I wonder why everyone is supportive of KYB's?

 

Hard to say. Any configuration can do just fine, be it single all the way, the stock Y, or true dual. The difference is small, I think, though true dual is supposedly better. What matters most is how restrictive, how quiet and how big the exhaust is. It'll be hard to see how restrictive the exhaust is unless you have dynos from other cars with a similar exhaust. Less restrictive exhausts tend to be louder, but you can get an exhaust that is both unrestrictive and quiet. It might be big, though.

Are you upgrading the cats or are you getting a through pipe? I think replacing the cats is good for ~15HP, while the mufflers are only good for 7-8 HP.

 

yea why is that? first I herad they suck now everybodys lovin em?

 

Since cars aren't tested for emissions here, my only "concerns" would be sound and power. I really like an exhaust to sound deep and slightly loud, but I don't like the idea of my car sounding like a storm even while idleing.

Regarding what I would be replacing... ideally, the whole exhaust system. No cats.

 

there is nothing wrong with the KYB AGX. you can get them cheaper than both the Tokico and Koni struts. they offer decent adjustability and are fairly proven (a lot of people use them).
most of the people that may claim the Koni is the better strut probably have never been to a track to actually compare. if you are just driving on the street you will probably not notice a difference and the AGX might actually be better valved for everyday use.

i have the AGX on my car and i'm quite happy with them.

as for exhaust, if you don't want to go with the Racing Beat system, i would recommend Magnaflow for mufflers. work and sound great on my car, plus lifetime warranty is nice.

 

that's the thing, the adjustability is, IMO, garbage compared to the Koni, since everything is pre-set on the KYB's, rather than having the fine tuning of the Koni adjuster. On the track,r it's especially the case, as I've driven FC's with Koni's and KYB's. I'm not a fan of adjusting compression and rebound in lockstep.

I'd like to state that these are only my personal opinions and a lot of people seem to use KYB's. They're probably better for solely street driving, since they ride softer. If you really care about bringing out the optimum performance of your car, go with Koni's as a starting point. Other basic shocks that I would recommend are the Bilstein HD's, which are softer than the Koni's, and are non-adjustable. Barring those two options, you can always go with coilovers, but don't waste your money on anything shy of $4k USD. (Once again, my opinion, I'm sure there are plenty of others that'll disagree.). Both the Koni and the BIlstein can be upgraded to true coilovers, so you won't be losing out there. KYB's are pretty much stuck as entry level shocks.

 

custom exhausts and standard mufflers tend to have a life mesured in hours on rotary engines. Be careful, make sure you find a compitent exhaust guy who knows how to build exhausts for higher temp exhaust gasses.

 

One more time...

Cone Air Filter + Cold Air Box
Pineapple Racing 6-Port Sleeves
NGK Sparkplug Wires
BUR9EQ plugs for both Leading and Trailing
APEX'i AFC Neo
AEM UEGO Controller

Would the AFC and AEM UEGO be all I need in terms of tunning?

I am still in doubt with the whole suspension thing, but will probably go for the RB kit + AGX or KONI.

I still would like to get some more info from you guys on the exhaust system... if anyone can provide any.

Also, any info/tips on getting an LSD?


-- thanks to everyone for their input!

 

I was wondering... are ducts like this one:



Useful at all?

Where can I get one?

 

If I'm not mistaken, the Koni Sports also adjust compression and rebound together, unless you have them modded for separate rebound/compression damping adjustment - the advantage they have is that they can be double adjustable, with the injection of extra $$, whereas the AGX cannot. A PITA with the Koni's, IMHO, is that the rears are not adjustable on the car. I did a lot of street and track driving before determining the optimal street and track settings for my AGX's - and being able to reach under the back of the car and do it in a minute helped a great deal in being able to do back-to-back comparisions, both against the clock and in terms of handling feel. If I had gone with the Konis, I suspect I would have done exactly what I did with the Konis on my Passat - set the rears halfway to full hard and done all the adjusting at the front only. I'm using Ground Control coilovers on the AGX's, with Eibach pro-race springs, 350lb/in front and 275lb/in rears. The ride is harder than stock, but not punishing in most driving, and a lot better for the track. You could go with higher rates, but they would seriously hurt on the street, unless your roads are really well maintained.

 

I will be the first one to ask...

1 - What exactly do you want out of your RX-7?

2 - How deep do you want to get into moding your RX-7?

3 - How much $$$ do you want to invest?

 

I want it to be fast and to handle well.

- I need to be able to use this car everyday.
- I want to keep my engine NA.
- I am not interested in NOS.
- I am not interested in getting a standalone EMS.

Money isn't much of a problem.

 

then do what AaronCake said. Exactly what he said. Don't deviate. Unless your exhaust guy has done exhausts for rotaries before I would spend a little more once, instead of some now and more later, and get an RB exhaust. There are not many mufflers that stand up to the exhaust temps of a rotary, RB's is one of those few.


As for the suspension, look into new bushings as well. You might be surprised at the difference those alone will do.

 

A little bit, if you remove the hood gasket and build a cold air box/shield.

That one looks like corksports unit, www.corksport.com.

The KSP unit that rx7.com sells is a little more inconspicuous.

 

A scavenging exhaust system would be best for an n/a. 2x 2" OD pipes running back and merging near the diff into a single, I believe 3.25" OD would be good. If I did the math right.

Also, our ignition system are very good from the factory, the spark will jump a 2" gap if it had to. I have heard that aftermarket ignitions have helped the engine idle smoother and get a bit more throttle responce but that is just what I have heard, no on hands experience.

 

Cool.

On a basic level, yes.

You'll probably be happier with either one. I always suggest the AGX/RB combination because it's a good combo and isn't too harsh on the street. Also the KYBs are OEM to Mazda.

The full RB NA street exhaust is probably the best balance between noise and power. And the quality of any RB exhaust is outstanding.

Those headlight ducts won't help at all. They feed air into a dead area that is seperated from the underhood area by a wall of metal.

 

Are you sure that KYB's are OEM to Mazda? When I did my suspension I took OEM Tokico's off of my 90 NA.

 

Good, I am planning on building one like this one:



But 145USD for a headlight cover? I don't know...

Any Cone Air Filter kit you guys recommend?


Great!


Good. Are there any guides or anything on the matter?


Good good. Will consider it!


Great. Seems like RB it is then.

So, the exhaust temps of the Rotary engine are much higher? Really?


Good to know... they are pretty expensive as well.

 

I have the N/a Road race dual exhaust it is a VERY nice setup but I would never buy the pre-silencer it is prolly the worse piece in the system and costs more then anything else in the system..

if u have a s5 keep the air pump so u can run the vdi/actuators

I have a s4 and I pulled all of that including the sleeves and I noticed no difference

I think it was due to the road race exhaust and the cone filter.. but who knows..

 

Pretty sure.

Any of them are fine. Just avoid the foam style HKS filters. They suck.

Not really, no. The best bet is to find someone familiar with tuning and pick their brain.

Much higher. On the order of 1600-1800 degrees.

 

Why is the pre-silencer bad? Any details?

Does anyone know the differences between this header and this one? The first one is supposed to be the "Race Verison", while the second one is "Streetable".

So... basically I would need the RB Header, RB Y-Pipe and both RB Mufflers, right?

What about the presilencer then?

 

There's nothing BAD about the pre-silencer....you just don't need it for race applications. I gutted mine and left it on for visual smog inspections. It saved me from getting a fix it ticket one time. But you're in Argentina, so that's a different story.

This ^ one is a dual header keep both exhaust ports seperate, connecting to two seperate exhaust mufflers, thus giving you a true dual exhaust.

This header will connect to a Y pipe which combines both exhaust ports in the middle, then seperating at the Y. This is not a true dual exhaust.

You don't need a Y pipe if you go with the first "race" header. You will have 2 single pipes running from the header all the way to each exhaust.

If you go with the second header you will need the Y pipe.

Which do I recommend? Either one is fine, but I have seen the true dual exhaust application put out a little bit more power from dynos I did with the 2 different setups on my car. OH - And the RB mufflers are great if you are trying to keep the noise level down a tad, but I liked the tone the APEX N1 gives, as well as the Sebring exhaust from Jim Cook racing.

And I agree with Aaron on the KYBs, they're OEM from mazda, and the combo with the RB springs WORKED great for my street/track needs.

 

I see -- thank you for your advice.

So, I should go for that RB Road Race True Dual Header, and the mufflers could be either the RB ones or a pair of APEX'i N1's.

What about the rest of the exhaust system?

 

Just so you know- dual n1s as part of a custom true dual exhasut is gonna be ridiculously loud. I have a racing beat collected header into a high flow cat into a silenced single exit exhaust with a muffler similar to the n1 design and it is still pretty damn loud. Although I must say If I had the ***** to drive around like that and get pulled over evry 10 min. for the power I would def use that setup. It just sounds perfect for an N/A. Racing Beat is gonna be quieter- but dont get me roung itll still be a nice aggressive sound.

 

Are you sure? I'm talking about this Y-Pipe.