dean23

i was reading that the 79' and 80' 12a's had a thermal reactor (which i previously knew) and that they switched to cat. converters in 81'. well the site was rx7.com and there they said they couldnt put in a cat converter in a 79-80 sa due to it not having an air pump. does this effect anything with upgraded exaust systems? liek the RB header+presilencer+muff. kind of thing? or

peejay

???

SA definitely have air pump. If you remove the air pump on an SA the thermal reactor can overheat and collapse.

Aftermarket exhaust is no problem.

steve84GS TII

Peejay is correct.
The RB exhaust is completely smog illegal and requires removal of all the smog equipment.

You could install a header and a modern cat to an SA and it'd be smog legal in some states.But for the airpump/ACV system to work correctly with the cat,youd have to switch over to 81-85 engine ancillaries (carb,ratsnest,ACV,ignition.....)

kgray

Chances are that your thermal reactor is already clogged/melted. plus the system probably weighs two to three times rb's system.

MosesX605

Says who?

So long as the air pump hasn't been removed, there's no reason to think that the thermal reactor would be melted. What experience do you have that suggests otherwise?

kgray

my air pump was on for 26 years and to say the least the TR was CLOGGED. In first gear, getting up to say 6k was twice as long as with a header.
Ask trochoid, we first thought it was a clogged cat, hollowed it out, still sluggish, pop a header on and the 7 is a new car!

MosesX605

Crazy.

peejay

Ah but was your ACV working? If the ACV isn't functional then the air pump might as well be gone.

steve, don't forget one of the main differences between SA and FB... the engine's drillings are way different. So you'd need to swap in the engine to make everything 100% hunky-dory swapwise.

ChasRX

You can put the RB Header / presilencer / muffler system on and simply leave the air pump and smog equipment intact; allowing the air pump to blow out air to "nothing". That way, you can swap the stock exhaust back with the air pump blowing air to the catalytic converter-tube when it's inspection time.

Just be sure to store your complete stock exhaust manifold / cat system intact. It will bolt up to the RB powerpulse muffler-end.

dean23

well immisions and smog testing is no problem for me.. i live in northern indiana and we dont give a **** about it here. but my car is basicly bone stock. so wat all could i get rid of if i put on the RB system?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Depends on how far you want to go and what you don't need. Stripped down, there is virtually nothing on a Nikki carb, or the engine for that matter. If just doing headers, then the pump and acv can go, acv needs a block off plate. If going forward with the rats nest removal, you can clean out quite a bit of stuff from the engine bay.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

It was. I spent more time researching the SA exhaust, than I did rebuilding his carb and installing the headers. This was the first SA I had in the shop and I couldn't find much info on trouble shooting them, other than the FSM pics, and a few vague references about the reactors collapsing and plugging exhaust flow.

His car literally took nearly 2 full blocks in 1st gear gear to get to 6k, even after I drilled a 1-3/4" hole and made the cat straight though.

dean23

well i defintaley dont want a completely stripped down motor. but i do want all emissions removed. i have no need for then in indiana, so why have the cluster-**** in my engine? ha. i also want to get my carb a lil less complicated. but i havent found any good instructions with that yet, so im not gonna bother.... and while im on that subject. my idle speed has been raised due to (i think) more airflow to the carb. how do i lower the idle speed?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Bareing the engine is the rats nest removal. There is Carl and Pratch's write up in the FAQs and another one in the archives. Once that is done, there is very little left that is really needed on the carb. Though not terribly experienced doing this, I managed my first one with the help of the forum and in particular, Jon/ Vipernicus42.

Until that time, I had been installing aftermarket carbs, so the rats nest and other emission equipment was removed anyway.

MosesX605

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/fuel-intake-rats-nest-removal-79-rx-7-pictoral-457961/

My thread on rats nest removal for the SA models. Not much to it, really.

dean23

cool. thanks u guys. and wat all does the vacuum advance do? it looks lie kitll be easier to just leave it out when i do the rats nest removal. and (im not sure if u did mention) but wat sizes were the tubing and connectors u used?

gmanuser

the '79 and '80 both had air pumps but what they lacked was simally bolt postion you could fabricate your own mounting bracket to conect the two if you can weld otherwise get a 80' or '79 specific

peejay

I don't know how I missed this.

It is illegal (Federally, IE in any state of the union) to put a catalytic converter on a car that wasn't originally equipped with one.