"you won't run out of rpm" wtf does that mean? you'll be in the 9k range or what? lol just curious

 

it means you hit the red line, remember I am going by stock, your not supposed to go beyond what your tach reads. In my car it reads up to 8000 so that is where I stop. It is called playing it safe, every motor has its limits too, so just because you have a tach that goes to 11k or 12k doesn't mean that you can take it that high.

 

I AM THE KING OF **** AND I AM STUPID FOR KEEPING MYSELF LOGGED IN ON A SCHOOL COMPUTER!! I AM EIGHTEEN AND HAVE NEVER HAD SEX. I GOT HEAD FROM A MANLY WOMAN

 

Kids.

Anyway, OtakuRX, redline is when the needle reaches the red line, not when you run out of numbers on the dial.

 

Plus, the stock rotary only produces increasing horsepower up to like 6600rpm. Higher RPMs past that will not get you anywhere but a blown engine-no more mph.

 

I have only been up to those speeds a few times. Heading east across the desert in Texas one morning early. The freeway was perfectly stright deserted road, except for a 280 I had waved to ( keeping eachother company across)...we were just slipping past eachother messing around.

My 79 was pretty new and flew. I started getting a bit scared when the needle went over 120 and it was still ready to climb more if i wanted to.

Car felt very stable.

I stayed at that speed for a while, just enjoying it...then decided to let me foot off and slow down to 60...felt like crawling. About 5 minutes later 3 police cars went flyiiiiiiing past me giving me dirty stares.

Didnt see them with the Z so must not have caught him.

I did it and have no need to get to that speed again. Most everything i drive for fun are turns.

 

right on KC. My seven feels like it made me. I mean, I live in the eastern most part of Tennessee (Smoky Mtns.) and driving around the curves through the mountains is an all out blast!!!! Don't even get over 50-60mph most of the time.

BTW, cool story.

Here's another:

My Dad was telling me of a friend of his back in the mid 70s. He was so excited about taking his new 240z to Germany with him so that he could drive on the Autobahn. Finally, the day came. So here he is, revving the ole' Z out. 100, 110, 120...... Then, all of a sudden, here heard something. ssssszoom! He looked around and saw nothing. Then, moments later, he heard the noise again! sssssssssszoom! Again, nothing beside him, nothing in the mirrors. By the third time he heard the noise, he saw it! It was the locals passing him like he was sitting still! Jaguars, Ferraris, etc. They must have been doing between 150-180. Needless to say, he was embarrassed.

 

The number I gave would be considered a theoretical top speed and mine runs perfect up to 7500 and has 200,000 miles on it

 

I am sorry for that. My freind is a dumbass, and I will **** him up. brb. How the hell do I log out?

 

no doubt otakuRX. Rotaries are built like a brick **** house. As long as you take care of them in the right way and know a little about them...

I'm sure if you do the math you could come with such a figure but, with the limits of the power band being at 6600, it could never happen. Now, if you PORT a rotary you can continue to make power after 7000 but, even then, the power band will give out sooner or later.

Figure on this: A top fuel dragster making 9,000 horsepower going 320mph in the 1/4 mile at who know what rpm. What's the potential of that????? Per say, if he kept going pass the 1/4mi. onto like 100 or so miles. at the same speed increase.

 

Oh I know, the car has a hard time going over 125-130 but with the stock gearing, that is what I got. In fact I printed a sheet w/ each gears RPM to MPH so I can actually check my speedo and all

 

best i ever did was 140+, ofcorse that was when the 12a turbo was on the road abbout 2 years ago...
that was dumb! but fun

 

I've hit 125mph or 200km/h and it felt fairly smooth for a car built in 1981.

 

You guys scare me sometimes. I try to keep it under 90, 85 in rush hour traffic. But my more or less stock 85 GSL wants to do more. Any volunteers?

Ray

 

heheh i've done 140+ but not in a rx7, and i'll be in ga. to pick mine up this weekend how far are you from marietta?

 

sorry but I have taken stock motors past 6600 with no problem and I can back it up. Yes, stock motor with headers and webbers.

On the other hand, my 13-Bstreet ported motors have gone past 9000 RPM and I have pegged both tach and speedo many times. I even did a video of my RX-3 revving the hell out of it past 9500 RPM. That is the same motor that I used many years wherein I put in over 150K miles of daily abuse. And hell yeah, when we took it apart, everthing was in good shape and just resealed it.

RX-4, FB and FC are good in top end due to heavy chassis. SA and RX-3 are a little scary but fun.

 

Maybe we are not all on the same page here.

No matter what engine, v8, v6, 4cyl, turbine, rotary, whatever. Will eventually quit making power. I mean, the horsepower will actually start going back DOWN as you keep INCREASING rpm's. Most cases, the engine's full power potential will be BEFORE the redline. No doubt, I've had my seven at 7k rpm with no problems. But, at 7krpm, I wasn't getting any extra power from the enginge than I had at 6600rpm.

Like v8s. When you start playing with camshafts and intakes. You get MORE torque and horsepower, but at different rpms than before. Usually max power at only 3-4k rpms.

Search the web for dyno charts. You will see peak power on a "curve" The curve goes back down after peak even while the engine is still revving higher.

 

Yes, I have too. Accidently though while doing a donut. Actually, it went all the way to 8000.

My point is that there is no reason to go any higher than 6600 b/c you're not getting any more power.

 

Marietta's pretty close at 140+.

Ray

 

Obviously any engine has a power band, but there are many reasons for driving below or above the points of peak hp or torque. An engine's power band and gearing are adjusted to fit the available power to the type of driving typically encountered. At top speed, the gear ratio may mean the engine rpms are past the peak of the curve. But as long as there is sufficient power available to overcome wind resistance and accelerate the car, it does not matter that the power is not at its maximum.

 

I see your point. I guess it IS possible to keep accelerating PAST max power, but not by much. Once the curve drops off so much, you won't have the power to accelerate....

I love to test cars and see how fast they can go. Every car I tried on a flat surface, quits accelerating at a certain point. All of them before redline. I mean, you keep your foot to the floor and the needle hovers right about redline, but you just don't get any more out of it. That's it, that's it's top speed. no more. Downhill doesn't count...

Isn't that how Motortrend, Car&Driver, etc. determine top speed?

 

Right. And the big factor is wind resistance. As speed increases it takes progressively more power to maintain and accelerate. It's usually not that the power curve drops off that dramatically, but that even more power is needed. Compare the difference going to redline in a lower gear at lower speed vs. in top gear at higher speed.

 

I don't plan on doing really any high speed runs untill I know my engine is up to the task. Something about running a high mileage engine at high RPM doesn't appeal to me, even though I like speed. Hell, I'll be afraid to bring it past 4000 rpm for the first little while because I don't want to make my oil leak any worse (even though it probably won't get any worse). Overall, I'm a little afraid to drive my car. I have no idea whats going to happen (haven't EVER driven it, and I don't know how long it was sitting before I got it). I know its going to be fine, but I NEED this engine to last another 3 years at least. After that I will be getting into a real job, and probably will be able to get a new engine for it.

Anyway, I'm still looking forward to driving it. I have had experience with going fast though. I was up to at least 170km/h in an 88 buick lesabre (REALLY floaty and light feeling, speedo stops at 140) and toped my dads 2001 Intrepid at 200 km/h (governed, could have went 250 easy). I also went 150 km/h in a GMC Sierra 2500 and my moms Lumina van. Both of those actually felt more stable than the buick.

Oh yeah, wind resistance leads to the stop of acceleration in ANY car. If you could get rid of ALL resistance around the car, you could technically accelerate forever at the same rate you would in first, only limited by gearing. Weight has no affect on the car at that speed (about 120km/h+).

 

Yes, that makes perfect since.

ahh.....this is fun, just like Physics class! Drag coefficent, Friction, Velocity, etc.

This the same stuff NASA has to figure out to reach enough speed, etc. to break through the atmoshere.

Now if only our sevens could fly......=D

 

man, i'm close to getting my avitar!