(REFERENCE) The Upgrading a Stock Rx-7 Thread
 

Hi folks-
This is a thread to list the different things a new Rx-7 owner can do to make his stock car faster.
Please only contribute ONE responce, be short and to the point in your answer, and don't waste thread space by "discussing" (arguing) .
(I.E., don't answer if you don't know what the hell you're talking about.)

It's for the benifit of us all, so let's be as professional and concise as possible in our contributions.

Good idea Sterling!
OK - I'll start with the obvious...
Header / exhaust:
I've yet to find or hear of anything better than the RB set up when considering all aspects; ie - ease of application (bolt on), tone (outstanding), and performance. There may be better performing set up's out there, but when all things are considered, I love what Racing Beat has come up with for the 1st gen. - Tried and True:)

Mechanical Secondaries, dunno if it makes it faster, but the fuel guage goes down faster so it must be good :D

-James

Better carb(Holley,Weber,Dellorto,etc.) (or get the Nikki modded by sterling:)). More power=more gas so better fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator.

Oil cooler swap if you have the beehive water to oil cooler for 83-85 cars.
Electric fan cools better and the throttle seems to be a little more responsive too
Tokico shocks/struts, eibach springs, poly bushings, stainless steel brake lines, GSL/SE rear end swap if not equipped.

Throttle body mod. (fuel injected cars)

Lowers air intake tempuratures DRASTICALLY (coolant line is removed of intake and re-routed back into block, and improves throttle response, and will maintain a perfect set idle. also a pair of butterflies are removed, more air flow.

Draw back is you lose your mechaincal choke so car will run a tiny but rough in cold weather till car reaches operating tempurature.

Under 10 bucks to do, or possibly free if you have basic things needed for this 1-2 hour job.

Pro will take about 45 minutes to complete and restart the car.

Definately an after market intake manifold.....increase air flow....which helps with the after market/modded carb and header....

This one is too simple, you would be surprised what a simple tune up and oil change will do for you.

Oh Give Timmay a break, he was just messin around. I will add that I got feedback from a SCCA Spec-7 driver that when his airpump belt broke, that he got a noticeable power increase, so maybe the emissions removal has a bit of performance gain. ;)

DLIDFIS ! :boink:

(Dual Leading Igniter Direct Fire Ignition System)

Its also nice to have some upgraded ignition coils to go with it.

:rofl:

sorry it was late at night and i was bored


ok i wanna contribute..

mods- put a 48 IDA weber in... or if u wanna use it as a daily driver... just modify the stock nikki carb.. to open the 4 butterlys together or faster..

this should be as good as the weber and wont use so much fuel...

I was going to post DLIDFIS, but The 7 beat me to it.

Second choice, ditch that AC. Weight reduction and less parasitic losses to the engine.

On a 12A, fuel pump, and fuel pressure regulator.

-Header
-MSD 6a
-lighter flywheel
-rear end gears
-Tar removal from underneath floor carpet.
(HUGE WEIGHT SAVINGS APPROX 20lbs)
My brotherweighed it all last weekend.
-Port intake manifolds (EFI Cars)
-Engine timing

set the timing just so!

mike

DLIDFIS with a relay hooked to the battery or starter solenoid.

I'd like to suggest more grounds. Grounding each rotor housing and the alternator housing together with the tranny and battery (like a daisy chain) can help when the engine is old and has some corrosion between the iron and aluminum parts.

Move the battery to a storage bin for better cornering.

Loose the rear sway bar? This won't make it faster, but it'll help cornering (not sure if that's for '84-'85 cars only)

Hey i want to know more about this... is there a writeup of some sort Jimmy? (btw i love your car)

Zachstylez

Tb mod write up website is down currently but I'll try and make a write up myself w/pictures.

I've done 3 so far.... 2 gsl-se's and 1 t2.

ZachstylezRX7 I'll pm you.

The tb mod....

The easiest way to do this is to remove the either top of the motor. From the runners up.


-remove black big air tube
-Mark all vacuum lines
-remove throttle cable
-electrical plugs

Then the coolant line close to the fire wall.

There are like 5 nuts to losen at the bottom of the intake runners.

and 2 more hidden under the re-egi box seen from the drivers side.

Once out, undo the TB. 4 nuts.

Then remove:

-the machinal choke (where hot coolant runs thru) also has a inline check valve with vacuum lines.

-dash pot

-Unscrew the butter flies, (I've had to drill the screws out) then remove the shaft.

Once that is done you'll need to cover the holes from that shaft on both sides of the TB. I've tapped the holes and put in a bolt on each side and grinded off the excess.

Then put that back together.

Next the coolant line.

You'll need to get a 2 foot coolant line with a 90 degree bend near the end. and hook up the 2 coolant opening together. It'll just just run along side the fuel rail.

After reassembly you'll have to readjust the throttle cable for the perfect idle. and the screw on the RE-EGI box.

Then hook up the cruise control cable (thats the one that circles around on the passenger side).


Wait until I have pictures and a proper write up. There could be things I'm forgetting.

JIMMY

COLD AIR INTAKE Preferrably with a K&N intake.

High performance spark plug wires are a plus.

Yes - emissions removal as clickable in this sig :D

for everyone that races (non strip)

remove the rear sway bar till you have decent power, can't tell ya how much that helped!

<l><l>

one word, TURBO. Of course once you modify anything it isnt stock anymore....

^^^^^^^^^
Bad ass at work. Hey thanks a lot man i can't wait till i get the full write up! So that increases throttle response more than anything?
And what is this rear sway bar removal? I can't find one but i am an idiot... and why is it so beneficial?

Zachstylez

Apparently removing the rear bar makes it less prone to that oh-so-fun snap oversteer. I have yet to try it as I have my hands full fixing all the other little bugs with my newly installed suspension.

O well where is the fun in not having any oversteer?
Drift till i die!

Zachstylez

You really want more of a neutral car for drifting, having it biased highly towards oversteer would make it uncontrollable. Drift is about controlling a slide, not just sliding around, any camaro or firebird can do that.

Ok this mybe a dumb Question but we inject H2O into piston engines at high RPM to bump up compresion Would this work on a rortary or would it be to hard on the seals
Has anyone tryed this
I gess I'll do a search but I wanted to get this form thinking about it tell I can get back on

Water injection is somewhat popular among highly boosted rotory owners. They use it mostly as an anti-detonate though. That allows some serious boost to be used.

ON PULLING TRACTORS USUALY NOT GAS BUT SOMETIMES
WE PUT IT IN BEFORE THE TURBO TO MAKE AIR DENSER
AND TURBO SPIN FASTER ALSO IN INTAKE TO RAISE COMPRESION
THIS IS DONE AT FULL SPEED AT END OF PULL

simple tune up, oil change, oil filter, NGK spark plugs, coolant flush

Circled.

i'll keep it simple ... i was going to say start with a good, COMPLETE tuneup, but others beat me to it ...

so i'll move to the next "often-overlooked" item ... refurbish your suspension bushings - ALL of them - either before or during before suspension upgrades.

also replace engine and tranny mounts ...

Front swaybar - I put the RB one with poly bushings on Pamela and she cornered far, far better for having done so.

does anyone know if they sell rb stuff in australia, i want this damn exhaust but too slack to look around for myself

thanks

I found 20-50 Castrol Syntec makes my rotary run alot better than the regular oil the old owner had in it
But it's exaust will burn your eyes
any synthic oil would probly give you this same afect
synthic don't burn like reg oil so it seems to do a better job of lubing
most of you probly run synthic but I found a few people in my town that just run anything and say oil is oil
I got a good share of power out of this

If you disagree please tell me!

This makes me wonder what kind of goo is being fused to the inerts of your rotor housings if its not being burned off??

Simon

Yeah i was under the impression that since rotary engines naturally burn oil, synthetic was not good for them.

Zachstylez

yeah i was told that too. specifically - "DO NOT put synthetic in a rotary"

It depends on the brand of synthetic used. Some of them burn fine, others leave things behind and don't completely burn. I don't use synthetic, so I've never really looked at which brands burn good and which don't.

Yeah this is a much debated topic so i am sensing an internet forum fight coming soon.

Zachstylez

back to upgrading from stock. on se's go take that freakin air box off and get a rubber sewer adapter(home depot has them for $3) 2in to 3in(it's tight but will fit perfectly)and a medal braket that looks similar to this http://jerad.travisbsd.org/flang.jpg then go get a cone filter. use the sewer adapter to connect to the air flow meter from the TB. and then use that braket on the other end of the air flow meter and put the cone filter on the end. this works real great if you upgrade you intake manifold to a s4 or s5 intake. if you do upgrade to that intake, go to racing beat and get a injector hole plug kit. it's full alluminum. cut the square braket in half, and cut about 3/8 to 1/2 in off the top of each plug. goto the secondary injector holes and take the plastic seats out and shove the plug in and then the 1/2 of the sqare on that and tighten it down with the supplied screws. great mod 10-15 hp. and very easy to do. takes about 2 hours with all the equipment.

jerad

In addition to 13b4port's post, if you want to keep your air pump, then an awesome way to add some great looks with a clean install is to go to Schucks or any parts store and get a pretty small breather for about 15 bucks. Either pop it onto the air pump and put a bracket on it from Home Depot. Or if it is too small, like mine was, just drill out the hole on the breather until you get the perfect size for it to squeeze on the air pump tube. Add a bracket and you are set. Doesn't do a god damn thing for performance, but it does look pretty slick.

O yeah. You can go to a performance racing store and pick up the adapter that 13b4port was talking about. Ask for the Toyota one. It will run you 20 bucks which is more than Home Depot's but if you want a sure thing then it is a direct fit.

Zachstylez

sorry I did not know it was that touchy
 

thanks 13b4port for getting us back on track

we are tearing one down tomorow to port it
I gess I will see what it looks like its had syn in it 2 years now and we had it apart 2 years ago for a bad rotor thats why we went syn because of all the black tar that was in it from the burnt petrolem oil maybe that was the wrong move I do know some makes of syn say on the can not to run there brand in a rotary?

kinda late, but on the oil issue, here is what sport compact car said wen talking to a rx7 specialists*note* this is for a FD, but a rotary is a rotary...*

"Dino or Synthetic motor oils? That's the big question. While Mazda Corp. has officially forbid the use of synthetic motor oils in their rotary engines, Mostly Mazda strongly recommends the use of Redline synthetics products, in the motor, differential and in the transmission. The unofficial "inside story" behind Mazda's statement is quite interesting. Apparently, in the early 1980s, Mazda's racing team had lubrication problems using a certain brand name synthetic motor oil. Instead of disclosing the particular oil brand and potentially getting faced with a lawsuit, Mazda made an unfair general statement, suggesting that all synthetic oils were incompatible with their rotary engines. Redline motor oils have been successfully used in rotary race motors for nearly two decades. Their motor oils offer improved film strength over other motor oils, synthetic or non-synthetic. Synthetics also extend the life of the turbochargers by resisting bearing "coking" typically associated with traditional oils. We used Redline 10W/40 high performance motor oil for Project RX-7. At over six dollars a quart, it is hardly inexpensive. However, a good motor oil is the best insurance against premature engine wear."

redline your shit at least once on every outing. keeps the carbon deposits down, keeps compression healthy and power up.

Over the ownership of my 12A engined RX-7 I have researched much of the information on this forum to arrive at a good upgrading bolt-on package for a stockport which is reliabille, economical and quick, REQ for short.

My REQ upgrade is:-

ENGINE

 modified Nikki carb[bored out venturi, larger jets, modified accelerator pump, plenumed secondary inlets, mechanical linkages,] Stirling style!
 matched inlet manifold,
 K&N air filter
 Custom exhaust system based on long primaries, a sports muffler with 2 ¼” pipe. Pineapple concept
 13BT Turbo fan/radiator
 Heavy Duty Clutch
 Deleted airpump and airconditioner but dual fan belt pulley
 10mm high performance ignition wires, NYK plugs

SUSPENSION
 Upgraded shocks, KYB high performance sports
 Lowered 1 1/4 inches with upgraded coils[145f110r],
 25mm stronger front swaybar
 poly bushes
 Heavy duty Bendix brake pads, top brake fluid


WHEELS
Enkei 14 inch alloy wheels with 205-60 Dunlop W10 tires


What I have also considered but have yet to be convinced are:-

Electric radiator fan
DLIDFIS
Bigger wheels
Front air dam and rear spoiler
Weber carb
'Cold 'air inlet
Upgraded fuel pump and regulator
Steel braided brake lines
Strut tower brace

My package seems to work well - outstanding handling and 28mpg cruising at 70mph. 24mpg round town. Low and midrange power is great with standing 1/4 in the low 15s without being too wild, 14.6 seconds the best when really trying.

On a 5 liter mustang if one replaces all the fluids one gains seven horsepower.. (owned 6 of them)

If you replace tranny fluid and rear end fluid.. it has got to help..
:-)

I will be doing it to mine.

Install an electric fan on the radiator,
this will free up a few hp and more importantly get rid of the propeller noise and release the true rotor music.

Make sure your carb secondaries are at least opening!

Another basic mod/ tune up to make it run right send injectors to be balanced and blueprinted. was mail in a and cheap. Not sure, but on motorcycle when got K&N and free flowing exhaust needed to upgrade jets, maybe bigger injectors may be in order here.