The Rocketeer

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Thanks you guys. I believe that replacing every single bushing with Mazda motorsports competition, getting Ohlins, Re-11s and not enjoying the car would be a crime. This car feels brand new as it looks. So much that I hope Jeanne and I are taking it cross country to some National parks. That is still in its scribbles but she okd it vs paying for a rental car and paying a little over 3k for 3 weeks. We also considered a RV but I want to drive it to places I've never been before. Towards September is when we'll be going so I plan to do a full brake restoration along with everything else.


I don't want body kits or flares, aftermarket this and that. I want it clean simple and elegant as it should be. We will be getting new wheels for the car but that's probably after the RE-11s are needing replacement. We'll be getting 18s as it not only looks appropriate on the size of the car but also because of autocrossing. There are better tires then 16s and less sidewall flex. They will be bronze colored.

We did consider getting shine auto feed style skirts, shine auto tail light bill, and or 99 spec side skirts. This isn't on the top of my list to do right away.

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Autocross video from 02/28/2016 held by the PCA

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Installed Jeffs PFC ECU Bracket so its not flopping around. Especially while Autocrossing. Interested to see what other intuitive products he has in store for the Rx7

Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr

[NCGreasemonkey]

Nice run with the PCA!

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So I developed an exhaust leak with the stock twins. It's inevitable. Especially since just about everything has been touched and replaced but the twins with 147k miles. Yes, that number is correct. I put on 22k miles in about a year 20 months on a rotary.

So, tomorrow I am checking out a set of N3G1 99 spec twins along with a HKS down pipe, and a bonez or rx7store.net midpipe. Still need to figure out what it is that's replacing my stock midpipe.

I'm hoping to get it done before autocross this weekend. We'll see.

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What they look like and picked them up in Orlando. They were from the owner in Sarasota who had to commute for some work and it worked out in less then a day to be picked up.

Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr


Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr


I picked up an HKS Downpipe and the twins which seem to be either rebuilt nicely with decently clean and new hardware or its really just that they are extremely low miles.

Either way I'm happy for the secondary turbo fix I'm currently going under way. The 93 turbos are on their way out with just a coolant line and two oil lines in the way of removing the setup.


Heres what the Y-pipe looks like inside. We suspect the Secondary is blowing oil.

Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr

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This crack isn't bad at all. There are exhaust ports with two or multiple cracks that owners install. This set is extremely clean as be been told sharing pictures with friends.

Some people think the 99 twins are overrated and going single is the best decision if the turbo setup is already removed. But these are my thoughts:

I'm already invested in a properly working twin setup. I.E. New vacuum hoses, new solenoids, new parts all oem.
The 99 twins spool faster then the USDM and are more efficient along with adding 40+ additional hp tuned over a tuned USDM
Model.

There are BNR twin turbos which they port the housing for the wider fins. They are even better and more powerful. I would have liked to bought the BNRs but I would be spending 3k when I got a killer deal on the 99 spec turbos.

The turbos and a very expensive HKS downpipe was picked up for 800.

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We wrapped tonight up at 12:30 and were finishing it the install tomorrow. I can't wait to rip it up.

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I also purchased and installed 99 spec twin turbos since I had an exhaust gasket leak on the block to the lower exhaust manifold. I was also burning oil in the secondary(so we think)

Between the exhaust ports was cracked

Open Down pipe start up





Still didn't fix the lower boost on the secondary. The 99s pull a lot harder because they are slightly larger then the 93 usdm models. And they are more efficient. Reason is still being determined why the sequential system on the secondary is running lower boost. Boost on the primary hits hard at 12lbs. Im working on the secondary to match that same psi level to redline.


Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr


Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr


I soften the dampening on the Ohlin coilovers to help out with my oversteering issue where my tail end likes to slide a lot. This helped out a lot during autocross this weekend.
I am thinking of unhooking my rear sway bar in the future for the next event.


Results

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http://cfrsolo2.com/cfrlive/index.htm







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Replaced the hood latch release cable because it broke on the molded plastic part that creates tension. I can now see that Mazda revised the part by adding a little bit of metal overlay.

Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr


I also had to replace the throttle cable because the older one was looking pretty shabby.


Untitled by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr

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This past weekend was awesome at Nantahala Village were Rotaries on the east coast gather for a 4 day event.
Jeanne and I drove up to Atlanta late Wednesday afternoon taking back roads from the Florida Georgia line to Macon on mostly US23. We took our time sight seeing and viewing the Old towns of America like we always do for trips and enjoyed the cruise. We rather not take a Interstate to preplanned destinations if we have the time to avoid them.


The next morning was Thursday and I noticed a big decrease in power other then my slow engagement of the second turbo and low boost. This leak and power loss was affecting the entire power band and there was a big whoosh sound when I got on it. GREAT! only boosting close to 6lbs.

Dale was quick to point a finger and say, "well that doesn't look good. Your problems right there!"

I tore a nice slit in the exhaust pipe to the intercooler. I was glad it was something we can fix with ease and that it wasn't an expensive one. Dale quickly told me that Addicted Performance might have a stock pipe laying around from their work on rx7s. So I crossed my fingers and hoped the entire trip wasn't handicapped to waste gate pressure at DGRR. But I was also happy that it wasn't anything else.

That night we got to Addicted and what do you know, Dale was right. They had a spare hose that they were ready to toss out for that same very reason I had just experienced earlier that day. I paid 20 bucks and had the tools to do a quick but very hot install because we take the dragon to get there. 10 mins later and I'm back to 12lbs primary. Wahoo.

Drove home after dinner at Calhouns which is in Maryville with a group of 13 people. Dinner was good and we are exhausted from the barbecue and long day of driving. We unfortunately took the Dragon back to our lodge and it is no fun driving it at night. It is dark, the percentage of danger increased dramatically and I'm tired. We pushed on and in the middle of the run I get dizzy and somewhat get vertigo and pull to the side because I lost focused. The tree line ended and my headlights hit across the valley to the other side of the mountain and tripped my brain out. The Depth of Field like in photography played games with my sight so I pulled off. I let the other guys in the group drive ahead of me and I followed last regaining my focus. WE all made it back to the village safe and sound.

The next day the group did a run on the Cherohala Skyway. Before we headed out I wanted to know why the car was feeling so out of place and my confidence was out the window. The car didn't feel right to me. I come to find out the dampening on the front struts are at two extremes of full stiff and full soft. NO wonder. This isn't the car that feels great out on an autocross coarse pulling times right behind BSP class. So I dampened all four struts 8 clicks from full stiff. I also was too high on all four tires. I was maximizing my fuel economy up to Atlanta because we all know rotaries are excellent on mpg. Not.

I was at 45 all around and lowered it closer to my Autocross pressures which are 32 up front and 29 in rear. I had 36 up front and 32 in the rear after the deflate. After the adjustments, the car felt normal to me again. I regained my confidence and ran the rest of the day proud and confident. I can't believe how I'm starting to feel the car out and notice when something is wrong. Its taking a while this time around. We drove out to Bryson City to wash the cars off of the extermination performed on the runs and ate dinner at Pasqualianos.

On Friday, the event holds a classic meet for all the rotaries to participate in Judging for best generation RX7s and receive an award that evening. So I got my car at the site rather early. I won't say how early but it was brisk at low 40s. Got there and saw that everyone had left their cars in the lot over night. There were two unofficial parking spaces left so I pulled backwards into one. I walked back to my cabin made coffee and got ready for the day. I let Jeanne sit back on this event so she isn't overloaded with cars this cars that blah rotary brap brap. When I walked back to the main lot, everyone was already out cleaning their cars with detailer and rags of micro fiber clothe. So I began my quick clean up of the engine bay and wiped all the pollen that the Appalachian had given to me. I detailed the outside just in time and the meet was underway.

I took some pictures of other rotaries and enrolled in the car show. The meet closed at around 12 and Jeanne and I headed to Bryson City to enjoy each others company as well as eat lunch and go shopping at mom and pop venues.

We ate lunch at https://www.theeveretthotel.com/bistro.html which is a farm to table restaurant and it was FANTASTIC. Not expensive at all. It was delicious. After Lunch we walked around antique shops, stopped by the local brewery to try a flight of beers and bought a bomber to bring back home. We also discovered that the train depot in the middle of the city does rides through the mountains leaving at 10 and arriving at 3pm. It is something we might do next year. The though of riding a train along mountainside and through tunnels excites me. Its something a car can not do.

We walked back to our car and stopped by an old Soda Fountain business and had Chocolate and Vanilla malts for the ride back to the resort to meet up with the Florida crew to eat dinner at https://noc.com/places/restaurants/r...end-restaurant

Super delicious food and big portions. This restaurant was inspired to feed hungry hikers. Plus its on the river with locals fly fishing and kayakers. I ordered local trout tacos which was good and Jeanne ate the Sherpa. For dessert there was peach and apple cobbler. We were excited to get the blackberry cobbler but they changed it up a bit. Don't get me wrong. The apple cobbler topped with vanilla ice-cream was just as good.

So we paid our bill and head back home for the raffling prizes and awards. Jeanne and I held our tickets for the drawings and we won a long sleeve DGRR shirt, mazda iron on badge, IRPerformance Poly Urethane Motor Mounts, two adaptronic hats, Concentrated jug of rubber/vinyl cleaner, and some miscellaneous stuff. It was a good roll for us. But that didn't end the night. Awards for best car was being announced. I'm already pretty happy about the motor mounts.

So we hear the awards being named for best SA and FC with first, second, and third place. It was time for the FD awards. And what do I mistakenly hear? Third place FD goes to Heraldo!!! Now I was confused because it wasn't my name. But I've been called that in the past by friends and it couldn't be me. There were too many other good looking FD's out there with single turbo this, AERO that , Widebody, 3 piece wheels and so forth. I'm just a simple clean FD that stuck to how he wanted to share what an FD should look like for others to enjoy. And that is just that. I was a simple clean example of a car that we all love. And I received 3rd place after I was called up more then once and car was described as Montego blue.

I was super honored to receive the award and very gracious. I almost wanted to grab the megaphone and say an Academy Awards speech naming Jeanne as priority of the award.


That ended my day and my entire year of hard work getting the car to the point to where it is at right now.

As a bonus for the drive home, the car performed 342.7 miles on a tank of gas before triggering the low fuel light. I filled up 15.63 gallons which equates to 21.9257 mpg.

Remember I'm not tuned but running the base map off the PFC ecu. We also took a very nice curvy road back home that is in North Carolina. I will get that route later tonight to post it up. It was a beautiful drive with creeks alongside of the road, lakes, and falls.

Pictures follows......

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I purchased some updated twin turbo intakes to get rid of the pettit racing filters etc.

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DSC09293 by Gerald Mugar, on Flickr