Who would win? Find out in the January 1998 issue of Classic & Sports Car:

 

Super cool, thanks Jim!

 

nice find. was never a fan of the 924, but over the years i've learned to see it for what it was and thus respect it.

 

thanks for sharing the article. it looks like a nice read!!

 

Thanks for sharing I liked the point counterpoint
way they compared them.

 

That's awesome!

 

Man, I gotta wait until its 1998 again to find out? Bummer!

 

this Elford Turbo was an evalution model commissioned by Mazda UK.
It's still around.

 

They go into detail on page 1 a bit, draw-through turbo limited to 5psi at the wastegate and a "chip" to retard timing at 7400rpm to prevent detonation.

Super mild setup. I guess they were going for driveability / reliability?

 

two just out of college engineers.....one bought a new 924, the other bought a used 914.....924 engineer exclaimed, "boy, did I get ripped off!" after swapping cars for a drive off.

The 924 engineer was so dense, that he tried to drag race a pontiac trans am. The t/a is fantastic on dry pavement in a straight line, it can beat a ferrari.

The 914 engineer then got a used rx-7 fb. Wow, this handles almost as good as the 914, is a hell of allot faster, and is a hell of allot a hell of allot easier (squared) to work on.

 

Elfords limited the boost to 6psi on all the retail Elford turbo models to protect the engine. To maintain 'off boost' driveability, they used as standard compression 12a engine which wouldn't take as much boost as a low compression engine , such as the one used in the factory 12at.
The 'chip' was actually a very basic setup. 2 pressure switches work off the inlet manifold and send signals to a very simple system. The first is a 0.5psi switch that goes to ground as soon as any boost is detected, This then operates a solenoid which shuts off the automatic (vac) advance to the dizzy..... so it doesn't so much retard the timing as stops it advancing.
The other pressure switch is an 8psi switch that cuts the leading ignition if the boost exceeds 8psi.... this is a fail safe in case the wastegate fails.

Here's an Elford Turbo setup off the car...







and here it is in the car...



a simple, reliable setup but good for 165bhp. Not the fastest thing but very useable as a daily driver and gets good gas mileage which is important in the UK where gas is currently £6.19 ($9.69) a gallon.

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