Turbo on my FB
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From: South Carolina
Turbo on my FB
I'm looking to put a turbo on my '84 and.im curious as to if I can put an FD turbo on it with the same manifold. Could I modify the og fd manifold to fit the fb or something. I would also like to know some good mods to get the most power out of a 12a.
Damn, it did start!
Joined: Feb 2001
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From: washington
First, this is a short response with oversimplification to help you decide if this is the path for you.
no, the FD twins will not work.
Most 12a engines are so old and worn, boost could be a death sentence.
12a turbo manifold and a T04 variant seems popular
Your best bet is to run stand alone EFI.
you will need a Weber or Holley type fuel injection intake
To do this right, you will be 5-10 grand minimum into this.
This does not include rebuilding your 12a. Which could be a lost cause as most housings I have seen are garbage now
no, the FD twins will not work.
Most 12a engines are so old and worn, boost could be a death sentence.
12a turbo manifold and a T04 variant seems popular
Your best bet is to run stand alone EFI.
you will need a Weber or Holley type fuel injection intake
To do this right, you will be 5-10 grand minimum into this.
This does not include rebuilding your 12a. Which could be a lost cause as most housings I have seen are garbage now
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,127
Likes: 278
From: Beaverton, OR
As someone who's done/is doing this I can 100% confirm Richard's statements. I have over 4k in mine and I've made a lot of the parts myself, not to mention using less expensive/fancy parts while still sticking to quality stuff. Including this new engine build I'll be sitting at around 8k for the motor setup (and that's doing pretty darn good in the light of things). Turbos on first gens is by no means a bolt on affair.
There's way too much to be said about this than one thread, let alone one post, can reasonably hold. I suggest looking around the forum and seeing what other folks have done and documented. Here's a link to my turbo Nikki thread if you're curious (note that I ditched the carb and went EFI): Blow-thru Nikki Setup.
As far as the common power mods go, the easiest and most rewarding is a new exhaust. Racing Beat makes full systems, and their headers are probably the best off the shelf option you can find.
Other than that you're mainly looking at carb and intake stuff before tearing the engine open. That could be hogging a Nikki or throwing a Weber or Holley on it. For an example, I have my intake and Nikki modding thread linking in my sig. The FB ignition system is adequate, although you can do things such as DLIDFIS and other similar mods as well to give it a little boost. Lots of info on the forum, just take a look at the search bar. You're question is a little broad for anyone to get into much specifics, or not simply refer you to the countless threads where this has already been addressed. Here's a brief one to get you started: Best upgrades for a stock RX7 with 12A
There's way too much to be said about this than one thread, let alone one post, can reasonably hold. I suggest looking around the forum and seeing what other folks have done and documented. Here's a link to my turbo Nikki thread if you're curious (note that I ditched the carb and went EFI): Blow-thru Nikki Setup.
As far as the common power mods go, the easiest and most rewarding is a new exhaust. Racing Beat makes full systems, and their headers are probably the best off the shelf option you can find.
Other than that you're mainly looking at carb and intake stuff before tearing the engine open. That could be hogging a Nikki or throwing a Weber or Holley on it. For an example, I have my intake and Nikki modding thread linking in my sig. The FB ignition system is adequate, although you can do things such as DLIDFIS and other similar mods as well to give it a little boost. Lots of info on the forum, just take a look at the search bar. You're question is a little broad for anyone to get into much specifics, or not simply refer you to the countless threads where this has already been addressed. Here's a brief one to get you started: Best upgrades for a stock RX7 with 12A
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: South Carolina
First, this is a short response with oversimplification to help you decide if this is the path for you.
no, the FD twins will not work.
Most 12a engines are so old and worn, boost could be a death sentence.
12a turbo manifold and a T04 variant seems popular
Your best bet is to run stand alone EFI.
you will need a Weber or Holley type fuel injection intake
To do this right, you will be 5-10 grand minimum into this.
This does not include rebuilding your 12a. Which could be a lost cause as most housings I have seen are garbage now
no, the FD twins will not work.
Most 12a engines are so old and worn, boost could be a death sentence.
12a turbo manifold and a T04 variant seems popular
Your best bet is to run stand alone EFI.
you will need a Weber or Holley type fuel injection intake
To do this right, you will be 5-10 grand minimum into this.
This does not include rebuilding your 12a. Which could be a lost cause as most housings I have seen are garbage now
Last edited by JBR; Apr 28, 2022 at 09:19 AM.
3D Printed
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,127
Likes: 278
From: Beaverton, OR
A blow-thru carb setup like that is possible, yeah. I ran a blow-thru Nikki setup for a little while and it worked okay. The setup will still probably cost you over 3k to do right and on a budget.
In addition to a turbo, manifold, and custom downpipe, you'll also need a new fuel pump, fuel return line, fuel pressure regulator, intercooler, intercooler piping and couplers, blow-off valve, waste gate, boost controller... the list goes on. The turbo, downpipe, and manifold will be at least a grand in total for anything of quality, and just a waste gate, blow-off valve, and fuel pressure regulator is probably $700 or so by themselves.
It's not a cheap endeavor to turbo one of these no matter how you go about it. Also there aren't many folks on here that'll be able to help you with tuning that Holley, so you'll want to be pretty confident in tuning already or know someone that can help. And just for what it's worth, a Holley blow-thru as a street car sounds like an iffy idea without using float bowl blocks or something. Fuel cut around a corner under any boost and bye-bye engine (Holley's suffer from fuel slosh due to how they are mounted on these engines). I know it's been done because I've seen them, but just make sure you figure out the specifics before getting too deep into things.
In addition to a turbo, manifold, and custom downpipe, you'll also need a new fuel pump, fuel return line, fuel pressure regulator, intercooler, intercooler piping and couplers, blow-off valve, waste gate, boost controller... the list goes on. The turbo, downpipe, and manifold will be at least a grand in total for anything of quality, and just a waste gate, blow-off valve, and fuel pressure regulator is probably $700 or so by themselves.
It's not a cheap endeavor to turbo one of these no matter how you go about it. Also there aren't many folks on here that'll be able to help you with tuning that Holley, so you'll want to be pretty confident in tuning already or know someone that can help. And just for what it's worth, a Holley blow-thru as a street car sounds like an iffy idea without using float bowl blocks or something. Fuel cut around a corner under any boost and bye-bye engine (Holley's suffer from fuel slosh due to how they are mounted on these engines). I know it's been done because I've seen them, but just make sure you figure out the specifics before getting too deep into things.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 5
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From: South Carolina
Holley or something else
A blow-thru carb setup like that is possible, yeah. I ran a blow-thru Nikki setup for a little while and it worked okay. The setup will still probably cost you over 3k to do right and on a budget.
In addition to a turbo, manifold, and custom downpipe, you'll also need a new fuel pump, fuel return line, fuel pressure regulator, intercooler, intercooler piping and couplers, blow-off valve, waste gate, boost controller... the list goes on. The turbo, downpipe, and manifold will be at least a grand in total for anything of quality, and just a waste gate, blow-off valve, and fuel pressure regulator is probably $700 or so by themselves.
It's not a cheap endeavor to turbo one of these no matter how you go about it. Also there aren't many folks on here that'll be able to help you with tuning that Holley, so you'll want to be pretty confident in tuning already or know someone that can help. And just for what it's worth, a Holley blow-thru as a street car sounds like an iffy idea without using float bowl blocks or something. Fuel cut around a corner under any boost and bye-bye engine (Holley's suffer from fuel slosh due to how they are mounted on these engines). I know it's been done because I've seen them, but just make sure you figure out the specifics before getting too deep into things.
In addition to a turbo, manifold, and custom downpipe, you'll also need a new fuel pump, fuel return line, fuel pressure regulator, intercooler, intercooler piping and couplers, blow-off valve, waste gate, boost controller... the list goes on. The turbo, downpipe, and manifold will be at least a grand in total for anything of quality, and just a waste gate, blow-off valve, and fuel pressure regulator is probably $700 or so by themselves.
It's not a cheap endeavor to turbo one of these no matter how you go about it. Also there aren't many folks on here that'll be able to help you with tuning that Holley, so you'll want to be pretty confident in tuning already or know someone that can help. And just for what it's worth, a Holley blow-thru as a street car sounds like an iffy idea without using float bowl blocks or something. Fuel cut around a corner under any boost and bye-bye engine (Holley's suffer from fuel slosh due to how they are mounted on these engines). I know it's been done because I've seen them, but just make sure you figure out the specifics before getting too deep into things.
#1 Ask your engine builder. Below are my thoughts
Weber IDA or DCOE. I prefer the IDA because the manifold is simple and they should make more power due to the shorter intake runner length.
Positives:
There is allot of knowledge on this forum surround the OE Niki carb and what a person can do with it to make more power and or support a ported engine. I used a race prepped version of a Niki on my car when that was what I was restricted to. It worked for me but it was a maintenance hassle at the track because it was negatively by float level and fuel pressure creep. Might be an issue on a street car that doesn't vibrate as much but I had a love hate relationship with the Niki I had.
One more - throttle body EFI
I am seeing more and more guys go to this on Rotary applications. It would require fuel system changes and you would want to pick the right system. Whether or not an off the shelf unit could handle a massively ported rotary is hard to say. Personally I prefer to leave the bits and bytes I deal with at work and keep them away from my car toys.
Weber IDA or DCOE. I prefer the IDA because the manifold is simple and they should make more power due to the shorter intake runner length.
Positives:
- More tunable than the base Holley carbs (base holley carbs don't have changeable air bleeds)
- No fuel slosh issues - Holley carbs on a Rotary are oriented the wrong way
- OE Niki 4bbl carbs suffer from this as well
- Weber carbs can be sized to fit the air flow requirements of the engine using interchangeable venturi sleeves
- Weber's hold their tune - mine has been set and forget and this is on a race car
- Easy to tune if you feel the need as all of the jets are accessible from the top of the carb
- No gaskets below the fuel level
- Lower fuel pressure requirements - 2.5-3PSI is all you need
- No choke so can be fun on a cold morning or day
- Low speed driveability will suffer because an IDA or DCOE is not a progressive carb and even with small venturis installed it is still a big carb
- MPG - I don't street drive an RX7 but I would have to imagine that stop and go driving with one of these carbs isn't great for fuel economy
There is allot of knowledge on this forum surround the OE Niki carb and what a person can do with it to make more power and or support a ported engine. I used a race prepped version of a Niki on my car when that was what I was restricted to. It worked for me but it was a maintenance hassle at the track because it was negatively by float level and fuel pressure creep. Might be an issue on a street car that doesn't vibrate as much but I had a love hate relationship with the Niki I had.
One more - throttle body EFI
I am seeing more and more guys go to this on Rotary applications. It would require fuel system changes and you would want to pick the right system. Whether or not an off the shelf unit could handle a massively ported rotary is hard to say. Personally I prefer to leave the bits and bytes I deal with at work and keep them away from my car toys.
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