Ok, I know very little about this. From my understanding it basicly means that the 2 turbos spool at the same time, therefore delivering more power.

My questions about this are as follows.

How hard is it to convert back to sequential turbo if need-be?

Does this put any extra dangerous strain on the engine?

How much does a non-sequential twin turbo effect gas mileage as opposed to a regular twin turbo?

Finaly. How much power does this really add? Is it worth it?


The reason I ask these questions is because I have the opportunity to buy an excelent, well maintained 1993 rx7, and this caught me off-guard.

Thanks,
pVVn3cl

 

Ok, I went through a ton of threads and finaly found some info on it.

Sorry :-S

but if anyone wants to talk about the gas mileage thing I am still intrested in that.

 

Your gas mileage will suffer because you drive an FD, not because the turbos are sequential or non-sequential.

 

+1

converting back is expencive and a lot of work. If you go non-sequential and do the job right, to go back you'll need a new lower intake manifold, exhaust manifold, turbos, solenoids and probably some other stuff.

Going non-sequential will yeild a whole lot of turbo lag unless you have a full open exhaust(no precat, no maincat, and straight through muffler), street port, and professionally tuned ECU. You'd probably also want to get a large stock mount or front mount intercooler and an aftermarket intake.

Don't expect to make more power either. By the time the RX-7 hits peak power, both turbos are spinning whether it's sequential or non-sequential. Power differences will be minimal at best, most likely attributed to flow increases care of removing some restrictions in the y-pipe and exhaust manifold.

 

single turbo

 

Thanks for the info. Well, I think im getting a really good deal on this fd. Alot of people seem to have alot of differing opinions on seq. vs non seq. I have been told that these cars have more problems more often when they are seq. and that going non-seq. seems to make them have less problems more often.

The issue of turbo-lag isint really that important too me...I mean, I am going from a relatively slow car to this, I have driven fast cars before, but at this point anything is an upgrade to me, and I have always loved the rotary engines, I just cant afford an rx-8.

Im gonna be buying this car for about $11,000, it's a 1993, and it has about 110k miles on it. Seems to have been taken care of, supposedly the guy just had the engine rebuilt, I have asked him for the receipts and the name of the place that had the work done.

 

if you can't afford an RX-8, how do you think you can afford an FD? Have no dillusions, regaurdless of the purchase price(which FDs and used RX-8s cost about the same these days), if you don't maintain this car or have the money to fix it when it breaks, this will be one very miserable experience for you.

Even in regular maintnence, are you prepaired to flush the coolant once a year, change the oil every 2000 miles, deal with mediocre gas mileage at best? Plus be ready to fix the things that go wrong on a 14 year old car? You'll probably need an FPD and coolant hoses at least. Plus if you're tight on cash, to go non-sequential is going to cost you quite a bit of money. I don't know what I paid, but probably around $500 for everything.

 

I hardly consider $11,000 and $17,000 which is the best I can do in my area for a decent used rx8 to be comparable. Although I understand your concern. The turbo is already non-sequential, I am not going to make it that way myself, so I dont have to worry about that $500 you mentioned.

Also, the difference in car payment + insurance in the FD and the 8 are quite significant enough to where I go from having a decent ammount of money left-over a month to having enough to actually upgrade the car.

 

FTFY

 

Ok, maby I should have been more specific.

My car + insurance payment is going to = about $380 a month. I have NO other bills whatsoever. I work part-time and make almost $1200 a month.

Do I still just have enough money to maintain the car or do I have enough to upgrade it?

EDIT: $1200 a month after taxes.

I think I will be fine...if it costs that much to maintain I will just sell it.

 

That's a more reasonable budget than many newbies think they'll need. But my point was that an FD is an unusually expensive car to run, especially in modded form. Spend $2k on mods, pop your motor, and that 6-grand difference in purchase price suddenly looks a whole lot smaller.

 

Right, well, I understand how rotaries are, and how much more up-keep they require. I just love the cars, and I figure if I am ever going to own one this is a perfect time in my life due to the lack of bills, and the fact that I just got a pretty nice job. My main problem now is going to be finding an FD that is within reasonable driving differance....im not so sure I want to go all the way to florida from here just to check a car out, but I suppose that's another price you pay for wanting one of these cars.

 

dont be in a big rush to find one....i looked for almost 2 years until i found mine....

ended up finding one 3 hours away....but looks at them all over..

you might also want to pick up a daily driver...if the fd goes down , and you need a part..
its not a car the in town store has parts for...

goodluck

brad

 

If you plan on spending only $11,000 for your FD, the odds are you're going to end up taking the extra $6k that you can't afford to finance and paying it in cash for repairs.

As one person I know put it, a $10,000 FD is a rolling chasis that you might be able to drive around for a month or so. a $11,000 FD you might get a bit more use out of, but it's going to need quite a bit fixed. For a good condition FD that you probably won't have any problems with for a little while, you're going to have to look at spending at least $14-$15,000. Maybe more, depending. Then even looking at gas mileage, the FD will get half the mileage an 8 will, while being a 14 year old car that was high maintnence when it was brand new.

 

Well, this particular FD has 118k miles on it, and supposedly just had a rebuild done by a rotary shop in orlando 10k miles ago. I had the guy send me a video that I need to put up on youtube....then maby you guys could look at that and get more out of it than me. From what I could tell it seemed to run nicely, but im no expert.

The only other FD I have found nearby is in South Carolina, the guy is asking $13,500 for it and says he can produce all of the service records from day one, including the recent rebuild. I have yet to contact him for more pics or videos ect.

EDIT: The FD in SC has 98k miles on it. They are both 93's.

 

hmm...

somebody seems to really hate the FD... like this person has nothing good to say about it ... i love my FD

 

if you're reffering to me, all I can do is shake my head at how wrong you are and/or how oblivious you are to what I'm trying to tell him.

pvvn3d, it seems your mind was made up long ago. I'm sorry for trying to share my experiences or give you any good ideas. What would I know? It's not like I nor several of my friends have been there before.

 

?

I dont remember saying I didnt want to hear what you had to say. I appreciate your comments.

My mind is made up that I want one EVENTUALY. Right now im just trying to decide if I can handle it.

 

If you have to ask, I don't think you can afford it.

 

I drove my FD for 2.5 years on a weekend basis and hardly had any problems. Never had major costs whatsoever.


With regards to the non seq. I have done the full conversion, and although I haven't driven it yet, it will simplify the vacuum system significantly and depending on your driving style, I'm convinced it will even reduce fuel consumption as the turbo's starti working after 3000rpm.

You will find that, when cruising the highway at medio speeds, you'll find yourself in the 3000rpm range and out of boost.

FD's really can have decent mileage if you keep them out of boost. Any performance car will have low mileage when you floor it all the time

 

Why? I mean, if that's what you believe that is great and all, but I would like to know why you think I cant afford it so I can make a good decision.


Well, I think what it's all about is finding a good FD that hasnt been abused to begin with. This will also be more of a daily driver type car for me, although I do have another car to drive if I need it. I also believe what you are saying about the non-seq set-up. It seems like if you drove the car with a light foot that it would certainly help your gas mileage.

 

off course it will, but the seq turbo system more or less forces you to use the boost all the time, because it spools so fast.

When changing to non seq you delay the boost and create a section in the lower rpms to use for cruising or just driving around the city with a less nervous car.

It often bothered me with the seq system that whenever i touched the gas pedal, the car would jump for ward. True, it's fun when you want to intimidate somenone, but on daily basis it just ain't fun. Maybe it's me but I know i'm going to like the non seq system far better. and my gas bill as well.

 

Sorry, I wasn't going to post again in this thread. I just wanted to point out the fact that you're 99.99999% not going to find a good condition, unabused FD in your price range. You will need to budget an extra $4k minimum to get one that's not going to need atleast some work. I tried to say it before, and I'll try to say it again. Don't jump on one that's in your price range and has a nice wax job. If you can't afford to spring the extra $4k to get one in good condition, then you're going to be very unhappy with the car.

Honestly man, just save up a bit longer. You're not going to get what you think you're going to get for $11k.

 

I'm going from non-seq to seq right now. you dont need a new LIM...why would you? You just need 6 solenoids, vac and pressure chambers, a stock exhaust manifold, stock turbos, and stock y-pipe with the ccv and crv still in place.

non- sequential isnt worth it. if you dont want transition go single. if you want to enjoy driving your car on the streets stay sequential.

 

btw i paid under 14k for my FD with 87,xxx miles and it was perfect in almost every way. even had it shipped from Socal, Orange County. for 12-13k you can get a nice bone stock fd.