Exactly what i was thinking, the kafers are a great re-assurance that the bug can handle daily abuse haha. On my bug, we just bought the tubing and got some welding tabs (little triangles) and punched a bolt hole through it, bent them to our needs and welded them on the tubes and painted them. But for 150 bucks, thats not bad (cheaper to make your own of course) for a complete setup escpecially if you dont have time to make the bars yourself. And the best part, there is no "do you think this will fit?" once you've completed the bars haha.

 

NICE! Do you have any pics of your finished product? Also I'm guessing they are not adjustable. But thats ok, atleast it wouldn't bother me. And one last thing, what type of tubing did you use? I have some heavy gauge square stock that I got to build my own before I considered buying one. Maybe I will just make it myself. You gave me the push I needed over the fence. Post pics if you can.

 

I looked through my bug photos on my computer and I guess i never took pics of the keffar bars alone This is the only pic I can find that has them in it.

The rotary is really blocking the view. The bars are fairly simple, you can pretty much make them any way you want. We decided to weld tabs onto the trans horns and go off the top of the shocks for the other mounting spots. So I have 1 bar from shock to shock over the trans, and 4 that connect to the trans horns. Hope this helps. by the way, everything is rock hard back there, I can put my weight and jump on pretty much every component on the engine area with no movement, so with trans braces, kefar bars, sway bars, exhaust, the whole ball of wax does not flex under any amount of force.

 

Looks good. The pic is good enough to be able to see how you did it. Pretty much same setup as the kafer cup brace. Thanks for posting that. I think I already have the material at home to make it happen.

 

I've always wondered how a radiator full of water (heavy) would like being held from the ends horizontally and bounced around for an extended period of time. Thanks for testing that for me.

I love the enthusiasm, dude! That thing is dope.

 

No problem, hope i could be of some help. The idea is great, simple and effective in bracing the car for the power. I can't wait to see your new bars in place My bug is coming along as well, my new oil cooler came today and im ordering my last pieces this weekend (microtech ecu) so I should be good to go to hear the rotary purr very soon

 

Rxtree: Yeah I had that concern as well. But I just said F it I'm gonna try it.

lilsht: Thats great, see if you can take a video of the first start. Hope all goes well for you without to many problems.

As for an update:

I finally uncovered the car and hooked up the gauges. I also sorted some of the wiring for the cooling fans but didn't finish. Right now I'm basically just wedging the wire in the battery terminal to run them, but thats just to test it. I let the car warm up and as long as the temp gauge is somewhat accurate it rose to about 215. Then I plugged the fans in and watched the temp drop to 205. I let the car sit and idle for about 20 minutes with no change in temp no lower but more importantly no higher.

Is 205 a safe temp to run at or should I consider adding another small radiator to help the cooling. Also I plan to add a small fan to the oil cooler, I've heard that can help alot.

 

This is from Racing Beat Tech tips, hope it helps.

The factory stock thermostat opens at approximately 180°F (82°C). Under normal driving conditions the water temperature should not exceed 185°F. Should the temperature reach 200°F fairly slowly, engine damage is not likely. If the rise is fairly rapid- due to a broken hose or fan belt, for example, engine damage is more likely.

We strongly recommend that high quality gauges be used for reading engine coolant temperatures, with the mechanical versions in our opinion being more reliable and easier to calibrate. To calibrate a gauge, simply boil a pan of distilled water and place the temperature sender in the water. Do not allow the sender to come in contact with the sides or bottom of the pan. The gauge should read at, or very near 212° F (100°C). If it does not, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for re-calibration.

In most 1995 and earlier rotaries, the water temperature gauge should be installed in the back of the water pump, just below the thermostat. The original metric-thread hole can be tapped for either 4” or a” pipe thread to simplify the installation of “American” gauges. In the RX-8 this position is not practical, so we developed a special adapter fitting that can be mounted in the heater hose.

10. If you intend your engine to be used for road racing, your best choices for a radiator are either the Mazda Factory Race aluminum radiator or equivalent, paying attention to plumbing requirements.

http://www.racingbeat.com/FRrotary.htm

 

What radiator are you running in the bug? I have the biggest v8 radiator i could fit in the front of my bug for cooling. I'll let you know what mine is like when i start it.

 

84gslsee: Thanks for that info its very helpful. I think the first thing I should do is test my gauge. It is a cheap one as I didn't have the money for good gauges. I see I should make this a priority. Also there a few things I can do to help the situation. Right now the coolant hoses run directly above the exhaust. There is a good amount of flex to them and I can actually pull them up about 4" higher than they are now and I will mount them there (right now they are just hanging there with the weight of the water). Also I will make some type of heat shield, I have some thin aluminum sheet metal at home. I also want to make a heat shield for the intake manifold. I have a sheet of phenolic material that I plan to make an intake manifold spacer to stop and heat transfer. And finally I need to relocate the oil cooler as for right now it is in a temporary location.

lilsht: You made a wise choice going as big as possible with the rad. I may have to search for a bigger one if mine won't cool enough. The one I have is out of a watercooled VW and probably only a 2 liter. I'm gonna do the best I can to make this setup work. But I'm now thinking about make some ducts to pull fresh air into the radiator.

All of that being said the motor runs really well. I am still adjusting the carb and timing. I'm getting nervous about how loud it will be because last night I rigged up the second muffler temporarily while I was doing my testing. While it did make a big difference immediately, I could still here the motor idling inside my house and it was rather noticeable. Oh well, I want to drive it again soon. Should have the fenders by next week.

 

From Jeff20b & others posts on rotary sprite build "try to get a Racing Beat presilencers close to the header to start the quieting process early. Racing Beat presilencers have a special expansion chamber that really helps chop the edge off the sharp rotary exhaust pulse making it easier for mufflers to quiet the rest of the way. I found this out when I tried one as a main muffler in the GLC lol.

 

Good advice, the challenge will be fitting them under the hood but I was always up for a challenge. Just looked at them, man those things aren't cheap. Prob won't be room in the non existent budget for a while. Hopefully I won't get pulled over in the meantime.

 

I have a single muffler on my bridgeport Rx2 and it's loud, just let off when you pass the fuzz, you can always add something when you have the cash. Sometimes you can find them hear and on Fleabay.

 

man sweet! id be interested to hear how that rad cools like that.

 

Wrap the exhaust with header wrap or get it ceramic coated. That will cut down
the heat issues really well and they are both not too expensive.

I was wondering about the water hoses above the exhaust.

Great build keep it going.

 

Ok so my stock temp sensor is f'd up. Giving false readings. None of my gauges are stock, I'm using the Sunpro vintage look gauges. (I know they are cheap but I did research it and found some good reviews.) Anyway the temp sender that came with the gauge doesn't fit where the stock sender is located. Now also I've read that sender and gauge are matched so can I even use a new stock temp sender or do I need to find some way to make the one that came with the guage work? On top of that I can't even find a new stock temp sender. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ok found one on the net. Is anyone using the stock sensor with an aftermarket gauge?

 

i think finding an aftermarket gauge for your rx7 would be your best bet. wouldn't be plug and play but it should be pretty simple. what year model is your engine?


i got my ecu wired up partially but im not sure about grounding it. where does the ecu ground? there are a couple wires that are labeled ground but i think thats sending out a ground....maybe its grounded by bolting it to the chassis....any ideas?

 

if you are looking for a quality aftermarket gauge look into innovate gauges. i just bought the temp gauge and love it, plus its full sweep.

 

does it just plug in or does it have to be wired?

 

simple wiring, very easy to follow directions

 

I decided I'm just going to drill and tap a new hole to fit the sender. Its an M8x1.25 or 1.5 I have the right tap just have to find the best place to do it.

 

out of all the bugs made and sitting around yards you had to hack a 1 year only model, huh...lol

great work by the way. sounds pretty good.(only read up to the videos)

 

You must have owned a vw or two to know that Yeah but I didn't feel bad about it because the car was in poor shape. I just brought back to health, just slightly modified

 

finally got the fiberglass fenders and running boards! pics to follow