Fresh rubber arrived this morning
BMWGeoff said:
A little research led me to discover that the early FD RX-7 wheels were prone to cracking, and were updated during production to be stronger (and a bit heavier). It seems that I have 2 early and 4 late production wheels. Guess which 4 are on the car now...
Sorry for the reply to an old comment.
This makes a lot of sense considering how weight-obsessed Mazda was when building the FD. I remember an ad or article touting the "hollow carpet fibers."
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:TVR Scott said:Yup, I still love this build.
Me too! Wish it were mine!
Same here. I saw one of these running around Colorado Springs last week and wanted to flag the driver down and make an offer. It looked very clean and original with no rust, a rare sight nowadays.
If anyone is interested, I'm hoping to put together a team to run in the Lucky Dog Racing Canada season finale at Calabogie Motorsports Park in early October. I know it's a long way off, but I figure this gives lots of time to test, organize and prepare.
P5Racer (formerly BMWGeoff) said:First race is coming up soon... I'm equal parts excited and E36 M3ting bricks lol
Good luck! Keep us posted on how it goes! I've got no good suggestions for you about not worrying, if you figure it out, let me know.
Good luck, the Environment Canada weather forecast looks good right now. I was there in October with similar temps and weather, I pushed hard all weekend and the tires didn't show it at all which was nice.
Well that didn't go as planned. Cold weather meant that I couldn't push hard this morning. Started to notice a bit of oil smoke from the exhaust, possibly turbo seals on their way out, but not bad enough to stop. Then late in the 3rd session, the transmission started kicking out of 5th gear when slowing for turn 8. Came in to find gear oil leaking from the transmission end cover. Game over.
Found the cause of the smoke. That puddle of oil came from the compressor housing. Next up is pulling the transmission.
Man, it's been so long since I've stared at the business end of an FS motor. All sorts of memories coming back now. Good luck with the transmission. I can't remember if you said this engine was built or not but boosting in 5th gear is something I absolutely avoided with this engine and transmission. Not that you have that luxury in a race car.
In reply to infernosg :
Supposedly the engine was built, and I've got a very old dyno sheet showing a bit over 215whp. I always knew the trans would be the issue, but I've got 2 spares and extra parts beyond that.
You wasted no time breaking that down.
Are you going to be able to rebuild the turbo? Was it just an oil line?
In reply to TVR Scott :
It didn't take a lot of time to get it out, maybe 90 minutes from getting it into the garage.
It looks rebuildable, no visible damage. I think the seals are failing on it, causing the oil and smoke.
Geoff... couple of pictures of you just posted on the Ontario Road Racing FB page...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/183257002081427/permalink/1302890263451423/
Good luck with sorting out the oil leak...
Gordon
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