Rotary Car Club - theorie's new Daily Driver. 1993 BB Base Model Build

Rotary Car Club (https://rotarycarclub.com/index.php)

- Show your rotary car build up. (https://rotarycarclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=66)

- - theorie's new Daily Driver. 1993 BB Base Model Build (https://rotarycarclub.com/showthread.php?t=17720)

That's one bad ass daily driver. I also like the look and stance. I would do that with mine but ohio roads suck. I have to keep my cars stock just to get into my driveway.shit

I'm movin to fla.

Nice find. I wish my rust bucket had half the stuff you got there. lol keep at it.

Here's the wing I recently designed & fabricated. It attaches to the car WITHOUT any permanent modifications to the car - no cutting / no drilling. I designed this because I want to have a wing for weekend track time, but didn't want to drill holes in my trunk lid. This is the prototype - I'm going to run a group buy once I finish the design work and complete testing. The setup uses an APR GTC-300 carbon fiber airfoil. The risers are 6061 aluminum and the brackets (inside the bumper / under the car) are steel.

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1590.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1570.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1598.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1577.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1573.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1592.jpg

And here are a couple photos with the bumper off to show how it attaches to the rear of the car:

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1517.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...g/IMG_1518.jpg

So....how about an update. Well, I'm currently with not one, but TWO non-running RX-7s. ..here's the story.

When I bought the black car, I knew it had an issue and wasn't running right. Everything I diagnosed pointed to bad injectors. I swapped the primary injectors and the car still wouldn't run right. Then I thought it might be the ignition system causing a problem on one rotor. Swapped all the ignition system (with the ignition system off my silver car) and even ohm'ed out the wiring harness. Everything was fine.

Finally I caved and did a compression test...bad results - the front rotor was making very, very low compression. I also noticed that the oil system was getting pressurized, so I realized the problem may be one/multiple side seals on one rotor. I hoped they were only "stuck" since the car sat for so long (and previously was running rich due to leaky primary injectors), so I gave the old "steam cleaning" method a go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e46zbcJ8Hg

Well, unfortunately that didn't help...even after the "steam cleaning" the motor was having starting problems and barely idled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-H_XJwseOc

So I guessed the motor had bad side seals and decided to pull it. I've been super busy with work and decided it would be easier to ship the motor to IR Performance to pull it apart and do a rebuild.

Rich (GoodfellaFD3S) got the motor and cracked it open. He quickly found the problem: all of the side seals on the front rotor's front-most face were broken. Here's why: when I rebuilt the motor for the previous owner, he provided me with a set of new (used) irons that had been previously ported by another shop. I inspected them and thought they were good to use, but it turns out the front iron was just ever-so-slightly over ported and it was causing the side seals to catch/chip and eventually break.

I bought a new (used) set of ported irons from IRP and they even cleaned up the ports for me. Here's a shot that Rich sent me:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1392138669

Hopefully I get the motor back soon because I hate having 2 non-running FDs. lol

More recent update:

Shouldn't be down for too much longer. The motor is getting buttoned-up this week by Rich "GoodfellaFD3S" Farrell up at IR Performance. He said he can likely ship it back to me within the next several days.

I also decided I'm going to single-turbo the black car while the motor is out. The stock turbos that were on there were really bad and I didn't want to even bother putting them back on a new motor. I have several sets of disassembled twins sitting around, but I'm really tired of building "franken-twins" at least once a year since I can't get new parts and they don't last long at the boost level I'm hoping to push on this car (1bar).

I talked to my friend Kirk, owner of The Boost Lab in Tampa, Florida, and he's suggested for a street 13B-REW I should go with the Borg Warner S363 turbo. Here are the specs on this turbo:

Quote:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1392141049

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1392141049

BorgWarner Airwerks S300SX3-63, S363, S300 88/75 with .88 A/R T4 Open Flow Turbine Housing.
Rated at 500 to 750+HP
High-flow S300 model, with compressor flow over 75 lb/min.

Wheel Dimensions:
Compressor: 63 mm inducer / 88 exducer, with exclusive Extended Tip Technology.
Turbine: 76.1 mm inducer / 68 mm exducer. Cast in Inconel 713 for high-temperature operation.

Housings:
Compressor: Large 4.00" ported anti-surge air inlet / 3.00" 90 degree charge pipe outlet
Turbine: .88 A/R Twin Scroll, with 'T4-style', undivided entry, and 4.21" v-band discharge.

Product URL:
http://www.theboostlab.com/store/pro...Outlet%29.html

I'm going to have The Boost Lab swap-out the hot side housing for one with a Divided-T4 inlet, V-band outlet, and .91 a/r. I think this will be an awesome turbo for my street FD.

I was looking into the EFR line of turbos, specifically the models with the internal wastegate, but I decided against it. Here's why: First, obviously the price. The EFR turbos are far more expensive. Now, you would think the cost would be offset by not having to buy wastegates and also not needing a more-complex turbo exhaust manifold, but there's still a large gap in price when all is said and done. Second, and this is a big one, Borg Warner doesn't sell replacement parts for the EFR turbos...this means if a turbo ever needs servicing for non-warranty repairs, you can't get it. Let's say a motor goes and apex seals go through the turbo causing damage, well tough luck, time to buy a new turbo. Anyway, I think the S363 setup will be great for my needs and also fit to my budget.

Here's the line item list new setup going into the Black car over the next few weeks:
Street-Ported Rebuilt Motor from IRPerformance
New Apex Seals from RXParts (figured I would put in something a little nicer while the motor was open)
Borg Warner S363 turbo from The Boost Lab
Custom Dual-Wastegate Turbo Manifold from Advanced Race Technology
Dual Tial MV-S Wastegates from The Boost Lab
Custom Downpipe from Advanced Race Technology
Greddy Type-S BOV (already have, might upgrade though)

*** I definitely want to thank all of the following people for helping me out with this build! ***
IR Performance
Advanced Race Technology
The Boost Lab
RX Parts

I'll post some photos once I get the motor back from IR Performance and also the turbo parts from The Boost Lab - hopefully within the next 2 weeks.

I didn't know you couldn't get replacement parts for the EFR turbos. That would have been nice to know before I bought mine lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedjunkie (Post 275561)

I didn't know you couldn't get replacement parts for the EFR turbos. That would have been nice to know before I bought mine lol.

Yeah...big reason I decided against it. I actually talked with one of the BW reps this morning and he told me that he advises against using the EFR turbos on rotary engines due to the higher risk for FOD (Foreign Object Damage) to the turbine wheel, e.g. apex seal failure sending chunks of apex seals through the hot side of the turbo.

If anything damages that turbo and it's not covered under warranty, you have to buy a whole new turbo. :banghead:

I'll have to check the terms of the warranty I guess. I do know the titanium alumide they use on the turbine wheel is supposed to harden when hot, but I'm not sure how hard they get and if it's durable enough to take a hit from an apex seal. Thanks for the heads up!

Not much to report yet, but The Boost Lab sent me this teaser photo from my new turbo. In the background is the factory 7-blade cast wheel and in the front is their 11-blade billet wheel that will be going on my s363. I might have this turbo by the weekend, but I'm still waiting for the motor to come back from IRP. I think the motor should be back in a week or two and then it will be time to get the manifold fabricated.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1393289486

The "IRP Stage 3" motor came back from IRPerformance. I also received my new turbo from The Boost Lab. At the last minute, I decided to go with the Borg Warner s366 instead of the BW s363 as previously planned. I won't get into the reasons why, but I think I'll be happy with this turbo.

I haven't had a chance to take any proper photos. I decided to clean up the waterpump housing and filler neck while it's off. It had some surface stains and was kinda of grimy. I also checked the thermostat which was dry rotted and needing to be replaced. I installed a Banzai Racing oil pan stud kit and have a brace to go on as well, but couldn't find my motor mount arms so I decided to wait on sealing the pan until I have those arms available.

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-06-205501.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-07-182659.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-07-183513.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-08-084859.jpg

http://gallery.tfrascone.net/var/res...-08-190313.jpg

I'm going to pick up a new thermostat and another set of motor mount arms today or tomorrow so I can get that oil pan sealed with the brace and start to put the accessories back on the short block.

Nice and good info on the BW turbo.

Any updated pics from the first page of the thread? Either they're not showing up anymore or the net is being crabby this morning here!

Was sad to see this car had been sold but I'm glad to see you're taking care of it quite nicely. Now that you've fixed all the problems, let me know if you decide to consider selling it. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by case (Post 278386)

Yeah my hosting server was down because my credit card expired and I forgot to update it. Images should be back soon, haha