(Disclaimer: I'm a newbie when it comes to the RX-7, please be gentle.)

So anyway, up until recently I'd planned to turn my new '02 SE-R into a track car, and pick up another cheap car to be my daily driver. Then a couple weeks ago I get word that a friend of a friend is selling her 1990 RX- 7, and would I be interested in buying it? The info on the car is a little sketchy before the current owner, however what I know is this. The car is a GXL hatchback, has 175k total miles on it, and is on at least its 2nd engine (The current owner had it replaced when she bought it 3 years ago). The current engine is very definitely a turboed rotary, verified by photo of the engine bay. Current engine has approximately 25k miles on it, and pretty much everything under the hood forward of the transmission has been replaced in the last 3 years/25k miles. Car has been a light-duty daily driver and has no track time on it. My friend has verified that the car runs and appears to be in pretty good condition for a 13 year car. The price is pretty agreeable, so unless something catastrophic happens, I'll have the car in 2 weeks.

So anyway, I was thinking that it made much more sense to get this and turn it into a weekend fun/track car than to continue futzing with my daily driver. I'm a pretty decently mechanically inclined, but I don't know a lot about rotary engines, and most of my research over the past 1.5 years has been geared towards working on the Nissan B15 chassis/ QR25DE engine, so I'm kinda starting over.

Initial questions I have about this:
1. Are there any issues I should be aware of regarding a GXL that's had the engine replaced with a Turbo II's?

2. Provided that a rotary-proficient mechanic checks the car out and finds nothing seriously wrong with the engine, what should I start with as far as modifying the vehicle?

From the small amount of research I've done thus far, it seems as though a set of gauges, including EGT, boost, oil & coolant temp, and oil & fuel pressure (and possibly AFR down the road when I start to get under the hood) and an aluminum radiator (Koyo?) would be a good set of first mods. My logic behind this is that these will go a good ways towards increasing the reliability of the engine, my ability ability to spot problems as they're developing, and aid in tuning the engine for more power. That, of course, will be after I rework the suspension, brakes and all the other stuff that's just as important to a car as the stuff that makes it go fast.

Of course, I could totally be smoking crack. You tell me. :smile:

John D. Spoon

First off a GXL is a non turbo car so if a turbo engine has been put into it then you need to be careful of the tranny back in the drive train. The NA parts are pretty weak and a boosted engine will break things fast. You will need to swap out the tranny,driveshaft, rear end and axles (although swapping the whole rear suspension is easier).

If you want to race your Rex on the track most orginized groups dont allow turbo rotories or place them in a class that is not rotory friendly (like against vettes:eek7:) the natrually aspirated one are much more fun to race in that regard since you would be placed aginst cars that are more closely matched in power and wieght.

I loved taking mine to the track and the SCCA events it was always a blast. There were always a couple 3rd gens trying to race the vettes and vipers and they made a good showing sometimes even won.:bigthumb: