AFASTR1

Well, as you know, I finally got my RX7 R1 single turbo swap done, and I was out trying to show it off in front of a couple hundred people here in Mesa, AZ. Mesa has a "cruise night" every fourth Saturday down on Main Street. Mostly V8 hot rods and muscle cars are shown parked along the street and in the city parking lot with their hoods up and lawn chairs out. BUT, the city has allowed "cruising" down Main Street by anyone in attendance, either to look or to participate. If you come with a car, you are expected to "cruise" as well as "display". Since there weren't any "rice rockets" or "euro-tuners" on hand, I decided to bring my "Screaming Yellow Zonker" RX7 R1 to the show. After a few hot rod and muscle car V8 low frequency rumbling burn-outs, I decide it was time for some high frequency, blasting, "trumpet-in-your-ear", 9000 rpm, turbo-waste-gate-popping, blow-off valve-swushing, fun. The rotary blast of sound out of a straight 3" exhaust, with no muffler, reverberated between the buildings of downtown Mesa, and could be heard a mile away. BUT, it was then that I suddenly noticed two things. One, there was a Mesa City police car directly in front of me, while everyone cheered and took pictures. Two, the coupling from the turbo to the intercooler pipe slipped off...no more 18 lbs of boost. I limped around the corner into the display parking lot, and put my head under the hood for an hour. No traffic ticket, but I'm not bragging for fear they''l be looking for me next time. It's hard to hide a loud yellow FD.

Bottom line....if you are in the neighborhood, come on down to Mesa any fourth (not necessarily last) Saturday of every month, and let's show those V8's what you can do with a little "rotary" power.

Natey

iTrader: (19)

Cool story bro!

arghx

iTrader: (3)

Put a lip on the end of the pipes where they join. Use t-bolt clamps. Make sure the pipes sit as close to flush as possible and that the gap between them is minimal.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

You're running a 9000 rpm redline with no mufflers huh?

AFASTR1

Thanks for the tip. I already had rolled lips and t-bolt clamps, but there were two problems. One was that the clamps were exactly the same size as the pipe. I changed the clamps to 1/2" smaller. That gave me more room to tighten. The other was that the lips were still rather slippery. I had a shop weld "dots" all around the pipe ends. That gave additional "grip" with no problems since. The ultimate solution would be to use "V" clamps, like I used for the waste gate and blow-off valve, but I didn't feel like spending the time and money, yet.

AFASTR1

Yep. No "loudness" tickets, yet, but they are not real strict here in Arizona, as long as you're not out there purposely trying to wake everybody in the hospital up at 2 in the morning. They are especially leanient at the Mesa Cruise Night. I have done LOUD burn-outs at 8,000 to 9,000 rpm right behind police cars on Main Street in front of the crowd, without them even giving me "the eye". Others were far more bold and did long burnouts, filing their passenger compartments with smoke from their tires. I wouldn't recommend that, since the City of Mesa "official" position does not allow burn-outs and speeding. Revving and loud is ok, but not racing from light to light or speed contests of any kind. Drugs and alcohol of any sort by anybody, and it's all over. Mesa has a "zero-tolerance" policy on all that kind of behavior. San Bernardino, California, however, has a special "light-to-light" single car run for their "Hot August Nights" car show downtown, where they block off all the downtown area and have cars parked and paraded on a particular schedule.

AFASTR1

I think the one is saying to the other, "OK, who rang your tang?"