Poor poor FD

94Gt5.0 · March 30, 2010, 11:42pm

This is going to be the longest post I’ve made in a while. There’s a story in here, but there will be plenty of educational pictures to show people who have never built a car like this, what NOT to do, what clean work can be, and what a little bit of extra effort can do for your car. The story is about Duke’s LS6 RX7 (from the builder’s site)

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I’ve got a friend who used to be local to me (recently moved). He’s the most knowledgable rotary RX7 guy I personally know. He’s about 21 years old, but he’s a sharp kid. He just finished building his 101mm turboed rotary. The damn turbo is as big as the engine! Highway monster. Granted, he’s 1 bad-tank-of-gas away from a blown motor, but you all know what I mean.

Anyway, he sometimes hangs out at a shop in the next town over called Top Dead Center. They build imports and cater to the ‘tuner’ and ‘drifter’ crowd. I went up there once when he organized a Steve Kan tuning session to hang out.

About a year and a half ago, he told me that TDC was having a ‘dyno night’, 7pm until. $40 for 3 pulls. Well, I just got my van’s swap done and I had recently gotten HP Tuners, so I figured I would put the van on the dyno and play with my program.

I showed up around 7 because I wanted to get the tuning done and get out of there since the Honda boys aren’t really my crowd. There was a bunch of people hanging out and loud music playing, but no one on the dyno. I asked about it, and they said that they’re ready whenever someone wants to put their car on. I said, “I’m ready”
“What do you got?”
“That van over there.”
“It wont’ fit.”
“I’ll take the ladders off.”

For those who don’t know, here’s what I’m talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlIvn19xgfQ

Well, we went back and forth, and they kept telling me it wouldn’t fit on the dyno. The shop owner came over and said it wouldn’t fit, but asked, “why do you wanna put a work van on the dyno anyway?”
“Because it has a motor swap”

I took him out and popped the hood … “Whoa… Hey, we’re getting ready to get an RX7 in here to do an LS1 swap, do you know anything about those?”
“Does a hobby horse have a wooden dick?”

I tell him that I can help with the wiring or AC or whatever, give him my card, and leave. Well, they never called.

A few weeks ago, I was at my friend shop (the guy with the Ecotec in the TR4) and the phone rings. I hear him answer it and say, “Hello?.. Well, he’s standing right here.” and hands me the phone. It was the guys up at the local hydrolics shop. They were looking for me, but didn’t have my # and knew Jim would have it. I go up there a lot because the customers there are either buying custom hoses for heavy equipment, or custom cars. The reason he was looking for me was because the owner of the RX7 that TDC was swapping (going on a year and a half now) was up at the hydrolic shop because TDC couldn’t get his clutch hydrolics right, so he was taking it upon himself to start looking for an answer. He discribed the problem and I knew the solution. This guy isn’t mechanically inclined, so I told him to bring his car over and I have the parts at the house, ready to install.

A week goes by and the car never shows up, then I get a phone call from him. He’s at TDC with the car and they were trying to talk him out of taking it to me and saying they can fix it. He puts me on the phone with their tech and he discribes the problem and asks what I would do about it. I tell him, “Listen bro, I’m sure under different circumstances, we would be great friends, but I know what you guys charged this guy for this swap ($14k they supplied everything but the roller, btw) and I know that you guys don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Now, if you wanna pay me to come up there and fix it, I will. Or if you wanna paypal me a consultant’s fee, I can do that too, but I can’t GIVE you information for a job you’re overcharging for. For what you’re charging, you should know what the fuck you’re doing. And there’s no way that the route you’re going will lead you to a working clutch.” He just says something to the extent of, “well, I guess I’ll just have to keep on researching.” I text the owner a few mins later telling him that those guys didn’t know what they were doing. A week later he brought me the car.

He wanted me to get the gauges working and give it a general once-over. The car was running like shit, BAD exhaust leaks, terrible handling and all in all, shitty craftsmanship. The bad part about it is that it’s a very pretty car. He’s got a fresh paint job a good looking carbon fiber hood, and a nice set of rims. But crack the hood… ugg.