i just got an rx7 on ebay that i am planing on building in to a rally car. i know that these cars are rallyed but i cant find any info on how people set them up or even companys that make parts for this aplication. suspension is the part that is bothering me the most. the rest of the car is just standard rally equipment as far as i know. if this is not the case please let me know. the car has a 12a. is this a good engine to start with or should i just get a 13b. yes, thats right, i know almost nothing about rx7's. thanks for any advice. it will be a big help.

SAW32rally

 

If you do not know anything about them, then read up as much as you can before you even start on a project like this.

And most rally RX7's had Jport 13b's in them.

 

I hope you have really deep pockets to get a rally car up and going. Have you looked for a pre-built rally car?

To your questions:
Check out ReSpeed for coil overs.
Swap in the GSL-SE front and rear suspension/axle for a stronger rear end and a better bolt pattern.
Check out ReSpeed for a 5 lug swap kit for a better bolt pattern.
Check out ReSpeed for a big brake kit.
Keep the 12a with the nikki carb
--The best way to learn any racing and any new car is slow and steady. it may not be as exciting as jumping into an open class rally car, but it's alot cheaper.

 

Coilovers and springs, soft not hard
2" helpers for the springs
Weld the rear diff housing
Weld supports to struts
Brace welding on steering rods
Get rid of glass, run all Lexan
Hard plastic skid plate under engine
BIG oil cooler with fans
BIG aluminum radiator with fans
Etc etc

It is very expensive to build one, I know where you can get one for 7k. It is RWD though, and not AWD.

Edit: Whitey, 84-85 GSL rear ends are stronger than the SE rears.

 

Look up Rod Millen/John Bellefleur. Don't know if you can find out anything about the setups of the car though

Also, talk to peejay, he seems to know a good bit about suspension setups and how they work. That would be your biggest point.

 

Really?!? I've always read that the -SE rear ends are much stronger than GSL rears, where did you get this information? I'm curious.

 

Tear them apart. The GSL has less teeth that are thicker than the SE rear ends.

 

Check out this guy from Norway's build to give you some ideas. Now this is a BAD *** rally 7 with a 20bt, carbon fiber, wide body OH my!

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ghlight=sweden

 

Yep, the GSL rear is stronger than the GSL-SE rear.

 

Isn't rally racing sort of like demolition derby, except that you intentionally ram into the ground instead of other cars?

 

In theory? No, completely different. In practice? Well...

 

"The police will laugh at you if you try to report a head-on collision with a hill."
Bill Cosby, Lombard Street

 

Do yourself a favor and ask any technical questions on www.specialstage.com or www.rallyanarchy.com -- both have people that actually rally cars, some of them have even built one or two in their day.

The common trick is to put the FC subframe in the front. Better choice of struts, rack & pinion steering, and stiffer design. The control arm mounting looks like a Subaru, too, but I haven't yet held them up to a GC or GD arm to see if they interchange, though I think the Subaru's are quite a bit bigger.

The rear, plate the mounts and gusset everything. For suspension, Escort springs are reportedly the same diameter and taller/stiffer. Rates, I'm not positive on... haven't made that much progress. As far as dampers, all the high dollar companies make stuff that will work, some of it will require more modification than others. Lots of support for Bilstein on RX-7's though, and that's a good mid-range setup for Rally, based on what I've read and observed. It's also not 5k like DMS or 10k for Ohlins. Always a plus.

 

that is by far the best first gen i have ever seen. i will be going more conservitive though. alass, i am a mortal.
dose any one know the best place to go for a parts car in the tennessee area? the clas i want to run in is the NASA Rally Sport open 2wd class. from what i have heard winning in this class is more a matter of the driver and co driver than the car. any general info on an rx7 would be realy cool. by the way, can half bridge porting be done in a home garage or do you have to be an expert? i would realy like to do it myself just to say i did.
thanks. SAW32rally.

 

 

 

 

 

thanks for the inspiration! sweet pix's. do you rally?

 

I have done forest rallies in my youth, and now I satisfy that desire with SCCA Rallycross. The third picture of the silver Vantage Aluminum car is a friends in New Zealand (actually all these have something to do with NZ) which my brother is co-driving. They are competing in an 8 day event called the Silverfern Rally that started this week. They are having an engine (fuel injected 13B BP) problem but its not slowing them down much. They plan to change the engine on day 4 of the rally when there is more time.
http://www.silverfernrally.co.nz/

 

do you think that the rx7 is a good choice for a rally car? in other words can it be competitive against fwd cars? by the way what car did you run in the forest rallys?

 

I think the first gen is a good car to run in for rally, I also want to start rally like yourself in a first gen. I don't think you should worrie about the FWD class because your not going to be in the same class as them but if you want your overall time to be faster than them (which I think it will after some pratice) then maybe you should look at a AWD car 1st gen Legacy turbo's are cheap. I think you'll find some in your area or states near by.

 

i did look at the subarus and eclipses but they are more expensive than an rx and it is the most competitive class in rally. the biggest reason that i got an rx over a fwd or some other rwd is weight and power. any piston engine would have to be turbo charged and that would bump it to high for the displacement class. the multiply the cars real engine capacity by 1.7 for a turbo engine so the the largest you can run is a 1.5. that would rule out a turboed corolla or datsun 510. the factor for rotarys is 1.8 so you can go turbo or not and still compete.
i shuold be going to pick up my car this weekend. SWEEET! i will load some pix.

 

My contribution... Good luck with the project. I think there are much cheaper alternatives however...

 

Also some nice videos in here:
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-general-discussion-207/first-gen-video-dump-758561/