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Power vs Reliability?

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Old 10-05-03, 10:48 PM
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Power vs Reliability?

I was wondering about a performance and reliability brake down. In other word at a certain power what is the life expectance. For instant on a 87 t2 daily drive with 300 horsepower, could you push a 100,000 miles out of it, with the proper maintenance? What Mods would yield the best power with the least risk to reliability?
Old 10-06-03, 12:23 AM
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My bet would be a NO if its a re-build. If its a reman maybe. That is just from what I hear of TII engiens.
Old 10-06-03, 12:36 AM
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with a new engine it'll last just as long with 200 hp as 300hp, it just depends on how you drive it. If you rarely ever boost it it'll be okay for a long time.
By the way, BRAKES slow you down, I think you wanted a BREAK down of reliability vs performance.
Old 10-06-03, 12:36 AM
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depends. if it's a good tune, then i'm convinced you could get at least 75k. my car will have ~370rwhp and i expect at least 50k.
Old 10-06-03, 12:52 AM
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Reliability is like the inverse SQUARE of power output.

It depends on how much of the power you use on a daily basis.



-Ted
Old 10-06-03, 01:05 AM
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Reliable?
Cheap?
Fast?

You can only choose 2, i would choose Reliable and fast of course, you gotta pay to play.

-markus

hurrrm, my first Rx-7 was Fast and cheap.. no wonder i blew it up." CHEERS!
Old 10-06-03, 01:12 AM
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here's a twist:

i've decided to supercharge my engine (when i can afford it) - but since the boost is constant, will that wear my engine down faster than if i went turbo? i've heard that the turbo's boost kicking in actually damages the engine - is there any truth in that?
Old 10-06-03, 01:48 AM
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Originally posted by alanna
here's a twist:

i've decided to supercharge my engine (when i can afford it) - but since the boost is constant, will that wear my engine down faster than if i went turbo? i've heard that the turbo's boost kicking in actually damages the engine - is there any truth in that?
Not truth... but boost creates more power, and with more power comes more engine wear.

You're also a little confused about boost with a supercharger... its not always constant; it is only constant when floored.

I take it you are using a roots-type blower? Are you going to aftercool it?
Old 10-06-03, 02:08 AM
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I expect a healthy life out of my engine as all reliability ends have been covered and all preventive maintaince is complete.
Old 10-06-03, 08:10 AM
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reliability and rotary don't go together. Rotary and performance do. Unfortunatly if you want all three you need to go german. But then again I am not sure I want to have my stuff last 100k. I already have plans for a half bridge when the street port needs a rebuild. So I guess you can look at it like its a bad thing that you have problems but they can turn out into great stopping points and make you build a better faster car.
Old 10-06-03, 09:48 AM
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I would say after looking back you CAN probably get 100k out of it. But it WILL cost you. Trybuying hardened or cryo treaded EVERYTHING, lighetning your rotors, having a better oil pump and maybe finding a LARGER oil cooler, get a HUGE koyo or fluidyne radiator and run Evans NPG coolant, have 3MM seals put in or those new ones that have a warranty if you use NEW housings, Run the best filters and fuel setup you can find I.E. parralel fuel rails with a rising rate FPR dual pumps and filters with 720 primaries and 1600 secondaries(we don't want you to lean out ), get yourself a Haltech and some serious ignition mods(MSD, Jacobe, etc. ), Have it proffessionally tuned to where it is working perfect and keep it in check(I would return to the tunner every year or 6 months), you should also ballance your rotating assembly so you don't have a lot of vibrations.

I ran out of ideas for now but I would hope that provides for reliability.
Old 10-06-03, 10:17 AM
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Originally posted by Bukwild
reliability and rotary don't go together.
I think that is a much too generalized statement, and should not be written as truth.

In stock form, with correct maintenance, the rotary is a very reliable engine.
Old 10-06-03, 10:33 AM
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Originally posted by Bukwild
reliability and rotary don't go together.


Wow, who told you that? Are you sure you fully understand the concept of a rotary engine?

There is locals in Ontario with over 300,000 kms on the stock engine and still have strong compression.

It's all maintenance.
Old 10-06-03, 11:07 AM
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"There is locals in Ontario with over 300,000 kms on the stock engine and still have strong compression.

It's all maintenance."

I think its the cold Canda air. Try 300k in the August heat of the south in traffic. The heat down here will destroy any rotary if you are not carefull.
Old 10-06-03, 12:55 PM
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well i have not had my rx7 for long time but from what i can tell it pretty reliable ...and only little things happen once i a while ....like dirty injectors, loose wires or other small thing and its pretty fast considering i can take out 95 preludes and i am running none turbo
Old 10-06-03, 04:24 PM
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Originally posted by Bukwild
I think its the cold Canda air. Try 300k in the August heat of the south in traffic. The heat down here will destroy any rotary if you are not carefull.
Really?

So I guess our air intake temperature sensors don't do anything then?

Air is not always cold up here. We DO have warm air for 6 months or more.
Old 10-06-03, 04:27 PM
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Thats why we are making a cold air intake for TII's

Anyhow I still think my idea is the best

Santiago
Old 10-06-03, 05:27 PM
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I don't mean to point out the obvious, but if you have enough money to make a TII in the 300-400hp range, then I'd think you'd have a dialy driver to help protect your investment....

It all comes down to do you want a reliable daily driver that has 300 hp and have it last 100k? sure you can, but you will prolly use all the power at a drag strip or on the freeway, and thus not really using the 300 hp in everyday driving, so why would you wanna spend all that money on a car that you drive every day, thats a pain to start up and shut down, and gets horrible gas milage.

I believe my car is Fast, reliable and cheap, it wonly got around 230 rwhp, but it gets up to 20mpg, still is a pain to start up and shut down. I get on my car at least once a day with a 6 psi run and my engine is holding up great its got about 12000 miles on it since March
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