My "Blue Devil" matchbox racer build 2.0

[tai-lun]

Managed to squeeze in another track day to get some laps and see how the updated intake...which is just a 90mm straight from filter to intake, so nothing fancy. I didn't have time to get the saws out and cut the cowl out like the image I put together, but it was far better than before with the choked single plane. With the cowl cut out, I'll find a way to duct around the intake for some cleaner air in/out. I'm still a bit on the fence to just get a different hood completely too, but one thing at a time.

All business as usual with the intake, but my MAF halfway to the track started to not read "MAF low voltage" so that plus rain meant a few spins from sudden loss and then full power on track. And yes, I know the MAF is not currently connected in the picture below hehe. I think one of the connections from extending the wire is not giving enough signal, so I'll pull the harness apart and test each wire out until the check-engine light goes out and idle comes back down to 700-850RPM like normal. Not a big deal at all to sort out.


Right before the sky opened and the rain never stopped. A terrible lapping day, but better than my usual day behind a computer heh.


Some good news was that with the temperatures not being insane, T56 was playing ball all day. All gears, all the time! Power steering hates 100TW tires still, but the KRC unit will come in the off season to cover that. R888r in heavy rain is pretty underivable, even on the highway at regular speeds it was pretty squirmy with such a light car.

Some not so good news, mid way through not the best corner to lose all your power to one back wheel - I lost all power to one back wheel! HAH! I don't know what is broken exactly, but I was able to make it home without the assistance of a flatbed. I think my automatic rear end and drive shafts finally reached the end of their life folks, amazing it held out this long I say.
- heard a big bang
- imitate loss of power to one side
- wonderful metal on metal sound from behind
- REALLY loud constant wine sound from drive shaft or shafts which is where something is dead I think

I've got a Carbonetics 1.5 way diff that has been sitting on a shelf for 10 years, it seems that it is time. I may pair it with the Greddy diff cover as it has the nice provisions for a diff cooler, I'll be scoping out the club to see if one pops up. Does anyone have a recommendation for drive shaft kits for oem rear end?

Saw this one, but I have never ordered from them. Anyone have any experience with Banzai-Racing? - http://www.banzai-racing.com/store/93%2B_rx-7_driveshaft_axle.html

[tai-lun]

Oh my... how the rear end is looking after my clunky day out at the track 

[Venom13132]

Little bit moisture back there haha

[tai-lun]

I really need to update my build, seeing all the other builds getting on the street started up that itch in the garage again.

Updates:
- Aero is all off, front splitter, sides and diffuser taken off for the new custom work with some actual CFD. If anyone is looking for front/rear aero, hit me up 
- Cowl hood is sold and gone, I decided seeing the corner is better than guessing where the corner is because right hand corners are important too.
- OEM hood for cheap is on, this thing will get hacked up soon for some speed holes. The skeleton is already gone so it's flimsy town already, nothing a few more holes will really change.
- Headers are out, leaky shitimoto rad is out too.
- A friend lent me his garage space now that he is back in his A80 Supra having fun.
- Seeing Esser and a few others having fun with boost... bad influence....



Apparently I've been really rubbing, nothing a heat gun and hammer didn't fix. Plus some paint in case.

This is with a 265/35/18 on a 18x11+12 up front in case anyone is wondering about similar rubbing issues.


The bad influence got the better of me hehe, a kit that came up once that I wanted but missed out on, became available again. My daily drivers tend to be wagons, which in this case was put to the test filling up the whole rear of the car and passenger seat too.



Party time begins. 

[tai-lun]

Sometimes it seems there is a lot of space in the engine bay, but we all know there isn't heh. Teardown took a couple of months as work and life got quite busy, thankfully the garage space was there allowing me to leave the car half torn apart for so long. The "goal" of the new direction is nothing in particular, if any thing fun would be the description and end point of the build when it's back on it's tires and tearing up the track.

I have yet to decided on axels with the OEM diff using the Carbonetics 1.5 way, if anyone has recommendations please let me know.



Test fitting one side of things... some of you may recognize the fabrication work.





At this point I was ambitious about the stock heads, springs, lifters, pushrods and LS2 head gaskets being "fine" but thankfully I decided to go with a bit of insurance and tear things down some more. This water temp sensor will have to be relocated, I'm going to see if I can fit it in between the block fitting and water lines to the electric pump.



You can see during the rad test fit where the electric pump is on the passenger side. I'll need to relocate the oil cooler if I can't get both on that side.



More "while it's torn apart" insurance with the ATI balancer, I will only have a single belt from the crank to the alternator but I have to wait until everything is more together to measure for it. I also got the ARP crank bolt to go with it also, trying to keep on a not too crazy budget considering this is basically a track/event toy at this point.

[digitalsolo]

Super cool, excited to see where this goes.

[Venom13132]

awesome!   

[Esser]

Badass. Cant wait to see this!

During my work on oil coolers, I have found that if you can't get the oil cooler in the area under the driver headlight, then you sacrifice a decent amount of oil pressure drop getting it to the passenger side. It adds like 7 feet of total extra lines to get it over there, and 4 feet really is the max you want - even with 10AN. I would try to fit a big one on the driver side area (closer to the oil fitting port above the filter)

[tai-lun]

Thanks everyone, and I'll move the oil cooler over to the driver side. It is likely going to be too tight on the passenger side with the water pump and there will be that obstruction of flow with the odd angle. I got as far as pulling the oil pan today, but in the flow of things I forgot we need to pull the subframe to do anything oil pan related... bah! I'm going to have to source an engine support brace so that I can get to the windage tray.

Pulled the cylinder heads, these are pretty run of the mill for an older setup. 243 heads with mild port work, Z06 yellow springs, and trunion kit. The machine shop cleaned them up, tested them, and then I went with the BTR Platinum dual valve springs with titanium retainers (0.060 in. thick/ 377 lbs./in) and they had set of Comp hardened pushrods available which measured out just right for my setup.



Fun, no so fun fact. Canadian gas is garbage, as shown on these dirty ol' pistons.



While I had things open, I switched out my factory lifters (which looked great) for Z06 LS7 lifters. Basically the same thing, but they are apparently a bit better... I don't remember how/why but I had these on the shelf so why not toss them in too.






And, what all this fuss is about

[tai-lun]

One more for good measure 

[tai-lun]

As nice as all the welds are, heat is not something I'd like to be dealing with if I don't have to. A rotary fire on my car cooking the 13B and then another fire in the trans tunnel from debris caught on the headers, I'm not a fan of that much heat. Also slowing cooking our legs from trans tunnel heat which we are all familiar with was something I'd like to lessen this year. I found a one of the few places left locally that will do ceramic coating with a guarantee on their work too, which was pretty nice.





Unfortunately colours are extremely limited, and I really didn't want the matte or satin black that is usually the go to as I want to see if there is a leak or anything similar. Titanium was second on the list, and they had it so I went with that and it came out nice and clean. Turbo re-assembled and sitting pretty in the drivers seat, because I have nowhere else to store it right now hehe.

[Venom13132]

that Cerakote is supposed to be great stuff.

[digitalsolo]

I did Cerakote on my exhaust manifolds and turbo housings.    Manifolds have 2 years on them, housings have 1 year, both look great.

[Esser]

Real nice! I foresee an 8.8 rear in your future haha

[tai-lun]

that Cerakote is supposed to be great stuff.

I was a shame to cover up the welds. But, better to stay on the safer and cooler side if possible.

I did Cerakote on my exhaust manifolds and turbo housings.    Manifolds have 2 years on them, housings have 1 year, both look great.

Fantastic, good to hear especially as you've been putting heat through them.

Real nice! I foresee an 8.8 rear in your future haha

I've been back and fourth on the 8.8 rear end, if I can find a spare rear subframe it would be a good option. I'd prefer to be able to get everything together if possible (lightly used even) so I can just drop out what is there, and bolt up the new rear end. My OEM axles are tired, and diff is more than a bit wet - the 1.5 way Carbonetics, new seals, and Greddy cover are already sitting on the shelf but even with a diff brace I think the diff case itself may shatter like glass at some point... I know it's lighter, which is nice but weight out back is not the focus, I don't launch hard often but an 8.8 would bulletproof the rear end so I CAN launch and may even hit the strip to see how it does under boost.

If anyone knows of a full setup: diff, axles, driveshaft (will the current one even work? I don't think it does), and even the rear brace or brace+subframe - let me know.