1987 n/a
 

Ok! So I bought my car about a year ago now and it has been great! love it! However, the owners before me did do some crap to it.
1. Welded stock differential
2. Fuel switch toggle
3. Fuel switch engine fan
4. and lowered with Tien springs. Coilovers on rear but not front.
5. A Supposedly stage 3 clutch (I haven't looked to see if it is, however) It does act like one though
Is all this stuff really necessary? The ride is bumpy as hell. I got used to it though. It is a bad ass drifting car for sure. When I am going like 5-10 mph out of a parking lot and when I go to put my foot on the clutch right away, the car rattles a ridiculous amount. Same with turns at very slow speed. I would assume that is the welded diff in the back though. Any input is great! Thanks a bunch guys!

Well, I can't really say much about the diff or clutch, but here are my somewhat uneducated understandings about the other things:

Fuel switch toggle: the idea behind this is that the car is essentially a 2-stroke, and just like when you ride a 2-stroke motorcycle you turn the gas off and let it die on it's own. Why exactly, I dunno; I do know however, that if you don't it is a million times harder to start in a week or two when you ride again.

Fuel switch engine fan: Huh? From what I understand this switch keeps the fan going after the car is off in order to cool it down. I don't know why exactly you'd want that though. I feel like it's pretty common.

Lowered with tien springs: No it is not needed. It just makes it feel more sporty and also reducing body roll. If you don't want this, however want a decent setup (and still lowered) you can put the original springs (or OEM springs) back on and get some Tokikos - I'm told these feel OEM and are the same people that made the OEM ones. I don't know the validity of this though, I've never been in a stock suspension RX-7

1. Dunno why you'd do that, I assume for drifting or something. For a street car I'd think a stock diff would be preferable.

2. Used to compensate for leaky injectors or a bad tune, aids in hot starts by preventing flooding. Also a crude theft deterrent (but effective if the switch is cleverly hidden).

3. Don't know what a "fuel switch engine fan" is.
Presumably you have an efan replacing the thermoclutch and it's wired oddly?

4. Mismatched suspension, unknown (to us, at least) spring rates...replace with matched dampers (coilover or regular depending on use) and correct springs.
Unless you're a suspension guru, you're much better off investing in high quality shocks with no adjustment than cheaper coilovers with a multitude of (questionable) knobs. Even a set of Ohlins can ride like crap until properly dialed in (which is not a trivial exercise).

5. Why would a (presumably) stock NA need a special clutch?
Your massive 120 rwhp (on a good day) doesn't need "stage" clutches.
Bear in mind that you are now stressing the weakest link in the driveline- namely, the transmission- from both ends...the welded diff and the less forgiving clutch.
This will not end well.

Considering the long run, your best short term plan would be a return to (mostly) stock to get a baseline experience. If you don't know what a good stock platform feels like, how can you make it "better" and do you even know it needs to be?

You also need a realistic/clear assessment of what the car is used for.
Almost every change made to make a car track ready impacts, if not degrades, street suitability. If your car is for transportation, the closer to stock, the better.

Why the different stage clutch mess up the transmission?

Clokker:
5. Why would a (presumably) stock NA need a special clutch?
Your massive 120 rwhp (on a good day) doesn't need "stage" clutches.
Bear in mind that you are now stressing the weakest link in the driveline- namely, the transmission- from both ends...the ***welded diff and the less forgiving clutch.***

He already spelled it out.

I think he meant "will" it mess up the transmission......

Justin

To clarify, no, the clutch does not damage the transmission during install.
I question the suitability/need for a more aggressive clutch given the horsepower and drivetrain.