I recently became the third owner of a 1989 RX-7 GTU with ~39 thousand original miles. Its very sweet compared to my dearly departed '86 GXL with about 100K more miles. I can definitely feel the extra 14 horseys kicking under the hood. Anyhow, I feel like I have a clean slate to work with, and I want to make this thing be a hot little sleeper without scrapping the works in favor of a Turbo II engine and driveline. I'd rather not have the thing ported, either, but I may do that in the future, money permitting. What is the best place to start with a car like this? What mods will give me the most power for a naturally aspirated engine?



Happy Rotoring,

Andrew

 

I would say start with the usual intake, headers, exhaust.

 

What would those usual things be? I mean, who makes the best intakes, exhausts, etc...?

 

Can't go wrong with a K&N intake, but there are cheaper ones out there.

I'd go with Racing Beat headers, or you can go to Mazdatrix for a complete exhaust system.

 

Can't go wrong with a K&N intake, but there are cheaper ones out there.

I'd go with Racing Beat headers, or you can go to Mazdatrix for a complete exhaust system.[/quote]

How do you get away with having the headers and no cat in King County? Don't they have emission laws down there?

 

Can't go wrong with a K&N intake, but there are cheaper ones out there.

I'd go with Racing Beat headers, or you can go to Mazdatrix for a complete exhaust system.[/quote]

How do you get away with having the headers and no cat in King County? Don't they have emission laws down there?[/quote]

Well, I'm in Snohomish county. I'm going to be swapping to a "legal" exhaust sometime this month, got my test due at the end of this month. Gotta keep the smog ***** happy. :madgo:

Where in Washington are you?

 

Oak Harbor, up on Whidbey Island. Don't know if you know where that is. They don't test for emissions up here, but they do have noise regs. I don't know if I'd get stopped for any though, even with a header setup like you have. There are plenty of loud, F-1 wannabe, bumblebee ricers in Oak Harbor, due to the Naval Air Station. You name the car, there is probably a riced version of it up here. Also, a buddy of mine used to have a 1964 Chrysler 300 with a bored and stroked 383 V8, cams, big carb, hi-flow dual exhaust with a Flowmaster at the end of each pipe. That car was LOUD. Even with all of that, I think he only got stopped once for noise.

 

I've been to Oak Harbor a few times. I go up there at least once a year on my dad's boat. Good crabbing up there. Yeah, I see tons of riced out cars every time I'm there. I bet my 7 is louder than you friends Chrysler 300. I've been pulled over twice for loud exhaust. :frown: Ask Phinsup, he has heard my car, here is a quote from him....



You gotta get some pics of your car up on here. I used to have a 90 GTU. :smilewinkgrin:

 

What's the fine for loud exhaust? I don't think I'll have the $$$ to go for a full header system for a while, but it would be good to know.



I'd like to get some pictures of the dang thing, but its pretty filthy right now. I took a trip to California in it shortly after buying it; drove Highway 101 down the peninsula and the Oregon coast. Talk about dirt, man. I tried washing the thing this morning, but it was too cold out for me to do a good job. Guess I'll finish it off tomorrow, and pray for a sunny morning.



How was your GTU? Hot stuff like the cabrio?

 

What's the fine for loud exhaust? I don't think I'll have the $$$ to go for a full header system for a while, but it would be good to know.



I'd like to get some pictures of the dang thing, but its pretty filthy right now. I took a trip to California in it shortly after buying it; drove Highway 101 down the peninsula and the Oregon coast. Talk about dirt, man. I tried washing the thing this morning, but it was too cold out for me to do a good job. Guess I'll finish it off tomorrow, and pray for a sunny morning.



How was your GTU? Hot stuff like the cabrio?[/quote]

My vert is still pretty slow (damn mazda added almost 400 lbs on the vert). I didn't have anything done to the GTU. It was 4 years ago that I owned the GTU. I was too broke back then to do anything to it. I only had it for about 4-5 months before the carbon build up caused my rotors to seize up. :frown: Then got rid of it. But that was the car that made me fall in love with the rotary engine.

The fine for loud exhaust is like $70-$80(i can't remember), but I've had my exhaust on for over a year now, 2 tickets isn't bad for how loud my car is.

That drive down 101 must have been nice. I took it up from Coos Bay, Or. last year, but it sucked, it was dumping down rain, and it was windy and foggy as all hell. So not too far past Lincon City I drove to Salem to get back onto I-5.