Hello from Houston!
Hello from Houston!
Just wanted to drop-by and say hello.
I'm a new parent to a very well loved single owner '93 single conversion that the owner got tired-of messing with after it needed major engine work for the 3rd time (13k miles on last rebuild w/new housings).
I've been messing around with Saabs and Saab engine management for the past 3 years or so but this is my first 'real' sports car with rwd.
This is also my first rotary, and I know how to use the search function here, but just in case please take it easy on me when I ask some noob question.
It's an older build done by the original owner, here's what I'm working with:
-Street port w/2 piece carbon 3mm seals
-Garrett 62-1 w/TO4E compressor housing (.96 turbine AR with 15 degree clip)
-equal length header, 4" DP, big Greddy intercooler, Fluidyne radiator
- Apexi Power FC and AVC-R boost controller, HKS Twin Power, Defi gauges
-1300 secondaries w/stock primaries
-wet nitrous system
-EFDC coilovers, full poly, and some weird suspension bracing and links that I haven't figured-out yet
So far I know the turbo's shot (more shaft play than I've ever seen), and the rear had no compression. When I carefully lifted out the rotor tonight, one of the corner seals disentigrated and another is cracked. Didn't have much time for inspection tonight but it looks like I got lucky.
Anyway wanted to give everyone a big howdy from down here in Houston.
I'm a new parent to a very well loved single owner '93 single conversion that the owner got tired-of messing with after it needed major engine work for the 3rd time (13k miles on last rebuild w/new housings).
I've been messing around with Saabs and Saab engine management for the past 3 years or so but this is my first 'real' sports car with rwd.
This is also my first rotary, and I know how to use the search function here, but just in case please take it easy on me when I ask some noob question.
It's an older build done by the original owner, here's what I'm working with:
-Street port w/2 piece carbon 3mm seals
-Garrett 62-1 w/TO4E compressor housing (.96 turbine AR with 15 degree clip)
-equal length header, 4" DP, big Greddy intercooler, Fluidyne radiator
- Apexi Power FC and AVC-R boost controller, HKS Twin Power, Defi gauges
-1300 secondaries w/stock primaries
-wet nitrous system
-EFDC coilovers, full poly, and some weird suspension bracing and links that I haven't figured-out yet
So far I know the turbo's shot (more shaft play than I've ever seen), and the rear had no compression. When I carefully lifted out the rotor tonight, one of the corner seals disentigrated and another is cracked. Didn't have much time for inspection tonight but it looks like I got lucky.
Anyway wanted to give everyone a big howdy from down here in Houston.
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,700
Likes: 7
From: St. Louis/Southern Illinois
Looks like the body is in good shape. Welcome to the forum, don't worry, you probably won't get a hazing. All the young kids asking stupid questions get picked on. The older guys with previous experience don't. Get acquainted and known in the 3rd Gen Specific section. You will have TONS more questions. Luckily you are located near Gotham Racing.
Welcome to the forums.
Welcome to the forums.
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Thanks for the welcomes.
The body/paint really is in remarkably good condition. I'm just hoping I remember how to put it back together.
I've been wanting a well balanced sports car since I was a kid with a paper route and I'd ride my bike down to the local magazine shop and spend hours there. I remember reading about these in like '91-92 but never really considered that I'd own one.
The body/paint really is in remarkably good condition. I'm just hoping I remember how to put it back together.
I've been wanting a well balanced sports car since I was a kid with a paper route and I'd ride my bike down to the local magazine shop and spend hours there. I remember reading about these in like '91-92 but never really considered that I'd own one.
Administrator
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 8,634
Likes: 5
From: Houston, Texas
Hey that's really cool. I'll definitely get involved. Do you guys sponsor any track days?
If you know anyone with a Saab send 'em over to lonestarsaabclub.com.
looks great! How much did you pat for it?The previous owner must have worked really hard to blow that engine. Looks like it was built solid.
Some advise from someone who has been through the whole bank account draining process that is owning an FD...
I'd suggest that you ask the engine builders to take pictures of the parts and the motor as they are assembling it. This will protect you if they screw it up and will protect them if you screw it up. I'd also suggest sending the motor to IR Performance to get built. They do the best builds in this country that I know of, however they are in New Jersey...
I'd also suggest ditching the nitrous system. That's probably one of the reasons the previous owner blew so many motors. Nitrous does a number to piston engines, and rotaries are much less resistant to detonation. Nitrous is a loose cannon and can blow your motor the first time you use it, and it's completely unnessecary, especially with a single turbo.
Since you're a Saab tuner, you have a nice foundation for tuning however don't get a big ego and think that because you can tune a Saab you can tune a rotary. As you know, they are different in just about every aspect, and I'm sure you appreciate that fact. I'd suggest attending a Chuck Westbrook PowerFC seminar if you plan on tuning it yourself. If you don't want to tune it yourself, BDC is considered one of the best tuners in the country, and he lives in Grand Prarie, TX, in the DFW area.
Also, the seals don't disintegrate. They shatter, and usually get blown out through the exhaust port. 90% of the time, when your motor ***** a seal, it takes the turbo with it.
Thanks for the advice. I still don't know enough about the building process, but it occured to me that I might try to build it myself...maybe that's foolish, I don't know yet.
I *think* that the corner seal was actually in-place until I lifted the rotor, and then one fell to pieces when I lifted it. Is it possible that an apex seal can stick? When I pulled off the exhaust header and spun it, one seal was definitely not moving, and I poked it, then it started squishing and whoosing when I spun it by hand. The apex seals look good (like I'd expect a new seal to look), but I have to say that I'm for sure not qualifed to judge what looks good or not. Looking at the housings quickly there wasn't any sign of scoring or chatter or anything like that.
The weird thing was that the tuner was doing a part throttle, drievability type modification to the tune at low load when he ran into problems this time.
On a side note, I see you're in Lancaster. I'm originally from Lancaster PA and lived up there until about 6-7 years ago. That's a real nice area.
looks great! How much did you pat for it?
The previous owner must have worked really hard to blow that engine. Looks like it was built solid.
Some advise from someone who has been through the whole bank account draining process that is owning an FD...
I'd suggest that you ask the engine builders to take pictures of the parts and the motor as they are assembling it. This will protect you if they screw it up and will protect them if you screw it up. I'd also suggest sending the motor to IR Performance to get built. They do the best builds in this country that I know of, however they are in New Jersey...
I'd also suggest ditching the nitrous system. That's probably one of the reasons the previous owner blew so many motors. Nitrous does a number to piston engines, and rotaries are much less resistant to detonation. Nitrous is a loose cannon and can blow your motor the first time you use it, and it's completely unnessecary, especially with a single turbo.
Since you're a Saab tuner, you have a nice foundation for tuning however don't get a big ego and think that because you can tune a Saab you can tune a rotary. As you know, they are different in just about every aspect, and I'm sure you appreciate that fact. I'd suggest attending a Chuck Westbrook PowerFC seminar if you plan on tuning it yourself. If you don't want to tune it yourself, BDC is considered one of the best tuners in the country, and he lives in Grand Prarie, TX, in the DFW area.
Also, the seals don't disintegrate. They shatter, and usually get blown out through the exhaust port. 90% of the time, when your motor ***** a seal, it takes the turbo with it.
I *think* that the corner seal was actually in-place until I lifted the rotor, and then one fell to pieces when I lifted it. Is it possible that an apex seal can stick? When I pulled off the exhaust header and spun it, one seal was definitely not moving, and I poked it, then it started squishing and whoosing when I spun it by hand. The apex seals look good (like I'd expect a new seal to look), but I have to say that I'm for sure not qualifed to judge what looks good or not. Looking at the housings quickly there wasn't any sign of scoring or chatter or anything like that.
The weird thing was that the tuner was doing a part throttle, drievability type modification to the tune at low load when he ran into problems this time.
On a side note, I see you're in Lancaster. I'm originally from Lancaster PA and lived up there until about 6-7 years ago. That's a real nice area.
looks great! How much did you pat for it?The previous owner must have worked really hard to blow that engine. Looks like it was built solid.
Some advise from someone who has been through the whole bank account draining process that is owning an FD...
I'd suggest that you ask the engine builders to take pictures of the parts and the motor as they are assembling it. This will protect you if they screw it up and will protect them if you screw it up. I'd also suggest sending the motor to IR Performance to get built. They do the best builds in this country that I know of, however they are in New Jersey...
I'd also suggest ditching the nitrous system. That's probably one of the reasons the previous owner blew so many motors. Nitrous does a number to piston engines, and rotaries are much less resistant to detonation. Nitrous is a loose cannon and can blow your motor the first time you use it, and it's completely unnessecary, especially with a single turbo.
Since you're a Saab tuner, you have a nice foundation for tuning however don't get a big ego and think that because you can tune a Saab you can tune a rotary. As you know, they are different in just about every aspect, and I'm sure you appreciate that fact. I'd suggest attending a Chuck Westbrook PowerFC seminar if you plan on tuning it yourself. If you don't want to tune it yourself, BDC is considered one of the best tuners in the country, and he lives in Grand Prarie, TX, in the DFW area.
Also, the seals don't disintegrate. They shatter, and usually get blown out through the exhaust port. 90% of the time, when your motor ***** a seal, it takes the turbo with it.
Thanks for the advice. I still don't know enough about the building process, but it occured to me that I might try to build it myself...maybe that's foolish, I don't know yet.
I *think* that the corner seal was actually in-place until I lifted the rotor, and then one fell to pieces when I lifted it. Is it possible that an apex seal can stick? When I pulled off the exhaust header and spun it, one seal was definitely not moving, and I poked it, then it started squishing and whoosing when I spun it by hand. The apex seals look good (like I'd expect a new seal to look), but I have to say that I'm for sure not qualifed to judge what looks good or not. Looking at the housings quickly there wasn't any sign of scoring or chatter or anything like that.
The weird thing was that the tuner was doing a part throttle, drievability type modification to the tune at low load when he ran into problems this time.
On a side note, I see you're in Lancaster. I'm originally from Lancaster PA and lived up there until about 6-7 years ago. That's a real nice area.
I *think* that the corner seal was actually in-place until I lifted the rotor, and then one fell to pieces when I lifted it. Is it possible that an apex seal can stick? When I pulled off the exhaust header and spun it, one seal was definitely not moving, and I poked it, then it started squishing and whoosing when I spun it by hand. The apex seals look good (like I'd expect a new seal to look), but I have to say that I'm for sure not qualifed to judge what looks good or not. Looking at the housings quickly there wasn't any sign of scoring or chatter or anything like that.
The weird thing was that the tuner was doing a part throttle, drievability type modification to the tune at low load when he ran into problems this time.
On a side note, I see you're in Lancaster. I'm originally from Lancaster PA and lived up there until about 6-7 years ago. That's a real nice area.
I don't have any pictures off hand, but if you search you should be able to find a picture of what the seals look like.
I just moved to Lancaster 7 years ago. It's a nice area, but a huge adjustment from where I come from(south jersey). Where did you live when you were up here?
Heh, I guess I should have figured Marcus was on here.
Here's the car: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=652335
Thanks for the welcomes.
Here's the car: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=652335
Thanks for the welcomes.
NewbernD,
Got your PM, but I can't do replies to PM's yet on here. Hope you see this message.
It's nice to see another Saab junky around these parts.
The answer to your question is YES. There is an inexpensive OBDII interface that gives TechII capability as well as read/write abilities to T-5 and T-7. I haven't personally tried it yet because I've been using the background debugging mode on the processor. Go ahead and sign up at the website, if it takes more than a day or two to get approval send me a PM with your chosen user name (me and another guy own the website).
Got your PM, but I can't do replies to PM's yet on here. Hope you see this message.
It's nice to see another Saab junky around these parts.
The answer to your question is YES. There is an inexpensive OBDII interface that gives TechII capability as well as read/write abilities to T-5 and T-7. I haven't personally tried it yet because I've been using the background debugging mode on the processor. Go ahead and sign up at the website, if it takes more than a day or two to get approval send me a PM with your chosen user name (me and another guy own the website).
Huh?
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 670
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore, Maryland
Nice buy!
If your considering doing the rebuild yourself, I would say go for it. Pick up the Rotary Aviation DVD, and download the FSM from the 3rd gen section (in the faq's), then go to town. Since you already have the engine out, you probably won't need the remove/replace dvd that they offer, but it might be worth it for when your re-installing the accessories. I decided to do my rebuild about a month or so ago, and both RA dvd's have helped out immensely.
Good luck with whatever you decide, and welcome to the forum!
If your considering doing the rebuild yourself, I would say go for it. Pick up the Rotary Aviation DVD, and download the FSM from the 3rd gen section (in the faq's), then go to town. Since you already have the engine out, you probably won't need the remove/replace dvd that they offer, but it might be worth it for when your re-installing the accessories. I decided to do my rebuild about a month or so ago, and both RA dvd's have helped out immensely.
Good luck with whatever you decide, and welcome to the forum!
Thanks! I just finished the install and started it for the first time this past Tuesday. It's having an issue with the coolant temp sender(?) the little one that's on one of the plates, not the one on the back of the water pump... So it's not quite running right yet, but it is running!
Right now it's pulling about 14 in-Hg at 1000 rpm. I think that's good for a fresh rebuild using 2 piece 3mm ceramics?
Spidey, right now I'm in the south Heights area but I'm moving down to Pearland in about 3 months to be closer to work. Where are you? It'd be nice to get together and meet some other 7 drivers after I get the bugs worked-out.
Right now it's pulling about 14 in-Hg at 1000 rpm. I think that's good for a fresh rebuild using 2 piece 3mm ceramics?
Spidey, right now I'm in the south Heights area but I'm moving down to Pearland in about 3 months to be closer to work. Where are you? It'd be nice to get together and meet some other 7 drivers after I get the bugs worked-out.