Hello All,

I have recently purchased a truly mint 3k original mile (entirely original) 1994 PEP 5-Speed FD. I am the 2nd owner and the first owner was, in my opinion, diligent with doing required and basic maintenance on the car. It is the definition of "showroom."

This said, I am thinking about what maintenance items I should focus on now. The car is 25 years old - what items should I focus on to insure everything continues to function as new and to avoid any issues?
As this car is what it is, I will be keeping everything entirely stock (so no aftermarket parts/upgrades - all Mazda parts).

Were you in my shoes, what would you focus on doing to ensure proper maintenance and care for this 7?



Ps. The original owner did paint the original calipers red - they will soon be replaced back to OEM stock. This was the only "mod."
I have also removed, carefully packaged and stored the original rims and tires (after this picture was taken). On the car now I have a newly refinished set of stock wheels with new tires.

 

Beautiful car!

You know we will all want to see many more pictures, so feel free to upload some additional pictures if you have time.

As far as maintenance goes, I'd suggest all of your fluids and anything rubber; belts, coolant hoses (especially the turbo coolant ones), rubber brake lines, vacuum lines, fuel lines, tires, etc. It's very likely these are in good condition, so inspect and replace as necessary. Fluids should be changed at timed intervals anyway, they will deteriorate and corrode if they're not changed.

I would go ahead and pick up a new AST tank as well; they're known for cracking/failing and ruining the engine by leaking all of the coolant out in a short period of time. It might not hurt to go ahead and replace the FPD (fuel pulsation damper) as well, I would hate to see the car catch fire due to it leaking unexpectedly.

If you plan on driving the car, I'd suggest removing the pre-cat for an aftermarket downpipe, even if only temporarily. This would help with heat control on the flawed stock cooling system. You probably want some sort of coolant gauge as well, since the stock one doesn't move until the engine has overheated already. These two mods can be reversed if you ever decide to sell it, assuming the install is done with that in mind.

 

Just simple Maintenance, as described above. My engine bay was completely stock in 2012. I would note these things to be checked and updated. I would highly recommend a boost and water temp gauge added to check for system and boost leaks. You can run the wires and line through the hood latch opening, no drilling required. Mounting the gauges are preference you can work off of existing holes and be creative! I double downed and purchased a pod for the middle speaker on dash, all purposes to not damage anything oem.

- aluminum AST tank
- spark plugs and wires updated?
- pull air filter box out and examine all turbo lines for leaks. Check OEM rubber couplers and update to silicone ones.
-check the hoses for the Rats nest under the upper intake manifold, your car may be fine but they will crack over time. I’m changing mine out this winter because they are frail from all the heat.

-any check engine lights search how to read the OBD1 sequences there is a chart listed for CE lights. Always fix as soon as you can.

there are some very resourceful threads on the forum for any maintenance type modifications and upgrades please search and reference them.

 

I went through this on my 50k mile car in 2017.

Aluminum AST is not necessary. I would not bother. Keep the OEM look. WIth such low mileage you may actually be ok on your turbo system and cooling hoses honestly. They probably haven't heat cycled enough.

However if you do do a replacement, I would replace everything rubber at once (vacuum hoses, check valves, compressor outlet, radiator hoses, overflow tank, AST).

 

@GoodfellaFD3S might have some input considering his low mileage unicorn

 

At 3000 miles it's almost better to just leave everything alone if it doesn't need it. Even replacing with new OEM parts makes it not "original" parts anymore. If it was stored properly (indoors and climate controlled) even the rubber components should be ok. It's usually UV and heat cycles (even ambient) that will break that stuff down.

Let's be honest - some of us are still running 25+ year old rubber components that have been heat cycled for 150,000+ miles (with the exception of rat's nest lines, of course).

 

Honestly it all depends on your use with the car! Are you going to keep it in the garage or will you run the miles up some. Best advice with this car is to make sure you pop the hood after any runs and let the hot air release so it doesn’t bake the engine bay. The AST isn’t a necessity but if you plan on running the car for deep cruising it won’t ever hurt to do preventative maintenance. I keep all my oem parts, you can always reinstall or sell with the car, your talking about a few bolts and hoses pulled.

 

Probably the only thing that needs immediate help is the tires - check the date code. Old tires are a good way to have a low mileage car end up in a ditch.

If you don't have documented when ALL the fluids are done I'd do them - EVERYTHING. Coolant, oil, gear and diff oil, and definitely brake fluid. Engine oil has probably been done I would think, I would guess you'd have a record on that.

Dale

 

Per the shadetree mechanic rule of "3 months or 3,000 miles - whichever comes last" the oil change is just barely overdue.

 

If you don't plan on driving it. Simply flush the coolant, check the gas tank (Take out the fuel tree and examine) and change the fuel filter if it sill has the original.

If you plan on driving it do the above along with changing all fluids and good rubber (don't get cheap tires the car deserves top drawer high performance tires). I've been driving low mileage FDs for 20 years and they rarely need anything other than tires and fluids.

If well cared for your FD shouldn't need anything other than general maint for many miles to come.

Currently have an R2 with 29k. Bought it with 24k miles 6/2017 and it's needed nothing.

These cars are more reliable than people think, esp considering it's a turbo sports cars.

 

Assuming mileage will be minimal and it's was bought as an investment and pretty much going to be a garage trophy...

^This.
^And this. You can always store the OE tires away for future display.

 

I'll second replacing the tires!! Tread depth is only 1 part of a tires safety, ANY tire is going to lose much of its efficiency after 5 years from its manufacturer date. I'd say those 25 year old tires are downright dangerous at this point!!

(Assuming you're going to drive it) you may also want to consider swapping out the factory pre-cat for a non-cat downpipe, they were added for US emissions but are pretty bad for the rest of the engine bay!

Gorgeous car and great find!!

 

Thank you all for this very valuable input. I have the original tires and rims stored away very carefully and I have replaced them on the car with a set of refinished OEM wheels and modern tires to maintain the original look.

I don't really plan to drive this car very much - just to a very occasional car show and such.

My gut feeling is to leave as much original as I can, but change out for now the fuel filter and all fluids. I don't have a full record on all the fluids - so doing so as preventive wise maintenance. The car has been well cared for in a climate controlled environment and It would appear that the rubber components are in good shape. As some have indicated, to keep this car as original as possible, I think I will keep them unchanged until such a time as is necessary.

Again, my thanks to you all!

 

Change all the fluids.