hey everyone! my name's Craig but everyone calls me chaos or EC. everyone on the computer anyway. this would be my first post and hopefully not the last by any means.

i spent the better part of last night reading the stickies and looking for cars in my area and parts. i don't yet own an FD but it's coming shortly. i've been researching alot of cars looking for something that fits me and so far the RX7 is it. as long as i fit in physically anyways

after reading the stickies i felt alot better about getting an RX. at first i was pretty timid about it because of the horrendous reputation the car has for reliability. i'm coming from a second generation eclipse so taking care of my car isn't something new to me. used to keeping up with them.

also though after reading the stickies, particularly Johnny's, it became quite apparent that there's an issue with the system that makes the turbos sequential. so i was wondering what is or can be done to prevent problems with this. every has said yeah it happens but no one said how to avoid it.

also how much should i expect to pay for a car with a rebuilt motor? these cars in general range from 12,000 to a shade under 20,000.

 

Hey, welcome to the club!

About the seq. turbo system. The best preventative maintainence is to do a vacuum hose job. Broken, cracked, or popped off hoses are the cause of most problems, so the best thing to do is to literally go through and replace each one. Usually people replace them with silicon, because it won't crack as easily with the intense underhood heat and looks pretty. It takes a while, most people give themselves a weekend for it. Silicon hoses and cutters and zip-ties are available at www.rx7store.net as a kit for about $130.


My way of "fixing" the seq system was to make the turbos non-seq. This basically makes them function as a single turbo, and it elimate about 90% of the hoses and solenoids, simplifying the system greatly. There are some good write-ups for that if you're interested.

 

The best way to fix the sequential system is to replace it with a single.

 

Best=most expensive

 

Forgot to add info about rebuilt engine prices.

It really depends on who did the rebuild. If it's a Mazda reman, installed by Mazda, I'd be reaaaaly spkeptical about buying the car at all. Mazda sucks at RX-7's. But if it's an engine built by a reputable shop (KDR, Pettit, Gotham Racing, Peter Farrell, etc.) and installed by them or another competent person, assuming the rest of the car is in good shape, it could fetch about $16k.

 

Actually the simplification makes it Very simple.
A single turbo is much more complicated to run right and most people don't need more than 350rwhp that can be attained with the stock twins since that will yield fairly deep into the 11s in 1/4 mile.

It doesn't take away anything from the sequential system just removes the emissions stuff which doesn't really matter. I think you could pass emissions with the stock cat or a high flow cat in place and all other bolt ons.

 

well i would definetly be interested in removing the seq stuff. i don't need to do more then 11's. i'm not into drag racing much and considering the durability of these motors i wouldn't put it through that anyway.

i'm into circuit stuff. good handling turning in both directions. little dift action maybe. i'd be interested in keeping a twin setup so i could keep some throttle response. any links to that write up?

i live in central PA. KDR is about 130miles away from me. i've seen a few cars on auto trader with KDR rebuilds. even checked out their site to see what they do.

the cars with rebuilt motors seem to be going for around 18's here. i'm thinking it may be better for me financially to buy a higher mileage car as long as that's the only issue it has and yanking the motor and sending it to KDR for some lovin. are rebuilds from shops like KDR usually expensive? i'm coming from an eclipse where built longblocks will cost around $4-7k

oh yeah. i don't have emissions here. just need to pass safety and visual (needs a cat)

 

If you wan throttle response, non-seq may not be for you. It's a little more laggy than than seq., due to the fact that both turbos need to spool. But the seq simplication is a good way to go for the best of both worlds, especially if you don't need the emissions stuff.

To get a good engine rebuild, including R&R will run you about the same as the eclipse engine would. I paid $2240 for my engine, and about another $2k for KDR to rip it apart, rebuild it with all of their seals, and put it in. You decide which is the better route for you. Personally, I'd probably go with the older car and stick in a new engine. It might be more expensive, but you'd know it was done right. KDR will do it up good for you, Dave and Skip are awesome guys.

 

awesome. i'm in college now and they're not far. i'll have to stop by and check them out. i'm thinking of going for one of the 12,000 ones and sending the engine out to them. that way they could do the work and send it back and my total damage would be abournd 15. maybe get some goodies while they have it apart.

 

The simplified sequential setup removes a lot of what causes vacuum problems.


http://www.robrobinette.com/turbo_sy...lification.htm


You could probably find a car with a blown engine for less than 12k.

 

would there be anywhere i could look that would specifically have blown FD's?

i've just emailed KDR asking basically the same thing. figured if anyone knows about a blown FD it'd be them.