cyrus Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 The car is cool but the engine is kind of lame. It is powerful but jerks, bucks, is intolerant of detonation, and they wear out in 65K miles. I wish mazda would drop that engine for a nice 6. I know so many people love the engines but the durability is just not there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 you mean, if mazda didn't have to comply with US's smog laws, and put restrictors between the cats, and didn't have that much heat build up and backpressure, so that it would cause teh engine to go POP... solutions: replace your cooling pipe with an efini metal y pipe, replace all vaccuum lines with silicon hoses, if you need to rebuild the motor, my friend can do it cheap for you in a span of a weekend, provided you give all the parts necessary. don't do any fuel/turbo/exhaust mods without first confirming that the ECU can handle it without being reprogrammed. They tend to be finicky to changes Sorry if I am treating you like a newbie, don't know your rotary skillset/knowledge. Of course, you can always go the mas280 route and stuff an ls1 in it Which I think you should Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 All the RX7s I've seen in the yards have 200+k miles on them. No telling if, and how many times the engines have been rebuilt, but of the 15-20 that I saw, 90% of them were in the 250k miles range....that has to say something..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Tim: 3rd gen RX7s (all twin turbos) suffer from some faults imposed by american smog laws, causing them to overheat and encounter failure due to concentrated heat and backpressure. 1st and 2nd gen naturally aspirated motors clock out 150-180k without any problems. My friend had a 1989 rx7 GTUs, with 180k on the clock. We drove the car into his garage, pulled the motor out to replace it with a rebuilt turbo block. It ran just fine until we removed it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 The vacum hoses under the intake are just horrible looking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 speaking of rotaries i picked up a 75 mazda rotary pickup recently... definitely excited to get this thing going. plans are a turbo 2 engine and tranny. should be enough to pull the Z considering stock, with 110 hp, guys have pulled a lot of weight with them (one up to about 5,000 lbs). only problem with them is braking which shouldn't be too hard to overcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrus Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 I think I am just frustrated that no changes are allowed with smog. I failed the smog test because a downpipe was installed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest goldraven Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 yeah, I drove an 88rx7 to 260k, and sold it. I've had no problems with their reliability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 my friend has an 89 Rx7 with some mods, exhaust, intake, nothing serious yet.. And he's well past 150k. ~Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silicone boy Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 My 93 is doing just fine at near 95K miles. I have thought about getting a new motor, but I can't justify it right now. It's a blast to drive and abuse, and the G forces squish my brain against the side of my skull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 the whole thing about rotaries lasting so short a time is really a myth, I've seen several RX's with well over 100k on them that ran fine. The turbo ones are a PITA though, very common knowledge there, very buggy beasts that probably drove the bean counters at Mazda crazy because they were in on warranty claims all the damn time. Much as I'd love to drive one, I'd NEVER buy a turbo RX-7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy280 Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Theoretically a rotary should be more reliable than a piston engine. There's far fewer moving parts and the whole assembly operates much smoother (less NVH, etc.) than any piston engine. The first thing to go is usually the apex seals. I guess the high heat of the turbo is what kills the later models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 I'm on both sides of this one.. The rotary is a very cool engine design, and CAN make insane amounts of power from relativly small displacement. (although torque is a bit lacking..) I got to drive an 89 (I think.. it was a 2nd gen) TURBO 5 speed and YUCK what a slouch off the line... The owner said to get a good launch, you pretty much have to rape the clutch and drop it at about 3500. So I did and yup, it went. at about 8000 going from 2nd to third, I looked down and about had a heart attack when I saw the spedo. ..quite fast... There was a guy around here who built a custom 4 rotor engine by basicaly slaping two 13B's together and 'barely' tuned, it was making around 400 horse. Another guy known at the local track as "the Pizza Guy" (yes, he dilivers pizza in his rotary rocket) is a rotary freak. 85 with a 13B..I think.. and it's tweaked to about 300horse. N/A. Idles like a lumpy BBC, and sounds like a streat bike when he gets it going. Takes out mod'd 5.0 stangs like they were moving backwards. He's on engine #4 at this pont IIRC... Thing is, I have personaly NEVER seen a rotary engine last longer than 120K... that # and reliability goes lower the more you modify it to (like ANY engine, just more so) And when they go, there is NO warning. POP. Thats it, done. If you're lucky, it will sputer for a day or so, and get you back home before becomnig compleatly inoperative... I'd say have a piston engine'd car at the ready to get around in the event of a rotary meltdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Magnum Rockwilder Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 My 90 GTU dies at 98k miles, and my 91 n/a coupe died at 114k. Both of them were well maintained, but driven like a sports car should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR240Z Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 this thread is worthless without pics. come on we want to see this rotary in action Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas28O Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Cyrus The best RX7 is one with out the rotary. JTR sells LT headers for them. Put a LS1 in it. Do you still have your Z? I have not seen you at the track. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas28O Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Pic https://shell7.tdl.com/~jags/Pages/images/RX7-LS1-1591.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Yes go to www.wrongmotor.com and you will see some sweet RX-7s. Although they are not 3rd gen they are the 2nd gen. That guy over there stuffs LT and LS1s in them, hes got some cool videos over there too. Maybe they will give you an idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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