1993 red R1

[murz]

Finished putting everything back together under the hood. Without the air pump, things look a lot better, you can see the primary turbo as well now, and the fact that I had room and space to clean things up. Was it worth it installing the Pineapple Racing Idler pulley? Maybe, considering I had to take the entire water pump housing unit off, and flush the coolant (probably a good idea anyways, though it looked clean and not worn out.) Even if I didn't snap a bolt, I'd have to take off the  housing regardless because the lower stud didn't have enough clearance to install the pulley bracket and had to be removed and replaced with either more slack or the replacement bolt PR supplied.

The front suspension was replaced spontaneously by Will and I Friday night, it looks 100 times better, even though the wheel isn't flush with the wheel. I'm really looking forward to driving it and seeing how it performs. I'm sure it's going to be more of a harsh ride though.

The only thing that's really limiting me now is wheels and tires, (and maybe the cat-back) this is exactly where I want this car to be for now.

[murz]

So finally got around to getting Tein S Springs installed all around, I reused the stock shocks, and have to say so far i'm a huge fan of the this setup. I can tell the car is more stiff, but not uncomfortable at all. The car looks 100X better as well, though it could use spacers or after market wheels and tires.

Springs installed.


Replaced some interior parts here and there, though I still need to replace the steering wheel (perhaps with a late model RX7 Nardi wheel?) and if i'm feeling crazy, get R1 seats (since this is an R1 afterall), though I enjoy the base seats.



Finally have the engine bay back together, the PR idler pulley eliminates the air pump, and you can see the primary turbo now. Of course I've got some new belts installed too. Not sure if I mentioned this too, but I gave the car a coolant flush and changed the oil and used a better oil filter than the crap that was installed from the PO.



The clutch pedal has been fixed, thanks to Will hatching an idea to repair the clutch pedal assembly. Basically, once I removed the assembly, it wasn't as bad as I initially thought.  I'll post what we did in a separate thread. Gotta say, with the springs, the repaired clutch assembly, the car feels much better now! Next up, PFC install!

[awfc3s]

It's amazing how much the car changes just by lowering it slightly. Looking really good man.

[murz]

Thanks man, what a difference it makes! I just need some after market wheels now. Drove it all day today, this setup works really well with the street surprisingly. Car has no issues in the heat as well, in fact the high speed fans never turned on, just the low speed (I wasn't beating on it today, which typically causes the higher speeds to turn on after a while).

[murz]

Replaced both axle seals, no more leaking! Was about a 3 hour job, the first axle took about 2 hours, then the 2nd one took 30 minutes, and another 30 minutes to replace the differential fluid. Wasn't that difficult, but definitely a PITA and messy. It helps taking off the entire brake caliper and rotor if it's being done solo.

[murz]

Power Fuel Controller (PFC) is now installed, running on the base tune for now. The idle is much better, it idles at 750RPM no problem now, before it would jump around a bit.

I've been monitoring the air and water temps this weekend, when I drove to LBI yesterday, temperature was at 90 degrees F outside, the highest the water temp got to was 85c, which is around 185f.

The way home I monitored both water and air, air sat at 40c, and would quickly go up to about 50c when sitting at a traffic light, it would go back down to 40c after cruising for about 2 minutes. I did a few pulls and temps wouldn't rise that much, highest I saw water temp go to was 89c Water temp never exceeded 85c on the way home, which was probably 95f outside. Air temp never went beyond 50c, and only rose that high during stops. 

This tells me my air intake temp was around 10 degrees above ambient temperature, and my water temp is in the normal operating range, not bad! I know I was sweating my balls off the entire time yesterday.

Now, the only issues I'm really having is that during light load throttle blips for downshifting (anything below 3k really) it bogs a bit, you can hear intake suction. Anything more and it's fine though, I reset the PFC to see if that helps, and it didn't seem to make a difference. The other issue is that my boost controller doesn't seem to work at all, I'm definitely over boosting, even with the controller set all the way down or even off. I looked over the vacuum lines and they're all fine, I'll have to do some testing with it.

[pjr]

Congrats on the sweet ride.... looks great!  Especially an R1... very nice.

The guy who recovered my OEM shigt knob also does steering wheels and e-brakes.... his steering wheel recovers are masterful work.  I can dig up the info if you like....

I think the FD OEM wheels look great..... your idea of spacers, coupled with the lowering with the coil overs, is sound. It will give it a great stance.  I wish i did that on my FD and my 2nd NSX.  A friend just did that on his NSX, which suffered the same problem of cars from that era -- too high in the back and wheels way inset  --- and the end result looks great.... nice stance and retaining the originality.

[murz]

Thanks! Yeah send me his info if you have it, that will help me decide New Steering wheel or reupholstered one.

What am I going to do with the wheel situation, that's the biggest question I have right now. After market? Or retain the stock wheels, get some good performance tires (upgrade to 245 most likely from 225), and get some spacers in there to clean things up. Stock wheels would save me quite a bit of money, considering I've spent my Car project funds for the year already. I'm split in the middle right now. I'm also a huge fan of the stock look with flush stock wheels too, but I'll admit how sexy the car looks with some nice after market multi-spoke wheels.

[pjr]

hulanfd3s.... see the thread below:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[murz]

Drove the FD this past weekend for about 10 minutes (would have been longer, but was between appointments) just to ensure everything is working right. I think I have to re-tune the TPS a bit, as it stumbles a bit sometimes if I tap the throttle to downshift at low RPM. Also, I need to replace the passenger door handle, this broke off last year, I have the parts, just need to get to it. Also, if I can find the funds, I need to get wheels and tires! Anyways, going from my sonic daily driver to an FD was quite the leap this weekend.

[murz]

Ending up replacing the stock bus steering wheel with a miata nardi wheel. These are a few mm smaller in diameter than the stock wheel, look better, and aren't hard to fit. Luckily I bought one with the turn signal cancel notches done, and wiring plug and play. It's easy when your car didn't come with cruise control, so just the horn it is. Easily one the best mods i've done so far, the stock wheel feels better with steering, grip and I don't bang my knees on it anymore.

[murz]

Car has been unchanged really, besides the fact that the CPU2 is starting to go, I'll need to fix that soon. I'll get some pictures up sometime when I get around to it.