Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and message with other members of our community.

SignUp Now!

TCP Magic kitted - Bridgeport track car project.

Shakeywakey

Active member
Joined
Jun 18, 2019
Messages
78
Figured I’d start a build thread now things are moving.

So Iv known RX7’s for a long time now and this current one is my third FD. Many years ago I actually did an apprenticeship at WGT Auto developments started there at 15 and left at 18 to join the military. My first FD cost me the grand sum of £1000 when i was 19 (2009) and had the reg REX7 if some of you remember the car. Didnt really have the funds at the time to make the car how I wanted it and ultimately broke that car for bits.

I had an R34 Skyline which I sold in November, it got to the point where I had done everything I wanted to the car and I wanted to get something a little cheaper that I can use on track, saw some really nice cars but the timing was wrong with them being at garages being worked on. I was pretty set on the kinda spec and price I wanted to pay so was waiting for the right car to come up for sale when my mate Jake messaged me randomly on one Friday night and said why don’t I buy his, quick phone call on the Saturday and the money was transferred.

Pic of the old 34
IMG_4311.jpeg


So the FD, some of you may know the car as Jake had it for many years.

Pics of the FD in 1 piece
IMG_5842.jpeg
IMG_5843.jpeg

IMG_5825.jpeg
IMG_5686.jpeg



It’s a pretty serious spec and should suit me perfectly.

I have a decent list of thing I’m currently, or planning on doing to it, which consist of;

-Fit an oem dash to make it slightly more pleasant to be inside
-Esprit 1800mm rear wing
-Chassis mounted front splitter
-Matching front seats and sort out the drivers position
-get rid of the side exit and fit a normal 4” exhaust
-Make some ducting for the v mount and oil coolers
-Smaller turbo than the current Gt4094
-A reliable gearbox solution

I have agreed with Mark to buy his OSG gearbox when he returns from holiday, so that’s the box sorted.

Turbo wise, I have pretty much decided on a G35 1050 which I think would suit my needs and with the engine being a studded bridge port built by colm, should work well. Im hoping it works with my current manifold to save buying a new one but we will see. I’m open to other opinions of turbos to.

Then I’m pretty much going to drive it and upgrade where needed, not sure what diff is in it so may have to address that, and I’m not sure how the yellow speed brakes will manage on track so may be upgrading to AP’s.

I plan on making some cosmetic changes to make the car my own. I’m on the look out for an AD9 bonnet and think I’m going to paint the wheels in the short term. Then change them for something although being 18x11 et15 square the options are somewhat limited.

Hoping to have to car built and on a running in map soon so I can get the miles on and then get on track. I do have a back up car I can use on track (my daily) so not the end of the world if it take a while.

The daily
IMG_5660.jpeg


That’s it for now, will post some updates as I go along.
 
Last edited:
Been messing around with chat GPT to see what wheel colour looks good.

These are meant to be Weds TC105X but seem to be missing some spokes.
IMG_5883.png


And then I tried Mag blue and Bronze. The idea is to paint the Advans I have, but GPT couldn’t manage that and put it on TE’s instead.
IMG_5886.png
IMG_5885.png
 
Last edited:
Had abit of a car day yesterday, borrowed a van, left the house at 0630 and was home at 2130.

First stop was to see Mark and collect the OSG gear box from him.
IMG_5939.jpeg


Iv got a fully working RX8 series 2 to RX7 box now that I’m going to sell if anyone has an idea on how much it’s worth?

Next stop was to go and drop the box off at the garage, first time properly seeing the car and it was looking like a forza barnfind

IMG_5947.jpeg
IMG_5951.jpeg
IMG_5948.jpeg
IMG_5953.jpeg


The car had a recent full re spray and ceramic coating under all that dust.

Whilst at the garage we were discussing turbo options, well the lack of. My plan of sticking a g35 1050 on my current set up isn’t going to work, so now I’m in a position where I’m weighing up if I go all out and get a new everything hot side. This would mean my setup is for sale, so if anyone is after a big boy set up then let me know.

IMG_5946.jpeg


Finally I went and met an old pal who kindly supplied me with some bits to make the interior a slightly nicer place to be in.

IMG_5954.jpeg
 
Good luck with the gearbox mate, hope it works out for you.

Also I would not have been able to leave without giving the car a good clean 😉😂
 
Good luck with the gearbox mate, hope it works out for you.

Also I would not have been able to leave without giving the car a good clean 😉😂
Thanks again, mate. I’m sure it will be fine, worse case I will just change the casing.

Yeh I’m not the precious about cars but even thought the dust and state of the car were bad haha.

I put a pic of it on insta and the previous owner messaged me saying WTF and it had a £6000 respray less than 500 miles ago and been ceramic coated to.
 
Little update, settled on a turbo kit for the car, was waiting on my current turbo selling before buying as last week my son was born and figured with my partner being on maternity for a year I should be a little sensible.

Buuttttt the garage was putting my engine back in today, did a curtesy comp check on it while it was on the deck and rotor 1 has low compression.

This is a zero mile engine!

When I bought the car from Jake I knew he had issues with getting it base mapped and this is what lead to him wanting to go the K20 route.

The engine was built by Col, who Iv spoke to and is a really nice guy and I 100% believe the issue is nothing to do with his work. It was taken to a tuner where they fitted the engine and did a base map and this is where the issues have come from.

100psi rotor 2 and 70psi rotor 1. If I was to guess Id say the tuner has cooked rotor one which is kind of impressive for a base map just to get the car running.

Anyway, plans have somewhat halted and the engine is going back to Col to figure out what’s gone on and rectify. Fingers crossed it’s a simple fix.
 
Last edited:
We put the engine back in that car and “attempted” to get through a run-in calibration. If you want to know the back-story on why it has uneven compression I’d be happy to fill you in.
 
We put the engine back in that car and “attempted” to get through a run-in calibration. If you want to know the back-story on why it has uneven compression I’d be happy to fill you in.
Happy for you to explain to me what you think has gone wrong. Jake has already shared some of you conversations with me so interested to hear your side.
 
The car originally came to us for a check over as it drove like a hovercraft and would struggle to start. Everything was loose, front end not straight, suspension points re-made (badly), ignition table was incredibly aggressive and all over the place, running 9’s afr at idle after we eventually got it running and obvious engine issues.

Customer had it back to remove the engine himself for checking, brought it back for us to take out, engine was inspected and rebuilt by another specialist, then we put it back in.

Noticed a lot of welding debris in the intercooler pipework (possible cause of initial engine failure) so cleaned everything throughly and re-made what needed it.

Corrected a bunch of wiring issues (Ecu was grounded to the block 😅) got it on the dyno and never got above 5k and partial throttle, constant wiring and power supply issues, both fuel pumps melted due to poor grounds (you should see this on the terminals of the surge tank), cartek pdm smoking on and off, ecu would randomly turn off and ignition system issues

In the end we decided not to continue until the problems had been resolved, I believe Jake was planning to take the issues up with the company that wired it but sold up instead.
 
The car originally came to us for a check over as it drove like a hovercraft and would struggle to start. Everything was loose, front end not straight, suspension points re-made (badly), ignition table was incredibly aggressive and all over the place, running 9’s afr at idle after we eventually got it running and obvious engine issues.

Customer had it back to remove the engine himself for checking, brought it back for us to take out, engine was inspected and rebuilt by another specialist, then we put it back in.

Noticed a lot of welding debris in the intercooler pipework (possible cause of initial engine failure) so cleaned everything throughly and re-made what needed it.

Corrected a bunch of wiring issues (Ecu was grounded to the block 😅) got it on the dyno and never got above 5k and partial throttle, constant wiring and power supply issues, both fuel pumps melted due to poor grounds (you should see this on the terminals of the surge tank), cartek pdm smoking on and off, ecu would randomly turn off and ignition system issues

In the end we decided not to continue until the problems had been resolved, I believe Jake was planning to take the issues up with the company that wired it but sold up instead.

Are you referring to the swarf in the intercooler pipe that you said was the reason for the first brand new engine that blew up on your Dyno?

That was then rebuilt, came back to you guys, you fitted it and attempted to base map? Jake or yourself had enough as the car was running like shit and the engine hasn’t been touched since? But now has low compression on Rotor 1 and needs another rebuild.

Racing circuits did all the loom and wiring on that car and are one of the best in the U.K. at that type of stuff. Plus was running fine on the engine prior and worked perfectly when mapped by a different garage before to been taken to you guys.

Even if what you say with all those issues was correct, why would you attempt to map a car with so many serious issues?

From what I understand the car went to a garage to have some issues sort at the beginning of 2024, then went to you guys later in the year when the first (fresh built) engine died. That was rebuilt at the beginning of 2025, you fitted that engine attempted to base map it. And that’s the engine that hasn’t been touched since leaving you guys and now has low compression.
 
Last edited:
That timeline in your last paragraph is about right, all of the issues I listed were arising one after another as we were working through some low rpm steady-state tuning. It was a bit of a fire fighting session to be honest.

I believe a lot of the power supply issues were being caused by the cartek “pdm” in the centre of the dash, but the fuel pump grounds were under-sized and poorly crimped (that caused the melting)

I’m trying to go back through my camera roll as I’m positive we comp tested it (second engine) before we even turned any wheels.
 
I think you’re missing the point that the engine has low compression, directly after you mapped it. A brand new engine went to you, which you fitted and attempted to map. That engine hasn’t been touched since and has low compression on one rotor. I don’t understand why you’re looking for a pic of comp results before mapping, obviously they were good or you wouldn’t have proceeded with mapping, right?

Whether there was a poor ground or the terminals had come loose on the swirlpot from driving is neither here nor there really as it’s an old heavily modified Japanese car, they all have small issues. Well done for finding them and rectifying, but that doesn’t answer why the engine is now fucked.


I never mentioned your company either as I cba with internet nonesense, but you’ve commented so here we are.
 
I’m just trying to give you as much information as I can to try and help you get to the bottom of your issue, and things that might be worth checking so you don’t end up in the same position again. That photo is 100% off that car, it’s the rear slam panel where the tailgate latch is.
 
Back
Top