My new car!

eliminster · Postby **eliminster** » Sun May 20, 2012 9:14

I remember a statement in the user manual for the go pro if you want to cut out wind noise at certain speeds to use one of the cases I think it was the more open one as it let the camera cut the noise from the mic but I could be wrong. just a thought.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun May 20, 2012 9:14

So, thanks to eliminster's post, I did some searching and tried out the cover for the GoPro case with the holes in it, but I found on google that this alone isn't enough, and excessive wind noise is a common problem with the GoPro.

I did find some products for sale that buffer and greatly reduce wind noise, like this

http://store.micover.com/stickover/micover-stickover-gopro.html

So I decided to make my own, with a piece of about 1" thick foam hot glued to the back of the vented case. I tried it out by testing the completely sealed back piece and the my new modified vented piece with the foam by recording video in front of my big shop fan in the garage. With the closed case piece, you hardly hear anything, but with the vented foam back plate, you can actually hear stuff. I need to test it out on the car to be sure but I think it will work a lot better.

MtnHighRX-7 · Postby **MtnHighRX-7** » Sun May 20, 2012 9:14

Damn, What a difference! Once those seats are done and seat belts changed it'll be so nice in there you won't want to leave it. Its a good thing you have more room to recline those seats. :lol:

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Thu May 24, 2012 9:14

^Thanks man!

So I realized I need a coolant expansion/overflow tank after all. Every time on shut down, the hot coolant expands past the pressure cap and leaks. So I ordered an expansion tank from Summit last week and it arrived yesterday.

I made up a quick bracket from aluminum and mount it in the passenger side of the engine bay, just in front of the turbo. It will work fine in that location but I'm not thrilled with the look, with this big aluminum tank in the engine bay. So I'm thinking I'll move it next to my water/meth pump which is down in front of the passenger front tire, near the tow hook. That way it would be hidden, but I wouldn't be able to add a second oil cooler in that location later down the road if I wanted to.

I also drove the FD to work for the first time on Monday. It went fine, leaked nothing, but I did have two problems. First is the exhaust leak at the downpipe is driving me insane, I really need to get it fixed. The catback muffler bounces around because it isnt properly secured due to the downpipes horrible fitment. So my plan this weekend is to get the entire exhaust system off and attempt to fix my current downpipe. If its not salvageable, I'll order some pipping to fab my own.

Second was minor and just my own brain fart, I forget to completely secure the 99 spec front lip to the bumper so the passenger side was slightly dragging on the ground when I got home. Oops. Luckily it didn't get ripped off.

So once I get these minor details sorted here I can really start ripping the car around and enjoying it haha.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun May 27, 2012 9:14

Got to work this morning removing the downpipe. Figured it would be a 2-3 hour ordeal with how badly it fits and inaccessible some of the bolts are, but I managed to get it out in about 30 minutes. I was happy haha.

Also noticed some oil on the subframe again, so I wiped it up. I couldn't spot any obvious leaks, and it wasn't enough oil to even form a drip, so I'm assuming it came from the last time my catch can overfilled and puked oil everything. Or at least I hope. So hopefully I'm on the road to getting a properly fitting exhaust system.

I then moved the coolant expansion tank to in front of the passenger wheel. I like it a lot better there, it's no longer visible and will work just fine, seeing its where the OEM tank is. I just had to flip the bracket I made and drill a new hole and it bolted up fine to an OEM mounting point.

I'll get to work here modifying the downpipe to see what I need to do to make it fit properly, or if I just need to get an entirely new downpipe. I need to get this done by next weekend so I can get some more testing/tuning in before the June 15th lapping day.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:14

Finally got my 3" stainless v-band flanges and clamp assembly in the mail yesterday so I dropped the downpipe off at my welders today and explained to him what needed done. Of course the 02 bung that's about 1" behind the original 2-bolt flange will cause problems- either the downpipe has to be short or longer. I elected to make it slightly shorter since my clearance in the trans tunnel is minimal.

I should have it back this evening or tomorrow, so I can test fit it and go from there. Then it will just need to be heat wrapped again and then I start doing final street tuning.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:14

It's about damn time. I'm so sick of hearing that exhaust leak.

LOL

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:14

Lol you've never even heard it haha.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:14

Actually I've been stalking you. What a way for you to find out. I had something so much more elaborate planned. Next time, my pet, next time.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:14

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:14

Got my downpipe back and test fitted it. What a bitch. I thought getting the little v-band adapter on the turbo would be a piece of cake. Wrong! The problem is the v-band edge blocks part of the bolt, so I can't get a socket on it. And the bottom bolt is in such a location I can hardly get a wrench on it.

So I go to Ace to try and find some bolts with an allen head in them so I can torque the bolt in. The size is M10x1.25, which is apparently the rarest bolt in the world, since all they had was M10x1.50. I only found a smaller head bolt in M10x1.25 so I got those since they have a 14mm head as opposed to the bolts I previously had with a 17mm head.

Still was a major bitch, the entire v-band adapter took me over an hour to install. I ended up slotting the bolt heads with a portable band saw so I could use a flat head screwdriver until they got too tight to do by screwdriver anymore.

Anyways, Finally got the damn v-band adapter on, then came the real fun part, the downpipe itself. I couldn't hold the bottom and align the top flanges at the same time so I had a friend come over and after about 30 minutes I finally got it aligned up and the clamp installed. The clamp is also a crazy tight fit due to the EGR block off plate.

I left a small relief cut at the bottom flange that bolts to the midpipe so the downpipe would have play in-case it didn't fit correctly. Since I have it fitting correctly now, I removed the downpipe and will get the rear flange welded up. Then I can heat wrap it and install for, hopefully, the last time.

Some pictures:

The v-band adapter piece, I think my welder is pretty good:

Trying to get a picture of the rear bolt to show how impossible it is to tighten:

I had to end up bending a 14mm wrench to get it on the bolt head, and then hook another wrench on the end of it to torque the bolt. What a bitch:

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:14

Also got some custom black floor mats from Jason S. Highly recommended, did a fantastic job, better than OEM. Also did a custom purple RX-7 logo for me.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:14

Oh I see now why you were having such a problem. It's hard enough to install the downpipe with just a V-band connection, but even harder to install the adapter I see. I've figured out ways to install the DP on mine when doing it alone, but it's still a PITA.

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:14

I need to quit bs-ing and get some of those mats, did you get the rear non bose as well?

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:14

^ No I didn't, I was going to but decided to hold off for now. I think he only charges $90 bucks plus shipping for it so it's a great value.

My new car!

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