Hey, i'm new to this board. I have a 1988 Rx-7 convertible with a manual tranny. no turbo :-( with about 72000 miles on my car. my questions are what kind of performance upgrades can i do that won't drain my wallet? i'm a poor college student, so i can't afford a lot. who makes cold air intakes and how much am i going to be looking at to get one? what about exhausts? cat back? full exhaust? header (if needed)? how much for these choices and what companies make them? webpages? i'll be doing all of the work myself.
thanks in advance for all of the help

 

oh yeah, how much horsepower and tourque do they put out stock?

 

btt

 

I had an 88 SE during my second half of college. My recommendation is that you save your money, and only replace parts when they NEED replacing. You can use high-performance parts as replacements, of course. Here are some parts that you may like:

K&N air filter (cone or drop-in): Adds about 3 hp, gets slightly better gas mileage, and lasts for 10 freakin' years!
http://www.knfilters.com/IndexH.html

The Racing Beat exhaust components are good, and they have many other quality products:
http://www.racingbeat.com

These two sites are fantastic for learning about the RX-7, and they have pretty cool stuff, too:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/
http://www.k2rd.com/Online_Catalog/FC3S/FC3S-index.htm

Also, don't forget to check out the RX-7 Store on this forum.

Your car was rated at 146hp @ 6500rpm, and 138ft-lbs tq @ 3500rpm when stock. None of the American-spec convertibles came with turbos, so don't worry about it. Besides, since you have moved up to college now, I don't see any need for you to listen to the local high school kids who think that turbos are everything.

 

thanks for the reply, that gives me some good tips. if i wanted to add a turbo later on, what else will i need? I know i'll need an IC, a new exhaust manifold, the turbine, but what else? can i add a turbo from a TII, or an aftermarket one, to the stock 13B engine w/o a lot of modification? how much am i looking at to do this? this kind of operation i will have someone do for me. is it possible to do on the convertible?

thanks

 

Clean your 6 ports/intake manafold.
Bonze Intake
RP 50mm Exaust
sraight pipe converter replacement
Remove Air pump
ACV block off plate.
Remove PS
Remove AC

That should be good for about 50 to 100 hp. Depending on how well your car is maintained. All above is pretty cheap too.

 

Well, I think it would be best to sell your convertible and buy a TII, especially since they sell for about the same price. If you really want to keep the convertible feature, then your next best bet is to buy a TII and swap all of the driveline components: engine, transmission, suspension, ECU, etc. It would be a real pain, but you could do it in your home garage if you have some decent tools and a lot of mechanical experience. Yes, someone else could do the conversion for you, but it would probably cost around $20,000 for parts and labor. If you search this forum you will find others who have successfully installed TII engines in their convertibles. Have you seen George's convertible?
http://www.cris.com/~Asam/20B.html

These mods will kill your resale value, especially with a convertible. Maybe you don't care, but I wanted to point that out just in case.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that all high school kids are like this. I bet you know what I'm talking about, though.