SCProjectRX-7

Greetings,

I have recently purchased a '88 FC RX-7 Convertible in decent un-molested shape, for what I would imagine was a steal of a price (which for a student is a plus). I purchased this car with my "self inspired" student project in mind. I am a "retired" automotive mechanic and have always dreamed of building a hill climb/time-attack car, and felt like this was a good time to do so. Nothing to crazy, but self made and originality, is the primary objective.

Here are some of my ideas at the moment:

- I would like to keep most of the exterior of the car stock looking as possible with the addition of some aero modifications to help with down-force. Yes, I realize that I have a convertible on my hands, but that is just part of the challenge.
- I plan on either designing a 4 or 5 Rotor NA engine. This would include billet plates and 13B OEM housings. Peripheral ports on exhaust and intake.
- Fully Caged. This is a must.
- No more top and shedding weight. The Convertible top will no longer be a component of this car, so therefore will be sold off, as well as much of the excess interior and exterior items. I am shooting for 2600 lbs dry.
- Will not be street legal.
- Much, if not all, of the new components of this car will be custom made or from Racing Beat.

Here is the car in unmodified fashion:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...zA?usp=sharing

If anyone is interested in some of the excess parts, message me and I will see if it is available. I will make a list in the coming future.

Till soon!
Shawn C.
-

insightful

the eccentric shaft is going to be your biggest hurdle, since you're talking all custom machined parts. some shops sell the shafts or kits to assemble the engines but if you look at some of the guys who are building 4+ rotor engines and have access to full machine shop tools everyday, you'll see they are going on 5, and even 10 years or more in their builds. is that what you really want to do? honestly, you can toss in a junkyard small block 5.7, twin turbo it and make almost 1000 reliable horsepower. you'll also weigh less, you won't need a massive cooling system, you won't need more fuel to lug around and you will save a decade of your life.

of course the sound of the 3 and 4+ rotor engines is undescribable, but then again so is a V12 BMW engine that you can find in a junkyard these days.

if your ultimate goal is to make the process painstaking, starting with the engine just for the sake of saying you did it, then it's definitely a good project for someone. if your goal is to spend more time enjoying the car than building it, i hate to say it, but i wouldn't go down that road.

if you plan on doing this while in school as some sort of project, i'll be blunt, that is not going to happen.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Trad this...https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...-build-974831/ and then decide if you're up to the task.

One desirable trait necessary to any massive project is the ability to be ruthless and the time to start is now...
-You're starting with the heaviest and most flexible possible chassis.
-You are attempting to build an engine that even the parent company has given up on.
-Discounting the engine itself and only considering the the proposed power output, the entire suspension/brake and drivetrain will need to be upgraded to handle the power.
-Rob Dahm on youtube has been building the car you want for a few years now, with no end in sight.
-Competition cars break constantly and quite a bit of your project is going to be custom built/not easily replaced or repaired..

Kudos for dreaming and by all means, prove me wrong but I'd give this project zero chance of coming to fruition.
The sad thing is, even if you ARE successful, some ex-drift missle Miata with an LS swap will kick your ***.

I'd suggest dropping that whole multi-rotor nonsense and convert your race car to electric.
That's the future and we could use bright minds like yours forming it.

insightful

an alternative i keep thinking about is finding a way to take 2 13B e-shafts, machining and keying them like the 20B shaft and bolting them together( most people say it can't be done, but no one has ever bothered to actually try it), just use the standard 13B irons and modify them like most any of the other multi rotor builders are doing. and lastly, dry sump the engine, which will also allow you to drop it down lower for better weight distribution.

i no longer have the funds or willpower to try it anymore, but it would simplify the process by leaps and bounds.

Red95FD

iTrader: (3)

Just get a JDM turbo longblock, rebuild it and make it as unbreakable as possible. That would be plenty for a project and you'll have a fast and fun vert. Banzai Racing has a nice beefy vert.