Ok, so I guess I am getting a little syked about getting my car back in a few days. I am getting a new engine and am finishing up with getting all of the basic bolt ons put on the car for the stock twins . The expectation from the tuner is to get right around 350whp reliably from the stock twins after the engine breaks in and a proper tune gets done.

So before this I had been putting about 280whp on the car, so assuming that I will be putting out about 350whp, anybody have any ideas as to what the increase in power feels like? I've never been in a 350whp rx, so I have no idea, have been in other cars with similar power, but have a funny feeling they might not be able to compare.

Any thoughts anyone?

Mods:
Mild Street Ported Engine
Pettit TKt intake
Downpipe
Bonez Hi Flow Cat
Racing Beat Cat Back
Pettit Cool Charge IC
850 Primaries
new fuel pump for obvious reasons
PFC (will be putting out 15psi)
reliability mods done (rad, ast, etc.)

 

bump

 

How are you running the turbos? If they're staying sequential that transition outta be a pretty nice kick in the pants. That's one thing I really miss about a stock FD..

You'll definitely notice a difference... across the board. Just take it easy as it'll be a little more anxious to spin the tires now.

 

Even subtle power increases have a noticeable effect on performance. When I put my new engine in, which I estimate is putting out around 300 at the crank, I was friggin' blown away by the power difference between it and the old engine. The additional power is felt everywhere....from the launch all the way to increased top speed. EVERYTHING is faster and 'hits harder'.

Oh, I think you are gonna LOVE your new engine!

Be careful!

 

Hmm, thanks guys. Yeah, the good part is I gotta go through the engine break in period, so at least I'll get used to it. I mean, I know it's not a monster, but I can probably get myself into trouble pretty easy if I don't pay attention. Will need to take it easy more now.

Oh the turbos are stayin sequential, I kind of like the feel of the sequential setup. This should be cool, I didn't think about the power increase and delivery from the new engine itself. This should be interesting. Thanks guys.

 

Be sure to break it in properly and 15 PSI day-in and day-out on stock turbos will take its toll over time. I was running similar to that and got 40K out of the engine before a slight spike killed it. Now breaking in new with BNR Stage 3. Looking for around 350 "safe" RWHP. Good Luck!

 

Wow when I put my midpipe on the power increase was so substantial I couldn't believe it was the same car, you should be getting a bigger increase than that!

350rwhp will get you into trouble real fast so be careful, but its a great feeling driving around rarely seeing a car you can't dominate...

 

Yeah, the good part is a tend to drive like an old lady most of the time unless there's nobody on the road, or at least I used to before the car broke, believe it or not I realized in the last year or so I need to drive more aggresively every couple of days to keep the car from loosing responsiveness (I noticed that if I layed off the turbos for a day or two, the boost response begins to slow down, like the ecu is reprograming itself to become lazy), a couple of drives at WOT seems to fix it though and the turbos come alive again. Or at least that's what used to happen. This should be interesting.

On a side note, Bajaman, I gotta thank you dude, I had been stuck on the fence as to whether or not I had wanted to port the new engine, and it was my tuner and your posts from a while back about how happy you were with the new engine and port that made me go with the port. Glad I did now.

 

The biggest problem I had when I was making that much hp, was traction with the stock rims. but like stated above, have a boost controller so you can drive it in low boost most of the time so you don't abuse the turbos more than you have too.

 

so how do you guys take care of traction then? Is it just wider rims?

 

I replaced my 225/50-16 Pirellis P7000 SS with 225/40-18 and 275/35-18 Toyos RA1s

 

Gotcha. I had been looking to get a set of Volks for the car (absolutely love the CE28Ns), but will need to let my wallet heal for a little bit before I make another big purchase.

 

Actually with the boost settings I'm planning on running a 12psi and a 15psi map (12psi for daily and 15psi for fun). Not sure if I should go with the 10psi map, am worried that if I go that route it'll feel like night and day between 10psi and 15psi, not sure yet though.

 

Try 500 rwhp you are all ways in trouble

 

Hell no, I'll pass on that one. I'd crap myself if my back end comes out going above 70.

 

Hey guys. Just wanted to give an update on the car. Picked it up about 2 weeks ago, just got through the engine break in period, getting the car tuned on Monday (tomorrow).

Ok, so first impression so far:

When I got the car, it seemed a little louder with the engine port, nothing crasy, and didn't really sound very different, just a little louder at idle. The engine ran smoother than it ever has, I actually never thought the engine could run this smooth, no shakes, very very little when winding though the gears, smoother than any modded car I had been in.

I really haven't been boosting in the car, so can't say anything about power yet, but with simple coming to speed from a light or on the highway, the car feels a heck of a lot more responsive, like it's got a lot more torque (seems like the turbos are spooling at least 50% faster). Will have to see what happens on Monday.

As for the sound, I am not sure when it happened, but the car sounds different now than when I picked it up (I'm assuming the change is from everything settling into place). I wouldn't really have noticed the change but for the last couple of days I've had people literally stop in their tracks while walking down the road and turn fully around as my car is passing by. I had a couple people follow me on the highway, and it was then when I walked around the car from the outside when the engine was running that the car now sounds a lot more gutteral, it sounds smooth, but mch more aggressive.

I'm friends with some of the auto shop guys around here, and my girlfriend's dad was in one of the shops picking up some stuff, when one of the shop guys said, "so, he's got the RX7 back, I saw him driving down the road, god damn that thing sounds awesome" (my gf's dad told me later on about this).

The car has a lot less hiccups now, and before when I sat in traffic, once the engine temps got up the car seemed rough, like it wanted to die/ Now it seems to be a little laggy, but nothing even close to what it was, everything remains smooth.

Will see what happens on Monday with the tune, but am extremely happy so far.

 

Ok, final update.

Final numbers on the car:

298whp / 268(approx)tq @ 10psi
330whp / 298tq @ 15psi

I think if I went with a midpipe, that would give me another 15 or so whp, but 330 is just fine for me. The car pulls very strong in every gear, and you guys were right, I get basically no traction in the 1-2 transition.

If I drive normally in 1st up to 20mph, I'll keep traction, but in the switch to 2nd, as soon as 2nd comes on, the car looses traction for a couple of seconds then hooks and screams to redline. If I get on it from 10mph or below in 1st, the back end breaks loose and I spin through the rest of 1st.

The car is like night and day from before, it was fast, but on the low end now the cars just rips through the gears. I'm still getting used to the run to redline in the lower gears.

At highway speeds, the car definately pulls strong. It still likes the 60mph / 3rd gear sweet spot, and will run from 60-80 in a little under 3 seconds, and will run it smoothly and strong like it wants more when I'm on it.

Extremely happy with the car.

 

oh, and the tires I am running are Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position Ultra Summer Tires which are pretty sticky in the corners, (tires are also only 1 month old, so are in good shape).

 

Sounds awesome! Congratulations.

 

you broke the car in 2 weeks? how many miles did you put on it before you tuned it?

 

Glad to hear you are loving your new engine. I too am a bit perplexed though on how in the hell you could be anywhere CLOSE to being broken in. I mean, I have about 4K on my engine and it just seems to get stronger every day.
Anyway, once again congrats and here's to a long life engine, and a lifetime of happiness with the car.

 

Thanks guys, to be honest, I feel kind of lost now, I had been working on getting the car to where it is for the last 4 years since I got it, and now I feel lost, there's almost nothing left to do.

Well, to be honest, I broke the engine in within a week and a half. I got the car back on Aug 27th, then drove the car until Sept 17th when I got it tuned, but the time I got to the shop I had between 1400 and 1500 miles on the engine. I guess that breaks down to about 500 miles a week. Usually I do about 200-300 miles a week for everything I do, but I went into overdrive with the car. I used to just head out in the middle of the night to drive the car during the break in, it just felt so smooth, I couldn't get over it. I just can't stop driving this thing, this is rediculous.

This addiction to the car is getting out of hand. I can't imagine what a 400+ car feels like, I think I'd flip out and try to do the "duck and roll".

 

.....next step? ....single turbo




....400+whp in the FD is a class of driving all its own!


-Jack

 

I guess so, my only drawback is the emissions. I heard with a single i don't stand a prayer of passing emissions.

 

I hear you on not really knowing what to do....lol! After seeing my car up on jack stands in the garage for two and a half years, and then finally getting it fixed and running again, I was in a sort of 'withdrawal' state for a while. I mean, I was always tinkering with SOMETHING on the car on weekends, all the while dreaming of what it used to sound and drive like, and wondering what it would be like again. And then when that happened I was like, "Wow....nothing to do to the RX-7...."