I met a guy awhile ago who is a member of this club, and i saw that he had a 87 n/a. It has gutted cats, no a/c, power steering, or air pump, and a performance filter. I have a stock 87 TII. We decided to go out tonight and see whose car is faster because when we gave eachother rides his felt a little quicker.
So, we start at 20mph and hit it. My turbo spools up and i pull a few inches. Are rotary engines race past 5k and he starts to pull on me. I slam into second and i'm around his side view mirror, maybe even further back. After pulling through second i'm about a quarter of a car lenth behind. When he throws his into third his car dies and during my attempt i grind the gears so the race was done. I've lost yet another fricken race in my TII. Gettin just a little sick of it. O well, at least it was to another 7....would have been nice if it was TII.
Anywayz we have the race on tape, but it's night time and you can't really tell who is in front. The camera car is a 1990 bmw 325i who races the n/a soon afterwards and wins by a length. We also got that on tape. The tape shows their tail lights right in front of me when we start and when we end their a good 4-6 CAR LENGTHS AHEAD OF ME!!!!!!!
-Quick question....i'm getting 35 psi in one of my chambers, could it really be slowing me down that much?

 

35psi compression? haha, yea it would. 80psi is minimum mazda spec. Rebuild time.

 

Well, all i have to say is, thats the best news i've heard all day. 8,000 miles on this engine rebuilt from Atkins rotary.....Life just isn't fair

 

8,000 miles and already needs another rebuild? o.O

 

Slap a RB exhaust system and FCD along with an intake, and you won't be losing to your buddies N/A for long. \

I thought that the numbers on a compression tes were a result of adding all three faces together? Was it 35 PSI on all 3 faces of the rotor?

 

That is incorrect. You need good compression on all 3 faces. To the above posted, please outline exactly how you did your compression test, its possible you have dont it incorrectly getting the poor readings. Do a search on how to do a rotary compression test if you are unsure.

 

I'm gonna do a search, thanks!

 

I took out one spark plug at a time, and threaded the compression hose into it. Then i turned it over until the compression reading peaked. I'm pretty sure that's how you do it, but i kinda hope i did it wrong and that's the reason i got those results. I did a coolant test also, and it passed that, but the wierd thing is i have to refill my overflow coolant bin about twice a week

 

This is true, but i really shouldn't need anything to beat a lightly modded n/a should i?

 

No, your TII is obviously not tuned or running correctly at all.

 

i think the problem is that its a rotary engine under your hood

 

1. Remove the EGI COMP. fuse in your under-hood fuse-box.
2. Remove the lower spark plugs
3. Thread the tester in tightly
4. Have a friend push in the clutch and accelerator pedal all the way in and begin cranking the engine while you watch the gauge
5. Repeat for the other lower plug-hole.

It's always nice to see PEAK compression numbers, but there are actually 3 compression pulses that you're trying to measure through each plug-hole. If you don't have a "release" button on your comp. tester, than you'll need to remove the schrader, or "check" valve on the tip of the compression tester so that the needle can "bounce" freely--thereby getting a better idea of what's going on for all 3 pulses. The valve will just unscrew with some needle-nose pliers or something.

Also, make sure your battery and starter are able to turn the engine over really quickly. If the car is cranking slowly, you won't get an accurate reading. You could even have someone "jump" your battery while you're doing the test--for that extra cranking ability.

BTW, my old N/A had the exact mods as the guy you raced and it was also faster than my old Turbo II when it was stock... Chances are you do just have a low compression motor. My Turbo II tested out at around 90 front and 85 rear with 140k miles on it. Either that or you're just not seeing boost.

If you do have compression of 80+, than the next step would be to get a boost-gauge and make sure you're actually seeing the stock 5.5psi. Either way, if the compression is that low--the last thing you want to do if try to make it faster... If it's your daily-driver you'll need every mile you can squeeze out of it while you save up for a rebuild.

 

I didn't push the accelerator in at all.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I hope it's not what i think it means otherwise your part of the wrong club.

 

I'm the N/A owner..Ha...rx7 SE if you need some help call me and I can most likely stop by and help out. And oh yea, my friends and I finished last night with the installation of my muffler if you want to check that out also.

Later

Matt Rio

 

You have the fastest n/a i've ever seen so far. That bimmer that you hardly lost to has about 180-185bhp and starting at 20mph is perfect for his gear ratio.