I recently had my engine rebuilt about two months ago to this day and have put around 600 miles on my car since then and i drive it on a daily basis. I have a love-hate relationship with my car at the moment, it drives great and I have gotten many compliments already despite its boo boo on the side but I do have a few issues with it.The car SMELLS! Its seriously a stinky car that reminds me of Mexico, It's probably my fault for deleting the emissions but god damn, idemitsu is some stinky stuff. This might have to do with my carburetor flooding, oh right MY CARB FLOODs after letting the car sit for more than 15 mins after a shutdown, not the 7's fault but having to crank it ten seconds is never fun and the smoke it emits from gulping down a bowl is embarrassing haha. The car is also noisy due to the fact all the door seals are dry rotted and the wind gets in, and up until last week the car had really bad squeaking from the sunroof which I fixed by blasting every door/hatch joint in the car with WD 40 which fixed the issue, but the car still rattles whenever I hit a bump, I guess I should replace every bushing and seal to stop this. Also, I feel this car had some silly design choices in regards to the rear end ( fixed in the GSLE) and emissions was B*** to pass before I decided I wanted to be a western bandit who always feared the law.First of this car handles like a go-kart on steroids, it's tight, light, and sounds amazing! The car has a timeless classic look, I have gotten compliments from car guys, old guys, women, kids, and had great conversations with people in the rotary community when seeking parts, it's amazing how much you guys know and how friendly everyone is. The car is comfortable to sit in and a blast to drive on the highway and on long trips. SO far everything that has broken can be fixed with a little elbow grease and forum tips. The power band is always there at high speeds and I feel fully in control, I like it better than my Mach 1 and even my mom's 2016 corolla. It truly is an amazing car considering it's 40 years old ! It also feels fast and honestly, despite being an auto ( with short gear mods) I feel I can still dust modern sports cars ( 370 z's / FRS/ Miata's etc) and if I ever wanted to upgrade the engine, could go toe to toe with modern mustangs and cameras with the right set up for half their MSRP . But as I am right now there's no better car for carving up the LA canyons for the price !What I can't stand about my car, the seats are torn and rotting away into dust, the carpet is faded from wine red to what I can only describe as the color of a females inner walls ( you know the color boys) , my right side headlight is always up so my car has that cute look, my driver side fender is black and the driver side quarter panel has a ding in it from a hit and run and I ripped the rear carpet out because it was molting and it seems a lot of plastic parts in the interior are just disintegrating into dust.. This leads me to the final ugly point, this car is a MONEY PIT , seriously it uses ten bucks of gas every 4 days, every darn part is either hard to find or absurdly expensive compared to similar parts for say a mustang or a Z , and all the issues I can fix cost mucho dinero blondy!

In summary, I don't regret buying my rx-7 , it was never my intent to make it a daily but since my daily blew its engine, I had to make do with what I had during these times, and you know what, I don't regret it, it's my favorite car I have owned so far ( out of ten, the oldest being a 69 mustang, to the newest being a 2012 Sentra SR) and despite its small flaws I truly do enjoy it, I enjoy it so much I want another one LOL! It truly is amazing that it's still feasible to drive this car on a daily basis despite its age and the rotary's bad reputation among the general public. As long as I keep up with maintenance and premixing the stinky stuff, I'm sure it will be here for years to come.

What about you guys ? does any one else daily drive a SA/FB?

 

I use mine as a daily beater except I like to really keep up with the mundane dull boring maintenance and maintain the undercarriage's undercoating.

Compared to some rental american made car with current technology, driving the rx-7 is ecstatic.

Your rotting seats, molted carpet, and leaky door seals can be fixed by throwing what is equivalent to a month or two worth of car payments at it. I removed the center consul because it was a waste of space, and have toggle switches. The heater blower, and windshield wipers just have one speed. The turn signal connector is crumbling back to its elemental components. The door panels are now stained luan board. The door handles are fabricated from square tube corner pieces. Form is derived from function.

I bet all those shiny american made rental cars have been crushed for scrap. Gives me a thrill when I see a less than year old car with water in its tail light, or driving around with a parking light out.

 

I wouldn't call it a Daily, but it gets driven as my primary car whenever I need to go somewhere and want to have fun doing it. I have other cars that I can drive, as well - but the RX7 gets out just like today - a quick run to the store and around town as blacktop therapy. At 247k miles now, and everywhere I stop, people want to talk. The guy at the store today had an 86 Gen2 and sold it regrettably, but still had the passion. That's what makes these cars fun to drive - over 500k were imported into the US for Gen1, and everybody or their brother had one back in the day.

For the amount of work you specify is needed on your car, it still beats a car payment. Start ordering up parts from Mazdatrix and get busy. First of all, put your OMP back in and quit premixing. Your exhaust stink is pretty normal, but made worse by your overly-oiled intake mix...

The rest of it gets better over time if you want to work on it, and it matters to you. Here's some inspiration,

 

I too daily my first gen, in this case an SA. Picked it out of a field (a literal field, not a car lot) where it had sat for 16 years. Almost every major mechanical part has been replaced, serviced, or upgraded, and I enjoy it whenever possible (which is sometimes difficult with the Pacific Northwests obsession with rain).

My worst gripe with the car is that it leaks rain water. It's nowhere near as bad as it used to be - think rock solid carpets because they've become sheets of ice - but it's still plenty to fog everything up. Combine that with no AC and rainy weather driving does get a little cumbersome, not to mention damp. Only other anti-daily friendly component are my carburetor modifications which require me to warm the car up before I can drive it no matter what time of year it is. That said, for the short five minutes that it takes I certainly believe the improvements with the carb changes outweigh the cold starts. There's also a two holes I routinely replace duct-tape for, but other than that it's quite solid rust-wise.

The car scoots pretty well and I really wish we had some better, not leaf ridden mountain roads nearby. My recently changed up suspension now makes the car feel like a go kart through corners, and doesn't launch me forward everytime I shift. Some Kicker fronts and rears with a concealed (under the "rear bin" area) Bazooka tube sub keep the tunes going strong and the highway mileage isn't so bad (~25mpg). Stock seats are great on long trips, and there's still enough room to fit what you need. And the smell? Why it's an automagic cologne dispenser don't ya know.

I didn't expect to be dailying a 40 year old car, although it works out surprisingly well. It turns heads (even with its current skin condition) and there's a lot of compliments and "oh I remember those". Overall it's a fun little daily even with the quirks, and a few spare engines for insurance makes it even more "trustworthy".

 

I have no idea if my car still has its OMP anymore, i premix because my mechanic told me to do so.

 

I used to daily my 85 that I out a 13B from an SE into. It was a great car and I had zero issues with it. The difference is that ibleft it completely emissions original, original exhaust, and original omp with no premixing. Before making it a daily driver, I replaced all of the window and door seals, hatch seals, and installed and charged the factory a.c. system. It made for a great car for years. Now parked due to a running issue unfortunately. I'll figure it out and get the car back on the road asap!

 

ten or 20 years ago, all the posts were about holley carbs, doing pre mix, doing racing beat exhaust, direct fire, after market 14 and 15 inch wheels, hogging out the carb, wiring something open on the carb, removing the rat's nest.....did I miss any? adding a rear wing?

now all the posts are about OEM.

 

I think that market went to facebook.

 

I'm all about reliability. A lot of these mods aren't very reliable. I'm saving up to replace all the window and door seals and purchasing seat refurbishing kits. In retrospect, I wish i wouldn't ave removed my smog stuff but I do like the increased power the car has

 

A lot of it definitely did go to facebook, that's for sure. Nearly all of the cars on there seem to be modified in someway, and not usually in minor one. That said, I still think the basic mods, such as larger wheels to accept better tires or slight changes to the carb to make things a little peppier, are still popular around most places, although it does seem to be headed more towards the "less is more" adage. Then again a lot of the info posts for that stuff are older and so many people probably just reference the original threads without needing to document it again and again.

As far as smog stuff, well, I didn't have a choice with my car but I honestly haven't noticed much of a difference other than on the emissions front. It drives fine, the only issue are cold starts which is my own doing. Carbs don't really become less reliable unless they've been tuned poorly or are no longer optimized for all weather driving, neither of which are necessarily a reliability issue. Heck, I still get 25mpg on the highway, seems pretty reasonable to me. Although I do see 14mpg around town, but who's counting .

 

My RX7 has been my primary daily car for almost 5 years since I got the turbo Nikki up and running. I drive it every day it rains winter and summer; if no rain in winter then I drive my Ghia, if no rain in summer I'm on the motorbike.

I got no qualms with the car. BUT its time to restore it a bit. Those 5 or so years have been hard on the girl. Carpets fading, seats getting worn, headliner is starting to droop; you know normal wear things. Thats why I'm kinda glad I'm almost finished with her replacement. I can put the RX7 to bed and save up some cash/motivation and do a good job restoring the car's trappings.

 

ooooo....whatcha got?

 

Been daily driving my 83 for 12 years. 332,000 miles on the original engine. Hopefully it will last a while longer.

 

1974 CB 550. I used to just ride motorcycles rain, shine, or snow. But I'm older now.

 

nice! cafe style right? i rode dirt bikes as a kid growing up. my granddad owned a honda dealership in greenville so we used to go there and ride around on the back lot. he also owned some land up in glassy mountain and rode there a lot too. never rode again after i started driving. been wanting a street bike for a long time so when what i was looking for showed up on CL i had to jump on it. picked this up this time last year. had like 43xx on it and have put another 6k on it.

 

After his divorce, my dad and his live in nutbucket decided they liked riding it, and took it from me when I was 16. She had a v yeast infection, and it got into his sinuses. And then they kept re infecting each other. So they kept accusing each other of cheating. This was before vasigil. And some people say life is unfair. I'll probably be banned for this, but it was worth sharing.

 

Hey, a nighthawk. I had that engine on a bike for a short while; although mine was a bit older with the hideous comstar wheels (1980 Honda CB750). Traded a Virago for it. Much better than the Virago, but I like a peakier power band. The Virago was super flat and un-inspired. Nighthawks have that tried and true strait 4 design that Honda has just perfected. Those carbs are better than the ones on the 80's engine.


I've always been a Honda man. I've had more Hondas than fingers and toes, but I've always had a good love hate relationship with Suzuki.

 

same here, honda is all i know. i've seen these with the blacked out engines and kinda wish mine was. but i love it and it's a blast to ride. wish i hadn't waited so long to get one. this one is a '92.

 

I should of said my teenage bike was a 2 cycle Puch 250cc. It's acceleration was so fast, I had trouble holding on at partial throttle. So how do they hold on with those damn pocket rockets?

 

Pocket bikes are a ton of fun. Foot peg clearance is an issue, but they are fun on a bun like nothing else

I had a late 60's Suzuki T500 long ago. I love a two smoker. I used to ride that thing around the neighborhood; years later a collage of mine saw a picture of my old T500 and mentioned that at the time he thought it just had blown rings. That thing consumed oil like nobodies business. It had an oil injection at the ports (crazy high like almost 20:1) and had an oil "dribbler" for the chain.

 

How did it get into his sinus? WTF!! LOL I'm done . I thought you were going to say she stunk up the seat or something ... also is that a riced out Mazda Lantis up top.. i feel embarrassed I know what that car is.

 

MX-3, I had to look up what a Lantis was and I don't think it was sold on this side of the world.

 

Then she'd get mad at me because she imagined I found her yeast infection and their counter infidelity accusations funny. She dropped out of high school, worked as a erotic dancer, then graduated to hotel escort, then progressed to truck stop lot lizard. And she was a raging alcoholic.

Point is that if you find yourself lonely this saturday night, there are hundreds out there just like her but with more malign biological hazards.

 

Haha, hey we were all young and dumb at one point. But back then I thought it was the bee's knees. Goodness that picture is almost 15 years old now.
That MX3 was the direct predecessor for my gold '79 RX7.

That 79 RX7 was my new daily driver when I wasn't on one of my MANY motorcycles. It wasn't anything special just a 13B 6 port with an Edelbrock on top.

 

Yesterday my turn signal lights stopped flashing .. I looked on the forums and found it was a "flasher unit" under the dash.. I gave her a good wiggle and whack and it came back to life.. Ahh daily driving this baby is a trip LOL.