herblenny

I'm about to pick up an old school RX2 coupe.

I'm either thinking about restoring its 12a or dropping in one of my spare FD engines, harness, tranny, and either small single or stock twin with stock ECU... Not sure how easy this could be done (im guessing I have to use the stock front plate)....



Also any advice on upgrading the brakes and suspensions?



Thanks in advance for your help.. I shouldn't be taking on another project since I'm already too busy working on my 7.... but I just love the look of these old school rotaries..... I would love to build it to track it



PHIL

j9fd3s

whatchu wanna know? you kind of need to decide how stock you're gonna keep it, suspension wise, the stock brakes/strut can be upgraded to the rx7 struts, and that to t2 brakes...



as far as the engine goes, anything fits in there, pretty much its as simple as putting a 12a front cover on the new engine..... personally i like banzai's FB 12a/5speed combo, its a lot of fun, easy reliable etc

bwaits

Phil,



The easiest way to put in a late model motor would be the front cover route. You will need to modify the engine crossmember by moving the slot back 20MM as well. If your 12A is a dual distributor I would swap it out for sure.



The RX2 had the 4 link / panhard rear suspension. Slap in some new bushings and some coil over rear shocks and you are good to go. The front is a little different. The sway bar ties the outer part of the control arm for and aft. Some swap out rx7 strut housings. The king pin angle is different so the camber is way off. You can use offset turn in spacers to fix this -Or- a new lower control arm that is soon to hit the market.



If you go with rx7 struts then there is the FC brake kit you can use up front. The rear can be converted to disk with a kit as well.



My second car was an rx2. I really enjoyed that car.





-billy

herblenny

Thanks guys!!



Right now, I'm debating.. Good friend of mine (SPOautos) wants me to rip everything out and go all out autocross car. At the same time, I don't want to drop too much money..



Billy, When would you make the lower control arm??



Do you guys think FD engine with stock twin will fit?? By looks of it yesterday, it will..

Thanks again for your info!



PHIL

j9fd3s

dunno about the twins, in an fc, the dp is a really tight fit, the rx2 might be worse... i bet its doable though

banzaitoyota

Billy, I will get those measurements you need.



Mike: Get Ralph to chime in with the OG Knowledge





Currently my plans are:



NOS Koni First Gen inserts (Part Number to follow)

First Gen Struts

MRC Sway Bar Spacer



Still have to decide on what route to go with the wear items

j9fd3s

ground control makes coil overs....



back in the day they also machined bushings between the swaybar and the lower control arm.



if anyone needs em, rodger one of our vendors, has a whole pallet of rx2/rx3 brake rotors....

herblenny

So, if I go with FC brakes up front, do I need to upgrade the brake master??



Luckily most of the FC/FB parts aren't too expensive..



And when you guys say RX7 struts, do you mean 1st gen or 2nd gen struts?



Thanks again.

bwaits

Yes, first gen struts.

Now second gen struts could be sweet. Need to do a special lower control arm with 2gen outer ball joint. Other thing to work out would be front steer (FC) to rear steer (rx2). Now what about a rack and pinion in front mount with FC struts hung with camber plates and special lower control arm



All depends on how far you want to go with it. Let me play with it for a month



-billy

j9fd3s

couldnt you just put the fc stuff in backwards? put the FC left spindle on the right and vice versa?