Thanks...I guess I'm used to reading Olddragger's, Eric, ETC posts were they've tested and tried a few things. I was hoping for a good solid "yeah this works and this is why" which you helped greatly so thanks!

I am about to go race happy so I am installing all the cooling mods as soon as possible. As stated in my signature I am starting with the BHR Rad and mazsport water pump/thermostat. So I figured this would be the right time to determine if I should do the coolant swap or not.

Just today parked in 89 degree weather my coolant temps were 239 at idle. If I'm not mistaken, I believe i read it somewhere, we should be around 190 to 210. I want consistant coolant temps at all times.

Anyways...I know this is off topic so no more coolant banter. Apologies. Please PM if you all have more info/suggestions. And before anyone says it...yes I searched and found the Evans thread but no real experience was discussed.

 

239 at idel is HOT. Sounds like you have a problem (cooling fans ???) you need to fix beore you start throwing expensive parts at the problem. Its off topic for this thread, so all I am going to say is go find a thread that talks about cooling modifications. Most people can improve their vehicles cooling simply by restoring it back to factory quality. If you plan to race hard in moderate to high temp enviroments, upgrades are usually needed, but the flashy and traditional gofast parts dont usually do the trick.

So do some searching, learn and thing or two and if you still cant find answers to all your questions, feel free to PM me and I can walk you through it.

 

well based on your recent postings you are clearly a n00b in the most general, sincere sense and racing mods on a street car require a whole different attitude and approach wrt maintenance, cost, side effects, complications etc.

Are you prepared to drop $100+ getting your coolant system water-free and loaded with Evans which requires replacement annually, but also risk the dealership, oil change monkey, or friend/coworker that you may have loaned the car to having no idea what it is and dumping water/glycol in on it, which means doing it all over again?

 

Team...you know I've been on this forum for a very long time. I dont post much and when I do I usually don't offer much knowledge at a level that would be helpful in your eyes. With that said you really don't know what my attitude and approach towards whatever end I may have and you make too many assumptions based on my forum posts. All that was asked was your experience with said coolant not if I should even consider racing. The concern is appreciated but not necessary. I know the risks and if I don't I will know when to ask.

 

Running Evans or water free coolant in your rotary is the best thing to do. The benefits out weigh the price.


WoW yearly replacement of Evans coolant? What bright guy is changing Evans yearly on there car ... LOL

 

Evans:

My recollection was bad wrt race vs. street use, but then my car doesn't see much street duty. However, based on what I see come out of there following an annual change would not make me comfortable going longer regardless. You can do your own car as you see fit though.

 

However, if your 239 temp at idle is correct then you need to determine the cause of this before throwing mod money at it imo. My first suspicion would be whether or not the fans are operating correctly with regard to rotational speed. The fans are in full control of the coolant temp at idle or very low vehicle speed if everything else is proper. The WP and radiator mods will not change this. Further, imo it makes no sense to run lower fan operating temps because again this only affects coolant temp when the vehicle is stopped or moving slowly. Why do you want to make your engine less efficient in that particular operating mode? That's all lowering the fan on/off temps does. With the Evans I raised my fan control temps up, not lower.

 

I localized the issue to my AC...I have a bad valve (I forget what it's called) which is causing the AC compressor to work overtime to keep the cabin cool. The sideaffect of this is the AC condensor is running hotter than usual and is ofcourse mounted to the radiator which is pushing temps up significantly. I turn off the AC when parked and temps stay consistant at 190 to 195 F.

So in other words you want the engine to run in it's "sweet spot" temperature wise. Cooler is not better. I've heard Eric mention this as well that this engine likes to run hot in terms of producing HP.

 

Any updates on the Bridgey?

 

Doing a mild bridge port at the end of this month , my buddy who has been racing with rotaries since the '80's will assist me in this project. He mentioned that a mild port for the Renesis will do best since a full bridge port will bring about heat issues ,poor mileage and other problems. My apex seals are very worn now, hard starting seems to be getting worse than better , even with premixing. 164k on her , I was sure i was going to make it to 200k. Depending on what we find , I may have to get a new rear rotary housing if it shows chopping on the surface of the inner housing.

Also I noticed and he knew this already, the Renesis exhaust ports exit from the intermediats... where as the older 13B's the exhaust exit from the roatary housing. He wants to try and experiment with using the old 13B motor with full port work before trying to use my rebuilt motor. I'll keep you guys posted....

 

:facepalm:

 

If he tries to port it like the earlier 13B motors you will be buying new plates. There is not as much material behind the ports like the earlier motors.

 

Correct, already have templates. But he has some other info he doesn't want to share with me , what is it with these rotary guru's and there secrets? LOL

He did mention taking the Renesis guts and using them in a older 13B housing...I'll wait and see what direction he wants to go with this. I'll be a good assistant, keep my mouth shut and just watch and learn.

 

I hope your builder has the right tools for the job. Good luck lol.

 

Oh he does....

A few guys in the Tampa area are still driving his cars that he built from the '80's on up. He built many 8 sec rotary RX-7's,a few road racing RX-7's. He had a tubbed out RX-2 he sold not to long ago that ran high 7's in the 1/4 mile. Now he is building a twin turbo '86 RX-7 as his toy. Trust me , he knows his stuff.

 

Many of those who specialize in the older 13B's and the RX-7 platform have encountered all kinds of surprises when they operate under certain assumptions when approaching the Renesis and the RX-8.

 

He may know his stuff but you clearly do not. In addition to the big doodly talk BS you can't full bridgeport a Renesis even if you wanted to. When you actually have something to talk about it would be interesting to hear about, but until then please spare us the big plans speech as we have heard it all before. Even then this is a bridgeport thread so if you only do a mild port then please post it elsewhere

 

Oh I must of offended you all knowing...(roll eyes)
That is why I may go with an older 13B housing if its possible with renesis guts... Also i know you can't go a full bridge port, and he knows that too.

Your right , i don't know alot about rotaries as this is my first. I know about piston engines and built some pretty nice motors in the past. The big speech plans go in effect 3 weeks. Your right talk is cheap... so until then I'll be on the sidelines till then.
Cheers!

 

What good are old 13b housings going to do for you? Do you plan on having custom tuned exhaust manifold made to support the flow? I just don't see the point when the stock exhaust ports flow more than adequately for a NA engine. If you were going with huge FI, I could begin to see an advantage in do it, but even then, it may be questionable at best, and probably not worth the huge cost of the custom manifold. You can actually loose HP if you have a poorly tuned (designed for the application) manifold.

 

making yourself look silly doesn't offend me, but building an older 13B with Renesis internals still has nothing to do with this particular thread since it will not be a Renesis then either.

Instead of going on and on about your buddy why not just tell us his name? Surely he must be well known in the rotary community based on your glowing list of accomplishments, meaning you only need to say his name.

 

Is his name Scott?

 

Hate to sound like a noobed out idiot, but what are the benefits of bridge porting?

 

admit it, you like it

https://www.google.com/

 

Reddozen is right, like Charles and Team are.
The side exhaust is a very nice thing, especially in a NA car. Peripherals let the exhaust gasses pulse out of the engine in a different way, more suited to spool up a nice turbo or for high rpm racing. In a daily driving scenario or even a "human" track car i'll take the side exhaust ports anyway.

 

Almost too easy