simply6foot2

I have checked the archived form and the FAQ but I havent seen and exact "round about price" on getting a 12a street ported. I have read a few of the forums and nothing gives a close shot as to how much it would cost.
I ask because Im looking at my possibilities for upgrades. I read the thread about getting 150hp out of the stock 12a with a few mods (exaust, fuel sys up grade, advancing timing, ect) After that I have been looking at the possibility of a turbo or supercharger.
There is a guy on here selling a turbo kit for the 12a. It looks pretty much complete for 900 (ebay price). he stated in our f/s section that he wanted 800 bucks (I belive that what I read)
I also checked out the camden website. It looks like they are decent supershargers but man the price is up there, at least to me. Still looks like a good product that dose what its supposed to. Obviously it would be much more cost efficent to go with the turbo kit and do the rest of the mods my self, never having to open up the rotery engine unless I wanted to rebuild it. Im guessing that I could go over the 200hp mark with a turbo set up based on the other threads I have read. What would you guys reccomend? And would it be worth streetporting my engine over just poping a turbo on with a new exaust? I understand a little what the street port does just wondering how much of a difference it will make in the end and what else I can do along with it (I have seen that you can turbo and s/c the streetported engine)

Also how do I get rid of that "rats nest" on top of my engine beside the carb? (if your looking from the front of the car its to the right of the carb) I have notices that most of you guys are running a different set up here because they are all gone! How do I get there? Any help is much appreciated, I know Im a noob at the rotery engines but I have learned alot from you guys! Thanks!

aa35199

iTrader: (1)

I'd go with the street port, it'll give you great power, sound, cool, and on top of that the only way to port a motor is to take it apart so you'll have a freshly rebuilt engine as well. Also it's not too hard to break an engine with a turbo if it's not tunned correctly. With a street port you'll have power, reliablity, and low cost, a very rare thing when it comes to modified cars.

orion84gsl

iTrader: (5)

The rats nest is easy. Go to www.mazspeed.com they have avery well done tutorial there that I've been reading over and over trying to commit as much as possible to memory. It costs a small donation for the printable version, but I'm sure you dont want your laptop gettin splashed with oil as your working.

Second, bear in mind that slapping on a turbo is always easier than tearing your motor apart, but make sure you dont need a rebuild soon. If your motor needs to be cracked open, you might as well port it while its open. Also if you leave your ports the stock size, your limiting the airflow into the combustion chamber to what the stock power output required. A port job will allow you to better tune the characteristics of the engine, therefore getting a better powerband and getting your money's worth. Plus remember that it is a USED turbo. He can tell you whatever you want to hear, but you have no idea if the engine was properly cooled before shut down, or if the guy let the oil coke up inside it. The bearings could be screwed, etc, etc. Your chances of needing a rebuilt turbo are higher than you'd like. Not that I'm saying don't trust the guy, just be aware, and be ready to spend more than you think. His idea of good driving could be everyone else's idea of a guy that got his licence at the bottom of a cereal box. When it comes to upgrades, new is always better than used, simply because no one else has had the chance to mess with it. Exceptions apply but not with something that can take your motor with it in the grenading process.

For the port prices, it depends on the type of port job and the shop you go to. Make sure they have a reputable rotary builder with a good chunk of experience with our special little motor. A shop in Toronto that specializes in rotaries quoted me at $2800 CAD to rebuild and street port my motor. That's alot better than some prices I've seen. Shop around, check out www.racingbeat.com , or www.mazdatrix.com . Check your area, ask performance shops for info about rotary shops. If your any good with a die grinder those two websites plus many others have templates for the DIYer. Remember porting is akin to a port, valve, camshaft job on your standard piston engine, so s/c or t/c ing your engine is fundamentally no different. Just attaching it and tuning it for a different type of engine. Plus rotaries are well known for taking very well to boost.

As with everything it depends on how much you can afford, how much work you want to do, and what end result you are looking for. Quality costs money, so how much do you love your car? Think hard and plan accordingly, budget more money, time and effort. and as always have fun with it.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

If you have any kind of serious plan for going forced induction, a rebuild is strongly recommended, along with intake and exhaust porting. Intake porting from a good builder runs 350 and up, exhaust 150, as a rough average, shipping/handling extra. Tuning is critical for rotarys, they do not toletrate detonation like a piston engine can. Improper tuning can easily take out a rotor, housing and set of seals.

81WideMariah

iTrader: (8)

I'm going to go ahead and throw my .02 in here... and please take this as constructive critiscism.. ( I recently made simmilar comments to a member in the 2nd gen section as well)

it sounds like from some of the later questions in your post that you've yet to learn the "fundamentals" of owning one of theese special cars, and trying to jump straight into the deep-end with forced induction and porting is not going to be a very smart move. Granted porting is relatively safe if performed by someone with some knowledge, but forced induction is another story all together, it is FAR too easy to blow an engine with bad tunning, and incase you haven't noticed our engines haven't been produced in over 20 years which means if you need parts they've go to come from the junk-yard (wacky's back yard...lol) and if everyone keeps poppin engines then we'll run out of parts eventually... get the idea??

Also, from what it sounds like you're cruising around in a bone-stock Rex right now, and I can tell you that performance can be lack-luster hence the desire for more performance. Sooo, why not start small? Remove the rat's nest, throw a header on there and a nice exhaust.. that'll wake it up...then when you need more power replace the carb/fuel pump. When that get's old and you've learned a little more about these cars/engines then open it up and port it. Upgrade the suspension...etc. My point is that #1 a 200 hp fb is a HANDFULL to say the least and #2 going straight for the kill leaves you with nowhere to go afterwards.

So have fun... read up, and as Trochoid would say, welcome to the Darkside.

Lt. Dan

*turbo* *streetport*

Put your hands together.. .hehe...

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

lol, my crazy mind always goes "Streetport, Supercharger or turbo...... why not do all three?"

But seriously, street port is the best place to start because you have to rebuild the engine to do it. In the process you can check wear and clearances on all engine parts, replace vital seals and basically bring your engine back up to like-new condition... At which point if you still want more power, you can put a turbo or super on there and not have to worry as much about blowing the engine. Well, you still have to worry, but you don't have to worry about it failing due to age and use, but just the tuning.

Start street port, go from there. You'll get more reliable long term use out of it that way, while still getting a performance boost.

Don't forget though, that everything is a system. If you port a car and leave the intake and exhaust stock, you'll see little or no improvement. If you slap an aftermarket carb on and don't upgrade the fuel system you could see anything from stock performance to slightly better or even slightly WORSE than the stock carb.

Always try to look at the big picture, and remember this: Fast, Reliable, Cheap - Choose any Two.

Jon

680RWHP12A

turbo, there is no substitute!!

simply6foot2

Thaks for all the info! This is a very helpful site and you guys make it very easy to ask questions, that makes a big difference! Thank you all!!!

Streetporting is sounding really promising! I belive that Im going to pull the motor in another month or so and send it off!
Trochoid- when you said that intake porting runs 350 do you mean $350.00 or $3,500? If this is a job I can do for less than a grand and have them do it then thats an awsome deal! Now I do realize Im not going to be gettin ga drag car when I do a streetport job but I have faith that it will increase the initial power!

Should I break the motor down and send it off or do they do that for me? And will they send it back to me with out putting it back together so I can reseal and "fix up" anything that is needed?
Maybe thats a question for the shop, lol.

Thank you guys for the help and constructive critiscism! Just to add this in there. Im a newcomer to the Rotery engines. I have worked on conventional 4-6-8 cyl cars but never a rotery. I want to restore this little car and someday pass it on to my daughter or her children...
I look at the RX-7's as most people look at the mustang or a GTO. Its a classic car to me and someday its going to be a much desired vehicle. The more I do now is some what a investment so I want to do th is right! Thank you all for your help! I respect your knoladge and experence!

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

simply6foot2,
Get out of this forum ASAP as owning a rotary will become an addiction for speed.

dj55b

iTrader: (2)

Well it all depends where you have your engine sent and what you want done. They will have to first check if everything is within specs to have work done to it or not. If not some new parts will have to be bought.

The porting that trochoid was talking about is 350$ and not thousands

But here's a quick price list that you're looking at

800$ - Rebuild Kit (includes all the gaskets, apex seals, and springs)
500$ - Porting Jobs

Depending if you want to reassemble things yourself or want someone else to do it the price of labour varies there ... but I would say around 1700$ for everything done and plus depending on who does it, and if you want them to put it back and or them taking them out too. Mine with streetporting and taken out of the car and put back in came to about 2,500$, some would say a tad too much but i know he's a good guy and the dyno numbers and torque curves have proven it. To give you an example this is what my setup has achieved:



The full list of my mods can be see in my sig under this post.

simply6foot2

So sweet!

84stock

iTrader: (5)

Personally, I would do a 13b na transplant with 1/2 bridge (secondaries) and without a spacer connecting the primary/secondary ports. For a carb us an Edelbrock thunder series.

Latin270

+1 for the Edelbrock!

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

I will hate you IF I have a dial up. That pix is too big. Believe me, Im a picture *****. lol

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

dj55b hit the $ numbers pretty close for an average. 2 points of thought to consider. Most engine builders will not accept a core that has been taken apart, for whatever reason. If you plan on passing on your 7, forced induction is a really bad idea.

A third thought, while dj55b's rwhp may not seem like a lot when compared to other engines, keep in mind that is nearly double the stock rwhp output.

simply6foot2

Note taken about the Hp and forced induction. I think that Im going to check into the shops and see what I come up with. Does any one know of any good shops in Tennessee? Im in Virginia now but Im getting ready to move into the Nashville area in the next week.

Any help with that would be awsome, Im willing to shipp the engine depending on how far I will have to ship.

dj55b

iTrader: (2)

You best bet to do is if you scroll down on the home page of this website, you will find the regional sections. From there, it would be alot easier to narrow it down through them as they would really know the area. And alot of the regional engine builder that are on this forum visit there often.

simply6foot2

Great Idea! Thank you guys for your help and for puting up with my ignorance