RX-7 Build-up - Progress

[Kevin Doe]

First off I'm fairly new here. I like this site, even though I don't have a mustang, I enjoy this site more and more than the site I mainly post on (CSS). My name is Kevin. I'm comming from a line of past turbo 4 cylinder cars. 300 hp turbo ranger splash, 410 hp Talon AWD. I wanted to do something a little different than what I was used to.

I have a 94 Touring model. I bought it from Maryland. It has 30k original miles on it. It ran perfect when I pulled the rotary and sold it. For anyone curious, I sold the engine/tranny for $3k in perfect running condition. I purchased the car for the sole purpose of swapping it.

I have an 04 GTO LS1/T56 that I'm putting in.

I'll try to make this a picture documentary.

Frist off, here is the car before I tore out the rotary.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RX-7photoshoot11-14-0627.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RX-7photoshoot11-14-0616.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RX-7photoshoot11-14-064.jpg

LS1/T56 from Cleveland Pick A Part. Its an 04 GTO engine with 14k miles on it.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LS1-T56incrate.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LS1-T56unwrapped.jpg

Car up on stands getting ready.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Uponjackstands3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Uponjackstands2.jpg

Car shimmed level front to back, and side to side. Gotta have a solid platform to work and measure from.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Shimmedlevel.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Cutting up stock subrame.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Cuttingupstocksubframe2.jpg

Boxing in control arm ends.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontlowerrearcontrolarmmountboxedi.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontlowerrearcontrolarmmountbox-1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontlowerrearcontrolarmmountbox-2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/BoxedSubframeends6.jpg

I needed to make custom subframe hoist points because the rear stock one stuck out too far into the firewall. I decided to use a 4 point system for a more level pickup, as opposed to a two point. I used the stock front one, and added another front one on the other head, and made both rears. This now allows me to put the engine as far back it it hits something else. No longer the pinch point.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/HoistBrackets.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/HoistBrackets2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/HoistBrackets3.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Test fitting. Those covers don't even come close to fitting under the hood.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/EngineTestFit12-26-061.jpg

More test fitting.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginemockup.jpg

Boxed subframe ends in the car.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Driverssidesubframeboxedends.jpg

More trial fitting
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginemockup.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Firewallclearance.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Underhoodclearance3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Underhoodclearance1.jpg

Place where heades hits passenger side firewall/floorboard/tunnel
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Passengerssideheaderhittingfloorboa.jpg

GTO shifter assembly. Looks like this works a bit better than an F-body setup. No cutting necessary, as least most likely not.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/GTOshiftertrialfit.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Got a portion of the front subframe tacked in place. There were several things I had to consider when making the subframe. Steering rack input shaft had to be able to clear everything. Steering rack placement. Engine removal, I wanted to be able to remove the engine/trans as a unit, and the subframe has to allow that. The oil pan on the LS1 hangs pretty low, and I wanted the lowest point to be the subframe, not the oil pan. I put the lowest part of the subframe about 1/2 to 3/4" below the lowest portion of the oilpan.
Here are some pics of that.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontsubframetackedtogether.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontsubframetackedtogether1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontsubframetackedtogether2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontsubframetackedtogether3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontsubframetackedtogether4.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Nothing exciting today, but I did make some brackets for the steering rack. The simplest things take a good deal of time.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackbrackets3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackbrackets2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackbrackets1.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Some progress today. What I just did today was probably the most painstaking part I've done so far. I was extremely precise when placing the steering rack. With the brakets tack welded where they are I have 5/16" clearnace between the rack and oil pan, and 1.75" lower than stock. Chance are I'll move the entire subframe up 3/8" here in the near future, and that will leave me at only 1.375" lower than stock.
I made some small spacer pieces to get the rack to the height I wanted. Here I used a magnetic holder thing. I'm going to be corner welding the bracket. In my previous job, I learned that corner welds are the most desirable type as far as fatigue and strength go.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackBracketProgress.jpg
Tack welded together.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackBracketProgress1.jpg
Tack welded to the subframe. This part too forever. I must have measured and adjusted the rack and brackets 2000 times before I put my first tack on there. Some people will question why the brackets are higher than the subframe, and my answer is this. I didn't want the oil pan hanging down below the subframe, and that is the reason the subframe isn't tucking up closer to the oil pan. The subframe is 3/8" lower than the oil pan.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackBracketProgress2.jpg
Here is the picture of the support gussets that will be welded in place. I still need to cut them out. If you have a good imagination you'll be able to see how they fit in place. Also, on the drivers side bracket I'm going to put some gussets to the side in addition, because the driver side bracket takes all the side to side load from the rack, and you want that part as sturdy as possible, with little to no flex.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackBracketProgress4.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Put on some of the gusseting brackets on the steering rack mounts.
I've got a bunch of PMs about how I cut the metal. This is usually how I cut sheet metal at home. I use a scroll saw then clean up the edges with a combination belt/disc sander, or possibly a bench grinder. Here is the saw I use. Its pretty shitty, but it gets the job done.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Cuttingmetal.jpg
Cutting brackets....
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Cuttingmetal1.jpg
Brackets tacked on. I'm leaving it all tacked for now, till I finalize everything, just in case anything needs to change.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackmountstackedinplace.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SteeringRackmountstackedinplace1.jpg

[dedpedal]

Looks awesome! Im gonna stick this in the progress section.

[Kevin Doe]

I made some engine mount U-Brackets the other day. The bolt is there to prevent the U-channel didn’t warp inward from the heat of welding. I corner welded, as well as the inside corner for good measure. The bolts used as spacers did the trick.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/MotorMountU-Channel2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/MotorMountU-Channel4.jpg

Working on the engine mounts to the subframe. First task: Get the engine supported vertically. Oh yeah, I moved the engine and subframe up ½”

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/FrontSubframeWork.jpg

Task two: Put in support tubing to the rear control arm mount. This was required for the next motor mount brace I was planning to add.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/FrontSubframeWork2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/FrontSubframeWork5.jpg

Task three: Put in motor mount bracing to make it rigid in the front to back direction. You’ll see why the tube is cut like this in a minute.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginemountprogress.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginemountprogress6.jpg

Task four: Add bracing to make the motor mounts rigid in the side to side direction. I used ¼” sheetmetal for this task. I made them symmetrical, even though the passengers side was able to fit a better brace, but I didn’t think it was necessary.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginemountbraced1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginemountbraced.jpg

This is as far as I’ve got so far. The front subframe is almost done with mockup, and I’ll be fully welding it soon. Just a few things left, put on some steering rack mount gussets. In light of the Hinson suframe failures I’ll be adding some material near where the main subframe tube meets the control arm mounts.

I caught myself on fire today cutting those plates out with a cutoff wheel. I stopped to see my progress, and what do I see? FLAMES. I was wearing leather gloves so I started to pat it out, but that didn’t seem to work very well. Then the flames started to travel and get bigger, so I made my way to the fire extinguisher. Ended up getting it patted out. Hahahah

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Caughtmyselfonfire.jpg

Got my Delrin bushings today, thanks TireSmokin7.

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/DelrinBushings.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I got a decent amount of work done to justify an update.

I fully TIG welded my subframe. That was pretty challenging in certain spots, had to use my opposite hands in some sections, and whatnot. Overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It ended up warping a decent amount, mainly the fitment of the rear control arm mounts. I expected this, as they’re basically tubes and small changes at the weld area can move the mount pretty far. Due to the warping, I’m going to have to cut off the rear ears and re-weld them back on, not too big of a deal.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SubframeFullyWelded1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SubframeFullyWelded.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SubframeFullyWelded9.jpg

Now that I’ve pretty much got the front subframe done, time to move onto the transmission mount. I thought pretty long and hard about this mount and how I wanted to do it. I thought about using the stock mounts for the brace, but after looking at exhaust routing of 3” dual exhaust that option didn’t seem that great. The drivers side tube would have to hang fairly low. I also did not have any great ideas on how to make it structurally sound. I decided to remove the drivers side brace mount and massage the tunnel a bit. I looked inside the car and came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be noticeable inside the car.

So I began to remove the interior parts that were necessary to remove the carpet. I needed to do this because I wanted to add some weld plates to the inside of the floorboards to make a more rigid point to mount the crossmember to.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Interiorfullyout.jpg

I wire wheeled the paint off the floorboard where I intended to weld the plate.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmemberbackingplates2.jpg

Cut some pieces out of sheetmetal to fit, and welded them down. Then I welded some washers and nuts to the inside. I did this so I could bolt the crossmember on from the bottom.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transbackingplatescomplete1.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transbackingplatescomplete.jpg

It got a little smoky in the garage with all that burning underbody coating.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmemberbackingplates4.jpg

I made the crossmember so I’d be able to change the driveshaft angles by shimming the transmission up or down. It can currently go down ¼” or up ½”. As it currently sits, it should be prefect 1.5 degrees at each joint. Here is how the crossmember turned out.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmember.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmember2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmember4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmember6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmember7.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TransCrossmember8.jpg

Plenty of room for my 3” dual exhaust to run over the crossmember. It hangs down only 3/8” lower than the stock floorboards.


I got all my exhaust components.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustComponents.jpg

After much deliberation I also decided to go with a cobra rear diff. I decided this for a few reasons. Gear ratio selection, LSD/Spool options, easier mounting with the tabs on the front, etc.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/CobraIRS.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/CobraIRS2.jpg

I also started the wiring with help of Dan.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/WiringBeginning1.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks, I didn't even see the progress section. Never really explained, but I'm gonna try and make a new home here, CSS is getting a little too....well....seems better here.

[Ranger50]

What, no twin turbos??????? ;)

Looks great!!!!

Brian

[dedpedal]

No problem! I look forward to seeing it at the get togethers this year. I think its a cool progect even tho my choice of motors would have been a 4v cobra motor. (yea, Im a Ford guy and it shows :) )

[Walter]

Great work Kevin! That is a great project. Ive seen a few swaps like that on the net, but not nearly as detailed in the buildup as yours. Nice fab skills too.

[Kevin Doe]

No problem! I look forward to seeing it at the get togethers this year. I think its a cool progect even tho my choice of motors would have been a 4v cobra motor. (yea, Im a Ford guy and it shows :) )

The 4V cobra motor is one wide mother. Would have needed shoehorn for that beast.

[Maximus]

Very Very cool!!:bigthumb

I know who Ill be calling when I start my LS1 swap project.:)

[Black Horse]

Great job thus far - you definately have mad fabricating skills! Keep the progress pics coming!

One thing that scares me a bit - the wood blocks on top of your jackstands ~cringe~

[mustangboy]

Cool project and I love the detailed pics. Keep up the awesome work and can't wait to see it out.:bigthumb

[93hulk]

Wow! What a cool build. Ive been a big fan of these cars for years. Im subscribing to this thread.

[5.0calypso93lx]

Pic whore! haha

So what are the plans for aftermarket mods, besides the obvious exhaust? I remember you saying you wanted around 500hp.

[SMOKE]

That is going to be an awesome ride when it's finished! The detailed work is amazing! Good luck with it and keep us posted!!!!

[Kevin Doe]

Under those blocks of wood are 1/4" thick strips of steel.

My plans were for $500 rwhp, but I have since changed those goal to reflect my changing finances. I was going to go with all go fasts goodies on the engine. I however have realized that I can't have a car that doesn't turn circles around everyone else. So I dumped a shit ton into suspension.

My plans were to go with a rowdy cam, and aftermarket heads. But, I changed my mind on the heads, and would rather put that money into suspension. My goal is now 400 rwhp. Down the road heads might come, but not right now, or possibly spray. We'll see.

Even with 400 rwhp and 2800 lbs, it should be a beast. I had 410 awhp on my talon, and 3250 lbs, so ditching 450 lbs should make it interesting.

[bobtsgt]

awesome pics Kev. Definetly an awesome job on the motor supports. By the way where do you get your metal from?

[Buckeye]

Do you have training in chassis fab? this does not look like some one figureing it out. It looks real good, If I was to own one of those cars it whould need a lsx or a 3v.

[Kevin Doe]

No chassis fab training. I'm a mechanical engineer and have always been good at hands on stuff and fabrication.

I buy most of my metal from Ackerman Steel.

Thanks for the kind words.

[BUHBYY]

Kevin glad I do not have to dig through posts @ CSS ??? It is one cool ride and you are one hell of a Fabricator !!!! , show these guys the pinto and they will chit there pants :lol:

[YouGotJunk]

Great job thus far - you definately have mad fabricating skills! Keep the progress pics coming!

One thing that scares me a bit - the wood blocks on top of your jackstands ~cringe~

yeah same here..that's pretty scary!:eek:

[Kevin Doe]

Yeah, I ought to work up a pinto update. I'm surprised you remembered the project. Its been a long time comming. I only work on the Pinto with my dad, since its a father/son build, and he works out of town a lot. But we have made some significant progress since last update a year or so ago.

[Gene]

Very cool project, Kevin. Your workmanship is very impressive. Keep the updates coming.

[BlazinEagle]

Thats a sweet project keep it up.

[Jeff88coupe]

Very cool project...your fabrication skills definatly show.

[RyanR]

nice project looks like its going to turn out very clean and should fly........only makes me think of what that things going to be like juiced cammed crazy fast lol

[Camaro86SHOCKER]

looks good, i always wanted to put a chevy ls motor in a new rx8, that whole line of cars is sharp.

[Kevin Doe]

Little update, no pics this time though.

I'm working on getting the cobra diff mounted. I'm using an explorer rear diff cover. I'm going to mount it with poly bushings on all 4 corners. For the poly bushings I need to have shells made to press the bushings into. I bought a piece of 2.375" OD, 1/4" wall DOM. I'm having the ID bored out to 1.935". The bushing that I'm using has an OD of 1.950". This should give me a sufficient press fit. My good friends at Kordenbrock Motorsports (www.kms-fab.com) are doing the machine work to bore out the tubing at their family owned machine shop, Kordenbrock Tool and Die.


I made some exciting purchases as well. I bougth this stuff:

Magic Stick 4 camshaft (Texas Speed and Performance) .649/.609 lift with 111 LSA
PRC dual springs
Ti retainers
Spring seats
Seals
Hardened Chromoly pushrods
LS2 Timing chain
GM cam gasket kit
Ported LS6 oil pump shimmed a touch
ARP rod bolts

Porterfield R4-S front and rear brake pads
Brembo slotted and zinc plated rotors
SS lines
Motul fluid

[Ranger50]

Food for thought...

Just watch your spring pocket when cutting for the springs/cups, it can get RATHER thin....

Good move to get rid of the limp spaghetti pushrods GM uses.

Why the new timing chain? You already have that chain in use, stock.

Brian

[Kevin Doe]

An 04 GTO motor is an LS1, which is what I have, unless for some reason they were using the LS2 chain on that year GTO, which I doubt. The LS2 chain works with the LS1 gears, but is stronger.

No cutting required for springs and seats. Its a direct drop in, or thats what I'm lead to believe. We'll have to see though.

[bestracing]

It's great to see your project come along so good.

[Ranger50]

Ooops, my bad. I'm off a year, '05 started the LS2 in the GTO.:o

I know when you get into the .600 range, the "stock sized" springs can't handle the loads of the hyd roller, so you have to goto a larger sized spring. That leads to cutting the spring seat, which ends up leading to a thin area above the water jacket.

[Kevin Doe]

Maybe thats why they use double springs? The same company that designed the cam designed the springs, so I'd imagine they should work well together. Texas Speed appears to be a repuitable shop as well. Fucking pushrod motors got me all messed up. Its so low tech is confusing, Hahahahah. Too bad they're not 4V DOHC motors. Hahahah guess if they were it wouldnt' fit in my car.

[Kevin Doe]

I just got done spending a lot of time on the cobra rear setup. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

First, I decided to use the Ford Explorer rear differential cover instead of the cobra cover for two reasons. One, they have a tendency to break. Two, mounting would be easier, and have a better hold on the rear end, and I think will lead to less/no wheel hop.

I made some brackets and for the bushings to press in, and to mount to the subframe.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Reardiffrearbushings.jpg

Then I needed to do some modifications to the rear subframe to allow for the cobra diff to be mounted. To determine the location of the diff I kept a few things in mind. The axles need to be equal length, so the output shaft machined “flanges” must be equidistant from the centerline of the car. The diff must also be parallel with the centerline of the car. The axles must also be on the same plane along the distance of the car. This will keep the correct axle joint angles. One thing I did think about was the height of the axle outputs. I was attempting to keep them at stock location or up to 1 inch above. Moving the diff upward would help get the axle joint angles back to stock when the car is lowered. I ended up settling for 0.75” higher than stock, which seemed to work out well. The last important think to consider is driveshaft angles. Both angles must be within 0.5 degrees from of each other, and both must be between 1.5 degrees and 3 degrees. The minimum of 1.5 degrees is for bearing lubrication. 1.5 is the recommended min angle for IRS cars. I shot for 2.0 degrees and hit it within 0.1. Both angles are identically 2.1 degrees. Perfect!

Here are a few pics of the rear subframe modifications for mounting the cobra diff. I basically welded in a piece of square tubing to the rear of the subframe. Then I welded mounting tabs off that. I had to notch the square tubing in two locations, one for the rear sway bar, the second for the fuel tank hangers. I also welded the remaining parts of the subframe that were only stitch welded from the factory.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExplorerCovermounts1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExplorerCovermounts.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Cobradiffmounted1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/backsideofdiffrearmount.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Cobradiffmounted.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

For mounting the front of the diff I thought about many different ideas, over a period of probably a week and had one of my engineering friends come over and help with brainstorming. He ended up coming up with the winning idea. It is simple, easy to remove (for diff removal in the car), easy to fabricate, and should prove to be very strong. Basically its just a cross member that attaches to the subframe. On the subframe I needed some strong attachment points since it will be a highly loaded member. I boxed in an area of the subframe. It consists of three plates welded to the subframe, giving three planes for load distribution. The bottom plate I welded nuts to the backside. Here are some pictures of the boxed area of the subframe.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rearsubframemodifications6.jpg

I tried to keep the subframe as high off the ground as possible, which lead to the current design. The V part looks low, but it is in fact higher than many stock parts of the car. The subframe is 2” x 1” tubing. It attaches to the subframe on the ends, and near the middle, it attaches to the floorboard of the car. The part where it attaches to the floor is a strong area. The Japanese FDs come with rear seats, and right in that area is where the stock rear seatbelts attached, so that area is reinforced with thick sheet metal. It is also on a corner, which increases strength. One thing I still need to do is seam weld the sheet metal in that area because its only spot welded from the factory. The attachment to the body in those spots is what I think really makes the cross member strong. Here are some pics of the cross member.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Difffrontcrossmember.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Difffrontcrossmember1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Difffrontcrossmember2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Difffrontcrossmember3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Difffrontcrossmember4.jpg

In the middle of the cross member there are pads for mounting the front of the diff. You can see that they are extra wide. Half of the pad is for the bolt, and main bushing to go through. The second outer half of the pad is for an upper pinion brace that is not made yet, but it will bolt to that portion of the pad.

The cobra diff mounting is done, and only minor modifications still remain. For exhaust routing I intend to go under the cross member, and made some round-oval-round conversions so that I don’t go any lower than the stock floorboards.

Finally, I put the final touches on the front subframe. When I originally did the finish welding on the front subframe I had a lot of warping, and the lower rear control arm mount point no longer lined up with the bolt hole. I cut the mounting ears off, and re-welded them back on. I also added a small piece of square tubing to help stiffen that leg up, which I think will help considerably. Now it bolts up nicely, and the control arm fits great as well.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Additionalbracingonthefrontsubframe.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Additionalbracingonthefrontsubfr-1.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I just finished up my exhaust. It consists of 1.875” long tube headers. 3” collectors, to V-Band flanges. Ceramic coated. 3” stainless to a stainless 3” x-pipe. Then 3” dual all the way back to two stainless Magnaflow mufflers.

Its just straights and mandrel pieces cut and welded to fit. I used approximately 8’ of straight, and 6 90s for the entire thing. I used 7/16” 304SS hanger material. The rubber isolators are from AutoZone.

Its fully TIG welded. I backpurged the entire thing when welding, so the interior of the pipe is perfectly smooth. This was a major pain in the ass, but I think it was worth the extra pain, and cost of argon.

Enjoy!
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted4.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted5.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted7.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I want to make sure you get real familiar with this view. LOL.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted8.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted9.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted10.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustCompleted11.jpg

[93hulk]

Once again, great work. I love this car! When do you think it will be running?:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks man. I was originally planning on being finished with it by the end of March, but I think that might slip a month. I started at the beginning/mid december. I'm busting ass as fast as I can w/o skimping and leaving out details. End of April? Gotta get/build a radiator, and do all the wiring, then remove everything for paint/powdercoat and reinstall everything.

[Carl]

Wow....you do EXCELLENT work. This is one project that I would never have the patience (or talent) to do. That is gonna be a BAAADDD mother when you hit the streets with it.

[Walter]

F'n sweet. Cant wait to see it out!

[OrangeStang04]

I agree with everyone on here... this is gonne be one mean ass ride!!

Your attention to detail and fabrication work is second to none!!!

[bobtsgt]

looking bad ass as usual Kevin. I'm lovin the pics.

[plated]

no shit,nice work no doubt:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Its nice to hear good things after I've spend countless days under the car working. :)

[bestracing]

Very nice Kevin, glad to see you've been hard at work. Can't wait to see this on the road under it's own power.

[5.0calypso93lx]

Thats gonna sound nasty, especially with the cam! The thing I like most about the exhaust, is that there isn't a big fart can on there. Not that it looks factory, but its also not gawdy, IMO.

[Kevin Doe]

Yeah, getting two mufflers to fit where one was designed to fit was a challenge. They're small mufflers, so I don't expect much muffling. Oh well. Its gonna be one loud SOB.

[LXEnvy1990]

Damn brother, shit looks awesome. Pouring the fuckin welds to it!:bigthumb Keep up the good work man. Shits going to be sick!:D

[Ranger50]

I don't think you will find that is THAT loud inside the cabin even with the cam. There's a reason the 05-up's have the mufflers at the end of the pipe instead of under the rear seats. ;)

Looking good so far.

Brian

[Blackballed]

Nice:bigthumb

[Rob]

nice job with the exhaust, I am glad to hear you did back purge the system, not everyone knows that. It is worth the hassle. Your doing a great job, cant wait to see it out.

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks. It wasnt' too bad once I figured how how much to flow in the backpurge. It took some experimenting, but the results are amazing!

Over the past few days I've been working on chassis wiring.

So far I've just been stripping wires out that I won't need from the engine bay body harness.

I've removed:
Both fuel pump relays and associated wiring
Fuel pump resistor and associated wiring
EGI relay and associated wiring
All 4 fan relays and associated wiring
Air pump relay and associated wiring
A/C relay and associated wiring
Cruise control and associated wiring
Data Link connector and wiring
MAP sensor wiring
Both yellow stock ECU harness plugs


I swear wiring of this magnitude gives me nightmares. Here is the pile of wire removed so far.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/wiring.jpg

[Ryan218]

so is this running yet?

[Black Hole]

Wow....you do EXCELLENT work. This is one project that I would never have the patience (or talent) to do. That is gonna be a BAAADDD mother when you hit the streets with it.

I agree!!!!!!!!

Kevin, that setup is unreal.....I can't believe I didn't see this before now, but I can't wait to see it running so I can check it out!:bigthumb :bigthumb :bigthumb

[Maximus]

Very cool!

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks guys. No, not running yet. Another month I think.

[93hulk]

What wheels and tires are you planning on running?

[PonymanfiveO]

Wow Kevin, that exhaust looks great.

Cant wait to hear it!

[Kevin Doe]

Stock wheels till I get some more money. The project has pretty much drained the car account.

Maybe I can build some exuast systems for people and make money on the side.

[ADaughen]

Maybe I can build some exuast systems for people and make money on the side.


That'd work. I still need mine done :bigthumb

Or some engine mounts for my 302? ;)

Or some sub frame connectors...


I have a welder, I just don't have your skills.

Looks like the ride is coming along nicely though.

[Kevin Doe]

I PM'd you if youre serious.

[satan jamez]

I'm shocked and speechless!! That is so flippen awesome!!! Take a bow because this ride deserves to be in magazines :)

[Black Horse]

An unbelievably great job! - I have seen full out professional race cars with a whole lot less attention to detail, strength and how everything works together.

I'd like to see this puppy in person sometime while it is still up on the jackstands!

[Pitviper1996]

Hey ill pay ya to mame me an exhaust and some subframe connectors. Shoot me a Pm

[Mr.Moontang]

Wow, awesome build up!!! I hope you can have it ready in time for the spring cruise.

[Kevin Doe]

When is the spring cruise everyone is talking about?

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Damn dude you've got some sick welding skills....i've gotta ask, do you know anything about engineering or are you just guessing with all your brackets and such? Like when you did the front subframe section, how did you figure up all of that?

Also aside from just being different, are there any real advantages to this swap vs. just having that engine in a GTO or Camaro? Weight i'm guessing? What do you guess this combo is going to weigh with the IRS and all that?

[G93T]

fascinating build up. Excellent work!

David, (85 SS 302 Coupe), I think he said he's a mechanical engineer.

[Mr.Moontang]

When is the spring cruise everyone is talking about?

What: Stangbangerz spring cruise-in!!!!

When: Sunday April 29th 2007 1:00pm-4:00pm

where: Quaker Steak and Lube
590 Chamber Drive
Milford, OH 45150
(513) 831-LUBE
*Milford Parkway Exit on I-275 (exit 59).
on the south side (inside of loop) of the
interstate next door to Homewood suites.

Why: :sbowns:

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

fascinating build up. Excellent work!

David, (85 SS 302 Coupe), I think he said he's a mechanical engineer.

Yeah i wasn't being smart or anything (just making that clear :D) i really was curious because to me that's pretty amazing to just engineer that stuff and make it work, and i'm a pretty creative guy. I would love to have the knowhow and resources to do a project like that.


I've always had this crazy idea of a turbo diesel in a Fox making ridiculous amounts of torque and blowing black smoke everywhere :tard:

[wild87stang]

This is gonna be a sick ass ride i can see this car in magz! Cant wait to see this thing on the street! Very nice work!

[Kevin Doe]

Damn dude you've got some sick welding skills....i've gotta ask, do you know anything about engineering or are you just guessing with all your brackets and such? Like when you did the front subframe section, how did you figure up all of that?

Also aside from just being different, are there any real advantages to this swap vs. just having that engine in a GTO or Camaro? Weight i'm guessing? What do you guess this combo is going to weigh with the IRS and all that?


I have my BA in mechanical engineering. Although for work I'm a controls engineer.

The LS1 w/o AC weighs in at only 15 lbs more than the rotary with AC. Definately not what you'd expect.

The cobra diff is 70 lbs, whereas the stock diff was 88 lbs. I'm probalby going to end up slightly lighter than stock. I expect to be at 2750-2850 lbs.

[bestracing]

Which is about 900lbs lighter than a Camaro and 1000lbs lighter than a GTO and he doesn't have to sport a mullet :lol:

[Kevin Doe]

No mullet, minus 5 lbs of hair. Hahahahhaahhaha

Progress stops on the RX-7....... For a minute I thought I was an AMA bike rider. Then I laid it down.... fuck. I'll probably be off it for a week or so till I can walk normally again.

[Timido]

Been there done that didnt even get the T-shirt Only the shakes hurt pride and a bunch of scuffed up plastic. The Rx-7 does look nice.

[ADaughen]

No mullet, minus 5 lbs of hair. Hahahahhaahhaha

Progress stops on the RX-7....... For a minute I thought I was an AMA bike rider. Then I laid it down.... fuck. I'll probably be off it for a week or so till I can walk normally again.

You still have both legs, arms and a head right?

Then you're G2G. :bigthumb

Edit:
I've been meaning to call you, just been busy working on the house this weekend... few buddies in town == free labor.

[Kevin Doe]

Oh the limbs are there, just not quite usable at the moment. I'm pretty laid up. Going to the Dr. tomorrow though. Wish me luck!

[mustang8998]

Guess you and the car will both be on jackstands, for a while. :rolleyes:

Seriously though, very nice work. :bigthumb

Now get better and get back to work! ;)

[Kevin Doe]

The bike and my knees:
http://www.cincystreetscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33572

[ADaughen]

Bah, requires password.

Hope you get mended up. I'm talking to the Mrs, about getting the '78 out and about to get everything done.

[Timido]

I had on a set of $14 MX knee shin guards under a pair of Jeans. Saved my knees.

[Kevin Doe]

Well I missed my self-imposed March deadline, and it looks like I’ll overshoot it by quite a bit. I’ve been doing a bunch of random things on the car recently.

I got my wheels. Enkei RPF1s in 17x9.0 + 45 front, and 17x9.5 +38 rear. I have Falken Azenis RT-615s to put on them, in 255/40/17 front, and 275/40/17 rear.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/EnkeiRPF1snotires1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/EnkeiRPF1snotires3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RT-615s.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RT-615s2.jpg

I got my SPEC stage 3+ clutch this week. Looks nice.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SPECstageIIIclutch.jpg

I pulled the rear subframe and things to do some painting and welding. I welded the body mounts for the diff cross member. I fully welded around the seam, and then primed, underbody coated, and sprayed with Montego Blue.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/crossmembermountswelded.jpg

I also made a bracket to mount the parking brake cables, since the factory bracket was on the diff.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/parkingbrakebracket.jpg

I also painted the interior of the floorboards where I welded the plates in for the trans cross member.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/floorboardpainted.jpg

I painted my axle parts, both joint housings, and the actual axle itself. The axles are custom from The Driveshaft Shop.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/AxlePartsPainted1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/AxlePartsPainted.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

While I had the subframe out, I had to make custom hard brake lines for the rear brakes. The cobra differential mounting interfered with the stock lines. I used a flaring tool, and a bending tool. They worked great. I did both lines coming out from the distribution block.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/CustomRearHardBrakesLines.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/CustomRearHardBrakesLines1.jpg

Some random painted parts.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/floorboardpainted.jpg

Snapped some shots of the full exhaust out of the car.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustOnFloor1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ExhaustOnFloor.jpg

I modified my diff cross member to make it stronger. I added a C-channel to the back side and plug welded it to the current cross member. I also made some “Z” brackets to help support/control the front of the differential.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished6.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished8.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Some better pics of the modified rear subframe while it was out.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished4.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished5.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframefabricationfinished9.jpg

I halfway mounted the radiator. I had to slightly massage the insides of the frame rails with a mallet to get the radiator to fit. The radiator was 28” wide, and the frame rails were exactly 28” between them. I have 1/8” of clearance on each side now.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount2.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I wanted to isolate the radiator from chassis flex, to ensure a long life for the radiator. What I had to do was weld tabs (angle aluminum) to the side of the tanks. Then I drilled and tapped those tabs for a 8mm bolt. The bolt is used as a locating pin. I drilled some large holes in the tops of the frame rails. Then I used a rubber bushing to insert into the holes. Then the locating pins (bolts) fit right into those holes. It’s a very factory like installation. To keep the radiator from tipping forward/backward I’m going to be using shroud. There will be an aluminum sheet that covers entire space forward of the radiator. It serves the purpose of mounting the top of the radiator, and directing air through the radiator instead of around it. I’m also planning on making a belly pan, or whatever you call it. Its going to go from the front edge of the bumper cover, and extend to at least to the radiator. This will also function to direct all the air entering the bumper, through the radiator.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount4.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount5.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount6.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LowerRadiatorMount7.jpg

[Crucial]

SKILLZ .... looks good man

[Byrd Man]

Your work is impressive. Good job man :bigthumb

[IWRBB]

Looking good man. When's it gonna hit the road?

BTW, did you ever find that pinion brace for the IRS I bought?

[Kevin Doe]

Looking good man. When's it gonna hit the road?

BTW, did you ever find that pinion brace for the IRS I bought?

Sure did. I found it a few weeks ago, but I deleted all your PMs, and I didn't have your name or number anymore. I had no idea how to get ahold of you. Come get it anytime!

[Ryan218]

you have some amazing welding skills

[Kevin Doe]

I just made the upper fan mount/shroud. It doesn't have all the bolts holding it down yet, I need to get some longer bolts and spacers for some of the holes.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Radiatorcover.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Radiatorcover1.jpg

[92coupe]

Nice work Guy!!!

[93hulk]

Very nice!:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

Got my subframe back from the paint guy (Dale - t2fastalon). I did some welding for him in exchange for the paint on the rear subframe and crossmember. He did an excellent job on it, especially considering the difficulty of the part.



http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintedrearsubframe.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintedrearsubframe1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintedrearsubframe2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintedrearsubframe3.jpg

[Mista Bone]

in the spirit of folks here and other hot rodders, with people like Kevin Doe, hot rodding will never die.

[KenB]

in the spirit of folks here and other hot rodders, with people like Kevin Doe, hot rodding will never die.

Sorta, except most hot rodders back in the day weren't engineers :)


Kick ass work Kevin, can't wait to get it on the dynol.


Ken

[BUHBYY]

Kevin once again great work...... but I want pinto updates , you really wanna blow some minds :cool2:

[MT_POKT]

Really great build. I seen the "Hinson" car last year on DragWeek. I never imagined there was that much work to swap an LS in there. The car is going to be an abslute blast to drive! Beautiful...

[Kevin Doe]

Getting started on my dual intake pipes. I'm going from the throttole body, which is 4", to a dual 3.5" setup, with a filter in each bumper cover opening.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Pairofpantsfitting.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Pairofpantsfitting1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Pairofpantsfitting2.jpg

This fitting was a total motherfucker to make. Getting the 4" fitting both planar, and round took forever. It was built from sheetmetal. Turned out pretty nice. out of practice, but its comming along nicely. Its been a while since I've welded aluminum, so I'm a bit oth the inside and outside to make it nice and smooth.

On the big end I plan to weld on a 12ish degree 4" elbow. On the small ends I plan on welding a 45 degree elbow to make a complete 90 degree bend, then go from there.

[Kevin Doe]

In case you totally don't understnad what I"m talking about doing, here are some pics of the beginning of the intake. Note: The long straight portions on each end will be cut off, this is jus the beginning till I get some more elbows in the mail.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Beginningofintake.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Beginningofintake1.jpg

My subframe is all assembled, ready to install. Yea!!!
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframecomplete.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/RearSubframecomplete1.jpg

[Quiksilver]

The craftsmanship on this is top notch. Incredible build, keep the pictures coming.

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks for the nice comments. I appreciate it.

Well amist all my wedding stuff, I was able to get some work done on the car this weekend. I got the rear subframe assembly installed in the car for the final time. Everything fit up perfect and the install was a cinch.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TestFittingWheels3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TestFittingWheels1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TestFittingWheels.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TestFittingWheels2.jpg

I put on one side of the rear suspension and a wheel, to determine where I want to drill my control arms for zerk fittings for the greaseable delrin bushings I have. I also did some test fitting of my wheels. I had no shock/strut installed, so I just jacked up the wheel to the desired height of 25" from the ground to the fender lip. It appears that at that ride height I'll need some fender rolling.

Over the weekend I also did some work on the other project car I'm working on. We got the rear end completed. Its a 9" rear end, with brackets for a 4 link, sway bar, shocks, wheelie bars, and tabs for brake lines. We got it all finish welded and ready to paint. Very happy with how it turned out. This was all mig welded. For the new guys, this is a project me and my dad started 3 years ago, and its a 1980 pinto we're building a drag car out of. One of these days, I'll do an update thread for this car (on my local forums, unless the other forums want to see it also).

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/Pinto9inch3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/Pinto9inch2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/Pinto9inch1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/Pinto9inch.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Got started on the my dual intake setup a little bit. Ended up getting the drivers side about halfway done. Welding the aluminum elbows was kinda tough on the outside of the bend because the material is so thin from the bending process. So far its welding pretty good. Could be better, but its sufficient.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Intaketubestarted1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Intaketubestarted2.jpg

[PonymanfiveO]

wow.

Kevin, we want to see the Pinto too man.

[dedpedal]

Im simply amazed! Keep it coming. Think it will be ready for the fall cruise?

[Kevin Doe]

Yeah, it should be ready for the fall cruise. I totally forgot about the one that just happened, I really wanted to go.

I'll take a bunch of pics of the Pinto and make a thread for it here soon.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Man i have GOT to see this thing in person when it's finished.

[BUHBYY]

wow.

Kevin, we want to see the Pinto too man.


I told ya kev we wanna see the PINTO !!!! you are a BEAST , hey you wanna do some turbo fabbing for me ???

[2-8-1]

Awesome buildup! I have 2 questions. Is it going to be hard to remove the intake Y setup since its all one big piece? and Can I have the car when you get it finished?

[ADaughen]

PINTO! :)

[Kevin Doe]

Ok, ok, pinto pics will be posted. I'll post up a couple in here as a teaser till I can work up a real thread........give me 5.

[Kevin Doe]

Ok, here are the pinto pics, I'll get a proper thread started once I get some pics from this year. THese pics are over a year old now.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto7.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto8.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto9.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto10.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto11.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto12.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto13.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto14.jpg

I doubt anyone will know what this block is.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto15.jpg

[Ranger50]

I doubt anyone will know what this block is.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Pinto/pinto15.jpg


Lemme guess...the "unobtainium" tall deck svo block?

More pics of the modified clutch can!!! ;):D

Brian

[Kevin Doe]

Unobtainum my ass. We're got a few of them. And damn, the first person to look at the thread got it. I'm very impressed.

We've got one virgin one that has never been run, which is our primary motor (bored and stroked to a 2.7 liter). And we've also got one that has block fill in it, and is a drag only deal, stroked to a 3.0 liter.

[BUHBYY]

I told ya kev a few months ago , bring the pinto out they will come !!!LOL

[Ranger50]

That's why it was in quotes... I know they can be found, but all the last stock was bought by one person at the end of production, according to the people on TurboFord......

A few points that gave it away... water pump is MUCH lower in relation to the deck height, overall finish is "polished" compared to production castings, and that front main cap, beefy. :)

B

[Kevin Doe]

I had my doubts that anyone has even heard of turboford on here. Looks like you know your lima 2.3s, we're a rare breed. Its been a while since I've been on turboford myself.

[ADaughen]

I got rid of all my 2.3 turbo parts... not that they'd be any good for your build. :o wow.

If you have any "spare parts" you just don't have room for... I will happily "store" them on my '78. :D

[Kevin Doe]

Might have some stuff. Have a few extra turbo headers, an essy ARCA head, an essy SVO head, etc.

Got my upper intake pipes done. Now I just need to get the lower part finsihed and get the filters behind the bumper cover openings.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Upperintakefinished.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Upperintakefinished1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Upperintakefinished2.jpg

[orangedemon331]

Thats some pretty nice looking fab work!!!:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

I finilized my intake setup today. I've placed the filters right behind the side openings in the bumper cover. I feel that will be the best way to get maximum air into the engine, regardless of looks. I might call K&N and see if I can put some black dye in their oil to so they don't stand out as much.

I believe this might actually almost the end of fabrication on this project. I must say, I am very relieved at this fact. The build has been extremely time consuming thus far, and I'll be happy to focus on getting the last few things plumbed up, and wiring completed.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Airfilterplacement2.jpg

[bobtsgt]

hell yeah. can't wait to hear it fired up and on the street

[Kevin Doe]

Tonight I nearly finished my lower radiator shroud. Now the radiator is completly boxed in from the front. This will cause all the air that enters the bumper cover to travel through the radiator, for good cooling. The only thing left to do is put a rubber strip on the back edge. On the 1" turned down edge, I will be attaching a 1/4" thick, 3" tall piece of rubber. This should create a lower pressure area behind the radiator for improved cooling flow.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Lowerradiatorshroud.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Lowerradiatorshroud1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Lowerradiatorshroud2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Lowerradiatorshroud3.jpg

[ADaughen]

As usual... looking good Kevin.

[bobtsgt]

that looks good all boxed in like that

[Kevin Doe]

Oh yeah, I have to give credit where its due. I had my fiance make the posterboard template for the lower pannel of the lower shroud. I helped her out and gave tips, and she did a really damn good job. It fit up perfect. She usually never helps me work on cars other than the occasoinal holding of something if I ask her to. I thought it was fun working with her, but probably not so much for her. Guess we all have a different idea of a good time. :lol:

[bobtsgt]

I love it when the little ladies come out and help. Its another thing when they come out and complain about how much time your in the garage :D

[Kevin Doe]

I finished up my intake piping. I think it should flow really well. Still unsure of where I'll put my IAT sensor at the moment.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fullintakesystem.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fullintakesystem1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fullintakesystem2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fullintakesystem3.jpg

I also mounted my battery. I decided to put it on the opposite side of the gas tank and driver to try and balance out the weight some (that and it fit well there). Its an Odyssey PC680MJT.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Batterymountbracket1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Batterymountbracket.jpg

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Is the intake plumbing going to fit under the stock hood? It looks really tall.

[5.0calypso93lx]

What all is left? Just wiring?

[Kevin Doe]

Yeah, the intake will fit under the hood. It is very tight though.

So far what I have left is this:

Wiring
Fuel lines (I just ordered stuff for a -6 setup with Aeromotive FPR and filter to go from the 5/16" factory hard tubing to the engine.
Power Steering lines
Clutch line
Pull motor and install cam and other associated parts
Paint subframe, and engine bay

[5.0calypso93lx]

Yeah, the intake will fit under the hood. It is very tight though.

So far what I have left is this:

Wiring
Fuel lines (I just ordered stuff for a -6 setup with Aeromotive FPR and filter to go from the 5/16" factory hard tubing to the engine.
Power Steering lines
Clutch line
Pull motor and install cam and other associated parts
Paint subframe, and engine bay

Sounds like its gettin' close! What cam?

[BUHBYY]

do I see NAWWZZ??? I do not wanna start calling you Toretto :lol:

[Kevin Doe]

you might.....

I think I'm gonna put 10 bottle under my passengers seat...... LOL. And start lifting weights like, 5 years ago.

[wild87stang]

Looks awsome man! Great work!

[bwilder10h]

I wanna hear and see this thing run... :cool2:

[ibstrokin]

WHAT'S THE LATEST, this is a cool project, I love following the progress.

[qwk93ta]

I want to see more PICs....

[thejock60]

do I see NAWWZZ??? I do not wanna start calling you Toretto :lol:


you might.....

I think I'm gonna put 10 bottle under my passengers seat...... LOL. And start lifting weights like, 5 years ago.

LMAO!! i can't wait to see the beast run either. But in fairness to torreto he didn't have anything to do with the james bond attachment in 2F2F. Although he did do that in XXX didn't he:confused: Ah fuck it! good eyes on spotting the bottles in the garage:bigthumb

[wild87stang]

Yeah man whats the latest on this thing how close are you to being finsihed now?

[Kevin Doe]

There hasn't been any progress. I got married, and when I came back from my honeymoon I noticed that yard work has been backing up on me. I've been taking care of my yard for the last few weeks, getting things back in order.

I've got all the stuff to make my fuel lines, which will be my next thing to tackle, then clutch line and power steering line.

[Silver Bullet]

There hasn't been any progress. I got married, and ..........

Just when you had taken 3 steps forward, you took 30 back..... LOL:HYF:

(reminds me of a Chris Rock skit about black people)lol

Congrats! ..... on a serious note.....

now back to the garage and get us some more cool pics..... as I have silently been following your project.

[Kevin Doe]

Well I got married a month ago, then went on a honeymoon, which was great. Then came back from a great week in Maui to a flooded basement. A fitting on my toilet had cracked and leaked for a solid week, thus soaking the carpet and padding beneath. I've been working on getting that back in order, and going much needed yard work, so the car was put on the back burner for a few weeks.

Well I'm back at it now. I made a few fuel lines up, nothing too fancy, and no pics of them yet. Dale has my front subframe and tranny crossmember for a quality paint job. Then I removed every last thing from my engine bay to prep for paint. The paint in the engine bay wasn't the best, and the factory coverage left some to be desired. I have the bay all prepped and ready for paint now (well, as least to my knowledge, Dale will tell me if its good enough).

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginebaypreppedforpaint.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Enginebaypreppedforpaint1.jpg


I also removed the clutch on the 14k mile GTO engine. I'm not sure that the clutch is stock. There are still machining ridges on both the pressure plate and the flywheel, adn there is very little dust inside the bellhousing. The clutch disc also looks to have little to no wear. Anyone know if this is a stock 2004 GTO clutch? It says LUK on it stamped in a few places.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LS1clutch.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/LS1clutch1.jpg

Much more to come soon. The clutch line, power steering line, and fuel lines should be finished up soon.

[PonymanfiveO]

sanding that shit sucks huh?

[bestracing]

Well I got married a month ago, then went on a honeymoon, which was great. Then came back from a great week in Maui to a flooded basement. A fitting on my toilet had cracked and leaked for a solid week, thus soaking the carpet and padding beneath.

Congrats again!

When I'm gone for long periods of time I always shut off the water to the house just for that reason. Never know when a washer hose or flex line is going to go bad either.

[Kevin Doe]

Yes, scuffing up the engine bay really did suck. But not nearly as bad as laying grout in my new tile floor I put in the flood plane (ex-flooded bathroom).

Point definately taken about the main water shutoff. I wish I would have thought about that. Guess I'm still a home owner newb. It was the first time I went on a long vacation while I have owned my house.

[Kevin Doe]

Finally, some progress that is picture worthy. Its been a while since thats happened.

I turned my garage into a paintbooth as best as I could. I took probalby 4 days to remove all the metal dust from the fab I've been doing, and once that was gone I mopped the floor 3 times to ensure it was a dust free environment. I made an air filter insert for my back door of the garage, all out of home HVAC filters. That was the intake for the garage. For exhaust I bought three box fans and tied them together. I cracked my garage door enough to fit the fans underneath, then covered the rest of the gap with cardboard. I tapped the cardboard down, and sealed up any other possible air leaks w/o going way overboard. This worked really well to remove the fumes and overspray. Surprisingly well actually.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Garagepaintbooth.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Garagepaintbooth1.jpg

Then I needed to get my air supply in order. My painter (Dale, t2fastalon, if your reading this on a local forum) told me that my compressor should flow enough to keep up well with his HVLP spray gun. To ensure a dry air source I did a bit of research and came up with a fairly cheap solution. I purchased a craftsman water trap to put inline, however, those only pick up liquid water, not water vapor or moisture in the air. So I made a homemade air dryer. Its a 20' piece of 1/2" coiled copper. I submersed it in ice water. The idea here is to remove the moisture from the air traveling through the coil. The moist air condenses on the cold walls of the copper tubing in the ice water, then turns into liquid water. I put the air dryer right before the water trap, so the water trap could pick up all the condensate. This worked great, today was not a humid day in the least bit, but I still managed to pull out a complete bottle full of water out of the water trap. Again, I was amazed with how well it worked.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Homemadeairdryer.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Homemadeairdryer1.jpg

Now the pics......

Here is some of Dale putting on the base coat.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay10.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay11.jpg

A few pics after the base coat, but before the clear.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay1.jpg

And for the pics after the clear has dried. To help dry the paint, I attempted to bake the paint with my heater. I was able to get it up to 115 degrees, and left it there for 2.5 hours. Then I took these pics. I'm very happy with how it turned out. A big thanks goes out to Dale for doing such a great job! Thanks Dale!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay3.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay7.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay8.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Paintingtheenginebay9.jpg

[Silver Bullet]

Yes, scuffing up the engine bay really did suck. But not nearly as bad as laying grout in my new tile floor I put in the flood plane (ex-flooded bathroom).

Point definately taken about the main water shutoff. I wish I would have thought about that. Guess I'm still a home owner newb. It was the first time I went on a long vacation while I have owned my house.

Looks good.

Isn't it funny how water lines on washing machines and other stuff always breaks when your gone away for a few days. Sorry to hear this, I know several people this has happened to.

[R825OH]

THat is freakin sweet nice creativity on the dryer

[ADaughen]

THat is freakin sweet nice creativity on the dryer

It doubles as a still on the weekends. "Kevin's Rx7 Hooch" It burns but goes fast. :lol:

[Kevin Doe]

LOL

I figured I'd start a new thread instead of bumping my old ass one again. I finally tore my motor apart to install the new parts. The LS1 motor is all new to me, pushrod motors in general really. I really never understood how they worked till I took it apart and saw for myself. Pretty simple really.

First thing I did was remove the oil pan. I take the pan off, flip it over and this is what i see. Something is definately wrong here.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Boltinoilpan.jpg

I'm definately going to have a talk with the place I bought the motor from. They switched the pan, pickup, and windage tray to that of a F-body, from the GTO setup. The GTO is front sump, the F-body is rear sump. Aparently some douche dropped a bolt in the pan before they put it together. ASE certification, aparently that doens't mean too much.

Then I started removeing parts. I removed the timing cover and valve covers.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TiminChaincoverremoved.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Valvecoversremoved.jpg

Then I removed the rockers, pushrods, and cam. To remove the cam I didn't use any fancy lifter retaining tool, I just put the motor upsidedown and let gravity do the work for me.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Rockerspushrodsandcamremoved.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Downthecamhole.jpg

I also put the new cam in, all lubed up and ready to go. Lubing up my bumpstick was fun.

Should have the rest of my parts in a few days.

[5.0calypso93lx]

The different oil pan isn't going to mess with your cross member you fabbed, will it? That would suck!

[Kevin Doe]

No, I fabbed the crossmember with the F-body pan. The GTO pan is a front sump, and wouldnt' ahve worked at all.

[5.0calypso93lx]

No, I fabbed the crossmember with the F-body pan. The GTO pan is a front sump, and wouldnt' ahve worked at all.

I knew that, but I didn't know if you didn't find out the sumps were different until just now, I didn't know you went into it knowing that. Good deal then.

[ADaughen]

The Fbod and GTO have different pickups, right? Did they install the right oil pickup?

I could just see them taking the old pickup off and slapping the pan on.

First time you go to turn it over... why isn't oil pressure building? :(

[Kevin Doe]

It looks like they put all the right parts on, just left a bolt in the pan. I don't even think the GTO pickup woudl fit unde the pan of a GTO.

[Badfbdy]

WOW

:drool:

[Kevin Doe]

I got the cam in, put the cam retainer plate on, and torqued it all down. Then I took off the windage tray and put in my ARP rod bolts one by one. You have to torque them down three times to 40 ft-lbs. I put those in, then put the windage tray back on. I got the timing chain back on and all lined up as well. Then I put on the ported and shimmed LS6 oil pump. I made sure to pour a shitload of oil in the pump to get it all nice and lubed up. Then I decided to call it a day. I plan on doing the spring swap probably tomorrow.

Only one pic this time. I was in progress of putting the rod bolts in.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ARProdbolts.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I worked some more on my engine tonight. I have PRC dual springs, which are compatible with the high lift of the cam I chose. The kit came with Titanium retainers, spring seats, valve stem seals, and chromoly pushrods.

Here is a comparison picture between the two springs.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Springcomparison.jpg


Here I took a picture after doing only two springs, a comparison of springs/retainers installed in the cylinder head.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Twospringsinstalled.jpg

All the springs swapped, it was easy once I got the hang of it and felt more comfortable with doing it. I just put some assembly lube on the pushrods and dropped them in their holes.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Springsandpushrodsinstalled.jpg

Then I put the rockers back on, and got everything torqued down. Everything went pretty smooth once I got a valve spring compressor that worked well with the LS1 and the dual springs I have.

Cam/springs/pushrods/oil pump/rod bolts are all installed. Only thing left to do is put the oil pan back on and the timing chain cover, and the motor will be all buttoned up.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Valvetraincompleted2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Valvetraincompleted.jpg

[BlazinEagle]

Looking really good man!

[Walter]

No roller rocker arms?

[streetracinchik]

Roller rockers on a LSx motor isn't as necessary as you may think. The already have a 1.7 ratio and the tip is rather high compared to a SBC rocker.

To get the rollers off the cam just take the pushrods out and rotate the crank twice. GM engineered the holddowns to "grip" the lifters for cam changes.

Still looks good Kevin.

Brian

[Kevin Doe]

I got the motor all buttoned up. I was delayed because I had to make a crank pulley install tool. I prefered this method over simply using a bolt, as I don't think there would be as much stress on the crank threads (heat from friction and whatnot).

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Crankdamperinstalltool.jpg

I also installed my front subframe and put in the steering rack to check a few cleanrances.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Frontsubframeinstalled.jpg

[mach_u]

Looking really good! :bigthumb

[BigBadStang]

i didn't notice any valve spring shims.
did the spring "installed height" work out for you as is?

[Kevin Doe]

Honestly I don't know much valvetrains, and the company I purchased them from assured me they are a direct swap w/o any shimming. I purchased the stuff all from a well respected and well known LSX shop. I probably should have removed the heads and clayed for clearance, and checked installed height on the springs, and done a bunch of other stuff, but like I said they assured everything is ready to install and everything will be fine.

[ibstrokin]

Looks like it's coming along. When do you think it will be running?

[Kevin Doe]

I finished up my fuel lines today. My fuel system consists of a 255 lph high pressure walbro pump, removed stock fuel filter, stock hard lines (5/16") up to the engine bay. I cut off some of the stock hard lines and used industrial compression fittings, said to be good to 3000 psi. From there I used adapters to go from pipe thread to a male AN -6 fitting. I run a -6 to an Aeromotive fuel filter (10 micron), then to the Aeromotive FPR. From there I run a -6 to the engine and use a quick disconnect fitting on the rail. I also have a -6 plummed for the return.

All these components can accept a -10 fitting, so upgrading the fuel system will be as simple as running larger lines, the filter and FPR can stay in the same location.

The return line I ran under the steering column and as the shaft turns, I have 1/4" clearance at the tightest portion of its rotation.

I had to rework part of the stock hard lines to move them further away from the header pipes. Before I reworked them I had maybe 1" of cleanrance between of them, and now I have increased that cleanrance to probalby 3". And for some pics as always.

Overall shot:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuellines.jpg

Closeup of filter and regulator:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuellines2.jpg

Top view:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuellines3.jpg

Threading the needle. Running the line under the steerin column.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuellines4.jpg

And a funny looking shot lookin up at the bottom of the regulator to see routing of the return line.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuellines5.jpg

I can't really say when it will be done, I'm busting ass so whenever it ends up being done. I'm definately on the final stretch I'd say.

[bestracing]

Dont you just love love the price of that black anodized fittings and hose. Looks good and as always very well thought out on placement.

[89notch]

It looks like the filter is mounted to the firewall. NHRA rules will not allow this if you plan on doing any drag racing

[Kevin Doe]

Its not technically mounted to anythign yet, its just kinda floating there. I planned on attaching it to the brake booster somehow, I just havn't had a great idea how yet. Please elaborate on the NHRA rules, and maybe an explanation of why you can't do that. Is there a higher risk of fire with it on the firewall for some reason I can't think of?

I don't plan on running NHRA competitively, so I don't much think I'll care, but if might be good to know. My car will mainly see road track duty, and street duty, but I'd sure like to run a 10.5 @ 130 in it at some point. That is my drag racing goal for this car right now.

[Kevin Doe]

Dont you just love love the price of that black anodized fittings and hose. Looks good and as always very well thought out on placement.

Yeah, they really ream you on the black pricing, and even worse, the hose ends are only available in straight, 45, and 90. No 30s, no 60s, no 120s, etc. Kinda annoying. I love the stealth and OEM look of the black on black, so I have to pay a premium, but to me its worth it.

[thejock60]

It looks like the filter is mounted to the firewall. NHRA rules will not allow this if you plan on doing any drag racing


they actually check under ur hood there:lol: here u just pay and right down the make, model and class:D

[Kevin Doe]

I just recieved my flywheel in the mail. I got an aluminum Fidanza flywheel. I weighted the stock clutch and flywheel combo and compared that to my fidanza flywheel and spec clutch combo and compared the weight. My new setup is exactly 10 lbs lighter than the stock setup. I am pretty anxious to see how it revs/accelerates with the aluminum parts. I have an aluminum driveshaft as well.

[IWRBB]

weighted?

Diz-zam, you learn that word in skewl?

[Kevin Doe]

Hey, typos happen....

Small progress, but any progress at this point is good. I've been getting bogged down lately with lifes other adventures.

Anyhow, I finally decided what I'm planning on doing for a clutch line. I'll be using -3 line and fittings. The bleeder screw (long piece pictured) would be hard to reach in the car, so I decided I'd make a remote bleeder. Here are some modifications that I've done in order to acheive this. I drilled a hole in the tip of hte bleeder screws, so fluid can always pass through the old bleeder screw, even when tightened.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchbleedermodifications2.jpg

Then I realized that the small hole on the side of the bleeder would allow fluid to pass through it, and leak out the threads. So I welded the hole shut and filed it down by hand. Now the fluid can only pass through the shaft of the old bleeder.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchbleedermodifications3.jpg

From there, I'll be connecting a flex line (-3 AN) to a remote bleeder. For the pressure side I'll be connecting to the clutch master cylinder wiht a banjo bolt and a -3 fitting. I'll run a -3 flex line to the pressure side of the slave cylinder. I need to extend the pressure side fitting to be the same length as the old bleeder. This should allow me to disconnect it with the tranny still installed on the vehicle.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchbleedermodifications.jpg

I was having a hard time deciding between -3 and -4 sized line, and ended up choosing -3 because that is what the OEM hard line most closly relates to. If anyone has any reason -4 would be better, please let me know asap. I don't have any experience with custom clutch pressure lines.

[Blacksunshine]

Thats gonna kick maximum quantity of ass !!

[Kevin Doe]

LMAO, "maximum quantity of ass" never heard that one, but I like it!

I installed my SPEC 3+ clutch, and fidanza flywheel.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/SPECclutchandfidanzaflywheel.jpg

I had to put the engine back in for maybe the final mock-up, to get clutch lines made. I wanted to put it in with the header on and check clearnace on a few things to be sure. Hopefully it will only come out one last time.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/finalmockupmaybe2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/finalmockupmaybe3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/finalmockupmaybe.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/finalmockupmaybe4.jpg

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Ya know man a project like this would look awesome in a resume portfolio for a job. You've got some skills. I can't wait to see it in person.

[NXcoupe]

I read this entire post, great reading and fantastic pictures. It is a sweet ride for sure. Can't wait to hear it run or see it in action sometime soon!

[Kevin Doe]

I'm glad everyone is enjoying reading the thread of my build. I put a lot of time into documentation, and it looks like its paying off.

[bobtsgt]

hell yeah it is. all the customization you are doing w/ pictures to boot is influencing people to get off their asses and do something

[Kevin Doe]

I started work on the high pressure clutch line today. I needed to make an adapter/extension piece to the pressure side, so I could attach a SS line to it outside the bellhousing. I purchased some hydraulic tubing to use as an extension. I also welded a -3 AN male fitting to the end to attach my hose to.

In this pic, the stock fitting is the two top most pieces. I cut it in half, to removed the threaded portion, and attached the extension piece, and male AN fitting.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/clutchlineadapter2.jpg

All welded up.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/clutchlineadapter.jpg

Next up was makin the pressure line. I wanted to do black fittings and black line, but that wasn't possible. Earls doesn't make any black -3 fittings, and on top of that, the black line is only good to 350 psi, no good for a clutch line. So I chose to go with SS hose, and a mismatch of fittings. I figured since I couldn't get black/black, I'd go with the next least flashy option. I chose the stainless hose end for the end on the clucth master cylinder, only because its in direct view. I chose the aluminum annodized red/blue for the trans side because it was cheaper, and its not in direct view (gotta save some pennies somewhere). I plan on getting some heat reflective and insulating hose wrap for the clutch line and fuel lines in that area near the header tubes.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchline2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchline3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchline.jpg

Then I pulled the stock fuel pump, and installed the Walbro 255 high pressure pump. I think this pump should provide adaquate fuel.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/255hpfuelpump.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

I finished up the power steering pressure line. I went the the braided stainless for this line to handle the high presusre that the host must endure. I was still able to use the black fittings that I like so much. I put in a little extra length to compensate for engine movement and not stress the hose too much.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/powersteeringhighpressureline2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/powersteeringhighpressureline.jpg

[NXcoupe]

Where did you get the fittings that would screw into the p/s rack and into the pump? Are they just a standard AN pressure fitting on the pump and rack side?

[Kevin Doe]

No, they're some fancy fitting, but earls makes them. They have a tiny o-ring on the tip. I just took my rack to Bobs Braided lines and he got me all setup.

[5.0Greaser]

Damn this thing is gonna be rather nasty haha.So thats two sick cars your building.Good luck with every thing kevin.

[Kevin Doe]

I made some more progress worth taking pictures of recently.

I modified the pressure line and bleeder line on the clutch slave cylinder. I extended the stock feed line so it would exit the bellhousing and I could tighten my AN line to it. I also added -3 male fittings to both the feed and bleeder. I wanted to be able to bleed my clutch easily, so I made a remote bleeder setup.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ClutchSlaveCylindermodification3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ClutchSlaveCylindermodification2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ClutchSlaveCylindermodification.jpg


Then I began to disassembly my transmission to fix a leak that I thought was comming from the seam between the transmission case, and the tailshaft housing case.

Here is the nasty underside of my 14k mile GTO trans............(not happy about this)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transdisassembled.jpg

So I removed the rear case, here are some pics of that.

The GTO shifter plate that moves the shifter input rearward.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/GTOshifterplate.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/GTOshifterplate2.jpg

Then I removed this piece, can't recall the name of it right now.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transdisassembled2.jpg

Then cracked the case loose.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transdisassembled3.jpg

Then pulled the case and here are some pics of the insides of the trans.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transdisassembled4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transdisassembled5.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Inside the tailshaft housing.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transdisassembled6.jpg




And now heres the kicker, the seam was not the source of the leakage, THE CRACK IN THE HOUSING is the source of the leak. Aparently some ape got ahold of a wrench and started crankin down on the drain plug and cracked the case.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transhousingcrack.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Transhousingcrack2.jpg



I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this. I'm going to call Cleveland Pick A Part tomorrow and see what they say. From the film on the underside of the trans, this is clearly an issue that has been long term. I know I'm past my warrenty, but I'll see what they say, since I have proof that the trans has been sitting unused since the time I bought it.

I could replace the rear case, but then I'd have to reshim the bearings, and I don't know that I have the tools required for that.

I could weld hte case, but chances are the threads would melt away on since the material is so thin right there.

I could bore the hole out, and then drop in a smaller pipe half coulping, then weld around the top of that to seal it to the case.

I'm not sure where to go from here, but I'm at least going to talk to Cleveland Pick A Part first.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Damn man that sucks. You're making some crazy progress though...and you wonder why i've been PM'in the shit out of you for turbo help! :lol:


Speaking of which, wouldn't it be cool to throw a turbo on this? :rockon:

[Kevin Doe]

Speaking of which, wouldn't it be cool to throw a turbo on this? :rockon:

Shhhhhhhh

[kennebellcobra]

Just read this whole thread and all I can say is WOW, you definatly have some mad skills. Can't believe I did'nt see this until now. Keep up the good work:bigthumb

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks man! I appreciate the comments.

I think I came up with a solution. The tapped hole that cracked is approximately 0.710" diamter. It believe its 1/2" NPT. Since the transmission uses Dextron III fluid, which is really thin, I think I can get by with a smaller drain. A 1/4" NPT half coupling has a 0.75" OD. With a slight bit of grinding on the original threads, the 1/4" NPT bung will drop down inside. I can just weld the perimeter of the bung. Grind the crack down some, then weld the seam there. I think that a 1/4" NPT hole will be fine to drain the ATF.

Depending on sizing, I may do the same thing I just described buy with a 3/8" NPT bung as well. I just ordered both sizes and I'll see what works best.

[Foxxx5oh]

you should be fine with the quarter NPT, but if there is another drain, i would go for that drain and weld the plug into the current hole...although that looks like aluminum which might be more a PITA than anything...

[Kevin Doe]

I ground out the crack with a carbide grinder. The crack was completely through the part as I suspected. If you look closely in this picture, you can see the hairline crack. I grinded it out so i could weld the crack with 100% penetration. This way the material would be repaired in the stress path, not just welding over top of the crack and changine the stress path.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/transcasecrackpreppedforwelding2.jpg

Then I slightly ground out the first few threads so that my new 1/4" NPT bung woudl fit in flush. Here is the item all mocked up.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/transcasecrackpreppedforwelding.jpg

Then I thought it would be a good idea to clean the case with brake parts cleaner. So I used about an entire can of cleaner on the case, which was sitting on my work bench. Here is where the huge mental brain fart occured. No less than 5 seconds after I got done dousing the part in brake parts cleaner, I thougth it would be a good idea to heat the crack, to burn out any left over trans fluid that may have been stuck in the crack. So I get my MAP GAS torch and touch the flame to the case. BOOOM, my entire work bench is on fire, good and tall flames, probalby 2 feet tall. So I jump back, realizing how stupid I had been. I decided to risk my arm hair and quickly push my trans case out of the fire. That didn't work, it just spread the fire even more. I grabbed the fire extingusiher, and contmeplated if i should use it for about 2 seconds. Then.....another brain fart occured, I tired to blow the fire out by.....blowing on it. Hahaha, blowing on a raging fire. Quickly realizing that it wasn't working, I decided the fire extinguisher was necessary and gave it a good spray. Put the fire right out with the quickness. My bench and wall are both all black from the flames about to catch them on fire. My trans case was all covered in black soot, right after I cleaned it. LOL. Well I'm retareded, what can I say.

After that fiasco, and some cleanup, I was ready to weld the trans drain plug. It turned out pretty nice I think. Then I thought I clean the weld off a bit before I took pictures, so I grab my trusty can of brake parts cleaner that already proved to be dangerous. Another moment of stupidity occured. I was not wearing my safety glasses like I almost always have on, and bam, the entire stream of brake parts cleaner went right into my eye. Fuck that burns, then 15 minutes of rinsing it out with runnin water. That fuckin can of brake parts cleaner is possessed!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Brakepartscleanerineye.jpg

Theres how it turned out.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/transcrackrepaircompete.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/transcrackrepaircompete2.jpg

Then I began to modify the little part above the oil filter for my oil pressure gauge. Its not welded yet, but this is what it will look like. It should tuck the sensor up against the motor pretty tight.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/oilpressuresensormodifications.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

What......Kevin used JB Weld. The world is going to end soon. Hahah

I broke off the hold-down for the MAP sensor, so I JB Welded it back on.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/MAPhold-downrepair.jpg

Then....I used it again. I'm on a roll. I needed to seal up a hole in the firewall. The hole is from there the AC lines entered the passenger compartment. I just used a piece of aluminum to seal the hole up, and what a better way to attach it than JB Weld. Seems like it was a good idea, hope it proves itself to be true.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ACfirewallpatch2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ACfirewallpatch.jpg

I made a jumper to bypass the clutch starter interlock switch. This will let me start the car w/o pressing the clutch in. The most bearing wear occurs during starts, and with a stiff clutch there would be a lot of pressure on the thrust bearing during starts. And having the engine sitting for so long w/o running I think the oil film will be next to none. I think this should help out on first start, and maybe I'll leave it like this long term, I havn't decided. This little guy plugs right into the clutch interlock plug.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Clutchinterlockbypass.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Now you see it:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuellines.jpg

Now you don't:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Fuelfiltercoveredblack.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

So yeah, I got working on my cooler installation. I've got the oil and power steering cooler mounted. I am using Earls coolers and earls prolite 350 hose and anotuff fittings. -10 lines for the oil cooler, -6 lines for the power steering cooler. I am using a Mocal high-temp oil cooler, fully open at 200 deg F. I also removed the foglights for improved airflow, and I didn't really like the way they looked anyways.

Coolers mounted to my lower radiator plate. I used aluminum tubing as spacers to get the coolers into the airflow, otherwise the lower bumper cover obstructed the airflow to them.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/CoolersMounted.jpg

Installed in the car with the radiator.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/CoolersMountedfrontview.jpg

Oil thermostat and lines ran from that to the oil cooler.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Oilt-stattocoolerlinesran.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Oilt-stattocoolerlinesran2.jpg

[ibstrokin]

Glad to see some progress. post some more pics of your dad's pinto, if there's been any progress on that.

[Kevin Doe]

I made my coolant surge tank today. I made it from 0.065" wall 3" tubing. Then I also made a bracket to hold it to the passenger side head. I have probalby 3" above the steam vent. I still have to weld on some half couplings before its complete. I'm very happy with how this turned out. Only about 8 hours of work in it.

The radiator cap piece welded from the inside.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolantsurgetank.jpg

Endcaps welded on.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolantsurgetank2.jpg

Bracket to hold it to the head. Its made from 1/4" 6061 T6 aluminum.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolantsurgetank3.jpg

On the bracket.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolantsurgetank4.jpg

On the engine.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolantsurgetank5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolantsurgetank6.jpg

[PonymanfiveO]

Its the little stuff like that that people dont see when walking past...so time consuming, but completly worth it in the end.

bravo Kev. ;)

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Awesome progress man, how far are you from firing it up?


About the neutral switch...i don't really care for'em myself. My Mustang has never had one, and the Merkur will start up as long as it's not in gear (key does nothing when you try to start it when it's in gear, even with the clutch pushed in) which i think is a cooler fail safe than having the clutch pushed in.

[Kevin Doe]

I'm definately gettin close. But I can't really say how close I am.

I got my oil cooler install all finished up. I ran -10 lines, a mocal oil t-stat, and earls cooler. I put some DEI fire sleve over the lines where they go into the adapter block. Its good to 500 degrees constant, and 2000 intermittant. I used a Lingenfelter oil cooler adapter block. I had to grind the corner of the block down for clearance for the header. There was probalby 1/32" of clearance before I ground it down. I will be putting that gold heat reflective stuff on the block, and around the 90 degree fittings to help protect those. The headers are also ceramic coated inside and out, so it might be overkill as usual.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock7.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock8.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCoolerlinesandblock.jpg

And Roxy, she won't leave me alone when I'm under my car working. Too cute.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/Roxy2months2.jpg

[PaulFiveOh]

Ahhhh man. Thats awesome!

[Silver Bullet]

The nice work continues...... I cant wait to see the finished project..:)

[Kevin Doe]

Gotta have some gold in the car just so I can say its worth millions. I remade my oil cooler adapter out of solid gold. I also made the hose ends out of solid gold as well.

Errrr. I put some of that super badass racecar gold reflective film on those pieces. The hose itself has that silicone coverd fiberblass sheath. I think that should successfully block enough heat.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/OilCooleradapterheatprotection.jpg

I also finished my power steerin cooler install.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/PScoolerlines3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/PScoolerlines2.jpg

[YouGotJunk]

what's up with the power steering cooler??? Are those really needed?? Just wondering...this is an awesome build..you do have some mad welding skilz though...keep at it and it'll be done before ya know it!

[Kevin Doe]

Yes the cooler is necessary, with 285 slicks front and rear at the road course you will boil the fluid w/o a cooler. Also, autox will boil fluid w/o a cooler, but then again I won't be doing much of that. I'm going to concentrate on road courses.

[Silver Bullet]

Hey Kevin, when are you coming over to help me with my project....??? lol So much detail......:bigthumb

[R825OH]

Wow lookin good

[Kevin Doe]

Alrighty. Update time. I don't feel like typing a whole lot, so I'll just post pics with short descriptions.

I got a new IAT sensor that threads into an NPT bung, unlike the stock one which pushes into a grommet. I had to do a comparison of the calibration curves to make sure they're the same. Here is what I found.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/IATCalibration.jpg

Welded some aluminum bungs in my radiator and my coolant surge tank.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/coolantbungswelded3.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/coolantbungswelded.jpg

I finished running and connecting the cooler lines. I also protected the hoses from the raw edge of the aluminum plate. I used that door edge stripping.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Coolers.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/coolerhoses.jpg

Then I went to the radiator hose store (Autozone) and picked out some hoses that I thougth work work well. Then brought out the razor blade trying to make the fitment perfect. Always take a little at a time. You can alway cut more, but can't add it back on.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Howmanycutsdoesittake.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/radiatorhoses.jpg

Then I welded a bung into my exhuast for my Innovate LC-1 wideband.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/WBO2Bungweldedin.jpg

Then I welded wrapped my exhaust. I did it to keep my driveshaft cool, and to keep the tunnel cool as well.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/wrappedexhaust.jpg

I installed the oil cooler adapter block.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Oilcoolerblockinstalled.jpg

[Kevin Doe]

Then I made up a small flex line for the oil pressure sensor. It runs VERY close to the header, so I put a condom on it (protection).
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Oilpressuresensorlineprotection.jpg
And installed
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/Oilcoolerlineinstall.jpg

Then my shipment from Tein showed up. They offered me a partial sponsorship, and I accepted their terms. I ended up getting the brand new Tein Mono Flex. Its similar to the Flex, but its a monotube. Its made to bridge the gap that was between the Flex and the Super race. They're single adjustable, ride height/corner weight adjustable w/o changing static spring preload, etc, etc. They have 14kg/mm front springs, and 12kg/mm rears with helpers in the rear. They look to be of VERY good quality. So far I have the rears installed, and I'll be putting the fronts on tomorrow.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TeinMonoFlex2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TeinMonoFlex3.jpg

rear comparison
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/TeinMonoFlex.jpg

[Walter]

Nice, what are the sponsorship terms?

[Kevin Doe]

When I attend road courses I have to have Tein decals on the car. If I get any media coverage, then I must mention Tein is an official sponsor, or have them put it in the article. Thats about it really.

[cstreu1026]

So is this thing getting close to driveable yet? I can't wait to see it on the street.

[Kevin Doe]

I'll probably start it up today, but I'm thinking for sure this weekend.

[DeckerEnt]

Cruise in??
Keith

[Kevin Doe]

Oh I definately plan to be at the SBZ cruise. :rockon:

[DeckerEnt]

Looking forward to seeing this beast in person. Looking great!!
Keith

[Kevin Doe]

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/newwheels.jpg

[mach_u]

Nice stance! Looks sharp. :bigthumb

[satan jamez]

Looks great! How much more does the new setup weigh over the original?

[Kevin Doe]

hopefully nothing over stock weight. Thats what I'm expecting at least.

[Mr.Moontang]

looks killer guy

[wes 89 gt]

looks great!! this has to be a fun project

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

LOL love the plates. Can't wait to see this thing in person.



So is it time to fire up the Pinto yet? :D Honestly i'm more interested in seeing how that crazy thing runs.

[Kevin Doe]

Thanks everyone!

I've been working on getting my car to a runnig state. I have been struggling with EFI Live. I"m very much a DIY kinda guy, so I'm trying to learn all the EFI Live stuff and I've been struggling. I can tune well, but only if the car is drivable enough to log data. So far the car isn't drivable with the current tune. I think I made a mistake on one of the parmaters in the tune, putting me into a ultra backup mode where the PCM doesn't use MAP or MAF, basically a completely fucked up tune that runs at like 20:1 AFR and accepts absolutely no throttle. Some guys on EFI LIve forums took a look at my tune and notified me of the issue. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow, and if it works, I'll be gettin an alighment and corner weighted friday night.

2MCHPWR, care to share your alighment specs? Do you run differnet specs for autox and TT? I'm so new to FDs, I don't really know what they like on the courses. You seem very experienced, so I'd like your input.


A little bit of an update.
In closed loop mode, the car runs pretty good on stock tune. However you can't really map the VE table with this tune. And like I said above I have been struggling to properly get the car into open loop, speed density, but I think I know the solution. Hopefully so, tomorrow will tell all.

Running in closed loop speed density.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/th_Revs.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/?action=view&current=Revs.flv)

Then I decied to be Sussie Homemaker and do a little sewing, only it was man sewing. No thread and needle here, no cotton thread. Fiberglass cloth and stainless wire for thread. LOL. I wrapped my exhuast, but the X-pipe didn't seem like ti was going to wrap that well. My exhaust and x-pipe comes probably within 1.5" of my driveshaft, so I didn't want my aluminum driveshaft absorbin all that heat. The wrapped pipes took care of that, but I needed to do somethin with the X-pipe. I decided to make a little covering custom style. I bought a big sheet of DEI's heat blanket stuff.

I started cutting to shape, marking, and sewing the edges to make for a clean look.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/X-pipeheatcover2.jpg

Then I measured for the lenth, and sewed the ends up. I was using 0.032 stainless safety wire to sew with. i reinforced the ends pretty good with the wire as well.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/X-pipeheatcover3.jpg

And wrapped around the X-pipe, and safety wired in place for a nice snug fit.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/X-pipeheatcover4.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/X-pipeheatcover.jpg

[Black Hole]

Get that thing running.....I better see it on Sunday!!!!!!! :mad:

[Kevin Doe]

The outlook it looking much better now. If I try this one change, adn my car runs well, I'm up to the alighment shop for an alighmetn and corner weighting tonight!!!!!

[5.0calypso93lx]

The outlook it looking much better now. If I try this one change, adn my car runs well, I'm up to the alighment shop for an alighmetn and corner weighting tonight!!!!!

What's the change?

[Kevin Doe]

I was trying to set my car up in OLSD (open loop, speed density). I don't have a maf, so I turned off the setting of the MAF related codes. Aparently the PCM uses the one code to tell it when to go into speed density. Since I turned that code off, it never set, so it never went into speed density. No speed density + no MAF = some crazy back mode using neither.

Aparently I need to enable that code to set, but make it so it doesn't set a check engine light. This is all possible with the software I'm using. Very powerful.

[5.0calypso93lx]

I was trying to set my car up in OLSD (open loop, speed density). I don't have a maf, so I turned off the setting of the MAF related codes. Aparently the PCM uses the one code to tell it when to go into speed density. Since I turned that code off, it never set, so it never went into speed density. No speed density + no MAF = some crazy back mode using neither.

Aparently I need to enable that code to set, but make it so it doesn't set a check engine light. This is all possible with the software I'm using. Very powerful.

Wow, so you actually have the LS1 wiring harness wired into the stock harness so that the check engine light still properly works? Impressive!

[Kevin Doe]

Damn straight!

[DeckerEnt]

I hope you can figure it out and make the cruise in. I am looking forward to seeing it.
Keith

[Kevin Doe]

An axle failure kept me from making it to the cruise. I should be back up in runnning in probably a week.

A broken axle didn't stop me from cleaning the car up and taking some pics though.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ksobhighres.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l55/Kevin_Doe/RX-7/ksobhighres2.jpg

[theyallslow]

car look great...

[thejock60]

SO......What were u doing to break an axle?:lol:

[Kevin Doe]

SO......What were u doing to break an axle?:lol:

Cruising on the highway at 65ish mph. I had just lifted off the throttle to coast down to 55 ish, then do a slow acceleration back to 65. When I went to do the slow acceleration it felt like the trans popped out of gear. The axle didn't really break, it just came apart. The spring clip wans't engaged on the outter joint. It was a machining error on part of one of DSSs vendors. Its all fixed now!


I've been really busy tuning lately. Probably several tuning sessions everyday for the past few weeks. I'm making very small incremental changes to dial it in since I'm fairly new to this GM tuning, but not tuning in general. I'm still trying to fully grasp what each table, curve, parameter does, and how they all interact. The LS1 compters are surprisingly complex, and its not 100% clear to me how it all works together at this point. But, thus far I'm within 1% of my targeted AFR at all loads and under 4000 rpms. I'm probably within 5% above 4000, since its harder to get good steady state data at full throttle and 5000 rpms (the car wants to accelerate like a bat out of hell). So far I've been able to do steady state tuning at high throttle by using the brake pedal to maintain constant rpm (really loading the engine up). The brakes can only do so much. I started smoking the brakes trying to hold back WOT above 4000, so I think it might be time to put it on a dyno to get those really dialed in.