But that’s not all for the suspension – I saved the best for last. Bilstein 46mm universal motorsport shocks – custom adapted for the rx7 FC and rally application, the top hats are a custom design from TRF who I had assemble and install these pieces, these things are serviceable with an off the shelf bearing and simple to replace. This allowed me an extra 1.5” of travel and ride height (from stock) so now I won’t be lowered in the front and raised in the rear, the car should handle much better and boy it sure did – noticeable improvements as the next day I took 2nd in rallycross (with 2 spins) and only lost 1st place by 1 cone.
The strut tower tops were already a bit beefy and they got even beefier.
I got tired of throwing cones in the front wheel bearings and if anyone here knows how much of a pain these things are a new hub is about 500 dollars but a new bearing is about 20. Don’t follow mazdatrix’s design of grind at 2 opposite ends and that gives you the space to press out the old races, just get a welder and start making a bead all the way around, then you will hit it with a mallet and it will just fall out due to the thermal expansion, it may take a few wacks but it works, you can get it most of the way and use a punch to get the race out the rest then it is just install races as you would normally would with a press.
With the suspension done it was time to move onto the fuel system.
I had about a 1 psi fuel leak at the sending unit assembly area. The threaded holes are blind and an M3 or M4 fine thread with a very short size overall so very small hardware but if you decide to use a longer bolt (which is easier to install) YOU WILL PUNCTURE THESE BLIND HOLES AND MAKE THEM THROUGH HOLES! Which means that the gasket no longer serves its purpose as it was designed to do. SO I went all out on this repair and was hoping to do it before LSPR but I was able to mend it enough where it was only a weep instead of a leak. Still not ideal though
So I went with the Stu Kelly Motorsports billet aluminum sending unit for AN fittings, also allowing provisions for fuel level sender w/ electrical hookup. Assuming that my existing sending unit was bent or warped.
And a new gas tank! (which you can still order from Mazda) as for me to repair the threads on the old gas tank was not working with epoxy/JB weld, it would need to be braised and repaired accordingly. Not something I wanted to attempt but I’m sure there are places nearby me in Metro Detroit. You do have to swap over those foam pads ontop of the tank as they are needed to position the tank correctly, this sending unit is a bit tall so I had to put more of the foam on one side so it would tilt downward slightly so the fittings would clear the floor, otherwise they were too tall and it was impossible to install the AN hoses. FYI for anyone using this sending unit.
I already had AN bulkheads to getting hoses to make the tank to bulkhead connection was easy. Since I was doing all this work and I wanted to do it once, I replaced the fuel pump with the Mazda motorsports fuel pump (stock 20B pump apparently) Now I have a very robust fuel system and out lots of money but at least it is safe and unlikely to burn down now…
Here is good comparison of it next to the walbro
So with fuel upgraded and an alignment done, wheel bearings replaced in the front the key parts were completed in preparation for SD2019.
Found out I can’t grease my u-joints with the driveshaft installed in the car so I skipped that step and just changed the rear diff fluid because the vent is relocated in the car so I hit water puddles without worrying about water contamination – problem with this is that when you cook the fluid the cab stinks like hot diff fluid which isn’t so great smelling. Never got around to dropping the trans or doing any clutch stuff, everything was working so I didn’t mess with anything, plus if I drop the exhaust I would probably just replace it, it is getting to be in poor shape and I had to patch a few welds to prevent the leaks.
After that it was just remove all of the old Rally-America stickers (that I bought for LSPR… and paid a premium for…) only to install the American Rally Association stickers another big change is going from G2 (2wd limited) to G5 (2d open) because of the rule differences – body work may be modified but must be original material/construction/resemble OEM.
Well my lights are different, the hood is fiberglass, the roof is aluminum and the hatch is plastic.
Also G2/L2WD state no porting can be done but the rule is intended to keep cars under 210-225whp so with the streetport and bodywork and with some recent stage times being overall competitive it was time to go to open class. Now I can loose about 300lbs off the car and still be in the class which will be like adding 30hp in an already quick car for ~190whp.
So Sno*Drift prep is done well what about Sno*drift itself?
1st in class regionally! (out of 3) but the other car got stuck for a long time on day 1 as well and the 3rd car DNF’d due to some car issue on Friday. Big change is that the regionally rally is 2 days long instead of two 1 day rallies.
But here is the re-cap:
Day 1 was WITHOUT HEAT!! (due to my own fault for having the heater core plunger in the wrong direction inhibiting the flow of coolant) and temps were as low as -20F. so stage 2 I stuffed it right out of the hole for no reason other than being a jerk, was able to get pulled out minutes later but ended up holding several cars up, only to crash about a mile later (going about 8mph) due to fogged up windshield with our heavy breathing from trying to be unstuck. Got tugged once more and meanwhile struggling to see and concentrate in the cold I biffed a 90* right hand corner that was deceptive #930 in the honda CRZ K series swap pulled us out with extreme enthusiasm (A+ for effort & force) and a few tugs later we were out! The rest of the day was uneventful and we managed to keep it on the road for the tight and rough stages of day 1.
Day 2. was more promising back up to middle pack out on road (and with heat/defrost!, easy fix Friday night, 5 zipties and beer) and I really enjoyed the fast wide roads but managed to make a stupid mistake on a 90* left hander, went wide and beached it about a half mile from the finish at that point, got tugged out again and carried on but this time we did not hold up anyone. Had really enjoyed the 16 mile stage, took 9th overall on the first running of that stage and was 2nd in 2wd behind #845 in the civic (which is a feat in itself as that guy is a local and the honda makes about 250whp) only to find myself passing by camp 8 on the same spot where we visit the folks of Griffin Thermal Products every year for the past 12 years to get stuck on the icy downhill section (I literally have seen dozens of cars get stuck here over the many years, it was no surprise just hot doggin' it like a jerk) Lake Effect Rally Team pulled us out quickly and then had to get the car fired up quickly (fuel pump relay got disconnected on accident by myself) and we continued on the remainder of the stages without incident and placed 10th overall on bonfire alley which was a riot!
Car came out unharmed and we had a great time! So here are the action shots!
