What is the cure for reving your bridgeport past 7500rpm all the time? I'm wondering this because, anyone who has driven a bridgeport knows that there is either no throttle or full throttle especially in slow speed situations, there really isn't much in between part throttle because it jumps around like a Kangaroo.
Strangely it really doesn't make much difference if you drive light or hard, milage remains steady ~13-14mpg, actually I think its got better gas effiency if the engine is kept above 3500rpm, then again, too much overlap is very poor for low rpm effiency ofcourse..


Anyway, I know this is a kinda humerous problem, but I don't want to get this engine worn out/broken apex seals again/stationary gear failure again, before I woop some ***. Its really tempting when your on the interstate at 75-80mph and people are crawling by or going barely slower and being side by side for dangerous amounts of time. My cure: Downshift into 3rd at 80mph and go, 80.90..100 shift(8500rpm),..110 and coast, look back and see no stupid slow side-gaters on the side for a while .

 

wacky install an MSD with rev limiter, set it were you want ...end of your worries.

 

Install an MSD 6AL on the leading.

You can still run past that limiter on trailing alone, thanks to the ported engine. (Found that out the hard way, but it DOES work on a stockport at least!)

My fix for that (have not implemented yet) is connect a RPM activated switch to the tach output on the MSD box, and use that to kill trailing ignition. A rev limiter (either standalone or a second MSD 6AL box) would work just as well but this is a cheaper solution. I'd set the trailing cutout to 100rpm below the leading's limit point. So say you want to be absolutely sure you never go over 8500... let the leading limiter to 8400 and the trailing limiter to 8300. That way you lose a little power just before hitting the main limiter, and the engine has a 100rpm cushion because it WILL bound past the limiter a little bit.

I had the 6AL on leading only, stock system on trailing. On stock ported engine, put a 4k chip in and it'd rev right past 4k. Put a 7k chip in and you could floor it in neutral and it would refuse to go over 7k. Streetported engine, I put the 8400 chip in, and I found out that if you do something boneheaded like hold the throttle matted in 2nd gear for about 5-10 seconds, it WILL exceed 8400 and cause your engine to spit apex seals out like broken teeth But the leading-only was sufficient for momentary "whoops"es like missing a shift or when you powershift not-quite-fast-enough.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'm looking for a partically for a pyhcological response to my driving habit though since I would never have the will power to keep the rev limiter set below 8500rpm for any reason. I want the car to rev as high as the power curve is always. This problem is not related to engine failures from over-reving, its from not enough constrant on my part on the right occurances for when I should call on it to go "Warp 10" bridgeport style.

 

If you need another rear rotor. I got one more LOL

 

I am really hoping that won't happen again. I never figured out why that did happen? Maybe on assembly, I some how meshed the rear rotor to the endplate with the stationary gear wrong? It ran good for a while then one day started getting vibration when reving it past 4000rpm. Strange, it did it for no reason, I WAS NOT driving it hard at all when it started to fail.

Yeah, your rear rotor is holding up fine to my abuse. LOL!

 

Still hoping to find a '83-85 front rotor

You couldn't physically mesh it wrong. The rotor would heavily interfere with the rotor housing. Assuming you somehow managed to assemble the engine (requiring large hammers and a superhuman level of cluelessness) it wouldn't run or even turn for that matter.

 

Yeah, I know about that. I was speculating that during the rear plate in which the stationary gear was on, I did infact use a rubber mallat to it. Sometimes they are stubern, sometimes they arn't, I don't hammer like a mad man, as that is obviously potentially bad. Maybe, it chipped and when I tightened the tension bolts, that tweaked the chip somehow?

But you can rest assured, I changed my assembly protocol now as a result even if I will never know what is responsible for its gear failure, I've assembled ~10 rotaries without any stationary gear failures, apparrently they are rather rare.
Now, I don't have the rear stationary gear bolts tight during assembly, and I move the e-shaft back and forth a little while tensioning the tension bolts to be sure the gear meshing is smooth and true, then I tighten the stationary gear bolts afterwards.

 

Hmm, can't tell at this point can we? Be interesting to find out if it was an assembly error or an in-use failure.

Question for you sir on that MPG figure... is that city, combined, or highway? If it's city then I'll be sick since my streetport only got 9 in the city. If it's highway or combined... well it still doesn't deter me from wanting a bridgey I've had cars that got worse and didn't have the acceleration to justify it.

 

ha ha ha! PeeJay 9mpg city!?!! That is painful!!! The only time I got below the teens MPG-wise was on the track, in which I got less then 8mpg. That was a bunch of 20minute sessions around a road course(6000rpm-~8000rpm) and then about 30miles on highway before the racing, and fill'd up right afterwards to calualate the figure above.

Anyway, mildport mpg was usually 17-22mpg for me combined, just like stock. But this combined figure is different for everyone. I am sure when you say city mpg, you may be flooring it from every stop, am I right? I like to do that, but I'm trying to restrain a little to keep from another carbon seal failure, or other time consuming fix again.

I was pleasently surpised the first time I checked the MPG on the bridgeport with normal driving ~16mpg(80% highway), but typically its 14mpg with a bunch of hard town driving and hard highway speeding. My town is kinda out there and not even any stoplights, roads are long between stops so that helps also.

 

Is there anything really bad about revving that high? I have a friend thats been driving his car with a bridgeported motor for about a year and a half and he takes it up to 10000 evertimes he races it and its been fine. I know of a couple people down in Florida that does the same thing and their cars run just fine.

 

I think you must be aggagerating a little or he would lose races. The powerband on a true bridgeport(water jacket intact, rotor housings matched is about 8000rpm. There is no reason to go beyond 9000rpm unless you want to get worn parts quicker.

Now a j-port or monster port cutting deep into the waterjacket or perpheral port are certainly different and have higher power at higher rpm peaks which justify that high rpm. I am cautious to stay below ~8800rpm myself since the power drops off around ~8500rpm. I have twice gone past 9000rpm when I missed a shift though without any problems.

But if indeed they are rev'ing to 10,000rpm, they must have a aftermarket tac to see that huh? Not to mention, harden stationaries, balanced assembly, lock pin geared rotors, etc, etc.

I haven't gotten a balanced assembly or hardened stationaries since I don't plan on 8500rpm sustained or above.

 

No, mostly just sitting at stoplights, listening to the engine constantly stumbling over itself

 

I don't know why but he hasn't hurt his engine yet. He has an autometer that only goes up to 9000, but he waits about a second or two after it hits 9000. He had his engine done down in Florida(where he lives) . The engine doesn't run hot at all either. it hits the second mark(stock gauge) and doesn't go any higher. He has no oilcooler(took the stock one out) and still has no problem running. Could it be just pure luck???

 

Yes, if by luck you mean stupidity. No oil cooler and hitting 10k on shifts? He shouldn't be able to make it around the block let alone through a race.

 

You lost your crediblity in what you claim to know when you made that statement above since oil cooling is critical let alone more critical in a rotary that see's 9000rpm regularily. Unless this engine you speak of is a 5minute engine..literially. Also if your "friend" is dumping the clutch a after he passes 9000rpm for some insane reason, hes asking for trouble or attention.

 

Well, I'm telling the truth. I guess the oilcoolers go right under the oilfilter right? Its not there and there isn't one up front. everything in the front had been ripped off (i.E. condensor) and the only thing there is the stock radiator. It must be sheer luck because the car is his daily driver. This is what is done to the car, bridgeported 12A engine with a holley 600 carb, all vacuum lines ripped out except for the one going to his brake booster. He used the racing beat intake manifold but not the one for bridgeported engine because they don't have a spot to plug in the vacuum line for the brake booster. Racing beat header goes to a custom exhaust built to try and quiet the exhaust as much as possible. Also, he uses all regular seals nothing special just stock replacements. Maybe he has the rotory angel sitting on his shoulder to make sure nothing happens to his car.

 

You have to be mistaken, look under his hood and follow the oil lines. Does the oil line from the front cover go right down to the rear by the spark plugs?

 

I'll be able to check it out again when go back down to Florida but it didn't have a oilcooler. This is what the guy told me, His mechanic told him that he didn't need an oilcooler because his engine didn't run hot enough to need one. And like I said before his needle on the temp gauge don't go passed the second mark. We know its not a broken gauge because the mechanic has many other sevens that he builds and they all run cooler than usual. I'm trying to figure out how he gets his car to run so cool, because I'm going to be getting my engine ported by the same guy in about a month. The owner tells me that its because he ripped everything out in the front of the car that he doesn't need. I'm going to find out what exactly he does when he works on my engine because that baffles me.

 

When a rotary's radiator doesn't have a water-oil cooler on, that keeps the oil heat build up out of the coolant. But that oil still needs cooling or your rotors, e-shaft and anything lube'd by the oil will fry(thermo-breakdown) if it weren't cooled.

When I converted to front mount cooler, the coolant temp took a slight overall plunge.

 

This 'mechanic', and I use the term very loosely, is full of ****. The oil in a rotary is responsible for a large part of the engines cooling and not having a cooler will cause premature failure or wear of the engine.

 

You think THAT's bad... a fellow forum member (he has a nice FC) was telling me about a 1st-gen he went to look at...

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him: you should of seen this first gen i looked at
him: what a POS
oilohrnoc: ah?
oilohrnoc: how much
him: its a 83 with a pace *******, and racing beat carb set up with a holley 700dp(drowing the car) and a 6puck clutch.. .he wants a $1000
him: and its red and the front is like pink with dropplets on the side
him: most of th einterior is ****
oilohrnoc: wow
him: you cannot slip the clutch its too tight
oilohrnoc: 6-puck clutch, does the tranny still have 3rd gear?
him: it pulls to the left(hard) and needs brakes
him: ya
him: i got it side ways and i didnt even mean too
him: i told the guy i would give him $500 for it but he laughed
oilohrnoc: yeah, $500 is too much
him: i figured that much
him: and hes like but it has rear disc.. very rare
oilohrnoc: uh, no it's not
him: i know
him: oh ya he doesnt have the OMP hooked up... told me you dont need premix and was telling me how you can rev it to 9K
oilohrnoc: uhhh
oilohrnoc: well, ok, offer him $100
him: after i told him the tach stops at 8200 and these have no rev limiter and he said you dont need to worry about it...
him: i felt soooo bad for that car
oilohrnoc: $100
him: ight i will call him tomorrow
oilohrnoc: lol
him: when i told him i would give him 500 he started naming the price of the mods on it
him: it was too funny
oilohrnoc: well so what
oilohrnoc: the car probably needs an engine now

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There's also a bunch of guys who tell everyone they meet to put a Purolator regulator before the carb... with a stock fuel pump... and with a return line... (can you say "fuel starvation" kids? i knew you could)