RX7 Hillclimber Build Thread

You still have all of your emissions schtuff?

I got rid of all of mine (because diagnosing issues and tracking down vacuum leaks sucks with that stuff on there).

I don't remember if we covered it or not, what are you doing to make sure your 5/6th ports are opening?

Rob R.

My air pump is gone, but the EGR isn't blocked off yet (unless you count carbon buildup).

Most of the rubber vacuum lines have been replaced with silicone, so I haven't had any issues in that regard. I do want to go through and simplify it all though.

I don't know whether the ports are opening or not. I can open them easily with my hand, but I haven't done anything to judge their operation when the hood is closed.

Congrats in your first win with your funky lil hotrod.

Thanks buddy! And thanks for taking all the awesome photos. They're much appreciated.

Put grease on the actuator rods and drive up a hill or something. Make sure you get above 4000 rpm (to be safe). If the grease is still exactly where it was and is not pushed out of the way, they no worky.

Rob R.

Well it was about 90 degrees yesterday so I decided to get the rest of the remaining sound deadening out of the car. A little time with my air chisel toned down to 20 psi made fairly short work of it and there is now very little sound deadening left on the firewall in the drivers side.

Filled a grocery bag. Vacuumed out and am now going to paint the interior white to ward off some summer heat.

Don't know why I continue to choose the hottest days to do this stuff...

Interior is now solid gray. First time it has ever been a solid color. I like.

Video! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201420639625952&l=1163103372551889263

Foam for fender flare molds aquired!

I may have grabbed too much...

DaveEstey wrote: I may have grabbed too much...

Not if you make the flares big enough.

I only need to flare out about 2" front and rear.

However, I'll be making a tunnel drawing air from both sides of the car for the rear-mounted radiator.

That part will have to wait until I move into the new house at the end of August.

PS> Double checking Autocross rules. Minimum weight is 1,900 pounds for prepared class in autocross.....Could be trouble getting quit THAT low. Worth the work!

DaveEstey wrote: I only need to flare out about 2" front and rear. However, I'll be making a tunnel drawing air from both sides of the car for the rear-mounted radiator. That part will have to wait until I move into the new house at the end of August. PS> Double checking Autocross rules. Minimum weight is 1,900 pounds for prepared class in autocross.....Could be trouble getting quit THAT low. Worth the work!

You should be able to get that low. I was able to pull 600lbs out of my miata, and I think I can get another 100 out of it without a whole lot of creativity(just a little cash and lots of sweat equity)

I'll be installing a roll cage for hillclimbs, so I'll have to offset that weight somehow

Looks great Dave. I really like the interior color!

Time to make a hot wire cutter.

bandsaw. worked for me.

Don't have one and don't have room for one right now. Moving in 6 weeks so I don't want to buy something big just to have to move it.

Planning ahead, I've been looking into plumbing solutions for the rear-mount radiator setup. Current plan is to run silicone for about a foot from the engine to an 1.5" ID aluminum hard line that runs to the radiator (mirror setup for return line). Should provide the flex needed.

Pumping duties will fall to my Davies-Craig EWP with micro controller.

Good couplers were a question mark.

Wiggins clamps are damn expensive, so I've dug up a couple cheaper alternatives: http://vibrantperformance.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1022_1250_1306&osCsid=447cdf42fd55e7d2c5cc547917e895d5

http://hargettprecision.com/index.php/quick-release-couplers/2-piece-qdc.html

Interested in the rear-mount radiator for future ideas.

Hot wire foam cutting supplies acquired. Construction of the rig will begin next week. I'm dry walling this weekend....

Finally found a good high-rez photo of the interior of a 1990 IMSA GTO RX7. Going to use it as inspiration for my own dash.

Cool! On the 6 port, it uses the air pump to open them. The actuators work on pressure, not vacuum so if your air pump is gone the 6 ports aren't working. I found a RX7Club.com thread on how to make a pressure setup from a cheap air pump and an RPM switch, that's on my car now. It's noisy as hell though and I plan to replace the pressure actuators with vacuum dashpots, a good many cars used them on heater valves. I might go with one actuator and connect the port valves together with a cable, that would simplify things. I can still use the RPM switch and the vacuum solenoid that's on the current setup.

I also considered using electric solenoids and have not completely written that off. But I am also seriously considering boostification which would mean the 6 ports aren't needed.

S5 uses air pump. S4 doesn't.

So some of you may be wondering "I thought this build was just about to get good and now he's not updating.."

Fact is, we bought a new house and close on August 29th. Upsides: 13 acres instead of 2

large 2-bay garage with attached heated workshop.

Downsides:

I have to get our current house on the market, which means a lot of polishing that I had been putting off. Thus, all my time has been spent on the house.

Here are some photos of my efforts:

Downstairs living room. This was previously paneling tacked on to the studs. Was on my list for a while and now it's done. Other side of the wall was always open. Now it's drywalled also. Since the washing machine and such is on the other side (and noisy) I used all 5/8ths drywall for extra sound insulation. DAMN HEAVY.

Oh yeah, and those studs are 2x6s ripped in half... I sistered up 2x6s to each one for a full depth wall. Also re-wired inside the wall for clean wall-mount TV installation.

That's all I have photos of. I did reward myself a bit by buying some metal cabinets for the next garage. http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/tls/3980343326.html

I got four 5' long and four 2'6" long ones for $100. Guy said if I want more to just let him know. This things are really solid so I'm happy to gave gotten a deal. I'll likely respray them to match whatever color theme I go with at the new place. Also became a member of garagejournal.com for more ideas.

Oh, and this effectively ends the RX7's build until the new garage is set up. I'll run it as is at autocrosses for the rest of the season and hit the flares hard this winter.

Once again, life gets in the way of racing.