Confessions of a Rotard: Building Something Fast Enough to Scare Me
#41
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Alright so I'm back from a nearly 4,000 mile round trip to Ohio and have had some time to work on the car... this is what I helped my friend pick up. A '95 NSX (yes it is a complete car, just in pieces, it will be a caged wheel to wheel car very soon.)
I got the electric water pump plate that I bought from a fellow 8Club member (VICEdOUT) and there was even something extra in the box! I've never gotten bonus parts gifted to me before LOL! It was a set of stock fuel rails that have been modified to use an external regulator and -06 AN fittings. Might be able to put it to good use, we'll see later on down the road.
The first thing I did when I was back was install the Brooks Motorsport Composites wing since it was taking up so much damn space in the house.
Taped off the cuts, the paint still chipped but whatever, it's a race car.
Made both sides symmetrical with some strings and stuffs.
Drill holes, cut in between, then used a file to fine tune it so it fit the upright perfectly.
First upright dropped through the slot.
Just bolted into place for now. I'm going to reinforce that trunk area with some aluminum diamond plate I have sitting around so it will be much stronger. I am also going to secure the upright to that vertical metal panel you see in the picture, and possibly a forward tie that goes to the cage.
Here it is just sitting in the slots, it's not bolted down or lined up yet in this picture. Also, NSX lurking in the background awaiting final delivery to my buddy's place.
Installed and bolted down. It is SUPER strong vertically but horizontally has a little too side to side flex. I have a solution to strengthen it horizontally, I'll post about it when I try it and if it works. I also took the stock spoiler off, I think it looks much better that way. Also I don't like the way this thing looks in pictures, it's much better in real life and will probably look much better once it's cleaned up and I use a real camera instead of my cell phone.
As for progress on the motor... I tore it down to a shortblock, got the huge flywheel nut off no problem, impact zapped it right off, but I spent ALL OF TODAY fighting with the ******* eccentric shaft bolt. I soaked it with penetrating oil for two hours, tried to impact it off, no dice, soaked for 1 more hour, used propane torch on it for 20 minutes, impact, no dice. Then used propane torch for 15 more minutes, locked the flywheel with an 8 foot piece of unistrut bolted to it (I'm tossing it anyways) and a breaker bar with a 4 foot tube on the end, no dice. Went to the store while the bolt was soaking in penetrating oil more, bought a MAP torch, heated it till it was glowing cherry red hot, sat on it with an impact for like 5 whole minutes, then heated it back up, used the cheater bar setup and I sheared the square 1/2" male socket adapter right off the head of the breaker bar, then I gave up and rolled that piece of **** in back in the garage. Massively frustrated by this. My buddy has a 1" drive impact wrench and a 300PSI nitrogen tank that I am going to borrow, and that ****** is coming off if it's the last thing I do.
Pictures because build thread...
Stupid bolt...
Well I came up with my own technique after the big impact wouldn't do it on its own... 1" Drive Impact Wrench that weighs 40lbs and produces 2,000 ft-lbs peak torque, and a monkey wrench with 3 foot cheater bar after heating the bolt with a MAP torch.
At the same time.
What a nightmare... onwards with the build.
I got the electric water pump plate that I bought from a fellow 8Club member (VICEdOUT) and there was even something extra in the box! I've never gotten bonus parts gifted to me before LOL! It was a set of stock fuel rails that have been modified to use an external regulator and -06 AN fittings. Might be able to put it to good use, we'll see later on down the road.
The first thing I did when I was back was install the Brooks Motorsport Composites wing since it was taking up so much damn space in the house.
Taped off the cuts, the paint still chipped but whatever, it's a race car.
Made both sides symmetrical with some strings and stuffs.
Drill holes, cut in between, then used a file to fine tune it so it fit the upright perfectly.
First upright dropped through the slot.
Just bolted into place for now. I'm going to reinforce that trunk area with some aluminum diamond plate I have sitting around so it will be much stronger. I am also going to secure the upright to that vertical metal panel you see in the picture, and possibly a forward tie that goes to the cage.
Here it is just sitting in the slots, it's not bolted down or lined up yet in this picture. Also, NSX lurking in the background awaiting final delivery to my buddy's place.
Installed and bolted down. It is SUPER strong vertically but horizontally has a little too side to side flex. I have a solution to strengthen it horizontally, I'll post about it when I try it and if it works. I also took the stock spoiler off, I think it looks much better that way. Also I don't like the way this thing looks in pictures, it's much better in real life and will probably look much better once it's cleaned up and I use a real camera instead of my cell phone.
As for progress on the motor... I tore it down to a shortblock, got the huge flywheel nut off no problem, impact zapped it right off, but I spent ALL OF TODAY fighting with the ******* eccentric shaft bolt. I soaked it with penetrating oil for two hours, tried to impact it off, no dice, soaked for 1 more hour, used propane torch on it for 20 minutes, impact, no dice. Then used propane torch for 15 more minutes, locked the flywheel with an 8 foot piece of unistrut bolted to it (I'm tossing it anyways) and a breaker bar with a 4 foot tube on the end, no dice. Went to the store while the bolt was soaking in penetrating oil more, bought a MAP torch, heated it till it was glowing cherry red hot, sat on it with an impact for like 5 whole minutes, then heated it back up, used the cheater bar setup and I sheared the square 1/2" male socket adapter right off the head of the breaker bar, then I gave up and rolled that piece of **** in back in the garage. Massively frustrated by this. My buddy has a 1" drive impact wrench and a 300PSI nitrogen tank that I am going to borrow, and that ****** is coming off if it's the last thing I do.
Pictures because build thread...
Stupid bolt...
Well I came up with my own technique after the big impact wouldn't do it on its own... 1" Drive Impact Wrench that weighs 40lbs and produces 2,000 ft-lbs peak torque, and a monkey wrench with 3 foot cheater bar after heating the bolt with a MAP torch.
At the same time.
What a nightmare... onwards with the build.
#43
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You have to understand that Arca_ex isn't actually making progress at this pace. He's taken these pictures over the course of three years, and is just now starting to upload them at an accelerated rate.
The car itself was scrapped last winter, after the oil expelled through the hole in the side of the block caused a loss of directional control and resulted in a nose-first meeting with a retaining wall at Spring Mountain.
Who knew that rotaries could even fail like that? Learn something new every day...
The car itself was scrapped last winter, after the oil expelled through the hole in the side of the block caused a loss of directional control and resulted in a nose-first meeting with a retaining wall at Spring Mountain.
Who knew that rotaries could even fail like that? Learn something new every day...
#44
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You have to understand that Arca_ex isn't actually making progress at this pace. He's taken these pictures over the course of three years, and is just now starting to upload them at an accelerated rate.
The car itself was scrapped last winter, after the oil expelled through the hole in the side of the block caused a loss of directional control and resulted in a nose-first meeting with a retaining wall at Spring Mountain.
Who knew that rotaries could even fail like that? Learn something new every day...
The car itself was scrapped last winter, after the oil expelled through the hole in the side of the block caused a loss of directional control and resulted in a nose-first meeting with a retaining wall at Spring Mountain.
Who knew that rotaries could even fail like that? Learn something new every day...
Did Aidan put you up to that? I've never been to spring mountain or wrecked a car ha.
Last edited by Arca_ex; 06-29-2016 at 08:11 PM.
#45
SADFab Destructive Testing Engineer
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Great minds think alike
Usually rotaries don't last long enough to get going fast enough to be totaled. Somehow this one was coaxed in to surviving a little longer than usual.
Usually rotaries don't last long enough to get going fast enough to be totaled. Somehow this one was coaxed in to surviving a little longer than usual.
#47
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Time is now mid January-ish?
So the lack of updates has been because I've been really sick... hacking up my lungs and feels like my face is about to explode. Hopefully I feel better by this weekend because I'll be at the track. This is the event that I really wanted to have the RX-8 done for but that's definitely not happening. I will be driving my dad's Miata, we finally registered it as a team car for the appropriate class. Team Beer:30 in TT-E. He will be out of town though so it will be just me driving, I'll try to get some video, my dad picked up a new GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition that I've been dying to try out.
In other news, I found a used wired in AMB transponder and picked that up so I don't have to pay for rentals anymore.
Also I just received my award for the 2013 Time Attack Season, a sweet windbreaker that I can parade myself around in at the track lmao. I finished with the most points overall out of any class and in first place for TA-A which is the 15lbs/HP and up division. There were 11 competitors in my class and 43 competitors total across the three different classes. Looking forward to another good season.
Also my 1-piece Sparco Jade firesuit doesn't fit me very well (the torso is just a little too short... tall people problems) so I found this site that sells used NASCAR firesuits and bought a hilarious one. It's a 2-piece Sparco and fits much better. Crown Royal is the drink of choice at the track parties and I like purple. Plus now I can yell Talladega Nights one liners whenever I please.
So I did the event at WHP East Track and Team Beer:30 (my dad and I) were the only ones in TT-E. Got a leg up on the other guys I guess. Also for time attack... I got second place. I my front tires corded during the first hot lap and my time was 2 seconds slower than what I was running all day. 1:07 vs. 1:09. Also no video, didn't get the memory card in time. Totally forgot about that.
The suit was a huge hit... was definitely hilarious walking around the pits. I constantly got compliments about how awesome it was, got asked to take pictures with various people and spectators, and also was asked a handful of times how I got sponsored by Crown Royal hahaha.
Good times.
Took a couple nicer photos (non-cellphone lol) of the car rolled out in the driveway. The hood and bumper aren't secured they're just sitting there, and the splitter is not on. Also those are 17x9+38 wheels but I bought them with 235mm tires stretched onto them so they look dumb until I can get some 275/40R17 tires for street duty on there. Also the fender vents are just sitting on the fenders I haven't cut or attached them yet. Just wanted to see how they looked.
So the lack of updates has been because I've been really sick... hacking up my lungs and feels like my face is about to explode. Hopefully I feel better by this weekend because I'll be at the track. This is the event that I really wanted to have the RX-8 done for but that's definitely not happening. I will be driving my dad's Miata, we finally registered it as a team car for the appropriate class. Team Beer:30 in TT-E. He will be out of town though so it will be just me driving, I'll try to get some video, my dad picked up a new GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition that I've been dying to try out.
In other news, I found a used wired in AMB transponder and picked that up so I don't have to pay for rentals anymore.
Also I just received my award for the 2013 Time Attack Season, a sweet windbreaker that I can parade myself around in at the track lmao. I finished with the most points overall out of any class and in first place for TA-A which is the 15lbs/HP and up division. There were 11 competitors in my class and 43 competitors total across the three different classes. Looking forward to another good season.
Also my 1-piece Sparco Jade firesuit doesn't fit me very well (the torso is just a little too short... tall people problems) so I found this site that sells used NASCAR firesuits and bought a hilarious one. It's a 2-piece Sparco and fits much better. Crown Royal is the drink of choice at the track parties and I like purple. Plus now I can yell Talladega Nights one liners whenever I please.
So I did the event at WHP East Track and Team Beer:30 (my dad and I) were the only ones in TT-E. Got a leg up on the other guys I guess. Also for time attack... I got second place. I my front tires corded during the first hot lap and my time was 2 seconds slower than what I was running all day. 1:07 vs. 1:09. Also no video, didn't get the memory card in time. Totally forgot about that.
The suit was a huge hit... was definitely hilarious walking around the pits. I constantly got compliments about how awesome it was, got asked to take pictures with various people and spectators, and also was asked a handful of times how I got sponsored by Crown Royal hahaha.
Good times.
Took a couple nicer photos (non-cellphone lol) of the car rolled out in the driveway. The hood and bumper aren't secured they're just sitting there, and the splitter is not on. Also those are 17x9+38 wheels but I bought them with 235mm tires stretched onto them so they look dumb until I can get some 275/40R17 tires for street duty on there. Also the fender vents are just sitting on the fenders I haven't cut or attached them yet. Just wanted to see how they looked.
#52
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And now motor tear down time. Looks pretty decent to me, but I have extremely limited experience so who knows. This is my first time tearing apart a motor. 104k miles on the motor, I acquired the car at 74k, third owner. First two owners didn't even know it consumed oil on purpose so it probably wasn't cared for very well. Was pulled because it lacked top end power and because of a pretty bad front main oil seal leak.
Found that most of the exhaust ports were just PACKED with crud, was probably why it didn't make good power up top, it couldn't breath. Also there was a TON of carbon build up. I used seafoam on this car probably about 4 times and after seeing this, I'm pretty sure it didn't do a whole lot at all... I'm lucky that it didn't chunk off and destroy the housings and irons.
Now it's time to send stuff out for machine work, order the rebuild kit from Mazdaspeed motorsports then when everything is ready, get this thing rebuilt and back in the car.
Also I just wiped down all the surfaces with a paper towel so far, I haven't really cleaned any of them that well. So some of the buildup may look like the hard parts are in tough shape but it's just oil and carbon and crap still on them.
Next step is porting the irons, I have a local place that will be doing the lapping, and the housings will be sent out to Freelance Motorsports for some CNC action, I just have to submit the photos of the housings so they can either approve or deny my work request.
Loves me some of this... can't get it here on the West Coast, I'm down to my last 6 pack :(
Found that most of the exhaust ports were just PACKED with crud, was probably why it didn't make good power up top, it couldn't breath. Also there was a TON of carbon build up. I used seafoam on this car probably about 4 times and after seeing this, I'm pretty sure it didn't do a whole lot at all... I'm lucky that it didn't chunk off and destroy the housings and irons.
Now it's time to send stuff out for machine work, order the rebuild kit from Mazdaspeed motorsports then when everything is ready, get this thing rebuilt and back in the car.
Also I just wiped down all the surfaces with a paper towel so far, I haven't really cleaned any of them that well. So some of the buildup may look like the hard parts are in tough shape but it's just oil and carbon and crap still on them.
Next step is porting the irons, I have a local place that will be doing the lapping, and the housings will be sent out to Freelance Motorsports for some CNC action, I just have to submit the photos of the housings so they can either approve or deny my work request.
Loves me some of this... can't get it here on the West Coast, I'm down to my last 6 pack :(
#53
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So, this is the point where the thread is pretty much caught up to present day. After I tore apart the car, I got laid off and lost motivation to work on it. Has sat ever since but now I have some income to get going on it again.
Here's a random assortment of photos of some of the stuff that I've collected for it.
Raw materials for making the dry sump pan.
Extruded aluminum 4" thick intercooler core.
Griffin dual pass radiator.
Fluidyne dual pass oil coolers.
Relay/Fuse panel.
Turblown exhaust manifold
EFR 9180
Twin 40mm Turbosmart Wastegates
Goodies from Full Function Engineering
6x Injector Dynamics ID1300's.
90mm Throttle Body
Bunch of other stuff and my 13b-REW that I have. Big street port, pinned, studded etc. etc.
Here's a random assortment of photos of some of the stuff that I've collected for it.
Raw materials for making the dry sump pan.
Extruded aluminum 4" thick intercooler core.
Griffin dual pass radiator.
Fluidyne dual pass oil coolers.
Relay/Fuse panel.
Turblown exhaust manifold
EFR 9180
Twin 40mm Turbosmart Wastegates
Goodies from Full Function Engineering
6x Injector Dynamics ID1300's.
90mm Throttle Body
Bunch of other stuff and my 13b-REW that I have. Big street port, pinned, studded etc. etc.
#55
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I want to make it to 600+ WHP. The turbo should max out around 700WHP but I plan to stop at 25 PSI which should be between 600 and 650 if I've done all my bench racing math the right way.
#57
Nice. I always liked big turbo 13b with an external wastegate. Loud as ****. Fast too! Any time I hear one, it reminds me of when I was little, there was a guy down the street that had a red one, big single turbo, and I could hear it miles away when he'd accelerate to the highway.
Anyways, nice build, I'll keep watching.
Anyways, nice build, I'll keep watching.
#59
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Randomly stumbled on this thread and it makes me want an rx8.
My buddy wants to sell me an FC for 5k and it's taking everything i have to fight the temptation.
in for more pics of underhood bling
My buddy wants to sell me an FC for 5k and it's taking everything i have to fight the temptation.
in for more pics of underhood bling