Esser's Second FD Build - Big Turbo Street Killer

[Esser]

I've finally found some time to post my project that I have been working on for almost 2 years now. As some of you know, my first project FD was pretty much complete and I ended up selling it earlier this year. It was a tough decision! but I had gotten what enjoyment I wanted out of the car, and it was too nice to cut up and do what I really wanted. It helped that the price on them sky rocketed this year    I found that I enjoy building these cars just as much as I like driving them, so it was time for another project - this time with something that was not quite as "perfect" and one that I could ruin a little more and not feel bad about it. I wanted a car that I could take to the extreme. Because why not?

My goal for my next car was to compete in a half mile event and race it. My last car was an excellent auto-x car, but the auto-x community around me has been dying out so there were less and less events. The most fun I had with my previous FD was in a roll racing event at Beech Bend, so this next project car will have this type of racing in mind. Even some drag racing for a change of pace. I wanted to stick with the FD because I know so much about the chassis, and I believe I had a lot of untapped potential in my previous build for speed. I'm thinking the next build will be a bit more "race car" and a bit less weekend cruiser.

Enter the 93 hardtop chassis I found for sale in Tennessee. It had already been swapped previously (a couple owners ago I believe) and was supposedly running and driving, albeit with several noted issues. It checked the boxes I had for a car (hard top, black, base, LHD). This was right at Covid timing and the prices hadn't jumped yet, and the deal was right so I made the trek down with a buddy to go investigate the car. When we got there, here is how the car looked:







It definitely needed some TLC! Inside the interior was really rough, and most of it was missing. And the battery was dead lol, I don't think it had been moved in a very long time. Needless to say it needed a lot of work. But we jumped it and it started up and the seller claimed it should drive fine. I took it out and the tire were flat spotted and there was no gauge cluster, but it did drive. We hosed it off and I was able to see that the paint was actually in decent condition under all of the dust which was very relieving. There were no indications of any rust, and owner claimed the car came from Arizona. To my surprise the car had really nicely done molded rear fenders, they added about a half inch of width to the rear. I was able to work out a deal for all the issues it had, and ended up driving it 2 hours back home. It was a fun journey!

Peep the gas price 













Once it was home I was able to clean it up a lot more, and started digging into it. The swap wasn't done the best, but it did have some good parts on it. The engine setup was an LS6 with Lingenfelter ported heads and a small cam, and it had a built T56 from Tick. The swap parts were all early Samburg stuff, I planned to keep all of this in the car.





Dont ask about the fuel filter location... I have no idea what the previous owner was thinking on that one.

Exposed wiring, PCM in the backseat, yeahhhhhh it was a hack job....









I pulled most the car apart the week I got it, just fixing small things here and there to get it running decent. The interior was previously tan but converted, and some of the panels were painted. It did have a back seat conversion which was sort of unique.

Here is the "new" project next to the old.

[Esser]

I got the car cleaned up mechanically as best as I could just so i could drive around and enjoy it for a bit and gave the paint a good detail. It honestly cleaned up wayyyy better than I thought it would. I was able to polish out years of neglect. I drove the car for a couple weeks, even with most the interior missing. I got it driving pretty well.











I wasn't really feeling the headlights, or the front bumper. I planned to ditch those pretty soon. My plan for the car was to start tearing it down for winter and start my "build" on it. But with the fall season coming to a close, I did bring the car out to a meet here in town. My last time driving it for at least a year.

[shainiac]

Looks like a really nice foundation for the project. Are those last few photos the Evansville riverfront? I used to hangout down there when I was a kid.
Are you planning on building the LS6? What are your power goals?

[Esser]

Looks like a really nice foundation for the project. Are those last few photos the Evansville riverfront? I used to hangout down there when I was a kid.
Are you planning on building the LS6? What are your power goals?

Yep that is Evansville! My hometown.

I did a lot of thinking about building the LS6, but ultimately decided it would be best to build a fresh engine that is better for handling boost. I would like to break the 1k hp barrier with this car and eventually hit 200mph in the half mile. Those are my goals!

My first task was to figure out what I was working with. Luckily I have access to some scales, so I was able to get the car weighed in its current state. Right now it's sitting at 2818lbs. This is decently light as is and my current benchmark for the build. I would like to add a complete turbo setup and try to maintain this weight. Which means I will be doing some weight compensation in areas of this build.



I started by warming up the garage and tearing everything down. Started removing the body panels, draining coolant, pulling interior, etc. The more i dug down there more realized how much of a mess it was.











Then pulled the dash and brought it inside to clean up as well as the seats







I am not planning on running AC or heat or anything on this build. Quite frankly I never really felt the need for either one on my last FD, so it is just dead weight for a more race car oriented build. So out it goes.

Pulled the exhaust off



And soon it was just a bare engine in the car.










And I decided to keep this engine in the car for the mock up of turbo kit. I loaded the car up on a trailer to bring to my fab guy for the turbo kit fabrication. I had several things I wanted to accomplish:

Maintain exhaust out the rear of the car
Keep a true divided twin gate hot side
Fit under stock hood
Fit an actual air filter, no screen
Allow power steering

[FC3S Murray]

Looking forward to this!

[paul_3rdgen]

This should get interesting!  Always thought about a turbo setup but I always worry about the heat issues that come with it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Venom13132]

Finally started a thread!    Nice to finally get the back story on the build. 

Did you sell those long tube headers already?

[shainiac]

Have you already decided on a turbo setup? Low-mount twins offer a lot of advantages, mainly twin 3" downpipes rather than trying to snake a single 4" past the engine and trans. I was able to retain PS in a corvette-esque configuration, but my turbo inlets are smaller than what you'd likely need. Low mount twins also allows you to keep the primary and secondary lengths close to the same, so you don't end up with that Silverado sound where one primary is longer than the other before the merge. Using stock manifolds for low-mounts also allows you to retain stock heatshields and much better plug access than tubular headers. I've had the same set of plug wires for 4 years and haven't melted one yet. Also only takes 15 minutes to change plugs.

Another option for retaining PS and opening up space in the engine bay is ePowersteering.com. There's a bolt-in kit for the FD. Completely variable assist (zero to senior-citizen) and just replaces the stock column with a modified stock column. I bought the same PS motor to make my own when I go larger turbos.

https://epowersteering.com/purchase/product/rx7-fd

[Esser]

Have you already decided on a turbo setup? Low-mount twins offer a lot of advantages, mainly twin 3" downpipes rather than trying to snake a single 4" past the engine and trans. I was able to retain PS in a corvette-esque configuration, but my turbo inlets are smaller than what you'd likely need. Low mount twins also allows you to keep the primary and secondary lengths close to the same, so you don't end up with that Silverado sound where one primary is longer than the other before the merge. Using stock manifolds for low-mounts also allows you to retain stock heatshields and much better plug access than tubular headers. I've had the same set of plug wires for 4 years and haven't melted one yet. Also only takes 15 minutes to change plugs.

Another option for retaining PS and opening up space in the engine bay is ePowersteering.com. There's a bolt-in kit for the FD. Completely variable assist (zero to senior-citizen) and just replaces the stock column with a modified stock column. I bought the same PS motor to make my own when I go larger turbos.

https://epowersteering.com/purchase/product/rx7-fd

Turbo kit has been decided, but I'm glad you brought up the point of the primary length on the aspect of sound, as this was something I wanted to incorporate into the single turbo setup. I will be looking into the elec power steering.

I ultimately decided on doing the single turbo for space, and oil drain purposes. Twins would work just fine, but I wanted to keep this one a simple setup and I really like the ease of swapping turbos (and cost) on one turbo instead of replacing two. I'm thinking of having a couple different turbo's on hand depending on the application.

Chosen turbo is a Borg Warner S476 with the 92mm wheel. Exhaust is a T4 Divided flange with a 1.25 A/R. I did opt for the larger race housing with the 3.5" exit and the 5.5" inlet.

Car was dropped off at the fab shop, and we discussed the desired setup for a couple hours. I also chose to go with the burnout front bumper simply for it's large opening for the intercooler/radiator.



All this space up front for activites:


Here is the initial placement for the turbo and radiator. This will give enough space to have the 4in exit exhaust turn to go under the head and out the back, and leaves some space for the air intake side. The turbo will be hard mounted to the engine. My fab guy made a turbo support that bridges off the alternator mount bolts. We did choose to cut the front section of metal supports out for the Howe radiator.











Fan setup is two Spal fans in a jegs shroud

[Esser]

Intercooler is a Garrett core setup. It's the 4.5" width and 24" long. The thing is HEAVY, very dense unit. I'm a little worried about air getting through it to the radiator, we will see how it goes. it all tucks up nicely behind the burnout bumper, just had to modify the depth of the inlet slightly.

[freeskier7791]

progress looks great

[Gunnytron]

Coming home and having 2 black FDs on the drive must feel great.

[Esser]

Coming home and having 2 black FDs on the drive must feel great.

It was def a cool feeling haha!

At the same time we knocked out the 8.8 conversion for the subframe. Based on failures I had seen, we beefed up this one both at the mounting plates and on the inner connections to hold all of the power.









And then got it blasted and coated for the final product:











I also vapor honed and then cleared the knuckles and the upper arms

[Esser]

Powerflex Black series bushings went into the upper arms. These are the stiffest ones they offer, for all the traction. At the same time I installed fresh OE pivot balls.





Got it all set up along with the Battle Version setup offered for the FD that replaces the lower arm as well as the trailing arm and tow link:



All ready to go, and in the kitchen haha

[spacevomit]

Looks awesome.