Manntis

Once opun a time there was a bone-stock GSL-SE....

I just picked up my car after having the following done (all prices CDN$):

-a machine shop turned the flywheel to deglaze the surface the clutch mates with and give it better grip ($61.90)

-replaced the clutch and all associated bearings ($420)

-replaced the rear eccentric shaft seal (slight weeping onto the clutch) ($15.58)

-replaced all transmission bearings and seals (don't ask - one bearing alone was $76.07)

replaced the ENTIRE exhaust system with a Racing Beat header, presilencer, new piece of pipe, and powerflow muffler ($1,130)

Total with taxes, duties, materials, etc. came to $2,472.00

So anyhow, I have my $4,000 car with $2,000 rims and now this (plus the $1,500 for new oil cooler, clutch master cylinder, etc.) and I'm thinking man, this thing has been a money pit. The good news is with all these new parts I'm good for quite a while now without anything breaking, but...

Then I get the car on the freeway. And hit the gas in 3rd gear.

Mine. This car is mine.

I stop at a stoplight. That low, mellow, burbling tone rises from the new RB exhaust. The fortysomething exec next to me looks from the car's rims to the gleaming new chrome twin exhaust tips with envy. The light turns green, and I go.

And I mean go.

I shift to second. The tires chirp. The tires chirp? Holy ****, I just chirped the tires upshifting!

Okay, maybe it's not the second coming, but one thing the ReXes I've owned have NOT been known for is any kind of low-end grunt. And I just chirped the tires while in motion, in the low end.

This is the least expensive rocket I've ever owned.

My only complaint is the header was bolted on 3 hours ago, the car has been driven once, and there's maybe 4 square centimeters of paint left on the header. Why does RB bother painting them? And with such smelly stuff that burns right off?

that's my ONLY complaint, and a tiny one at that.

Haleluja, this car has been born again.

Acuspeed

Hey Manntis,

congrats on getting her all set up like you want her. It's always nice when you've reached the point where you just have to maintain things rather than keep beefing stuff up hehe.

I'm a bit confused though, I've never had any trouble chirping the tires going into 2nd, or even 3rd in my 79... hehehe

rx7passion

congrats, i still ahve to wonder it took you a bunch of mods and full exhaust to get the tires to chirp? damn i remember the first time i rode in the rx7 (bone stock) i just slam shifted it and it chirped all the time.

Mr. ImportGuy

My bone stock 83' chrips them into 2nd with ease. And it will squeal them pretty good off the line.

357

Sweetness! I'm currently doing the "get my car in good exterior condition" bit, so i'll have to wait on the mods, but DAMN I want that RB exhaust more than ever now!

Sterling

...Man. That's alotta stickers!

Manntis

K, maybe 'chirp' is the wrong word. They always did a slight squeak until I sqitched to the Pirellis (specifically for their 'stealth' quietness) but this is a full-on squak. Dudes in mustangs shoot me looks. I just went for another spin and holymarymotherofgeorge....

Sterling: TONS of stickers, as I make like .01 cents on each set *L*

MIKE-P-28

iTrader: (1)

Do you understand what you have just done?

You opened up the Rx-7 performance god, now it will NEVER end... Its like drugs, you want it better and better. Good luck with your new gold mine

jr69187

I can grab second and LEAVE AT LEAST 7 FEET OF MOLTEN RUBBER. And all it cost was 1576.85 us. You think that was fun go get a streetport. Now if i could just keep the damn drive shaft straight i would be doing better.

jr

Manntis

I could to, if I was pinning the throttle. My point is all I was doing was driving normally, not "spirited", and this occurs.

peejay

yeah..... that's a good feeling isn't it?

you're not alone... used to post stuff like this every once in a while, about the joys of having an RX-7, just merely having one, driving it even just in the capacity of a commuter car / daily driver.

'specially when you have a non-presilenced super-growly exhaust and the engine is idling like a bridgeport at 1500 and just cruising in traffic, getting on the throttle just so ya can coast down BrapBrapBrapbrapbrapbrapbrap waaaaaaaaaaa Brapbraprapbrap

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

Sterling: TONS of stickers, as I make like .01 cents on each set *L* [/B][/QUOTE]

I WANT STICKERS!!

STICKERS = HORSEPOWER!!

Ask any Ricer.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

congrats manntis ...

it's probably just the clutch settling in ... my 81 did the same thing when i put the Centerforce in it years ago. and after i broke it in, and started power-shifting ... hoooleeeee ... i used to get it sideways, it would burn so much ... but i share your joy, bro'

this day is yours!

Redlance

I have been replacing a bunch of my suspention components and I have noticed that it's getting harder to break the tires loose and make them scream. I suspect the fact that Mantis has the better suspention of the se far newer tires and in general a better conditon car he has been getting much more of the power he has to the road and not just making a lot of smoke and noise. Now he has a little more horsepower and better clutch grip and he is overwelming the grip of his wheels I think that even though most of us can catch rubber in second and some times third is less of a thing for us than him. Yes I occasionaly get a bark in third form a 12a gs But my tires are at least 12 years old and rather dry rotted. enjoy the new power and start budgeting for new tires as you procede to smoke these to the ground.

Manntis

that's what I'm thinking - that Pam might develop an NSX-like appetite for rear tires...

Thanks for the congrats, guys... this is a thrill and it's kewl to have people to share it with.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

I was thinking, since youe car is called "PAM" as in Pamela Lee, she is already used to getting

BIG, HARD PIPE.



Maybe your car and Mike-P's could hook up.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

Bone stock 85 GSL will spin all the way through first, spin in second and chirp in third...Same car I had to replace the driveline on (I wonder why... )

~T.J.

peejay

i miss the street port a LOT it would pull from 30 to 50mph in 6-7 seconds. In 5TH gear!

and the torque curve spiked at 5500... sometimes it would spin the tires from a roll as the tach swung past 5500 in the dry in 1st gear. In the rain, you did not apply full throttle in 3rd because the tires would break free at 5500... never had the cojones to try it in 4th gear!

not bad for a mild street port 12A...

mcgarret

Hey Manntis,
I was born and raised there. You are gonna **** off a lot of inbred 78 Camaro boys when they get a glimpse of your tailights pulling away.

Seriously though, where the hell did you get the RB parts from in Saskabush? There is a local supplier here, but he only orders after you pay. Hell I can whip out Mr. Gold Card and do that myself.

I was going to the UofS a few years back and the sister of the girl I was ******** had a low km 79 "S" model she sold me for $1000. It was one of the earliest imported to Canada. 4 speed manual tranny, hood prop rod was on the passenger side.

I flipped it a week later for $3200. Her sister was choked, but who cares. I made $2200 and never stopped getting hummed!!!!!

joelwahid

my 79 s is not all that modified (exhaust etc.) and i can get a chirp at 70 in 3rd. and when my clutch was new i could catch rubber in 4th.

Manntis

I either ship direct or buy through RX-7 Specialties in Calgary, the guys I'm brokering rebuilt rotaries for.

and I'm originally from the Lower Mainland. The prairie girls really know how to hum

Keaponlaffen

just curious... how rare is having the hood prop rod on the passenger's side anyways? I thought all the '79 and '80 models had that? Mine does...

Jeff

Manntis

Actually I call her Pamela after Pamela Sue Anderson - she drove this one long before her Lee days

"Oh my god - it looks like a baby's arm holding an apple"...

peejay

My '80 certainly didn't have that. AFAIK only RHD models had that. If any LHD's had that it would have been early production ("1978" models).

joelwahid

my rx was made 3/78 and it has the prop on the passenger side, it sucks to have to walk all the way around the car to prop the hood. and it only has the driver side mirror, they look cooler that way.