hi

im new to the rotary crap, but i bought an fc for 900 bux and amazingly i actually like the rotary a lot. for those you that know me i have a ls1 powered 240sx, and thought id go that route with this car. however since ive started beating the **** out of this thing on the street, the complete lack of torque, and backfiring is kinda cool, and extremely fun. however im pretty sure that the rotary in it will die eventually, and im already tryign to figure out which route to go when that happens, so heres my question



who here actually has a rotary they DRIFT THE **** OUT OF, as in bangnign off rev limiter, overheating it, 30 minutes of full throttle non polite abuse to the car, and it takes it.



im considering building a either n/a 150whp ish goal street drifting shitbox if thats possible at all, and super cheap/DIY/FIY/ghettofabrication ly possible, or do a 13b turbo if the rotary + heat from turbo + drifting abuse can = rx7 lives to see another day



ive seen jic/apexi/henry shelling(pink fc, probably **** up his last name), ross's car last year, speedmachine car, and that green fc with the widebody from cali thats pretty badass seem to work pretty well, but the thing is i can do a ls1 in it for under 4k easy and not have to worry about ****, but i woudl kinda *like* to play with the rotary more to understand it completely, but i dont want to spend an arm and a leg doing something that will blow up because i tried to save money and learn about rotaries.



is it possible to put together a good turbo rotary for under 3k that can take truely careless abuse drifting that will last more than a year or two?



how much power can a n/a 13b make with just some hand fabbed stuff and a DIY porting job? i really dont understand the n/a rotary stuff, ive read the threads but until i start messing with it 1st hand i dont think ill fully understand it past the point of get more air in/out and spin the rotary faster, even though it probably is that simple.





im not trying to be captain ls1 here, or bring up ls1 versus rotary im just trying to get an honest answer if it can be done right with my ability to make my own piping/mounts/manifolds/etc, and access to a dyno and stuff. id realy like to do the rotary thing once to understand it, maybe if i like it a lot do it again later, but if i dont at least i can say ive been there done that.



sorry if this seems stupid, im just trying to make a good educated decision before i possibly think about dumping money into this car instead of my ka-t s13

 

Justin Pawlak's Green FC is mostly stock engine wise. It's a S5 TII JDM motor (89-91 FC is S5) and it is stock internals and stock ecu and he beats the crap out of it. It makes 210rwhp. IMHO from my involvement in the sport, it is just like anything else when it comes to making your engine run well, and for a long time. Good engine management and a good tuner if you midofy more than stock. Without those you are doomed from the start. If you are in TX, Ari from Rotary Performance is really good at Haltech, as are some others from down there, so you are not alone. N/A rotary isn't very rewarding you will find. 160 crank hp isn't all that fun to some, but with some basic mods and a good stand alone, you should be able to put about 180 to the wheels. You can also swap in complete turbo drivetrains and engines into the N/A chassis just like 240's. The turbo drivetrain is much stronger than the N/A and will stand up to the abuse better than the N/A I think if you have 3-4K, you can build a very reliable powerplant that is still rotary. I talked to Todd Ho at Seattle about that. People think you have to build something like the Rotary Powered FD or the Falken FD to make it reliable, but really all you have to do is take the highlights from those cars, and you can make a fun FC.



The motor in the Falken FD can take a lickin and keep on tickin. I'm sure you remember hearing the rev limiter once or twice...a second It has seen coolant temps of 150C (300F) and doesn't blow head gaskets (doesn't have any) or break coolant seals etc. That car has lived its whole life over 5K rpm for the most part, and spends most of it's time over 7K rpm. Rev limiter is at 8800rpm. Car has a Haltech E6X with LS1 coils (just get the coils, and you can still have some LS1 on it!) Just wait till it's twin turbo and the power is about 200hp more



Just my .02 Feel free to call me if you have any questions about stuff Mike and I can help you out.

 

i borrowed kahrens 180rwhp n/a fc for a limerock drift event last year. i was bouncing 1st gear at 9500rpm for 5laps straight.........it didn't get hot, didnt ping, it didn't do anything it just went and was really fun!

 

trust what speedmach. told you he knows his junk...would not go to anyone else on west coast with my engine. Hell the whole crew there is very helpful and turst me I still ask for help from them.

 

is justin pawlak the drift brigade guy or the east coast widebody green guy?



i live in florida now, for the time being, not sure what my future will have me living at, but with all the puerto ricans there so many rotary shops its crazy down here. but are you saying 180 whp n/a fc?





ive seen the falken car beat to hell and back, as with any car in formula d. are yall running single or twin turbo on it? would it be smarter to run 2 small twins from a cheap bastard standpoint? (stock sr turbo=free-cheap, big nice turbo = more than free/cheap)



i can weld and stuff, so making the stuff work isnt a problem, but understanding hwo to properly build it on the other hand is where im lacking with the rotary stuff.





are you going to be at irwindale?

 

is 1st gear long on fc? i shift my car a lot but i do seem to use 1st gear a lot more than i feel like i shoud, are the gears long or something, i guess i shoudl see where the speedo cuts out in 1st.

 

Nope, that's a different guy. This is Justin Justin Pawlak





That is definately true. The easy coast has a ton of shops and tuners for rotaries. Not all tuners can tune a rotary. Yes with bolt on's and a stand alone, 180whp isn't out of reach at all. People have done it with piggy back ems, but the life span isn't as high as with full engine management. In the Falken FD, we have a single GT35R with a .68 A/R T3 hot side. Alot of people told me that wouldn't work, and power would suck. I beg to differ, and so do the drivers that have driven it and riders in it Next year, we may change to twins, but we'll see. If so, it would be like twin GT28RS' or similar. I will definately be v-mounting it to help with cooling. If you can get ahold of the S15 turbo's, that would work really well. But any of the sr turbo's would be fine. Just the BB would work better If you decided the turbo the N/A motor, then just one turbo would be fine. If you went with low comp rotors, then 2 of those would be pretty trick. Once you get away from N/A, you will have to address other things on the car though, like drivetrain. The N/A drivetrain doesn't like to be shocked, and there is a bit of that in drifting. Switching to a TII trans is a good start, and they can be had pretty cheap. As for the rear of the car, run it until something brakes and upgrade it. The driveshaft, pumpkin and axles are different between N/A and TII.





Yup, Seigo is driving the FD again, so I'll be there Tuesday for practice day and Friday and Saturday and prob awards on Sunday as well. I am easy to spot...look for the mechanic in the Falken pit with full sleeves of tattoos

 

yes FC's have LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG gears.... i wish i had video of me driving that FC.... it was hilarious. shooting endless 10 foot flames because of the first gear madness lol

 

dont forget with mountain dew in hand!!!



dave get falken to fly me out there and i'll take some more video ha ha

 

yes the flames are bad ***.