'Project Poverty' Rotors Performance 400whp Budget Build FC
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 49
Likes: 15
From: Tulsa, OK
'Project Poverty' Rotors Performance 400whp Budget Build FC
This car has been making waves recently on youtube, I figured I'd go ahead and make a build thread.
You can see a video of the car putting in work here.
Objective:
The objective of this build was to prove rotaries can be built to be formidable machines on a low low low budget. The total budget set was $1000. Keep in mind, this is NOT a realistic budget for this build. Many strings were pulled, favors were called, many parts were reused. This is not a build that is entirely possible for the pricepoint unless you have things laying around. Realistically, I would price the total build at a reasonable cost of $2500-3000, still well within a 'budget build' in my opinion. I'll slowly be updating this thread with a recap of 2016.
The Start:
Project Poverty began life as a TII swapped RX7 Convertible.
The entire car was in abysmal shape but I only cared about the motor. The joke was we were going to put together a 300whp-400whp clapped out convertible and hurt some feelings. Hence the Po'VERT'y name.
The bra added to the 'sleeper' factor.
Super sleeper.
You can see my FD in the background.
We went to make some tuning passes and the motor lost oil pressure, we later came to find the engine had a bad oil pressure regulator. The Turbonetics t04BR (ball bearing) was completely fried as well as 2 rotor bearings, and a stationary gear bearing.
Motor out, test fitting an ebay T88. Looks good! Maybe some time in the future
We ended up putting the motor back together with used bearings to save time, did some passes for the next few weeks on the street and ended up punching a hole through the rotor.
During the downtime between vert motors, I picked up a 88 GXL coupe that was used in SCCA events for an absolute steal of a price (this would later become the shell for Poverty).
Had another hickup with the vert motor, had to pull for another rebuild due to oil loss and starvation due to a reason I'd rather not disclose.
You can see a video of the car putting in work here.
Objective:
The objective of this build was to prove rotaries can be built to be formidable machines on a low low low budget. The total budget set was $1000. Keep in mind, this is NOT a realistic budget for this build. Many strings were pulled, favors were called, many parts were reused. This is not a build that is entirely possible for the pricepoint unless you have things laying around. Realistically, I would price the total build at a reasonable cost of $2500-3000, still well within a 'budget build' in my opinion. I'll slowly be updating this thread with a recap of 2016.
The Start:
Project Poverty began life as a TII swapped RX7 Convertible.
The entire car was in abysmal shape but I only cared about the motor. The joke was we were going to put together a 300whp-400whp clapped out convertible and hurt some feelings. Hence the Po'VERT'y name.
The bra added to the 'sleeper' factor.
Super sleeper.
You can see my FD in the background.
We went to make some tuning passes and the motor lost oil pressure, we later came to find the engine had a bad oil pressure regulator. The Turbonetics t04BR (ball bearing) was completely fried as well as 2 rotor bearings, and a stationary gear bearing.
Motor out, test fitting an ebay T88. Looks good! Maybe some time in the future
We ended up putting the motor back together with used bearings to save time, did some passes for the next few weeks on the street and ended up punching a hole through the rotor.
During the downtime between vert motors, I picked up a 88 GXL coupe that was used in SCCA events for an absolute steal of a price (this would later become the shell for Poverty).
Had another hickup with the vert motor, had to pull for another rebuild due to oil loss and starvation due to a reason I'd rather not disclose.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 49
Likes: 15
From: Tulsa, OK
New turbo Rev9power, TX72-68
Motor getting ready to go back in.
Back in ready to rock! This motor sports a 'half-cheeseport'.
During a lapse of judgement, I purchased another FC vert to make a 'clean' TII swapped FC Vert. About 10 minutes later, I changed my mind to the white FC coupe for maximum power:weight advantage.
Chilling on the side of the road after the car snapped the water coolant elbow from a thrown alternator belt while destroying a Subaru from a 20 roll.
THE TRUE BEGINNING OF POVERTY
This is where things get real. I'll be updating this section with a more detailed description of what occured.
Motor dropped in. Took about a week swapping an S5TII into an S4 chassis, could have been done in a day or two, but I'm a procrastinator.
Looking good.
More to come!
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Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 13
Likes: 2
From: Omaha, NE
Kenny, I realize this thread is a year old, but I've been following all your videos since getting a 91 FC this summer. I'm in Omaha and would love if you could take a look at it and tell me if the there's anything I'm missing.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 49
Likes: 15
From: Tulsa, OK
Message me on facebook. It's missing a bolt or two, nothing huge. We recently did the transmission swap thats the only reason it wasn't running, but I took some odds and ends off poverty to make my 10th Anniversary run. i moved to tulsa, but my car is at the shop. Needs the banjo bolt on the end of the primary rail and an OMP blockoff plate and turbomanifold/turbo reinstalled. That's it.
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
From: houston, texas
