This has to be harder than a 911 engine....

[carnut169]

I purchased a 93 RX7 Twin Turbo with a bad motor. It was such a good deal that I could not pass it up, and I thought I was up to the challenge of the engine swap. Well Friday I worked from 4:00pm to 11:45pm, Sat from 8:30am to 8:30pm, and Sunday from 8:30am to 7:30pm. What a nightmare. That car has more vac lines and electrical connections than...the space shuttle? Probably not, but it does have a bunch. Good news.. the engine is in- not running- but in. I need two new solinoids (turbo and wastegate control) as the plactic vac line attachments snapped. The car should be a good one... new turbos, transmission, belts, gaskets, battery, H2O pump, engine mounts, and more. Each part was carefully cleaned before re-installation. Hopefully, when the new solinoids are installed and the intake manifold goes in, it will start and run.. .we shall see. Just thought I would share another project w/ the group (no, the garage is not quite done).

[carnut169]

Engine out...

[carnut169]

Old engine....

[carnut169]

new engine on the jack- old on the floor....

[carnut169]

New engine in... without intake-

[Jdub]

Ford axed this car when they bought Mazda: I thought it was a pity because I LOVE that bodystyle.

How much do you have into this car now, if you do not mind me asking. I think it was well worth the effort.

John

[carnut169]

John- with the purchase, new engine, and all the Mazda parts (belts, gaskets, motor mounts, water pump, etc) as well as paying a helper all weekend I am right around $8,000.

[masraum]

I am a Porsche enthusiast, but also an automotive performance enthusiast. That body style of RX-7 is the best, those are beautiful little cars.

[RarlyL8]

Quite a job.

A couple of years back a budy of mine shoehorned a Corvette LT4 6spd into one of those. Thing ran 12 second quarters. Mean as hell.

[stormcrow]

That sure is a tiny little engine.

Steve

[Reg]

A little tweaking of that 13B rotor and one coudl easily do 12 second quarters! That said a 350 in one of those would be a hoot with all that torque.

My Dad has a gem of an '84 GSL SE which is a blast to drive but the steering is worse than our old Massey!

[JuiceMan]

I drove a 93 RX7 once and that car was a total blast. The handling was excellent and when the turbos spooled off you went. It felt really fast however it was all stock except a cat-back exhaust.

I'd love to have one.

[beepbeep]

Cool!

I heard that those motors respond well to intake/exhaust porting...i also heard that turbo Wankel's munch piston-seals.

Good luck!

[Mike Feinstein]

Wow! Looks like quite a workshop.....where did you do the work?

[carnut169]

The 13b twin turbo makes 255hp bone stock. This engine has been "street ported and polished"- they say you get another 10-15%. It is not very hard or terribly expensive to get it up over 300hp. A downpipe, cat back exhaust, better intercooler and air intake will do it. More hp is available with a ecu replacement, but the more hp, the shorter the engine's life will be... a stock engine is supposed to be good for 60-70k (this car has 63k).
I also love the body-style (like the old ones too) and that is why I decided to take this on. Will have the broken parts Thursday or Friday and should drive her home Saturday... I'll let you know!

Mike- I work at the Atlanta Auto Auction, and did the work at the shop there.

[911nut]

Ford killed that model RX-7 due to poor sales. While an advanced design and a beautiful car it was priced in the range of a new Corvette. People who bought RX-7s tended to be loyal repeat customers. Apparantly the sticker shock was too much.

[Efrain68912]

My dad has a 93 RX-7 with 113K miles - been through one clutch and still on the original motor. It's such a lovely car to drive - I had it at Buttonwillow for the University of VARA two weeks ago, and it felt so good, so balanced, plenty of power. The brakes tend to give up quite a bit, though.

[CamB]

Rotaries are different to pistons (duh! - state the obvious).

Porting is more akin to changing camshafts - see:

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/porting.htm

for example.

NZ has plenty of RX7 tuners - we import the cars second hand from Japan and most 93/94 models are worth about US$10k, if not less. There are plenty of them here (compared to Porsches, for example). Power potential is pretty high - 500+hp I think.

http://www.rotordave.com

Cam

[carnut169]

Just a follow-up. I did not drive the car home Saturday- not even close. Just drove it for the first time this am!

Took the old engine out, stripped the parts from it, installed them on the new engine- that was easy. Then put the new engine in, re-connected everything, but forgot to check that the torque converter was pushed back into the trans and took the new engine back out. Above work took all weekend- Friday 4:00pm- 11:30, Saturday 8:30- 11:30, and Sunday 8:30- 10:30. Had to replace 2 broken solinoids so the car was inop until the parts came in- Thrusday. Thurs eve installed the intake with the two new solinoids, no start. Spent the next 4 hours going over everything, still no start. Towed the car to Mazcare- they replaced a bunch of vac lines, the fuel lines, and went over all the eletrical connections. Waalaa she runs! But, because I put a new gasket on the oil pan I did not think to use a sealant and she poured out oil. Also, the gas was bad and needed to be drained. The guys at Mazcare said the oil pan was a nightmare of a job- the eng mounts had to be removed, as well as the sub frame- or the engine can come back out. They said it would be a $500 repair. Well... I could not do that. I borrowed a trailer, picked up the car and took it back to the auction. Last night I put the car on a lift, used an engine hoist to lift the engine about two inches and removed the subframe and engine mounts. Removed the oil pan, installed a new gasket (with silicone sealant) and put everything back togther. This am I filled her up w/ oil and took my first drive! Drives very nicely- although for the first 500 miles I really can't even let the turbos spool up- need to break her in gently.

Overall, it was a good (but expensive) experience. I learned a bunch, and would not hesitate to do it again!

[Tinker]

Sean,

I too love the the body style of those last RX7`s. I was returning home a few months ago following one from stop light to stop light. This thing had to have some motor mods, (but looked almost stock from the exterior). A new Mustang SVO pulled up next to him. For the next three lights the RX7 played with that poor SVO driver, surging ahead of at SVO at will. The SVO driver was getting more and more frustrated at each light, chirpping the tires, shifting quicker, hounding it off the line. It was most amusing! Even when the SVO got a length or two off the line, in one gear change the RX7 would spool up and be slightly ahead.

I have often thought of selling my 930 and trading down for either and RX7 or a 944 turbo. Something cheaper to turn the wick up on.

How much was the used motor and where did you get it from?

Tinker