Foolish challenges. Pick your poison. Climbers do Everest. Believers search for the Holy Grail. Forty-year-olds with mullets put the band back together.
Rotary 510s are the car guy's version. Everybody who likes cars is intrigued by the idea. A great little giant-killing car with a great little giant-killing engine. What could be better? Rotary 510s are trick from top to bottom, especially if it's a turbo rotary. Nothing is off the shelf, nothing bolts on. That's the challenge. A rotary 510 isn't so much a car as a test.
Michael Essa, of West Hollywood, Calif., a self-employed fabricator who has owned a few 240Zs and a few RX-7 Turbos, decided to mix his drugs and has passed the test. It began with a $500 deal on a 510 shell.
The first task was to weld every seam to strengthen the shell. Then Michael had to find a suspension because the car had none. The standard 510 front upgrade is 280ZX struts, which have bigger brakes and are about an inch shorter, leaving more travel when the car is lowered. Tokico 280ZX cartridges in front are paired with Koni shocks for a first-generation RX-7 in the rear, where the semi-trailing arms were also notched and reinforced to clear the 16x9-inch, three-piece Panasports.
Michael says nobody else has put 9-inch wheels on a 510 without flares, so it must've been the right thing to do. There's also a lot more work to be done before he reaches his goal of 245-section tires.
The engine and transmission came from a 1990 RX-7 Turbo II. The engine was rebuilt with 9.4:1 rotors, 3mm apex seals and a street port. A custom manifold feeds a Garrett T04S turbo. A Skyline GT-R intercooler sits ahead of an aftermarket radiator for a 1993 RX-7, and the RX-7 Turbo oil cooler is supplemented by one from a Porsche 911. The final drive is an R190 from a JDM Fairlady Z, with 4.44:1 gearing and a welded differential.
There was no interior, and some might say there still isn't. Some aluminum paneling, a cage, and remnants of a stock dash are the surroundings for a Cobra Suzuka race seat, Simpson harness, MOMO wheel, Sparco pedals and a fire extinguisher. Autometer Ultralite gauges monitor rpm, boost, oil pressure and water temperature alongside a K&N air/fuel ratio meter. The auto parts store "rally mirror" helps Michael "watch out for cops" behind him.
Dave Isaac, at Body Works in Los Angeles, shaved the side marker lights, installed rear lights from a Bluebird, and a first-generation RX-7 sunroof. The car was painted inside and out with the metallic blue from a 1998 BMW M3. A carbon-fiber hood from "Super Mario," of TSR, completes the look.
Letting a fabricator start with a bare shell pretty much guarantees things will get out of hand. The question, "Should I modify that or leave it the way it is?" never gets a chance to be asked. This car is beautiful from a distance and on the outside. Lift the hood or look underneath, however, and it's a mix of absolutely perfect fabrication and things that look as if they were done in a hurry-just like almost every other rotary 510 we've seen. What sets this one apart is it's a driver. Essa uses it to get to work three or four days a week, enjoying what took him three years and about $25,000 to build.
As far as the USCC is concerned, this 510 is a longshot. But who knows? A turbo rotary in a 2,100-pound car should have the speed, and those Hoosiers should get it around corners. This thing just might be a giant killer. And the giants are the nine other USCC entrants. Good luck, Michael.
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