Devin's LT1 FC RX7

[DevinKelley]

Adapting the coolant temp sending unit. I am a little concerned about accuracy because the sensor wont set in the head as far as it normally would.


Here it is together and installed.

[mpcv2000]

If you want a extra temp gauge or want to send signal to the OEM one you can by this 3 Wire sensor and replace the stock one on the water pump so you have a extra signal.














In my LT1 FC I have 2 temp gauge , 1 Factory and 1 aftermarket .

[DevinKelley]

Oil pressure sending unit is in. Tight spot.



Here is my fuel return line to the tank.



I did a rear mounted fuel filter to keep the engine bay simple. It's back by the fuel tank abouve the rear end on drivers side.



Here is my temporary fuel line routing to get the ball rolling. The fuel system holds 45 PSI no problem.

[DevinKelley]

My low mount alternator setup. Worked out great except now I have to cut my lower radiator outlet and weld it back on at a different angle. Not a big deal really, I just didn't go over the logistics before hand. It comes out right at the alternator. If I stand my radiator up straight it will clear but I'm determined to mount the radiator at an angle to keep it up higher.

[DevinKelley]

I took one of my Optispark distributors apart to see what demons were hiding inside.



This is not going to be okay.



I ended up having to get a re-man. unit to get the parts I needed to get it back in good shape. Also the drive shaft inside the unit was not removable like most are. I had to get a used spline shaft off ebay. SOB.

[DevinKelley]

After doing some research I didn't see a setup I liked a whole lot so I came up with this. I'm sure it's been done a million times but this is how I did it.



When I go to the track I will just remove the license plate. It is spaced away to leave room for the switch while driving in town. Ha, look at the date on my plate! 



Here is what is going on inside the car. The mount for the Breaker is just for mock up obviously.

[DevinKelley]

So I ran some battery power to the PCM, shot a power wire to my now re-located engine bay fuse block, got the starter solenoid wire hooked up to the ignition switch, dumped a couple gallons of fuel in the tank, put on the Opti, did a few other this and thats and got to crank on it for the first time. I had what sounded like about 4 cylinder fire intermittently. I used a noid light on injectors 1 and 2 to make sure the two injector circuits had power. They did. I knew I had great fuel pressure from my diagnostic gauge. At that point I knew the Opti had to be a little off. The splined drive shaft I bought used had been abused and could be installed in any orientation. I pulled it off and sure enough I had it in 1 or 2 teeth off. put it together and it fired up! Only for a few seconds then died. I checked the header tubes to make sure all 8 fired and cylinders 2 and 3 were cold. I pulled plugs from 2 and 3 and they didn't smell like fuel at all. A plug from a functional cylinder showed evidence of combustion already. At this point I knew from other testing just minutes before that it had to be a clogged or locked up injector. Pulled them out and sure as hell they were full of bullshit lol. I didn't realize in my rush to assemble the fuel system I used my old ass injectors that had been in a rail full of fuel for years. I also noticed my fuel pressure regulator had fuel in the diaphragm and vacuum line so I used one of my good clean rails with recently used injectors (new o-rings) and it fired right up running on all 8! It was a great moment indeed. I was happy to be choking on exhaust from the car that hadn't had a running motor since late 2004. HAHA.

[DevinKelley]

Here is a link to a short video of it idling today. The body is still rough. I will be starting on that in January in hopes of having it done by summer.

[digitalsolo]

Nice, you're coming along well. 

[DevinKelley]

Thank you. I still have a lot to do in the engine bay but spirits are high now that I've heard it run. I went to pull it out of the shop for the first time and as I pushed in the clutch a heard a pop and the clutch release fork spring broke haha.
I'll be pulling the transmission out to fix that instead of making other progress this week. oh well. It's not like I had brakes anyway haha.

[DevinKelley]

From what I can tell my clutch fork spring broke because I may have too much throw/pushing distance through my hydraulic clutch system. Makes me wonder if anyone else has run into a similar issue.

[DevinKelley]

I pulled the transmission and swapped the clutch fork. I guess the old spring was weak from me bending it to make it tighter. My theory about the clutch slave rod pushing too far wasn't possible after looking at the set up. It works great now. I put a good brake master cylinder on in and bled the brakes. After that I got to drive the car out and back in for the first time!





The broken T56 clutch fork spring tab.

[DevinKelley]

Here is the problem I ran into with the lower radiator inlet. HAHA. I cut the inlet off and it's going to get tig welded back on at an upward angle. Easy solution. Before I do put it back on I am looking at hose options to make sure I can find a common hose arrangement from a random application.

[DevinKelley]

Here is another angle.

[DevinKelley]

My new shop has settled down and I get to do some more work on my car! Also I freed up about $2700.00 to throw into the chassis. I'm pretty excited. I want to get it decent so I can have some fun and then sell it haha. An FD build could be in my 5 year plan. Anyway progress continues! I am making my parts needed list and planning where the money is going. The chassis still needs a lot of love! I'll be posting some progress pics that didn't make it from the last go around.