DigitalSynthesis

Hey guys,

I've been trolling these boards for a while now, and there is kind of a vast wealth of information, but I am a bit confused about all of it. If there's already a concise answer somewhere feel free to just link me to it.

Basically, I'm concerned about the following:

1. Reliability (this is my day 2 day car)
2. Intelligent, valuable mods
3. Performance

I don't have tons of cash lying around, but I was wondering what are considered appropriate upgrades that will maintain or improve my car's life and reliability while giving me a noticeable performance increase?

Finally, with such mods, is getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 200+ HP (I'm ~160 right now) realistic - if I can get more what should/could I expect without being radical?

I really appreciate your candor and enthusiasm - thanks for helping out, and maybe someday I can contribute my own experiences and help others!

Peace!

BTW: to those following my other posts, my car is getting a new clutch right now, and is awaiting a rear brake pin which sheared apparently recently. :-( I know what you all mean about these things always needing something... :-)

M5150

cork sport cat back, bonez race pipe, under drive pulley, remove a/c, remove p/s, port your intake manifold, advance your timing, and run 91-93 (depending where you live) gas

Droptoprx

Also owning a 'vert that is my daily driver, I can tell ya that you CAN do the mods to keep it VERY reliable and have a it be a very decent street runner. I did my intake first, it's a must. Header and presilencer for good sound and I personally went with Borla cat-back. I wanted as much as a throaty rumble as I could get. MD racing's autoX chip made it a LOT more fun and actually helped my gas mileage along with everything to make it go faster. Learn how to P/P your throttle body and intake man. It's good noticeable and cheap throttle response AND power. I took off all the heavy crap under my hood, except the P/S. As my daily driver I want some comfort, for the VERY few horses I think it gives you, it wasn't worth it for me personally. We own the heaviest rex they ever made, but with just the mods I have done, I can still tear up the Hondas and plenty of other crap that calls themselves street racers. I'd say your mark of 200 is very possible. Hope I helped.

RX-7Impreza

well there isnt really such a mod that increases the life of your car AND gives more power, for the most part more hp= more wear and tear.

to use scathcarts example, think of your car as a airpump, put as much air through it as you can and you will get more hp. along with that goes the rule of thumb, the smoother the air flows, the better the engine runs

Justin

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

Funny thing is....most these people don't have anywhere close to 200flywheel hp. This is what it has taken me to acheive 167rwhp. I should have more as when i dyno'd the 167rwhp, i still had a working 6 port system.

Dual 2" manderl bent exuast (True duel), cold air intake with K&N. Removed double throttle, and coolant flow to TB. Ported black elbo before TB. Ported upper, middle, and lower intake manifold. Pineapple Racing 6 port sleeves with removed 6 port actuating rods and rods through the sleeves. An extremely mildly ported 13B built by Pineapple Racing. Jacobs ignition wires, Short shift kit, with FD shift ****, T2 fuel pump, Hi-6. and a Apex S-AFC.

Its going take alot of time and $ to make the hp.

Ported Motor- $1500-2500 (You won't know how much $, until the motor is pulled apart.)
Dual exaust -$1300 (Mazda Trix, or $600 if you do it yourself)
Porting intake Manifold- ~$100. You'll need a couple metal gaskets, a die grinder with bits, and while your at it throw some Pineapple sleeves in there.
Igntion sytem- $100-150. (Used or new..your choice.)
Ignition wiring-$40
S-afc- $250-300 (Used or new.)
Dyno tune- $150-300
Don't need a fuel pump...Mine broke, and I had that one laying around.

This is'nt even getting into a lightweight flywheel, underdrive pulleys, and a electic fan, electic water pump etc!

If you do it on the low side its about $2740.
If you do it on the up side its around $4690!

I'm shure you could cut corners on some things like the ingition box. You could run a MSD, instead of a HI-6..you allready had the die grinder, ignition wiring, etc. But still....its going to cost you a bunch of money for anouther 40 or so flywheel hp. Better off saving your money for a turbo conversion.

CJ

EDIT: You don't need the short shifter and FD shift ****, but every little bit helps. For big power, get a large greedy,hks, etc. sticker for the front 3 body panels.

banzaitoyota

I have to agree with PP13BNOS on this.
I have a Pineapple Stage II
Pineapple Sleeves
RB Road Race Header
RC ENG cleaned stock Injectors
89 Manifolds
Working 6 ports off caddy air pump
Stock Flywheel
Miata geared tranny
S-AFC

I am expecting 160 RWHP, I haven't dyno'd yet but I will.

fastrotaries

160 to the wheels is smooth for a all motor street driven rotary. Is this with the street port? or just bolts on, and good tuning.

fastrotaries

i have a turbo so i don't know too much about this subject.

banzaitoyota

Mild port

silverrotor

iTrader: (1)

Besides the typical mods done on n/a's, I would concentrate on weight reduction just as much, In order to see efficent gains. Verts have alot of reinforcements added to accomadate the lack of a real roof, which I'm sure you already know about.

vaughnc

Personally I'm going for the TII swap. Forced induction is great, especially with a supercharged TII motor.

Minimum, full exhaust and full intake will help.

Here's my dyno results with partial exhaust upgrades (downpipe, HSK mufflers, performance cat, OEM piping) and the OEM airbox.

DigitalSynthesis

Wow! Lots of ideas to think about. Thanks guys!

I'm not so sure porting is very possible for me right now given the downtime and experience required to plan and execute it right, but I like the other suggestions. Obviously when I really want to zoom I'll need to take the 2 10" woofers out of the trunk, eh?

DropTopRX - Where can I get more info on the MD racing autoX chip, and is it better than what JET does? Also, what is P/P'ing? Is that another acronym for porting?

Since I just put a new clutch in it I'm taking my time to break it in before I really try what it can do now but I know it has already beaten quite a list of "impressive" (notice the quotes) "r(a/i)cers" around here - in Atlanta there's lots of those.

Although, its taken you guys that much to get to 167? I thought I was supposed to have 160 already with the '89 model? Or is that bHP and not RWHP? I'm new to the RX and have been trying to do my homework but can't get a TON of distinct info on the 'vert, specifically the '89 model which underwent a LOT of upgrades from the '88 from what I can tell.

So far, the definite things I'll be looking at in the immediate future (e.g. when I get the $$) :

- Upgraded exhaust system (probably Bonez, with the HKS cat-back - I like the look and reports on that one)
- Cold-air intake (is the fresh-air headlight cover worth it?)
- Upgraded ECU chip
- Possibly underdrive pulley (I definitely still need the A/C here, although I don't mind underdriving the other stuff)

The more intense things I'll have to wait on until I get some more time to play with the engine.

Oh, one more Q: Are Limited-Slip differentials worth it?

Thanks again for your help!

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

Thats rear wheel hp. Not flywheel hp. CJ

88 vert

its not easy owning a vert especially if your looking for power i have a 88 with K&N intake,full dual racing beat exhaust from header to mufflers,89 intake,s-afc(tuned),e-fan,6 ports removed,no emissions,and still only pushing 114H.P. i now i have alot of miles on my car and yes the compression is low but that was enough for me to say i need BOOOOOSSSTTT. The vert is fun to drive and i wont get rid of it for a TII,but i will frankenstein it with a TII motor.