1993 Mazda RX-7 and 1991 Eunos Cosmo - Rotary Fanatic

Having traveled from coast to coast attending rotary meets, Phil's met just about every rotary expert in the industry but actually found an amazing engine builder in his own backyard. "Parts-trader.com, a big rotary source back then, was local to me in Birmingham, Alabama. I met the owner and he's the one who introduced me to my engine builder, Luis Canzales. I was very impressed that Luis built his own lapping machine and lapping table even though he has no formal education with this stuff. His rotary knowledge is amazing; he's able to mix and match rotary parts from all generations of the engine."

With a Luis-built and ported 13B-REW under the hood, Phil was now able to complete the build of his Montego Blue beauty. "It had a tan interior, but I switched it to black and bought and installed a set of JDM rear seats [in Japan the FD came as a 2+2 for insurance purposes]. I also replaced all the glass from a spare FD that had a better tint job. Pretty much every part of the car has been changed out. All suspension arms have been dropped and cleaned, bushings replaced, turbos changed and parts polished. Then in May [2009] I bought the FEED bodykit, because my sponsor Exedy wanted to show the car but wanted to update its look from the '99-spec body I had on it."

Phil's attention to detail doesn't stop there, though. There are dual oil coolers from an R1, an extremely rare glass moonroof from a '94-95 model, RZ brakes and Spirit R seats which took him more than a year to find. According to Phil, "That's the fun part about being an enthusiast-looking for the rare parts and being willing to search for them patiently. The Deals Gap rally and attending lots of meets has helped a lot, too, since I've developed real relationships within the rotary community and have found some great parts by meeting with people in person, rather than doing everything online which is so impersonal."

In fact, Phil became so unhappy with the overly commercial and impersonal feel on some of the rotary forums that he started his own, www.rotarycarclub.com, where smaller vendors and specialty shops that make unique one-off parts for the rotary can advertise for free and where rotary enthusiasts can interact in a friendlier and more mature environment.

"Within the rotary community, I've had a lot of great mentors, starting in Cincinnati and then later in Birmingham, where I learned to tune using a PowerFC from Steven White, a local guy who was huge in the rotary tuning scene and was the first person to break 400 whp with a twin-turbo setup. Everyone in this community is willing to help you out and that's the same approach I take." Clearly the words of a man with an unsurpassed passion for rotary-powered machines and just the kind of fanatic this industry needs more of.

By David Pratte

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