RX7 FC finding out what it wants to become

The original radiator is designed to angle the other way. I would be concerned with air hitting this (from teh bottom where the air inlet is) and just sort of skimming past it.

Why not angle it the same direction as the stock radiator?

The crank pulley wont let it sit in the original place so this is the only other option unless I removed the hood latch. I don't think cooling will be an issue I will make plates to block off the air at the bottom and the top make make all the air that comes through the grill only have one way out through the radiator. This will create a place of high pressure in front of the radiator witch will force the air though.

Well here we go again! I have the lower rad. mount and I have it sitting where it needs to. Still have to add some little pieces but im 80% there. I have to add some rubber to keep it from cutting into the aluminum and rebuild the side brackets with real steel. I like that way it fits and with some ducting it should cool just fine.

Here is a shot of the lower bar that keeps the speed bumps and raccoon from braking the bottom of the rad.

Here is how it sits. Good room all around and it just looks amazing!

Last but not least the fan just fits. It will sit a little higher to clear the cross member but it will work and its a factory unit from a volvo so it should not give me any issues.

Got a bit more done to the car this week, most of witch was just deciding what to do with intake and fuel delivery. Spent the last three days looking at the foxbody and SN95 EFI systems. Fond some people that had the parts I was needed for running EFI. But then I had someone respond to my CL post of the carb intake (I had it posted for trade for EFI parts) He has a 95 mustang 5 speed and we are going to trade my intake for his whole EFI system (Harness, ECM, intake, injectors, fuel rail, distributor, map, mass air...) I amd going to pay him the difference for the carb and a distributor (im getting a heck of a deal on the stuff). So I will soon find out if it will work on my car or if the mess of wires will be to much. If its not going to be worth it I will sell the parts and go with a simple carb setup. Witch I made progress on as well. I found a auto zone that had a distributor that I needed in stock (vacuum advance with a steel gear), but it was 45 min away so I called and the guy was nice enough to measure the distributor and tell me how high it would sit up out of the motor (7"), and it will fit! So I have a means to a end either way I go with this build.

Anyway more pic. I took the GT40 lower intake off so I can sell it and clean and inspect the inside of the motor. Everything looks really good like the bottom of the motor.

These photos were before I got the old gaskets off.

Here I just set the carbed intake on the motor to see how the hood clearance would be if I would have used it. It probably would have fit but there is no way a air cleaner would have fit, so trading it was a good call.

This photo also gives you a good idea of how the motor sits in place.

I am still trying to figure out the front brackets to get it to fit unto the hood. Looks like I am going to have to chop up the stock altinator bracket and use the aftermarket p/s bracket to get it to fit. I did some looking around and found what size bolts and spacers are needed to get the p/s bracket to fit so it should be a matter of finding/making the spacers and bolting it up. Then Ill have to find or get new bolts for the timming cover and water pump and find a belt that is the right size... Piece of cake! Right?

Plz don't loose hope in the build things have slowed to a crawl but they are still moving forward non the less. The deal on the efi parts fell through got to love dealing with people on CL. So now im left with no fuel delivery system. As said above I have found a distributor that is vacume advanced that should fit under the hood so i may just go carbed becouse it will be so mich less fiddling with wires and a bit more HP in the end. So now i still have to get rid of my carbed intake and find one that is lower to let the carb fit and the air cleaner. Looking back over the thred yall must think im crazy going back and forth and back and forth...

I have gotten a little work done on the car, I have the front of the motor all figured out. I am using a march power steering pump bracked and i have a march alternator bracket but the altinaltinator sat to high and wouldent clear the hood. In the end i am using the stock alternator bracked but i have cut it down to fit. This should fit under the hood and it clears the rad up front so should just have to find a belt (cross my fingers that one fits)

looks great - I'd try measuring it with a string and see if it's not about 73" or so. NapaReillyZone should have them in 1/2 increments, part number will be something like 730K6 , 73.0 inches, six rib. 735K6 would be 73.5" ... I'd go wherever they'll let you exchange it until you get the "just right" length.

How much did the manifold miss by? If you measure from the workbench to the top of the carb pad, how tall is the one you have? I can get measurement for a Performer 289 if you need. (same as a Performer 302 but no EGR). It's probably the shortest aftermarket carb intake I've seen. An 85 Mustang intake might be close.

/edit - easier to find than I thought. Edelbrock publishes their dimensions:

Manifold height: A-3.50", B-4.75"; Carb pad height: 4.12". Port exit dimensions: 1.09" x 1.84"

Thanks for the tip on the belt. The intake I have is about 5.5" "CH" so its the same size and looks to be a knock off Performer RPM, it would be nice if it fit because it flows much better then the standard Performer. Iv seen the Performer 289 on ebay for good prices so I will more than likely order one soon. I am also going to try and grab the distributor tomorrow I am about 80% sure it will fit. Then I will just need to look at the carb. After a good bit of looking around I think I am going to try and find a holley 600CFM vacuum secondary with a manual choke only because I already have a choke cable on the car and I like the fact that I can leave the choke open on hot days.

As I sit now I need to finish up the mock up ith the carb, intake, air cleaner, and distributor then I should be set to pull everything and start painting and the final assembly. I still have lots of little jobs to do so I would say im 1/2 done with the swap as of right now.

I have gotten a little bit done this week although its been a heck of a week. Picked up some little parts needed for mock up.

I also picked up a large piece to the puzzle! I got the dizzy. Its from a 1985 carbed HO mustang (part number- BDLG-FD30) so its the only stock steel gear vac advance distributor they make (only available for 1/2 a year), and it looks like it just might fit!

This shows it against the hood line.

And here is the hood itself.

So it looks like it will just fit once I remove the webbing under the hood.

In other news here is the pile of parts in the trunk.. Most them will go on soon! I will cut the support and test fit the hood. If it clears the distributor we will be in business if not... I will also check to see if my test carb will fit under the hood with the mid rise intake that I have on the motor now. Maybe some how it will fit. If not I will jump on flee bay and get a low rise intake.

I really, really like this car and this build. I've never owned a V-8 car.

ScreaminE wrote: I really, really like this car and this build. I've never owned a V-8 car.

Thanks ScreaminE! Im trying to make an informative build for others to follow. As far as a v8 idk... I like my turbo cars (WRX) there is nothing like boost coming on! But as far as a DD a v8 is grate! I did own a 01 mustang GT, a good motor put into a crappy car. I lived up in the mountains for a year and on the hills its much easier to just give it more gas in a V8 vs down shifting in the wrx. I would down shift and then id hit 3K RPM and scare the poor old lady in front of me with turbo spool and the motor screaming and the car taking off. Then the blow off valve and maybe some flames... ok no flames but you get the idea.

Have a bit more done today, easier work but gets me a bit closer and helps to see what will work and what wont. Started by cutting up the hood. I set the hood on the car and climbed up from under the car and marked where I would need to cut.

Here is the start.

And the finished result!

Then test fit the hood again witch I cant really do with out bolting it into place witch is a two man job. So with it sitting like it is I should just fit this bad boy v8 under the hood.

I also had a old holley sitting around, I though I would test to see how much room I had with the mid rise intake. To do so I used some silly puddy and closed the hood and then measured the results!

So right now im looking at air filter options that could work with this set up. I might get my carb and air cleaner before buying a intake just to see if I get lucky.

Also the upper hose I did a test fit with. It will need some work but I will be able to use most of it.

I can also cut this down to set lower on the water neck.

Side view always tells a good story.

Then after the fitting I decided to set the car on the ground just for kicks and to see how much lower the front will sit.

Nothing to crazy, also took this chance to see how far the front end was going to set off the ground. It looks like there wont be any issues with bottom of the rad hitting speed bumps.

I wonder if a turbo hat for the carb would fit... something like this ? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPE-98499

Ya I really like the way they look and I would like to go with one but they are a bit steep... Just for a air filter. But even so I wont be able to fit that under the hood. They sits 3" above the air filter mating surface on the carb. I only have 2" at best. I could mill the intake down but that would only get me about 1/4". So it still looks like I will be ordering a intake.

Just make something out of sheet metal. Pur a cone filter somewhere connect the two with piping.

I wonder if something could be fabbed. In my mind I basically have a metal cake pan with a "modern" panel air filter sitting in it. In the bottom of the pan, a 3" or whatever sized hole has been cut, and that's what the carb breathes through. Probably need to seal this whole thing up with RTV when it's done to be safe. Duct tape, etc.

May have to give up your choke to do this.

ive got a plastic elbow that should fit a carb laying here if you want it. less than an inch tall.

Ya im open for ideas on this. Been doing some looking around for carb plenums that people have made but not coming up with to much. I would really like to come up with something like this.

I don't want to loose the choke since I hope to drive it often. I also don't want to spend a huge amount of time or $ on thins when I can get a new intake for $160 that I know will fit. But I would also like to keep this mid rise intake because it lends itself to high RPM's (3,500-6,500) I plan on making this motor run "higher" RPM's then stock for more of a road racing set up. But that's down the road with a cam swap.

Might look into cutting the plenum divider down for raising the torque/hp peak on a dual plane...

other thought - the Edelbrock triangle mesh air filters need a good fire extinguisher as an accessory.. some guys use them because they are low profile. I'm not a fan (obviously... haha.)

Everywhere I have read says that a single plane will provide more HP/Torque but only at the last 5% of the usable rev range. A duel plane will give more HP/Torque through 95% of the rev range witch is where I will spend more of my time driving the car. So for a drag car or if all I wanted were dyno numbers I would go with a single plane but I want to good on the road so dual plane it is.

I am not a fan of the edelbrock triangle mesh air filters as well, one for looks and two as iv been reading its a fire hazard. plus they are even to tall to fit with the mid rise intake. It is really looking like I will have to get a new intake. I will try and bolt the hood on to the car and see how its fits and take some more measurements.

This one got a little toasty

You know, if performance matters, and you're doing this on a naturally aspirated engine, it's probably time to cut the hood and give the carb a chance to breath.

No I don't have the hart to cut the hood. Iv worked hard to get all of the motor to fit under the stock hood. I wish i had a turbo 2 hood but finding one for a good price is out of the question.

Preformance matters but not above cutting the hood. I may only see 10-20 hp loss with the lower intake manifold witch could easily be brought back with a cam. This motor is stock any way we are not talking about huge numbers but the hope is 220 hp to the wheels at most.

A low rise single plane like a torquer wont cost you anything noticeable in a car that light with a stick and low gears. Don't over think this.

Totally agree - light car, lots of gear, manual transmission. If you're gonna cam it up anyway, a smallish port single plane would not be entirely out of place. I'm not saying put a Victor Jr on it with everything else being stock, but cutting the plenum down about an inch on a Performer would likely move the HP/TQ peak up some without totally killing the low end, or a Torker II maybe - they aren't really race pieces.

A torker II is about 1/2 taller than the Performer... but yeah, there's been a ton of magazine "need a dual plane for the street and single plane for the track" stuff over the years. The Torker 460 single plane is a good example of where this thinking is not gospel - it's small runner cross sectional area actually makes it a good truck or RV manifold. The Performer for a 460 will run off and hide from it at higher RPM. Anyway, back at the RX7 at hand... :)

302's aren't super revvy without changing several things. A big cam will want more compression or it will be soggy, and then the heads need more port area to let it breathe enough for the cam, and then you want a bigger manifold like an Air Gap or Vic Jr to keep the manifold from being the restriction and then... scope creep! Hydraulic rollers aren't that happy with what I would call bigger RPM either - somewhere around 6200 you start having to think hard about valve float from heavy lifters / valvetrain. The heads will very likely need some $$ work to work at or above that RPM anyway.

With an Explorer cam and stock ports on the GT40p, the Performer is probably a pretty good choice. I'd not have a problem running one on a mostly stock mill even with a mild cam, somewhere up to about 215-220* of intake duration. Would an Air Gap make more HP? Probably. Would it make that much difference in the day to day real world? Probably not that much. Traction (lack of) may well make it a moot point. :)

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/pts/4855800718.html not sure how close this is to you, but 125.00 and supposed to be new. Save you a few bucks maybe?

I looked at that intake but it is 2.5 hours away, it is not worth is for me to drive and pay that much. So I looked around and found this one on ebay for $90 shipped. Looks like I will have to paint it, don't think that thing will look right under the hood of a mazda!

I also installed the hood tonight before buying the intake. I would never have enough room to fit a real air cleaner under the hood with the intake I have now.

I had more room in the front then I thought I would. The dizzy clears by an inch and the distributor clears by 2" or more. Things should be moving along well now. I have to do some ordering tonight so I can keep moving forward!

If you want to lok at the performer 289 before buying, ive got one on an engine up here in Albemarle. Ought to give you an idea before pissing away money.