Upgrades
The car did not see much action for the last two years, but was kept garaged during that time. Regrettably I have my cat in the garage now, a 1985 Jaguar Vanden Plas. Soon the RX-7 will have it's own garaged space to spend the wet days inside.
Prior to purchase I had a full buyer's inspection performed at Hayes Rotary Engineering in Redmond, WA. Found most of the normal things wrong with it; brakes, major service, some corrosion. Overall the car was in great shape for the number of miles on the odometer.
Replace the air filter with a K&N Filter. Minimal improvement.
Then I returned to Hayes and had them perform a major service. Found that the second turbo was not providing any boost, and I thought it was fast already. It was simply a loose hose, so no major problems to report. Brakes were serviced as well. No more squeaks. Hayes recommended switching transmission fluid to synthetic, this made all the difference in the world during cold operation. No more sticky shifting!
After speaking with Hayes Rotary, the biggest bang for the buck is replacement of the restrictive pre-cat. I had been following the RX-7 Project in Sports Compact Car Magazine and decided M2 Performance was the way to go. Made of stainless steel it seemed the best choice. This part will outlast it's mild steel counterpart, and I plan on keeping this car. The impression? Well let's just say that it is a different car. Kudos are in order to Hayes Rotary for a job well done. The labor on this upgrade varies by car. They say it is plug in play, but it is not uncommon to break a few studs on the turbo or the flange on the rear portion of the exhaust system. In rare cases, the turbos may have to be removed to replace a broken stud. In my case, there were two broken studs, but turbo removal was not necessary.
Test Drive - Worth the money. This is a different car. Pulls much harder and feels quicker. Definitely a real seat of the pants improvement.
Hard to imagine that the RX-7 does not come with a turbo timer or a boost gauge.
GReddy turbo timer was very straight forward. The timer fits in the glove box nicely and the wiring harness reaches with out any modifications.
RE Amemiya boost gauge mount required major modifications to give it a stock appearance. Piece is for a right hand drive Japanese car not for a left hand American car. (in the near future pics will be added to illustrate the process necessary to modify the mount.)
Test Drive - Well obviously no improvement in performance, but I can see the boost levels are normal. This is a relief. Nothing unusual just good boost. Not being the best at reading the gauge yet it appears to between 10 - 13 lbs peak.
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| GReddy Black Turbo Timer | RE Amemiya Steering Column Mount (w/ Autometer 2 inch Boost Gauge) |
Road Bump.
The RX-7 has started to display some idle problems and exhibits a fuel smell under hard acceleration. Dropped the car off the other day at Hayes Rotary to diagnose the problem. Mike, the mechanic, quickly found that wiggling the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) corrected the idle problem. On the fuel smell, Mike asked me a few questions about the nature of the smell and he said it was combination of the new downpipe and the faulty TPS. I hope to pick the car up tomorrow.
Future Upgrades. <Back to Top>
I also approached Mike on my plans for the future. First question, was the exhaust. He said that putting in the midpipe is not a great idea, but suggested that I find someone that will modify the cat and put three inch piping into the converter. He also made a point that any further exhaust upgrades should not be done without a boost controller. It is very common to experience a boost spike with the new free flowing exhaust system.
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| GReddy Profec-B Boost Controller | Stainless Midpipe for 93+ RX-7 | Racing Beat Stainless Steel RX-7 Muffler – Dual Tips (sample below) |
| Intake? Still Researching |
 Front Spoiler |
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