80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Well folks it has been a long time since I posted! I have been busy with work, and definitely busy with this turbo II swap.

I will post pictures soon, but for now I wanted to take a little time to discuss my findings, talk about the results and then give thanks to the many dedicated Mazda vendors out there.

First off the results are incredible! After putting everything together Nelson at RRR in Santa Ana CA did the tuning and dyno testing. We actually tuned DOWN the engine to 330 HP!!!!! I was running out of fuel injectors and actually had to turn down the boost to get the duty cycle of the injectors where we wanted them. More HP could easily been realized if I had larger injectors, but going from a stock 12a to 330 HP in an 1800# car.... I figured this is enough for now.

Is the swap cheap to do right??? NO WAY!!! I have about $5000 into this swap, but I feel it was done to the best of my ability without spending too much.

Here is a breakdown of some of the goodies.
1987 S4 engine
Stock top mount inter cooler with large carbon fiber Subaru STI hood scoop to keep cool.
BNR stage 2 turbo with upgraded actuator
Rebuilt stock primary injectors with rebuilt GSLSE secondary injectors
Aluminum racing beat flywheel and 3 puck racing clutch.
"Swirl pot" fuel system with Holley blu pump feeding surge tank and walbro 255 pump feeding injectors. Upgraded 1/2 fuel lines to injector rails
Racing beat 3" down pipe with custom 3" mandrel bent exhaust to a 3" APEXi muffler
Haltech sprint RE stand alone fuel management with NGK wide band O2 sensor with O2 corrected fuel management. Also Haltech controlled boost management.
Mercury marine (AEM style) direct ignition coils with MSD wires
S5 throttle body modified and ported.
Urethane engine mounts and racing beat front conversion to install
Custom built air filter and intake to turbo.

I am sure there is more, but this kinda covers the basics.

The car is incredible. The power in such a light weight gutted car is incredible!!! This thing has a power to weight ratio close to what a 638 HP ZR1 corvette has!!!!

Now on to the many thanks to our RX7 vendors who are working hard to provide parts and service to us. Please use these guys if you can. They are keeping our hobby alive!!!!
I would not recommend them if I did not believe in them!!!!

Dave Lemon and crew at Mazdatrix in Signal Hill CA. Dave helped me out and took time to give me advise and show me different projects when I was getting my flywheel installed and other work by them. He was about to head out to a race, but still took the time to explain everything and his crew took care of my work while I waited.

Tom Dragoun at 7's only in Button Willow CA. Very knowledgeable guy who took the time to help me and even helped fix my car for free when racing at Button Willow last year. I will be seeing Tom soon for suspension and brake upgrades.

Lucky Seven racing in Duarte CA provided me with advise and spare parts as needed.

Nelson at RRR racing in Santa Ana CA is a Mazda tuning genius and Haltech specialist. If you live in CA... Don't think about using anyone else.

Chris Ludwig at LMS motorsports in Indiana. This guy supplied the Haltech and ignition coils and a custome made comepletely plug and play wiring harness. This harness is pure sex and looks like it should be some kind of wiring on the space shuttle!!!

Bryan Nickell at BNR turbo in Alabama. This guys modified turbos look like a work of art!!! Unbelievable custom work here! Modified the stock turbo into a performance machine with TO4 compressor wheel and housing. Clipped turbine wheel, ported housings and modified actuator.

Scotty's muffler in San Bernardino CA. These guys are exhaust GENIOUS! If you live in SoCal and need exhaust work, these are your guys. Very friendly, fast and the work looks like a work of art. They custom built my mandrel bent exhaust system and built my custom air inake. They are also specialists in building custom inter cooler piping as well.

Witch hunter injectors rebuilt, match and flowed my injectors. When done, they look like new and did it dirt cheap!

I also want to thank many of you who bough old parts off my car to help with funds towards this project.


March 2nd and 3rd will be my first track weekend at Cal Speedway.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

I'm hoping to get out there to see her run, Jim. Congrats on completion.

mikeric

iTrader: (20)

Congrats! Let me know if you ever want to upgrade the turbo to a true T04. I have a BNR built custom turbo that is sitting in a box collecting dust.

rotaryjunkee

Sounds great. But along with the pics can we see some video?

ioTus

iTrader: (5)

Pics or ban!

I've thought about the STi hood scoop on an FB ever since I had my '03 WRX wagon with an STi scoop. Gaddam that thing was sexy! curves so perfect. That scoop always reminded me of the lines on the FB.

ioTus

iTrader: (5)

And how the hell do you cali guys get away with this?

My understanding is they have helicopters with infra-red imaging that can see into your garage and read the VIN # off your car. If it's newer than '75 and you're touching the engine they send in the SWAT team and gun you down on the spot for illegal modification.

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Ha Ha... how true this is!!! Actually this is a "track only" car and is not registered in the state of Cali!!

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Here is the only video I took on the dyno. Nelson was actually trying to tune down the engine on this pass. As you can see at the end, this run put down 272 Rear wheel HP!!!

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

First start of RX7 on Haltech "untuned"

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

A few pictures of the Haltech computer and LMS Harness, BNR Stage II turbo, STI carbon fiber hood scoop, APEXi 3" exhaust....

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Surprised you kept the top mount i/c, but a very clean swap nonetheless!

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

It's all an experiment for now! I want to try to keep the top mount....if it works!!

I am using the massive hood scoop to try to shove as much air as possible.

Two reasons I wanted to stay with the top mount.
1. Reduction of turbo lag. (less piping, smaller core)
2. Engine heat. (by keeping an intercooler out of the way of the radiator, hopefully this baby will stay cool on a road course)

If the top mount proves ineffective, I will use high pressure water injection to cool her.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

The scoop should definitely help. Looks like you're running the tall 83-85 rad in there so you should be fine!

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

We will see this weekend. I am racing in a NASA event here in SoCal.

Also I switched to 100% Evans coolant. With the Evans coolant I cannot boil over since the boiling point of Evans is above 300 deg F!!!

I mounted the FC oil cooler right in front and below the tall radiator. It fit in really nicely.

ioTus

iTrader: (5)

Wow man thats looking righteous! You could also try an S5 tmic - i believe they are slightly larger core and larger inlet/outlet by a bit. May want to double check that - but I know the S4 ic has tapered hookups and the S5 is straight.

Do you have a GoPro or other in-car cam? I would absolutely love to see that thing fly around the track.

DreamInRotary

iTrader: (49)

That is one sick car you have there. I'll be joining the Turbo FB club shortly and I have similar plans to the ones you have listed - with my own twists on some things though of course.

Awesome looking car, good luck with it, and keep posting pictures and videos!

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Car was an absolute reliable animal out on the track today! Ran perfect all day long.

Few issues that will need to be addressed.

1. The radiator is undersized. I was having a hard time keeping her cool today. It was kinda hot today and when you pushed it really hard, she got a little hot. Luckily I am running pure Evans coolant, so no boil over issues.

2. I am running out of gear!!! Since I am running such short tires and 3.90 gears, when I am on the straights, I can run it all the way up to 7500 RPM in 5th gear, before I hit the rev limiter.
BTW, this is 140 MPH per in car telemetry!!!!!! I run it up to 140 MPH and just level her off and maintain.... LOT'S of track left that I could run it up even faster.

The car can pass ANYTHING on the straights!!! It is an absolute ball to drive. NOTHING today was faster on the straights! I was able to pull right around a ZO6 Corvette like it was standing still!!

MIKE-P-28

iTrader: (1)

Ah the good ole days... Remember that first start...

DreamInRotary

iTrader: (49)

I read somewhere recently that the TII FB has a power to weight ratio of a 638hp Z06 Vette - I'd believe it

Fun to read that you're enjoying it on the track, where it was made for

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Had a blast on the track again on Sunday. The only cars to challenge the T2 RX7 was a new ZO6 and a new CTS-V that was modded!!
My midrange power was maybe a little quicker, but because I ran out of gear at 140 MPH, they could go just a bit faster on the top end.

Overall the car performed pretty much flawless all day long, and put a big smile on my face!

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

I was able to weigh the turbo RX7 at the track. With all the addition of the 13B motor, turbo, intercooler, computer, extra fuel system, I only added 13 more pounds over the old combo with a carbed 12a!!!

I have to contribute this to going to a lightweight custom made exhaust system vs. the boat anchor the Racing Beat exhaust system weighed that I ran on the 12a.

Overall the car came in at 1910 pounds.

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Few shakedown runs at Cal Speedway

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Was there anyone out there that you DIDN'T just flat emasculate??

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Two cars ended up giving me a little hard time... ZO-6 Corvette.. when he tried.. and a new and highly modified Cadillac CTS-V Supercharged. The owner of the Caddy said his car put down 670+ HP to the rear tires!!

Ghooble

iTrader: (1)

If I may be so bold as to ask (I mean no offense and you're almost certainly a better race driver than I am): Why didn't you go faster than about 40 or so through the sharper turns? I feel like with all the room and power you had you probably could have gone faster. Very nice car :thumb: