Turbo Jenken's FD

[Turbo.Jenkens]

Originally Posted by kingofthering

Turbo.Jenkens, I heard from Road and Track you're supposed to put fuel additive after every fillup.

So... is that true? They got that from some major tuning shop.

I put 4oz of Protec R with every fill up. Its use is heavily debated in the RX7 forums. I think I covered this at the begining of the thread.

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

i also heard you're supposed to bridgeport it after your first major service...don't ask why..i swear it's true.

From what I understand
bridgeports are intended for serious track machines. I will get a mild streetport when the engine needs to be rebuilt.

Megotmeat7, If your out there... please bring your expertise to this thread

Speaking of porting my wastegate needs it before any other performance mods are done.

[clutch-monkey]

Originally Posted by Turbo.Jenkens

From what I understand
bridgeports are intended for serious track machines. I will get a mild streetport when the engine needs to be rebuilt.

eh..doesn't stop people getting about with bridgeported rotaries here. <3 the noise of a bridgeported 20B
i guess realistically an extendport or peripheral port or whatever it's called would do.

[hightower99]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

eh..doesn't stop people getting about with bridgeported rotaries here. <3 the noise of a bridgeported 20B
i guess realistically an extendport or peripheral port or whatever it's called would do.

Bridgeports are much less problematic than P-ports (peripheral ports)...

as long as you don't go overboard of course.

[CapnBoost]

The above is true, in order of extremity:

Street port
Aggressive street port

half-bridge
Bridge port
Aggressive bridge port

J-port/monster port

Semi- peripheral port

Peripheral port

My baby has a street port, it's a kick in the pants from 5k on. One day, half bridge gt35r.

[clutch-monkey]

^
going by this guy's numberplate..i think i know what he's packing:

[whiteballz]

What is a peripheral port? Is that essentially just porting the chamber to be larger? or something entirely different?

[CapnBoost]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

^
going by this guy's numberplate..i think i know what he's packing:

Did you mean for those arrows to go down?

Originally Posted by whiteballz

What is a peripheral port? Is that essentially just porting the chamber to be larger? or something entirely different?

This explains it pretty well.

[Turbo.Jenkens]

Originally Posted by CapnBoost

This explains it pretty well.

Thanks for posting that. My local rotary guru said that a bridgeport would idle at around 1300 and decrease the life span of the apex seals. What all mods have you done to your FD? I am considering adding either a mid-pipe & stand alone ECU or aftermarket radiator + intercooler this summer. Any advise/experience you have would be appreciated.
Thanks

[CapnBoost]

I bought the car with a street port, poor-mans non-sequentials, 3" exhaust all the way back, koyo-rad, and the stock ecu. I got the Power FC in the deal as well as swaybar end links.

To put that in perspective i could get 2psi standing still. If i got on it from a stop i could be well in to boost by the time i crossed the intersection. It was a perfect storm for an engine rebuild. The stock wastegate is horribly inefficient, if you're even considering a midpipe you need to have it ported. I'd also pull the pills in the vacuum lines and get an EBC.

I've since changed out some of the rubber couplers for proper 4ply couplers and put a cat back on it. Installed the PFC & a profec-b specII. I've rigged up a boost switched intercooler sprayer and strut tower bar. The last thing i got was an odyssey 925 batter (small, lightweight). Next is going to be the intakes (fighters garage) and a new intercooler. I haven't decided weather i'm going to go stock mount or V mount (money). After that i'm going to pull the twins and port the wastegate, gut the sequential controls and fix or replace the manifold.

I think i said before i want to ultimately do a half-bridge gt35r, after i pay that off- 20b.

Bridgeports have a brap-brap idle. They don't hold at 1300, they kinda bounce between 800-1300. I wouldn't say they're easy on seals but at those power levels i wouldn't expect to go more than a few years w/o a rebuild. If seals are the only things you're replacing it should be pretty cheap.

[Turbo.Jenkens]

My world sucks.

For starters my credit card number got stolen and charges were made in London, Jordan, Turkey, and Switzerland. Mastercard has still not completely made things right. Though, they said they would, and I believe them.

My FD had been running fine. Everybody kept on telling me "I can't believe you haven't had problems from your 15 year old Vac lines yet." So I bought a silicon hose kit and took it to my rotary Guru. One look at the "birdsnest" and I new I didn't want any part of that. I got the car back last Fri and drove straight home very carefully because it was raining. Sunday I took her for a spin and discovered that my boost pattern had changed from 12-8-10 to 12-5,4,3. Basically at 4500 rps it wasn't switching over to the secondary. Oddly the secondary turbo was making plenty of whoosh, just none of it was making it to the engine. From what I've read nearly all boost problems can be attributed to faulty vacuum lines. But then why was the turbo audibly moving air? Maybe the y-pipe (or equivalent piece that I can't remember the name of) had become partially disconnected from the turbo? Either solution should be an easy fix, but since my mechanic was the last person to touch it I would let him figure it out. Took my car back on Tues, got it back this afternoon (fri). He said there was a leak between the exhaust manifold and turbo that was preventing me from getting any boost from my secondary. He also did a compression check and I am loosing compression. Not too surprising in a 15 year old car. Unfortunately the rear rotor is loosing compression faster. He attributed this to tired apex springs. His instructions were drive it (without a secondary turbo) until it breaks, then I'll rebuild it. To top off a perfect day it started raining on my way home, and Ironically my neighbor put a "for sale" sign on his 944 turbo this afternoon.

I know I should take my problems to RX7club, but I really just needed to vent some anger.

[Quiggs]

Have a few on me.

[Turbo.Jenkens]

Thanks Quiggs, I'm definitely getting stupid tonight. Truthfully, when I bought the car I new this would happen. I just can't believe its happening, if that makes any sense.
It was a long drive home. I did question why I bought her knowing a rebuild was eminent. At the time I could have gotten an early C5 vet for about the price of my baby + a rebuild. But I convinced my self I still love my baby way more than I could ever love a Vet, and we will spend many more happy years together. Then I rounded the corner and there was a for sale sign on the 944T, which I often admire. God must be testing me, to see if I really love my baby. I'm going to stop fantasizing about other cars now, and we will get through this.

Cheers

[CapnBoost]

check your oil level and pressure. My car makes about 8 inches of vacuum at start up, driving it i can get it to stay steady at about 10-11. If i shut it down and let the oil soak up some more heat- my vacuum jumps to about 15-17.

Exhaust manifolds usually crack, but they usually don't go all the way through. I'd still look for vacuum issues and make sure your secondary is actually contributing boost.

I don't recall off the top of my head which rotor tends to run lean, but i'm guessing that it's the rear one. If you're on the stock ecu you shouldn't be running 12lbs of boost.

[Turbo.Jenkens]

Sorry I came across as such a whiny bitch two months ago, promise it won't happen again.

Turned out my boost problem was just a loose vacuum hose.

The only Rotary guy in town quoted a rebuild at only $100 less than Pettit Racing (widely regarded as one of the best if not the premiere authority on Fds in the US.) They won the Rolex series GT class championship in 1998 with a modified 1993 rx7, and they've completed the 24 of Datona 4 times with their rx7. They ran in the ALMS in 1998 and have numerous scca victories under there belt. On top of all that they are really good people.

I spent the night at a friends in Orlando so I could arrive in West Palm beach at a decent hour (a solid 11 hrs from my home) When I first arrived the owner, Cam was working out a deal on some industrial rotary generators. While I was waiting Kandy, who is the most beautiful woman I've seen under the hood of a car, gave me an hour long tour of the shop. She performs all the machine work including ports on all their engines. She did talk me out of ceramic apex seals. They are indeed more durable than the original steel variety and for a while nearly all rotary tuners have been using them. Unfortunately, when they do go they shatter and give the same effect as diamonds in the engine, annihilating the rotor and housing. Cam spent at least an hour with me discussing options for my car. I was expecting to get the most professional service possible, but I had no idea how personable they would be. They even shuttled me too and from the Airport in an FD! When I picked her up, between testing and tuning, I spent about 6hrs around the shop. I assumed I would be one of their most distant customers, but there was a man there from New York and they had 2 engines shipped in from Europe as well as a supercharger order from Europe. If any European RX8 owners are reading this Cam was in the process of securing a partner in England to supply and install their RX8 superchargers.

Apart from the standard rebuild and street port I had their Blueprint Hi Flo Turbo upgrade* performed, Fluidyne race radiator, performance clutch, and 8.5 lb flywheel. They also did numerous little things to make my car feel new and prevent future problems.


She runs strong and sounds great. I had no problem keeping up with a C6 vet last weekend.

*

Our blueprinted Hi-Flo or BPHF Turbo unit is far superior to the stock unmodified unit. The turbo housing is hand ported and contour radiused creating a bevel on all the unfinished edges left from mass production, this reduces the hot spots* and minimizes the chance for heat cracking, aside from improving longevity this procedure also improves flow path and efficiency of the unit. Next all mating flanges are machined flat and prepped for a ceramic thermal barrier coating to be applied, (this reduces heat radiation resulting in lower under hood temperatures) then the housings are reassembled in a fixture to assure proper alignment. For the compressor housings we also port and polish the tapered discharge outlet (snail) improving efficiency and spool up**. All this adds up to a much improved turbo unit that has proven it self by providing reliable performance for so many of our customers. The same basic turbo was used in our road racing RX7 to win the 1998 GT 2 Championship.

Our process actually provides a part that is superior to new. All new turbo castings are with out heat cycles or “green a casting”, Green parts are less stable and less resistant to warping and cracking due to internal stresses. Heat cycling relieves the stress and provides a more stable part, then with our modifications and coatings they become far superior.



For complete assemblies like the sequential and non-sequential turbo units, the housings are reassembled in an alignment fixture and torqued to factory specs.



The Ceramic Coatings reduce heat radiation resulting in lower under hood temperatures This is the exact same technology that Pettit Racing used to win GT Championships and finish grueling endurance races like the Rolex 24 at Daytona.



All the Twin Turbo RX7 turbo housings we receive have cracks, we have seen attempts to weld up the cracks but all have failed, and the weld material eventually comes loose destroying the exhaust turbine wheel on its way through the turbo.



We have found that once our modifications are done the old existing cracks*** are no longer a problem and we have never seen a crack related failure of our turbo housings. This is because our procedures minimize the hot spot areas, reducing the heat loads that cause the cracks. This alone makes a huge improvement in longevity, but then we apply the Ceramic Coating further reducing heat absorption by the whole manifold.



We have found that these procedures provide for much more efficient and robust turbo unit that will consistently deliver the most efficient and reliable performance for street or all out racing of any parts currently available.



One of the most important things we have found is getting a proper install of the turbo unit. Using anit-seeze on all the threads and proper torque on all the fasteners is a must, then after several good heat cycles we retorque the fasteners. It is also a good practice to retorque the fasteners twice yearly.



Warranty, 12 months form purchase date, If the part fails for any reason we will replace it free, you must obtain an RA# and return the failed part to us. We only provide the replacement part; we do not pay for shipping, installation labor or anything else.



We offer the same modification and blueprinting service for your turbo and/or manifold. Each turbo unit or manifold we receive for service is disassembled, inspected and quoted, prior to any costs being incurred.





* It is a fact that the OEM unmodified turbine housings as well as the new Jspec 99 style units have a design which creates an exhaust flow path that causes hot spots in several areas of the turbine housing, this leads to small cracks in the housing which will grow until finally creating exhaust leaks that make housing replacement necessary.

[charged]

Sounds like a nice streetable combo you have there, what sort of costs where involved for the rebuild mate ?