New Member

[fatfingers]

Hello,

Just bought an 89 (G) Turbo 2 Coupe (my 1st rotary) and I have a few questions:

Firstly will the wheels from a twin turbo (the standard 5 spokes) fit straight on to mine? I\'ve been offered 4 with good tyres for £200, seeing that all mine need to be refurbished and new tyres this seems quite good.  Any photos of these on a Turbo 2 would be great.  What are the standard tyres on a turbo 2? I\'ve been quoted £45 per wheel for refurbishing, is this good?

Also the car don\'t feel like it\'s pushing out 200bhp, this might just be me coming from bikes for 4 years, should the boost gauge go right to the top as mine only goes just over half? I\'ve got it booked in next Sat at rotechnics for there phase 1 tune, this is supposed to give 50 more brake and double the torque!! has anyone had this fitted? mine is standard apart from a stainless exhaust, how easy is it to remove the cats? will it pass an MOT without them (due on the 26/1).

The car was sprayed (white) in 2001 and never had any decals put back, does anyone know where I can get a full set, also a photo of where they all go would be great.

Highbeam/flash don\'t work, is this on a seperate fuse? anyone had this problem? where can I get an owners manual, not sure how to use things like cruise control etc!

I need some spares also, parcel shelf, ariel, front number plate sorround, where\'s the best place in the chigwell/north london area?

Sorry for all the questions but I wouls really appreciate some help, cheers,

Rob.   :-)

What are

[Brett]

Welcome to the club, its good to see another 2nd gen going to a decent home.

 First things first,

 How many miles has the engine done?  A high mileage rotary will most likely be having compression problems, and therefore be down on power.
 I\'m unsure as to what the boost guage should be reading, but if you go to the \'hints and tips on purchasing a rotary\' section, there is more info on the TII there.
 The headlamp porblem sounds like one of two things 1) Theres a relay gone tits up. 2) The switch is faulty on the indicator stalk.

 You will not pass the emissions without the cats.  ****els pour out a huge amount of CO etc without the cat in place.  There are several tweaks that work on the N/a engines, but I dont know if they would work on a turbo\'d lump.  Best adivce is to try and keep a spare exhaust with CAT, or find an \'understanding\' MOT station.  (Hard now that its all going over to computer testing)

 I was going to fit FD wheels to mine, but was told its a real bitch to get them to fit at the front, plus I think the offset is different too.  I would stick with the refurb, at £45 its not a bad price.  Also, buying a new set of tyres is one of the best performance enhancers you can do.  A decent set of rubber will change the car for the good.

 As for the mods,

 A stage 1 upgrade on the ****els does release a lot of power etc, (I think I gained around 25bhp by changing the manifold etc)
 But you must then be aware of boost spike creeping in and finishing off your engine.
 My advice would be to ensure your engine is in A1 condition before embarking on any mods.  If you dont, you will soon wish you had! (Your average ****el will not put up with much abuse if its all ready got problems)
 I\'m also a little dubious about thier claim to \'double your torque\'  I think I\'d want to see verifiable results on that subject.  The HP claim is probably not to far off though.

 A TII is a fast car, no mistake, but if you are used to bikes then it may feel a little sluggish.  It should be capable of 0-60 in around 6.5 if all is well.

 Its also well worth changing the shocks and springs for new ones if its not had them changed in its life, this also makes a huge difference in the handling.

If I were you my order of play would be:-

1) Have the engine compression checked, oil system checked for functionality.  (It should be using oil, if its not then you will have problems very soon)
2) Do a full service, change the filters (Oil, Fuel and air), change the oil (Every 3000miles), have a specialist check over you brake calipers to ensure each caliper has all pistons functioning freely, change the plugs.
3) Fit new, high quality tyres. I use BFGoodrich on the rear and Bridgestone RE88 on the front. (Thats just my preference though)
 Speaking to the other TII owners will give you a good insight as which tyres work the best.  Old/Worn/Budget tyres have a habit of breaking up under high loads...
4) Check the suspension, and change any shocks/springs /bushes as needed.

 If you do the above (And assuming its like any other older car out there at the moment) it will feel like a different car.

5) Assuming all is ok with the first 4, then go for your upgrades.

 Your best bet for spares etc is Jimmy\'s or RxMotors, they both have very good reputations.

 Once again, welcome and I hop to see you at some of the events this year.:wave

[fatfingers]

Thanks for that, the engine/turbo was fully reconditioned by rotechnics 25k ago so should have plenty of life left.

It\'s got koni springs (not sure about the shocks, checking all this saturday) and the ride is \'rock\' hard, is this normal?

What oil do you recommend?

I paid £1350 for the car, it\'s not mint but it\'s very good, is that a good price? will put pics on soon.

What do you mean by \'changing the manifol\'? the mod I\'m having takes about 5 mins so I imaging it\'s just a chip.

What size are the standard tyres?

Any idea on the decals?

Regards,

Rob.

[Brett]

I meant changing the exhaust manifold. (Removing the thermal reactor etc)

 I\'m now really confused as to what they are going to do, unless they are planning on whacking the boost right up?  I\'d give them a ring and ask exactly what it is they are going to be doing?  

 The TII\'s have hard suspension as standard, so a hard ride is going to be expected with aftermarket shocks etc.

And thats a very good price!  Whats she like for rust?  Front crossmember is a good one to check....

[sadgoth]

Hi and welcome to the club!

re the parcel shelf I have one in my shed which you are welcome to for a small charge! PM me

I can\'t really ad much to what Brett has said other than mine is de-catted and running a heavily ported engine (currently on stock ECU but not for much longer) and it got through the MOT ok, it was a bit touch and go but it did go through. Pre 94 the emmissions regs weren\'t as heavy so you have more flexibility there. I\'m currently runnning Tein S-Spec lowering springs still with stock shocks (prob go for Koni, Bilstein or Tein adjustables later in the year) made a big difference in terms of handling (speedbumps are more of an issue now though!

As Brett said the TII is a quick car, but it isn\'t earth shattering (as stock) especially if you\'ve come from bikes, however the rev-happy character of the rotary engine means that you should find it easier to extract the power from the car.

Like all things it depends on
 a) what you are looking to achieve from the car - powerwise
 b) how much you are looking to spend

with an unlimited budget you can get a TII pushing out in excess of 600bhp and running the 1/4 mile in 8.5 (they do in Austrailia!), however in reality more than 250bhp is difficult to extract without spending a fair bit.

I\'ve attached a couple of pics of mine (one as it is now and if I can I\'ll dig out an earlier pic with just the original decals in place)

[grinder]

welcome aboard !

the price is a very good price to be honest

i would decat it first - it should pass an mot ( its registered before 91 and thats when the cat laws came into place )

the torque thingy - they will probably fit an FCD and a Boost Controller - this will add about 30 BHP and yes - it is rumoured to double the torque ??

the wheels - they fit on the back fine - but you need spacers on the front

standard tyres on a TII are 205/55/16 , but you can squeeze 225s on the rear ( which i will do later on this year ! )

the speed of the TII isnt the greatest - if you have the cash to spend you can it it a bit quicker !

mine is still standard apart from the main cat removed and last year i got a 15.02 on the 1/4 - so its not the fastest car on the planet - but you have to remember its getting old now ( 15 yrs !! )

the boost - this is a good one - on the standard guage mine went to about 3/4 - and ran fine - on the extra boost gauge ( go and get one NOW if you havent already ) - mine spikes to about .5 bar and then settles and pulls .4 thru all the gears ( which i think mine is under boosting to be honest )- but it should pull about 7psi ( .5 bar )

hope this helps or points you in the right direction !

here is a pic of mine for you

[sadgoth]

Oil - use mineral oil (I tend to use Castrol GTX - mineral as it is easy to get hold of)

I know the Phase 1 tuning you are referring to - I have seen it advertised by Rotechnics. If memory serves it is a manual boost controller and some breathing mods. Normally I recommend against it as that is a BAD way to get more power from a rotary (or a good way to risk running lean and blowing the engine), the only reason I\'d consider it is because of who is doing it. Rotechnics are one of a very small number of firms in the UK who are Rotary specialists and although they aren\'t my personal choice, they have a good reputation so I can\'t imagine they would do anything which is bound to cause catastrophic damage.

£1395 is a good price mine was £1500 two years ago with an engine which had 45k on it (blew 10 months later :rolleyes: but it did mean that I could get the porting work I wanted done! Always look on the bright side that is what I say). Rust is an issue on the TII sills are often the weak point I have a pinhole in the inner drivers sill now which needs looking at, at least with no carpets I can see these things :rollin

older pic (still has some extra decals) the Turbo II decal above behind the front wheel is the only stock decal one on each side, on white cars they were in red on black cars in silver

[grinder]

rust - sheeesh - its a car killer - not impressed with the amount on mine

1395 still isnt a bad price - the cars can fetch up over £2000 in some cases

[fatfingers]

Thnaks guys that\'s very helpfull.  Do you know if the white car should have a thick black line going all round it?

Also the paint on my rear bumper has very faint surface cracks, do you think this will buff out? what would be a fair price to have it sprayed?

Rob.

[Brett]

RE: Emissions

  I have to say that I am shocked to hear that your car passed its mot minus CAT!  I had to do hours of fettleing, even went out and purchased a MOT standard gas analyzer!  I had to do the mod just before the MOT and then change it back afterwards to avoid detonation.  

 So, I suppose what I\'m asking (and I\'m not having a go) is, did it really pass, or did you MOT station just fudge it?  My MOT guy is pretty understanding and let me off the first time around, on the condition that when it came to hime next (which was July 04) it had to pass.  He had done research for me etc becasue he was convinced there were special rules concerning ****el engines etc.  However these more leinient rules only apply on engines built before mid 1986.  He actually spoke to the guy who helped Mazda get the Rx7 emissions legal for UK sale.  This chap (Works high up in the Motoring authorities) said that as Mazda produced a car that could pass the MOT emissions then it must continue to pass them, mod\'s or no mod\'s.

 Anyway,  I\'ll let you have your thread subject back now.

 You will probably be looking at £300 for a decent spray job, unless you remove the rear bumper yourself and get it prepped.

[Gman]

Mine cost a bit more than most, thought I would post a pic as I am quite proud of it.

PS The Decals are not standard

[fc3sPAT]

Not a bad price with healthy engine, i paid £1900 2 years ago for mine and the engine was a J-Spec one with a few wierd combos of parts with 30K miles on it, guy also gave me the blown motor for spares!!

Boost wise (before i got the boost controller fitted), i got just a bit over 0.6bar (with no fuel or boost cut) and that was nearly to the end of the standard boost guage, i wasnt experiencing boost spike, so i guess the high boost was due to the J-Spec engine i got.

Heres a pic of mine to give to a view of the red sticker on a white car:



hey Gman, shame i couldnt join you guys on that meet, was gona come up with my mate with the red T2 there, had work!!
Maybe next time round,

Patrick,

[gyrpere123]

Welcome to the club, any questions you have will always be answered on the forum as everybody is more than helpful. mine went  thru the mot the a single outlet straight thru janspeed exhaust. and heres a pic of my on going project.

[fatfingers]

Just been speaking to rotechnics and they said there phase 1 \'chip\' automatically adjusts the fueling to cope with the extra boost, so I think I\'ll go for it!  I can\'t believe not 1 person has had this done.....

This might sound stupid but whats the easiest way to see if my cats have been removed? (been on bikes for years), do I need to get under the car or can I see from the engine bay?  also all the specialists I\'ve spoken to have said there\'s no problem getting these cars MOT\'d with the cats removed as they only do a 2 gas test on cars this age (whatever that means).  Has anyone failed because of the cats?

I\'ve got the dreaded abs light on my dash, the chap I bought the car from said it went through the MOT fine last time as they test the brakes not the loghts on the dash, does this sound right?

Cheers, Rob.

[sadgoth]

ABS dying is common on the TII, I have been informed it is due to the ABS sensors in the wheels being damaged as they are in a tin aluminium casing which is prone to being dented or crushed. Mine has never worked in all the time I had the car, I suggest removing the fuse from the ABS system as you don\'t want the ABS intermittently working as mine used to!

ABS light shouldn\'t cause a problem with MOT but if you are concerned, take the bulb out! You could get it repaired but the ABS sensors are REALLY expensive if memory serves

Cats: if it has a decat front pipe, you should be able to see it from the engine bay, look at the exhaust manifold and if the downpipe coming off is a straight pipe (with no bulges) then it is likely to be de-catted, I\'m pretty sure there is a cat in the midpipe too, you can only see that from under the car.