Picked up a 86 base model RX-7 from a guy for $700.00. It's not in horrible shape, but it's not in perfect / mint shape. The car runs ok for the most part except when I took it out tonight and ran it against my other car ( 95 3.8L V6 Mustang ) and got spanked pretty bad...

So I'm hoping that the lack of power it has isn't from a weak engine or what not. Either way, right now the car is mainly just going to be my daily driver around town so that I can save myself $300/month on the Mustang and use that towards a Turbo II later on this summer..

Anyways, the car like I said is a Red 86 n/a 5speed ( base model ) and it needs a new paint job, and probably some new shocks along with the right size of tires. Other than that, it has brand new brakes, and it had the clutch master cylinder rebuilt last year and is on it's 2nd engine right now. The car itself has 170,000 miles but the engine the guy says probably has 50-60k on it. It wasn't beat on by the previous owner, he kept it pretty well maintained. He seemed pretty smart when it came to talking about the RX-7 in general so I kind of put some trust into him..

Anyways, I'm not looking to dump a whole lot of money into the car, but I'm planning on giving the car a tune up and then maybe looking into a few mods here and there... Not sure what I should get first though is my problem.

I've read that getting an intake or K&N is a good thing to start off with, but then you hear that no matter how much work you have on the intake or porting it won't matter unless you get a good exhaust setup started.. So I thought maybe I'd start off with like a Bonez Race pipe to get rid of the cat. Mainly because I think it might be the original cat and it would have 170,000 miles of junk in it and it might be not a free flowing as it should be and that could be holding back the power that I feel should have been there...

Anyways, I'm open to suggestions :\

 

Nah. NA's are just really that slow

Get a K&N and get whatever header NA guys recommend. Then from there get a local shop to make up the rest of the exhaust. Id get them to do a single passanger side muffler setup.

 

How badly did your mustang beat you? Id think stock vs stock the mustang should pull away slightly, but not that bad. I know Im modded but Ive completely humiliated V6 mustangs and camaros, even modified ones. Anyway, do a compression test right off the bat, just to see what shape the engine is in. Then work from there....

 

Well my Mustang only has around 170hp or so with the bolt ons it has and it just walked away from me...

Anyways, how you do a compression check?

 

Hmmm...just my .02, but the V6 Mustang is one of my favorite cars to show up, and I don't have any mods...sounds to me like your power is not there or your not revving the car high enough.

 

hrm....sounds like you need a compression test done. If it shows up fine then yank that exhaust **** outta there and get all new pipe put in, and get a RB header and single side exhaust. It could be your exhaust, but for sure get that compression tested first, don't throw money into the car if the engine is crap, cause mods don't do **** for a toasted engine.

 

It just felt like it didn't want to move after 4000 rpm. Which is why I think either the exhaust is cluttered up, or the 5th and 6th ports are opening up.. I got a race pipe for a cheap price so I'll install that and see if there is a difference, if not then I'll have to see if it's the 6 ports not working.. I'll still have the comp check done though also

 

Yeah stock for stock a N/A RX7 should beat a 95 V6 stang.

 

Well my V6 wasn't stock. I mean it had the basic bolt ons and maybe had 180bhp or so and it had a pretty weird torque curve.. When I did race it though I was able to jump it off the line until about 20 mph and then it just walked away from me... hehe

 

I know what I should have said is that even though your stang has a lot of bolt ons it shouldn't have just walked away. v6 mustangs are fairly slow also (don't get pissed off cuz I know the N/A 7s are also).
But like these guys said, get you exhaust sorted, make sure your Aux. Ports are opening and put on a cold air intake on it, then you should be very close to your mustang. And since you can get away with running no cats I would suggest buying a header, they give you some good hp.