KHAM83

Hello fellow members,
A little background about me, I joined this forum late last year, as I was fortunate enough to buy a 85 Rex, w/ 12a motor. I will start to contribute to this forum a lot more, and will post pics. I have put in a system and put on some rims, apart from the normal fixing that comes along with an antique (old) car. My initial belief was to eventually do a turbo II, or twin turbo swap, but I came across a shop who has a JDM 12A tubor motor for sale. I was never aware they had this in Japan. This swap is sounding interesting to me and I wanted to get your opinions. The 13B Im pretty sure has way more potential than the 12A, but Im not sure that Ill even be comfortable/willing to shed the funds to reach the 13B's full potential. This is my daily driver and I intend to keep it this way. I want a car thats fun to drive. I want more power, enough to beat these dumb hemi chargers/challengers everyone around here has, but again, I dont think I will be willing to shed out the money to build a proper Turbo II. Do you think a 12A turbo is a bad idea? Ive heard itll be a breeze of a swap (less money than a 13b). I see it puts out 160+ HP, but this is with only 6psi I think, bc the turbo car didnt come with a radiator. Whats the full potential of this motor? Also- if I was to sell this later, does this motor have much nostalgic value? I would like to impress the old school RX7 lovers.

The cost of the motor is a grand. Assuming the motor is in good condition is this worth it? I believe a TII can be had for a couple hundred more.

Thanks!

Qingdao

iTrader: (3)

Is this the Elford draw through turbo?


12A's are cool. Rock on

lx_machado

iTrader: (13)

Not the Elford. He is referring to the JDM 12A Turbo out of a Japanese SA.

KHAM83, I am guessing you are talking about the motor at Lethal Injection?

KHAM83

Not sure what you mean. BTW, I am new to the Rotary world.

And yes, Lethal Injection. Are you familiar with them?

bumpstart

i have had a few JDM fuel injected 12a turbos over the years,, there is also two versions of the ht18 ( note no -2s ) turbo , one with 4 bolt flange on the rear dump ( the original )
other with a 3 bolt flange ( a smaller version of the s4/5 dump pipe layout )

the 3 bolt version is slightly smaller but makes more power

they are good motors without real issues if the coolant has been looked after
( if not they are prone to corrode at the very top galleries of the housings up to the outside water jacket due to some electrolysis issue with the birds nest earthing )

both stock turbine housings are tiny and make the turbo spool instantly
// you wont even feel it come on cause it is on that early
but it does distinctly bottle neck the motor at 6500 rpms in top gear

makes for a very very nimble street car at legalish speeds.. but the turbine that makes this fun also cuts the top end potential and thus will not let you play with big boys


while its an easy engine to throw into an rx7 .. it will require extra moneys to get sorted well..


realistically.. the turbo needs to upgrade .. which means a turbo manifold that is not so easy to find// will need fab
a lot of people will change things to be s4/5 highflow turbo.. but methinks if you are making a manifold,, might as well be all t4 foot and give yourself limitless options

.. the fuel injection system itself is only 2 injectors and works much like the GSL-SE engine
you will need to upgrade the injectors and the ecu to something fully sequential to get the best out of it
a smart move is to get the inlet adapters from aus that allow you to bolt up s4/5 13b turbo inlet manifolds and thus gives you four injector locations
( also ditches the overboost valve that limits boost to under 7 psi and allows a TB oriented for front intercooler )

from there,, find a CAS.. and then proceed to set the motor up as if any old 13b turbo
i would suggest smaller to4 or gt35 options for turbo

lx_machado

iTrader: (13)

Not familiar with them, I just know that they have one for sale. You don't see them for sale too often.