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So, for 300-350PS at the rear wheels. A recap. Take one FJ20ET. (Here's one Nissan prepared earlier) Add one Garrett GT3071R twin-scroll turbo, one Tial 44mm wastegate and 0.8bar spring, one Bosch Motorsport fuel pump... and a set of Denso 830cc injectors, freshly cleaned and flowtested. Combine all ingredients in engine bay, and set rear wheels to "bake" with the help of a Link G4 Storm. I'm not the sort of person who keeps to deadlines, but would like to have this setup all installed, tuned and running before the middle of next year. Overly ambitious? I hope not!

you know I wouldn't be surprised if half the confusion surrounding seatbelts is to do with the updated VIRM as of April this year. Perhaps a GC like Clint/cletus may be able to clarify. i also know for a fact the front seatbelts in the RX had to be replaced with brand new ones as they no longer met some new fangled retraction requirement, compared to when my Skyline went through compliance a couple of years back, the front belts were still fine even though they were the OEM ones from 1983.

friend of mine finally ripped the in-car footage he took during one of the morning stints at Taupo where he rode shotgun, the lack of brakes meant I was slowing down a lot sooner than I'm used to in my track car at the very end of the clip you can hear me say "It's running a bit hot"... the radiator top sensor finally carked it.

Turns out I didn't even get a chance to bleed the clutch system on the RX-7 after all, as the master cylinder conveniently decided to explode one hour before I was scheduled to leave town for the weekend Managed to limp the car to my friend's garage where he took the cylinder apart, quickly freshened up the bore and made a shim out of a little piece of plastic. Just like MacGyver! after a quick bleed and top-up this was deemed satisfactory as a temp fix, so I set off on my journey south. Shifting was a bit notchy over 4000rpm so I took it easy all of the way... but it's kinda hard to stay in this mindset when the end destination happens to be the racetrack Luckily everything held together and I was able to take the car for a few laps around the track and then back home again that same weekend. I think the weather may have played a big part in helping the car stay in one piece - was a bit reluctant to go all-out in the extremely wet conditions. Now I'm just waiting for some free time (i.e. when I'm not playing around with le squid) to fit the new clutch parts. after the little stint on the track, I'm tempted to open up the exhaust (it's still running the factory heavily restricted and catalyzed system) as there's a very sharp dropoff of power after 4500rpm, but I guess some of this could be attributed to the characteristics of the standard turbo. However the voice of reason in my head tells me I'm better off keeping it standard, otherwise I'll never stop tinkering... what use is an update without pictures?

well, when I tried to get the RX-7 complied as a two-seater the VINZ inspector said I had to totally cover the mounting points, and simply welding over them/putting bolts in and leaving bare metal was no longer acceptable. Installing some sort of professionally moulded and carpeted cover is by far the tidiest way of doing it, albeit expensive/time consuming. in my case, the easiest solution is to source a USDM two-seater interior. Which I'm still searching for

i looked into buying an Atom to run my FJ20... however as others have said, the pricing is a bit steep (half the aux functions of the Storm yet nowhere near half the price). Been changing my mind like the weather lately, now I'm looking at a Haltech E8 to run my shit (it's several years old and still in the region of $1000 second hand tho). Thing is there's so many options out there, and yes many of them are newer and more powerful, but this is the first EMS I've found that will actually talk directly to the oddball Nissan optical trigger and allow me to run coil on spark/sequential injection if I really wanted.

Well the squid named terror ran flawlessly at Taupo racetrack on Tuesday - until early afternoon when alternator #2 decided to go the way of the first one by blowing its voltage regulator as well just like when the first one blew up the only way for me to keep the charge under 15V is to run with the headlights and accessories switched on, otherwise it continues increasing with revs (we've seen it go as high as 19V at 3500rpm and still climbing). Managed to drive it safely home and will get it checked out by a reputable sparky, but it would seem the charging system is cursed in some manner. On the flip side, I now know what aspects of the car require immediate improvement if I'm to chase 300ps... namely the brakes (pads mostly) and suspension, particularly in the rear. All in all, still a pretty successful day. The car was a bit of a handful I must admit, and almost tried to kill me on a couple of occasions when it came on boost whilst trying to navigate the corners (including one series of NASTY tank-slaps that almost saw me colliding side-on with a marshal post), but the FJ20 ran most reliably and sounded awesome man, those guys who punted them around in the '80s - Fury, Seton et al - they be CRAZY. check out that bodyroll, hah and is my rear dish a bit much?

Y44E or something innit? OHV V8 injectron. either way, meancoan. Now someone has to buy a Senturai and you can has Nissan vs. Toyota turf wars like opposing yakuza factions.

And things went well. Sump is more or less straight once again, the oil pump whine is gone, alternator now charges properly, and the accursed chain rattle on startup is also gone forever. ...then the car decided it would start running on 3 cylinders as I drove it back from the werkshop anyway, nursed it home, pulled out the old Iridiums that were installed, and stuck in some standard NGK BP6ES plugs instead. Huzzah, running on four again, apart from a couple of slight misfires when cold - I guess that's what happens if you leave a car sitting for three months and then have to start it on stale 95 octane Spent most of yesterday afternoon driving the car and adjusting the TPS. it's not 100% sorted and still has a slight stumble/miss at a certain manifold vacuum point/throttle position but I guess i could spend the next few days and still not get it exactly right. car's now pretty mcuh ready to be driven in anger around Taupo on tuesday at my mate's memorial trackday. bring it

One may hear the whining of the oil pump in the background of this video I took today. It's a LOT louder when the engine's cold, of course. Sump gets dropped tomorrow so we'll see how things go.

Keen. Can this be the alternative to burgerboes since we haven't had it this month?

apropos of trackday in exactly ten days' time, I decided to give squid a quick shakedown to ensure things still werked. Topped up the brake fluid and checked oil/coolant etc. Went for a quick burn down the road and yup, the grin-inducing surge of power when the thing finally comes on boost is still there things which require doing before then: - Fit reconditioned alternator - Change chain tensioner to get rid of notorious FJ20 startup rattle - New tyres for the 15x8.0s - Bash out sump and check the oil pickup isn't too badly munted (this could be the soul-destroying moment if it turns out that it has) I ran out of things to do, so decided I would waste some time by fitting the sweet Pioneer shelf speakers I scored off tardme the other week: which required about 15 minutes of pissing around in the boot removing wingnuts, re-aligning brackets and re-crimping bullet terminals etc. Success!

I read the first post and was going to ask "Boe, you gonna TANG it?" but then I scrolled down and read the 2nd post Good werk, now what I DON'T want to see is a) camo door cards and spraypainted black interior c) with mesh, to name some tragic case studies I've seen in the past. god knows it's been years since I last saw a FA wagon with the standard interior still in half-decent nick.

Moar problems. I've noticed that if you drive the car after a while the clutch goes extremely hard and gearchanges also become more difficult. The clutch will 'soften' up overnight and/or after periods of sitting of more than a few hours. there are a few theories as to why this could be happening, ranging from air in the lines to a faulty throwout bearing. However following the advice of Unclejake I tested the operation of the clutch with the car sitting in the garage and the engine off. After about ten minutes the pedal did not go hard; likewise after repeating the process with the engine running the same outcome was observed. It seems that it only happens as the car is moving. not sure what this indicates, but either way I need to get it sorted. The fact that I'm taking it on a roadtrip to Taupo this weekend kinda worries me a bit may as well start by replacing and bleeding the hydraulic system.

may have to continue the theme of piking due to the RX-7's problematic clutch or gearbox or whatever the hell it is, at this rate I doubt it will make it to Palmy let alone Taupo. but cheers to all who offered secure storage and a bed for the night

over the weekend I fitted my spare CD headunit to the banana in anticipation of the roadtrip to Taupo/Palmy early next month. I thought about installing my spare amp and sub also, but decided it wasn't worth doing as I'll just be ripping it all out again later on down the track. by some stroke of luck the vehicle happened to come with vintage Pioneer speakers already installed. Which suits me fine as I'm a bit of a Pioneer nutter Plus it made the next step of the planned audio install even more relevant. note the tweeter angle adjustment ("Tilt Axial Two-Way"), these puppies are the epitome of 80s tech. Now 10W nominal power is nothing compared to the speakers of today, but it doesn't matter because I have a cunning plan. with the help of Ewan @ hayatonka I picked up some early 80s Pioneer Lonesome Car-boy audio gear off Yahoo. first up, a couple of cassette decks, an EQ, and a spare GM-4 amp. The decks have broken motors but are fine otherwise. And a third cassette deck that was ridiculously cheap, the seller had no idea if it went or not. Bonus if it does! Rounding it off with a GM-D8 bad boy main amp. This was top of the line back in the early 80s, with a hearty 30W+30W of continuous power (40W MAX). The aim is to open one of the non-functional decks (in the first photo) and somehow figure out a way of tapping a standard auxiliary cable into the pre-amp channels; this way I can attach an external music player and still have treble/bass, volume and fader controls. here's hoping this isn't too ambitious a task

Boo... torrential rain. Looks like the RX-7 stays put on account of the doors still not being hung properly, resulting in water pouring into the cabin through the gaps

Have you tried another battery? I'd rule out a faulty regulator for now, as you only see the voltage increase with the car running, and in that case it's likely that it would be far more than 14.4V.

not sure if the rotor mags are available in 4x114.3, all the examples I've ever seen were 4x110 to suit S1/S2 to be brutally honest the car isn't as mint as it should have been, but i always had the mindset that if it's TOO mint i'd never want to drive it. there are a few issues both exterior and interior that need to be sorted before I'm truly satisfied

some of you may already have noticed that the RX-7 is rolling on different rims than when it first arrived in NZ. The BBS mesh copies it came with had always been earmarked for the dustbin, as they plain don't float my boat at all. (Anyone want to buy them?) the original plan was to hunt down some 15" SSR Mark-IIIs but after weeks of fruitless searching on YAJ I more or less gave up (there simply wasn't anything within budget and in the correct diameter/offset). However I chanced across these brand new old stock WedsSport Professor Fins in 15x6.5 +20 offset, and even though I wasn't really sure how they'd look on the banana I decided to stick a bid on and managed to snap them up for a very sharp price. how sharp, you may ask? the RX-7 is no exception to the uncanny rule that every single car I own has to accumulate multiple sets of wheels over its lifetime; thus in addition to a set of standard Series 3 rims I also possess this set of flat-faced 1980s turbofan style 14x6.0 +35s, I think they're WindMuhle copies but can't be sure. They're in dire need of a blast and repaint, but if I ever feel the urge to toss the Profs for any reason these will be the replacements of choice The dish is indeed a bit much, no? anyway, getting back to the original topic... namely, "how does the RX-7 look on the Professors?" The answer is "bloody nice" actually. Bring a finned wheel some people don't like them all that much, and they may not have gigantic amounts of dish, but I personally reckon they suit the period-spec 'old man with a touch of class' nature of the car down to a tee. And besides, what other wheels are there which haven't already been done to death on a RX-7? the weather was so mint today, I couldn't resist snapping a few moar photagonals of the savanna banana. Next update: the beginnings of an audio install?

good to see another R30 coupe kicking around, doesn't look that badly rustified either from the photos which is a bonus. I'd probably make damn sure there's no rust in the front strut towers either as it's a notorious spot for it to start festering. will definitely be keeping an eye on this either way. the WAKO'S sticker cracks me up, would make an amusing t-shirt design and those seats are old Prelude ones from the looks of things. Is there much of a market for the old NICS (redtop) RB20DET do you think? reason I ask is because a friend will shortly be selling the standard one out of his mint-condition R31 coupe and is most interested in obtaining a decent price for it (including gearbox). but then again I guess a RB20DET is a RB20DET is a RB20DET to most flat peakers

Holy balls, where did this come from. discussion thread merge plox? always had a feeling this was still kicking around, but couldn't find the old project thread so started the new one. Ah well. yeah, have spent two years of farting around trying to get the car road legal. btw, I do have some standard Series 3 rims in storage for it... need a bit o' polishing though. They're the same as the ones yoeddy posted a picture of. oh boy am I eating those werds now non-functional cluster lights = faulty dimmer switch new clock = sussed. Digital JECO one even! Also managed to find a cheap momo wheel for it, and two new stereo surrounds arrived courtesy of Ewan/hayatonka and a random seller off ebay. also found a lead on the stereo knobs/NOS Mazda factory EQ and cassette unit today via a Hungarian Mazda collector. How epically cool is that (will update main project thread as more info becomes available)

sweet, looks liek secure banana storage for a few hours has been sorted. haven't spoken to Tom in a few days but I'm surprised he hasn't already pledged his attendance for said event? if not i'll see if i can drag him along when I head down

time to take some photos. problem with Auckland is that there aren't very many picturesque spots you can go to without some nosey bugger coming up to you and asking pointed questions about what you're doing and/or your car (and not just the security guard types either). In that regard, Wellington was a lot better. I tried a few places and made unabashed exits from all of them due to strangers invading my privacy, so had to make do with these impromptu shots on the Onehunga foreshore the jury is still out on the guard gap question... do I stick to the mantra of keeping it completely stock in the height department or give in and buy some lowering springs?

crossposting from UNI swapmeat thread due to moar relevance here... anyway am looking at bluesing down from Taupo on saturday evening for a catchup (since i'm down for a trackday that weekend), then returning in the wee hours (unless I can shotgun a bed at Richy's) thing is I'll be in the banana and don't want to park it anywhere out of my line of sight unless it's in a secure garage of some description. anyone got a suitable place for me to leave for a few hours? Simon? Rich? Other palmyites?