RX7 FC finding out what it wants to become

Good news guys! Car is back from the exhaust and waiting for a tag to be driven home! Today I had a buddy from work drive me to the shop and drop me off. I had the car inspected today so all I need to do is go to the tag place and get plate to be legal. There was a gas station right down the road stoped and put 10 gallons in the car only to find it only filled up the tank 1/2 way?!? maybe the sender is bad or maybe the car has a huge tank. Who knows yet!

So friday I got to go up and hear the car run, I got there and everyone in the shop was under my car...

Not a good sign, I walked up and they told me they had puit some washers betrween the trans and trans mount so the tranmition would sit higher because the CV joint on the drive shaft was a bit to close to the pipes. The granny speed trans mount was a mess and its very hard to install so they were having a hard time with it. Then they dropped the car down and let me hear it. It sounds good sounds a lot like a turbo style muffler. The baffles are still in the mufflers so I can take them out later and see how it sounds.

2.5" pipes with a x pipe up front nice and smooth bends should flow good. Didn't get on the gas to much letting the trans break in before I go hard on it. I drove the car from that shop back to work a short drive but the longest drive its been on! It went well lots of heat coming up from the shiftier so that will need to be addressed. The steering is twitchy but needs an alignment and should fix that. Rides well and is VERY LOW scraped going into the gas station!

Over all happy! The drive home will be about 15 miles which will be another good test hope to make the drive this week!

You happy?

Cause I know I always am after a successful maiden voyage to the gas station. It feels like such a huge accomplishment.

And I have no idea what size an rx7 gas tank is.

16.5 gallons on an s4.

What are you using for a fuel pump?

Did I read correctly that The exhaust shop was moving your trans and cross member because they made the exhaust a little wrong?

I was not to stressed yesterday was extremely stressful anyway so it was a good little break. And wow hopefully the gas gauge is accurate!

wvumtnbkr- They did not mess up I told them that the goal was to get the exhaust as high as they could for ground clearance. The also noticed that the output of the trans was lower then the input of the diff so by raising the trans they were making room for the exhaust and getting a bit better pinion angle.

Also Im using the stock in the tank pump. Seems to be working well.

That looks nice! I look forward to some sound clips.

i really really distrust an exhaust shop doing a pinion angle correctly... Washers would not raise the trans enough to get you 3* on the shaft unless they spaced the E36 M3 out of it and used like 20 washers... Especially if the trans was below the input of the diff...

I've seen a lot of their work. Not much has needed redone.

They are more of a late model repair/hot rod shop that also does exhaust.

I've only ever had to fix really oddball and tricky stuff that they have done. Vapor lock on a 600 cube big block chevelle, some electrical interference on an ez efi system, etc. Stuff that took way too many hours of diagnosis.

patiently awaiting sound clips

Yes it only has a few washers not really changing the angle just thought id add it in. I told them the get it high as they could since the car was so low and they did! They are a really good shop I looked for a few weeks it shops and they came highly recommended. I will have to rebuild the trans mount anyway because it sucks! So this is just temporary.

Sound clips will come next week!! I can't wait to hear is either!

Weird, I didn't have a bit of trouble with my T-5 trans mount from Grannies. Bolted right in where it was supposed to. Guess its just variances in hand made parts...

Well that and there are so many different types of T5's who knows what the mount is made for. I also had issues with the motor mounts I had to use two different styles to get it to fit. They guys at granny speed are very helpful so im not dogging them by any means but I really was hopping for a easier install.

theres also the ricer baffles that you can use to quiet the exhaust.

im looking for them on ebay.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INSERT-REMOVABLE-SILENCER-FOR-4-TIP-STAINLESS-EXHAUST-MUFFLER-/351249520147?hash=item51c81a5613&vxp=mtr

they actually work on drone. made a set of the 3 inch exhaust on my duster. no power loss, decrease in drone at cruise. got the idea from the baffle that I ran in the fart pipe on the CRX. made it pass the noise requirements.

Im already running them on my car. Most ricer mufflers come with that, mine did and I left them in while I had the exhaust installed. I will take them out soon. Just need to get a tag on the car!

Sorry for the lack of photos! We are working on a SEMA build at work so I brought my camera to work to video/photo's of our end of the build. Little did I know the rain made for really good photos of the mazda!

I picked up the tag today!! That means the car is more or less legal!

Hope to have it home today or tomorrow. From there I have lots of finishing to do but I will work on another video first to let you guys her the car and so I can hear what the car sounds like from the outside!

Sorry but no videos of the car yet... I did get the car home. It ran very well did have a bit of a hesitation in mid throttle but nothing bad at all. I got a bit of smoke coming up from the shifter as the car was coming up to temp but I think it was just the exhaust burning in. There is a lot of heat comming up through the shifter. Needs some kind of heat wrap or somthing to keep the cabin cool and water tight. Trans shifts smothe and is a but notchey but I like it. My shifter as tall which helps since the shifter has such a short throw and keep it close to the steering wheel like a rally car. Steering was very touchy but Im hoping that its the alignment. Also the car start to shake above 50mph and the steering wheel is not stright so an alignment is high on the list! Exhaust is not as loud as i had thought before but does drown when the car is under 1700-2000rpm but then gets very quiet above that. The rear end feels soft where as the front end feels firm and a bit harsh. But harsh is a way like you can feel everything on the road like it has bushings not like the car will shake ur eyes out of your head. The front end feels like I wanted it to. I did hit one bump and the rear of the car felt like it jumped over to the side when it came back down. A lot like my mustang with a live rear axel felt. Maye a sway bar or the crazy camber in the back?

But here is the big issues. Got the car back and let it sit for about a 1/2 hour then started it back up to video with the gopro. Started up easy then drove it down the driveway and at the bottom with it in neutral it died... Then had a hard time starting back up. Then once driving down the road it started to die so idk why but I shut the fuel pump off and it ran great till the fuel bowls were empty then started to die again. When I did a U turn it died again then hit the fuel pump and I could smell gas... Ran the pump for a sek then started it again and ran home beofre it turned into a ball of fire! (Now has a fire extinguisher living in the passenger seat!) Once home i opened the hood and coud smell gas and saw the top of the carb was wet from gas.... Also I could hear gas moving or doing something funny in the carb with the fuel pump off and the car not running.

So here are my thoughts. I think the gas is getting to hot the fuel line runs kinda close to the headers as its the only good way to get then up to the carb. I also might think Im getting vapor lock a common issue with the edilbrock carb and the edilbrock proformer intake. So Iv orderd some sleeves for the fuel live to help insulate them from the heat but I wanted to see what yalls thought were and what more I can do? I also have some aluminum sheet metal I would like to try and make some heat shields but don't know how I want to do them and my sheet metal skills are not so good...

It sounds exactly like vapor lock. Are you running a return line?

That sound like a combination of vapor lock and a bad float or needle. Boiling is one thing, gas coming out of the carb is another.

As for insulating the hard lines I've had really good results with the foam tape you can buy at a home improvement box store (for doing elbows and such) wrapped around the line, then cover it in foil tape from the duct work aisle. Might want to use the fiberglass stuff where it runs near exhaust. You can give the bowl of the carb the same treatment if you want. In one case this took a car that would stumble in gridlock if it was hotter than 75 or so outside, to running fine in 95 degree heat. All I did on that one was insulate the line that ran over the engine from the carb to the rubber connection hose at the firewall (electric pump car), and a short section of the line on the other side of the rubber that was easy to reach, and put a strip of foil tape on the bowl where it was next to the water neck.

Thanks for the thoughts guys! Kenny_McCormick I should have made my self more clear it was not soaking wet like it was over flowing but moist like maybe the gas had condensated there?! Does that make more since?

Duster- it does have a return right of the fire wall but I wish it was a return style carb that would keep the fresh gas to the carb and not have the 2 ft of line where gas is just sitting getting hot.

Any way looking around online and foud that a carb spacer helps a lot but that will mean less hood clearance for me but I think it has to be done. As well as covering the fuel line and building a bracket so that the hose does not reat on the valve cover and get hot that way. I will also open the carb back up when I install the spacer to make sure the float needles didn't get any trash stuck in them keeping them from sealing up.

Yeah, I can believe that.

How much rubber hose is in the system? Shouldn't be much more than a foot. Kinda difficult to insulate the rubber line more than it naturally is. Phenolic spacer does help if you don't have one, even a thin one. I've also seen an aluminum sheet the size of the whole carb, maybe a bit bigger, on top of the spacer to shield the carb from the engine. Like I said though, just insulating the line in the engine bay can be very effective.

I have about 2 feet. About a foot that comes off the hard line up to the fuel bypass regulator then another foot over to the carb itself. I have seen the aluminum plates but I will try a phenolic spacer and then cover as much of the fuel like as i can to keep radent heat off the line.

Made some progress on the car last night but first here is the vext video!

This was very very rushed with trying to get the trans rebuilt and getting the car to the exhaust shop but hope you enjoy!

-RX7 Video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVGh22uhpwk

That sounds pretty darn good for fart cannons!

Nicely done video! I always love it when someone puts the extra effort into shooting and editing to make a polished finished product.

In reply to Mezzanine:

Thanks! I would not call that polished more like hey I want to get a video but my hands are still covered in trans fluid so ill just knock this out real quick!

In reply to Cleverfrog:

I think the sound came out really well I was nervous since there really are not any good videos of a 302 with fart pipes but Im very happy with it!