Hola.

For some strange strange reason Rx7's have been attracted to me lately. My buddy Cj recently bought a 88 FC with aspirations of total drift monster proportions. I started acquiring parts and materials for the customs fabrication of a multi-stepped N/A header that would shoot enough flames to make a hillbilly giggle. Following soon after a white FC slowly crept into the bay doors. Through word of mouth and a solid channel of friends, Aaron approached me with a project. His car has been around the block, 10 second quarter mile car, won some IFO's here in arizona and has been a pretty reliable yet slightly funky, haha. It had a cast short runner HKS single turbo manifold but he recently had his setup redone with a high quality tubular sch40 manifold. This manifold was considered a "medium length" and was setup in a T4 divided dual 40mm TurboSmart configuration. After quite a bit of research on his part his personal requirements changed and he was in need of someone capable to make all his dreams come true.

I'm not new to the rotary game but this is the first rotary project I've had complete control over every aspect of the build, its so nice to have my own shop!

I got my first taste of Wankel power when I was given the task to design, prototype, and fixture a manifold for Justin Pawlak during my 3+ year stint working at Full Race.




While this design was pretty solid for a medium length runner (around 10" if i remember) it still was full of compromises. Ease of collector fabrication, collector angle, Equalized pressure drop per runner, single gate on divided manifold, sheer cost ect...


Years later I moved on to bigger and better things, became my own boss and took a hold of total creative freedom over every aspect of the custom fabrication process. Aaron first came to me with certain valid concerns about his recently custom fabricated turbo kit. Some of these issues were - Turbine housing to intake manifold clearance, wastegate placement, vacuum line placement, and the need of a high quality short runner turbo manifold.

Since this car is his daily driver I moved it to the top of my list and was able to deliver it exactly one week after he drove it to my door, it made for a good Christmas present, haha. I was also able to keep a very tight budget on the project as I recycled and re-fabricated as much of his previous kit as possible. The build consisted of teardown, prototyping and fixturing a new turbo manifold that met all goals, re-fabricating the downpipe to fit new location, one new dumptube, hard piping the compressor cover, re-fabricating the intake, re-clocking the turbo (angle well within Garrett spec), install a new drain hose, rerouted vacuum lines, complete install back to running and driving condition. Lets just say Aaron got one hell of a deal!!!


The turbo manifold came out better than I had expected. All clearances came out amazing and the kit was very easy to install. The manifold is almost perfect as far as individual pressure drops is concerned and the length is right on target. The collector because I was able to integrate it into the actual runner has become far more efficient and I was able to give the wastegates semi-priority while at the same time keeping them away from high heat sources. This equals better more reliable and controllable power.

I call it the Ultimate Shorty

 

bump for good welds

 

Those I cannot take credit for. Cj Tune was the artist behind the torch, as one of the OG workers and welders at Full Race and now AFI welder, I am lucky to have his services at my disposal. I have never seen a guy sing and dance and laugh so much while dropping some of the most impressive dimes on this very earth.



This guy makes my stuff look good

 

Damn....those welds..my eyes are afixed...

x234872039458724 for some damn good work!!!1

 

wait wait wait, cj bought a car???

 

HHAHAHAA

 

looks great, forget the welds, I like how it fits.....

 

Haha yeah. Who would have thought an FC right. Lots of potential, specially in the hands of Cj. Cage plates are patiently waiting to get fit....tube bender is anchored....tubing is on the way

Thanks! Definitely a fun project that I feel achieved every goal I was aiming for.

 

Very nice looking piece, I few questions. what was your reasoning for the large weave pass on the collector portion of the manifold? Were there concerns with stress in that area? does it have to do with expansion rates and a small 2 runner manifold?

Do you plan on running the dump tubes farther back or connecting them back into the exhaust? Any concerns with flames being present under the car from the dump tubes?

Oh and wash the damn underside of the car. haha

 

Thanks. The cross stitch weld was used to solidly integrate the 1/4 inch thick divider plate between the two collector elbows. The dump tubes exit just below the oil pan, i feel they should be fine. And yeah, the car was really gross due to a soon to be replaced bad oil pan gasket.


Hopefully this car will be going onto the dyno pretty soon. I'm pretty excited to see some data and feedback.