Well, it turns out it was a good idea to be loyal to my '7 and stick with it through the good times and the bad (keeping my Karma clean probably didn't hurt, either). As luck would have it, my Father brought home the good news that they had an "extra" 13B Turbo engine lying around at the company he used to work for (ECA, Inc., an internal combustion engine R&D type company), and that it was no longer needed. "Would I like it?" Is the Rx-7 the greatest sports car the world has ever known? (Wait! Don't answer! It was a rhetorical question.) Of course I wanted it!
Anyhow, I took photographic documentation of my gift engine in early 1996. This thing really is sweet. The engine was built on speculation, basically as a curiosity piece. They were interested in rotary engine technology, and decided it would be neat to see what a moderately-tuned turbo rotary could do. Apparently it wasn't interesting enough, 'cause the unit got mothballed after only about four hours of run time on the dyno (just enough to break it in and get some readings)! This seems to be an accurate history, 'cause I checked the plugs and the oil while I was there. The plugs are virtually brand new, with but a light black carbon coating. The oil appeared fresh, with no carbon dirt to be seen.
The turbo kit is a CarTech, which inlcudes a Garrett T-04 type RotoMaster turbo (V2-trim turbine, P-trim compressor) and a RotoMaster wastegate. The intake is a blow-through carb setup, utilizing a single Weber downdraft two-barrel carburetor. The kit sports an air-to-water charge cooler integral with the plenum, and the engine even comes with an automatic transmission attached! The only thing it's missing is a distributor, and the '81 unit off my 12A should work out just fine.
Of course, I wouldn't be worth my weight in ceramic apex seals if I planned on using the engine as-is. No, eventually (after I install it) I'm gonna' fit it up with an engine management system (most likely an Autronic system from Lee Performance in Lake Elsinore, CA), which of course must be followed by more dyno time to properly tune it. As the old axiom says, "speed costs money... how fast do you want to go?"
I was told that as it is now, the engine made "over 300 horsepower." This claim seems to match reports from other CarTech-powered '7 owners. I've been told the early CarTech literature advertised this kit as the '1C' system, a first gen ported 13B putting out 340 bhp, resulting in a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds and a quarter mile time of 12.8 seconds. Power to weight ratio was listed as 7.1. That's better than a stock Viper (7.59), and I used to think it might even be able to hang with one when the transplant was completed. Alas, Car & Driver stats for the Viper GTS list a 0-60 time of 4.0 seconds and a quarter-mile E.T. of 12.3 seconds. Shucks. Maybe I won't even bother now. Not!
