Timeline: 4 Years.
Budget: As much as I can embezzle from the bank account without the wife noticing.
Goals: ???

I've owned my 10AE 2 years. Car is mostly stock, Its ran well and consistent for the summer and the 10,000kms I put on it this year. I ran into some fuelling issues which turned out to be a bad pump. But Im thinking its time to take it to the next level of performance. Do I go for modest bolt on upgrades? Or do I go for an all out swap?

What Would You Do?

 

I would buy Styx's car....

 

Put a Cosmo RE in it with a decent single and a Haltech P1000. Or a 20b if the budget allows

thewird

 

clean and tasteful.. its a good condition 10th ani.. I would keep it looking factory (to the untrained eye) while changing out all the go fast bits I could... lol

one day, I am going to have a 10th ani project car....


J.

 

I suppose that would depend on a few things. You've resolved to modify it so you're not concerned about keeping it a matching-everything type collectible? The other factor would be who's doing the work such as the tuning.

What I'm doing/have done is bolt-ons with some custom fab. Even when there was a track in Calgary, my goal was still primarily a street car; so I wanted balance, good response, but reliable and comfortable enough to drive to work over summer, cruise to Banff etc. With this type of power level (sub 400hp) I'm able to do all the work myself and in the least amount of time. The danger I see with those going for peak HP, full turbo upgrade, full stanad-alone etc is the huge amount of time it takes and the compromises that are made to get there. Next thing you know you have a non-street-able car. Then new part-out/for sale thread on rx7club.

Just my opinion though.

 

I want what my truck has. Comfort, Mileage and POWER. After much thought, I think the only way to accomplish that is with a 20B conversion. I was looking at a 13B-RE or REW swap, but I dont think I'll be satisfied without a 20B.

Now if only I could find one.

 

Sell it before you blow it up, pour way too much money in it or ruin what it really is.

For certain there are FC purists out there looking for a super clean 10ae and will pay a premium for an unmolested one (hell, I remember when you were that individual, lol)

Take your money and buy someone elses completed ls swapped fd and never look back!

 

Imagine what i would have now if I heard this advice 7 years ago..

Wish I had done something much different long ago!

 

Do it, the blocks aren't hard to find if you really want one. Your just paying 1-2k more for a late series (C/D) block then you were a few years ago. If your HP goals are modest, you can get away with the A or B blocks which go for a little cheaper usually as they don't have the upgraded dowels. I would not get the 1st series (no letter) for a turbo setup as they had the shaft flexing issue.

The thing with the 20b is you can buildup the motor slowly and you don't have to touch your car until it is ready.

thewird

 

I just want to drop it in with the twins to start and imagine what an FC with a 3 rotor from the factory would have been like. I love my Rx-7. Now I have the Income, Time and Paitence to make it a reality.

Overall Idea is to keep the car stock in appearance inside and out, and throw some real nice shoes on it. I want to maintain ride quality and overall comfort because I drive on the highway a lot. Of Course the project will evolve as required, the initial plunge will be to purchase the engine. Once that's done, I'll be committed. Aaron Cake has been a great inspiration to this project as well, as I been looking over some of his write ups (fuel system to be specific, since mine failed) and its encouraged me to start thinking about things I'd like to fabricate for the project, or other personal touches. I also have a lot more access to resources I never had before, such as machinists and welding/fabbing equipment.

I'm still heavy in the planning stages, goals and estimates and overall vision for the project. I'm going to start stripping down the car for Inspection and possibly parting out things I don't/won't need anymore.

 

Since you got the money and time, you should definitely do what you want. Budget and plan each section of the car one at a time, and complete everything in stages.

Make it a nice sleeper 10AE!

 

I had originally typed that out as a second option but then removed it since I assumed everyone wants to convert it to single. Most longblocks come complete with ECU and all so it shouldn't be an issue. It then comes down to if you just want to drop it in without opening it up. You always have the option to go crazy later if you choose too, even on the stock setup.

There wouldn't really be stages if your doing it stock, get the motor and drop it in. Then do the necessary wiring to make it run and fabricate a downpipe. Plus all the misc stuff like fuel, coolant, oil lines.

Do it!

thewird

 

Car itself needs a few things as well, 25 years has taken its toll on wear items. I thinking to run a haltech P2K but I want to see what other guys are running on their 20B's around here first.

 

For ECU ask what your tuner would prefer best. Your options are basically Haltech P2000 or Microtech LT-12. There are other ECU's like Motec and Link Extreme that can run 20b but Haltech and Microtech are the most common. I'm going with a Haltech P2000 on my 20b setup since I want a whole bunch of features it supports.

However, if your dropping it in stock, just run the stock ECU so it can control the sequential twins etc.

thewird

 

How does one wire in the stock ECU without half the harness (Body half), coils, and millions of man hours to make it work? Has someone wrote this up?

I tried it once in an FB/13B Swap (mind you I was younger and maybe not as skilled a mechanic as I am now) and never got it to work. I abandoned it for a much easier standalone.

 

There is no writeup but the coil stuff usually comes with the longblocks and you can find the Cosmo manual (in japanese). At least it did on mine. Everything was there except one of the ECU connectors was cut which I imagine is the the body portion to make your tach and **** work so that would need to be figured out and wired to your body. Some of it might even be for the auto tranny which your not using anymore. I'd give it a shot at least, it won't cost you anything.

You can always try to buy a cosmo front clip, then your sure you have everything

thewird

 

I think I'll just go right for the standalone, its an inevitable upgrade anyways. Whats an extra $2500?

As far as I know from previous experience you need the entire body harness from the donor car in order to splice it with the exsisting harness. I could in theory make my own, but that is a heck of a lot of time. Or like you suggested, buy a front cut.

 

With that logic, you may as well go single while your at it to avoid the sequential mess :P. Or I guess you could convert it to non-sequential, that would be interesting on a 20b. Probably wouldn't be too bad, there is enough exhaust flow to spool them both early. I wonder where it would make boost.

You could change the secondary turbo to an FD one which I believe is bigger. The 20b primary is bigger then the FD one.

thewird

 

I was reading up on the stock twins and alot of fellas say they run out of steam around 300rwhp. BNR Offers an upgrade, could be interesting.

To be honest, I've never had the privledge of working with sequential twins on a rotary, Im not exactly sure how it works. Is it just a solenoid activated valve that opens at a set point?

The big trucks use sequential compounding turbos. I could tell you how that works.

 

Ever heard of the rats nest on an FD. Its an extremely complicated system, its not just a single solenoid, there is a lot involved. Going standalone, I would personally ditch the the sequential system and run it parallel. Pretty sure Pettit Racing had his 20b FD over 400 rwhp on the twins but that was probably with a streetport, fueling upgrades, etc.

Here is an FD vacuum diagram to get an idea... When I took the 20b apart it reminded me of the FD rats nest except it didn't look so bad since it was spread across more room but all the **** was still there.

http://www.turborx7.com/images/Techn...e_diagram2.jpg

or a simplified version of it...

http://www.turborx7.com/images/turbo...simplified.jpg

thewird

 

I also found this:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...tified-841821/

A little too late at night to really process the information (as I just skimmed it). I've heard of guys converting to parallel, but I'm not an FD owner so I never really inquired why. I'm used to turbo lag anyways, since everything I own has it. FD parts work with the 20B twins then relatively well for fitment?

 

The rear (secondary) turbo can be swapped into the turbine housing but I'm not sure if its direct swap or it has to be machined.

The reason FD owners convert to parallel is because they gave up on fixing the sequential system and don't want to deal with it anymore. There is no power gain if you simply remove the solenoids and just make it run parallel all the time but there is a marginal gain up top if you remove the flappers in the manifold and you can even port it out some to promote smooth flow but at the end of the day, your not gaining much. An FD with parallel twins makes full boost around 4k in my experience. On a 20b, maybe around 3k? I'm sure someone has tried it to know for sure but they may or may not be an internet person. Best place to ask is on the 20b forum and see if anyone has done it or knows someone that has.

thewird

 

Thoughts on a transmission? My TII trans is in good shape, but perhaps an upgrade to an FD box? Or an RX-8 6-speed? My current clutch and pressure plate should be more than adequate. I'll have to find a lightweight flywheel though.

 

T2 trans is fine unless your looking to make big power. The FD box is the same as the T2 except it has nicer shifting. The RX8 box is weaker, not recommended.

thewird

 

Yah I've got a couple TII gearboxes sitting around. It wouldn't break my heart if one or two blew up.