I need to know about the Cartech kit before I move to buy this car.
So im wanting to get a TII.. My 87 SE is getting old and losing its appeal. I talk to Jose of Jose's Rotary in Haughton (Shreveport) Louisiana and he shows me around his garage and collection of over 100 cars including over 40 RX7's many of which are very invested and super rare (proof: 1, 2, 3, 4 only one third of the garage. Yes thats a 13b powered Caterham, a stang 302 powered old school kitted out SE w/ 24k original miles, a rally ready WRX, and more. Theres a lot more where that all came from too and its rediculous to imagine.). So were talking and walking and this one silver 88' is over there lookin cute. Perfect body perfect paint low miles.
Jose says its turbo'ed and im like so the drivetrain was swapped to TII and whatnot? No. Its a Cartech kit for the N/A.
I look at it and he also says its intercooled. Points to a large aluminum casing near the throttle body with hoses and two coolant looking lines going to the front of the car... I ask WHAA? And the intercooler is mounted in the engine bay while cooled water from a front mount radiator flows through it. Kewl.
He guesses it to be somewhere around 300-340 HP on a whim.. I call him out and talk about fuel and N/As high compression and he tries to convince me its okay and this kit has proven miles on it. I dont know how it compensates the fuel and he isnt sure if/how much fuel is upgraded because he bought this car from a friend already installed and never drove it. I saw some circular aluminum thing on the other side of the engine with some fuel lines hooked up but who knows!
I need to know about this kit. I need to know how much its worth and if its work paying $7k for this car, church preacher driven with a pristine interior and exterior with a zero mile engine rebuild because it has a blown apex seal and 80k miles on the rest of the car. I need to know how much HP this kit is putting down some info says one of their kits adds 120+HP@7psi and some kits add like 160+HP@10psi straight bolt on. I scoured every post with the word Cartech on the forum and found little information for the FC so these bumbers and info might be off. from searching i see aaroncake seems to know a good bit about it and I hope you chime in if your reading this Ill try to go back to Jose's sometime and get pictures of it. Its on the other side of the city.

THX, Tom

 

Damn... the aluminum circular thing might be an oil catch can but I've never heard of Cartech... I never heard of any turbo kits for N/A's for that matter.
Boston HxC eh?

 

Jo Deki???

 

Cartech...if i remember correctly...made turbo kits for the non-turbos awhile back...maybe late 80s early 90s (somebody correct me if I'm wrong)? Its fairly rare, and ive never seen one for sale. They stopped making them for the RX-7s, they still make turbo kits for other cars, like mustangs i think. I think i read something about car and driver doing a review of a non-turbo RX-7 that had the kit installed.

 

cobra, that is as just about as much much information as i can gather too. this kit seems to be really rare because nobody has heard of it.

cloud, its an intercooler.

jo deki??

 

Corky Bell author of the definitive turbo book "Maximum Boost" had a company called Cartech in the late '70s.

see -

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/author.htm?authorId=6

Several of the kits used rising rate fuel pressure regulators and used air to water intercoolers.

 

For a few years, Cartech made a turbo kit for the NA 2nd gen RX-7. They had previously made turbo kits for the 1st gens.

It was not very popular since the TII came out for the '87 model year.

Finding information about these kits is difficult. Once and a while they come up on eBay or bits of the kits are for sale on this forum.

Most of the kits used either a water to air intercooler, or an air to air unit. I believe the 2nd gen kit was air to air. They also tended to use rising rate FPRs to deal with fuel as well as an upgraded pump.

Cartech still exists and their website makes mention of the RX-7 kit saying that it was "2 seconds faster then a factory turbo":

http://www.cartech.net/about%20us.htm

I've attached an image of a 2nd gen Cartech kit.

It's a good reliable kit, but whether it makes the car worth $7K is your decision to make. I know that I would not pay over $5K.

You may have seen these threads already, but here are some Cartech turbo related threads.

System for sale showing turbo and IDA setup for 13B:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=717486

A thread showing a Cartech turbo kit install on a GSL-SE:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=702570

Cartech turbo 12A setup:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=507849

A little bit of Cartech info and a link to a defunct eBay auction selling a car with the kit:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=481033

Must-read article about the Cartech 12A kit:
http://www.mazdarx7guru.com/aboutus2.html

There are more, if you have the time to look around.

 

That just answered a question that I have had for a long time. A friend of mine here has a long travel sand rail that has a 13b engine with that turbo kit on it. I had never seen an intake manifold like that before until now. Thanks guys I got a phone call to make. BTW his sand car puts down just over 300 RWHP and only weighs like 1100 lbs. and yes it's a blast to drive.

 

Is it the Hy-Therm, Hi-Flow 4i, or Hi-Flow 2C kit?

OK, I am confused. Is the car currently in good running condition, yes or no?

 

currently the car is disabled. someone test drove this car a while back and it came back with a blown apex. go figure, i'd beat it up on a test drive too. but jose is a dedicated rotary mechanic, he would swap in one of his rebuilt 13b's. I just wish this car had A/C.
i just cant believe this is a bolt on turbo kit for N/A's! People on this forum would kill for this! No swapping for lower compression rotors, no extreme fuel upgrades further than a "rising rate FPR?!?!" and a better pump! It goes against everything ive ever read about this engine and turbos but I guess I can trust a company with a bonneville record breaking RX7.

Is it the Hy-Therm, Hi-Flow 4i, or Hi-Flow 2C kit?: I really could not tell you. Ill find out more. I know its water to air intercooled. This kit is clean looking.. Car still even retains factory air box.

Is there a way to bolt on the stock TII intercooler and run piping to have both the water/air and air/air intercoolers? I already have the TII hood and all... or would this be useless...

From Cartech: "Two seconds faster than the factory turbo." - Is he talking 1/4 mile time for the TII vs car with this kit?!?! That'd be rediculously worth it.

Thanks for the info aaron as well as the rest of yall

 

so what numbers are these kits running in the 1/4?

 

His car weighs more than 1100 lbs. Please check for accuracy.

 

To the OP, that guy's garage IS impressive.

I'm not sure if that car's really worth 7k; If it's putting down that kind of power on a stock n/a transmission and differential, expect to replace that stuff soon. That said, just talking raw power, it's a lot of power for 7k, especially with the newly rebuilt engine. I'd try to talk him down to 5k, and save the extra 2 grand for a turbo tranny, driveline, and differential.

 

Try to get 7k for it AFTER he fixes the blown engine

then go and source a TII drivetrain, swap it in, and go nuts