all these people tell me i should baby my rx7 because it will make the motor last longer, but some say that babying it is the worst thing i can do to it. as of right now i baby it, but of course at some times i like to test her power and let her rip. which would be the best for my motor??

 

well, you should take her to redline every once in a while to free up carbon build up... I think about once a day, but some people think differently. but of course, its not good to always race it, although its probably better than never. drive it hard when you want to, and drive it normal when you want to.

just don't take it ABOVE redline

 

Dont baby it all the time, you gotta have some fun man. There really isnt a point to a sports car / fast car if you dont push it sometimes.

 

Drive it like you stole it!

 

What SupraDoom7 said is absolutely correct.

 

A redline a day keeps the mechanic away!

 

A redline a day keeps the mechanic in business.
Really, once in a while, like once a week at most, is good. Once a day is pretty excessive. Rotaries are like any other engine, push-em all the time and they wear out. If you're really that worried about carbon, just do some spirited driving, like up to 5k for a little while, that'll probably be more effective than a redline run.
Personally, I don't even redline once a week, I might do it once every two weeks or once a month. Since I 've owned my car (1 year) I might have redlined it 25 times total.

 

you've counted how many times you've redlined?

wow matt, you must be really bored. I think I'm well over the 100 mark in my 1st year .

high RPM's aren't really that bad for rotaries because they're just rotating. there's no heavy metal objects flying one way, and then suddenly being jolted back the other way. and there are no valves that might have trouble opening and closing at high RPM's.

it really shouldn't be too bad to rev up a properly lubricated rotary engine quite often.

 

umm. right. ok.

 

See I radically disagree with that.

Having owned FC's for more than 12 years (one of them 9 years all by itself, and bought new), I am confident to say, use the entire rev band all the time.

Again the rotary is designed to run best from 2k RPM to 6-6500K RPM. You must use that rev band all the time if you want the motor to last.

The worst thing you can do is to baby the motor. With my old Sport; I daily probably hit above 6500 RPM at least a dozen times if not more. Driven daily, driven hard. the engine was still at almost perfect compression when I sold it with 135K miles on the clock, and the engine was never ever popped open. It went another 20K miles after I sold it (and probably would have gone another 100k if the guy I sold it too didn't disable the over rev/oil level/coolant level buzzer and run it at 120+ MPH for hours in the desert 3 quarts low).

On my 'vert after break in, I hit redline everytime I drive it through the rev band.

People with blown motors, or motors that only last 100K miles (or less) are the people that either didn't drive the car/engine hard, or people that didn't maintain the engine correctly.

 

Up until a few days ago (when I parked the car for the start of a T2 conversion) I'd take my car to 6k+ consitantly throughout the day, every single day (Mon-Fri at least, going to work and back). And a couple mornings a week, I'd be sure to let it have it's own fun and hit 100+mph down the straightaways (I drive 45 minutes through a canyon to and from work.....aren't you jealous?).

My car loves me, does yours love you? heheh

 

dont baby her. as long as she's running good, than take her up there everyonce in a while. I shift at 4k on a regular basis. just to get my secondary injectors kickin'. And i redline 4-5 times a day. with alot of spirited driving. i change the oil religiously at 2000 k intervals. and i let her idle down for about 20 seconds just to let the oil settle (or maybe cause i'm exessive) DONT BABY HER

-Markus

"Them rotary's sure do love to revv dont they ma'?"

 

A word of advice. Redline after the engine has been fully warmed up. I would take my NA to redline a few times a day but only after about 10-15 minutes or so.

 

I agree with everyone here.. my 7 was babied and as a result I have some issues.. my secondary injectors were all cloged up.. took 5-6 bottles of techron and redline cleaner to free them up..

The seconday injectors don't fire until around 3500 RPM.. so if you don't take your car past that then it's not going to work them and they are going to get funky.

 

Even though i've had my 87 N/A for a lil over a year and never really drive her much i gotta admit after only a lil tinkering and redlining her a few times every time a started her, i found that she idles and runs 10 times better then when i got her... even though i did get a few complaints here and there from the neighbors and the odd police call

 

ive had my car for about 2 weeks nowand usually shift at 3500 until warmed up and on I rev to redline or close to it maybe once a day. Its hard to find a nice open strip of road in the city sometimes. An engine that revs so freely needs to be pushed to the limits everyonce in a while.

 

just a peice of advice, warm up your car b4 you start driving.. my 7 in 20*C weather takes about 8 - 10 min to warm up b4 the Thermostat opens.. just turn it on b4 you have to leave

did that with my old 4 banger eclipse and the engine at 206K km (with regular maitnance) is still pulling strong even though i beat it hard very often from 130K up

 

I do warm up my car as stated in my post

 

Redline it. I redline all the time. I am probably in the thousands for redlining my car after having it for a year or 2.