WalkerCaroll

I've got a gsl se thats completely stock and has pretty bad vacuum leak so it doesn't run well at the moment. I've decided since I really love cars and I am very interested in learning how to work on them, to make this car the basis for my senior project for school. And for me to be allowed to do this, I can't just work on the car and add some stuff, I have to have something thats completely different than what I started out with. To do that, I thought I could turn this car into a stripped, track-ready car. The engine and car have 88,000 miles and even though the engine is good, I'd like to either rebuild it myself or have it rebuilt before I really stress it. I know there are kits for sale that cost around 1300$ and thats just gaskets and apex seals and stuff but that's if I rebuild it myself. I've never done it before and I'd like to be able to send it somewhere to have it rebuilt to good standards and to also have it ported (Bridgeport or larger would be good?). And with the actual chassis itself, I'll strip it out and clean it up and put suspension parts and all that jazz as well.

This isn't going to for any specific racing class either because 1. Nobody races RX-7s in South Carolina and 2. Racing isn't what I really want to do anyways.

Or this engine not a good base for modifying and I should just try and find a good engine from another car to swap in? Because I know the 6-ports don't lend themselves well to porting and they don't take a turbo very easily without lots of time and even more money. Is this the time that I would just eat it and go for turbo II?

Qingdao

iTrader: (3)

If you can't fix a vacuum leak; I don't think you'll be able to rebuild an engine or swap a turbo ii engine by yourself.

So, too hard is my answer to the question.

Have you thought about learning the basics of the rotary engine first before diving into the advanced?

Why not get this engine running like a top first. Then save up some money/time, and put together a monster engine for you to drop in at your conveinance? Or find a shell that you can tinker with till you get the powertrain the way you like it.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

If your goal is to make a race car, the first step is to define what a "track-ready car" means and the attributes that go along with it. Once that is established, determine which class of "track-ready" racing your aiming for. It wouldn't be much fun to build the car and take it to a track only to find out your car does not fit a particular class to race.

With this car having such low miles and your desire to rebuild the engine, if it where me I'd find a more suitable car to transform. You could find non-running Rx-7 for cheap.

I'm with Qingdao on making your current car a great runner fist. Take lots of before and after pics.

WalkerCaroll

The car has was running fine until I took the intake off to clean and put in port sleeves. But when I put the stuff back on again, it sounds like there is a vacuum leak or air leak somewhere. I know how to fix it but I don't have time (right now) because of school. This supposed to be a summer project and senior year which won't take up as much time. I do know a fair bit about these engines and theres not really an issue with saving for money.

WalkerCaroll

When I say track ready car, I mean a car that I can take to the track and beat the **** out of and have it be focused for the track, not the road. My ideas were to strip it, put a roll cage and fuel cell, remove everything that isn't necessary in the engine bay, etc... The car as it sits has a RB exhaust, Momo seat and steering wheel.

rotordogg

iTrader: (4)

I'm with the other guys, don't try transforming this car. Solid, low-mileage rx7's are harder and harder to find, especially gsl-se's. there are plenty of shitty rx7's out there that you can transform any way you wish.

If you must, sell this car for 2 or 3 grand and then buy a non-running 7 for $500 and use the extra $1500-$3000 to do your race track build.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i would fix this car properly (if you don't have the 15 minutes to pull the intake, then how do you have time to build a cage?).

i made this same mistake with my car, i built the most fun to drive track car, but its a TRACK car, so 360+ days a year it just sits, with the consolation that i'm raising an impressive variety of spiders.

if i was going to do another 1st gen (or maybe its a when i do), its going to have an engine i can smog, so i can drive it on the street, because its more fun that way.

and then secondly, as you pointed out, nobody races these things, so why bother.

Stelvio

Or.... you could completely restore it. That would be something completely different than what you've got, and a whole lot more interesting and fun than a track car. If your Senior project won't let you restore it, that's a pretty sad state of affairs at that school.

LongDuck

As the other guys have said; an -SE is something special that's worth restoring, so if your goal is to build a car you can beat the hell out of, please do yourself a favor and either pull the original, 88k mi engine as a core and leave it alone (for later restoration) to drop in a 13b from another later vintage, OR find a more common model that you can mod to your heart's content.

About 10 yrs ago, I bought a 13b -SE engine from a forum member here and have that engine on a stand in my garage for the upcoming day that my 220k mi engine goes out - and that day is approaching faster than I like to think. The spare engine is my insurance policy that I can keep this car on the road and enjoying it for many many more miles.

To strip down a basically good 'runner' -SE would demolish what is becoming a treasured collector car (if only to those of us who remain rotor-heads!).