Garage Revolution’s Time Attack FD3S RX-7, Part 2

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garage revolution fd carbon door

The GR FD uses legit dry carbon doors that weigh barely anything. I didn't get a weight from Aoki-san, but they felt ridiculously light on their hinges. The cage has tubes everywhere, but they are smaller in diameter than the main cage tubes.

garage revolution fd cockpit

The cockpit is all business and another mass of pre-preg carbon fiber. The round things with the yellow labels underneath them are resettable fuses. A JDM Odyssey LB925 battery sits on the floor in the lower left hand of the image. The large anodized gold lever is the sequential shifter for the Hewland transaxle. I am unsure of what the smaller gold lever is for.

garage revolution fd fuses

Easy access to resettable fuses. A power distribution module could handle all fusing duties with solid state electronics and software control, but fuses and relays are ultimately lower cost and are plenty good for time attack.

garage revolution fd odyssey battery

Here's a closeup of the JDM Odyssey LB925 battery nestled within a carbon fiber battery tray. “LB” stands for “Lo and Behold this battery costs twice as much in Japan even though this battery is made in the USA and the Yen rocks the shit out of the US Dollar.” There are alligator clips on the battery because it is being charged in between sessions. Next to the battery is a Motec M2R ECU which is an older M4 based ECU. The floor of the car appears to be carbon also.

garage revolution FD motec cdi

A Motec Rotary CDI unit sits on the other side of the battery on the carbon transmission tunnel. CDI igntions are traditionally used for higher revving engines where coil charging times are limited between firing events. The concept is that CDI ignition systems when used with the correct coil can supply a high energy, short duration spark suitable for high revving, high cylinder pressure engines. Also if you look closely, you'll notice the blue colored genuine SUN AUTO Hyperground grounding wire which this car uses throughout. People hate on them in the US, but they work. I've seen them work many times in A/B tests on the dyno. Home made/made in China grounding cables never came close to the results. 

garage revolution fd dash

More resettable fuses and what looks like two remote brake bias adjusters since the labels both say “F <-> R”. At least one of them is (perhaps the one that says AP on it), but I'm not sure what the second knob is for. What sticks out some is the late 80's look silver framed display screen. Those of you older guys probably remember when you could buy home stereo components in black or silver. This screen is that silver.

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