Project 83 RX7 Stage Car

Nah, all the MT ones had it apparently

Zack somebody bumped a thread from 2012 where an arf-ful lotta what will be coming up is hashed over, Good reading and some nice piccies too, like the struts I made from that loon Alex Staidle"s 1st Gen with 2nd gen front stuff--Nice:

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Yeah, I just read through that today. Those fronts look nice! I'm probably going to make my own rear shock towers with that 15mm top part and then you'd be able to make the fronts with 2nd gen lower knuckle part and the first gen top hat? One thing is how tall about should I make the rear towers? It doesn't it really matter? I'll probably call you soon to talk about it. If I order those coilovers from you it will force me to finish the car. Hahaha.

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-Zack

Alright, I finished up porting the intake ports and they turned out really good and equal between all 4. I'm going to start the exhaust porting, but have seen so many different opinions and am not sure which to do. I will be shipping my end and intermediate plates to Racing Beat to get resurfaced soon too.

The intake porting is a big street port and some say leave the exhaust or make a "D" shape up, or go up and down, and some say go just down. So if anyone has experience I'd like to hear it.

Here's what the Pineapple Racing template says and some of my intake porting.

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-Zack

I pulled the subframe out today, pretty easy. Except for the steering box, does anyone know a easy way to disconnect it from the steering shaft so I can put in the 2nd gen subframe and rack.

Here's some pictures.

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-Zack

You don't disconnect it. You remove the steering wheel, trim, turn signal switch assembly, ignition lock cylinder assembly, and the retainer bracket, and it slides out the front as one large assembly.

That is why a power steering setup is so awesome. It has a separate column, with the same 36-spline end as the FC steering shaft, so all you have to do is cut and extend the steering shaft to mate up.

Good luck finding one. All the morons take it out and put the sloppy, slow manual box in for some reason I can't fathom.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2015 06:05AM by Pete.

Why do I have the feeling I'm going to be looking in my parts car storage area this week...

Quote
Pete
All the morons take it out and put the sloppy, slow manual box in for some reason I can't fathom.

DDOOOOOOOOooooood wha's not to unnerstand, mang?
Weight!

All that weight!
I weighed-did the PS pump, 2 belts and some hose one time cause I wuz gunna crush this dooood on some forum who said it was only adding maybe 11-12 lbs.
I proved that guy was hella fullashit.. It was like 13 lbs additional .. Think of that on a car weighing 2600 Lbs.

That could be the difference between winnin' and loosing the big race and being a total loser..

On both the Volvo and the Xratties the steering turns goes up to 4.2 turns from 3.4 for a 240 ZF rack and 2.65 fort a Xratty rack..

BUT that's a small price to pay for all that huge weigh saving, mang!

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

nah people don't do it for weight, they do it because the P/S is so light in feel. (Which is extra BS because it's speed sensitive - there's no assist above parking lot speeds)

So remove the pump and the 50lb 1/2" plate three-walled pump bracket and loop the lines, the steering isn't heavy and it's faster than even the fast FC rack and pinions.

But what do I know, I've only done it twice.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2015 01:47PM by Pete.

Quote
Pete
nah people don't do it for weight, they do it because the P/S is so light in feel. (Which is extra BS because it's speed sensitive - there's no assist above parking lot speeds)

So remove the pump and the 50lb 1/2" plate three-walled pump bracket and loop the lines, the steering isn't heavy and it's faster than even the fast FC rack and pinions.

But what do I know, I've only done it twice.

They (Volvo and Xratty fan-bois both)---go on and on about weight..
Do the math, man! 13 lbs more!

Of course they far too often look like John Goodman so it seems a trifle....misplaced, but hey!
That's just MY opinion dude!

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

So are you saying to cut the old shaft off of the steering box and then put the 2nd gen rack onto the 1st gen column? Or just get a 2nd gen column and everything?

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-Zack

I dunno. Other people said they used the 2nd gen column, I tried that and wasted eight hours of valuable time trying to make it sit in the car, but it was a giant pile of no f'ing way it was going to work to my standards, so I used my FB power column.

I don't know how you could use an FB manual column via hacking the box. Meaning, I don't know where the bearings are, what the shaft diameter is (you'd have to weld something on there), any details. I know people have spliced quickeners in the manual-box setup but I don't remember who. I only had one manual steering FB, and I drove it that way for about a month before I got sick of it and put a power box/column in it. And if you think pulling the box out sucks now, try doing it with an engine and front suspension in the way.

Evil Pete would say, well if you need to hack some sort of column in anyway, now'd be the time to look into getting an EPAS column from some GM like an HHR or Saturn VUE or something.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

He's saying the 1st gens with power steering had the columns setup differently, with a coupler and stuff, rather than going straight into the steering box.

Also, darnit Evil Pete, you've got me thinking (and god knows I do that a lot anyway)

The problem with the FC column is you can't use the FB turn signal switch with it. It incorporates the headlight switch and every other thing possible. The diameters are different.

Well, that's not THE problem, as the column is also shorter, doesn't fit the dash without a lot of hacking, and a few other problems. But I spent a long time slowly grinding the column down until the FB switch assembly started to fit over it... and I went right through the thing into the upper bearing. I forget why exactly I was dead set on using the FC column in the first place, I think it might have been longer out the firewall.

Depth to driver relative to mounting bracket, FC on left, FB power on right (note super-awesome extended steering wheel for us lanky bastards):



Top ends of same, FC on left FB power on right:



Yeah, I probably wanted it for the length.

Now that I know a little better, or at least think I do, I would have tried to scrounge up a Miata column to see if it was useful. Miatas are wonderful parts donors. They do things a lot like 1st gen RX-7s, only sometimes a lot better.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2015 10:04PM by Pete.

Alright, I guess I'll try to find a Miata column. Otherwise the 1st gen rx7 steering gear and components could still work with the 2nd gen subframe, right? Might do that if all else fails.

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-Zack