Hey guys, I've been a member of this forum for quite a long time, but I've never actually owned an FC. My friend (gbaki) who doesnt post here anymore, use to own an 88' NA and he use to drift it where ever he went. He eventually drifted to another state.

Now that I've finally got a bit of money saved up, Im looking for a nice project car and I always had alot of respect for the RX7. I was also thinking about maybe the MK3 Supra, but those things are a bit on the heavy side. I was looking for something a bit lighter. Im thinking about setting it up for mostly track and some street. I have another car that I'll be using as a DD, so I can go a little crazy with this car. But not too crazy cause it will be parked on the street.

Have a few questions..

The S4 and S5 engines are both considered Turbo II's right?

Also Im more interested in the more powerful S5 engines, so are all the 89-92 models automatically S5?

Anything I should be looking out for when buying a car like this? I've never owned a turbo car, nor a rotory. Are they reliable? I've heard they arent that reliable but for a rotory to win it for Japan at Le Mans in 91', that pretty cool. What mileage do they usually give up at?

Thanks a bunch in advance.

 

Aaron Cake's website has a good buyers guide and resources for you to begin with...

http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/buy2.htm

 

thanks pontiackid.. learning a whole lot thanks to that article. btw, this has me a little confused with what the guy is saying about overheating..

"Overheating is instant death for a rotary engine and is highly likely to be damaging to the engine even after one incident."

is that really true? what are you suppose to replace your whole cooling system every few years just to be on the safe side? what about when your bleeding air out of the cooling system and the thing overheats a drop while your trying to burp it? what is the engine toast? or is this guy just being way too over ****?

 

Buy mine, the cruise control works.

 

Overheating is certainly not good for any engine, I think aaron was referring to an serious overheating incident. I once lost all my coolant on the highway due to a blown up radiator hose on my 86 NA FC. The engine still runs fine btw. Just invest in a good quality radiator (maybe get a bigger one) and replace old coolant hoses and thermostat/belts to be on the safe side, so you dont experience the same **** as me. Some people just drive with the oem radiator and never have an issue, personally I think the oem ones are a bit undersized but that could just be personal preference I like to be on the safe side. Better safe than sorry ^^

Although the rotary is quiet reliable, regardless what everyone talks out there. I get these stupid comments everywhere, people just dont know what they are talking about, they heard it from a friend who heard it from its dad who knew someone who ... You see what I mean ? Thats the way stupid talk makes the round.

As for the FC in general, well I am pretty happy about it, I got a 08 Civic Type R as a daily driver but, few months later it was already for sale Guess what ? I bought another FC If you want an FC just get one, they are awesome Just dont take the first one that shows up, take your time and the right one will show up. Make yourself a favor and get one which is as near as stock as possible. Makes life a lot easier. You never know what has been messed up when you get a modified one.

Steven

 

Yes, as long as they are the turbocharged versions.

Although the S5 has more power when in stock form, the power difference between the S4 and S5 narrows as the engine is modified. Therefore, unless you plan on keeping the engine completely stock, I would not discount the S4.
http://fc3spro.com/TECH/FM2W/power.htm

Some updates to the above link:
- The Rtek ECU makes the simple fuel-cut defenser (FCD) obsolete:
http://digitaltuning.com/index.php?pid=rtek7
- BNR offers low-budget turbo upgrades. They are not as efficient as a full turbo upgrade, but they are much cheaper and easier to install, and they come with a 1 year warranty.
http://gonzaloherrero.com/bnr/index....d=67&Itemid=89

The original engine usually lasts about 120-150K miles before the seals start going bad, although you could possibly keep driving it up to around 200K miles. Rebuilds are usually good for about 100K miles, although it depends on which parts are replaced, whether the engine is ported and how much it is ported, and of course the skill of the builder.

Usually that is true, although it depends on how fast and how hot it overheats. The easy fix is to simply park the car if it is starting to overheat, rather than continuing to drive it like an idiot. Also, the engine doesn't just decide to overheat one day... the condition requires some sort of failure, such as blockage, a broken hose, seal failure, etc., which all comes down to how well the owner maintains the car.

No, but using the original 20+ year old radiator and hoses is really rolling the dice.

The engine will not overheat during bleeding unless there is a system failure of some sort. I have owned one S4 RX-7 since 1988, as well as two others on and off between the years, and I have never had a problem bleeding the system.

 

Also a note, if you want to get a sizable amount more power than stock, you WILL SPEND a lot of money. The turbo rotary really doesn't respect cheaping out.. [Don't let it get you down either if it breaks, don't be mad at the engine design, be mad at whatever wasn't done well enough.]

The usual quote is: "with a turbo rotary, priority #1 is don't blow the *&$#er up!"

When you get the car, make sure everything is in good condition to begin with: flush the cooling system [I'm also liking the waterwetter type stuff for the refill], make sure the compression is good, turbo is good, injectors are cleaned, fuel filter/sock new, etc..