Well, I finally did it.... i picked up a 87 Turbo II about 2 weeks ago.
Anyways... The car: (paid $150)

87 T2 Black with grey interior... 160k miles.... Blown motor... Everything else important seems to work fine (brakes, steering, transmission)... I towed it with my truck and a tow chain with my buddy steering and braking. I have plans of restoring this car to working condition. Then selling the truck and making the Rx-7 the dream car ive always wanted.

Anyways i have a few questions.

Would i be better off rebuilding the engine or just buying a JSpec. I have a haynes manual. The turbo doesnt have any shaft play and the fins are all straight.... The intercooler looks brand new... but the harness is all over the place... I want to just make it simple... would a standalone from the start be the best way to go in the long run?

Im also thinking maybe the car was in an accident.

First of all it has a non turbo hood with a aftermarket scoop, the front bumper is grey, the passenger side fender is grey, the drivers side door is grey (with ugly red upoulstry and powerless windows/locks). The rest of the car is black.... Anyways i took the whole front end off and i dont see any damage or rust... (pretty happy) but i would like to further my investigation.... Any tips on where to look for rust/ accident damage?

Of course i plan mods.... 3" Cork Sport turbo back would prolly be first... followed by an air filter and fuel mods... (sound right?) But Ive always heard the TMIC is crap. Could i suppliment it with a Co2 spray or a N2o spray? would that suffice?


About me.... I'm going to be 20 in November... I go to community college and work at Subway...

Oh and the truck is a 96 Ranger... 4cyl 2wd 5spd..... stock

Thanks,
Paul

 

Welcome, now go get the damn thing running.

 

If you plan to mod it much, then a standalone is an excellant first mod. However, it requires a significant investment in setup time and tuning, which is often way beyond the beginner. A standalone install can turn into a real mess quickly if you aren't familiar with proper wiring techniques and basic tuning.

If you have already removed the suspect parts and found nothing, then you're probably fine. It's quite likely that it was in an accident, but only the parts replaced sustained damage. Many times it is cheaper to replace a slightly damaged part then repair it.

Sounds about standard. But if you are thinking of standalone, make that your first mod. That way you can avoid hacking on the stock ECU with things like FCDs...If do mod the intake and exhuast, you will need an FCD and larger secondary injectors to keep from blowing the car up.

Anyone who makes a blanket statement and says the TMIC is crap is stupid. For anything you do with the stock turbo (remember, it is only good to about 12-14 PSI or so) it is fine. If you are planning on higher boost, bite the bullet and go font mount. Of course, if you have that standalone and are logging intake temps, you might find the TMIC works for your application.

 

Thanks for the welcomes and answering my questions. Hrm... since i am a beginner and my goals arent extreme then would i be better off with a piggyback system like a apexi AFC....

Sorry if my questions have all been answered before.... Now that i have some spare time I'm going to start searching this forum..

 

I think the obvious first goal should be to get the car running... lol.

If I were you, I'd start by pulling the motor and cleaning up the engine bay. I'd also take the time to familiarize yourself with the engine bay/driveline to the point where you feel comfortable.

You don't know at this point whether or not you can rebuild your existing motor, so the best bet would be to crack open the block and thoroughly inspect the parts.

If the engine internals are good and reusable, find yourself a rebuild kit that will suit your needs. atkinsrotary.com is well proven in the rotary community and sells basic s4 TII seal kits for around $500.

Even if you decided at this point that a J-spec motor will be your best bet, it would be in your interest to REBUILD the J-spec as well...

Anyways, with an "open" motor, you might as well decide whether to try your hand at 'porting'. I would highly suggest giving your housings and 'irons' healthy street-ports, since I'm sure if you didn't, you'd regret it later on down the road. porting templates are available from several places including racingbeat.com. Or, If you're gutsy, you could probably just find pictures of porting at any Rx7 site; rx7club.com, fc3s.org, and nopistons.com and copy what you see.

It is also VERY IMPORTANT that you port your turbo's wastegate as soon as modding.

Also buy yourself a "rebuild video" available from rotaryaviation.com or atkinsrotary.com. This by itself, might be enough to show you how to rebuild your motor... It's not *that* difficult. Just be careful and sure of what you're doing.

After your motor is rebuilt, you can decide now what your plan will be in terms of 'modding'... I'd highly suggest removing all of the emissions nonsense as you're putting the motor back together. Diagnosing and fixing problems will be greatly simplified. Block-off plates are available from banzairacing.com (pretty sure) and 2571engineering.com.

I would also suggest (aside from the porting) leaving your motor relatively stock until it's broken in and you're comfortable with it, overall. There's no point in biting off more than you can chew, as aftermarket mods will only increase your potential problems.

As soon as you think your ready, go nuts... haha.

 

A funny thing happened tonight.... I met the owner of the car before the guy i bought it off of....

Heres the story:

I have been helping a friend with a CA18T swap into his 240sx... well tonight he got it running and i went over to check it out... So There is this guy there who i have never met. And as we start talking he says how he used to have a RX-7.... he mentions the name of the guy i bought it off of and it clicked....

"Was it a black 87 T2?"

"Yeah"

"**** I have it now"

-- Was basically how it went.... So alot of things have been cleared up. First off the NA hood is and grey passenger fender is because a tree fell on it in a bad storm we had... The rest of it can be attributed to the guy i bought it off of... Like the grey door with red interior.... I guess he salvaged the good one for his 7..

The motor was blown because of leaning out i guess...

Anyways he had done a compression test and the front rotor has good compression and the rear has good on all but one side.. So this leads me to another question.... Since i am on a budget should i Just go with the basic gasket kit + the apex seals that need replacing? Or should i just get the whole rebuild kit...

 

If it were me, half-assing it never seems the way to go....if i can't afford to do it right i won't do it...

The seals, gaskets and all are approaching 20 years old, if you don't do it now you'll be doing it later...