cib24's 1999 Mazda RX-7 Type RS

[JoeLanger]

did your old turbos look knackered?

 

[cib24]

The twins that came off the car were early spec twins that I bought back at the end of 2015 when I discovered that my 99s were blowing all kinds of oil.

The twins that were removed were blowing a little oil from the secondary but otherwise nothing noticeably wrong with the turbos themselves. However, the manifold was once mint and now definitely has significant cracks around the gasket area and inside.

 

[Satoshi-FD3]

Not unusual for the manifold to crack with the extra heat and abuse on track to be fair. I've seen worse.

 

[cib24]

My new custom carbon air box made to fit around my Greddy SMIC.

 

[Sturneyrx7]

That's a nice touch. I like it.

 

[Ceylon]

Looking good Roy, getting a bit more induction noise now?

Have you done anything to silence the airpump moo?

 

[cib24]

The air box is excellent. It does rub on the right corner however which I am pissed about! It's marked my bonnet.....I expect your Autoexe to rub a bit as well. It's genuinely hard to close the bonnet now, haha.

Anyway, induction noise is higher. In my latest track day video from Snetterton you can hear the rush of air entering the turbos from in the car. It sounds pretty cool to me.

I don't notice the air pump moo.

Cruising air temps are about 8-10 degrees lower than the stock airbox and the car sheds off heat a lot quicker with and without water when flooring it which is nice.

I plan on selling a version of the custom air box for those with aftermarket or stock SMICs and will basically sell the unit minus an air filter to allow the end user to buy the filter themselves. A typical 6" by 5" K&N fits inside the box.

 

[cib24]

Picked up a new ride today.

 

[tomCTR]

Looks nice that mate!

 

[Fiddy]

Looks nice for an ecoboost that

 

[cib24]

Looks nice for an ecoboost that

Haha, it has a few more cylinders than the Ecoboost.

 

[tomCTR]

do You need to run these new engines in or not mate?

 

[cib24]

do You need to run these new engines in or not mate?

Ford manual says the break-in period is 1,000 miles but doesn't define how to go about it. I'm going to treat it like a rotary break-in. Try to generally stay below 4500 RPM for the first 300 miles, then increase the rev limit to 5500 RPM to 600 miles, 6500 RPM to 1000 miles, and then drive it like I stole it and intend to drive it - all the way to redline at 7500 RPM. Vary the revs, the amount of throttle, etc. But other than the rev limit try not to think about my driving style too much.

Not sure when I will change the oil. The US manual says at 5,000 miles while the UK one says 10,000, but you would think that you would do it in the first 500-1000 miles, and then do it again at say 2500 miles before going along with normal intervals.

 

[Spendyrx]

Looks like krytens face

 

[4packet]

Ford manual says the break-in period is 1,000 miles but doesn't define how to go about it. I'm going to treat it like a rotary break-in. Try to generally stay below 4500 RPM for the first 300 miles, then increase the rev limit to 5500 RPM to 600 miles, 6500 RPM to 1000 miles, and then drive it like I stole it and intend to drive it - all the way to redline at 7500 RPM. Vary the revs, the amount of throttle, etc. But other than the rev limit try not to think about my driving style too much.

Not sure when I will change the oil. The US manual says at 5,000 miles while the UK one says 10,000, but you would think that you would do it in the first 500-1000 miles, and then do it again at say 2500 miles before going along with normal intervals.

Cool car.

I have no knowledge of your specific engine, but I don't believe the break in requirement is what it used to be with new OEM engines. Tolerances are so much tighter and components in some instances are match fit, that bedding in bearing surfaces is no longer required. It's unusual to hot test high volume engines at end of line these days (Ford would cold test ie spin them up with oil and coolant, but no fuel), but my current place of work hot test all engines. They don't mess about and hit full load rated speed pretty quickly. That said, I would probably still take it easy on a new engine just in case and adopt something similar to what you have proposed.

I wouldn't worry too much about the oil changes either. The amount of swarf in oil (filter) will be minimal which would be the only reason to change I can think. The US love to change oil regularly whereas in Europe we are obsessed with long service intervals. As a result, the same oil in the US is a lower quality (and cost) to the oil in Europe. This is quoted from the UK oil specialist at Ford when I worked there last.

 

[Satoshi-FD3]

An american buying a muscle car, who would've guessed.

 

[cib24]

Picked up the Stang yesterday after being washed, modestly corrected, polished, PPF (front bumper, bonnet, headlights, wing mirrors), and ceramic coated (2 coats whole body, wheels and brake calipers).

The car is ready to be used year round. I can't wait to rev the hell out of it although I doubt I'll get much traction in the current weather. At this rate of only 175 miles on it, it's going to take me 3-4 months to get to 1,000 miles. I'll need to plan a spa weekend with the girlfriend in the Lake District or something to get some miles on the Stang

!

 

[jack.am]

God damn that expansion tank is ugly though, someone must make a nice alloy or stainless replacement?

 

[cib24]

God damn that expansion tank is ugly though, someone must make a nice alloy or stainless replacement?

Yeah, they make alloy or black ones to match the rest of the bay. I see the point though. Allows you to see the fluid level.

 

[Alexpatrick86]

Hi Roy! This is great build thread and well worth saving. I just spent about 4 hours reading through all the posts! It's a shame you sold this one in the end. It looks great and is very similar to mine these days. I only document mine through Instagram, but do miss a good build thread. Maybe I'll start to update mine.

"When making a sharp left turn the wheel wouldn't turn more than about 60 degrees and there would be a grinding noise when trying to turn more. This issue does not occur at parking lot speeds. We checked for tire rubbing and didn't see anything so I will have to look at the steering rack and bushings this week although I think it is probably the power steering pump going bad."

Did you ever look further into this? I too have an odd grinding sensation on steer during sweeping corners when trying to turn further in. I don't know if its the rack or to start with the pump.

I've just purchased Sake Bomb's Ohlin FPSpec Long Stroke GT Kit to replace the Bilsteins. I think after 25 years they have had it lol. I cant wait to get them on in in the coming weeks once they arrive.

I'm also looking at having the car painted in a similar fashion to what you had done. I can appreciate the frustration at the time with the original finish you received. I'm glad it mostly got sorted int eh end through the paint correction process. PT Chaste White is meant to be a single stage paint and not have an additional clear coat.

Once again, thanks for a well documented and entertaining read!