

Yeah...  All of our local mechanics have either been boned for doing that before, or refuse to do it.  Actually, our normal one just got worse, since last year they passed the broken headlight on my RS, and this year I had to replace it.  I have a friend with a Supra (that predictably isn't really legal anymore) who always gets it passed by someone in Cohoes, I plan on trying them once the engine is back together.

I wouldn't think the supercharger would matter, since it doesn't play with the emissions?

[Nismonic]

Yeah...  All of our local mechanics have either been boned for doing that before, or refuse to do it.  Actually, our normal one just got worse, since last year they passed the broken headlight on my RS, and this year I had to replace it.  I have a friend with a Supra (that predictably isn't really legal anymore) who always gets it passed by someone in Cohoes, I plan on trying them once the engine is back together.

I wouldn't think the supercharger would matter, since it doesn't play with the emissions?

I don't know about your set up, but the kit for the RX-7 replaces the entire intake from filter to engine block except for the throttle body. There are no intake side emissions on the car when the kit is installed. He would fail the car for any lights that are out, bald tires, cracked glass... any saftey related issues stop the inspection in its tracks. He has failed me for a blown turn signal bulb before... but I've never had any issues with the lack of emissions as long as I'm not throwing a CEL, I'm usually good to go.   

[hydrochloric]

I guess our mechanics are a bit more straight-laced then yours then.  Ah well, we'll see how bad (good?) our local mechanic really is when I try to pass inspection with the exhaust I hope to make (which, of course, will have no cats).

[Nismonic]

So, I was most worried about the emissions inspection, but it turns out that the DMV is going to be the first main hurdle. They would not let me register the car because the guy who "owned" the car wrote out and signed the Bill of Sale and the title was in his Father's name. Both documents are signed over to me, but since the names don't match up it's a no go at the DMV today. I should have known better, the NYS DMV is never easy... but I always figured the most important part of the bill of sale was to verify the purchase price... not to bust my balls over who signed it.   

[hydrochloric]

The purpose of the NYS DMV is to bust your ass over the stupidest shit, and not give you any guidance as to how to fix it.  At least, that's how it's always been when I went.

[Nismonic]

Got a little work done on the car today before I ran low on day light and had to load it on the trailer to take to the final RPI auto-x of the season. 

From this:



Scraping the sound deadening tar off the floor:


Stock seats to go back in since the side mount rails for the momo did not come in in time:


Back together and race ready:


My plan from here is to clean up the previous owners wiring job, paint the floors and exposed metal in the interior one color (black or tan) since the original light blue and the green do not go together so well, re-install the racing bucket seat, and then piece the dash/interior back together. I also need to piece together the plumbing from the fuel cell to the filler neck located behind the rear license plate.
 

[skyphix]

I absolutely love this car. Good luck at the AutoX! VIDEOS!

[hydrochloric]

Ooo, what gauge setup is that in place of the stock stuff?  It looks all digital...