RX-187

I have a question: Why is my FB so slow? On 1st and 2nd gear, the car is extremely sluggish and I have all these auto tranny cars beating me off the line. What's up? Through 3rd, 4rth and all the way through, the car feels quick and has good power band, but in the first two gears, man is the car slow. How much could each gear handle? 1st, 2nd and on? BTW My tach is still not working.

Thanks

bouis

You don't have a lot of torque, your power band is pretty high... and you don't have a tach, so how do you know when to shift?

It could be worse. My car has a 4-speed auto and it doesn't even hit the powerband until 25 mph or so. Talk about slow off the line.

K-Tune

iTrader: (26)

is it a 13B or 12A? if its a 12A..make sure there isn't a wire blocking your secondaries from opening...

if its a 13B, see if your 5th and 6 port arent stuck shut.

brianw

autos are faster off the line from the word go. What kinda cars are beating you there?

RX-187

It's a 12A, and I shift by estimating the RPM by how fast I am going (mph).
1st: 10mph-15mph (X RPM)
2nd: 20-25mph etc.

Rutnick

no wonder you are losing....

bouis

Yeah really. My 4-speed will go almost 50 in first

Wait, that's nothing to smile about... . With any luck the sucker comes out this weekend.

eViLRotor

iTrader: (2)

I can't speak for other FB's, but my SE is great off the line.

It doesn't have a 'lot' of torque, but what little it has does come very low in the powerband, compared to my FC anyway.

RX-187

heh, I'm not actually racing but, trying to see if I can get off the line quicker at the light with some cars. Shitty slush geared boxed cavaliers and such have actually done faster, and I think my FB should do better than these other types of cars.

eViLRotor

iTrader: (2)

Honestly though, RX-7's kinda suck off the line. My TII gets beaten too, but after that its bye bye....

brianw

Yes you are shifting way too early.How many r's are you coming out of the hole with?

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

30 in first is about redline, 50 in second is about redline, 80 in third is about redline, 110 in 4th is about redline.

That can change depending on gearing in your year, but not more than a few hundred, so thats a pretty good idea of when you should shift .

~T.J.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

Oh yeah, and why doesnt the tach work? Do you have a bad trailing ignitor? That could cause a BIG power loss...

~T.J.

RX-187

Hey brianw-my tach isn't working so I don't know how many "r's" specifically.

RotorMotor-Thanks that gives me something to think about when I drivin' with a non-working tach.

My other question-I am thinking about getting a aftermarket tach, I have found a small one and is not rice at all to fix the prob. How would I go about on installing it? Is there just some simple soldering involved for the installation?

brianw

Whoops! I guess I forgot that! Tachs usally go in with simple wiring which you have from the stock tach unless that's the problem but there are very simple to install.

RX-187

Where is the trailing ignitor again? I also heard bad coils from others too. Looked into that a bit and I wonder if I can use electrical coils from other cars on it. Before I bought my FB, I had heard that they were quick and fun cars to drive until I bought one myself. I hope your input proves that they are. Don't get me wrong, they are fun to drive but not very quick.

Thanks

Erick

Junia

I think I hit 40 once in first gear when my gas pedal got stuck.

pillage6

My friend's mechanic pegged his speedo (85) in second gear in his 12A Bridgeported car.

Crazy ***** if you ask me.

excitingleopard

A heads up is that first and second don't have alot of power. They don't quite qualify as bitch gears, but running these gears out too far may just slow you down. You probably already know that, but at least I said it.

This is from my experience with an SE: Usually if I run 2nd up to 5k, and third a little past 6k I'm already doing around 95 in third.
From there I've got a wide range of power layed out before me, more formerly know as 4th gear. I don't think there's any way a rotary can have as much torque off the start as other cars. It's just how the motor works.

RX-187

I know this but just wasn't expecting the FB to be this slow.
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RotorMotorDriver-How would I fix the bad trailing ignitor? I don't think that I am experiencing any power loss with my car but how would it be if I was losing power with a bad trailing ignitor?

K-Tune

iTrader: (26)

with a blown ignitor...you will only be firing on 2 of your 4 plugs. this causes the motor to run ULTRA rich..(backfires all the time) and you'll foul a set of plugs in about 4 days.

brianw

something is wrong because they are not THAT slow off the line. At least mine isn't. I come off the line around 2 or 3 grand. When I try to come off without spinning it is kinda slughish.

RX-187

This may very be the case. My car misfires all the time and about the car running ultra rich, the smell of fuel is very strong that it seeps into the car causing my clothes to smell like it. My car also consumes a lot of fuel. How would I fix it? I have the manual but it does not tell me anything about the trailing ignitor.

cdrad51

If it really comes down to it and you don't give a f*** about the clutch or the tranny, you can always get fast off the line by revving the engine up and then letting go of the clutch. Whenever some riced up wannabe tries to make me eat dust, that's what I do. I've gone up to 5,000 rpm and then let go of the clutch, though 3,000 rpm would do for a decent off the line acceleration. Of course there is only so many times you can do that so I try to avoid it... I find it true also that redlining it in first and 2nd don't always mean faster acceleration - I usually rev it only to the point where once i shift into the next gear, i find myself at around 4,000 rpm, which I believe is the max torque rpm. So it usually means 6,000-6,500 rpm in the earlier gear. I have a 12a BTW.

K-Tune

iTrader: (26)

if you look on your dizzy..you'll see the 2 ignitors mounted to it. i beleive you can buy them for $25 each (ebay, and another store..if you want the link) or $44 for both, if you want a spare. they are very easy to replace...just screwed on there. if that is your problem, expect almost TWICE as much power when you fix it.

a 12A FB deffinatly isn't a slouch..the first 2 gears in my car REALLY haul (my car is completely gutted...and the engine has been stripped to the essentials) you should deffinatly be able to take cavaliers and civics...especially off the line.