Kimio

Hello all, it's been some time since I last visited let alone posted here.

I have some questions regarding the differences between parts of an original early 90's RX7 from Japan as opposed to their western counterparts.

Engines parts, brakes, etc. the ECM may need to be swapped or wiped, so that American emissions computers can read them (though by US law, by the time I can bring the car back it would be considered an antique, so it may not be a problem) I'm trying to figure out if I'll need to build connections here in Japan to get parts or if I'll be able to get solid after market parts state side.

I am in a very unique situation at the moment. I am currently stationed in Japan and may have the chance to bring home a right hand drive specimen to become my project car (early 90's models only so '93 will be the newest I could legally bring back state side)

Doing my homework, I will want to ensure a number of things are in place, but I am concerned that I will have problems getting parts for the car once I get it back home. Right now I'm look at a 1991 FC manual trans, there is also a '92 FD up for sale locally completely unmolsted from what I can tell. (Have not been able to check underneath for rust yet. Nor have I been able to get confirmation on the state of the internals.)

Is there anything I should pay special attention to while I'm looking at a vehicle from the land of the rising sun?

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Almost all the parts are the same.

As for emissions equipment, as these cars don't really contain any sort of OBD, then there's nothing for diagnostic equipment to read.

Kimio

Thank you for the reply.

Another question I have is how friendly is the RX7 for someone still at the entry level of working on car.

I know many of the bare basics of working on a vehicle having grown up in my uncles auto shop. That was with piston engines however, and if I'm going going to work on a rotary, I want to do it right.

armans

iTrader: (2)

FD RX7s are not that hard to work on, in my opinion. At least it was the case with me - I had never worked on a car before I started working on my rx7 (like replacing suspension, taking injectors out for cleaning, oil cooler lines, etc). There are lots of info in this forum you will be able to refer to. Having the space, right tools/equipment and time (lots of study and research) probably I'd have the courage to take the blown motor out for a rebuild too. But when it comes to the ECU tuning I'd rather have an experienced tuner do the job.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Honestly, it's just a car. Aside from the fact the engine block is different, everything bolted to and around it is fairly standard. Unless you are talking the FD twin turbo system with its 3 billion vacuum hoses, but at least that is well documented. All common issues for any generation of RX-7 are well documented on this site as well as others. For the most part everything on the car is accessible.

Kimio

No I'm not really looking at a Turbo to start. I want to try an NA version to get my feet wet, since this will be the first car that I want to really get into. I'm green as grass when it comes to working on cars, but I am eager to learn. I just don't want to screw something up and end up blowing up my engine in the process if I can help it.

gruss16

Make sure to get an English owners manual..... Haha the engine/parts will all be the same the only main difference is the emissions. So depending what state you bring the car back to may be a problem. However it shouldn't matter if it's over teh 25 year import ban.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

i'm a bit lost ... unless made so by the owner, i didn't think there was such a thing as a Japanese non-turbo FC.

staples323

You are correct, there were no N/A FC's in the Japanese market.

Kimio

Welp, then that's a good bit of information. I wasn't aware of that (Thank you for enlightening me.)

Noob here, still doing my research (Not doing a very good job at it apparently).

I saw a few NA RX7's here for sale, so from what I'm gathering, the FC's and FD's here that are NA or non-turbo had their Turbo's removed?

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Yes, any NA FC or FD would not have come like that from the factory. FDs were all sequential twin turbo. Japanese FCs were all single turbo.

If the turbos have been removed you need to determine how it was done. The proper way would be to install higher compression rotors.

richard5657

I'm in Okinawa as well right now. My wife and I looked at a lot of the local FCs, but many were rusted out, or had other major issues. We settled getting one from auction in mainland Japan. It got put on a boat, to come to Okinawa.

I'm American, but my wife is Okinawan, so that was a big help in terms of sourcing a good condition car.

We used Ride Over Auto Masters, to get the car from mainland. The were located just outside Kadena, Gate 1.

Kimio

May I ask how much that ran you? The more I've been looking around locally, the more I'm leaning on trying to find one from the mainland. I'm primarily interested in the FD's personally.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

ordering a car from mainland adds ~2000$ to the overall cost of the car. thats for all the logistics involved. i ordered 2 cars from mainland while i was there.

Kimio

Interesting, I'm down in Okinawa, so I'm curious about how to go about all that. I remember talking with someone about an auction site or something that allows you to bid on cars or buy them outright.

I was planning on going up and picking up the car myself and then bring it back down to Okinawa if at all possible.

Not sure what is required for that though.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

its more hassle than its worth but there are places there that will go on the auction for you and find you cars. you just tell them what you want and they will show you whats available then you just pick. if nothing you like is available at that time then they will let you know when something new pops up. if you go to the dealer out kadena gate 1 behind the familiy mart parking lot they will do this for you. theres a short bald guy that works there named mike. talk to him. im not talking about johnnys lot either. its the lot thats next to u-time.

the thing about doing this is just be prepared to spend a bunch of money and have more than extra on hand. the thing with buying auction cars is that you dont really know what youre getting outside of a picture and a paragraph. the jci process could go smooth or it could end up costing thousands. its all a risk. i advise not to do it unless you REALLY want the car because youre going to be paying a lot. theres nothing wrong with the cars in okinawa so long as you look them over properly. not everything is rusted to hell and the cars that are a little rust can be repaired by any of the 100000000 body shops there. so long as its not cancerous rust then i wouldnt let it bother me.