I am customizing a 1979 rx7, and have quite a lot of questions about what I can do under the hood.

I was wanting to know what smog devices I could remove?

Is there a replacement carburator that does not have all the diaphrams, hoses and wires that I could use?

Is there a certain type of header that I could use instead of the thermal reactor?

I am trying to make it appear to be a "hot rod". With a clean and neat appearance under the hood.

If I can't get the look I want by removing these items, then I will have to put in a piston engine like a v6 or v8.

I would really like to keep the rotary engine if I can.

 

Look up the "Rat's Nest Removal" guide for your smog device removal, it's on the FAQ thread which is stickied.

For a Hot Rod look, I'd go with a Weber carb, you can find them on the Racing Beat website. For the unfiltered look with the venturis sticking straight up they are flippin sweet. The holly carb with the big white intake is also cool, more of a beefy old school look.

Racing Beat has really good headers, and full exhausts for that matter. I just put a new system in myself, and they are sweet.

Check out some of the 7's of some of the folks around here, there is a lot of really unique stuff you can do with the interior look of your rotary. Most common is some sort of alternating color scheme on the aluminum and iron rotor housings.

There are really some killer 1st gens here on the forums, take a look around and you'll get ideas.

 

thank you for the great ideas. My wife is going to order me a cataloge from racing beats.

I think I will be spending a lot of time just looking around to I can get some more ideas.

 

Also order a Mazdatrix catalog.They sell RB's entire line and are quicker with the shipping.They also have many other brands of perf. parts,plus very good prices on factory Mazda parts.

www.Mazdatrix.com

If you dont have to smog it,then all the crap can come off.The thermal reactor weighs a ton,so replacing that with a header will save you some 100lbs.Thats performance gained all across the board.With the reactor will go all the air injection gear as well.That makes up the majority of the smog control gear on a rotary.At that point,you should be at about a bare block,except for a couple crankcase vent hoses that have to be retained.

The stock carb might look like a nightmare,but under all that crap is a sweet little 4 barrel.The Nikki is hard to beat for all around performance and smooth operation.They are restrictive,but can be made to flow about 400CFM,without sacrificing their smooth,vacuum secondary nature.....just ask anyone running a Sterling or Yaw nikki.The Weber,Holley and Dell carbs will make more topend and be simpler and look cooler,but most of the time there is a bit of a tradeoff.Driveability and cold weather operation can be affected,and only you can decide whats acceptable.

Ditch the stock points ignition.Swap in the later,81-85 electronic setup for better running and go with an MSD direct fire mod for more power and smoother idle.Its a great,easy mod based on the stock 2nd gen RX-7 igniton system thats proven to work well.

Nothing beats a light flywheel in a rotary.The stock flywheel is quite heavy,to make up for the rotaries lack of lowend.Once you accustom yourself to the lighter unit,itll drive and clutch just fine,feeling like stock in only a couple days.But the increase in acceleration is nothing like stock.1st though 3rd gear pickup noticeably,even with only a moderately light steel flywheel.Guys running aluminum flywheels report even faster acceleration,although some feel that its a little too light for steet use.Starting up on a hill, or light throttle cruising can be a little jerky if you go too light.The steel unit is a nice comprimise.

 

Thank you for all the great info.

I have another question, after looking at threads for the last 2hrs. and reading every thing I can. I found something I don't understand.

What are "cats"?

 

catalytic converterz. u dont have them on an sa.

 

Catalytic converters...If your unfamilliar with that as well, They are just a device in your exhaust system that burns off excess gas and cleans up your exhaust gasses a bit, they are solely for keeping emmissions down, Although I believe in '79 that cats were not used but rather a thermal reactor system. Hope this helps in your quest!
Have fun with that beast, It will bring you a lot of happiness once you've worked the bugs out.
Good luck, and just dont give up, the rotary engine can be a wonderfull thing!!!!

 

yeah what they said...oh and.....welcome to the darkside

 

yep the SA, which you are looking at used the thermal reactor instead of the more efficient and still used to this day, catalytic converter. The FB used cats, they look very similar but the SA went from 1979 to 1980 and was the series one or S1 model, the S2 and up (FB, FC, FD) use cats.

Good luck with the car and welcome.