Looking for any and all advice on suiting a Turbo II Rx7
Posted by low impedance
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
Pete Remner Godlike Moderator Location: Cleveland, Ohio Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 2,022 |
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
Cable Rhodes Senior Moderator Location: Boise, ID Join Date: 01/26/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 43 Rally Car: Mazda RX-7 Turbo |
I have both built and rallied a turbo II. I took a very practical approach to the build, and if you have a few tools, ie a welder, bender, grinder, etc, you can build one cheaply, granted you aleady have the car and the engine runs. I didn't go the al radiator route, I fond one from a Nissan p/u and it works great. I broke the first one ( a three row) and could only find a two row, and found out it cooled better than the three row. Bigger is not better sometimes. I've had no cooling problems except when laughlin had a hill climb portion where I was taching it out at 5 mph. I run a sprayer adapted from the washer bottle using the original dash mounted button. I still run the original turbo, yes, the original, with an S5 manifold (intake and exhaust), and have little turbo lag. I built a subframe in the front to mount skidplates and used the rear antisway mounting brackets and tow hook mounts to build a removable subframe for the gas tank skid plate mount. I built my own cage. Make sure you read the rules so you're covered if you ever want to run any perf rallies. I use stock electonics, save for a little box that tricks the ecu into thinking there is less than actual boost, to keep the ecu from shutting down the fuel to the rear rotor and killing the motor. The stock brakes are awesome, I just use a better pad and cross drilled rotors. I built the suspension using bilstein rally inserts up front and bilstein coilovers in the rear. I adapted adjustable perches to the fronts for better adjustment. I have run this car and won mulitple championships and many class wins, as well as running 120+ mph on a stage in Prescott. I love RX-7's and think that with the right approach, you can have a very competitive 2wd rwd car that was fairly inexpensive to build. I would find a parts car, though.
Cable Rhodes Boise, Idaho '87 Mazda RX-7 Turbo Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2008 06:42PM by cablerhodes. |
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
Grant Hughes Elite Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
Cable Rhodes Senior Moderator Location: Boise, ID Join Date: 01/26/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 43 Rally Car: Mazda RX-7 Turbo |
Grant Hughes Elite Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
John Vanlandingham Professional Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Nathan S Junior Moderator Join Date: 10/03/2008 Posts: 2 |
I ran one for a few years. Great car.
Yes, the cooling was an issue, but definitely 'solve-able'. My car ended up with: standard mechanical fan; big aluminium radiator; two oil coolers, in series (1x second gen, 1x first gen); and a auto trans cooler that actually cooled the water coming out of the turbo before it went back into the lower rad hose. Made ~360hp at the flywheel, with a standard Series5 turbo and standard interocooler (our rules stipulate that we must run these), on 7psi boost (although it started to run away at higher RPM). A good tune of your aftermarket ECU is worth its weight in gold - mine gained ~30KW ATW AND a heap of drivability simply by being a bit less timid on the off-boost ignition timing. A close ratio gearbox would still have been a worthwhile addition, but my pauper budget mean that it stayed standard. The standard wheels are soft, but good suspension and good tyres mean that they will last. Front chassis rails are weak, and should be plated before rally use. Oddly enough, they usually bend across the hole in their inner vetrical face, between the cross-member mounting points - I know this doesn't make sense, but that's what happens. |
Alex M. Staidle Infallible Moderator Location: Colorado Springs, CO Join Date: 02/08/2007 Age: Settling Down Posts: 77 Rally Car: 1987 Mazda Rx7 |
Grant Hughes Elite Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
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