After 2 years, we finally install our built 13B REW engine and Nissan CD009 transmission with the Fisch Racing Tech transmission adapter system.
This has been a long time coming and we were excited to finally install the engine and transmission back into our FD RX-7 for the first time in 2 years. The journey down this engine build rabbit hole started in Part-10, where our car suffered a minor engine fire from the improper use of heater hose as fuel line by the shop who installed the car’s new crate engine. This was a major turning point that threw off the entire build plan and staged upgrades that we intended to individually test as we slowly upgraded the FD.
While the engine was out of the car, we fell down a slippery slope and decided to fully build the brand-new crate motor that was recently put into our FD prior to purchasing it. We disassembled the entire engine in Part-11 and then lightened, WPC treated, and cryogenically treated the rotors in Part-12. We ported the irons thanks to our engine builder Abel Ibarra along with WPC and Cryo treating the irons and housings in Part-13. We finally assembled our engine in Part-19 but the power potential of this build far exceeded the original turbo choice and durability of the rest of the drivetrain.
As our horsepower goals kept increasing, we had to upgrade the differential and built Ford Explorer 8.8” unit in Part-14 through Part-16 along with upgrading the weak transmission to the stout Nissan CD009/CD00A with Fisch Racing Tech in Part-18.
With our engine dressed with Raceonly billet pulleys and a DC Power 180A alternator, along with the Competition Clutch triple disc organic clutch and bolted to the CD009/CD00A transmission with the Fisch Racing Tech adapter system, we were ready to install our drivetrain assembly.
On the Fisch Racing Tech Rotary to CD009 bellhousing adapter, we decided to upgrade the OEM FD RX7’s weak 1.2KW starter with the high torque 2.0KW starter from Banzai Racing. Combined with the 970CCA from our Antigravity ATX-30-HD lithium-ion battery and the 180A DC Power alternator and 00AWG battery cable from Battery Cables USA, our 13B engine is going to have more cranking power than almost any RX7 out there, ensuring powerful startups each time.
On the back of the transmission, we bolted up the Fisch Racing Tech RX7 FD Transmission Crossmember and Energy Suspension transmission mount that which is designed to work in conjunction with their CD009 bellhousing adapter kit to mount the CD009 transmission into the FD chassis.
6 comments
Every update on this project is fantastic! Keep up the good work and keep all of us entertained with this awesome build as most of us go into the cold months with much less track action.
Absolutely love this build series, my dream car
Still a very exemplary build.
One thing though. The trans crossmember looks unnecessarily complex for a simple part. If You really need to make it from billet, mill it from one single piece. The bolt-together construction is just silly. This part could have been made from steel 2x thinner and just welded.
Milling it from a single piece would be extremely expensive and actually more complex. from what it looks, the current design is just cut out from an aluminum sheet on a CNC router. And this aluminum design looks sick.
Kakui!!! (Cool!!)
It is crazy how physically tiny that rotary engine is! It’s literally smaller than the transmission!