The heart and soul of any car is its engine
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1.3 Liters of rotating madness! |
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Garrett
GT35R Single Turbo with SS tubular manifold from A-Spec Tuning.
Ceramic coated pipes. Installation notes
TiAl 46mm Wastegate
TiAl 50mm Blow off valve
Vacuum lines "weeded" but airpump and emissions components retained.
Crooked Willow Racing large "race"
Intercooler w/custom fabricated aluminum hard piping. Installation notes
A'PEXi
Power FC with FC Commander.
GReddy
Profec B Spec II boost controller.
TechEdge
Wideband O2 (Lambda) Sensor and Display. Installation notes.
1300cc Secondary fuel injectors.
Installation notes.
Denso high flow fuel pump. Install info here
Crooked Willow Racing Dual Oil CoolersInstall info here
HKS Twin Power ignition amplifier
Taylor
Vertex 8mm silicon ignition wires
Shane
Racing Main Underdrive Pulley. Horror stories with installation (Click
here to see what can happen if it's not done properly. Be warned
it ain't pretty) of the Unorthodox
underdrive pulley convinced me that to avoid any possible headaches the
simpler bolt-on pulley would be the way to go. There is, however, the very
nice 4 piece set sold by Unorthodox for $399.00.
Aluminum underdrive water pump and alternator pulleys
(details here)
SR Motorsports 9.5 lb Aluminum Lightweight Flywheel.
(Installation notes)
ACT Heavy Duty Street/Strip Clutch.
(Installation notes)
Braided SS clutch line.
(Installation note)
Optima Battery
- relocated to the passenger side rear storage bin
ATR 3"
SS Midpipe with high-flow catalytic converter
PFS 3"
SS Cat Back Exhaust
GReddy
elbow (polished)
Relocated Air Intake Temperature Sensor
(Installation notes)
Silicone Intercooler hose connectors w/upgraded Breeze T-Bar clamps
Mazda
Competition Race Radiator with custom made air ducting
OBX Red Silicone radiator hoses
(details here)
Pettit
Coolant/Air Separation Tank (custom mounted and polished)
JAZ
Oil Catch Can
Custom fabricated oil pan baffle plate.
Triple-R
polished alloy engine brace
Complete vacuum
line replacement w/Red Silicon Hose (Glued and Wire tied) Click
Here for more info & pics.
Lowered AC
condenser
Redline
Oil in transmission (MT-90) and Differential (75W90)
Redline
Water Wetter in coolant w/distilled water 60/40mix
Polished Manifold and Intake
Piping.
Custom fabricated polished
alloy wiring and sensor brackets (to replace OE steel brackets).
Oil cooler fender liner vents and relocated washer fluid reservior
Well my car *USED* to be like a rolling advertisement for Peter
Farrell Supercars but the times have changed. The shortcomings of the PFS system became more and more apparent
the more time I spent on the track pushing the power limits of the car. This in the addition to the fact
that PFS is turning his attention to the Lexus line of automobiles makes my decision to move
away from the PFS products perhaps a wise choice. At the time (c.1996) I was looking for performance upgrades I decided
that PFS made the best overall package for the level of performance I was seeking. Granted
it wasn't the largest intercooler but its fit and finish was head and shoulders
above the rest. Today I think the M2 and
CWR setups are the next generation of performance
packages that equal if not exceed the quality of the PFS components and offer
a step up in the level of performance. Of particular note, of not only the PFS package,
but the SR Motorsports and M2 packages as well, is that these "types" of cold air intake takes
air from the nose of the car and not the engine bay. Most of the competitors open filter intake
systems do are simply open filters drawing warm/hot underhood air.
Cooler intake air means better power and increased reliability.
The Original Setup - 306RWHP @12psi
In the beginning I chose the PFS PMS due to its user programmability and because it
covered all the adjustable parameters - fuel, boost, and timing in one
package. The programmability proved it's worth as dyno tuning yielded an
additional 10RWHP. The others, that are drop in replacement chips, although cheaper
in the short term, require upgrading anytime a modification is made to
the powertrain. Not something I would wish to do as my modification path
has been gradual, requiring frequent adjustment to the computer. However as with
all good things there are downsides. From what I understand the EFI PMS is a variant
of an ECU developed in it's early days for the Ford Mustang 5.0. EFI and PFS adapted
this piggyback ECU for use in the RX-7. I have tried both the purple box and the Pink
generation box and found them to work as advertised (see dyno results below) with one
exception, a problem with the Pink box *in my car* at 6k rpm. So I decided to
switch to the standalone ECU replacement, vs the EFI piggyback, and try the Power FC.
I have no regrets over the switch.
Me with Peter Farrell @ Summit Point in the early days - 1998
Halleluya! At last the 300 HP threshold has been surpassed!
I think that the car is capable of even more as the 305.6 RWHP number was
attained after 9 back to back pulls and the whole car was pretty well
heat soaked. Also at speed the ram air effect in the PFS intake should be good for
another 10 or so RWHP.
Notably, the numbers I generated earlier(bracketed above) with the G-Tech
Pro G-Tech Pro were pretty accurate and
definitely good enough to give you an idea of where you stand.
However, even though these numbers are good I believe I am getting
very close to the limits of what is attainable with the stock fuel system
and with stock turbos and an unported motor. Injector duty
cycles are hovering around 85%. About the limits of reliable power.
I'm too chicken to run at 14psi for the above reason. But I estimate
at 14 Psi this engine should be good for over 320RWHP on a stock motor
and turbos if more fuel is added. Hmmmm let me add some items to my list
of things to do :-)
FWIW, these numbers are fairly consistent with the PFS claims of 300Hp, 330HP,
and 360Hp at the flywheel at 10psi, 12psi, and 14 psi respectively.
I should also like to mention that I have no internal engine modifications, like porting or such, and am running on the stock turbos operating sequentially as originally designed, and with all factory smog equipment in place and functional.
Removal of the Crane
"Fireball" Hi6 Ignition Amplifier w/coil
Since testing I have removed the Crane Ignition amplifier and coil
in an effort to eliminate the 6000rpm hesitation I have been experiencing
at the track and recently on the dyno.
In the interest of simplicity and with words of wisdom from
those more experienced than I who say the stock ignition system is perfectly
adequate I decided to pull the Crane ignition mods. Additionally, at the
same time I replaced the OE coil wiring harness (Go
here for a picture) that not only is prone to degradation of the insulation
due to engine heat, leading to high resistance and subsequent signal failure
to the coil, but that it also eliminated the splice where the Crane ignition
box was wired into the OE harness. I have run the car at
the track and found that without the box there was no (subjective) degradation
of power.