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Author Topic: Kingers Garage  (Read 100560 times)

Offline kinger

Kingers Garage
« on: June 22, 2016, 01:30:34 PM »
Hello everyone!

After lurking on here for years and searching for a RX-7 I am finally able to make a build thread post!  Per the title I have purchased Halfspec's 7.  I had been following his build thread for years (located here:  http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=70.0  )and always said if that dude ever sells that thing I NEED it.  LOL  So I was the one to get to him first, but another member on here beat my offer and purchased it.  Lane gave me a opportunity to counter and was really cool about the whole deal but I was tapped out on my budget.  After it sold I had serious remorse and e-mailed Lane and said if the time is right give the new owner my name and contact just in case  :drive:

About 2 weeks later I get a PM on here from the new owner and we started talking and anyway I moved my budget up and purchased the car from him.  By this time the car had made it to Charleston about 9 hours FURTHER from me here in Iowa so I had to have it shipped. 

Car shipping - WHAT A PROCESS, well it is for something reasonable.  When you go to some of these sites to request a quote you must get put on some automatic thing because my phone started to blow up with texts and calls non stop!  I picked a company but they couldn't ever get to the pick up so I had to switch gears and got another company to pick up.  When they did they arrived at the sellers house like 4 hours late in the evening (10-11pm) and it was off.  Took over 6 days to get here but it arrived in perfect shape, not even any water marks, just dusty so they must have drove it in sunlight only  :)

For those that don't know I had been searching for a RX-7 for many years about 8 to be exact.  I am picky and I wanted one with a near mint black interior and I wanted a 95 for no reason other than to keep some resale and add to the uniqueness.  I then stumbled on this site and Halfspec's thread and there I was patiently watched behind the scenes for updates!  Over the years I knew this car was the one.  In fact I was bugging my wife about this exact car many years ago, to which a eye roll followed.  :)  Fast forward and I was still yipping about the car and she knew I wasn't going to stop HAHA. 

So I am elated to say the least.  This is the "one" for me.  I have only EVER seen 2 FD's in the upper midwest.  1 was running the other was a shell.  So they are rarer than rare up here.  I have a history with modifying cars like most on here, I wont go into a ton of detail about those but this will be my first 'toy' the others were all my functional transportation, I now rely on my '16 F-150 SE for that.  That said, and Lane can attest I am a FD NEWB beyond belief I was caught up trying to find one, I never put the time into understanding the idiosyncrasies of them.  Lane has been very helpful so far but to those that may comment don't assume I know what your talking about!  LOL  I will get up to speed eventually but in the meantime I appreciate any and all 'tips' or tricks that you all have learned. 

I will do a driving impression and some pictures thread in a while, this week I head out on a 4 hour drive with the car, and I'm so excited to spend that much time in it.  Can't wait!  So far only having it for a day I have put 60 miles on it and one WOW describes it!  More to come!!
« Last Edit: June 04, 2018, 12:10:45 PM by kinger »
93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights

Offline digital_hoon

Quite the process to finally get your hands on it...I'm sure it was all worth it. Congrats - you got one helluva car!
www.C2renders.com  - Digital marketing assets tailored to the automotive aftermarket.

'07 RS4
'93 Montego Blue FD - Mid-operation

Offline digitalsolo

You definitely bought one of the best V8 FDs ever assembled.  Congrats!
Blake MF'ing McBride
1988 Mazda RX7 - Turbo LS1/T56/ProEFI/8.8/Not Slow...   sold.
1965 Mustang Coupe - TT Coyote, TR6060, modern brakes/suspension...
2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage - Gen V LT4/TR6060, upper/lower pullies, headers, tune.
2021 Tesla Model 3 Performance - Stock...ish.


Offline XLR8

Very glad to see the car make it into good hands.  This car is special and you definitely have quite a story behind finally getting it. 

Congrats!  ENJOY!!!
94 MB Base...416 LS3 Stroker......Build Thread

Offline kinger

Some pictures!  We have all seen the car so my photography won't match Lanes but some iPhone Picts are still fun right? 

Not off the truck 1 hour and got plates and drove to work!



All cleaned up!  I was happy I found a few flaws in the paint so I feel better about driving it LOL



My 5 year old who is captivated by this thing and won't leave it alone!  I have a feeling many a lesson will be taught with this baby!







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights

Offline cool

Congrats on the purchase. 

Offline GEAUX FAST

Congrats!

Offline kinger

Got some serious seat time in this baby after a 230 mile road trip. First off I was so excited to drive it. I just left...lol. Never brought tools or checked the oil, just took off!  Well it didn't matter, car is 100% quality and ran perfect. It starts within a half turn of the key, it purrs at idle warm or cold. Just works. The reason for the road trip was a annual trip I take where my home friends from Kindergarten -5th grade all have stayed in touch over the years and now live in 6 different states and we pick a place to meet. Ironically this year we went back to where we were from and I got to drive the 7 and keep it in a nice garage all weekend.  I'm in upper 30's but when we get together we're just 18 year olds again. Back in the day I always had the cool car with a cool system and they know I work my rear tail off now with 2 high profile careers so they were proud to see me in my dream car, to which they all said that is you 100%. LOL.

Here is one of my friends just sitting around in it.



Random shot on the interstate.


I don't know my MPG yet but it did that on Iike 1/3 tankful!  That also includes a number of 'spirited' runs outside of the interstate. Probably close to 28-30mpg if the speedhut gauge is close.

Overall I'm impressed how the car handles cruising. It is on the loud side at ~95 dB but not unbearable on a cruise like that.  Let go of the wheel and it tracks straight as a arrow.  The Koni and 500/400 springs handled a known choppy road that beats the wee out of most cars very very well.  AC on and I won't say it's COLD by modern standards but it was plenty cool and I was very comfortable in it. I usually run the fan on 4 and aim the vents right at me. It was very nice.

Here is dB app on my phone at 75mph cruise (for reference my new f150 runs about 72dB.


Here it is about 80% throttle in 6th



This is the very first rx7 I have ever driven so I took the opportunity to explore some of my secret back windy roads near my old stomping ground. The car is insane!  I have never had a car handle like this! 

Overall super impressed. The thing is nuts fast and handles like a scared cat, and seems actually fairly refined for a 90s Japanese car. 

I will detail out some of the experiences a kirk more but so far this is an amazing machine! 





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights

Offline halfspec

Glad to see the car's getting driven. That's what I always wanted for it and I'm glad you're of the same mind  :cheers:
Just be glad you got it on exhaust rev2 haha! That dual 3" SS exhaust was batshit insane. My ears would always ring after a 30+ minute drive.

Lane

Offline kinger

Re: Kingers Garage - Enjoying the Mississippi built Stroker 7 by Halfspec
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2016, 03:18:09 PM »
Glad to see the car's getting driven. That's what I always wanted for it and I'm glad you're of the same mind  :cheers:
Just be glad you got it on exhaust rev2 haha! That dual 3" SS exhaust was batshit insane. My ears would always ring after a 30+ minute drive.

Lane

Ha yes for sure am glad you got older and didn't leave that one!  This one is about the max I can tolerate. 

93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights

Offline kinger

Re: Kingers Garage - Enjoying the Mississippi built Stroker 7 by Halfspec
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2016, 03:34:50 PM »
Install of Evo-R LED tailights

One of my least favorite thing about the rx7 was the tailights and I always thought about retrofitting a LED based system in the factory pods. That was until I seen the Evo-R by depo and it was almost 90% what I had in my head.  Got these ordered before I got my car and put them in on day 2 of ownership. Figured most on here know how to do this but in keeping the documentation of this car known here is a little step by step:

Remove the visible screws and keep track as the corner ones are longer

They are snapped in place and carefully pull out to get them out.

Next refer to the back of the Evo lights and make sure the tabs that look like the back of a picture with. Hole and slot match up. For some reason there were none of these cast into the depot lights on the passenger side and one in a different location on the drivers. So remove them and move them. Or in my case destroy them getting them out:



Next locate the plug I that runs all three bulbs. On the passenger side it just pulled up to the existing hole



On the drivers I had to remove the little vent thing to gain access



After that move the L brackets from the stock middle light to the new one:


Next reassemble and there is one green wire to run from the center light and splice into the running lights to create the solid bar when lights are on.







Really updates the rear and I love the look of them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights

Offline GEAUX FAST

Re: Kingers Garage - Enjoying the Mississippi built Stroker 7 by Halfspec
« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2016, 08:45:02 AM »
That does look good

Offline Ls2swap

Re: Kingers Garage - Enjoying the Mississippi built Stroker 7 by Halfspec
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2016, 09:55:19 AM »
Looks great!!!! glad you are enjoying it...............

Offline kinger

Re: Kingers Garage - Enjoying the Mississippi built Stroker 7 by Halfspec
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2016, 03:50:46 PM »
Thanks everyone!   :)

Been putting about 40 miles a day on it and loving it! 

Rattles:

The car has some serious rattles compared to a new one but pretty minor compared to other FDs, since Halfspec got rid of a lot of them I am now tracking down others.  The first one I found and fixed was the hatch, Halfspec let me know he greases those rubber stoppers in the hatch and that helped but on harder bumps the hatch would actually bounce in the latch and it sounded horrible.  I did a little searching and it appears you have a couple options.  1.  Buy new bump stops and shim them so the hatch is tight, 2.  Adjust the latch lower so it makes the deck lid of the hatch lower than the tailights vs flush like it is now, or 3. DUCT TAPE.  Now while there is no reason for any duct tape to be applied to a car of this caliber it was worth a good experiment.  I did both latches in the hatch and on the hood.  To do this you just wrap it around the bottom of the "U" bolt that goes into the latch.  To my surprise the peeps over at the club nailed this.  It eliminated almost all the hatch rattle.  So that is a great sign, I can think further about more permanent solutions down the road but for now, I guess Duct Tape takes the easiest fix award.

I have a severe rattle under the dash up high near the windshield, its not the dash itself or anything that I can reach around there and hold while its running so I will continue to track it down as time allows.  Its definitely a vibration sensitive noise most evident at idle and at certain RPM's where the big stroker and moderate cam does emit some vibration. 

On the exhaust side is the Borla pro XS actually as quiet as everyone says compared to say my Vibrant muffler?  I don't know how they do this, its a different packing material or something but I see more reviews its too quiet and none that its too loud.  Just thinking about options, as my wife still wont go near this car LOL.  (Not a horrible thing LOL)

More to come, I'll just keep posting stuff on daily driving one of these and things I encounter, maintenance, etc. 


93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights