"1337 FD" - My 2JZ-powered FD RX-7 Build :D

[YoshiFD3S]

~ Introduction ~

Welcome! My name is Mike, and this build thread is about "Nana", my '94 RX-7 with a 2JZ motor swap.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YoshiFD3S

If you were in the car scene about 10-11 years ago in 2003-ish, you'd have known me as YoshiFC3S because I drove this car:







Before and since then I've owned a multitude of JDM cars including an AE86, 2 other FD's, and a turbo RX-8.

With my 2JZ FD, there's a good 4+ years worth of story before this point, but I feel like the car is close enough to be being done that it warrants a build thread.

So let's start with this!

~ Brief Story ~

So I've been working on this 2JZ swap for about 4 years now. I had previously made 400whp on my rotary setup and I would have stayed rotary, but when I blew a motor and got scammed out of trying to buy a replacement motor, my brother encouraged me to pursue a 2JZ swap which was always a fantasy of mine.

Over the least ~4 years I've had a handful of people work on the car, most of which didn't give a crap about the car and did terrible work. A lot of money has been spent just fixing and repairing their bad work.

More recently, I brought the car to the guys at "Speed For Sale" in Alpharetta. They did PHENOMENAL work by not only fixing all the shoddy work done before them, but they've actually implemented some really innovative solutions and upgrade solutions. My particular 2JZ RX-7 has literally "one of a kind" with some of the unique upgrades that have been done at this point.

For example, when most 2JZ-FD savvy folks think of this swap, the first concern is "bumpsteer" and engine height, etc.

For my swap, the guys at Speed for Sale actually moved my steering rack forward to where it is now completely straight. Usually the steering rack sits back a few inches..kind of like this: \____/

Because my steering rack goes straight across now, I shouldn't encounter any "bumpsteer" issues. To my knowledge I am the only known engine-swapped FD to perform this kind of modification, so the steering geometry changes will be interesting. Once the car is running I'll report my feedback.

My entire sub-frame was also hand-fabricated from scratch. It sits very low and as far back as possible. The guys at SFS actually pushed back my firewall some just to allow for even more clearance.

~ Goals ~

I just want to start at ~400whp and "see what breaks from there" as I like to say. I don't want a 700+hp 10-second death-trap. With 400+whp / 350+tq in a ~2,800lb RX-7 chassis, I should be faster than 99% of cars on the road anyways.

Visually, I'm going for what I call a "modernized" FD look. I want to retain the retro flip-up headlights, and simply accentuate the car's existing body lines..not throw on some crazy body kit that makes new body lines.

Next, let's go ahead with my current "mod" list.

1994 Mazda RX-7 - Chaste White

~ Engine ~

• Toyota 2JZ-GE Engine (rebuilt with all new seals/gaskets)
• ARP Head-Studs
• 2JZ-GTE Coil-Pack Conversion (TPS, ECU, etc.)
• 7M-GTE Cam-Position Sensor
• Boost Logic 2.5mm Head-Gasket
• HKS Timing Belt
• AEM EMS V2 Engine Management System
• AEM UEGO Wideband Sensor/Gauge Kit
• Dakota Digital Universal Speedometer & Tachometer Adapters
• Chase Bays Custom Wiring Harness w/ "Race"-spec Relays/Fuse Boxes
• 550cc Denso Injectors
• Walboro 255lph Fuel Pump
• Modified stock 2JZ-GE fuel rail
• Turbonetics 62-1 Turbo w/ upgraded exhaust turbine, brand new exhaust housing, all re-balanced.
• Turbo XS 2JZ-GE NA-T Turbo Manifold (modified w/ shorter wastegate plumbing)
• Turbosmart 45mm External Wastegate
• Custom bar & plate 4-Row FMIC
• Ron Davis Custom Radiator
• Porsche Dual Electric Radiator Fans (~3,600 CFM)
• 3" Straight-Pipe Exhaust
• 3" Racing Beat Dual-Tip Cat-Back
• Custom A/C & Power-Steering Hydraulic Lines

~ Drivetrain ~

• R154 5-Speed Transmission
• 1JZ Bell-Housing
• 1JZ Light-weight Billet Flywheel
• 1JZ Custom-Made 4-puck (500+hp capable)
• Custom 4-puck Sprung Clutch (rated for 500+hp)
• Custom-ordered Drive-shaft
• Custom-fabricated Reinforced Transmission Brace
• Custom-Fabricated Reinforced Rear-Diff Brace

~ Wheels/Suspension/Brakes ~

• 18X9 +12 Rays Gramlight 57s w/ Titanium Lip
• 245/40/18 Sumitomo HTRZ-II Tires
• Tein Flex Coil-Overs
• Hawk pads
• Cross-drilled Rotors
• Steering Rack relocated. Moved forward. Runs straight across now.
• Shortened Tie-Rods
• Extended Steering Column
• Relocated Front Sway-bar
• Custom Fabricated Sway-Bar Braces

~ Exterior Appearance ~

• Authentic '99 OEM Front-Bumper
• Authentic '99 Front-Lip Spoiler
• Shine Auto "Street" Rear-Diffuser
• Shine Auto "Burnout" Widebody Front & Rear Fenders (not yet installed)
• VIS Racing Replica '99 OEM Carbon-Fiber Rear Spoiler (spoiler is off for now)
• VIS Racing "Scoot" Style Carbon-Fiber Hood (not yet installed)
• VIS Racing Carbon-Fiber Trunk
• APEX-i Side-Skirts

~ Interior ~

• JDM RX-7 "Flying M" Nardi Steering Wheel
• Center-Speaker Triple Gauge Pod
• Defi Red Racer Boost Gauge
• Defi Red Racer Water Temp Gauge
• AEM UEGO Wideband Gauge
• Kenwood DDX512 DVD/Navigation Double-Din
• Infinity Speakers
• Sony X-Plod 10" Subwoofer
• Rockford Fosgate Amp
• Infinity Front & Rear Speakers

Next, I'll post some before-during-after pics of my FD as it's evolved over the years:

~ In the Beginning ~





~ 2JZ Swap Started ~









~ Further Along ~









~ More Recently ~










~ What's Left ? ~

As of 30APR2014, the main things left are:

1.) Finish up any remaining wiring. Dakota Digital Speedo/Tach adapters, radiator fan temp switch, and a few others.

3.) Finish bolting it all up and fill her up w/ fluids. All major fabrication and plumbing are done.

4.) Test it out! - Fire it up using a baseline tune provided by Speed For Sale.

5.) Tune - I'm going to take it back to Speed For Sale for a full-on dyno tune.

6.) Alignment - Get the full 4-wheel alignment. Adjust coil-overs as necessary.

7.) Test-Drive - See if the stupid thing even drives straight!

8.) Enjoy! - There are still a lot of knick-knack items that the car needs. Missing or broken parts, etc....but in the meantime I'll be driving the car to work once or twice a week for fun, and I'll definitely be taking the car to local car meets like Caffeine & Octane.

10.) Wide-Body & Paint - When money allows, I plan to re-spray the entire car with a nice pearl white color, including the carbon-fiber. I'll be re-installing my '99 spoiler at that time, as well. I think I'm also going to look into molding the APEXi side-skirts and then putting some FEED-style carbon-fiber side-skirts on top/underneath them. Should look really sharp with the '99 front-lip and the rear-diffuser!

I'll be updating this thread as the car finishes up.

Thanks to anyone who is interested in my car and is/has been keeping up with it!

UPDATE: April 28th, 2014

Guess who came home today after 4+ years?














I finally got the first part of my tax return which gave me enough to pay my current balance at Speed For Sale, the shop that's been working on the car for the last ~6 months or so.

Unfortunately, after having already paid the shop ~$12,XXX+ in parts/labor...they still wanted another ~$1,200-$1,500 just to get the car "dyno ready" and I simply don't have it. It's not to say that they haven't done ~$12k+ worth of parts/labor...but I simply don't have any more money right now.

So!..Rather than let the car sit at their shop any longer, I decided that if they only need another $1,200-$1,500 (10-15 hours) of work to get the car running enough to be dyno-tuned...then why can't I just do it myself??

Well, not entirely by myself...my brother is a renowned master mechanic and wiring specialist here in Georgia, and he's offered to help me get it running.

According to SFS, the car just needs a few more wires done and then bolt a few things back on.

When the car arrived yesterday I was admittedly overwhelmed by the boxes of random parts and interior and exterior trim pieces (some broken...grr!)...but the more I looked at it, the more I realize just how close the car really is!

With my brother's help I'm confident we can have it running within the next few weeks. For real.

While he's working on the wiring and other items, I'll be doing some major clean-up and installing/reinstalling parts and pieces including some of miscellaneous parts I've been stock-piling over the last couple months or so... JDM steering wheel, rear-diffuser, etc...

So YEAH!

I'm just happy to have the car HOME. Just the feeling of knowing that the car is at a point now where I can control how soon it gets done, instead of waiting (and paying) someone else to do it....is just so exciting!!

Update: April 30th, 2014

Made my first of MANY trips to my local Autozone last night to pick up some necessary shtuff.

I only have a few hand tools and ratchet sets, so I'm kind of starting from scratch when it comes to actual mechanics tools. lol? -_-;;



I also installed the JDM steering wheel that I bought a couple months ago.



Freaking Japanese VS. USDM ..things are ALWAYS wired differently and have other distinct differences from our USDM cars. It took me like 2 hours to figure out what little tricks I had to do to get it to bolt on correctly.

I think I wired up the horn correctly, but the freaking airbag wires are THE SAME COLOR!!! How stupid!! So if I end up wiring that backwards and applying battery power, I could have an airbag in my face. So, I left the airbag unwired for now... I'll see if I can find some better info on the wiring..

Next goal: Install my rear-diffuser!



Can't wait to see it installed!

Stay tuned for more updates!!