Finally turbo swapping my vert
12-08-2007, 07:31 AM
#1
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Amityville, New York
Posts: 12,288
After owning my car for something like 13-14 years I am finally getting around to swapping the motor out.
It all began when I purchased Jim's old motor ( 13B ACE )
He had it in his purple convertible with some rather large turbo and it ran great.
It was tuned with a Wolf, so I am using the same computer because it worked well.
Later on maybe I will change the computer, but I will leave that up to the tuner when he uses it and tells me
if he likes it or not. The car will be dyno tuned after break in by Waynespeed who sells the wolfs as well
The motor had sat for a few years but was what seemed like a perfectly good running motor when it was removed.
I know because we lived 10 minutes from each other and been to his house a few times.
Figuring it had sat too long I decided to enlist someone to rebuild it for me. I had checked a few times with different people
but never made a connection to get the work done. Finally I found someone to swap the whole thing and build the motor.
Quite honestly- I do what I do best- fix boats. Could I do the swap myself? Im sure I could with some head scratching and posting
questions. The fact of the matter is I have very little free time, my time is best spent fixing boats and making money- then going home and
enjoying myself for the 2-3 hours before I go to sleep again
So here is where I am at now.
After taking the motor apart there was some scoring on the rotor housing, so now I tracked down another one.
It was found that the motor was barely ported- plenty of power left in it so the motor was ported to keep it streetable.
The rotors which were 3mm rotors were a little out of spec, so we got some super low mileage FD rotors and rotating assembly.
New stationary gears were also needed. I also got a brand new oil pump from Mazda.
Obviously we put all new seals in the motor.
I will be running a S4 front cover with a billet aluminum OMP adaptor from rotary aviation.
This requires a small bottle of oil and eliminates the need to pre-mix.
I got a nifty solution from one of my boating supply places intended for drive oil for a high performance boat.
I got linkage from a S4 car that will allow this whole deal to operate off throttle, this way I wont be puffing smoke sitting at idle as it would
be with pre-mix.
I got all new motor, differential, and transmission mounts. I got competition mounts from Mazda, I also got new Y-blocks for the transmission mount. New bellhousing bolts.
All new hydrolics including stainless clutch line, master, and slave.
I got a new clutch fork and obviously new throw out bearing and pilot seal.
I had a perfectly good TII transmission taken apart and rebuilt from my transmission guy.
Brand new Racing Beat 12lb flywheel is going to a totally custom clutch I had one of my customers make for me.
He makes race clutches for alot of companies in the country. We started with a worn out ACT set up ( which was sold to me as "barely used" and was not even useable ) and rebuilt and customized it from there.
He had done the clutch on my LT1 TII and I cant be happier with it so I am looking forward to this set up as well.
I have a manual rack going in place of the power steering rack.
I put all new bearings and seals in the S4 TII rear end, I had it professionally set up by Freddy Brown Transmissions locall to me.
He cleaned what I did not and checked over the LSD to make sure it was good to go. Those bearings and seals aint cheap, I got
them dealer cost 2 years ago and it cost me something like $250-$275 at the time, and that was everything but the LSD unit.
It looks brand new inside and out.
I have what I think is a Greddy FMIC, I will be retaining AC so I may have to get custom pipes made.
Battery will be in the trunk, again turning to my high performance boating people I got a nice composite battery holder for that.
I am replacing the auto meter gauges in my car now with Blitz, boost gauge will be column mounted Blitz BLM, oil pressure and water temp will
be mounted where I have them now under the radio.
The wolf controller will be in the glove box, as will the HKS boost controller- I am beyond having everything out in the open for people to see- I want to be low key.
Fuel system I got a brand new Supra TT pump from Toyota, its going to KG rails and brand new 1600s and 850s with a fuel pressure regulator, all stainless braided lines and AN fittings will be used.
Turbo is a brand new garrett T04B. I know its not that large, but the rest of the car is already built to handle much more- which I am already planning on next winter. Mounted on a HKS log manifold, BOV is greddy, wastegate is Innovative Turbo Systems.
Downpipe is a Himni 3" stainless with V-bands. Exaust will be custom pipe to Racing Beat stainless steel mufflers.
I got a nice oil feed set up from Himni which is a stainless braided line with all the adaptors.
Brand new stainless braided oil cooler lines will go to the factory oil cooler.
New MSD wires will light the fire.
A brand new Koyo aluminum radiator will keep things cool.
I got a brand new FD alternator that actually came with a spec sheet that was putting out over 125 amps
I will hopefully be running the RE-Cosmo serpentine belt as I got a set of pulleys from a cosmo engine.
I got a ac bracket from a manual steering car so that I wont have that extra crap in the engine bay, it was
powdercoated to match.
We are trying to detail the motor as much as possible, paint and powdercoat will replace polished- I am hoping for a darker sinister effect
instead of that polished look.
Im sure I might have forgot some stuff or typed something wrong, its early and Im sleepy!
I also have full S5 parts for the car, im undecided to use them or not. Consisting of S5 vert tails, factory TII skirts, bumpers, and moldings.
I will probably use them as the other car I have needs a bumper anyhow- so might as well put my S4 bumpers on the other car.
Im having problems with the resize on my site, so excuse the pics.
Out with the old, I took this pic a few weeks ago when I took the car out of storage. This motor will go into another vert I have
that was on its way to the scrap yard so that another RX7 will be on the road instead of parted out.
the car it is going in:
The color alot of the externals will be, we filled in the un-used emissions stuff instead of using block off plates.
It all began when I purchased Jim's old motor ( 13B ACE )
He had it in his purple convertible with some rather large turbo and it ran great.
It was tuned with a Wolf, so I am using the same computer because it worked well.
Later on maybe I will change the computer, but I will leave that up to the tuner when he uses it and tells me
if he likes it or not. The car will be dyno tuned after break in by Waynespeed who sells the wolfs as well
The motor had sat for a few years but was what seemed like a perfectly good running motor when it was removed.
I know because we lived 10 minutes from each other and been to his house a few times.
Figuring it had sat too long I decided to enlist someone to rebuild it for me. I had checked a few times with different people
but never made a connection to get the work done. Finally I found someone to swap the whole thing and build the motor.
Quite honestly- I do what I do best- fix boats. Could I do the swap myself? Im sure I could with some head scratching and posting
questions. The fact of the matter is I have very little free time, my time is best spent fixing boats and making money- then going home and
enjoying myself for the 2-3 hours before I go to sleep again
So here is where I am at now.
After taking the motor apart there was some scoring on the rotor housing, so now I tracked down another one.
It was found that the motor was barely ported- plenty of power left in it so the motor was ported to keep it streetable.
The rotors which were 3mm rotors were a little out of spec, so we got some super low mileage FD rotors and rotating assembly.
New stationary gears were also needed. I also got a brand new oil pump from Mazda.
Obviously we put all new seals in the motor.
I will be running a S4 front cover with a billet aluminum OMP adaptor from rotary aviation.
This requires a small bottle of oil and eliminates the need to pre-mix.
I got a nifty solution from one of my boating supply places intended for drive oil for a high performance boat.
I got linkage from a S4 car that will allow this whole deal to operate off throttle, this way I wont be puffing smoke sitting at idle as it would
be with pre-mix.
I got all new motor, differential, and transmission mounts. I got competition mounts from Mazda, I also got new Y-blocks for the transmission mount. New bellhousing bolts.
All new hydrolics including stainless clutch line, master, and slave.
I got a new clutch fork and obviously new throw out bearing and pilot seal.
I had a perfectly good TII transmission taken apart and rebuilt from my transmission guy.
Brand new Racing Beat 12lb flywheel is going to a totally custom clutch I had one of my customers make for me.
He makes race clutches for alot of companies in the country. We started with a worn out ACT set up ( which was sold to me as "barely used" and was not even useable ) and rebuilt and customized it from there.
He had done the clutch on my LT1 TII and I cant be happier with it so I am looking forward to this set up as well.
I have a manual rack going in place of the power steering rack.
I put all new bearings and seals in the S4 TII rear end, I had it professionally set up by Freddy Brown Transmissions locall to me.
He cleaned what I did not and checked over the LSD to make sure it was good to go. Those bearings and seals aint cheap, I got
them dealer cost 2 years ago and it cost me something like $250-$275 at the time, and that was everything but the LSD unit.
It looks brand new inside and out.
I have what I think is a Greddy FMIC, I will be retaining AC so I may have to get custom pipes made.
Battery will be in the trunk, again turning to my high performance boating people I got a nice composite battery holder for that.
I am replacing the auto meter gauges in my car now with Blitz, boost gauge will be column mounted Blitz BLM, oil pressure and water temp will
be mounted where I have them now under the radio.
The wolf controller will be in the glove box, as will the HKS boost controller- I am beyond having everything out in the open for people to see- I want to be low key.
Fuel system I got a brand new Supra TT pump from Toyota, its going to KG rails and brand new 1600s and 850s with a fuel pressure regulator, all stainless braided lines and AN fittings will be used.
Turbo is a brand new garrett T04B. I know its not that large, but the rest of the car is already built to handle much more- which I am already planning on next winter. Mounted on a HKS log manifold, BOV is greddy, wastegate is Innovative Turbo Systems.
Downpipe is a Himni 3" stainless with V-bands. Exaust will be custom pipe to Racing Beat stainless steel mufflers.
I got a nice oil feed set up from Himni which is a stainless braided line with all the adaptors.
Brand new stainless braided oil cooler lines will go to the factory oil cooler.
New MSD wires will light the fire.
A brand new Koyo aluminum radiator will keep things cool.
I got a brand new FD alternator that actually came with a spec sheet that was putting out over 125 amps
I will hopefully be running the RE-Cosmo serpentine belt as I got a set of pulleys from a cosmo engine.
I got a ac bracket from a manual steering car so that I wont have that extra crap in the engine bay, it was
powdercoated to match.
We are trying to detail the motor as much as possible, paint and powdercoat will replace polished- I am hoping for a darker sinister effect
instead of that polished look.
Im sure I might have forgot some stuff or typed something wrong, its early and Im sleepy!
I also have full S5 parts for the car, im undecided to use them or not. Consisting of S5 vert tails, factory TII skirts, bumpers, and moldings.
I will probably use them as the other car I have needs a bumper anyhow- so might as well put my S4 bumpers on the other car.
Im having problems with the resize on my site, so excuse the pics.
Out with the old, I took this pic a few weeks ago when I took the car out of storage. This motor will go into another vert I have
that was on its way to the scrap yard so that another RX7 will be on the road instead of parted out.
the car it is going in:
The color alot of the externals will be, we filled in the un-used emissions stuff instead of using block off plates.
12-08-2007, 10:51 AM
#5
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Amityville, New York
Posts: 12,288
for what I will be into the swap for a LS1 would have been cheaper.
I already have a V8 car, this one will stay rotary.
If I do get a LS1 RX7, its going to be a FD.
With my insurance company taking these as collectors I pay next to nothing to insure them so
owning a few makes a little more sense.
I will be happy with 325-350hp with pump gas.
Honestly more is fun and great for bragging rights, but the car becomes almost un-driveable for the street.
The car and its supporting systems can easily handle 400+hp, add another fuel pump and get rid of the rest of the stock
fuel system and the car can see monster turbos with crazy boost.
I already have a V8 car, this one will stay rotary.
If I do get a LS1 RX7, its going to be a FD.
With my insurance company taking these as collectors I pay next to nothing to insure them so
owning a few makes a little more sense.
I will be happy with 325-350hp with pump gas.
Honestly more is fun and great for bragging rights, but the car becomes almost un-driveable for the street.
The car and its supporting systems can easily handle 400+hp, add another fuel pump and get rid of the rest of the stock
fuel system and the car can see monster turbos with crazy boost.
12-08-2007, 11:15 AM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Columbia IL/St. Louis MO
Posts: 2,748
Originally Posted by Rob x-7' post='889579' date='Dec 8 2007, 12:51 PM
for what I will be into the swap for a LS1 would have been cheaper.
I already have a V8 car, this one will stay rotary.
If I do get a LS1 RX7, its going to be a FD.
With my insurance company taking these as collectors I pay next to nothing to insure them so
owning a few makes a little more sense.
I will be happy with 325-350hp with pump gas.
Honestly more is fun and great for bragging rights, but the car becomes almost un-driveable for the street.
The car and its supporting systems can easily handle 400+hp, add another fuel pump and get rid of the rest of the stock
fuel system and the car can see monster turbos with crazy boost.
I already have a V8 car, this one will stay rotary.
If I do get a LS1 RX7, its going to be a FD.
With my insurance company taking these as collectors I pay next to nothing to insure them so
owning a few makes a little more sense.
I will be happy with 325-350hp with pump gas.
Honestly more is fun and great for bragging rights, but the car becomes almost un-driveable for the street.
The car and its supporting systems can easily handle 400+hp, add another fuel pump and get rid of the rest of the stock
fuel system and the car can see monster turbos with crazy boost.
Yeah, you are right about an LS1 FD. But having an LS1 FC, not very common right now. You use Haggerty right? Is their an age requirement? I know that they must be kept garaged and have a certain mileage per year.
Is'nt the TO4B capable of 450hp+. I don't keep up with turbo's anymore, I have gotten out of the rotary game pretty much.
12-08-2007, 11:53 AM
#7
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Amityville, New York
Posts: 12,288
it depends who you talk to and how truthfull they are about the horsepower.
When its tuned we will see what it do!
I have Grundy for the 2 RX7s, 1/3 price of haggerty.
Age requirements for every licensed drive in the house, must have a daily driver for each member less
then 10 years old, blah blah blah
Oddly enough they would not take my CJ7, so I have that one with JC Taylor who says they will take my RX7s
this year.
When its tuned we will see what it do!
I have Grundy for the 2 RX7s, 1/3 price of haggerty.
Age requirements for every licensed drive in the house, must have a daily driver for each member less
then 10 years old, blah blah blah
Oddly enough they would not take my CJ7, so I have that one with JC Taylor who says they will take my RX7s
this year.
12-08-2007, 04:39 PM
#10
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Amityville, New York
Posts: 12,288
Maybe I should have him tune it on race fuel, then turn it down for everyday gas.
**********er was grumpy today, I think it knows its time has come.
I went to start it to bring it into my shop to swap the gauges and drain the old gas so I could
put fresh super unleaded in it and all hell broke loose.
The main fuse blew, the headlights themselves are not working now, and the wiper switch is fucked up!
I think the battery has a dead short in it? At first I thought maybe my portable boost pack was not working right, but it did the same
when I put a regular jump starter/battery charger on it.
I swapped the main fuse out and put a different battery in it and it fired right up, but the headlights and wipers are still not right- will
check those fuses when I work on the car Monday. That would be some **** if I went this long with original switches and now they are
fucked up!
Anyone know if S5 wiper/headlight switches drop right in a S4 car?
**********er was grumpy today, I think it knows its time has come.
I went to start it to bring it into my shop to swap the gauges and drain the old gas so I could
put fresh super unleaded in it and all hell broke loose.
The main fuse blew, the headlights themselves are not working now, and the wiper switch is fucked up!
I think the battery has a dead short in it? At first I thought maybe my portable boost pack was not working right, but it did the same
when I put a regular jump starter/battery charger on it.
I swapped the main fuse out and put a different battery in it and it fired right up, but the headlights and wipers are still not right- will
check those fuses when I work on the car Monday. That would be some **** if I went this long with original switches and now they are
fucked up!
Anyone know if S5 wiper/headlight switches drop right in a S4 car?