Glad to see that several FD3s are benefitting from the unfortunate demise of one car. Onwards and upwards for all
FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
I bought the same thing for my GTR (from Japan) and they were always one of those upgrades that made no financial sense at all...........but I loved them all the same, and found them to be a very satisfying & personal 'must have'.
Glad to see that several FD3s are benefitting from the unfortunate demise of one car. Onwards and upwards for all
Glad to see that several FD3s are benefitting from the unfortunate demise of one car. Onwards and upwards for all
http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
I have them also 
Look great on the car although I think I do prefer the stock ones.
Great work though Dom and Chris so far
Look great on the car although I think I do prefer the stock ones.
Great work though Dom and Chris so far
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
Work is ongoing.....
(Dont worry Stu the wheels will be getting a clean once I am done)
I will write a big update once everything is done.....
(Dont worry Stu the wheels will be getting a clean once I am done)
I will write a big update once everything is done.....
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
Not saying a worddom187 wrote: (Dont worry Stu the wheels will be getting a clean once I am done)
I'm sure you'll be every bit as thorough with them as you have been with other aspects of the car & build. You take a pride in your car so I'm not worried at all 
http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
Well I dont know really where to start…..
I guess here is a good place….
As many of you know Gedge parted ways with his RX7 and broke the car for parts. I ended up having the shell off him including the fully polybushed suspension. The more I dug into my existing shell I found loads of things I didnt like such as crash damage, bodges, sils were not in great shape etc so when Gedges shell came up and it being so local, I just had to take it. Gedges shell was orginally a touring model which was a automatic orginally (I believe), main thing is that it comes with a sunroof! Score!
Along with the shell I bought some other parts from Gedge, my plan was to make the best of both cars. So I got the following with the car…
RZ Brakes - bigger than the standard brakes
Radtech V mount (rad and IC), designed specifically for the RX7 and came with built in ducting.
RZ Diff
99 Spec spoiler - IMHO the best spoiler you can get for the rex
Gandor Mirrors
Mazda speed skirts
And some other bits I have forgotten!
Naturally I was taking over all the mods I had already got from my existing car.
I also bought some bits to go along with the build…
Momo ‘jet’ steering wheel
JIC carbon fibre strut brace
Vibratechnics engine mounts
Concept 7 Gauge Pod
Concept 7 Center Speaker Gauge pod
I also got a load of Idemitsu fluids to go with the build as well...
Chris was kind enough to let me use his driveway for the engine transfer, unfortunately my drive is on a slope so it would have made the jobs even harder having to fight with gravity when using a engine hoist.
Started stripping everything out…
Ready for the engine to come out...
While it was out I gave it a clean and replaced the sump again, trying for the second time to fix the dredded sump leak.
Here is the start of the extra mods!
Vibratechnics engine mounts, I wince when I think how expensive these where. However I should get the comfort of stock mounts with the benefits of reduced engine/transmission flex.
Then we chucked the engine on top of the new mounts…
In….
Chris helped me completely stripped the old car before (eventually) it got taken away for scrap.
Once the engine was in it was time to relocate the car to my drive for the remainder of the work. Big thanks to my friend from work Laurie who bought his trailer to move the car.
Back at its new home…
Now the engine is in I could start on all the million littles jobs I had left...
Old carpet and dash out…
Red carpet in…
Many nights like this…
Eventually I ended up with…
I spend many nights wiring in separate circuits for all the gauges and boost controller etc which had there own replays etc to ensure no issues down the line. Also did a separate circuit which is triggered when the headlights come on. I also had to take the clocks out as the odometer had stopped working due to one of the capacitors leaking so I had those out and fitted new capacitors so I could keep the cars original millage. I was now getting very close to finishing the car and just had to keep pushing myself and dragging myself out each night after work to finish off the car.
The engine bay was coming along nicely as well too! There was some surface rust which I had to kill off and repaint before I could put the V mount in, once that was in the main thing that took the time was getting the piping all sorted.
While I did the work on the engine bay I was replacing parts where I felt necessary, such as the alternator loom and the oil level warning sender. Also some parts of the wiring looked a bit suspect so because I had bought all the crimping and heat shrink etc to do the gauge circuit wiring I thought I might as well get these sorted while I was there.
During this week I had been able to get the car to a point where I could start it and check everything over, everything was all good. However yesterday after running the car up to temperature, I switched the car off, then I heard a ping.
Ah yes, that glorious moment you think… ‘WTF was THAT?!?!’
Turned out the lower rad coolant pipe had come off a block which is used for a temperature probe to screw into. All I could think of was the engine getting its coolant seals damaged, fuck. So I held up the hose under the car to reduce the coolant leaking, while 80 degree coolant was dripping on my arm, I then rang the Mrs and got her to come and help! We managed to get the pipe back and added some more coolant back in. I have run the car today and everything seems ok so fingers crossed we caught it in time, fortunately I had switched the car off and although it had got up to temp it hadn't been running long.
Finally, today I was able to clean the car after the last few jobs were finished.
Walk around video while it was running I took before I washed the car
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95202371@N02/15382266805/
Big thanks goes to Chris for helping me swap the engines over and for the use of his drive. Also thanks to various people (Gareth, My Mrs, Laurie etc) who kept spurring me on to finish this as it had become a hard slog at the end. This has been the biggest project I have ever done during my life, I have put many hours into this. I had to juggle quite a few things in my personal life as well while doing this but I am really pleased what I have achieved. I haven't really been able to drive the car yet as its not taxed until the 1st of Oct. I am scared and excited about getting back on the road!
I guess here is a good place….
As many of you know Gedge parted ways with his RX7 and broke the car for parts. I ended up having the shell off him including the fully polybushed suspension. The more I dug into my existing shell I found loads of things I didnt like such as crash damage, bodges, sils were not in great shape etc so when Gedges shell came up and it being so local, I just had to take it. Gedges shell was orginally a touring model which was a automatic orginally (I believe), main thing is that it comes with a sunroof! Score!
Along with the shell I bought some other parts from Gedge, my plan was to make the best of both cars. So I got the following with the car…
RZ Brakes - bigger than the standard brakes
Radtech V mount (rad and IC), designed specifically for the RX7 and came with built in ducting.
RZ Diff
99 Spec spoiler - IMHO the best spoiler you can get for the rex
Gandor Mirrors
Mazda speed skirts
And some other bits I have forgotten!
Naturally I was taking over all the mods I had already got from my existing car.
I also bought some bits to go along with the build…
Momo ‘jet’ steering wheel
JIC carbon fibre strut brace
Vibratechnics engine mounts
Concept 7 Gauge Pod
Concept 7 Center Speaker Gauge pod
I also got a load of Idemitsu fluids to go with the build as well...
Chris was kind enough to let me use his driveway for the engine transfer, unfortunately my drive is on a slope so it would have made the jobs even harder having to fight with gravity when using a engine hoist.
Started stripping everything out…
Ready for the engine to come out...
While it was out I gave it a clean and replaced the sump again, trying for the second time to fix the dredded sump leak.
Here is the start of the extra mods!
Vibratechnics engine mounts, I wince when I think how expensive these where. However I should get the comfort of stock mounts with the benefits of reduced engine/transmission flex.
Then we chucked the engine on top of the new mounts…
In….
Chris helped me completely stripped the old car before (eventually) it got taken away for scrap.
Once the engine was in it was time to relocate the car to my drive for the remainder of the work. Big thanks to my friend from work Laurie who bought his trailer to move the car.
Back at its new home…
Now the engine is in I could start on all the million littles jobs I had left...
Old carpet and dash out…
Red carpet in…
Many nights like this…
Eventually I ended up with…
I spend many nights wiring in separate circuits for all the gauges and boost controller etc which had there own replays etc to ensure no issues down the line. Also did a separate circuit which is triggered when the headlights come on. I also had to take the clocks out as the odometer had stopped working due to one of the capacitors leaking so I had those out and fitted new capacitors so I could keep the cars original millage. I was now getting very close to finishing the car and just had to keep pushing myself and dragging myself out each night after work to finish off the car.
The engine bay was coming along nicely as well too! There was some surface rust which I had to kill off and repaint before I could put the V mount in, once that was in the main thing that took the time was getting the piping all sorted.
While I did the work on the engine bay I was replacing parts where I felt necessary, such as the alternator loom and the oil level warning sender. Also some parts of the wiring looked a bit suspect so because I had bought all the crimping and heat shrink etc to do the gauge circuit wiring I thought I might as well get these sorted while I was there.
During this week I had been able to get the car to a point where I could start it and check everything over, everything was all good. However yesterday after running the car up to temperature, I switched the car off, then I heard a ping.
Ah yes, that glorious moment you think… ‘WTF was THAT?!?!’
Turned out the lower rad coolant pipe had come off a block which is used for a temperature probe to screw into. All I could think of was the engine getting its coolant seals damaged, fuck. So I held up the hose under the car to reduce the coolant leaking, while 80 degree coolant was dripping on my arm, I then rang the Mrs and got her to come and help! We managed to get the pipe back and added some more coolant back in. I have run the car today and everything seems ok so fingers crossed we caught it in time, fortunately I had switched the car off and although it had got up to temp it hadn't been running long.
Finally, today I was able to clean the car after the last few jobs were finished.
Walk around video while it was running I took before I washed the car
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95202371@N02/15382266805/
Big thanks goes to Chris for helping me swap the engines over and for the use of his drive. Also thanks to various people (Gareth, My Mrs, Laurie etc) who kept spurring me on to finish this as it had become a hard slog at the end. This has been the biggest project I have ever done during my life, I have put many hours into this. I had to juggle quite a few things in my personal life as well while doing this but I am really pleased what I have achieved. I haven't really been able to drive the car yet as its not taxed until the 1st of Oct. I am scared and excited about getting back on the road!
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
A real Readers Digest, concise and to the point. Great write up and a cracking looking car at the end of it 
Re: FD3S Single Turbo Build(Kinda)
Fantastic work as I said on FDUK mate. A real test of faith and determination (and a little test on the finances!) but you certainly have got there.
You must be chuffed knowing your pride and joy is a) drivable and b) safely tucked up in the garage !!!
But damn you for making me 'need' rear bins and tinting my rear window !!!!
Great work, great project and great result mate !!
You must be chuffed knowing your pride and joy is a) drivable and b) safely tucked up in the garage !!!
But damn you for making me 'need' rear bins and tinting my rear window !!!!
Great work, great project and great result mate !!