Sooo we kinda f-ed up one of the SSR Professor SP4 wheels on Project V8 RX-7 pretty bad backing into a curb a couple weeks ago.. With nothing to lose and no time to get it professionally repaired before LS Fest West last weekend we took a stab at fixing the curb rashed wheel ourselves!
We were so excited about our new Sikky shifter video that we almost forgot to show you exactly how we approached new lug studs and spacers for the rear. We did a pretty good job guessing what offset would give us that perfect flush fitment of our SSR SP4 wheels on our Rocket Bunny widebody RX-7, but there was still room for improvement! We took care of all that with a set of 10mm FIC spacers, new ARP wheel studs and Muteki lug nuts!
5 years ago we installed Sikky Manufacturing's original T56 Magnum relocation shifter, and it served us well, but now they've updated the design. We got our hands on one to compare and install in Project V8 RX-7! Click to watch and see more!
by Mike Kojima
In our last articles about Project V8 RX-7, we left you last with photos of our new SSR Professor SP4 wheels and Toyo R888 tires looking flush, but we weren’t ready to explain how we accomplished that task yet. With our Rocket Bunny aero kit giving us a huge space in the wheel wells to fill, we were going to take advantage of all of that.
Our car had to use all of the space for wide wall-to-wall rubber. More rubber means more grip, and with our LS3 providing the torque and power to use it all, we were obligated to do so. However, just putting wide rubber on a car not designed for it creates a few technical issues that, since we are MotoIQ guys, have to be engineered out of the equation. This means the typical spacer to fit and beat to match approach was not going to be a solution.
From custom fabricated control arms to revalved KW V3 coilovers with HLS, Mike Kojima goes under Project V8 RX7 to explain everything we did to address the new suspension geometry challenges we faced when adding 50mm to each corner with a Rocket Bunny wide body kit.
by Jeff Naeyaert
In Part 1 of our improvements to the Project V8 RX-7's oiling system last week we got an oil cooler, Ano-Tuff fittings and Pro-Lite 350 hose from Earl's and an oil thermostat from Improved Racing. In Part 2 we'll finish it off by walking you through how we put it all together.
It’s no secret the LS family of engines can have oil starvation issues particularly on the racetrack. In high-g turns oil is forced to once side of the pan leaving the oil pickup dry and thus starving the oil pump and the engine's components of oil. Catastrophic damage can result in as little as a few seconds depending on engine speed. We already installed an Improved Racing oil pan baffle, today we'll go one step further to protect our E-Rod LS3!
by Dave Coleman
It has been so long since our last update that you could be forgiven for dismissing Project Miatabusa as dead and forgotten. It is not.
It has, in fact, moved forward in such complex bursts of productivity that there was little time to document it as it happened. And then, frankly, I forgot some of it. What follows is my best recollection of what the hell just happened.
In Part 1 of our Wheel, Brake and Tire miniseries, we ordered a set of SSR Professor SP4 wheels for our RX-7 from Tanabe and were patiently enduring the two month wait for them to be built in Japan. During that time we fitted our car with a Stoptech Trophy big brake kit (in Part 2) hoping they would clear the wheels. Right on schedule our wheels arrived and we were able to pick them up from Tanabe's facility in Torrance! In Part 3 we’ll finally see how close all our guesses were to being “good enough”!
Ever since our projects, Project FR-S and Project STI got the Stoptech Trophy kit on them and we felt how amazing and confidence inspiring those brakes were, we HAD to have them on the FD. After all, it IS our flagship project and that nickel finish is just way too bad ass and EXPENSIVE looking! Stoptech makes a Trophy Big Brake kit for the FD RX-7 and those are the brakes we alluded to in the last article that our wheels needed to clear!
MotoIQ Proudly Presents Our Sponsors: