Hey guys, my cousin and i have recently been looking into 1st gen rx7's because.......basically we just want one (who doesnt). Anyway we both own 2nd gens and know all about em and what not and have decided to expand our horizons. We were talking about them and came to a hard point, the question was: Are all 1st gen rx7's (in their original form) turbo?

we were looking through the forums and saw that when people asked this question they mostly got flamed and laughed at, you know kinda shrugged off. Basically there was no straight answer. So if anyone could please answer this question we'd be very greatful.


thx guys
Ant

 

No!

 

No. In japan, there was a 12a turbo model though. That was stock, hard to find though.

 

None of the SA or FB's sold in the US were turbo from the factory.

 

^ what they said.

If you're migrating from 2nd gens and are used to that broad, flat torque band you might want to look for a GSL-SE 1st gen with the 13B N/A engine.

 

+1^

 

My co-worker drove a bone stock '81 and marvelled at how the powerband didn't have any noticable peaks or valleys, it was one big plateau.

 

Very true....especially with the GSL-SE.
Stock N/A 1st gens are almost,dare I say, "boring" to drive.Not that they arent fun to throw around and/or drive aggresively,but the power delivery is very linear and predicatable.The 12AT turbo 1st gens were probably the same,since they had such a small turbo and only modestly more power than the N/A egines.
Once you start modding 1st gens,the topend usually ends up being vastly improved and you started to get that staged,powerband type action after you pass about 4000rpms.

 

I went from a streetport 88 TII (which I still have) to an 85 S. I love the FB. It gets around pretty good for a stock 12a. You can wrap it up thru 4th gear and still not be insanely breaking the speed limit. Good safe fun, can't be beat.

 

like everyone said, SA's and FB's in the US were all N/A.
that's why the FC's called the Turbo II,
having the first generation RX-7s in Japan the 1st to be turbo out of the bunch.

 

thanks guys, really appreciate it

 

I recently converted back to vacuum-actuated secondaries and I like the power delivery quite a bit more. Sure, I don't have as much control over the throttle as I would like, but the delivery is much smoother and easier to deal with. I can plant my foot earlier and not worry about flat spots caused by insufficient pump shot.

 

I sorta got the same result from hooking up the secondary vacuum rod back to the linkage. It doesn't bog at low RPM anymore and the secondaries still kick in well and predicitably.