Project RX7 Race car - Progress so far!
- Thread starter Jenn
- Start date
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUNkl7ZtFzw
A quick video I put together of footage my boyfriend took of me during my first real race in the car.
A quick video I put together of footage my boyfriend took of me during my first real race in the car.
Well, another major overhaul of the car is underway. We are currently having a whole new engine built by RPM Performance in Ontario, Canada.
It will be the following:
Turbo irons, with full bridgeport
Turbo Housings (hopefully) with exhaust porting and Water Jacket mod
RX8 Rotors
RX8 Eccentric Shaft
RX8 Stationary Gears
RB Race 2mm Carbon Apex Seals + Springs
RB Race Rotor Bearings
RB Thermal Oil Pellet for Eccentric Shaft
Atkins Oil jets for Eccentric Shaft
Pineapple Racing Aluminum Oil Pan
Turbo Oil Pump
RB Adjustable Oil Pressure Regulator
RB Oil Pressure/Temp Sender Adapter
RB Stainless Steel Oil Cooler Lines
Pineapple Racing OMP and Air pump Block off plates
Lightened Fidanza Aluminum Flywheel, Auto Counterweight and Race clutch
12A ignition
51IDA Weber Downdraft Carb w/ RB Intake Manifold
This engine will be tuned to run on 91 octane pump gas (the highest octane we can get at the pump where I live).
Also ordering:
RB True Dual SS Road Race Exhaust System
5-speed tranny with Scatter Shield
And still getting the custom gauges, and perhaps doing something with the final drive gearing.
We will also be doing:
- Battery Box Relocation (putting it where the little storage bin used to be behind the seat)
I'll keep everyone posted!
And still no decals
It will be the following:
Turbo irons, with full bridgeport
Turbo Housings (hopefully) with exhaust porting and Water Jacket mod
RX8 Rotors
RX8 Eccentric Shaft
RX8 Stationary Gears
RB Race 2mm Carbon Apex Seals + Springs
RB Race Rotor Bearings
RB Thermal Oil Pellet for Eccentric Shaft
Atkins Oil jets for Eccentric Shaft
Pineapple Racing Aluminum Oil Pan
Turbo Oil Pump
RB Adjustable Oil Pressure Regulator
RB Oil Pressure/Temp Sender Adapter
RB Stainless Steel Oil Cooler Lines
Pineapple Racing OMP and Air pump Block off plates
Lightened Fidanza Aluminum Flywheel, Auto Counterweight and Race clutch
12A ignition
51IDA Weber Downdraft Carb w/ RB Intake Manifold
This engine will be tuned to run on 91 octane pump gas (the highest octane we can get at the pump where I live).
Also ordering:
RB True Dual SS Road Race Exhaust System
5-speed tranny with Scatter Shield
And still getting the custom gauges, and perhaps doing something with the final drive gearing.
We will also be doing:
- Battery Box Relocation (putting it where the little storage bin used to be behind the seat)
I'll keep everyone posted!
And still no decals
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- 96 Miata M-Edition, 2015 Mazda 3 Hatch
That makes me hot and bothered just thinking about it. I know a little miata you could put that in if you want
awwww.. thanks for thinking of my little miata muff
any reason for stopping at a bridge? periph port will have a butt load more potential (although, would be a pig at low RPM...but its a race car....)
little confused about the RX8 rotors and stuff (not for any smartass reason - just i hang with the rotary drag racing crowd, and they like to stick with the good ol' pre-renesis stuff...probably because its cheap/readily available)
and are you class restricted to stay carb'd? injection would be the way to go otherwise....microtech are masters of rotary efi setups... and jon @ microtech is a good bloke to have a talk to about getting the most a rotary beastie.....
little confused about the RX8 rotors and stuff (not for any smartass reason - just i hang with the rotary drag racing crowd, and they like to stick with the good ol' pre-renesis stuff...probably because its cheap/readily available)
and are you class restricted to stay carb'd? injection would be the way to go otherwise....microtech are masters of rotary efi setups... and jon @ microtech is a good bloke to have a talk to about getting the most a rotary beastie.....
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- '13 CWP MS3 & '16 Mazda6 GT
I think the issue w/ the perih port is that it only last so long until a rebuild is needed...at least w/ a bridge port you get a bit more life out of the engine...
*shrug*
i know of a half dozen 1000hp + periph ported 20b's down here... sure they get rebuilt (every meet), but the housings and port work doesn't get touched once its done....
edit: there are valid reasons for staying bridge..not saying periph is the only way to go - RPM is a killer on periph ports - just like monster cammed piston engines, they hunger for revs...more so given that rotors hunger for revs to begin with... transmissions on a budget (hardened road transmissions etc) wont change gears at the RPM a PP will allow for...not without breaking stuff..i am just more curious than anything as to the BP decision
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- '13 CWP MS3 & '16 Mazda6 GT
but still, thats a rebuild that often...im sure w/ this being a hobby for Jenn they arent looking to tack on the expense of having to rebuild so often. They arent looking for a 1000hp car for the road courses...
rebuild that often has little to do with the porting though, and more to do with the 1000hp, monster turbo apex seal killing boost they run....PP isn't *just* for drag monsters....and PP doesn't force a rebuild every 5 seconds....i was just pointing out that the porting doesn't mean you get 1 build out of hte motor then you bin it and start again...
edit: argh... its 3am - i re-read your posts and get what you mean now.... not that the porting kills the motor, or anything, just that it reduces the service interval/rebuild interval.....in that case, yeh, you're right...but still no reason why you wouldn't get a few seasons out of a mildly powered PP - but i get ya now - sorry - tis late....er...early.
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We run a short, tight track, with very few "fast" spots. Anything over 300hp is almost too hard to handle at the track, and the 600hp corvette that runs there is almost completely undriveable. Also, it's a very bumpy track, so it spins up, then comes down and SNAP there goes the rear-end. It happens many many many times to the high HP cars out there.
We wanna go with a bridge for the longer life/reliability. Our racing comes completely out of pocket with only a few discounts from sponsors. Besides, the parts for the peripheral port (or the labour to make them) is significantly more expensive. And as mentioned, our track is tight, so I need as much low end as I can get to pull out of the slow corners (uphill too...almost 100 feet of elevation change).
Also, we're keeping it N/A, so the RX8 internals are for the higher compression (almost 10:1 as opposed to 9.5:1) and higher rpm (9,000+ as opposed to 8,000-8,500). We got the internals at good prices, so they didn't cost any more than pre-renesis. The class we run in is all around 200-250 whp, so this should be just fine when we're done.
As for the carburetor, most guys run carb in our class, but it's not a rule. Before we got the car, the previous owner had already ripped out all of the EFI stuff and computers, and wiring for it all, and rewired in such a way to run it carbed. And it's a decent carb we have. If we do decide to take the leap to PP, all we need is a new intake manifold to reuse it.
We wanna go with a bridge for the longer life/reliability. Our racing comes completely out of pocket with only a few discounts from sponsors. Besides, the parts for the peripheral port (or the labour to make them) is significantly more expensive. And as mentioned, our track is tight, so I need as much low end as I can get to pull out of the slow corners (uphill too...almost 100 feet of elevation change).
Also, we're keeping it N/A, so the RX8 internals are for the higher compression (almost 10:1 as opposed to 9.5:1) and higher rpm (9,000+ as opposed to 8,000-8,500). We got the internals at good prices, so they didn't cost any more than pre-renesis. The class we run in is all around 200-250 whp, so this should be just fine when we're done.
As for the carburetor, most guys run carb in our class, but it's not a rule. Before we got the car, the previous owner had already ripped out all of the EFI stuff and computers, and wiring for it all, and rewired in such a way to run it carbed. And it's a decent carb we have. If we do decide to take the leap to PP, all we need is a new intake manifold to reuse it.
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There you go
Like i said, nothing against a bridge, was just curious as to why you wern't going all the way - but now i know
RX8 internals - cool stuff - wasn't aware of the extra compression (don't have much to do with RX8's, noone here races them...) ... obviously the reason why the turbo crazies don't run them here is because of the higher compression... RPM doesn't seem to be a problem on them (dowelled up drag motors are good for 10k+, and its mainly ecu's being unable to fuel in real time at much higher that is holding them back from what i can tell...) but yeah - they want lower compression, not higher..so they take as low as they can get i spose.
Carbie - cool stuff...
Its a damned nice looking car though
There you go
Like i said, nothing against a bridge, was just curious as to why you wern't going all the way - but now i know
RX8 internals - cool stuff - wasn't aware of the extra compression (don't have much to do with RX8's, noone here races them...) ... obviously the reason why the turbo crazies don't run them here is because of the higher compression... RPM doesn't seem to be a problem on them (dowelled up drag motors are good for 10k+, and its mainly ecu's being unable to fuel in real time at much higher that is holding them back from what i can tell...) but yeah - they want lower compression, not higher..so they take as low as they can get i spose.
Carbie - cool stuff...
Its a damned nice looking car though
Yeah with ours, the person who built the previous engine knew very little about rotaries. He bridgeported n/a housings...and stuck turbo rotors in them and carbed it with a carb that was too small. The result? 8:1 compression (max!), and 149whp. BAH.
Oh and it had to run on race fuel.
This time is pump gas for us...race fuel costs too damned much.
haha... yeah...funny when people play with things they know little about...
Biggest shame imho is the carbie setup - the lack of control over fueling doesn't neccessarilly mean you're not getting maximum power - but i doubt you are getting the absolute most you could out of the power curve - but for a hobby machine, the expense of going back would be a little extreme (upward s of a grand for a decent ecu setup, the expense of replacing removed sensors, efi intake manifold, not to mention installation and tuning...unless you can do that bit yourself - not a cheap exersize).
you're rebuild sounds pretty good - should be pretty mean sounding - bridges and J's sound *almost* as nice as PP's
'specially through an open exhaust.I hear you on race gas... i'm struggling running my street car on 98RON with fuel costs the way they are... i fear the cost of methanol in the 2009 season when my track car is finished..*shudder*
haha... yeah...funny when people play with things they know little about...
Biggest shame imho is the carbie setup - the lack of control over fueling doesn't neccessarilly mean you're not getting maximum power - but i doubt you are getting the absolute most you could out of the power curve - but for a hobby machine, the expense of going back would be a little extreme (upward s of a grand for a decent ecu setup, the expense of replacing removed sensors, efi intake manifold, not to mention installation and tuning...unless you can do that bit yourself - not a cheap exersize).
you're rebuild sounds pretty good - should be pretty mean sounding - bridges and J's sound *almost* as nice as PP's
I hear you on race gas... i'm struggling running my street car on 98RON with fuel costs the way they are... i fear the cost of methanol in the 2009 season when my track car is finished..*shudder*
The carb isn't that big of a deal. It's large enough to run the car well, and it's actually a Racing Beat Rotary-tuned Weber carb with a jetting set-up specially for rotaries and chokes specially machined by rotary reliability and racing.
Anyway, should be a fun year!!
Thanks! I will probably do that actually, and then paint it black or something....or white.
Gonna do a bunch of repainting inside the car this winter anyway to touch up spots that got worn through last year or scuffed. We have a car show we're putting it in in April, so it needs to be gleaming white by then!
Antoine
Administrator
And still no decals
I thought Rickman had hooked you up by now...Sorry about the delay...I'll make sure you get a fresh set ASAP!
Now back on topic...This thread rocks! (rockon) There is so much juicy rotary info in here...I love it! (thumb)
I'm not sure if you mentioned it already...but would you mind telling us how much this rebuilt engine is running you..? Sounds like an uber-sweet setup!
