kwikrx7

I'm trying to find some 97-99 turbos in decent shape to replace mine with - if I can't find any I'll go with a rebuild. Anyway, the guy said the 97s are rare since they have matching compressor housings (3) front and rear. I plan on running these non-seq. at around 14 psi. What do you guys think and know about the 97s?

gotorx7

I've only had my '97 a few months (still stock), but it goes WAY harder than the half-dozen 93-95's I have driven.

I don't know if all the difference is in the Turbos or not, but they sure feel strong, and so far I haven't suffered any of the myriad of sequential problems that I hear/read about.

Cheers,
Dave

Brad

Well, I have never dealt with 97 tubos...but here is my take on it. $700 for a used set of turbos is alot, no matter how you look at it. They could only have 5k miles on them, but those might have been the hardest 5k miles those turbos will ever see. You just never know.

Have you checked out the BNR Supercars banner up top? That guy sells upgraded twins for $1650. Upgraded compressor wheels on primary and secondary (calculated flow at 450 cfm each, I think), blue printed & balanced rotating assemblies, upgraded thrust bearings, etc. Best of all they have a 1 year unlimited mile warranty. $1650 is alot more than $700, but you sure as hell do get alot more. Those turbos would haul *** compared to the 97's too. And who knows...say you buy the 97's for $700, then they go out in three months...what now? $700 for a rebuild? Now you're almost at the price of the upgraded twins and without any sort of warranty.

Just my .02

Good luck!
Brad

Qball

has anyone used BNR stock upgraded turbos?

artguy

Id rather have a set of 97s and bet on improvements than have stock rebuilt JUNK again.

three sets in two years made my wallet hurt.

save your dough and get a new set..that is my advice.

youll end up with leaks or worse....used and rebuilt is like gambling...but the odds are on the house..not us.


j

Qball

where can you buy new ones? is there a difference between the 97s and this years 02s?

Brad

Well, maybe the guy from BNR can chime in here. I don't think he would warranty them if they were simply rebuilt 'junk'. It's not like he just throws a new set of seals in them

And what makes the 1997 version stock mazda turbos any better than the 1993 stock 'junk'?

FEARED7

Whats up everyone. I just want to tell you guys that there is no reason to fear about getting your factory twins rebuilt. If a turbo builder take the right steps and inspects all internals very, very closely there will be no problems. Most internal parts will not wear: Turbine wheels, compressor wheels, and bearing housings. Most of the sets of twin turbos that I take apart usually have to have a turbine wheel replaced. The reason for that is there is excessive ring groove wear. After that inspection the shafts HAVE to be checked for straitness. If not, w/ a bent shaft, the turbo will damage everything. There are other things you have to do to keep everthing together that I cant tell you. Anyway, there is a lot involved in rebuilding and inspecting the turbochargers the right way! I can fill up this page w/ rights and wrongs, but I would rather not have writers block. If you guys have any questions feel free to email me...
take care
Bryan
www.bnrsupercars.com

kwikrx7

I guess it doesn't make much sense to get the used 97s since I have no idea about them. Like posted earlier, they could only have 5K on them, but they could have been run at 15-18 psi all track time and I would never know it - probably not, but I'm gald I posted. $1650 is decent for a year warranty. There is a place called Conestoga Turbos here in PA that has done 2 dozen sets of turbos for KD Rotary with 0 failure and they have 1 year warranty for like $900-$1100 - not sure what to do. Also T.E.C. has nice stuff- only 3 month warranty. I want these things to last. Hmmmmm

Brad

Remember though...you're not just buying a warranty...

From BNR website:
Rotating groups are balanced and blue printed
Both secondary and primary compressor wheels are upgraded
Ported wastegate
Parallel conversion is optional
Turbine wheels clipped
Modified thrust bearings

These babies will pump out an easy 400 rwhp...

artguy

hahaha...I had TWO warrantees on rebuilt JUNK! lol. neither were used as they dont mean JACK.

honestly...I did....its funny how it always looks like your fault when they take it apart....even if your favorite shop immediately notices the flaws when its installed and running. Even if you take the running car to them and have them drive it.

it is easy for companies to not cover their warrantees. It is also easy to burn thru a set of stock turbos if you are running over stock boost.

also...as a test against what getboosted claims...call 5 turbo rebuilders...famous and small alike....ask them about the rx7 turbos...listen to the cringe when you sugges upgrading the wheels on those "inadequitly thin" shafts. ask them if they have had any problems with them. (hahahahah) then call three rotary shops and ask about rebuilt and or upgraded stock turbos and their experiences.

you will find this out.

1 they will cringe at the sound of the word upgrade on your third gen set.
2 they will claim to have a warrantee and then try to convince you to have them rebuild them....or
3 they will tell you not to rebuild them at all or they do NOT even attempt to do it anymore due to all their experiences and attempts....
4 they will discuss the weaknesses of the stock set (too small shaft....too high heat...)
5 they will WARN against running high boost thru the set as they can barely withstand 13-14 lbs for ANY extended periods of time.
6 they will tell you things like the above post
7 add your own expereinces here


any person that tries to run 400 hp on stock set is one of two things. RICH or a fanatic racer...if you can afford a new set every three-five months then go for it....that is not stupid at all...that would be fun. hehehe.....but if you are a workin guy like me then there are other alternatives to wasting money on weak links.

dont believe me?? run 15 lbs thru those suckers on a regular basis. run 13lbs on a regular basis....I call that beggin for a messy garage. That is what you will get when they drip all over the place and the burning fumes stink up your interior.


Im not bitter....just had a third gen for a while.


jason

artguy

check the mazda comp site...I could be wrong but I believe they made changes to the turbos at a certain point and thus the jspec turbos are or could be considered an upgrade. From what i remember they are also more expensive.

this is all heresay...its been a while since I researched it...which is why I said Id rather bet on those than rebuilt stock junk.

jason

kwikrx7

There is junk out there and it seems like artguy has found them. If you like, artguy, you could list the names of the companies that screwed you and save some of us some money The FD world is filled with tuners, turbo rebuilders, engine rebuilders who suck and who do very good work. I've had all my work done at KD Rotary and would not let another hand touch my car - but he doesn't rebuild turbos. Other places have a terrible success rate with porting and rebuilding engines for the FD - won't many any names. M2s BB turbos use a stock core don't they? I've heard that they aren't exactly bulletproof and are a nice "upgrade" over the stock twins - although at over $2500 I would go with a simpler single. I don't have the money for a single right now so I'm sticking with the stock twins but probably upgraded. Bryan from BNR emailed me back with some very informative stuff - seems knowledgeable and enjoys to rebuild the FDs twins - pretty cool site. Don't know if I could trust used j-spec twins even though they are built a little better than 93-95 twins - $700-900 is a little high for 30,000+ miles

artguy

turbo city and performance techniques were the two that built shitty sets in my experience.


both are in So Cal.


the funny thing is that both those companies did not like me mentioning the possibility of upgrading my set. they both said that the shafts were to small to do it.

you are where I was when I first was doing all the stuff to my car...I wouldnt wait to fix them right...I wanted peak power for DIRT CHEAP. I wanted to be smart but my anxiousness to drive the car got in the way.

it has been five months or so of rebuilding my motor again...doing my turbos for the fourth time and fixing anything and everything on my car. I wasted at least five-six grand doing rebuild **** and time with car down.....had I waited two months to have enuff money for single or other then Id still have a gripload of dough to get the paintjob I so dearly want. instead I get to wait on the paint.

upgrading and rebuilding your turbos is a waste of money. you will find that out when you get your turbos back and they fail (at least fifty percent do according to the guys at my shop). ask KD how many rebuilt sets the have to pull out for rebuilding again.....Why waste all that money...why? be patient...you will find a good turbo kit for a good price.

ask around...find out how many people have had failures with their rebuilt sets....Ill do a poll.


jason

kwikrx7

I'll probably give Bryan at BNR a chance - if they fail, I'll be the first to tell the forum about it, but yes I agree, most upgrades suck (i've heard bad things about Turbonetics also) Pettit's and SR motorsports upgrades are expensive and have heard they don't do much. KD recommended T.E.C. for upgrades and Conestoga (local) for rebuilds. As I stated earlier, KDR has Conestoga rebuild other people's junk "rebuilds" - has had about 25 of them rebuilt by them and none of them have failed - problem is, if you don't know what you are doing with turbos - especially the FD twins - they will suck and fail. Some of the larger companies like earlier mentioned probably have unexperienced people working on rebuilds - some of the smaller shops who specialize in it are more trustworthy (a little) tough call - we'll see.

JspecFD

iTrader: (2)

There's nothing special about '97 turbos over the '93-95(except for being newer and probably having less wear on them). It wasn't until '99 that mazda did any real changes to the turbos and even then, only the RS model got them followed by the R model in 2000(and all LE models).

The main advantage that the 96-98 turbos had were the revised Y-pipe design(often referred to as the Efini y-pipe). Along with the revised intake and ecu, the Japan models were rated at an additional 10ps.

Other than having a better chance at getting a working set of turbos, the '97 turbos won't make any more power(of course, if you compare them to a bad set of 93-95 turbos they'll feel stronger)