Hey I recently found a wrecked Turbo II with a strong engine and drivetrain for $300. I am seriously looking at putting it in my opel gt, as it tips the scales at about 2200 lbs and doesnt currently run...anyhow is there anything i need to look out for in this car...its a '90. Also, I drove it around a little bit today and its really fast (for me anyway) and seemed in good condition as far as i could tell...anyhow any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob

 

The TII motors are strong, just make sure you upgrade the fuel system before you try to increase the boost.

 

I'd also check with some sportscar suspension shops on line and go with a heavier suspension. The Opel was a great handling car, but you are putting in an engine that will make it run much faster and get to speed quicker. The front end should get a heavier sway bar and probably better shocks/springs. The rear could use the same treatment. The two engines should be close in weight, but the rotary is shorter.That should move it closer to the 50/50 perfect front to rear balance than the car originally had. Hopefully you can shoe horn the mazda radiator/oil cooler into the same space as the Opel's. If I remember correcty, the GT had a pretty good sized one for its 1900 cc.

Are you going to use the Turbo's rear or the Opel's? The Opel's may not handle the higher power and especially the higher speeds. The Opel's brakes were good, but you might look into an after market racing set up. Especially if you need to balance the front with Mazda rear disks. The second gens used a power assist brake system vs the manual brakes (I believe, but it's been a long time since i played with Opels.) used by Opel. I'm not sure how the braking pressures would be affected.

I've often thought the GT would be a great conversion car. It didn't have the power to live up to its potential.

 

There is only one online store that I know of that sells suspension components for the opel...they have good stuff....both sport and competition (1" and 2" drop, respectively) front and rear springs and koni red and yellow shocks for the front and rear. They also have front and rear antisway bars...but they dont have anything cool like strut tower braces...prob because the front shock mounting points sit about head height...so theres nowhere for them to go...but a rotary would remedy that problem. The opel radiator is actually quite small (by todays standards) and the mounting bracket would have to be cut and rewelded just to be able to fit a T-IIs rad in its place....then theres the prob of airflow, opels have very bad engine bay aerodynamics....they usually run hot from what ive heard...at least mine always does. I was wondering if I could use the stock T-II brakes up front and maybe some upgrade drums or disk upgrade out back...I realize a mounting bracket would need to be fabricated but I really like the idea of brakes built for a car weighing significantly more and from the seat-of-the-pants impression stops very well...abs is always a plus too. The opel has a brake booster, but im not sure how it works...I disagree with you though, dallen, I dont think the opel brakes work well at all....I have heard many bad things about integrating any sort of IRS into the opel...too much work for very little gain...the opel rearend is completely incapable of handling 200hp and 200ft/lbs (mine has super-bad lash anyway) so I dont know what is to be done....several opel forums reccomend either a ranger rearend or a toyota pickup rearend...lots of possibilities for lsd's and they can handle the power. But if at all possible Id like to at least try the T-IIs rearend...lsd stock, but what type is that? clutch, viscous, or dare I say helical?...anyhow....the major probs listed by ppl on the opel forums were shifter linkage placement and the trans being too wide for the tunnel...the quickest way around these probs is to mount the engine/trans farther forward than id like to...the other way is to cut into the driver and passenger footwells...oh...also wiring is a prob too....maybe because the opel forum ppl are biased against EFI? i dont know...anyhow, thats pretty much the extent of my knowledge on the swap, but I look forward to any replys.
Thanks,
-Rob

 

Hey Rob-

Glad to see you made it here. Whatever way you go, the wiring shouldn't be a problem, aside from the age and brittleness of the RX engine harness. The Mazda FI wiring is pretty much a 'stand alone' harness, as it is not bundled in with the main wiring for the car.

The Opel fuse box and chassis harness may not cut it though, all the usual Opel problems. Might be a good time to redo that with a Painless Wiring fusebox and/or harness.

The shifter linkage may not be as much of a problem as you think. The rotary is both shorter and lighter than the cast iron four, so some forward movement of it's position may not be a problem. Moving it all forward can ease the trans width issue too.

The GT uses the Kadett suspension, the crossmember, which bolts in and can be swapped, has motor mounts in the Kadett where the GT has a seperate engine crossmember since the engine is more than a foot further back. The earlier rotarys (prior to the 2nd gen) did not have motor mounts on the side of the engine, they had a mounting plate all the way up front. I think it is possible to install the front cover and mounting plate of an earlier rotary onto the later rotary, thereby moving the engine mounts to the front of the motor.

 

Grassroots Motorsports August 2003 Volume20 Number5 had a good article about the Gt series of cars...Re; front suspension possibly you could use a FD3S front suspension and adapt it to GT..This would give you great results...Recomend using your TII rear end strong possi unit good choice of gears.. However with the light weight of GT it should just jump off the line... Should be a cheap fun car...Best wishes to you Also you may want to revies Opel Association of North America Werb site... Also; OpelGT.com Web forum Or possibly ; WWW.opelgt.org Happy holidays...Oh... www.tgsi.com or www.opelclub.con or www.opelgtsource.com or..Etc...

 

I realized the best way to fix the trans tunnel and the shift linkage was to move the engine forward...i just didnt know how much it would affect the weight distribution...thanks...it also just dawned on me that while the engine is lighter than the gt's, the trans is heavier...so that will offset weight a bit as well...Thanks, Bits...i really needed some encouragement...

front suspension possibly you could use a FD3S front suspension and adapt it to GT..This would give you great results...

Undoubtedly that would give great results...but this is supposed to be a budget supercar per say...that just sounds like way too much green BUT a good idea...and that T-II rearend...how difficult would it be to weld it into the opel rear axel? or is that even possible...youd think i would know this, as I work in a transmission shop(all drivetrain components really...) does anyone know what kind of lsd that is? from what i hear, a viscous would need a rebuild by now and a clutch type seems like itd be too much like a locker...this thing needs to turn-in...driveshaft isnt a prob, that can be done through work...the rearend is the same way....I think my biggest concern with the wiring is the tach, speedo, ect...im pretty sure that the GT is direct drive and i have no clue really about the '7, but intuition says its electronic...Anyhow, thanks for all the help guys,
-Rob

 

ya sinse you have the wrecked t2 you have a great start cause you wont have to buy every little sensor and part you would need if you jsut bought the full block or short block. let see some pics of the opel and the wrecked t2. and remember you can alway part out the t2 and make some moneys for you new project. lates matt22

 

Actually, someone has already swapped a 13BT into a Opal GT. You might want to try to get in contact with him. BTW: That's a cool car!

 

I would send pics of both if i had them, but i dont. If it helps the opel is a bonestock 1970 (white) and the '7 has been hit on the driver side rear corner. It was apparently quite a hit because it pushed the fender into the tire (it was cut slightly) and every piece of rear glass (rear sheild, all the lights) is broken. The exhaust also drags...I do think at least one piece of rear suspension is bent...granted, that was the first time I had ever driven an rx7, but it displayed ridiculous amounts of snap oversteer, and I just dont think its supposed to be like that...anyhow, thats why it only costs $300 (although Im still waiting on my dad to agree to let me buy it...) Do you know who that guy is that youre talking about, Snrub, any contact info would be great...if you dont want to give it to the whole world, you can send it to me via the member email thing....im pretty sure this forum has it...its done by vbulletin...anyhow...Oh right...a fellow opel and '7 owner said that a 1st gen GSL-SE rearend would be optimum...lsd, it can take a good bit of power, and its live axel so it can pretty much bolt up to the opel...do any of you guys have any info on this rearend or setup?
Thanks,
-Rob

 

ask the first gen section about the rear end, tell you dads its an invetment oppertunity. is the hood in good shape??? if so you can get at least 100 out of that, and the lsd thats in it could be pulled and sol it shouldnt have any damage to it. if the hood is messed uo look and see if the scoop insert has any craks in it, they are worth some decent cash as well. people will ask you about part if you let them know what you have with pics, and they usually make decent offers.

 

Thanks for the tips, Matt...everything in front of the driver side quarter window is good, while everything on the passenger side is good all the way back i think...anyhow, thanks,
-Rob

 

ya buddy send me an email, and i will send you some pics of one of my strip downs. lates matt22

 

Thanks for the email, Matt...that was quite a bare...gtu was it? anyhow...Im supposed to go talk to a guy tomorrow that has done several rotary swaps into various vehicles (datsuns, mostly from what I hear) anyhow, Im lookin forward to it and hopefully getting that T-II and starting on the swap pretty soon.
Thanks
-Rob

 

Rob, I sent you a PM...

 

Well I took delivery of the T-II today...Ill see if I can get out there with a camera soon and get some pics of it. It turns out that it has about 185k miles which doesnt sound too good to me...but since Im going to be taking the motor out anyway, maybe Ill be able to do a teardown and check stuff out...I just hope theres an easier way. Anyhow I do hope to start on the conversion pretty soon...I guess Ill start by taking the motor out of the opel...it should be easier...anyhow, Ill keep you guys posted.
-Rob

 

Are there any tips and whatnot anyone can offer about pulling the T-II's engine and trans? do it at once or in two pieces? things along those lines...oh and as Im not planning on using the diff, Im gonna put it up for sale or trade (prefferably trade for a GSL-SE rear end) Anyhow, thanks
-Rob

 

Disconnect the engine harness at the ecu and leave it attached to the motor. Take the trans out with the motor. There is so little to do underneath the car, it doesn't make sense to try to take them out separately. Keep the oil cooler, they are very efficient ones, hard to get any better without spending way more money. With the cooler lines disconnected do not spin the motor around as it will spit oil out. Keep the driveshaft for you swap. Keep the radiator (it is obviously suitable for the Tll motor, but you may be able to install it at an angle in the Opel engine bay (some cutting of the stock Radiator support may be required), keep the pedal box/arm (may need the clutch pedal for a hydraulic clutch conversion and the clutch pedal switch for cruise control, might as well have cruise control, right?).

If you dismantle the front bumper (89 and later Series 5 front bumpers are sought after), you could cut the radiator support out and pull the motor and trans out with much less tilting and struggling.

Or, to really make it easy, just drop the front crossmember, engine and all.

 

Assuming I can get my boss to let me use the shop on saturdays or something, the from the bottom idea sounds best...and yeah, I was hoping to be able to keep cruise control (a lot harder to get a ticket if you dont allow yourself to go over the speed limit). But thanks
-Rob