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my N/A.... to turbo or not to turbo?

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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 09:00 PM
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my N/A.... to turbo or not to turbo?

okay , ive been kickin it around, on whether or not to try n turbo my N/A... weighing the goods and bads, pros and cons that sort of thing...

so personal experience, or just flat out opinion, what do you guys think? or even, what do you guys suggest?



just slightly indecisive, and looking for some guidance i suppose.
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 09:23 PM
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TURBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! eeeeeeeooohhhhh aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh lol
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 09:30 PM
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HMMMMMMMM???
another 7 owner from PA!!
welcome!!!
as you can see in my sig. you know what i think!
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 09:33 PM
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run boost
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 09:33 PM
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hahahhaha, yeah support that !


so you're from PA, that means i can call you up to help me when i hook my sh*t up wrong? hahahahahha....
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 09:39 PM
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Well, going turbo is going to be more fun, but a lot more money, and more time. You will have to do fuel mods to get more power, and there are just so much more things to do that they can easily turn into money pits. If you have the time and money to work on it then I say go for it. There's a guy locally thats selling a newly rebuilt turbo engine and I really considered putting it in my car, but decided not to. I could probably afford the engine and stuff for the swap, but I just don't have the money to spend on the other stuff so I decided to stay na for now.
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 10:13 PM
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you can give me a call if needed....its a pain to turbo the N/A but its different and can be a great project
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 10:15 PM
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lol, no ones gonna tell you not to boost your car dude...you don't need boost to enjoy these cars, but its sure as hell nice to have 100 more HP. Personally I'll be keeping my car NA jto keep it reliable and build the suspension and restore it a little since its a daily driver.
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 10:26 PM
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mine is a daily driver and almost reliable..LOL...its nor more or less reliable before i turbo'ed my car...of course every car reacts different...and i have only 57K on the car
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 10:51 PM
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You'll need to have some good fabrication skills, a lot of time, money and patience to complete such a project. You'll need another car too, as the RX-7 will be in pieces for a lot of the time.

It's generally reccomended to just sell the car and buy a TII, as it'll be cheaper in the end, give you fewer headaches and so on. It'd also be much easier to just swap in a TII engine and drivetrain. If you make a custom turbo system for it it'll probably be harder to sell afterwards too.

It won't be an easy project, but if you think you're up to it then by all means do it.

Here's something to read:

http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/naturbo.htm
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 09:17 AM
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If you have to ask, then no.

It's an involved project that is not for the faint of heart. Nothing (in my opinion) is particularly difficult for someone with experience but if this is your first major work you are doing to the car then pick a less involved project. It's also important to start with a car that is sound mechanically.
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 08:00 PM
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im not too worried about the difficulty, im always up for a challenge. nothing gets the best of me., i just didnt know how the reliability of the car was affected? as this is going to be a daily driver as well, i didnt want to spend all the money to turbo it, and have it blow up, for no reason other than the fact that "turbos are unreliable" or something of that nature...
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 08:34 PM
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Just letting you know from reading the FAQ I read that 13BTs last 100k miles less than 13Bs...or something like that.
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 08:35 PM
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Honestly, I would keep it NA since its a daily driver. While these cars can be made reliable, they tend to break at the worst possible times, and stuff is more likely to go wrong on a turbo car. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I wouldn't recommend it until you have a reliable form of transportation for if something happens.
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 08:48 PM
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a lot of people think its better to just get a tii, becuase its already set up for a turbo, and you can probably buy on and spend a few bucks on it for the price of turboing your n/a
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by platinumyama32
im not too worried about the difficulty, im always up for a challenge. nothing gets the best of me., i just didnt know how the reliability of the car was affected? as this is going to be a daily driver as well, i didnt want to spend all the money to turbo it, and have it blow up, for no reason other than the fact that "turbos are unreliable" or something of that nature...
Turbos are less reliable. They take a great deal of care to be made & kept "reliable", and even then they won't last as long as a N/A. From what I hear it's doable but expensive, and you'll be paying more than just the up front cost to maintain it. Btw, this is why Honda doesn't like turbos in production cars, even though they race with them.

IMO, a turbo is a possibility if you've already upgraded your wheels, tires, suspension & bushings, exhaust, intake, etc. - everything - and now you're bored with a big wad of cash & time to blow.
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 09:32 PM
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i say turbo it. i did. i didn't kno wmuck about rotarys and never pulled an engine before i started tthe project. took me about 3 months of after geting out of school and working a few hrs a day. and with the help from these ppl and using the search option for things you know youll get flamed on, it wasnt difficult. now i know 100 times what i did before i started the project. and inturn i have a rebult engine thats turbocharged with stock boost yet quick out of boost with n/a rotors too
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 09:36 PM
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thanks for the input guyss
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 09:49 PM
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I was also debating to go turbo or not. I was told by a lot of people on this forum to go turbo. So, that is the route I am going. Go turbo like they said.
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 10:29 PM
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Keep in mind also that along with the higher compression ratio of the n/a comes the higher risk of detonation which will kill a rotary faster than any piston engine.....you really have to watch spark advance and fuel mixture closely and keep boost pressure closer to stock levels.
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 11:42 PM
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Originally Posted by scrip7
keep boost pressure closer to stock levels.
WTF are you talking about?
ill bet there is more people on here than you even KNOW that is running MORE than stock boost on high comp. rotary's.
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Old Sep 14, 2006 | 01:46 AM
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keep it NA. build up the NA, streetport, fuel, suspension.

i would rather buy a tII and do an upgrade.
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Old Sep 14, 2006 | 02:19 PM
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I have spent enough cash on my na to go turbo, you can make fun of me for it but my car will still be running when your engine blows. I will go turbo when I have the time and More than $15,000. I want to do a turbo setup THE RIGHT WAY(kinda like how mr cake is going about it). I would want to get a 13bre and port it and then get a really nice(not cheap) turbo and a standalone.

But as one of the other forum members said, go through the whole car and make sure everything is in working order. When you break something that costs serious money and oopps you spent all your cash on the turbo project and LOOOK OPPS you need this car to drive to work you will be really angry at yourself when you have to part it out.
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Old Sep 15, 2006 | 01:10 AM
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Well, there are people saying stuff but no ones asked. What are your intentions with the car? That'll help decide what to really do to it. Plus Aaron Cake's gotta good point. The challenge may not be big......until you actually experience it.
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Old Sep 15, 2006 | 02:12 AM
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This should be pretty simple dude.

daily driver - Stay NA and reliable and do bolt ons with other restore and suspension mods.

project/ fun/ weekend car - go turbo and learn a lot about the car
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