Hi, My name is Andrew. I'm 19 I've always been a big fan of FoMo and it's subsidiaries. Just recently my Mustang has started to bore me so I decided I needed a tough little import to take down Camaros in instead. I bought a 1990 black GTU, with no tail lights, engine, or front seat for 150$. Now I'm trying to hunt down a turbo'd car to donate good body parts over to. So here's a few questions and hopefully you all can answer them for me, I'll appreciate it greatly and you will see me post again. (Yes, I've already read the FAQ, so if it's in the FAQ please yell at me )

What is the difference between the 85-88 Engine and the 89-91? Something about compression ratios I think.

Did the turbo'd cars come with a different transmission?

What models of the 2nd gen FCs (89-91) have LSD?

As soon as I find an engine, should I rebuild it? Are there places that sell pre-rebuilt engines?

Do JDM engines pass inspection?

What are some of the first mods to add onto the car to set it up for mostly drag but a little bit of drift?

What are some of the stuff that can come off without failing inspection?

My ultimate goal is a daily driver that can tear up the streets at night. My goal is 13 flat. Thanks for all of your help!

 

ok

turbo cars had stonger trannies,

the GTUs and TII came with LSD in 98-91

well if you can find a core motor, you could talk to kevin landers of Rotary resurection. he rebuilds and does a damn good job from what i hear.

jdm engins should pass if you keep all of your emissions, dont forget rotary JDM engins are hit or miss, some are good, and some show up blown..

first off after it starts runing do a 60k tune up, than do intake, and exhaust, a FCD to prevent fuel cut from the larger exhaust, a fuel pump may not be a bad idea.

not much stuff can come off, but check your local laws to see what they require.

 

Welcome to the forums... most of the information is in the FAQs but ill be nice and help you out... as far as the TII(Turbo) swap, 1. Search it up. 2. as in the searching, youll find that youll be better off finding a TII rather than making one, but you could also just find a wrecked TII and swap into your body, Lots of work though...

1. 85 is the Fuel Injected 13b from the 1st gen RX7s, wont help you much, its different from the 2ndGens... 86-88 is what is known as S4, the NA engines made 146hp and turbo made 182hp, 89-91 marked the begining of the S5 which introduced Lighter, Higher Compression Rotors and some other changes which boosted power to 160 for the NA and 201hp for Turbos. However there are more changes in the years than that.

2.Yes they did, the NA Tranny weighs about 70#, the TII trans weighs about 300(i may be incorrect but it illatrates the point) Also the Driveshaft, Diff and Axles are beefer and need to be swaped aswell)

3. The GTUs (not the GTU) and the turbo model had a VLSD, in 86-88 the GXL and Turbo came with Clutch Type LSD, a 1.5way for the GXL and a 2way for the Turbo if im not mistaken

4.Yes

5. I duno, I guess you could get them to but wheres the fun in that?

6. talk to Speed Machine motorsports

7. Why?

With a Turbo Model, that shouldnt be too hard... iirc theres a few guys on here doing sub 12sec

agian, Search and Read the FAQ, GL and welcome to the forums

 

What is the difference between the 85-88 Engine and the 89-91? Something about compression ratios I think.

Did the turbo'd cars come with a different transmission?
- different gear ratio, but TII and NA aint a bolt up. well it is, but you need a TII flywheel. just get a TII engine with TII Transmission, it will make your life easier.

What models of the 2nd gen FCs (89-91) have LSD?
- S5 TII. i know there's some on NA's.

As soon as I find an engine, should I rebuild it? Are there places that sell pre-rebuilt engines?
- there are places that sell reman engines. speedmachine performance will charge you $1000 for core charge if you dont have a core to ship to them.

Do JDM engines pass inspection?
- it should.

What are some of the first mods to add onto the car to set it up for mostly drag but a little bit of drift?
- Suspension?

if you need some more answers, please use the search feature of this forum.

 

So the S4/5 is a type of motor.

The body on this car is not that great, I bought it because it had a nice hatch and good door/ 1/4 panels. It will be the donor, not donee

What tranny is in my 90 GTU than?

So for FCs, a Turbo S5 is the cream of the crop. That's what I want than, because I'm a perfectionist. What tranny goes with that?

So from 89 - 91 all RX7s had LSD?

 

Your tranny is an N/A, the weaker one.

Not all S5's came with LSD.

 

.

 

well yeah it is a slight difference in engines, like you said the compression is a little higher in the s5 catagory. the other difference is the twin scroll turbo system. it helped the turbo spool a little quicker than the single stage s4.

as far as engines go id say look at rotary reserection (spelling )(im drunk) and or racing beat. good rep and good engines for both.

and as far as turbos id go to BNR Supercars. they offer up graded rebuilds for 2nd gen cars, and they specialize in rx7 turbo systems. anyway....

good luck and happy boosting....

chris

P.S. welcome to the forums!!!!

 

S4/S5 is the model. FB = S1 to S3 (series 1 to 3). Then they completely redid it and made the FC, which includes S4 and S5. Both are FCs, the s5 just has some revisions. Then they completely redid it again and made the FD.

Ideally you'd want a Turbo S5 motor with a turbo S5 tranny in an S4 body. I dunno if the s4 turbo tranny is the same as the s5, use this forum's search tool to check. Mazda was so desperate to keep the s4 from getting the gas guzzler tax that they pumped it full of aluminum. I mean, they even outsourced an aluminum jack from Germany. Apparently it didn't matter so much in 1989 (s5).

Rebuilds will cost you a pretty penny in parts. The rotary is very easy to rebuild but all its parts are essentially specialty parts. I hear $1500 to $3000+ if you pay someone else to rebuild it, and they skimp on the $1500 version. I think it's $1500 if you get all the parts and do it yourself, though it may be quite a bit less if you only replace the seals. Problem is, besides replacing any worn-out parts, the housing has a nitride coating that needs to be replaced if it's not there. Otherwise the engine won't last very long.

Best bet may be to get a TII that's already running well. Here's a buyer's guide:
http://www.rx7.voodoobox.net/infofaq/bguide/bguide.html

First mods (in order):

• Some kind of standalone ECU or the SAFC 2 to tune it. Gotta keep it running rich after you do other mods or it'll knock and blow the motor.
• Performance cat.
• Performance mufflers.
• Intercooler.
• Cone intake.
• Lightened flywheel.

The cat+mufflers alone will add 50HP. After all these you'll want to get a street port (look it up w/ search tool). That'll add another large chunk of power. If you're really going to rebuild your engine, you might as well street port it first. Just be sure to tune it properly or it will run too lean, knock and blow. Before you pass 250HP you need to upgrade your fuel pump, injectors, etc., etc.

Racing Beat is the shizzle for RX-7s. Everyone here loves them, saying "their stuff will outlast your car", "nice mild tone", good service, etc., etc. I don't think they sell cats, just straight racing pipes. So you might go Bonez for that. www.racingbeat.com

Drift: I dunno why you'd care about the LSD if it's just for drag & drift. I thought serious drifters locked their diffs <shrug>. The RX-7's light weight front-mid engine attempts to immitate a mid-engine exotic design. This plus its multi-link semi-trailing rear suspension and DTSS rear-wheel steering give the RX-7 outstanding handling.

Racing beat springs, swaybars and Tokico blues shocks are good mild upgrades, though there are more extreme choices as well. These are good whether you drift or not. You also need to disable or replace the DTSS if it's broke, or it'll screw up the handling. Use search tool for more info. If you want to drift you should disable the DTSS, since it helps prevent sliding. I think (?) the RX-7 is harder to break into a drift than other cars. It's a good drift car but not one to learn on. And frankly I hope you don't do any serious drifting as I'd like RX-7s to stay intact.

Maintenance:
Everything you'd do on a piston car applies, plus:
Don't ever let the coolant or oil get low in a rotary. Never let it knock or overheat. Those are good ways to blow an engine. With oil you can hurry to the nearest gas station, but with overheating just pull over ASAP. Outside of that it'll last a very long time.

 

Good info guys, I especially appeciate eric's reply. It was very informative.

Well It has to stay street legal, and I have no intentions of modding it to snap oversteer in highway driving, I just want to be able to go through some cones at local events and stuff (If I can find these events, I don't know any auto-x in Massachusetts).

I don't plan on any exterior mods, I love the way they look stock. I might just find my favorite looking aluminum alloy stock cookie cutter wheels, that would be it. Stock spoiler, stock hood (LOVE THE HOOD!), etc. They are beautiful cars that you can tell are almost related to Porsches. The shape of the doors are very close to 928s and 944s, IMHO.

So a S4 body is actually better? I'm guessing it's lighter as you said it was massed full of aluminum.

I'm a perfectionist and I want to make sure I do this car right, as I also have a limited budget. I have a feeling once I finally find a S5 Turbo I'll keep it bone stock for like atleast a year, beautiful cars!