As many of you know, I finished the widebody 12a-bp a few moths ago, for those who aren't familiar with the car or the amount of work that went into it, here is a link. https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-293/unvieling-12a-bp-widebody-462184/

During this time I had managed to put less than 800 miles on the car, until this last weekend. Going to the grocery store just doesn't put the miles on the car, but the short trips, cold weather warm-ups and in town excursions, had managed to reduce the the fuel mileage to under 10 mpg, less than 8 if I was playing at all.

Driving the car around town I have had very few issues, it runs rich, the Mikuni needs rejetted, and the tires were losing air because I needed to reseal the 3 piece wheels. Stole a pair of air jets out the other Mikuni, that brought my afr's up to near 13:1, still rich, but that's all I had, and broke the tires and wheels down and sealed the half shells. All good, except one tire was losing 3 psi/day, found the leak in a bolt and siliconed it.

So much for history, now onto blindfaith and gonads.

Here is the question. Given the work that each of us do on our cars, would you, or do you think you could make a 1300+ mile roadtrip? Would you make the trip on blindfaith in your work or just chalk it up to having a ***** to the walls attitude and make the trip no matter what?

I still haven't decided which, but I packed the widebody and left St Joseph for Denver, to visit my sister for Christmas, about 624 miles each way, a little nervous, but yet, reasonably confident.

Now the first thing I have to say is, with the suspension mods that have been done on the car, it is not a good choice for long distance driving, it is more suited for the track. Not good for the old back and joints. However, lack of sleep and being tired on the way back, it is a very hard car to fall asleep in. I could have taken the 2nd gen, it has a radio and cd player, but it would take me until spring to put the rest of the break-in miles on the widebody at the rate I have been going. So the 1st gen hit the road.

Early Chritmas present:

Before I mounted the tires and wheels the last time, I measured the circumference of the stock wheels and tires, and the Epsilons shod in the BFG TA's. The rears were 6-7" longer. I was calculating in my head that that would make make a 3-4% difference in my speedometer. Now I know why I dropped my math major in college. The difference was a bit more than I thought.

Late Friday night, I'm crusing along I-70 in eastern Colorado with 2 other car. My Spidey sense has been tingling for the last 5-10 miles and I am thinking HE is out there. It's pitch black out and if a Trooper passed me going the other direction, I wouldn't even see him. My radar detector will not work in the 1st gen lighter socket, (along with most other lighter powered electronics), so I am flying blind. I'm keeping the speedometer set just under 80, generally holding at 78-79 mph.

Bingo, there go the lights on top of a patrol car, can't see do-do since they have changed thier roof top lights and they damn near blind me. He has someone in front of me pulled over. I slow down, wipe my brow, say a quick thank you, then continue on. 10 miles down the road I change lanes to pass someone, as I do that, I see a car coming up behind me, quickly, then the lights go on. I finish my pass, slow down and he passes me. At this point I am in the middle of the other 2 cars I've been running with, the one in front looks like a new yellow Evo. The Trooper stops the Evo, and as I pass them on the side, he flags me to stop, damn.

By the time I get stopped, I'm nearly 3/10ths of a mile passed the Trooper and Evo, so, being a gentleman, I back up. This is not an easy thing. The median is narrow, the 1/10th mile posts are planted right next to the pavement edge, it's pitch black out, my mirrors sit inside of the fenders of the widebody and I can't see past them, and I have 5% tint on the hatch and 1/4 glass. When I get backed up to the Evo, the Trooper is ready for me. First thing he says is, "Thank you for backing up.' I replied, 'I couldn't see making you walk all the way' Next thing he says is, 'What is this, a Porsche?' 'No Sir, it's an RX-7', I reply. Then the conversation goes into the usual 'Can I see your ....... and do you know how fast you were going?' When he tells me he clocked me, for the past 4 miles, at 87 mph, I slide under my seat. (Interstate speeds in Colorado are 75) I tell him I knew the speedometer was off, but I didn't think it was that bad. Nearly 10 miles off at 78 on the speedo.

The Trooper then tells me that they are passing out Holiday warnings and he will be back shortly. I think my sister heard my sigh of relief 200+ miles away. I thank him very politely and wish him a Merry Christmas.

The rest of the trip out and back was uneventful. The trip back was an hour and half longer, trying to keep the speedo 5-7 mph under the posted limit. That, to me, just seems unnatural and I had every SUV in 2 states passing me.

Fuel Mileage:

Figureing my fuel mileage before I left, had me concerned. I wasn't looking forward to buying up to 130 gallons of gas at Interstate prices. Last night I figured up my mileage and got a pleasant suprise. On the trip out, I averaged 16 mpg, running at a little over 80 mph. Slowing down about 10 mph on the return trip, the average increased to over 21 mpg. The trip out is a bit low due to fighting the crosswinds. Mpg is adjusted down 12% for the speedometer error. Highest unadjusted mpg was 24.7, not bad for the porting and the Mikuni.

All in all I am pleased with the reliabilty of the car. At the mile high altitude, I think a stock engine would be as quick as the bp, but all that is tuning. I had planned on going FI, Megasquirt and turboing the 12a-bp this winter, but after this trip, I may just rebuild the TII motor I have and make life simpler. The bp may be up for sale soon.

Now The Fun Begins:

Since the motor has over 2k on it, now I can play. The car will go in the shop this weekend for a full inspection, down to checking every nut and bolt, to make sure everything is tight and holding up, then tie the line lock into the brake system. Bye-bye rear tires. I also get to see what this engine will do at the 8k rpm mark, I'm so tired of nursing it at 3-5k.

My apologoies for such a long post. I just wanted to share what I concider a major success, between restoring the car and making it back safely with not a single mechanical problem.

Happy Holidays,

Scott.

 

Good stuff, I love to see a rotary being driven, these cars are meant to be used not stored. You must do good work.

 

VERY COOL. Glad to hear you ran into a nice trooper. Car sounds awesome... good luck with it.

 

Damn, I read 2 PM's and write one and you guys have replied already. I need to read faster. Thanks for the compliments.

 

Congrats man I am really proud of the fact that you tool the car becouse a lot of people on this forum and RX7 owners in general have the fear "what if I break down" you obvouslly have overcomed it.

 

Cool story, your car is sweet!

 

I love it...

 

To answer your question, I myself would consider it "*****". I have reason to make 600 mile intrastate round-trips on occasion, but I haven't done it yet in my 7. I'd have to feel especially rakehelly to try it in my POS.

Good story.

-dave

 

i have been making a 600mi round trip every weekend in my fb. i swapped from a 12a to a stage2 ported 13b about a month ago, and drove 600mi the next day. i always drive with my tools with me though


isaac

 

With good preventative maintenance and forethought for where you're going and weather you might encounter, I would have no qualms at all about making a 1200 mi trip in my 84SE. It's about knowing the limitations of the car that you're driving, including when the last time the water pump was changed, what condition the seals are in, and most of all, whether your tires are good for the mileage.

Good to hear that you got it out on the freeway.

Don't be so surprised at your highway fuel mileage. In Denver, the 'density altitude' is so high that fuel isn't used in as high of proportions to air as when at sea level. This accounts for a MPG gain right there, but is offset by the lower air temperatures that you may have encountered. Colder air is more dense, requiring more fuel to remain stoichiometric.

Great story,

 

Fuel milage was better, the closer to home i got, at 900-1100 ft. The carb is too rich here and the car just layed down at altitude. Best mileage was central Kansas, that flat Great American Desert.

Many years ago I had a 71 Road Runner. In stock form I could run between the mountain ranges all day at 85 on the Interstate and pull 18 mpg. After I installed a Holley 780 Dual Feed and high rise, and went back to Denver, the old 1600 cc VW's were killing me up to 30 mph. Jetting was set for 1200 ft.

My 'emergency kit' filled both bins and then some.

As far as limitations of the car, this trip was a test of that, (which was an unknown) and whether or not I assembled every thing correctly. The first motor I rebuilt, was torn down after 6 hours of run time. One little mistake in the assembly ruined all 4 bearings and the e-shaft.

 

Cool.

I road tripped to SS8 this year,its about 1000 mile round trip for me.
I got lucky and never saw any police.Its nice that the speed limit on I5 is 70,so you can do an even 80MPH and not feel too guilty......although I did get her up to 130-ish a few times, when I attracted a few lookey-loos that wanted to pace me.(usually Hondas)

I also got around 20MPG at highay speeds.I love EFI,and the boost isnt an issue when cruising.Shes nice and happy around 4000rpms,almost no throttle is required to maintain speed.If I could adapt the TII mechanical cruise control,I would.

I was also curious/worried about my speedo change when the big,wide 17's went on.I checked myself at 60MPH with a stopwatch and counted mile markers.Turns out Im right on the money.The bigger tire/wheel combos are negated by the lower ratio SE rearend gears.And the TII 5th gear is close enough to stock FB not to muss things up.

I love roadtripping,even if the ride is a bit rough.A good stereo cancells that out in my book.And since Ive spent almost 10 years upgrading and replacing parts,I can honestly say that 100% of my car's wearing components are new.
I could have bought a new car with all the money I spent,but after 10 years,I literally MADE my 20 year old, 250K mile FB, into a new car!..........love it!

 

Way to go. Keep ported rotaries on the road. Sharp car, matte black is cool.

Know what it is like driving a non-freeway friendly car on long trip. I just did 900miles roundtrip in the REPU 2 parents house 4 Xmas. 500lb front springs, 240 rear. Bouncey. 15mpg.

 

Just for interest sake, what was the mistake made on your first rebuilt motor? Not meaning to be a dick, but it can be good learning from others mistakes. (I have yet to rebuild a engine and any tip is a good tip!) Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

I figured some one would ask, not a problem. It's sometimes the simplest little things that can get you.

I forgot the o-ring between the front cover and front iron. That seals the main oil galley coming straight from the oil pump. That galley supplies all of the oil to the engine, most of mine was being sprayed on a very well oiled front cover. Wondered why I had 0 oil pressure.

All 4 bearings were showing brass more than halfway around and the e-shaft was scored on all 4 mating surfaces. The bearings and e-shaft were in very good condition before assembly. Live and learn.

I wasn't disappointed in the mistake because the engine was put together using only a gasket kit and parts from 3 other motors. Out of 3 motors, I could not find a single apex seal in spec, so that engine was a test run on the assembly process. I wasn't happy that I lost the bearings and shaft, but I had backups. Had I built the first engine with a full rebuild kit, then I would have been very unhappy.

 

Dont feel bad,thats a tricky one that gets a lot of people.There are several variations of the front iron and subsequently,the o-ring changed as well.Some are teflon backed and some arent.It also changes if you run a front cover gasket or silicone.Mix em' up in the wrong order and its goodbye engine...

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

 

Honestly, I don't feel bad, I made a simple error and it cost me a new gasket kit. The experience of assembly was worth the price. I had an instructor in college that said you learn more from your mistakes, than doing it right everytime, I agree with that philosophy. Had I made that mistake in a future rebuild, then I would feel bad. It has been a great learning experience throughout the entire restoration of the car. I know how to do many more things than I did before I started and have built some new skills.

When I make mistakes, I usually learn more than what the mistake was. For instance, since I missed the o-ring, I now have a much better understanding of the entire oiling system of the rotary. Not only did I want to correct my mistake, I wanted to know why that mistake caused the damage it did.

To me, knowledge is growth, no matter how old I get. Once I quit learning, or don't care to learn, measure me for that pine box.