Here are a couple of pictures:

http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r...ntsToys040.jpg
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r...ntsToys054.jpg
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r...ntsToys067.jpg

I picked up a set of Porsche 993 "big reds" front big brakes. I am currently looking for the RS/RZ rear brakes. I may just end up buying them new from Mazda if a set doesn't turn up soon. Currently looking for a sway bar, but will prob. just end up getting a tri point with widefoot mounts. I have picked up some other stuff since I've been over here, but nothing that significant.... new floormats from JasonS, new Hoosier R6's, RE rear diffusor, etc... I'll have some more updates on the car come October when I get to come home for 2 weeks.

Looks awesome Brent!!

Here's a couple more pictures

My brand new, 0 mile, Tein HA's, very hard to find these days:
http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1219516639

My Porsche 993 "Big Red's" Front BBK. The calipers were just rebuilt. I'm going to try to have a 2 piece floating rotor fabricated for these like GooRoo's once I get back:
http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1219514018

My Kumho V710 rear's, only have one track day on them, looking to put another one on them soon :D :
http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1219514169

I updated the first post a while back and *should* be doing much more updating in the next week. Here are a couple of pictures from the AutoX last week:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts013.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts014.jpg

Last night, I put on my Tein HA's, Porsche Big Red Front Calipers with new rotors, pads, and SS Braided lines, and my 99spec RZ Rear Calipers, Rotors, Mazdaspeed SS Braided lines, and Hawk HT-10 pads. I'm going to put on my Tripoint Sway Bar and Widefoot Sway Bar mounts here in a few minutes hopefully. After that, I'm heading out to TPGR for 2 days at the track. So much work to do... so little time :D
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts029.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts031.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts032.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts030.jpg

Looks great man, look forward to seeing you tonight. Glad you are back in the states safely.

Well, while I was home for 18 days I was able to get alot accomplished. I meant to take lots of pictures and do some write up's but I never got a chance to due to me being so pressed for time. I did a some track days at TGPR and VIR and AutoX and had a blast. As far as parts installed:

-Install Tein HA Coilovers
-Install Porsche Big Red Brakes
-Install 99spec/RZ Rear Brakes/lines
-Flush Brake Fluid
-Install Widefoot Sway Bar Mounts and Tri-Point Sway Bar
-install PS Oil Cooler
-Install HKS Twin Power
-Install additional bung in DP for wideband
-Install LC-1 and XD-16
-Install Defi Gauges/link box/gauge pod

Big thanks to Mike Lashlee, David Jerome, and Dan Chadwick for all of there help making this happen. I couldn't of gotten half of this accomplished if it hadn't been for them.

I meant to take a few pictures but I never did. Here are my thoughts on the new parts so far:

I will say that the LC-1 is very finicky. I installed it and Dan Chadwick help me set it up(free air calibration and he had the software on his computer to switch it to read gas). I went back to clean up the install after it was working properly, verified installation, and was given several different error codes... all of which led to a faulty sensor. I tried switching out the sensor with 3 other sensors that were verified working I did not have any luck. I ran out of time and will have to troubleshoot it when I get home. No big deal, I know my car is running very rich. I think as soon as I get it working correctly, it won't give me any trouble. I've heard of a few other people having trouble initially getting it hooked up.

The Tein HA coilovers are good enough for what I'm doing for the time being. I think eventually I will invest in some stiffer springs and prob. some koni's. Right now I just need to focus on getting more seat time :D

The Porsche Front Big Brakes with new rotors/SS lines/porterfield R4 pads and New 99spec RZ/RS Rears with SS lines/Hawk HT-10's are one of my favorite upgrades I did while I was home. Proportion is good as is and pedal feel is still firm. I did not experience any brake fade(although it was Nov. in Virginia) during any of my 30 minute sessions. I still have a few more things planned for the brakes, but they are good for a while.

The Tripoint Sway Bar decreased the body roll and is working as it should

The Widefoot Sway Bar Mounts are a super quality piece and I no longer have to worry about cracking or breaking my mounts. I also went with the bronze bushings and have been pleased with them so far as well. My old mounts were bent and cracked.

The Passenger Side Oil Cooler and lines is another reliability mod that will help with track stuff in the summer heat. So far so good.

The Defi Gauges are Amber and look great! Very pleased with them. They are currently mounted where the center speaker use to be in a little holder that I fabricated because I'm on on the list for the flyrx7 gauge pod :D


I beat on the car and did some Auto X's and Track Days while I was home at TGPR and VIR and the car did great the entire time. Water Temp never got above 85(generally stayed at 83) and Air Temp was 26-30. I was very happy with how the car ran. I compression tested the car when I first arrived home and it had over 100psi on both rotors. I drove the car 250 miles to Little Talladega, drove the road course, and then drove it home 250miles without issue. I stopped at the car wash to spray some of the brake dust off and wash the car a little. It wouldn't start. I figured I had fouled the plugs. I put a new set in and she fired up and I drove home. It still sounded weak though. This is when my hot start issue started. When I was at Dan Chadwick's shop, he did a compression test and we realized that my compression was around 70psi. I still have even pulses, but compression has dropped off like a warn out engine(has 12k on it). We also realized that my TPS was reading wide open at idle. We found that a wire had come loose from the connector and that both sensors were bad. Thanks to Dan having a huge surplus of parts, we had a new connector spliced in and TPS installed and adjusted in no time. We also went and ate some Krystals :D I think all of the fuel in my engine might of effected numbers somewhat, but it still has weak compression. I'm going to go ahead and tear everything back down(or I may actually pay Dan to do it) and check out the engine, rebuild it, clean a few things up, and install a few more things. Still though, the car runs great and I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far.

Here are some pictures of the car and some at the track:
Garfinkle, Mine, and Chad(Fire85gsl-se)
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts024.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...FDParts022.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...PROct24031.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...8/leave134.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...8/leave206.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...8/leave229.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...8/leave228.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...8/leave225.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...8/leave224.jpg

You tried s?

ah man, I wrote a whole lot more and posted pictures and it must of got cut off for some reason. That sucks. I'll reupdate the thread here later on.

ok, fixed post 46 with the full update and a few pictures :D

Brent! Great upgrades! I've always wondered about those brembo brakes.. great to hear that they work well. Ive updated my brakes to RZ front and rear and its a big difference.

Thanks Phil. It was great seeing you at the Speed For Sale Shootout. Hopefully one of these years the Army will let me go to DGRR :D One more picture just because :) The red car is the first FD I ever owned and purchased it in 2000. She is about to get some much needed attention to include 99spec front end, sideskirts, tails, RZ wheels, and so on. I did replace my aluminum M2 Airbox on it with a Carbon Fiber one when I was at home. I'll eventually do a build thread on it.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...2/leave342.jpg

Well, from time to time one of my brothers will humor me and send me some pictures of my cars while I'm still deployed. He sent me a few today. Ahhhh...I miss my cars:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093401
A little dirty currently
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093401
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093401
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093401
Here is a picture of the make shift gauge holder we came up with while I'm waiting on the flypod. I didn't want to drill into the dash like alot of ppl do. I just secured this to the top of the stock center speaker cover so I could snap it in and out easily. Works well for now.
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093401

Better picture of the gauges. As you can see, I need to calibrate the boost gauge as it is about .5lbs off currently:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093935

Crappy Picture of my XD-16 wideband gauge, my boost controller and link box for gauges are mounted below it. I'm going to try to get some better pictures of it soon:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1235093935

When are you coming home man? Its got to be coming up soon.

I had a friend get back from his 3rd and hopefully final tour a couple weeks ago and I installed a procharger on his g35 and he drove it all the way back to Cali the next day. He was just pumped to be back in his car again. Said his woman was already getting on his nerves but he wasnt even close to tired of the car yet :rofl:

haha... been here right around a year now. Few more months to go.

Nice man, i like what you have done with the silver one.

Car to-do list(to help me keep up with what I need to be doing once I get home:
-Install Ground Zero LIM
-RE-Speed Oil Filler Neck
-RE-Speed Oil Pedestal
-REMedy Water Pump
-Get AN Fitting Adapter to route Fuel Pressure Gauge to FPR
-Hook up Oil Temp and Fuel Pressure Gauge
-Install M2 Roll Bar
-Install Sparco Evo Seat
-Install Harness
-Replace Axle Seal
-Replace Dash Pot
-Install Fuel Starvation Cover
-Change and Relocate Fuel Filter

Getting closer and closer every day to being able to drive again!!!!! I'm freaking stoked!!

-Install Ground Zero LIM(done)
-RE-Speed Oil Filler Neck(done)
-RE-Speed Oil Pedestal(done)
-REMedy Water Pump(done)
-Get AN Fitting Adapter to route Fuel Pressure Gauge to FPR
-Hook up Oil Temp and Fuel Pressure Gauge(oil temp done)
-Install M2 Roll Bar(took out of box... looks great!)
-Install Sparco Evo Seat(will bolt in once I put the roll bar in)
-Install 6 pt Harness(wiating for roll bar)
-Replace Axle Seal
-Replace Dash Pot
-Install Fuel Starvation Cover
-Change and Relocate Fuel Filter

I've also put the 18x10 CCW Classics with Dunlop Direzza Z1 Starspecs on, installed the Fly RX-7 pod from Frank, put the widefoot gas pedal in, put the brake ducts on, and a few other things.

BTW, the car has a brand new engine built by David Jerome at the Rotary Rebuild Store!! Can't say enough good things about David. He jumped through hoops to get my car finished for me. I still have a few issues to resolve, but I should be getting very close here in the next day or two.

Ran into an issue last night when I had a speed bleeder break off in my rear brake caliper. I'm hoping to have it out a little later today. I've been dealing with the turbo oil feed and return line all morning and I'm hoping I have the issue sorted now. I'll have another update with pictures in a day or two.

good to here you are back... back for ??

Thanks Mike. Good to be back. Been back for about 3 weeks. Should be around for at least a year. I've hit the track a few times since I've been home. My 2009 track thread with pictures and video's(one of me hitting the wall at Barber) is here: http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...ead.php?t=6605

Hope your back home soon, the FD is going to be looking good. I hear you about the Army thing, I gave them 23 years.

I watched the video.. Sucks you hit but atleast is was not too bad..

Yeah, I feel very fortunate it was as minor as it was. Received my speed bleeders this morning. My new turbo blanket and fuel lab FPR from Ari at www.rx7.com/rotary performance should be here in a little bit. I guess fuel lab use to make the FPR for SX but have since branched out as well as improved the design according to Ari. My Aeromative A1000-6 has been acting up so I decided to go ahead and replace it for piece of mind and then I'll tear the old one down and find out what the issue is.

Today's list:
-Put the turbo back on the car(I hopefully have resolved the oil line issues)

-put the speed bleeders on the car and flush the system. I'm using Motul RBF600. I was actually going to replace the PFC 01's that I have on the front with Hawk DTC-60's as I figured they were getting low as Fritz had used these pads before he sold me the brakes and I have 4 track days on them and 4-5000 miles of driving on them, but they still have plenty of pad left. Rear pads are HT-10's and have a few days on them. They still have plenty of pads left.

-Change Differential Fluid. Putting Redline Shockproof oil in the rearend

-Try to get my LC-1 wideband working

-Install my fuel lab FPR

If I have any time after that, I'm going to pull my seats and start working on putting the M2 Roll Bar and Sparco Evo L in. That really needs to go in tomorrow, but the roll bar didn't come with all of the hardware, so tracking down grade 8 hardware in the sizes I need may be difficult. We'll see.

Speed Bleeders are at the top of one of the best inventions ever if you are a track guy and need to bleed brakes fairly often.

Ditto that Chris! Kind of ironic... the only FD I have that doesn't have them is my track car... haha. I just hadn't had a chance to put them in until now since I put new brakes on all 4 corners.

BTW, there is a track day at TPGR next tuesday the 16th for $150. I'm sure you are working, but thought I'd check and see. All kinds of run time.

I think I got the email about it, but yes I'm going to be at work. Are you planning on coming down?

I am. Should be a fun day, plus my bluegrass day next weekend was canceled. There is a possibility that the NSS event next Saturday might get canceled, if it does I'll prob. head to TGPR that day as well.

Back to work...

Your doing what I did a few years ago and go to about as many days as possible. I'm trying to pay some stuff off right now and buy race car stuff, which is why I haven't done many this year.

Gotta make up for lost time from last year :D I just wish I would of had the winter to prep the car. Alright, last day to get stuff done before VIR...

Well, it appears I have everything buttoned up *knock on wood*. The oil lines are my biggest concern. They aren't leaking, but driving it hard on the track is alot different than the street. I think the lines will hold.

Fuel is good. Brakes are bled. Still fighting with my wideband but I'm very confident the car is running rich(famous last words). I have a new LC-1 that I may switch out just to see if the one in the car is in fact bad.

My Westco Miata battery died on me. It actually leaked gel out of the bottom corner. I called the people at GoMiata.com(where I ordered the battery) and they did a warranty request for me and had a new battery on the way. The whole conversation was maybe 3 minutes and very painless. He said it would take prob. a week to get a replacement battery. That was on Monday. Which would leave me without a battery for this weekend. The way we fabricated the rear bin when I relocated the battery, it has just enough room for the Westco. So my dad started calling some of his contacts and found that American Battery in Nashville(about an hour drive for me) had a gel battery with almost identical specs and dimensions that was reconditioned for $30! Called my brother who was working in Nashville and he said he could pick it up... awesome!! It was a full family effort... haha. I figured worst case scenerio I could bolt a battery box in the hatch and put a Optima Red Top or something in it as Mike ran the cables a little longer than they needed to be during the install. So I run to mail off some parts and when I come home UPS has delivered a box. Sure enough... it's my new Westco :D So now I have a $30 back up.

I'd really like to get my roll bar, seat, and harness in... but the roll bar is missing the bolts that mount the main hoop to the floor and I'm not about to try to track down grade 8 hardware at 5pm. That will happen next week. I just received my new 6 point harness a couple of hours ago as well.

I'm going to mess around with it for the rest of the night and I'll prob. leave in the morning tomorrow for VIR. Should be a really good weekend.

The last time you'll see my car wingless for a while as I'll be picking up my carbon fiber hatch and RE-A wing from Fritz tomorrow. And the 18x10 CCW's with 275's all around:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts123.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts127.jpg

The engine bay with a new rebuild from David at Rotary Rebuild Store! Very happy with it and looking forward to seeing how it does at the track this weekend. Have a few new things in the engine bay but all the main components are the same.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts124.jpg
New LIM... tight fit. Not really liking how it's that close to the hot side of the turbo/dp flange.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts126.jpg
Gauges... with my LC-1 giving one of it's various error codes. My AC panel is looking rough. Need to find some time to strip the adhesive off of it.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts131.jpg

I'll be glad to get back to VIR... they built that track for single turbo RX-7's.

Glad to see you're having fun Brent. Good luck at VIR! I have had my FD on that track, but only for parade laps...so far. :P

Dang, If I had known about the 16th couple of weeks ago, I might of gone with you... Its bit too late for me to request a day off..

Been one hell of a 24 hours guys. So I finally had the engine broke in and went to go WOT and the car fell on it's face when it hit 2-3lbs of boost. It would hesitate, stumble, and sputter. I go back and check my hose diagram and everything is good. I end up spending all night going through the fuel and ignition system. I call it a night at 2am. I wake back up at 6am. David Jerome called me as soon as he woke up at 6:30am(now THAT is tech support...haha) and we brainstormed. He thought it was the engine harness. I end up pulling my new(used) one back out of the car and put my old one back in. At this point I'm thinking to myself "if this doesn't fix it... give me another 2 hours and I'll have every piece of this car out in the garage floor and for sale". haha. Well, get the wiring harness in turn onto the road hit the gas... and..... brrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappppppppppppppppppppppp pp!!!!! Man the car feels great!!! I'm running rich, but man I MISSED THAT SHIT!!! Wish you guys could of heard me yelling as I drove down the street screaming and yelling at the top of my lungs. I'm several hours late for when I wanted to leave for VIR. That's ok though... I'm in the silver car :D Cleaned her up, loaded her up, and heading to the track. I'll have an update in my track thread after the weekend. One more picture for good measure:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts134.jpg

:) I knew it was something going on with the secondary injectors but really wasnt for sure on the harness.

Just glad you can enjoy it again, call me and update me on how the track weekend goes, I love to see pics. Especially now that you have the ccws on the car :)

Small update. The car has been doing well. 2 days at VIR, 1 day a TGPR, and 1 day at NSS

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track534.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track485.jpg

Drove at VIR on Saturday. The car really starts to feel light at around 120mph. Lucky for me, I purchased a Seibon CF hatch and a RE-Amemiya Wing from Fritz a while back and my dad and I drove up to his place Saturday evening to pick up that and some other stuff. Here is a video from RE-A testing the wing against no wing and the 99spec wing:


After driving 9 hours to VIR, driving VIR all day Saturday, going up to Fritz's and back to the hotel(about 2.5 hours each way) I was beat and too tired to put it on. We get to the track the next morning right before the driver's meeting. I come back and my dad has put the hatch on for me, that's what I'm talking about it!
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track495.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track490.jpg
Wing and hatch:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/HugeWing.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b.../HugeWing2.jpg

uhhh... I mean my girlfriend put it on:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...9/Track540.jpg
The wing makes a very large difference. I was going through the first half of the track on the warm up lap and could really feel the car start to stabilize from 80mph and above. It progressively improves(obviously) with speed. I was expecting some front end lift at 120mph+ but haven't felt it yet. I'm sure it will with a little more speed. I have plans to put a splitter on the car as soon as I get some time. I also have the Rotary Extreme version of the RE-Amemiya street rear diffuser to put on. I don't think it will change anything, I just like the looks of it and I think it complements the Feed sides and the 99spec lip. Big thanks to Tim Benton for hooking me up with a really good deal on it as well:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts138.jpg

That was perhaps the largest double post I have ever seen!

Anyhow, I'm jealous of your 275's all around.

Picked up some RE-Amemiya headlights for the car. They were already painted SSM and were a really good deal. They'll save me some weight which is always win win.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...2/T78FD049.jpg
Prob. be putting them in this week hopefully.

M2/RaceShop Roll Bar with every attachment except door bars and passenger seat brace:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/T78FD054.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/T78FD054.jpg
My Seat:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/T78FD064.jpg
New 6 Point:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...D/T78FD066.jpg

I'll write some more on the install of the all this in a few days.

hey brent that thing looks great man. i just read the part you posted a while back about your wiring problem and your description yelling as you drove down the road after getting it fixed. ha, that makes me want to drive mine so bad!

I haven't updated this in a while so I thought I'd share a little more while I had a few minutes. I currently have around 1500 track miles and around 1000 normal miles on the car without issue. The only issue I have had was when I broke a zip tie on my HKS Twin Power Harness. Here is what happened:

I thought I'd share a recent experience I had with my HKS Twin Power that is on my track car. In mid June I was at Talladega Grand Prix Raceway at a track day when mid turn, my steering wheel was locked in the turned position. I was able to force it back straight before going off course. I could hear something dragging and assumed I had some type of steering malfunction and immediately pitted in. As soon as I got into the pits and raised the hood, I realized my twin power was missing. It was mounted to the firewall with the harness ziptied out of the way of the steering column. It's impossible to know for sure, but I'm guessing a ziptie broke and the harness caught the steering column, at which point it ripped the Twin Power from where it was mounted and it caught in the steering rack which you can see in this video:


It then was dragged on the ground for around a 1/4 mile before it dropped out the bottom of the car and onto the track.

Here are the pictures of the aftermath:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts142.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts143.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts144.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts147.jpg

It ripped the ground out of the harness, stretched all the wires etc... I was more surprised that it ripped the screw out of the firewall and didn't rip the harness in two pieces. Anyhow, I hooked the stock ignition back up without the HKS TP. I started getting break up again. The next week I put the harness back together and make sure the harness is in good order and replace the ground in the harness. I hook the Twin Power back up, and too my surprise, the red light comes on. So I continue to test it and my break up is gone :D

I ended up remounting it on the cruise control tray:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts165.jpg

Here is my car at the NASA event at Road Atlanta this past weekend with the Twin Power installed:


I, by no means, think the twin power is the optimal FD ignition set up as it simply increases the dwell time of the spark, but it's currently all I need. I'm sure I got lucky to an extent that it still works but I also don't think they are as sensitive as alot of people make them out to be. Just thought I'd share my first hand experience with them.

The M2/RaceShop Rollbar: I thought "this shouldn't take more than a night of work." Was I ever wrong. I purchased my kit used missing a few bolts and the bottom bracing brackets that go underneath the car. No big deal, right? To compound things, mind has both diagonal bars. I had the main hoop installed where I thought it was suppose to be, but could not get the other bars to line up. I finally figured out exactly where the bar needed to sit and ended up having to jack it back(using bracing jacks) to push it back where it needed to be. I then had to fabricate the bottom brackets, which I didn't mind doing because I don't like the fact that the original ones sandwich everything together and bend the floor. So I made new ones out of steel and molded them to the shape of the underside of the car. I ended up only needing 1.5in bolts all around. I also replaced the shock tower nuts(the ones that go to the studs on the struts) with nuts that are threaded all the way through. The stock nuts are only threaded halfway through the nut and, with the extra thickness from the new rear strut bar, I couldn't get them on more than a couple of turns. Here it is once I was finally finished with everything:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...X7Parts152.jpg