New member, looking for suggestions...

[beeraduh]

Hello! I just found this site looking at parts and building tutorials and I was just looking for any suggestions for parts and sites to browse for them. So far I've looked at racingbeat.com, mariahracing.com, and japandirectjapanese.com. I'm looking to start with an '85 as that seems to be the most common I have found on my local craigslist. What I am planning on doing is using it as a daily driver and slowly building it into a track day car that i can still use to drive back and forth to work. Eventually, I want to swap a motor and I was looking at twin-turbo FD motors on japandirectjapanese for relatively cheap and wondering how well that would work. I'm relatively new to Mazdas, but I am pretty good with cars. Any input by any of you guys would be greatly appreciated!

[codge]

Hi mate and welcome. Like the 'Beer' in your posting title.

Any questions I'm sure we'll help where we can.

Codge.....(Owner of that smart silver '85 with the beoootiful red coach stripe).

[beeraduh]

Thanks!
I've been reading about everyone's builds and learning more and more about the wonderful world of rotary and took a particular interest in Steve's build. I am truly grateful that you guys have such awesome technical knowledge that you're willing to share! IMHO two heads are better than one and having a whole forum full of guys who know what they are doing is going to be an invaluable resource for me in whatever build I choose to do. After all the research I'm thinking 12a motor in an '85 GSL. Love these little cars!

[Steve-A]

Hiya and welcome and all that

There's no point in having knowledge if you're not gonna share it, and we all like ot see another FB saved from the scrap heap and driving up the road

We had slightly different spec cars here in the UK, but if you want to build a car that will be good on track then I'd look out for a GLSE.

IIRC the GLSEs had a number of advantages. They had bigger brakes, a more common wheel PCD, a limited slip diff and the 13b engine. Dropping the twin turbo 13bREW from the FD in is not very easy, but a 13bt from an FC is a much easier swap. With aftermarket turbos and engine management the power ouputs are basically the same on either engine.

You can even swap the whole front subframe and gain rack and pinion steering Check out Ramon's thread as that's what he's got.

[Lucky]

'lo

Think Steve's pretty much answered your questions there. Apart from the fact I'm not even convinced the twin turbo architecture from an FD would physically fit between the turrets of an FB engine bay, you certainly don't want to be learning the hard way how to troubleshoot the solenoid-based control system for the sequential twin turbos. Herding cats or plaiting water would be easier hobbies to take up! Definitely an FC (2nd generation RX-7) lump is the way forward, it has the advantage of having been done before and you'll know it can be made to work. If you're going to the effort os engine swaps then I'd go for a 13B over a 12A, lovely though the smaller engine is, they are no longer made new and good parst are getting scarce (expensive!)

[ian65]

Hi and a warm welcome to the fb forum.
Steves advice is spot on..... try and find a decent gsl-se as they come fully loaded with all the goodies plus the injected 13b engine. Putting a 3rd generation engine into a 1st gen car is an immense amount of work.... much better to port or turbo a gsl-se... the good news is that being in the US, you have access to plenly of great suppliers and cheap 2nd hand spares for the RX7fb
Good luck with your purchase!

[beeraduh]

Wow I didn't know about that, that sounds like the best way to go if I can find one of them. See, you learn something new every day haha. I was thinking about sticking to N/A so there's less to go wrong, plus I am still going to try and use it as a daily driver for a while so I'm thinking about keeping it simple for a while. Too many people whispering in my ear about turbos got me all excited. A lot of the deals that I am finding online come with an extra motor so I plan on playing around and dissecting one to learn the inner workings. You guys are awesome and I will be sure to come to you guys first for any questions I may have!