I have searched this forum and found plenty of threads in regards to this, although this is (to me) one of those things i have to hear for myself, and for me.

I own an 86 NA GXL, the car is in great condition, all original 146000km on her. there are a handful of minor problems that keep arising though:

1: the warning buzzer for oil/coolant/rpms, keeps going off, there are 2 or 3 very minor oil leaks, and the bleeder cap for my rad is broken, the rad prob being the source i believe. i fill the rad, it is indeed full, but the buzzer will sound sometimes for half and hour before stopping. is there any way to bleed the air from the lines without buying a new rad?

2: the transmission is whining now, and there is intermittently a rubbing/rattling sound, almost as though the pressure plate is not releasing. there is also a small hydralics leak in the slave cylinder. i was considering miata gears, but i heard that if i am doing a turbine conversion that the miata gears would not hold up? also i hear miata gears is a pricey mod with not much difference in drive.

3: there is a short in my wiring harness, my power windows will not function, the fuse keeps blowing. i tried desperately to find the short, and i may have, there is a break in the sheilding on a harness that runs right alongside the header, possibly melted through? this has been real not good as it has been a scorching summer. is bringing it in to be fixed expensive? eventually i want to replace the entire harness. i have some electronics exp, so if it is easy and cost effective to do on my own then i woudl do that

4: this is the last and largest question i have. i absolutely love turbine driven cars. i hear that the NA can get about 275hp when done right, although it is pricey and dangerous to have as a daily driver. so from what i gather from this forum, and rx specialists, is that for a turbine conversion i will need: hood, turbine kit (intercooler, turbine, lines and hoses), a new rear diff(?). is this cost effective and safe? would it be wiser to rebuild and port my existing engine? keeping in mind that i absolutely love my car, other than the warning buzzer, she runs mint, i had an offer from someone who was willing to trade his 98 vette straight across for my rx. i intend on a full restoration very soon, but will hold off until ample info on conversion comes in.

thank you for all your help

 

A 98 Vette for an 86 RX7?
DUDE!!!!!
You oughta go find that guy before he sobers up and make that trade.
Don`t get me wrong, I love my 86GXL too but if someone offers me a 98 Vette even trade its a done deal.

 

did they make a 98 CHEvette because if your talking CORvette I would have made that trade in a heartbeat sold the vette and bought like 10 FCs

 

yah i seriously considered the trade. but you know how when you love your car and people come up with offers like that you feel as though your car is a real gem and commodity, you dont want to give it up because you own what everyone wants. plus this vette ( i should have mentioned) needed new brakes, new tires, new windshield, new tranny, the interior looked like the inside of a garbage can, there was a growing paint peal on the back right, and had 200 000+ km on her. she was pretty rough, although it would have been nice with a couple thousand bux in her. i live in vancouver bc, and finding rx-7's that arent either written off or in horrific and undrivable condition is extremely rare. this entire summer driving thoruhgout the entire lower mainland i saw only 3 or 4 86-91 rx-7's on the road. 2 NA and 2 very nice tII's. anytime an rx hits the paper or buysell, i am the first to call and check it out. believe me when i say that they are almost always heaps of junk that only have (at best) a semi usable body. there are however tonnes of extremely written off rx's at the pickaparts. so, back to my problems, is there any way about what i had written other than i should have traded for the vette? how about the conversion? wise or no? the buzzer, can i bleed my rad somehow without the bleeder? the wiring harness, has anyone else had this problem, how did they fix it, where was the short, did they have to replace the entire harness? thanks

 

Was this guy high or somthing? Sounds like the guy was just bullshitting.

 

alright alright i will make another post less the vette thing so i can get some answers, but to continue the vette discussion:
the guy who made the offer is a your typical trucker. he is on the road for a majority of the year, and when he is home he gets in his vette and drives, thus the high kms, i think it had about 260 as a total. driving is all this guy knows. he is shrubby, dirty, not very smart as far as people go, and has LOADS of cash from driving all the time. this guy has like 4 cars parked out in front of his trailer. he is well off enough that maintaining and keeping commodities is not too important to him. just by the way he looks, and talks, and the fact that the vette was in such rough shape made me more than a little cautious. trust me if you seen him, and the vette then you would understand. the shape of him is almost exactly reflective of the shape of the car. dont get me wrong, a vette is a vette, but i am already going to have to pour a few thousand dollars in to my rx, which is going to make for a couple of tight weeks. so having to pour almost twice as much into the vette wasnt too enticing of a project. plus as i mentioned, rx 7's where i live are an extreme rarity, to find one that runs and isnt a lemon or beat up beyond repair is not a common occurance.
on the off chance that someone who replies to this post will answer my questions---thanks

 

My car had the buzzer problem too. It was really sensitive.

For the buzzer to stop you need to fill the rad till to the point where its ready to spill over. You should see another cap if you follow the upper rad hose towards the engine. Once you completly fill the on at the rad, open this one and put more in there. It is at a higher elevation, so it allows you add more than you would be able to at the rad. This should work out any air pockets around the sensor. When mine was even the slightest bit low the buzzer would go off.

 

i've never in my life met a rich trucker, its an oxy-moron, especially now-a-days with fuel prices climbing shipping prices dropping.


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On topic: From what I gather form your posts, you are looking for more power and don't know what route to take?

Beware of the money involved in the quest for more power as under-estimating the cost is why 90% of people who venture down that road end up with a 1/2 torn apart car, a pile of parts and a sad look on their face.

Figure that doing a turbo swap PROPERLY with a whole drive train will run you in the neighbourhood of 2500 dollars without rebuilding the J-spec engine you will un-doubtebly be forced to buy.

Building a half bridged N/A with an EMS will be in the same ball park, expect it will be a fresh rebuilt motor, and easily capable of 250whp with proper tuning. As far as driving on the street goes, hell yeah you can street a bridge! Who told you otherwise? The only reason you wouldn't is emissions, but if your area is without testing, then your free and clear. The only weak link in this setup will be you N/A trans, but it will last till it breaks....needless to say.

Hope that helps

 

I work as a big rig trailer salesman, i know PLENTY of loaded truckers. I see them everyday. you have to figure even with gas costs, they gross around 28k a month, to which they probably only clear about 40-50% of that after cost of ownership and op costs. that still makes for 14gs a month. pretty good if you ask me. now most truckers have habits that take from what they should have, and banking is definately a word most of them arent familiar with, so i see where you are coming from. but in my end of business i have learned to never ever judge a book by its cover.

On topic: thank you for the heads up. the real appeal for the turbine for me is the blow off valve and immediate pull. i live in vancouver bc so the emissions is a problem. i heard from a local rx mechanic that pushing my car to much more than 200hp would really take a toll on my engine, and that i would probably end up bringing it in for maintenance more than it would be on the road. the other possibility as you noted is that i would blow out my gears. are the miata gears worth the cash? or am i better off rebuiling my tranny and replacing with sport clutch , bushings, bearings and gears? i already priced this out and it is a hefty bill-- over 3000$.

 

I have met only 1 not rich trucker, everyone else I know makes serious money driving those rigs

 

I think A pexi' makes one designed for the 6 port N/A's. Personally, if I had a NA FC, I'd port that ****.

 

Well immediate pull......once the turbo is spooled. In stock form the turbo is fairly responsive and an S5 is more so than an S4 I have found.

Then building a terrifiying bridgeport N/A is out of the question....unless the car is exempt due to age? Im not familiar with B.C.'s e-test rules.

Un-true. A re-built 1/2 briged motor with a tuned EMS shouldn't give you any trouble. Any RX mechanic that believes otherwise really doesn't know his stuff that well....or there was a mis-communication. I.e. a 200whp N/A being made out of your existing setup w/o rebuild and on stock ECU.

Yes they are. Ive got no personal experience to back this, however numerous memebers running some pretty quick N/A's have installed them (87rx7girl comes to mind) and they take some abuse. Being that you have a series 4 GXL, you also have an LSD already.

Although I have to agree with the turbo appeal. I would recommend doing a striaght up TII swap. Do the tranny, driveshaft, rearend and 1/2 shafts also. The setup can be tweaked to coax a little over 200whp from very reliabely and its got the boost appeal. Not to mention that you'll pass a sniff test with it also. The only possible snag will be finding a good J-spec. Take your time and find one in good shape with decent compression and hope it lasts. Keep an eye on it though after installation as a rebuild before it blows to pieces is FAR cheaper than new rotors, housings etc.