What say GRM (1st Gen RX7)

In reply to aussiesmg:

Cool. I don't know how on earth a (car) guy my age never had one..but so it goes.

Meh, I never had a Mustang until I got the $2011/12 Challenger, still never owner a manual Mopar or any Porsche.

Both flaws must be rectified.

I've had an FC, which I wasn't crazy about, and I have an FD now, which I sometimes like OK, but sometimes not. Still, I want to have an SA or FB some day, to see if that's the one that really clicks with me.

Single turbo FD tuned for 3-350 wheel HP is on the bucket list/must have. I loved my twin turbo 94, but the nightmare of bad tuning advice, and not knowing where to take it for service or advice convinced me to sell it within a year.16 years of learning says I want another now.

In reply to aussiesmg: As I said earlier, I just bought one, but can someone explain what is "bridgeporting" ?

Taking a dremel to the ports in the engine to increase flow. Makes good power and lovely noises. Requires disassembly of the engine to do it.

Think of it as an incredibly effective cam swap.

DaveEstey wrote: Taking a dremel to the ports in the engine to increase flow. Makes good power and lovely noises. Requires disassembly of the engine to do it. Think of it as an incredibly effective cam swap.

The bridge is actually a port so enlarged that the seal must have a "bridge" to travel over.

So the port is actually 2 sections.

http://www.rotaryengineillustrated.com/RE101pages/4-ports101.html

a great detailed write up here

http://www.ausrotary.com/viewtopic.php?t=47212

Bridgeported motors do not last long, either from the wonderful sounds they make in all out attack mode or from just increased wear. Full bridge motors require often disassembly and increased maintenance. If its not something you drive daily, 10k+ rpm shifts and big fireballs can be had.

A mild bridgeport can be very reliable, I did 5 years of constantly beating my 13B 4 port almost every weekend, in rallycross, autocross, hillclimbs and track days.

Damned thing was never opened up after being built, went through a couple of gearboxes and a rear end though.

However I do agree it is not DD friendly at all.

gpsmotorsports wrote: In reply to aussiesmg: As I said earlier, I just bought one, but can someone explain what is "bridgeporting" ?

What aussiemg said! It's like porting the heads on a piston engine, you just want to get more air in there. But due to the design of a rotary, you have to leave enough metal there so that the apex seals don't wiggle out of the side of the rotors.

Remember, any engine is just a glorified air pump. The more air you can get in and out of the thing (and the speed at which you can add that airflow), the more fuel you can add. Bigger bangs, more POWER!

I won't address the reliability question, since I've never actually owned one. I'm just talking about the stuff I've seen at the racetrack. Aside to aussie..love ya, bro, but a street bridgeport? Yeah, I can see it being reliable if it's mild enough, but didn't you end up with like 3mpg or something?

In reply to aussiesmg: Thank you for the links, great read indeed, I had an idea what bridporting could be, but didn't know where or how far you guys go with this things. No disrespect, but is the same prinsipal as porting on a 2 stroke kart motor, you need to leave some support for the ring to pass over the ports without suffering a shearing action. yesterday I managed to get the secondaries to open and this morning I drove it to work, filled up with premium 100% gas and.....what a frigging blast, first time I got to work smiling !! Although the car is stock ('84 with only 82,400 miles) I couldn't walk away and leave setting on the car lot, I took it home for $1200. It will be a DD, so BP & PP is out, but I will look for a nice turbo set up, will have the exhaust done today, and new tires, as I found out it's "ass end happy" ! Will keep you posted of upgrades, and will ask questions if you guys don't mind. Later dudes.

Ass end happy means worn out bushings

I'll add Turbo + rotary is fun! but not long lasting. NA rotary will go 200k+ before needing a rebuild as long as maint is done. Add forced induction and you might get half of that.

Spinout007 wrote: Bridgeported motors do not last long, either from the wonderful sounds they make in all out attack mode or from just increased wear.

Uh-huh.

Full bridge motors require often disassembly and increased maintenance.

Uh-huh.

If its not something you drive daily, 10k+ rpm shifts and big fireballs can be had.

Uh-huh.

Now, speaking as someone who DOES daily drive a bridge ported engine, that's all BS.

Knurled wrote:

Spinout007 wrote: Bridgeported motors do not last long, either from the wonderful sounds they make in all out attack mode or from just increased wear.

Uh-huh.

Full bridge motors require often disassembly and increased maintenance.

Uh-huh.

If its not something you drive daily, 10k+ rpm shifts and big fireballs can be had.

Uh-huh. Now, speaking as someone who DOES daily drive a bridge ported engine, that's all BS.

Things I've read, not so much experienced on the first two. I know they sound wicked.

Third I've seen and witnessed in person. Granted it was an all out drag car and the 4 ft flames were shooting out the side of the car and not the back. But I have seen, heard, and laughed my ass off at this one. (My bone stock FD was the only other rotary there that night for test and tune, and the little starlet was the only car there that made me reach for ear plugs)

In reply to aussiesmg: Yeeaaa....nooo, it's due to a size 11 shoe pushing through the firewall ! Picked it up from the muffler "delete" shop an hour ago, loud as Hell, go kart on steroids !! But lots of fun, I'll take it to Hallett first oportunity I get. Will hook up with local club (Tulsa), and start gathering go fast parts, but first... BRAKES. do this cars have good braking systems or an upgrade is a must? PS, I can't figure out how to load pics without taking the whole screen, I'll keep trying tho.

Knurled wrote:

Spinout007 wrote: Bridgeported motors do not last long, either from the wonderful sounds they make in all out attack mode or from just increased wear.

Uh-huh.

Full bridge motors require often disassembly and increased maintenance.

Uh-huh.

If its not something you drive daily, 10k+ rpm shifts and big fireballs can be had.

Uh-huh. Now, speaking as someone who DOES daily drive a bridge ported engine, that's all BS.

shhhhhh then parts will be cheaper for us!

Get rid of the high octane gas. You are just throwing money and maybe horsepuppies away.

Best bang for teh buck is exhaust. Get a good header and large single (you WILL want a muffler).

Then you can look at doing teh 2nd gen coil upgrade and rats nest delete.

Also, look up Sterling on RX7 club to get your stock carb de scuzzified and working awesomely.

After that, if you don't have enough power, it gets a bit expensive OR time consuming.

Rob R.

We run a first gen in Lemons. We just run good (not-slotted or drilled) rotors and Hawk Blue or Black pads on the front with HP+ pads on the rear. If you need more braking than that, you are over-slowing.

Rob R.

wvumtnbkr wrote: We run a first gen in Lemons. We just run good (not-slotted or drilled) rotors and Hawk Blue or Black pads on the front with HP+ pads on the rear. If you need more braking than that, you are over-slowing. Rob R.

Our Chump/Lemons RX-7 ended up needing more brakes than that so upgraded to the 4 piston 2nd gen brakes. It might have had something to do with the increased entry speed the 5.0 added. 135ish mph on the back of PBIR and Sebring will do that.

For a street car new rotors and good pads should do just fine.

Yep, time to start my mid-life crisis car search. I believe I've narrowed it down to the 1st gen rx7 for many of the reasons mentioned.

As far as minor upgrades go, I can understand the steering upgrade as well as suspension freshening, etc. But what about the transmission? From what I've gathered, the miata (S2000, RX8 as well?)has one of the best/if not the best shifting transmissions made. If Mazda made a miata coupe I'd probably be all over it. I believe that would be the icing on the cake for an engine that encourages shifting. Anyone?

The miata trans is internally identical to the 1st AND 2nd gen RX7 trans.

The differences are shifter location (tailshaft is swappable to accomodate this) and input shaft is different.

The shift assemblies and gears and MOST of the bearings are identical.

To re-iterate, the trans and shifter ARE THE SAME between a 1st gen and a miata.

Rob R.

Nice to see an enthusiastic rotary engine discussion on here, for sure!

Bridgeported is cool, but I prefer to use a turbo to stuff more air into my rotary engines.

In reply to friedgreencorrado:

not really for the apex seal but for the corner seal to ride across, however the apex seal is in the center of the corner seal. so you are also right.

For the record guys, most of the posts are 6 months old.