RX7 FC finding out what it wants to become

I wouldn't be surprised if that is normal. Check the other rearend before bailing on this one.

Loose feeling drive line is usually diff bushings/ mount.

Shorten the spindles?

I missed that... What does shorten the spindles mean?

Check a few pages back, I had a spare set of spindles and cut the steering arm and shorten it for more angle (Maybe drift car?). I found a local drag strip that does drift events for $10 id love to run the car there!

Well I got a lot done last night, got the whole rear end out on the ground. Came out with not to much fuss but I know getting it back in will suck! So once it was out I took the diff off and tested it again. Its hard to feel how loose it is on the ground but it does clunk when I hold both spud shafts with my feet and turn the input with my hand. Probably the biggest issue was the diff bushing was ripped along the top where I couldn't see it. So the rear end needed to come out anyway.

Im still going to swap the diff (guy I bought it from had 3 LSD diffs that I bought from him, he knew one had a hard life before he got it and it must have been the one I installed) I will check the mount to make sure the rubber is good as well. I also started to remove the rear arm bushings to replace them but they will need to be burned out... Hope its not raining tonight. From there I am swapping to the s/s braided brake lines as well as the front control arms. I have a spare set with poly bushings that will bolt right up. Spindles I may or may not swap just depends on how fast the rest of the work goes. I have some time off coming up then after that I will be moving. Don't think the car will come with me but I would much rather leave it with it running and driving.

Did a little bit of video but not much I was making to much progress to stop haha.

Burn em out in the rain. Less chance of setting the driveway weeds on fire.

Haha true that but with the rain we have been having I will need a boat just to be in the driveway and not under water.

Any thoughts on the shorten steering arms Dusterbd13? I don't want the car to be really twitchy and crazy sensitive when im DDing but I know more angle helps to learn drifting so you can catch yourself before you spin out.

I wouldn't. Find a quicker ratio rack if you find you have a real need. Cutting and welding cast Suspension pieces is borrowing trouble. Also, overly quick steering at highway speeds and inform weather is a recipe for disaster.

Well im doing it for more angle not faster steering. Also its a drop forged spindle not a cast there is no way I would weld on cast. Also if it makes you feel better I had someone at work tig weld them and that's all he does is weld tubular control arms ect. I just want it to have more steering angle so if I get a bit to sideways I can turn the wheel enough to catch the spin so I don't end up backwards as much. I don't know how much effect it will have on the steering. I guess I will need to read up on it.

There are tons of company's on the internet that will mod your spindles for you but I was able to do my spare set for free so might as well. If I don't like them I will sell them and make a little cash. Here is a link to someone that does the mod. -Drift Spindles-

Here is my spindles, I didn't cut them crazy short this is a car that can drift not a drift car!

Stock-

Welded shorter-

Going to have to paint/powder coat them, never got around to it before.

What's this change supposed to do, increase Ackerman? Effectively lengthen the tie-rod?

No it will do nothing to the ackerman because im keeping the tie rod in line just moving it back closer to the spindles point of rotation. This means it will steer more with the same amount of input.

I kept the center of the tie rod on the line going from the center of the rear axle to the spindles point of rotation (aka the ball joint not the king pin found the photo on a hotrod site) So by doing this it does not effect ackerman at all just makes the motion of the rack have more effect on spindle.

Also I should tell yall why I would want more angle. I want to drift every once and a while just for fun. This car wont be a track car or really a autoX car so why not turn tires into smoke!

So if you don't know what drifting is you should go on to youtube when you have a free night and search it (your welcome)! So With drifting you are throwing the car sideways and holding the slide. The more steering angle you have the more sideways you can be. But for me having never done it before having more steering angle will help me catch the drift so I don't spin the car and do a 180.

Here are some wheels that have tons of stuff done to them for more angle so they can get really far sideways and can almost enter a turn at more then a 90 degree angle (aka backwards) and still slide the car around.

-This a a pure drift car with crazy mods with full angle-

Here is it in use-

Now don't get me wrong I don't want that much angle but having a bit more will help! Now I just need to find out if it will have a big effect on driving at normal road speeds. I don't want them if it makes the car drive like crap around town. Key word not a drift car but a car that can drift!

I think super now makes decent kits for the FC.

fidelity101- A kit for what?

steering angle.

Well Im not in need of a kit I have modified the stock spindles for more angle. We are just trying to decided if the shorted steering arm on the spindle will make the steering to touchy to drive as a DD car.

So here is the big update!

I knew I would be going through the whole car again and building ver2.0 of the car. This would mainly be handling mods to get the body on track with the power upgrades. So I found out that I got a new job a few weeks ago and will be moving so it was now or never! I don't think the car will come with me on the move at least not at first so I had to do the mods all at once before I leave, I don't want to come home to a car in pieces!

First here was how the car spent Christmas! I thought what the heck lets make it more festive!

The thing on the top of my list was to swap the rear diff with the spare one I had. So I dropped the rear sub frame which is never fun!

While it was out I pulled it outside and burned the old bushings out. I pulled it back in and noticed that it had little metal selves that were still in the arms. I thought it might be a part of the arm but a quick call to racing beat and they told me that the selves were a part of the old bushing and they needed to come out before the new bushings could go in.

I used a bit of heat and a punch and hammer to beat them out!

With them out of the way I was able to install the new poly bushings with ease! Hope this makes a little bit of a difference!

Now onto the main reason for this was to swap the rear diff. The one that I had put in the car first felt very loose. It felt like it had slack in it. Once it was out I saw that the diff bushings was ripped. You guys said that might be a cause for the looseness that I was feeling. So I swapped in the new diff with a good bushing but only after doing new fluids.

By this point I had made a huge mess in the shop I was in full build mode trying to make sure it was back together before I left. This was the carnage (we were doing my car and my dads car at the same time!)

Now done with the rear I moved up front. I wanted to install the modded spindles along with new lower control arms with poly bushings and s/s brake lines.

Here was the tear down.

The old-

And the new-

Forgot to grab some photos of the new arms but here are the brake lines going on.

A good look at how bad the factory ones are! The whole system got a good flush and new fluid. This is a upgrade I should feel!

Last but not least is the spindles!

They give me a good amount of angle, nothing crazy but more then stock. I was able to whip into a parking spot with so much ease! As for driving on the road its a good bit faster steering but not crazy. It feels like a good tight car would, I think it feels like the car should have felt stock.

That's it for now I have only been on the road once but I will have more chance to drive before I leave. Next mod will be a cam shaft, valve springs and EFI. Hope to pick up the cam sometime this week from a really good guy that I used to work with. Also shot a little bit of video from the swap. I have a lot that needs to be edited but it will all be posted in dew time!

Also got a short video of the old and new rear struts. The KYB's are working amazing and really improve the car! Just right for a sporty DD but not enough for a race car.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GTNastK9PQY

Where you moving to?

I will be headed to Raleigh just got a new job up there. Bad news is the Mazda wont come with me, at least at first. Good news is I will be putting together my uncles 51 Chevy pick up with LS swap once I move up there. Bad news is we are going to pick up the donor car for my grandpas 64 F100. He (aka I) am going to put a 302 with air density to replace his old 292 Y block that was on its last leg. So things will be a mess for a while to say the least.

Mazda is running really well though just doing some minor carb tuning now. Still need to build a custom air cleaner I keep putting that off. But since I will be moving to the city I don't know how long the mazda will last. It would make a really crummy city driver so might think about selling it and getting something better for city driving. Maybe a old standard VW bug?... Who knows it just kills me to leave it back at home.

Oh and I also did a video of us getting the 292 out of the F100 and put it up on the youtube page as well.

Hey y'all. I have a 88 rx7 with a 302 EFI swap in it. First of all I would like to thank everyone evolved with this build forum, it has been a giant help and a wealth of information. I have a question for all. I'm having trouble getting mine to start and stay running. Does anyone know if the stock rx7 fuel pump brings enough fuel and psi to keep a EFI 302 running? Or if I am gonna need a in line fuel pump? Thanks again everyone

Hi Up2nogood, I have an 89 RX7 with an EFI 302 in it and I replaced my stock Mazda in tank fuel pump with a Walbro GSS341 255lph in tank pump. I believe the stock Mazda unit can handle it but at this point it is 28 years old and it wouldn't hurt to replace it. I also ran a relay with a power line coming straight from the battery to ensure full voltage to the pump.

Swapping the in tank fuel pump is pretty easy and costs less than $100 for the Walbro.

In reply to Up2nogood:

Thanks for checking out the build! Im glad it was helpful!

From what I know the stock in tank pump should work fine unless you have a crazy motor that needs more fuel flow (big block, NO2, turbo, ect) The stock pump should build the required pressure needed for the 302 from what I have found it needs 39psi for a stock motor. It could very well be the pump since it is so old but it might be worth it to install a gauge to see if the pump and pressure regulator are both doing there job keeping 39psi in the fuel rail.

How is the motor dying or having a hard time starting? Also check the spark plugs they can tell you a lot about what a motor is doing (rich, lean, timing). Stuff like that will help us to understand the issue a bit better.

Well got home to the car this weekend and got to take it for a spin. Thought about taking it back with me and using it as a DD but... SO took it on a good 45min drive with a long stent on the highway at 70mph. The ran much better then I thought it would and has a lot of get up and go at 70mph. I was honestly very surprised how much it had. The motor stayed at 188-193 and a bit hotter at red lights. On the drive home it was a 20min drive on the highway before I got to back roads. At the top of the ramp I went to put it into first and it wouldn't go. Turned out I lost my clutch. Got the car off the road popped the hood and as I thought my slave cylinder push rod had backed out due to the vibrations at high speed. An easy fix while but I needed a jack to do it. Called my dad and waited for him to come with the jack and talked with my fiance about how its not a true date for us until we brake down (thankfully she is ok with me being a car guy!) Once my dad got there and got the car in the air it was 30sec to fit and I didnt even need tools. Its much easier to fix a car you built!

So today I e=went and got new nylock nut as well as a jam nut just to make sure!

Im still looking for options for me to have both cars up here I really miss the old mazda! But this weekend I am planning on going to a drift event to scope it out as well as do some video. Also going to keep looking for wheels and tires for drifting!

Bummer about breaking down. I'm sure it'd be a nice daily once all the kinks are worked out especially with a reliable v8.

Thanks man! Ya it was just one of those little things. All a part of the build but im just glad I didn't have to tow it home. It just stinks that I had to leave the car back at home, I should be able to bring it up with me by April. Just seems like such a long way away. I might swap the FC for my fusion for a week and DD it if I thin its ready for the drive.