I was reading on some of the first gen faqs about horsepower. I think i read somewhere that the 12a puts out 100hp? That doesnt seem like very much for a sports car. If this is true, which i hope it isnt, then what makes older 7's desirable?

Thanks

P.S. Im a noob when it comes to the infamous rotary.

 

2400 lb car, doesnt need much power, yes that is the correct power #. They pulled 16-17s in the quarter I beleive, and for their time they were pretty quick.
Also, 1979, what was on the mind of most people? horsepower? no. fuel economy? yes, so Mazda put a slightly more fuel efficient engine in the first gens. Also, his is a sports car, not a drag car....quarter mile isnt as important as its ability to get around a track fast.
Desirable?
*style
*inexpensive to get ahold of(usually, especially compared to a FD)
*rotary
*neat
*part of history

just some thoughs, I'm pretty new to RX-7s too, so if someone has some other ideas, let us have em!

 

All you really need to know is that they were winning almost every race in their class during that time. They were damn near unbeatable on the track......

 

Dont let that 100 BHP fool you. A rotary can never be compared to a banger when it comes to delivering that smooth power, all the way to the redline!

Plus, its surprisingly inexpencive to tune, a good exhaust with headers will get you far. Smack a good carb on that and a few other tweaks and suddenly you are competing!

And with it beeing a light car, it handles well.

 

The whole point is to boost the HP, not keep it stock!!! With a few mods, you can be near 200 hp in a very lightweight, rear wheel drive car. Heck, the lotus elise only has 190hp, and that car is plenty fast.

 

intake, carb and exaust 160 + porting 190. +2400lb car+ 50/50 weight ratio + rear wheel drive= very desirable and very very fun to drive.

 

Mine weighed 2280 Pounds on full tank of gas. It was a very raw car to drive. PURE Sports car. I've got a Second Gen now and Im going to get rid of it eventually and get another First Gen.

 

the 12a in my rx7 is pretty quick... So far I only have exhaust on it and can easily keep up with my friends truck and his engine is almost 5 times the size (the truck is way heavyier as well I realize this) But if you want a quarter mile car get a muscle car, if you want a fun to work on, quick track car get a rx7... Once you drive a seven down a small windy road you won't go back trust me complete driving bliss!

 

this power is from like 4000rpms to like 8000rpms, the lotus elise with 190 hp not to mention that elise's engine is supposedly very peaky, my turbo II is way faster than my 83' but it is just as fun, and in its class a good competitor

 

The RX-7 was a great sports car when it came out in 1978.

However, by 1984 it was showing its age and in stock form could not compete with newer sports cars. The market was changing with preference for a heavier car with more luxuries, in some ways a two seat sedan! Mazda brought out the gen 2 in late 1985 to cater for this market.

The gen1[SA and FB] remained the preference of sports car enthusiasts because of its shape and lightness. It had one great advantage over its contemporary competitors like the Datsun 280, Toyota Supra and Porsche 924, the rotary engine has far greater potential than the piston engine. It can be modified to get 300% increase in power and still be streetable.

The result is the early RX-7 with its great shape can be modified to perform better than the latest crop of sportscars such as the Nissan 350. You have a real choice of mild modifications and still keep total cost down to under a $1000 or spend several thousands going for different levels of performance. You can even drop in a later 13B, go turbo and end up with 500+hp and 1/4 mile in 11 seconds on a daily driver you can go shopping in. On the other hand you can strip it out, go for wild modifications and have a competitive track car.

I have owned some 30 sports cars, recently looked at the Nissan 350 and BMW 330 but on pure logic choose a well set up 1985 12A engined RX-7. I looked at it from an engineering viewpoint, cost of operation, and reliability. There was nothing in the same league from an objective evaluation. And I loved the classic shape which came as a subjective bonus!

You will find car experts will admire the choice of a RX-7, and think recent sports cars are just a way of showing how much money you have, not your love of a pure lightweight sports car.

 

OK - I race an Rx-7 and have driven one on the road for a lot of years and miles, so I'm not trying to talk them down. A few misconceptions are being stated here however.

Myth #1 - 79's didn't have a detuned engine for better fuel economy - as a matter of fact, fuel economy and exhaust emissions were almost the death of the rotary. It's a testament to Mazda that they were able to overcome HUGE technical problems to continue building rotaries! Piston engines have been in continuous development by 100s of manufacturers for over 100 years, but rotaries have primarily only been experimented with by very few for only 50 or 60 years. The Chevy Monza was originally designed to essentially be a Vega chassis for a rotary that they had a licence from NSU to build. Even a huge and well funded leviathan like Chevrolet backed away from the engineering and developmental difficulties involved with pioneering the rotary. Picture yourself in the mid-seventies (for those of us who were around and driving then!) about to bring aout a radical new car and drivetrain that was great except that it had high fuel consumption and high emissions. Ever driven a mid-seventies American car and wondered why they usually suck in comparison with 60's and 80's cars? It's because of two little tiny problems called THE FUEL CRISIS and the EPA.

Myth #2 - Just an intake carb and exhaust will get you 130 to maybe 140 hp on a street car, not 160. A mild streetport, designed to make the car decent on public roads isn't always worth 160. None of the above will meet ANY kind of emissions test if required in your area. Pure race streetports are good for something like 190 - 210 hp, and not streetable at all.

Myth #3 - Smooth power all the way to redline.........etc. Yes, rotaries undoubtedly have some of the very highest improvement potential from stock ever delivered to public roads. It is possible to go from 100 hp to over 300 hp with a peripheral port for a very low cost compared to typical piston engines. You'll have a very uncompromising, nearly unstreetable, fuel drinking, noisy, and short lived lump of fun - but fun it is. One of the problems with rotaries, and it gets worse when you port them, is that they don't make torque, or anything else for that matter, in the lower rev band. A PP won't even idle below about 3 grand +. They make horsepower by revving, but you'd better keep it up there because you can wait a LOOOOOOOONG time to recover from dropping below the powerband!

Rx-7's are a great example of a lightweight, two seat japanese interpretation of the sportscar. I think they did a great job, and the car has become a Mazda icon. But it's worth can only be determined by each owner, for their own reasons.

 

that is the last straw I can not sit here quietly and listen to the, I am tired of hearing about the rotorys so called lack of torque, they have all the torque they need, I have a stock 85 with a 12a I can start in 3rd gear from a dead stop with minimal clutch slipping, I can also go 15mph in 5th gear without it wanting to die then floor it and it quickly gets up to speed

 

you must be running 7.92 gears or something.

 

Boswoj & PaulFitz, great posts! Thanks for the insight!

 

while you can take off in 3rd and idle in 5th, so can a saturn....the point is, how fast can you accelerate way from idle in 5th w/o dropping gears? Not as fast as if you had more torque....they would also feel more peppy off the line. While they do have plenty power and are fun to drive, the launch and feel is completely diff than say my husband's old 66 GTO...you barely had to bring it above idle to get the tires melting off the rims(the benefit of 400+ torque). In an '7, I'm sure it is possible, but you would have to launch soooo high!

 

When you consider that a Mustang GT in 79 only made 115 hp, the rotary was doing quite well at 101hp. The 7 is also a much lighter car, making it faster than quite a few cars of the time. Only cars with expensive, highly developed engines could run with the 7.

 

the '79 rx-7 held the land speed record, in 1979, sponsored by NGK, @ 294.246 km/h. enough said.

 

Disagree here

Streetports are very streetable

 

My 12A cant do any of those things and its running really well right now. Mine can barely get moving in second gear. And well I only have a 4 speed so the 5th gear at 15 mph is not an option. But mine wouldn't do to hot even in 4th gear.

I weighed mine and with all the extra weight it was only 2350. 1st gear is just to get it rolling. kinda a dog gear off the line, however once i hit second gear this car has an unbeleivable power band. 3 rd gear is also really potent. 4th gear is just my freeway gear. just my 2¢

 

what about the Japanese 12A turbo?160 HP non intercooled.

 

In my opinion, the first gen RX-7's have the highest SPG (Smiles Per Gallon) rating of any car ever made. They are just fun to drive.
The 12a has plenty of power for the first gen, as they weigh around 2300-2400 Lbs depending on options. 23 Lbs per Hp is a rather decent figure, for a car that is 20+ years old. Sure, they can be modified to 200+ Hp, but as the Hp goes up, the driveability and reliability goes down.
The thing to remember before doing any kind of mods to the engine, is to ask yourself how you intend to use the car. The less mods you do, the simpler the everyday driveability is.
If you want an all-out racecar, then ease of starting, and driving are not really important.

 

Werd. Hence the name, you know?

My streetport, which was rated at ~215 flywheel hp, is very streetable. In fact, it was a daily driver for 13 years; 10 of which were on the current motor. My motor has well over 120,000 miles on it, and right now, if I got a new clutch and a carb tune up, I have no doubt that it would still be making somewhere around 200 flywheel hp.

The car is not extremely loud, although it can set off car alarms, and the power range is just fine for the street. The only thing that could really be improved on would be my exhaust. I am running without any cats, and the smell is pretty obnoxious.

 

What no one elses can just putt around in 5th, the car is bone stock, it doesnt even have exhaust, and stock gears, I will time it tonight and get back to you guys, to see how long it takes it to get from 15 to 55 mph in 5th

 

A 12A DOES have a lack of torque. Try riding shotgun or driving a car with a smallblock Chevy 350. My friend is putting 300+lbs of torque in his C3 Vette and my neck feels like it wants to snap everytime he punches the gas.

 

ya same thing happens with my dads 396 you can really feel the power i got a 350 that one day iam dropping in a el camino