USS CJ

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

16x7 +34 front 16x8 +39 rear Stern beast face II, 225-50 tires all around

FC3S Murray

iTrader: (7)

So clean.mnmmmmmmm

need RX7

iTrader: (4)

^^

leftcoastdrifter

iTrader: (17)

i must say about your "s4/wife to s5/hot mall girl," comment that i totally disagree.
i'll take the S4's less 1990's body kit looking bumpers, the trustworthy seat belts that don't get stuck half way up, and my favorite part, i won't have to listen to some stupid kid saying to me, "hey, don't Ford Thunderbirds have those same tail lights?" S4 all the way.

Spectator

iTrader: (1)

Here's mine. I now have 1/2 inch spacers in the rear though. Its much better.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

This from the man on his 4th NA engine.

Bottom line, s4's look like a mid 80's design and s5's look like an early 90's design. I have never in all the years I have been around rx7s, heard s5s referred to as having "thunderbird taillights" by anyone other than you and Icemark.

All I know is when I was first looking at FC's to buy, and didnt know the difference between s4 and s5's, I would look at an s5 and about nut my pants, look at an s4 and be like "ah, it's alright, but not as nice as the other one" and look at another s5 and be like "this thing is bad ***, I am getting this ****". s4's are what most people settle for because they are more common and cheaper.

s4 owners saying that they don't like s5's is about like NA owners claiming that they wouldn't like to have a turbo II, or like a t2 owner claiming they wouldnt like to have an FD, or like an FD owner claiming they wouldnt like to have a murcielago. You only say that to make yourself feel better with what you have, because you can't realistically afford the superior model.

Spectator

iTrader: (1)

I for one dont want an FD, and I could buy1 tomorow if I wanted. I like to drive my car and not having it break down every 2 weeks for whatever reason. FDs are not reliable, you cant argue with that.

FCs FTW.

KhanArtisT

iTrader: (2)

well this thread is pretty much done now, lol.




16x7s

86GXL

The GTST wheels are 16x6.5 40mm offset
Heres mine!

digitalightkenz

16" Wedsports 3 piece

dont know the offset.

Spirit Rx-7

iTrader: (15)

old wheels 16x7.5 +35



their for sale here https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=710289

new wheels, 16x8 +27 front and +20 rear

digitalightkenz

Well said! thanks for sharing.

I know this is off topic, but you have some sick SICK Exhaust man!

Ken

86GXL

This is about the most retard thing i've ever heard!

I chose an S4 platform because of it being lighter and of higher quality and more reliable than an S5. Not because i couldnt afford an S5. I will admit that i installed S5 bumpers to the car because S5's are more attractive looking.
I also chose an NA platform because i enjoy the driving experience more than that of a T2. (I've owned both and sold the T2). NA's are more reliable, more nimble, and over all more fun to drive.

I also chose the FC chassis over the FD MAINLY because i enjoy the 80's look more. There are several more reason that are obvious. So i wont get into them.

I can afford whatever car i choose to afford. I make plenty of money but i CHOOSE to drive an FC because i'm passionate about it. I also own TWO MK2 Toyota MR2's. One NA the other Turbo. I drive the NA more because I enjoy its feel more. I actually plan on selling both of these so that i can pick up a MK1 MR2 NA.

And sorry... my ***** isnt small enough to drive any sort of lambo...

USS CJ

BN and 16s in unacceptable

glh-fc

uhhmmm.... more reliable by what means?from what i remember they all came w/ the same 13B motor and same 2mm 3 piece seals.unless during 1986-1988 they were sprinkling magic pixie dust on the S4 kegs to make them last longer then i might believe that statement.

and one more thing,about the quality,what do you mean exactly?can you point out things that worked so good on S4's and S5's didn't have.aside from the vlsd.

i am in no way saying that this is better or the other.all i want to know is what the poster meant by said post and claims.

86GXL

Do some reading up... You'll find that mazda reduced the quality of interior parts as well as a lot of the motor externals on S5's. Internals are mostly the same aside from lighter rotors and stronger stat gears. They also complicated the S5 platform much more than it needed to be.

Examples would the the TPS, Oil pump, thermostat housing, intake manifold (including the VDI system), then entire electrical system, the MAF, the mouse belts, blah blah the list goes on... read up on it and draw your own conclusions.
Its all stuff that didnt NEED to be changed.... mazda just got cheap and decided to try to make something that would sell better. The shortblock itself is far superior to S4's though.

Like i said... do some reasearch and decide for yourself.

glh-fc

sure i'll need to do some research.that might be the reason that S4 interior pieces keep falling apart/cracking because they are so high in quality.unlike the S5 rubber surround.and the way i see it,durability and longevity really depends on how the owner takes care of the car.yeah,they cheaped out alright,even the damn ecu is a step up from the S4,if the omp fries or stops working,it actually tells you.i wish i had an S4 so that the only sign that my OMP is shot is when my motor eats up all the seals and takes the housing w/ it.and who would want a better power band N/A?!that's overrated.i know it's not much more difference but it still helps.the S5's are so cheap in fact,i only have 180,XXX original miles (well 298,XXX kms since it's a canadian model) on my motor and it still runs.and everything works,even the tps.damn cheap mazda engineers.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Wow, your view is the inverse of reality, it seems. I don't need to "go do some research" as I know more about the part differences and designs in FC's than most of the users of this forum put together.

I grant you that the sliding seatbelts in the s5 cars were a mistake and make a selling point for s4's. BUt that was in compliance with government recommendations at the time, in fact many other cars of the same era have the sliding seatbelts.

Aside from that, I dont see many aspects of the s5 that are inferior, but I see several major design improvements.

s5 interior: black instead of gray, radio trim and vents designed not to break if you look at them wrong, shifter is shorter than that of a mack truck and feels like a joystick instead of a pool ball. The instrument cluster has circle gauges instead of odd looking triangular ones, speedo and tach read higher, backlighting is more pleasant amber versus deep orange that just screams 1st gen. Icons on the idiot cluster changed slightly (an outline versus a big square for each icon) and even the little drawings of people on the logicon look more updated and refined.

s5 exterior: circle tails, wing standard, rounded aero mirrors that look better than most cars today (I have FC mirrors on my rx8 and get many compliments), painted and low profile body molding, and more rounded front and back bumpers make the s5 unquestionably smoother looking and more updated. There is nothing wrong with the s4 body per se, but everyone wants a nice car that looks as modern as possible. Besides, the flat-type s4 bumpers and fat body molding remind me of an mk3 supra. Oh, and the s5 had those nice clear rounded front lenses instead of the square orange ones, not to mention nice oem foglights and optional factory ground effects that the CHEAP s4 never got as an option.

s5 chassis: some people like to bitch about the end links and the balljoints on the s5, but seeing that in all the FCs I have worked on and owned I have NEVER had to replace either one, I don't see why it matters. The s5 chassis did get a little more reinforcement which added to it's weight but this is a trade off I would see as acceptable.

s5 drivetrain: I admit that they did cheap out by removing the NA's LSD on all the models except the GTU-s, whereas previously the GXL's for s4 had an LSD. But then again, not many NA's put down enough power to NEED an LSD to begin with, so unless you tried to drive the thing in the slow or mud consistently it shouldn't really matter.

s5 engine: the rotorhousings had improved coating to last longer and wear less, and it worked. s4 housings usually look like crap and s5's look significantly better. stat gears were also hardened while s4 were not. rotors were lightened, redline was raised, compression was raised, power was raised. Computer doubled in processor speed. MPG increased by about 10%. Alternator was higher quality.

VDI intake was better tuned for the engine. 6 ports were now ELECTRONICALLY operated from the smog pump, versus the SHITTY method used on s4's using exhaust backpressure. As we know from turbo cars, exhaust flow changes with engine load, and engine load changes with each gear. Therefore the s4 method leaves the ports opening at different times in each gear, and a very inaccurate way of doing it. Also, when your exhaust develops leaks, or you go aftermarket, you lose the ports entirely with s4, while s5's 6PI setup keeps on trucking business as normal running precisely when they should per computer controls.

The addition of a check engine light made troubleshooting much easier. The wiring and ecu changes all but eliminated the lovely s4 3800rpm hesitation that is inherent to every s4 out there. IF the s5 TPS does go bad (not as often as the s4 TPS' do) then you at least get a check engine light to let you know, while an s4 only greets you with a bucking car that acts a fool in traffic. I grant that the e-OMP was probably a downgrade and is less reliable than a mechanical OMP, but in the modern world of emissions requirements the mechanical OMP simply could not stay, the engine was burning too much oil and they needed a better way to control it. At least the e-OMP doesn't leak as much as the old mechanical ones do! Show me an s4 engine without an OMP that drips from the mechanical arm and gets sludge all over the front cover.

The s5 cooling system had one simple fill cap versus some of the s4's that had 2, for some unknown reason. I grant that the plastic water neck is a downgrade, but at 60 bucks for a new one that'll last 5-10 more years, it's not exactly a deal breaker.

the s4 required 3, count 'em 3 cat convertors, while the s5 only had 2. That's gotta good for a few horses, anyway.

s5 electronics tend to hold up better and are more likely not to have failed than s4's, despite the lack of major design changes (that we know about, anyway). Not many s5's have dead oil pressure gauges, or speedometers that bounce up and down, or random beepers that go off in the cabin, or flashing idiot cluster lights while driving, flashing SHIFT UP lights while in 5th, the alarm doesnt go off for no reason, and most of the time the logicon actually works...even the headlight and wiper switches are more likely to work than in an s4. I didnt say they all will work in an s5, or that no s4's work, I said that based on the HUNDREDS I have seen, the s5 is more likely to be functional. For that matter, not many s5's have the special 7 speed shifter bushings that all s4's seem to have.

Moral of the story? Buy an s5, replace the thermostat neck, get the seatbelts repaired (for free, might I add), swap in an s4 LSD diff if you want that, and if you are worried about the e-OMP then run a few oz of premix every tankful and you've got a superior car in both looks and design.

NEXT?

86GXL

Only paragraph that actually made sense as to why S5's are better.

The rest was about 99% personal opinion, 1% fact.

fc pro am

iTrader: (8)

I vote Rotary Resurrection for president!

fc pro am

iTrader: (8)

The Bizness right here!

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Damn you are dense. Go back and read it all again, slower this time. There are as many, or more, facts there as there are opinions. I can bold them for you if it'll help.

You still havent given us ANY reason that the s4 was superior, factual or otherwise.

Jager

iTrader: (10)

Go Kevin!

PS I got a picture of my RIAX eBay shitty rims. 16x7 +40, 205K104 Hankooks all around.

I sold these after 3 months because they where the gay .

86GXL

[QUOTE=RotaryResurrection;7615027]

S5 interior: The ONLY thing designed not to break was the radio trim and the shift surround. Everything else was build with a lesser quality plastic than S4 as well as cheaper carpet fabric. The only difference between the S4 and S5 shifters is the shift **** itself. Also the S4 shift **** was designed with racing in mind whereas the S5 **** was designed with "sales" in mind. The gauges you mention are personal preference as well as the idiot lights.
Tails, mirrors, wings, body molding, bumpers, lenses, fog lights << all personal preference. The only reason S5 got factory effects was because they werent selling well and mazda needed a kicker to make sales.
S4's came with a MUCH better style of "factory effects" with the Sport/GTU and 88T2 aero kits which were designed for improved air flow and had much more of a racing spirit. S5's got rid of this because mazda wasnt making sales and needed a change to make their cars more appealing.
chassis is essentially the same other than what you mentioned.
This sounds fine too... but once again... the S4 comes out on top with more of mazda's racing spirit which the S5 lost out on.
This is true

Most S5's nowadays dont have properly functioning VDI or 5th 6th ports. And Most owners dont keep factory exhaust or emissions systems anyway. Also most owners either wire them open or find a better way to open and close them.
If you think checking codes on an S4 is difficult then you've got some serious learning disabilities. The CEL may tell you when your TPS goes bad.. but once the S5 TPS goes bad there is no saving it. In PERSONAL experience i've seen more S5 TPS's go bad where as the S4 can just be SIMPLY re-adjusted back to spec. Also the S4 wont start bucking and "acting a fool" as you put it. You only notice a small stutter around 1200 RPM. I've also never had a leaking OMP because i properly maintain my OMP. We all know that mechanical is far superior to electric.
Noone really cares about having two fill caps. But the Shitty S5 radiators with the shitty fill neck suck. But then again... thats personal preference.
Once again... who's still running a stock exhaust??
If you are to ignorant to learn how to fix SIMPLE problems then you shouldnt be an Rx7 owner. It all comes with the territory of owning an old *** car.
I've also seen MANY S5's have most of the electric problems with LESS miles than a lot of the S4's i've worked on.... this is more just personal experience with Rx7's. Everyones experience will be different. But saying that S5 electronics "hold up better" is NOT true.
Moral of the story... S4's have a racing heart. S5's were designed for looks and sales.

Either way its personal preference and lets just agree to disagree.