Ok first I did a search and all I can find is like two post messages, and fd daily driver stuff

Now Im buying an fd to have some fun with. I was wondering if the fc is a good daily driver? Here are my goals, ac. reliability, somewhat fun.......now what do you guys think? Before it gets mentioned, I was looking at an ae86 but people are asking WAY too much for a 1985 car. I dont care how cult-like it is I will not pay that much for that car =] So let me know what you think.......by the way I am looking at an na fc not a turbo II or convert....just plain

 

Of course it will. And of course it will not be as fast as the FD. I take mine on road trips along with the daily 7 mile run to work..

 

Never had a problem with me daily driver 1990 N/A.

 

I love driving my Turbo Convertible 30 miles to and from work every day, and RX-7's don't come any less practical than mine!

 

My FC is a great daily driver. Nice 750-800 RPM idle... not *too* loud for civilian life, nice warm up, good clean power. The starting is more reliable than most Hondas. Plus, it does the 200 mile weekend trip to see my girlfriend very well! However, I put a lot of stereo stuff in it, so until I find some nice material to hide stuff with, it has to stay within eyesite whenever I take it out. AKA, not a car to take to school or work. Yet.

 

I think I have ALL of you on this subject.

I have a '90 vert, w/ a newly rebuilt 6port, which was completed back in November of 2001. Since then, I have not stopped driving it. I have logged over 13,000 miles since. Every week, I drive just under 600 miles. Yes, just about 2400 miles a month. My average speed on the freeway is 80mph+. And mostly hitting over 100+ (in certain spots) on Thrusdays on my way back home to Sac (hwy 80).

I hit hwy's 50, 80, 680, 237, 280...all high speed hwys in the Sacramento - San Francisco bay area. I do most of my commuting very early in the morning and early afternoons...so, no cops (knock on wood).

I drive it to work, school, home, and everything in between...well, I do take my Gixx to work and to school when the weather is right. I have NOT had ANY problems. It is like drive (dont get mad on this comment) a honda (except for the gas consumption). I do get an average of 24MPG. Which, isn't THAT bad.

I treat the car right. I change the oil, on average, every 2400-3000 miles. I tune it every oil change. I do have an idle prob...but, nothing out of the ordinary. My precat is now rattling..haven't had time to drop in my RB header. HI flow cat/cat back, simle intake mods is the only modification I have done.

It starts everytime....like I said..no problems. GREAT everyday driver!!! More reliable then an FC or FD. I have had FC in the past, done the mods, etcs....And have gone though 4 engines (yes correctly tuned). I just race the **** out of them. Autox'g, drag racing, street racing...etc (remember, back in the days). Most of my friend's FD's all have the same probs, same as my old T2....modded or not. The main prob is the heat that is generated form the turbos which case crack in the exhaust housings (again, same w/T2's). But, once moded...no probs, just need tuning...which is another prob. It must be tuned inorder to boost correctly...which comes down to the A/F ratios. You mess that up, you have a blown engine...(same with the T2's).

My vert has and IS the most reliable rotory I have had....well, not as reliable as my SA22 (yet).

Oh, did I mention I am selling my vert. I am trying to get another T2. Which of course I will not drive it every day. I will be buying a B2600 for that (another reliable vehile I have good experience with).

SO SOMEONE OUT THERE MUST BUY IT!!!!!!

Long story but to the point. Experience is has greater weight then a guess.

 

Here's my problem with using an FC as a daily driver.. Reliable? Yes. Agile/Maneuverable? Yes Good milage? HELL NO.

That may not matter to you, but I want a daily driver to be fun to drive, and cost next to nothing gas wise.. I have my toys for that.

Anyway, my .02$

PauLC

 

Oppss.. I should have edited the post before actually posting it. Typing fast doesn't do any good.....wrist is starting to hurt....

 

hell yeah it's good daily driver i drive my 90 N/A vert 150 miles a day to school and work 5 days and week plus an extra 80 for on saturday and sunday for work it just hit 140,000 mile an the orginal engine with no rebuild and my average speed is 80 (except in the city when i get close to my school)

go for it dude

 

Make sure the engine is in good shape(compression, no coolant/oil leaks, etc.....) and you will have a good daily driver. There are some electrical problems that are common but fixable like the wiper switch, logicon, blah, blah, blah. They can be good daily drivers but the gas milage is low. I always got about 17mpg no matter what my driving habits were.

 

ok thanks guys. you are so helpfull. i dont really care about gas mileage. i just dont want the motor blowing up on me. its expected and okay when my fd will blow up but id rather not loose my daily driver. I want it to be reliable. how long do na's usually last?

also i heard from a rotory expert that the chassis has problwems over 100000 miles. He claims that the car has suspension, bushing, shock, spring, and interior wear more so than any other car hes ever seen. what can you guys comment on thaT?

 

Well, any car over 100,000 miles will need new bushings, shocks, etc. I do agree that the interiors on these cars don't really hold up too well. The seats like to split and certain plastic vents like to crack. You can buy a seat of Sparco's or get your seats recovered for a couple hundred dollars. At least I've never seen a FC dashboard crack...now that would be expensive to fix.

 

hhmm what about average life of the motor. i understand the a tII will last anywhere from 100k-120k but what about the na.....this specific car im looking at has 135k.. he claims the compression is perfect and has a recipt to back it up but even so will i be buying a new motor soon?

 

N/A's should last a very long time...dependant and how it was taken care of. If this car had a good life, 135K miles is probably 2/3's to 2/4's its life left. I what he/she said is true, then expect to hit over 200K miles....

Pull out all the spark plugs off of the engine. Make sure all of them come off. I have notice MANY rotories out there sold, have ELECTROLYSIS probs. Make sure that car doesn't. If one of the spark plugs does NOT come off...then you will certainly need a rebuild.

 

I have 235K miles on my 1990 GTUs, bought new in November 1989. Original struts, suspension bushings, steering components, wheel bearings, disc brake rotors. Almost as tight feeling as new. Replaced rear axle bearings at 190K miles. New clutch at 100K miles. New alternator at 150K miles. Engine starts like new. Exhaust system changed four times. Last time put on ss cat back. Interior was showroom new until I let my wife start driving it. (can you say "pig"?) Paint like new (garaged) except for stone chips on lower body. Oil changed every 3K miles. Gas mileage approx 20 mpg. Car still out-corners my FD, though not as fast on the straight.

A reliable daily driver? I'll let you know when it reaches 300,000 miles.
Ron A.

 

oooohhh im starting to get excited. 235000 miles is promising. abvout the spark plug deal....when the spark plug doesnt come out does that mean that the plug is fused to the housing or does it mean that the housing is warped? Also dont the plugs screw in? i have never heard about this?

 

i put about 193k on my 91 n/a. i had bought it with 76k on it and it never gave me a problem until about 175k when the cats got clogged. at around 190k it started to lose compression and then that's when we put a new motor in it. since i've got the new one since day one, i'm expecting 250k+ out of this one.

yeah, the spark plugs screw in, whether they're siezed or the housing is warped, you're looking at a new rebuild. (about $2-3k if you do it yourself and replace a bunch of other stuff in the process).

another bonus of owning a rx7 is that since there aren't many mechanics who can work on it, you'll end up learning a lot about your car and how it works (to me that was a huge bonus).

john

 

good deal. thanks guys. that really cleared things up john thank you. i think ill end up getting it. Sounds and looks meticuosly maintained. so im sure it will be fine. well see. also as for electrical problems does the fc have very many? ive heard of some WIERD stuff going on in fd but fcs i know nothing about. anything I should look out for? Also what should i personally check on the fc? Other than general car buying tips, whats specific to the fc that i need to look at?

 

I got over 120K on my 87 T-II before I had to do a rebuild... The exterior, and interior are still in great shape and the car now has over 230K on a newer engine. It was my daily driver for 6 years, modded too. I also bought a 91 NA (as a parts car) that had over 220k with the original engine. The only reason why the engine blew was because it overheated... Twice before it finally gave up.

As you'll notice, NAs typically last a lot longer than the T-IIs, but it doesn't mean the T-IIs can't last long either. It's all about TLC.

Regards,

 

Electrolysis happens when the coolant is not properly maintained. The electrolites become acid like which begin to eat away at the housing. Thus, fracturing the housing, fusing the sparkplug.

Change your coolant every 12000 miles....

 

oh absolutely I plan on treatng the fc just like the fd and always swapping fluids. i change the fluids on my del sol every 2000 miles. should i do it guys?

also again, any specific things to check other than the spark plugs?

 

check the oil level...our engines are supposed to burn some oil, so if the oil is low on the car, the person may not have topped it off every now and then.

john

 

You got me beat, but Mine's an FD - Pickuped from MARIAH on 7.08.01 w/103,500 miles Now it just rolled over 122,000 mi! so yes even an FD can be a Daily Driver!