IF you had the chace to buy an 1984 GSL-SE for 2200, would you do it?
Originally Posted by bigjoe25
Hes a serious question though, the bolt patern looks kinda funky and it looks like it would be hard to find after market wheels. Hell, tire rack list ONE wheel that is not only not the best looking, its also heavy. Anyone know of any 17's that not only fit, but are lightweight? Im going for pure function and not "sho" I love the new Rx8 wheels but to bad they are 5 lug. Its also my understand the bigger the tire and the stiffer the side wall the better the handling? But also the more effort to turn. So in reaitly the best drag whell would be a 14 inch 10 pound wide wheel with slicks, but a good handling wheel would be an 18 with really stiff sidewall?
Im just kinda shooting out questions, cause like I said before, Ima newbie to not only RX7's and rotors, but handling as well.
Im just kinda shooting out questions, cause like I said before, Ima newbie to not only RX7's and rotors, but handling as well.
There are plenty of wheels that will fit the car. The whole big wheel=better handling thing is a myth. One that is getting way out of hand.
By adding wheel height you raise the center of gravity. The higher the center of gravity the more weight transfer to the outside in a turn and the worse the handling. Why handicap yourself? Obviously you can lower the car down around the wheels but there is a limit. The only good reason to get bigger wheels is so you can fit bigger brakes under them.
The largest wheels I would ever put on a 1st gen RX-7 are 15s. I have some Kosei K1s at 15X7 (with 27mm offset) that just barely work without too much rubbing with 205/50-15 race tires. My good wheels are 13x8 with 225/45-13 Front and 225/50- 13 rear Hoosiers. They work well but there is some rear fender lip/tire interference in some cases. Now I guess all that should be prefaced with the fact that the car sits very low. I don't know exactly how much lower than stock but it is a significant amount.
All you have to do is go to a few autocrosses and see what wheels are on the fast small cars to see the whole big wheel=faster myth dispelled.
Also by increasing the diameter of the wheel you are decreasing your overall gear ratio. You have less force being applied to the ground. So you basically make your car accelerate slower also. However, you will reach redline at a lower road speed so you may have to shift up a gear when you otherwise wouldn't.
There are obvious trade offs with all of this.
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Joined: Aug 2004
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From: Cincinnati
Originally Posted by RotaryAXer
There are plenty of wheels that will fit the car. The whole big wheel=better handling thing is a myth. One that is getting way out of hand.
By adding wheel height you raise the center of gravity. The higher the center of gravity the more weight transfer to the outside in a turn and the worse the handling. Why handicap yourself? Obviously you can lower the car down around the wheels but there is a limit. The only good reason to get bigger wheels is so you can fit bigger brakes under them.
The largest wheels I would ever put on a 1st gen RX-7 are 15s. I have some Kosei K1s at 15X7 (with 27mm offset) that just barely work without too much rubbing with 205/50-15 race tires. My good wheels are 13x8 with 225/45-13 Front and 225/50- 13 rear Hoosiers. They work well but there is some rear fender lip/tire interference in some cases. Now I guess all that should be prefaced with the fact that the car sits very low. I don't know exactly how much lower than stock but it is a significant amount.
All you have to do is go to a few autocrosses and see what wheels are on the fast small cars to see the whole big wheel=faster myth dispelled.
Also by increasing the diameter of the wheel you are decreasing your overall gear ratio. You have less force being applied to the ground. So you basically make your car accelerate slower also. However, you will reach redline at a lower road speed so you may have to shift up a gear when you otherwise wouldn't.
There are obvious trade offs with all of this.
By adding wheel height you raise the center of gravity. The higher the center of gravity the more weight transfer to the outside in a turn and the worse the handling. Why handicap yourself? Obviously you can lower the car down around the wheels but there is a limit. The only good reason to get bigger wheels is so you can fit bigger brakes under them.
The largest wheels I would ever put on a 1st gen RX-7 are 15s. I have some Kosei K1s at 15X7 (with 27mm offset) that just barely work without too much rubbing with 205/50-15 race tires. My good wheels are 13x8 with 225/45-13 Front and 225/50- 13 rear Hoosiers. They work well but there is some rear fender lip/tire interference in some cases. Now I guess all that should be prefaced with the fact that the car sits very low. I don't know exactly how much lower than stock but it is a significant amount.
All you have to do is go to a few autocrosses and see what wheels are on the fast small cars to see the whole big wheel=faster myth dispelled.
Also by increasing the diameter of the wheel you are decreasing your overall gear ratio. You have less force being applied to the ground. So you basically make your car accelerate slower also. However, you will reach redline at a lower road speed so you may have to shift up a gear when you otherwise wouldn't.
There are obvious trade offs with all of this.
Aparently you can, and in many ways.
get it quick. I would pay a sh*t load more than that for it in mint cond. If you look at the value of it, in mint condition it is worth like 5 grand or something...its a classic. Oh and they are fun as ****.
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Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Calgary, AB
2 additional comments. If you have "2 spots" of rust then trust me, I bet you'll have A LOT of rust in certain places. If you want to keep it looking great then you'll need to spend some time right off the bat dealing with rust and asthetics on the car.
Yeah 135 is shy for sure, but they "act" like they have more power than that. If you're driving hard for fun then the poor torque is not really a problem because the RPM's will be in your power band at 4000-7000 RPM. They corner awesome and in their power band are pretty damn responsive. I bought my SE for about 2K US and spent 10 moths fixing it up after 6 years of a GSL (carburated) because I knew that I'd probably have to spend 8K at least to give me the overall driving experience of an RX.
You can do a little porting, some direct-fire ignition, and custom exhaust to get you up to about 150-160 HP pretty easy and with that power you'll be able to take all of the ~200 HP run-of-the-mill cars out there today. First those cars are much heavier, and second most are FWD and have brutal traction in comparison.
Yeah 135 is shy for sure, but they "act" like they have more power than that. If you're driving hard for fun then the poor torque is not really a problem because the RPM's will be in your power band at 4000-7000 RPM. They corner awesome and in their power band are pretty damn responsive. I bought my SE for about 2K US and spent 10 moths fixing it up after 6 years of a GSL (carburated) because I knew that I'd probably have to spend 8K at least to give me the overall driving experience of an RX.
You can do a little porting, some direct-fire ignition, and custom exhaust to get you up to about 150-160 HP pretty easy and with that power you'll be able to take all of the ~200 HP run-of-the-mill cars out there today. First those cars are much heavier, and second most are FWD and have brutal traction in comparison.
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