Yeah, I’m the guy building the 200bhp N/A ITB Haltech RX7. My coolant seal gave up, time for a rebuild, I’m slapping in brand new Turbo II housings from Mazda, renitrided irons from a doner, S5 rotors, RX8 stationeries.

Trying to think about what I need to get done while this engines apart. So far I got

1) clearancing the rotors (which btw, I know side and face clearancing, is one less important for higher revs, or do I need to do both? And does anyone recommend someone to do it, cause my local guy is Chip and his work is phenomenal but his prices reflect that)

2) porting the irons

Is there any other services I need done while I’m in here? Don’t want to get it back together and find out the engine will fail at 9k RPM because I didn’t X. I know the coolant passage machining seems very tempting but $600 or so a housing is eye wateringly expensive, especially for an N/A engine making around 200. That $600 would do a lot more work elsewhere.

 

Engine Studs and solid dows would be something to look into.

 

the tension bolts got upgraded for 89, and were used up to the end of the Rx8, i would use those. used should be nearly free,
you want an FD oil pressure regulator, its ~120psi, and like $30
the T2 oil pump is higher volume
i would get an oil baffle plate, racing beat is the traditional source, but there are others.

1) clearance. i would measure what you end up with, and see where you are. a stock engine with all new stuff will be right in the middle and go to 8500rpm all day, if you make the rotor to side housing clearance larger it should spin a little higher for a little longer. the face clearance, again you should check, but if its wrong the rotor is probably bent or something.

2) Porting. this is the hard part. the ports and intake and exhaust all work together. i think it will be hard to get a power peak up to 9k, without a bridge port or something like that. a mild port would peak around 7k, and be a lot of fun on the street

 

What's your thoughts on using TII irons instead of 6-port and street porting them since he wants to go standalone and ITB's. People in the N/a section talk like the 4 port motor is a better base to start with than the 6-port. That it can make better power. If he were going to have to buy irons anyway, if not i'd be cheaper to stay 6-port. I kinda wish I'd used turbo irons when I built mine.

 

the 6 port makes less power, and it peaks at a higher rpm. most of the time you're limited by the rule set too, its its an actual race car

 

I was meaning if one isn't restricted from using them by a rule set. Didn't know if this build was just for track days and anything goes or had to meet a certain set of rules.

 

It’s an open track day And street car. I thought about using 4 port irons but I just spent near $600 having my extra 6 port irons lapped and renitrided and I don’t want to have to do that again, I’m sure if I sold them I’d only get what the irons cost, not the money I spent lapping and nitriding them.

plus I want to be able to drive this thing around on a stock ECU since I haven’t had a chance to touch anything suspension wise. Just as I was about to start making some more major changes my coolant seal let go. This may not be the last rebuild. I may pull it and disassemble it to put new softs in in a couple years and may go 4 port then.

 

it kind of applies to me too, i've never built a 4 port that was "unlimited", back wen we raced an rx7 it had to be a 6 port with a stock intake

the good news is that the rotary is basically the easiest engine to build, and its cool in there