okay, this is my first rotary and my first turbocharged car and my first mazda, and i have a few questions. the throttle response is horrible. theres a noticeable lag between the time i push the gas and the time the engine reacts. I was driving the other day and i did what wouldve been a perfect heel-toe downshift in my last car (92 civic hatch, b16), and the motor didnt react fast enough and i popped the hell out of the clutch. is this common to FCs? also, the shifting is bad...i mean it feels tight, but the pattern seems a little off and it takes some work to get it into gear. i dont know what a sloppy-bushing shifter feels like, so that might be all. any info is appreciated. thanks

 

do a compression test...

 

that seems to be the anwser for most rx-7 problems^^^^^

 

the sloppy bushing would feel like... well youll have about 5+mm of travel from top to bottom. atleast thats what mine felt like. if that is whats wrong then just go to mazda and order 2 bottom bushings and use one for the top and the other for the bottom. should fix up nice... but im my opinion it sounds like something more than just the bushings. im not the most knowledgable so hopefully someone else can pull you through a bit more. take it easy. later

buddha

 

your comparing a honda to a rx7? remember your rx7 is about 14+ years old im sure there are some work that needs to be done.

 

funny ive allways been told my engine revs "fast" by several honda owners....

all turbo cars have a small amount of "lag" kind of liek that....

you hae been driving a honda most hondas have shorter gear ratios than rx-7's .....
maybe your not used to how high you have to rev when down shifting??

going down a gear you ussually have to go up a couple grand in revs.. or so.... depending on how far your going down....

shifter bushings wear out bad on these cars, and that make sthe shifter feel realy all over the place...

 

might want to check the TPS to

 

mazdatrix.com has a bushing kit and instructions that was cheaper than from mazda

 

Sounds like a little turbo maintenance needs to be done. I have a 1991 Turbo II and throttle responce in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd is near instantaneous. The turbo gives a VERY VERY VERY VERY satisfying kick in the pants. Enough power that you'll be braking most laws or sliding it into the wall before you realize it.

If your turbo is not spooling properly or turbo pressure is bleeding off, you're relying on a much lower un-boosted engine compression (8.5:1 vs the non turbo 9.8:1). While the lower stock engine compression allows much more room for higher boost tuning (which you shouldn't do until you educate yourself on rotary engines & boost), the off-boost performance is less than steller (which is why people rebuild these engines with the 9.8:1 rotors).

Give us some history on the car like mileage, maintenance, condition, etc.. These cars can be tuned for HUGE power, but you need to start with getting the car running good at stock power levels. To do that cheaply, educate yourself and do the work yourself. Otherwise find a good rotary mechanic and let them go over the car.

Also, Mazda makes the best stickshifts in the business. If yours is sloppy or notchy, some minor transmission work is needed to make it buttery smooth. Also switching to redline synthetic gear oil in the transmission & differential (Redline's Mazda specific gear lube) will make a HUGE difference.

 

im saving up money and i plan to do a rebuild and mild streetport (possibly a rotor bevel) this summer. if that doesnt fix it ill have to go to more drastic measures. im thinkin lighter flywheel and maybe remove those throttle plate oil things and go to premix. i dunno, i dont think im hardcore enough to premix...yet

 

As far as boost lag & power, the best bang:buck modification you can do is get a turbo downpipe and eliminate 2 of the 3 catalytic converters. Note if the car is running right you should NOT be complaining, in fact you should be jumping up & down for joy & changing your drawers.

Also don't put a cone intake AND a downpipe on at the same time, until you get an aftermarket blowoff valve or some of the cheaper mods to preven boost spikes. Exhaust alone leads to boost spikes of 1.5PSI above stock, and the car's "fuel cut" might not engage in time to save you if it boosts past that.

 

the maintenence must've been good, because it still pulls hard wirh 144xxx miles. with that rebuild im gonna put in the fcd, bov, and maybe if i can afford it, the RB full exhaust.

 

I put money you blow the car up in one month after the exhaust goes on.


-Ted

 

ah i loves you ted. im no fool, i wont blow the engine that fast. it'll be at LEAST 6-8 months. so little faith man

 

Don't forget fuel mods. I can bet Ted is right, if you don't have a fuel pump and a fuel controller. Look at my mods. Safety mods first.

 

Learn how to heel/toe downshift. I have an S4 TII and down shifting with that method
is a snap. And yes turbo cars will have turbo lag. I've driven my brother's Honda Civic
with a H22 swap and the throttle response is way better than my TII.

Listen to all the guys here and change your shifter bushings.

 

ohh a good fuel mod instead of a lousy FCD, is getting the rtek 1.7 chip and 720cc secondary injectors..... eliminates fuel cut all together, and is good enough to run what ever the stock turbo can dish out....( some type of intercooler upgrade is required if running like 12 psi or more however....)

 

The thing is, if you're suffering from noticable lag, there IS SOMETHING WRONG. What that is, i can't say exactly, but it can be anything from uncalibrated TPS to vacuum leaks, to sticky throttle body or laggy cable or messed up turbo.. Do a compression test (to make sure your engine is okay). I'm going to guess it is, cause you said that "it does pull strong". Blown engines normally do not do this, but "strong" is subjective.

Start doing your routine maintenance now. do a COMPLETE fluid swap (transmission, differential, oil, coolant, power steering, brakes, clutch). After that, do your vacuum lines and such. Go right down the line, making sure your TPS is repsonding correctly, and that your AFM is giving the right readings..

I can garantee you that unless your problem is low compression or a vacuum leak, rebuilding it with a streetport is not going to help the laggyness. It's caused by something else.

 

with 144Kon his motor im sure its worn out, turbo and the motor both!.... crap wiht my turboII with 150K and worn out turbo, and 75 compression all around, it was hella laggy as hell!, only started to wake up once it started pumping some boost in there! lol

 

I too used to drive a civic w/ a b16. The B16 is much newer and is tuned quite well for its application, and I still crave the gear ratios of the B16- there just better (better matched to the motor)... Once you get any major lag issues out of your car you should be quite happy. As far as gearing goes, I hear putting Miata gears in your tranny does wonders. Good luck!

 

i find the gearing in the FC turbo II is pretty good its great till about 125 or so when you have to go into 5th then 5th is a tad long....

 

i thought turbo lag was a hesitation before boost kicked in? notjust the throttle? sry first turbo car..

 

Boost is relative to engine load, so without throttle you'll have no boost, and thus no lag... You see, exhaust pressure must be built up in order to spool the compressor wheel, and you'll find that you won't make much boost at all in the first 2 gears, due to the lack of load placed on the engine... I would suggest getting a crash course on turbos in general, and then another in rotary applications before you start adding any modifications, which takes us back to Ted's post... The RB exhaust in itself will cause you to hit fuel cut, and fuel cut = bad day in rotary land...

 

No, a good fuel mod would been upgraded secondary injectors + standalone.

 

It's quite likely that all that's required is a full tuneup. TPS adjustment, fluids, filters, plugs, wires, etc. etc.

Can also be clogged cats (common), or low compression.