Picking up a 87 Turbo II with a stock motor.

I want to find some ideas about upgrades that will increase the reliability of the motor.

Fuel pump?
Fuel rail?
Injectors?
Stock S5 Turbo?

Maybe add some important gauges?

Boost?
Oil Pressure/Temp?
EGT?
O2?


My only plans for the car so far are for a FMIC.

 

To increase reliability don't mod the car.

What can help increase engine life or help it breathe is intake and exhaust, port the s4 wastegate to minimize boost spike, clean fuel injectors.

If you want you can monitor the engine with a wideband for air/fuel to see how you engine running.

Get a boost gauge for more accurate readings.

This has been asked lots of times, just use the search function to help.

 

I'm sure it's been asked before, I just started this thread so I could get more concise answers in a timely matter rather than wade through post after post of garbage that doesnt pertain to my situation.

The car is running straight exhaust with no cats. Is there a recommended spot to install a wideband sensor?

 

Install the wideband o2 sensor bung at the end of the downpipe. Any further up the pipe and the sensor's life will be diminished.

 

I could probably get that done at the same time as getting the wastegate ported. Thanks for the info.


So, I shouldn't worry about bumping up the fuel system or swapping to an S5 turbo to mitigate boost creep/spikes? It does seem like a lot of effort that could be handled with the simple port job on the wastegate.

 

Reliability:
-Replace all fluids (oil, coolant, brakes, etc)
-Check condition of all hoses, wearable parts, etc. replace if necessary
-Consider a more efficient radiator (rotary = heat, excessive heat = bad)
-Always allow the car to warm up properly before beating on it
-Keep the mods light. If you decide to go into a higher level of modification, everything must be tuned properly. Most of the 'rotaries are unreliable' propaganda comes from people installing high level modifications but not bothering to tune the rest of the car to keep up

 

Thanks.

I was thinking of doing a FMIC and radiator at the same time. The radiator on the car is stock. It was flushed and is clean and has no leaks.

If yall think the FMIC is a bad idea, tell me now. Don't be shy. I've spent a lot of time around rotaries, but FC's and turbos are new to me.

 

get a koyo

 

I'm going to assume that you mean Koyo radiator?

 

yes...koyo radiator. and a front mount will help soak up the added heat that the turbo is pushing out bc the raised boost levels. have you ever rode in a TII when someone is beating the crap outta it for about a minute straight with the stock IC?? the temperature gauge starts to climb really fast....and you will have to cut into your ride so take that into consideration when considering a front mount.
i would just do an intake and exhaust with the above gauges and tune it regardless so you will have better fuel economy and a little more power bc turbo rotaries run super rich

 

If you want something that you don't have to worry about a lot, better off with a V8 lol

 

check the pulsation dampener!

 

Yes, that is a big one. Fire FTL.

 

Ruh Roh!

Guess I have to figure out what the hell the pulsation dampener is. I wouldn't be able to find it with two hands and a map.

 

its on the end of your primary fuel rail.

and the best reliability mod is a DD :P

 

The only things I can think of that weren't mentioned are:

1.Rewire the fuel pump... more important for later if you up the power of your system. Search for the write-up and how it decreases voltage drop. Not much point in new/upgraded fuel pump if your voltage drops at high RPM and you lose fuel.

2. Injector cleaning/balancing... depending on the age of all your parts, I'd spring to have them cleaned and balanced... very cheap insurance for $16 an injector @ http://kgparts.com

3. Re-do OMP lines... there's a fantastic write-up in the Archive section using hose that is far more resistant to heat and should stay flexible. Notice how your OMP lines are very hard?

Don't forget fuel filter either... at least I've noticed it's easy to forget. Obviously I'm all for the other suggestions about basics, fluids; transmision flush, diff, coolant etc.

I've had good experiences with aftermarket intake filters, just for Pete's sake don't make a hot-air-intake.

As for front-mounts, definitely an upgrade from the stock inter-heater. My old one became heat-soaked in 20 minutes and the power loss was very noticable. FMIC is better, but it you have AC condenser in there aswell, things can get hot with intercooler, oil-coolers and radiator all in the same airstream. My suggestion is to look into a v-mount setup.

 

For added support, there's a ultimate reliability thread dealing with gas mileage found in the faq.

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/gas-mileage-658991/

 

if you're up to it you could tear it down to the block and replace all the gaskets, o-rings, and vacuum lines. while you do that have your injectors cleaned. should be someone local that does injection cleaning. then you could go over your wire harness and check for breaks and cracks, solder if needed. slap it all back together with new filters, belts, and fluid you should have a reliable T2 for daily driving.

simple stuff like a brake job and balance/alignment will keep you going.

you have full exhaust. if you have something like fuel cut defender ditch it and get a rtek 1.5. porting the wastegate or upgrading to a healthy s5 turbo isn't a bad idea.

you can upgrade the radiator or better yet make sure what you have is clean and properly ducted. same goes for the oil cooler.

it's not hard to make these last for a long time.

 

To keep it reliable just maintain it properly, according to the regular scheduled maintenance. There are 50 things besides oil changes, and many are much more important than oil changes for preserving your engine. Use only OEM thermostats, others suck, and a major overheat can cost you your engine.

If you increase the boost then you should also upgrade the fuel items you mentioned plus add some kind of fuel management so you can richen the fuel/air mixture. Without the cooling of the added fuel, extra boost make your engine go bang and then out go the apex seals. Even if it works fine now it might happen later, and then you'd instantly need an expensive engine rebuild. IIRC enough exhaust/etc. mods will lean out the fuel/air mixture and also require some kind of fuel management, even on stock boost. An exhaust alone is not a reliability mod!

Search these forums for more info on the fuel pulsation dampener and oil cooler lines. If you have a bad FPD you can replace it or banjo bolt it; but why lose the benefit of your PD - which eliminates the small fuel/air fluctuation from pulses (again, useful, see above) - when a new one is cheap and will last another 100k miles? After 20 years there are still people running on their original oil cooler lines, so don't dis the OEM material. Some aftermarket options, OTOH, sometimes blow catastrophically after a single year and cost you all your oil and your engine. If your lines are bad, a hydraulic shop can effectively rebuild yours for cheap using new hose, or with a some cash you can get OEM replacements or aftermarket stainless lines with AN fittings from Mazdatrix or Racing Beat. Other stainless lines w/o AN fittings might blow after a year.

If you upgrade the power a bit, a Koyo radiator will help against the added heat. Otherwise the stock radiator is plenty, if you do the scheduled maintenance (and nothing will save you if you don't). Besides regular maintenance, you can use the Lisle funnel to remove air bubbles. It is simple, but it's the easiest and most thorough way to remove air, unlike other ways that are frustrating and only partly effective. Search forums/google for more info. Also be sure all the stock airflow stuff is in place (undertray, foam, etc.) so that the air actually goes through your radiator and not around.