1jzgte into Mazda Rx7 FC build

Hey guys I’m doing a 1jz swap into an FC and thought I would share the progress.

You may remember a while back I posted a couple v6 mr2s i built. Time for something more challenging!

I picked up this Turbo-II chassis very cheap and the projected cost of the build, including the car, is about $3000

Yes i know some of you would prefer a v8 or to keep it rotary but this is the swap I wanted to do so suck it 😀

I’m not using any kit, everything will be custom fabricated to save money over the 1500 swap kit and 400 harness conversion

Progress:

Also switching to black interior:

First parts to arrive!

Engine/trans should be here in about a week, picking up more interior parts tomorrow…

Progress on the interior:

Here is how it started:

Strip interior:

Parted out a black s5, most are a direct match. The carpet was filthy!

Hand scrub with laundry detergent and pressure wash clean. Took all day to dry out:

While it was drying I started cleaning and putting the rear interior back together… yes some parts are still blue, some parts don’t interchange because of the s5 power seat belts.

Re installed carpet, was kind of a bitch to get it lined up right, but it’s good now and it’s nice and clean (and smells great!)

CLEAN!

Interior pretty much done for now…. can’t wait for the damn swap to arrive so we can get to the good stuff.

Anyways here is the 90% complete interior (seats and steering wheel are probably temporary)

Got everything really cheap and I think it turned out pretty well 😀

Overnight parts from japan!

Actually took about a month :/

Motor looks very good no broken sensors or shipping damage. Very complete.

Tight squeeze!

Here it is just resting in the bay. Going to fab up mounts tomorrow.

All in place!

Used some random polyurethane parts I had and made the engine mounts nice and stiff!

Radiator mounting needs to change:

Shifter needs to extend 3-4 inch

Making the mounts was time consuming… I need to buy a plasma cutter ASAP!

Extending the harness, about 3.5 feet. Lots more wires left! About 100 total :/

Notice the OCD here. I’m soldering and heak shrinking everything (of course!)

I’m also cannibalizing a 2jzgte JDM harness I got with another motor. It was already cut and the ecu connectors were smashed so i’m putting the wires to good use.

I’m also using the same color wires to extend the harness, taking the OCD to a whole new level 😀

Should be done with extending the harness in about 3-4 hours.

next i need to take the engine back out, finish and paint the mounts then:

* install my shifter extension

* thoroughly clean engine

* remove oil pan and bang out the dents (yay shipping)

* join RX7 charging and starting harness to 1jz motor

* Separate cruise and window wiper harness from rx7 harness and run it

* modify heater core outlet and inlet to fit

* mount radiator + fan and fan wiring

* run cooling system, fuel system, intake and charge lines

* make custom down pipe to fit stock RX7 exhaust system

* have custom drive shaft made

* custom clutch hydraulic line

* custom power steering lines

Here is a start up video courtesy of my wife, dont mind the mess

Now just need to finish:

* Cooling system and heater core lines

* tidy up wiring

* drive shaft

* Down pipe

* Power steering lines and reservoir

* intake and charge pipes

probably some more i’m forgetting.

been putting like 12-15 hours daily on it!

I kinda got outta order here.

Here are some more interesting pics:

Someone order spaghetti?

(all wrapped up now, this was by far the most painstaking part!)

SHIFTER EXTENSION:

UPDATE!

* Dropped off the drive shaft this morning, should be done tomorrow! Measurement from tip of output shaft to flange of rx7 T-II LSD Diff was 35 9/16 inch

* Exhaust is done (ouch welding burns!)

Took a while because I had to make everything (including the turbo flange) from scrap! It’s a bit ugly but has great clearance everywhere and a flex pipe. Stock Rx7 cat removed 😀

Sounds almost like a stock motor with the stock mufflers not loud at all very sleeper for someone who doesn’t know rotary engines well. But if I pull up to another rx7 they might be confused!

Almost done!

Radiator fan clearance! lol

Here are some new pics!

Custom high pressure power steering hose:

WHEEL RESTORATION!

They were really ugly and no amount of scrubbing could clean them  so I naturally got the baddest wire wheel I could find and attached it to my angle grinder. About 30 mins per wheel and it looks a lot better!

BEFORE:

EWWW looked even worse in person!

AFTER

NICE!

Also see the cheap hood I got and cut to fit. Needs more trimming but closes for now!

UPDATE:

Transmission leak fixed. Tiny slit in the tail shaft seal. Fortunately I was able to replace it with the transmission on, just pulled the drive shaft and I was able to get to it.

While I had the y pipe off to get to it I noticed it had a huge crack so I welded it up. Now the exhaust sounds way better, pulls a little smoother and it’s actually VERY quiet with that and the cat on there. Too quiet really, sounds like a stock camry or something until those turbos start to spool.

Also the low end feels a little more torquey… got a little sideways in a corner today 😀

Engine seems to have completely stopped burning oil. Very happy about that.

Update.

Decided to clean up the hood a little more, nothing final but looks nicer for the time being.

Going to add some kind of stock looking scoop or grill to it later…

This was all done by hand with a angle grinder (flap disk) and some crappy sandpaper + spray paint. Hood was already spray painted when i got it so whatever.

Areas cut under the hood, little more than needed. Took this picture before cleaning it or painting so you can see where i cut a little more clearly:

And the top cleaned up:

Video Update:

This is with a stock mr2 turbo intercooler (restrictive even at 200hp lol) and very restrictive FC cat back, stock boost.

Notice sticking tach.. still working this out.
Notice how laggy the speedometer is? First shift is really at about 40mph, second at around 70 already 😀

hopefully this will hold you guys off until dyno videos and some after mods vids.

I estimate another 40-50whp in her with a good FMIC and nice exhaust alone, once boost is turned up with supporting fuel modds probably another 100whp over this. Still moves really good, video makes it look slower than it is that’s for sure.

I went to Monterey, CA. 350 miles on the car in 1 day… no problems!

BASELINE DYNO DONE!

Dynoed the car today. Exhaust is ultra restrictive stock downpipe mated to a 2.5inch cat and full stock rx7 exhaust… lol. Quieter than a funeral but sooo restrictive!

Even so did pretty well for stock boost.

put down best of 232whp and 260ft lbs. Boost peaking at 11 psi, quickly dropping to 8.5-9

Will post graphs tomorrow… need to sleep now!

PAIN IN THE ASS

I wrapped the ypipe and the complete downpipe today.

WOW, much lower temps under the hood, better response and more power.

It also quieted it down a lot. I guess I really was hearing the exhaust noise through the thin metal pipes.

I can’t even feel it pulling timing anymore, intake air temps must be way down.

I highly recommend wrapping it!

On a side note, breaking in the wrap was fun. Smoke everywhere at a few stoplights, people looking really confused 

Have a cut off wheel, a sawzall and a welder, but no money to spend on a nice exhaust?

Then this mod is for you!

I just couldn’t justify spending 300 – 600 on a cat back, so I started making my own 😀

We used to do this to the stock mufflers on evos, worked really well and had a nice stealth look.

First I cut open a stock s4 turbo II muffler pretty much completely. Here is what we find inside:

Hmm that looks restrictive. Lets remove the major restrictions!

That should flow better, plus… It’s lighter! 😀

Here is all you really need to cut open, second one was a lot easier:

I suck at welding thin metal, and this metal is very thin… oh well no one sees it. Probably be a lot easier with a gas mig (using flux core) or a 110v mig.

Noise is up a little bit, not much. Sounds good.

Power is up, boost response and spool time has improved, peaking the same but holding boost better to redline.

Love it, hate it – it was free power.

NEW VIDEO:

hard to tell by the video but it’s loads faster than it was in the last video. Speedo lags like crazy.

I finished a 3 inch cat back with the modded stock mufflers. It’s still very quiet…

guessing about 250-270whp with this set up

Update:

Dynoed again today.

Exhaust mods alone it made 250-260whp, 266 ftlbs!

Thats up about 25-30 from stock exhaust 😀

Then I turned up the boost a little 😀

13.5 psi peak dropping to 11 by redline = 268whp

14.5 is peal dropping to 12.5 by redline = 280-285 whp, 277ftlbs

Car is starting to haul ass now 

Might switch to a better cat back, I know it’s holding the power back. It’s still very quiet actually.

Overall very happy. 😀