Mazda Rotary Club

Cars by Model Type => 2nd generation RX-7's => Topic started by: slammed 66 on August 09, 2011, 10:03:36 PM

Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: slammed 66 on August 09, 2011, 10:03:36 PM
Hey fellas.

So... I\'m about to become the owner of an fc rx7 turbo.

I\'ve always wanted one but have always been massively scared by the black art of rotaries.

So what do I need to look out for?

I\'ve heard of people adding a little oil to their fuel to protect the rotor tips. Is this advisable?

The car in question has covered just over 100k and I\'ve no idea if it\'s ever been rebuilt. Is a rebuild expensive on these? I should imagine it\'s highly specialised.

Now my favourite part....

Steps to more power. How should you go about getting more power without instantly exploding it.

I hope all of this hasn\'t already been covered a million times already.

Thanks chaps

Ross
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 09, 2011, 10:18:22 PM
Hi there,

Is the car standard? Is it a FC3S turbo, or turbo II? Do NOT just whack the boost up to get more power, you need to make sure that the fueling and cooling is up to scratch before you can get more power out of the car.

The car is 20 years old, so certain things like cooling and ignition are getting old and so you should think of replacing and uprating those parts.

General things are to regularly check and change oil, also only use good high octant fuel in the car.

It might be worth getting a compression test done on the engine to find out how strong the engine is.

Rebuilds depend on what you get done, most people get bigger ports and changed certain bits when putting the engine back together. Rebuilds are from about £1-3k depending on what you want to get done etc. There are many rebuilder for rotaries, or indeed you could rebuild it yourself, its just a few plates, some housings and a few seals and long bolts lol

Basically, if you look after the car and don\'t be silly with it, the engine will last ages, mines on 89k miles, still got very good compression.

Remember that the OEM turbo and fueling is only good for about 0.9bar or about 275ish safely.

Main issues with the engine going:

Running lean on boost - not enough fuel will mean detonation which will take out a whole rotor or housing (£££s)
Ancilary failure - cooling usually radiators or old injectors or igniton - overheating will mean water seal failure.
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: Brett on August 09, 2011, 10:23:53 PM
Are you the same Ross that was on RCC? :)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: slammed 66 on August 09, 2011, 10:42:21 PM
Hi Brett,

Yeah that\'s me dude, how you doing fella? Been a long time.

By the way, the car is a turbo II according to the script on the inter-warmer :)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: slammed 66 on August 09, 2011, 10:44:56 PM
Oh and it\'s standard too other than an airfilter. It\'s actually the £800 vert in the sale section which reading back over the months may have had boost issues at some point.
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 09, 2011, 10:46:07 PM
The blue one we were trying to get Grinder to buy? :D
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: the hat on August 09, 2011, 10:46:44 PM
ive got magnecor leads and a twin alternator pulley and belts lying spare thats all ive got left from my white fc
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 09, 2011, 10:50:51 PM
Quote from: the hat;781192ive got magnecor leads and a twin alternator pulley and belts lying spare thats all ive got left from my white fc

Ive been asking for weeks for anyone with a twin alt pulley I could buy lol ive got one now though lol :rolleyes:
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: the hat on August 09, 2011, 10:53:47 PM
i posted on your thread before the other guy you bought one from ??
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 09, 2011, 11:09:30 PM
Quote from: the hat;781198i posted on your thread before the other guy you bought one from ??

Sorry mate, missed that post :( was only 30 minutes before, and the other post had a shiny picture lol was attracted to the shiny picture :rollin
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: the hat on August 09, 2011, 11:14:48 PM
no worries mate everyone loves shiny bits too the point im looking at the massive fd throttle body
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 09, 2011, 11:16:51 PM
Quote from: the hat;781206no worries mate everyone loves shiny bits too the point im looking at the massive fd throttle body

Those massive single ones from Ed?
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: slammed 66 on August 09, 2011, 11:17:25 PM
Quote from: m1tch;781191The blue one we were trying to get Grinder to buy? :D

That\'ll be the one
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: the hat on August 09, 2011, 11:18:59 PM
Quote from: m1tch;781207Those massive single ones from Ed?


yeah thats the one not sure if its worth it really as i already have the fd one but its shiny go faster bits
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 09, 2011, 11:20:27 PM
Quote from: slammed 66;781208That\'ll be the one

What are your plans with it then? You would need more power than a coupe to have the same acceleration due to the 2 extra floorpans and weight the cab has, on the up side, they don\'t rust as easy due to the extra metal!

Check out what mods Prof has done to his! :Laugh
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: Brett on August 10, 2011, 07:29:46 AM
Welcome to MRC then Ross :)

Regarding what you can do to get more power.... on the TII the following make a world of difference:

Fully DCAT exhaust, (3" systems seem to be the best on a stock turbo)
Decent panel filter
Fuel Cut Defencer
Boost Controller

Depending on the state of the car etc, the above will net you an easy 50bhp and none of those parts are particularly pricey on the FC.

You need to make sure you inspect and service the following first though:

Fuel pump & wiring - this is prone to breaks and earthing problems
Front and rear brake calipers (The hand brake mechanism can be a pain on the rears)
Radiator (They last well, but it\'s worth making sure its not become full of crud)

The FC Turbo 2 has an electric oil metering pump, if this fails the car goes into limp home mode.  Assuming it\'s still using oil, has no hot starting issues and idles OK then I think you are good to go.

:wave
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: papercutout on August 10, 2011, 11:03:41 AM
Quote from: Brett;781227=
Radiator (They last well, but it\'s worth making sure its not become full of crud)

How\'d you go about checking that then Brett?
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: grinder on August 10, 2011, 12:24:46 PM
flush it thru :)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 10, 2011, 06:38:36 PM
Also a chipped ECU would be a good upgrade as well, it will usually allow you to run max boost @ 0.9 bar on the OEM injectors on the stock turbo, although boost gauges and an air fuel ratio gauge is a good idea if boosting more.

Also if you do get a full decat exhaust, be careful of boost creap
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: B.Martin on August 10, 2011, 06:42:04 PM
Exactly where do you get a \'chip\' for the ecu?
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: dthebuk on August 10, 2011, 06:45:37 PM
ebay/mrc


msglength
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: B.Martin on August 10, 2011, 06:57:17 PM
Are eBay chips not supposed to mess your car up?
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 10, 2011, 07:16:57 PM
Not those \'stage 1 chips\' more like the proper Knightsports, RE-A or Buddyclub chipped ECUs :)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: B.Martin on August 10, 2011, 07:52:15 PM
Oh I see, so you mean the ones that cost in excess of £200 ;)

There was me thinking I\'d just stumbled across another cheap mod :Giggle
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: TiddlesRX7 on August 10, 2011, 08:06:27 PM
No they don\'t. I sold a Knightsports one for at least half of that. You\'ve just got to watch out for them and not buy the first one you see ;)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: papercutout on August 10, 2011, 10:09:26 PM
Speak to L18M Ben, he can and does import them from Jap land, and can probably get one shipped straight to you for about £100 or so. Don\'t get an R-magic one like me though ;)


What\'d you flush it through with though? I just drained and refilled my rad with fresh liquid when I bought the car, no flushing.



I\'d skip straight from an AFR gauge to a Wideband sensor and gauge, or you\'re just going to want to do it later. Boost gauge is a must though.
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 10, 2011, 10:32:46 PM
Make sure you get a decent MECHANICAL boost gauge, as that will directly measure boost, those cheaper electrical ones can be thrown off with a bad earth etc and its only as good as the sensor. I have a mechanical one to glace at, but also an electrical one on my Apexi AVC-R boost controller - make sure you have backups and safety margins on things. All of the parts on my car are upgraded further than needed, ie my ORC 709 race clutch is good for 700bhp, I will only be running about 600, so I have a safety margin etc
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: slammed 66 on August 10, 2011, 10:35:21 PM
Ok thanks guys. One other question then is what should I be searching for in eBay. What I mean is that I\'ve seen stuff titled: fc3 fc3s turbo II s5 all sorts that baffles me.
The cqr I\'m hopefully getting is a 1990 turbo II cab which I assume is 180bhp not the 200bhp.

Sorry for all the dumb questions but I\'ve always had pistons before :)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: TiddlesRX7 on August 10, 2011, 10:44:36 PM
Any of those will bring up parts you might want. It\'ll be the 200bhp model as its an S5.
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: m1tch on August 10, 2011, 10:48:35 PM
Right there is:

FC3S - coupe
FC3C - technically the convertable code, but everyone just calls the FC3Ss lol

Here is the differences:

Series 4 FC = \'Turbo with intercooler\' on the intercooler, it has a twin scroll turbo producing 180ish bhp - note these were never sold in the UK.

Series 5 FC = Turbo II (everyone in the UK got confused as the series 4 turbo was never sold in the UK lol) it is rated to 200bhp and if yours is UK spec, its a series 5.

Series 4 engines have lower compression rotors, but basically if it says FC its fine, quite a few parts on the FD will fit on the FC engine due to it still being a 13B, but some parts won\'t due to the layout of the engine bay and turbo setup.

Its not a dumb question, nothing is a dumb question :)
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: papercutout on August 10, 2011, 10:50:10 PM
Quote from: m1tch;781490Its not a dumb question, nothing is a dumb question :)

Except - That\'s an RX7? Not a Porsche 944?

:p
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: B.Martin on August 11, 2011, 07:58:28 AM
Quote from: papercutout;781492Except - That\'s an RX7? Not a Porsche 944?

:p

:rollin

So your telling me that all this time i\'ve been driving a Mazda??
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: slammed 66 on August 13, 2011, 10:57:51 PM
What\'s the chances of a 1990 turbo II having an LSD fitted?

Cheers

Ross
Title: Fc rx7 turbo. Teach a noob please
Post by: dthebuk on August 13, 2011, 11:07:58 PM
if its a UK one it will have been aftermarket. If the car isn\'t modified then i doubt it\'d have an LSD.

If it does, its likely to be one out of the FD, they\'re not too good drift wise, thy\'re good for fast street though