JMHrex

Greets everyone,

I'm in the process of making a purchase of a pristine R1, beginning with the selling of my '96 Cobra. I fell in love with rotaries since I first heard about 'em, and when a local guy with a sexy black-on-black R1 decided to sell his, I figured I'd get the process rolling, even if it turns out to just be a pipe-dream.

A local friend of mine pointed me to this site to read the FAQs and familiarize myself with components/known problems and to generally scare me to death with all the lemon references. =] (True of any car!) If this purchase goes through, it'll replace my Cobra as my daily driver (I probably put less than 2500 miles on a car every year, 5000 at most ... furthermore, I'm gentle. )

Regardless, here's what I'm looking at for the rex:

The body has 82,000 miles on it, and the engine was replaced (OEM) about 15,000 miles ago. I've compared the FAQ suggestions and what the owner knows about the car, and everything seems totally up to snuff (an unbiased third party friend who is very proficient with rotaries swears on the engine's state. Compression, everything ... totally good to go). The vehicle has been in no accidents, either.

As for the mods, this is the list I was given by the owner:

RE Amemiya intake, M2 downpipe, Greddy full 4"exhaust (I was told this was an extremely rare piece that can no longer be purchased in the US, supposedly valued well over 1k), Greddy 60mm electronic gauges w/gauge pods, Greddy Profec B, Greddy Front Mounted Intercooler, Nippondenso fuel pump, new fuel dampner, Pettit limited ecu, B&M short shifter, Alpine head unit, Alpine Type R speakers, New Oil Cooler, ACT Stage 3 clutch, Indigo Flywheel, Custom block off plates, Fluidyne Radiator, New Motor Mount, Exhaust hangers, Mobil 1 synthetic oil, Evan's Waterless Coolant.

He paid $14k for the car originally. All the aforementioned work came with it, minus the intercooler. So, he's invested less than a $1000 in it by my estimate (could be wrong). He wants to start asking at $18k, but, in my experiences anyways, a guess'timate figure usually isn't accurate. We'll see how far the price comes down (I'm hoping closer to $15k, which is about what I could get for my Cobra, give or take).

The kind of information I'm looking for here is a seasoned owner's perspective of the mod list and the price. Comparing some values I've read about the 'net, it seems like the car might have somewhere in the vicinity of 350hp? I'm not really certain about this, and the owner has never had it dyno'd (or at least hasn't mentioned it). In addition, I've been told high 12s are to be expected.

Here's various links to shots of the car (the intercooler featured in the photos was prior to the installation of the Greddy):

http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/1.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/2.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/3.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/4.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/5.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/6.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/7.jpg
http://members.***.net/justinhayden/rex/9.jpg

(Stupid *** doesn't allow directory listings, bah.)

Any and all help would be appreciated concerning a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Hopefully I can make this thing mine!

Peace.

TWIFOSP

It looks really good for 15-16k. Hell even 17k.

Don't settle for "good compression", get real numbers.

One thing though, the intercooler in the 5-6 pics don't match the on in 9.

It looks like it has a stock/top mount large greddy I/C in the 5-6 pics and then a front mount in 9. Which one does it currently have?

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

4" exhaust, god what a fartcan. I wouldn't pay $20 for something that nasty, and what good is it when there is a narrow-necked M2 downpipe upstream. Bah, I'm just jumping on that - if it sounds good and isn't ricey then cool.

That looks like a fast but reasonably modified car. Sounds like it hasn't fallen apart and won't anytime soon <knock on wood>. The Evan's indicates an owner who pays a lot of attention to detail (I'd never bother with Evan's, personally). Have fun.

Dave

DCrosby

Looks Nice, the question is with that many mods, and such a nice setup, what happened ??
Either he beat it and is afraid to pay for another rebuild or he's got another ride on the horizon, but few if anybody puts that much time and effort into a car, and doens't floor it

Scrapiron7

Since when is a 3" M2 Downpipe considered narrow-necked?

JMHrex

Concerning the intercooler ... the front mount in photo 9 is the current setup. The pictures of the engine in 5/6 were with the previous intercooler.

He bought the car almost exactly the way it was from the original owner (ie, I'll be the third). Apparently the previous guy put those 70,000 some odd miles on it and replaced the engine. I reckon he must have driven it fairly well, considering. (I've been told to expect no more than 100,000 miles out of the engine.) He did all the aforementioned work to it, needed to get rid of it, and sold it to the guy I'm buying from for $14k. The current owner hardly ever drives it, and when he does, I've been told he babies it like nobody's business, almost to the point that it's pathetic! It's not his daily driver and he's selling it now to get a Silvia (well, build up a 240).

I agree about the exhaust setup. It's ENORMOUS. My dad was considering putting a 4" bassani setup on his 2003 Cobra ... I thought even that was absurdly large. I've only heard the car's exhuast note in a few MPEGs that he sent me. I've yet to actually test drive it, which will hopefully be happening soon (assuming someone doesn't ****** it out from under me).

Peace.

skunks

rotaries dont like to be gentle, they loved to be reved high but are very high maintainance. just take care of her and make sure the boost is undercontrol and youll be fine. take her to redline at least once a month if not more often (they love it, and im sure youll love it too)

good luck

JMHrex

Nobody's chimed in on this one yet, so I figured I'd give it a bump and ask again.

Can anyone give me estimate HP numbers for those particular mods?

Thanks in advance.

Peace.

novadan67

I agree with TWIFOSOP, even 17K would be decent for that car if it is in the condition that you stated. The mod list looks reasonable - DP and radiator should keep it cool and happy even with the FMIC. When you get the car you may want to complete the reliability mods (Fan Mod, AST, ...). You'll find all the information you need right here on this site. That's good advice from skunks too - make sure you keep the boost under control.

If you have never driven an FD before, I guarantee you that this car will impress you. It will feel totally different than your cobra. High 12s doesn't seem too unreasonable for this setup (with a good driver of course), but FDs are more at home on the road than on the strip. Find a nice open winding road and the car will really come alive!

As for HP numbers, how much boost is he running? Unless he is running higher than stock boost (which is likely since he has a FMIC), you probably will not see 350 at the rear wheels with that setup - but you might get 350 at the flywheel.

Icemastr

iTrader: (2)

If it has a midpipe then probably it is around 300rwhp depending on the boost level. No fuel mods were listed so you wont be able to get much power beyond that unless you purchase a stand alone ECU and fuel mods. Am I seeing these pictures right? There is a Greddy FMIC in the picture of the front of the car and then a SMIC in the engine bay pics???

JMHrex

Yea, Icemastr, the engine bay shots are old pictures, taken before they installed the front mount.

The car definitely has a front mount. =]

Not sure about the increased boost ... I'll have to double check, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't.