Hey y'all. Years ago I used to be pretty active on this forum as I modified my first car: my beloved red '83 GS. At its best it was running a Sterling/Yaw carb, RB exhaust, and 2nd gen ignition. I was planning a blow thru turbo setup for quite some time, but then I gave it up and took on a career...

Long story short, that car is back to stock (stock Nikki, rat's nest and all) but I'm back in a state that doesn't make emissions a nightmare and I have some money saved up and a bit of time to kill - but not much of a garage/shop. The only remaining mods are:
1. relocated battery
2. removed AC
3. 2nd gen coil? I think

The carb is having some issues - possibly just a simple vaccum leak - and the car has been in storage for the past couple of years. I want to get it back in fighting shape as a relatively-reliable sporty summer car. Aside from a couple of repairs (passenger door doesn't stay closed, for example) I'm thinking of available mod plans...

So, fellow rotorheads, what would you do in this situation?

1. Weber carb? EFI setup? (what's available these days?) Holley? Nobody took up the reins on modifying Nikkis from Sterling did they? I loved that carb, selling it was the worst mistake I made.
2. Rebuild and streetport the 12A (any good shops in the midwest)? Say screw it and swap in a 13b? Supercharger? I don't think a turbo is in the cards for me given my reliability requirements. I also just don't need 200-250hp. I think 130-175 would be ideal.
3. Suspension & steering - rack and pinion conversion? (anyone still selling those?) RB springs and shocks? Custom coilovers?

The more I think about it the more intrigued I am by EFI, but I don't have experience with it (or Weber carbs for that matter).

Thoughts? Opinions? Trash talk? All welcome. Hit me.

 

yank the rotary and put a nissan 3.5 v6 in it.

 

hi i was thinking about this too. i've got a stock 85 GS sitting here, and i should sell it, but you know....

for the engine it kind of depends on the flavor you want. for a nice driver, i think a 6 port engine from an FC would be good, i'd run an aftermarket ecu (we have emissions testing, and they have checked everything except the computer!). FC sized exhaust, if you did everything right, its like 140-150rwhp, in a 2250lbs car that would be fun. its also quiet, idles nice, etc, you could drive it everyday.

the suspension is tough now, i'm not really sure what is out there. i think i would just refresh things as needed and call it good. it would probably get bumpstops that are not made of stone and maybe lowered a little. the stock stuff actually rides quite nicely, and i think if you set everything up right it would handle ok too. T3 has all the hardcore looking stuff.

mine needs paint, and then it would be a nice daily driver.

 

I've spent about $4k restoring my FB, including:

- Full paint job
- FC subframe swap with rack and pinion power steering
- New tires and wheels
- Built an S5 NA engine including intake from random pieces I bought
- BC Racing front coilovers
- Loads of new parts like engine mounts, tie rods, ignition parts, door/window seals, etc

I did everything myself though, including the paint, so that's how I was able to stretch the money and cover it all. $4k will go a long way with an FB

 

Blasphemy!

 

Follow your original dreams. Nikki blowthrough!

I've played with EFI and I didn't like it. Was too much work for not enough gain. But I can tell you a hogged out boost prepped Nikki has been the most fun thing ever. It even beats the NA 20B I had in there for a brief period.

details: partial recreation of a Pineapple Racing 12A: copied pineapple template on R5 end plates, mild streetport on R intermediate, pineapple ported exhaust ports in 79 housings, 83-85 "N" rotors, RB light steel flywheel and RB 225mm red painted SreetStrip pressure plate (remember those?) with OEM duty Exedy disc, hogged out 79 manifold, OEM-ish S5 turbo, full 3" exhaust, direct fire ignition (DLIDFIS), hogged out boost prepped Nikkis of all sizes ranging from 24.5mm to 27.6mm (boost prefers the smaller end of the range while NA likes to go big or go home... and Sterling only ever did up to 22mm if I remember right). Did I forget anything? Oh, an advance-limited dizzy (10 degrees max but can still mechanically advance from 0 up to 10), MSD 2225 fuel pump, Mallory 4309 boost referenced fpr, eBay manual boost controller. Home brew carb hat. No intercooler yet but it's not a track car. It makes between 200 to 250 HP at an indicated 15psi on the gauge. Yes, I know that is too much on a stock turbo and no IC, and I will adjust the manual BC down and I will get an IC for it... some day.

I mod all of my Nikkis for NA or turbo use. You might say I took up the reins... you also might say I do a better job than anyone before me ever could do, because I'm patient and we have easier access to more information these days... or maybe I just have a better eye for detail.

 

@Jeff20B you are not making this easy for me dude! Haha. So do you sell any of your skills? I remember being inspired by your build. I have a stock Nikki just sitting on it in storage, but modding and boost prepping the Nikki carb sounds like a very steep learning curve to me personally. I'm a bit more digital than analog these days. But I might still have the S4 turbo and manifold and IC and everything in storage...
Out of curiosity, did you try the EFI setup N/A or turbo? What'd you try?

@derSchwamm that sounds like one hell of a setup but way beyond my comfort zone personally. You built an engine from parts?? And painted it yourself? Kudos. I'm a computer guy by trade, and barely a backyard mechanic these days. At this point in my life I have a bit more money than mechanical skills, though not a ton of either. But it used to be that I had neither, so I'm feeling very lucky to get to do this now. What are you running for the EFI setup? Stock ECU and injectors? Got a build thread?

@j9fd3s this is making a lot of sense to me. What are you thinking for the aftermarket ECU? I remember Megasquirt being popular? What about injectors, keep 'em stock?

It also occurred to me that Renesis motors would be easier to come by now, and sure enough I saw some for sale for around ~$1-1.5k. Have you guys considered that alternative? I know very little about it but just started looking at a few threads on here that turned up in a quick search. Can anyone recommend threads or other resources on this? Or does anyone have reviews from trying a Renesis swap?

 

And thank you for saying this for me
It's either a rotary or I drop way too much money and do an electric conversion. But I just don't think I can bring myself to do such a thing, as much as I like the idea of electric hot rodding. This was my first car and the rotor still beats in my heart.

 

I spent $3500 on my nikki blow through... Most of that was spent on the car and the seals/housings/rotors. I guess I'm at about 5 or 6k now (new paint/tires/wheels/yada yada)

 

Get some RS Watanabes in a size that has decent tires. That's at least $2000 right there.

 

That reminds me, I forgot to mention I'm looking for wheels. I don't know that I want to shell out THAT much, but where are people getting wheels in the FB pattern these days?

 

Yeah I could probably do it for the money, but I'm not sure I could do a lot of the work myself - I only have a shed right now - or if I can find someone to do the work for me. The motor has about 85k on it and has never been rebuilt, so I know if I'm going to boost it I'm going to rebuild it sooner or later. So that's already a lot. I'm wondering if I might as well swap in a 13b NA engine in at that point. Finding someone to help me swap the engine should be easier than finding someone to help me rebuild a rotary motor and boost a Nikki carb. But maybe I'm wrong...

I might also want to get some paint work done. And I want new wheels and tires.

 

Maxwedge - "Blasphemy!:Truth be told, I bought my current '85 GS to do a period-correct V8 swap.
But I decided to keep it a rotary because that's the special-est part of this fun, special car. Im going early-13B Weber, but if I can get 200hp that would be perfect.

 

sub'd to see what you end up doing and what others recommend!

 

I have never purchased from this company so I cannot vouch for the quality. But these do come in the correct bolt pattern. https://www.18racing.com/products/ro...ith-polish-lip

 

I didn't even have a shed


I had to ratchet strap the car over to the engine. LOL It was kinda on a hill.

I have been running a 1" thick adaptor plate that converts my lug pattern out to the more common 4x114.3 I run some lancer OZ wheels. All that cost me about $500 and then about $500 for good rubber.

 

Same for me, I am a software engineer and not a mechanic. Before this project I had never painted a car, welded, or built an engine. I had swapped the engine in my FD though, so I wasn't totally unfamiliar with this. I could have paid other people to do things and in some cases maybe even come out ahead but I was determined to do it all myself. I only got it running a week ago and there's lots of odds and ends to wrap up still. Build thread: https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread.../#post12411535

I have the stock S3 (GSL-SE) EFI paired with the S5 NA intake for now. I'll ditch that stuff later once it's broken in and do either an S5 ECM or spring for a haltech setup. Stock GSL-SE injectors, cleaned and refurbished. I've never owned a car with a carb and I've never messed with them, so I stick with fuel injection.

If I could do it again, I might do a renesis instead of an S5. S5 parts were kind of expensive, and a lot of people want the rotating assembly and housings. Renesis might've been cheaper and more capable of power, with parts I can still order from Mazda. It wouldn't be compatible with my GSL-SE EFI setup though

 

i have a stupid track car, but i can't drive it, so i just want something that is street legal and fun. i have a 12A car, like you and it runs fine, but the engine is old, and i want something simple and kind of basic actually. so just some FC 6 port engine would be fine, S5 is emissions compatible with the GSL-SE intakes, which is nice.

for an ECU i'm really not sure either, i'm out of date, but you don't need much ecu to run these either. the megasquirt would do fine, the new haltechs are good, etc. i'd probably run something new-ish but used.

i do want to try the newer ev14 injectors and maybe play with higher fuel pressure too, although stock injectors work fine.

for wheels i have a set of the black mesh Enkei's, but Rota RB's are nice too

mine would probably end up a lot like DerSchwamm's built, or Richard Miller's if i was ambitious

 

here is the plan for one my friend and i are actually going to build. he has this GSL-SE he bought ~20 years ago, and it basically sat behind a shop the whole time. i think it runs but the body is rough and the interior is most missing.

plan is to bolt on some bolt on flares, mostly to cover the dents, but we'll put bigger tires on it too. fix what isn't covered up, paint it. car is red, and its just going to stay red

engine is a stupidly big bridgeport (its bigger than anything i've ever even heard of), he bought the housings, and we put it together with S4 rotating bits. he has a Holley setup from somewhere, and an RB street port exhaust. engine is red too

stock trans, stock diff, etc. i need to do some maths, but Rota RB's in a 15x8 with 225/50/15's should be about right.

the back of the car is full of suspension bits, and we'll sort that out. it'll need bushings and mounts and stuff.

interior is TBD i'm thinking about a race car style dash in wood, or maybe we just put a decent 84-85 interior in it?

i was hoping to bring it to Sevenstock this year, but dues to the virus, maybe next year. car would also work fine with the stock engine in it

 

I run the Rota's from 18racing. Have been pleased with them, sure they are pretty much copies; but appears to be decent quality (run them on street and track). I used RB 15x7 style up front with RKR 15x8 style in rear.

 

you wouldn't happen to have a pic? the RKR style is cool

 

Here is my two cents having upgraded an 1985 GS over the last few years.

Suspension (wanted to stay close to OEM): RB springs, Koni yellow struts (early Toyota MR2 rear struts), Koni orange stocks (Mustang fox body), ST front sway bar. Getting ready to replace all rear/watts links with OEM replacements and change front tension rod bushing to poly. Other front suspension bushing are in good shape.

Wheels: Konig Rewind 15x7 (run 195/50/15 Dunlop DZ102) for cruising. Track set-up: Rota RB 15x7 with 195/50/15 Hankook RS4, Rota RKR 15x8 225/45/15 Hankook RS4. You can find deals on 4x110 used also; picked up some 13x7 old alloy wheels with fresh Toyo 888R that I plan to try on track for only $150.


Carb - run a "fat-Nikki" built by Jeff20B.
Exhaust - RB streetport full exhaust.
Ignition - plan to upgrade to run with MSD on leading plugs.

Brakes - future to swap out fronts to larger system (T3 or other bolt-on system). Change rear to GSL axle (planned for future; have all the parts). Would recommend using Miata 4.3 LSD in GSL rear end if you have skills/budget (not in my plans... yet).

Cosmetic - I wanted more lighting and some livery. Had to upgrade alternator to 130AMP to run all the lights.
Engine - mine is over 110 PSI on all faces; so staying stock port 12A. If rebuilt; large street port.

Good luck on you rotary revival.

 

car looks great, is that the factory L6 color?

 

here is Re Amemyia's 2020 Tokyo Auto Show car, he probably spent more than 5k.... sweet jacket too

 

I love that underhood picture. I have the same RB Weber manifold, which is ugly in comparison to the Auzzie versions. Makes me feel better knowing Mr Re-A approves it. Also interesting how he routed the blue vac lines, compared to stock. Where are the vac advance lines for the dizzy? Locked? So many questions, so much Rotary ****. Nom nom nom.