"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
08/17/2015 at 03:33 • Filed to: None
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"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
08/17/2015 at 03:33 • Filed to: None | 20
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A full proper Oppo Review of the Unicorn RX7 (The Turbo SA22C is the rarest RX7 ever produced with an estimated less than 2000 built in Japan only) will be done on it in a couple of weeks... It still needs a bit of tunning work right now as the ECU has been changed but not tuned accordingly with the mods RE-Amemyia did to it “back in the days”... Hopefully will be done this week end, and I won’t have to go all the way to Chiba to RE-Amemiya and have it done there... it’s something like 500km away from me and I’d like to avoid that...
As of right now, it is by far the best chassis I ever got to drive. It’s rigidity is uncomparable with anything else I have driven. The roll cage most likely helps quite a bit, but that lightness... damn, it feels so light!!
Anyway, full review as soon as the fuel/air ratio problem I have now is fixed as I can’t really have “my friend” do a proper driving video in the japanese mountains to go with the written article :)
Crappy pictures for now, proper ones will be done for the article. Enjoy the 80static paint!! :)
AM3R shamefully returns
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 03:41 |
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Congrats! Looks like a ton of fun. Looking forward to the full review and some more pictures. Any plans on paint/mods?
LongbowMkII
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 03:45 |
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Very nice. I wonder if RE-Amemyia would have any interest in my dream/project... Probably not being half a world away but maybe a bit of insight.
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Flavien Vidal
> AM3R shamefully returns
08/17/2015 at 03:47 |
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Paint will have to go away at some point lol...
According to the VIN, it was Gunmetal Grey originally so it might get its original paint back. As for the mods, it’s already fully modded to my liking. It revs up to 9000rpm instead of 6500 orginally and it produces close to 200hp, which is way enough for a car which weight has been brought down to 2100lbs (950kg) :)
All the rest is purely awesome and very tricky to drive. I’ll go further in detail in the full review, but let’s say that it’s VERY prone to turn in oversteer :)
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Flavien Vidal
> LongbowMkII
08/17/2015 at 03:49 |
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Your best bet is to ask... It doesn’t cost anything and he is not retired yet so :)
But FYI, there are other tunners in Japan that do great jobs too... I’ll go see RE-Sugiyama this week end as this kind of old Turbo Rotaries are a freaking mess to tune properly and I’ve been told he does a really job too...
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LongbowMkII
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 03:52 |
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I’m not concerned about turbos, I think a n/a 13b in the middle of a Europa is tempting death enough on it’s own.
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Flavien Vidal
> LongbowMkII
08/17/2015 at 03:55 |
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It is indeed a mess... Here at least I can have access to roatry specialists in case of a problem, but anywhere in Europe, meh... good luck...
Which gen of RX7 are interested in?
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LongbowMkII
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 04:06 |
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If I had to pick; a late SA SE-L trim, however my big dream is just having a rotary powered Lotus Europa: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/lotus-europa-p…
I should be rational and just fix up one of the Renault motors I already have... but... um. I can’t unthink this thought. I’ve tried.
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Flavien Vidal
> LongbowMkII
08/17/2015 at 04:25 |
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Oh Europas are nice... My godfather recently finsihed restoring one. It’s a beauty!
It’s fully restored now, but I haven’t got any updated pictures...
If I were you I’d just put its original engine back into it. Unless you have easy access to a mechanic that knows his way around these engines or can deal with them yourself, you’re better off staying away from them really :)
They are quite a mess to deal with haha
You also better have your wallet full. Last tank of gas lasted less than 200km for an AVERAGE consumption of 24.8L/100km. Granted I was having a bit of fun, but not THAT much either.
cletus44 aka Clayton Seams
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 08:24 |
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I’m a huge SA22 fan and I had no idea these existed. This was a factory job? Turbo 13B?
Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 08:27 |
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I really really like this.
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Flavien Vidal
> cletus44 aka Clayton Seams
08/17/2015 at 08:31 |
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Yep, factory made turbo... No 13b though. 12a turbo, known simply as the 12at... If I recall correctly the engine was also used in an obscure Cosmo from the 80’s noone really care about lol
As I said, it’s quite a unicorn in the rx7 world :)
165hp stock, mine makes a bit less than 200hp after going through the hands of Amemiya..
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Flavien Vidal
> Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
08/17/2015 at 08:36 |
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It won’t get stanced though ;)
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cletus44 aka Clayton Seams
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 09:22 |
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Amazing. I assume it’s fuel injected? What year did they make these?
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Flavien Vidal
> cletus44 aka Clayton Seams
08/17/2015 at 09:44 |
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1984 and 85 in Japan only... Fuel injected indeed. It is said that less than 2000 were produced which is logical considering that it was only an option on the car, solely available with a manual gearbox and that only 1500 sa22c sold total in Japan in 1983.
I have yet to find actual numbers though, I hope that if my final article/review gets published on Jalopnik again, someone will be able to come up with the actual sales numbers.
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Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
> Flavien Vidal
08/17/2015 at 14:04 |
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Good! it looks great already, I like those wheels.
damnthisburnershitsux
> Flavien Vidal
08/21/2015 at 10:21 |
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many louvers, such wow, ventilation>9000
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Flavien Vidal
> damnthisburnershitsux
08/21/2015 at 10:30 |
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Considering how freaking hot the engine gets, it better be well ventilated haha
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damnthisburnershitsux
> Flavien Vidal
08/21/2015 at 10:38 |
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I’m sure!
Junebug
> Flavien Vidal
08/21/2015 at 13:43 |
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This looks like an awesome find. I’m jealous.