Hey guys im looking at an FD with somewhat high kms, (100,000km) and im not sure if its had a rebuild or new turbos. Its particularly cheap and very clean, here in Japan.

Just wondering whats the average kms that turbos and engines need rebuilds???

At what stage did your turbo or engine break?

I did check the FAQs and search but struggled to find much.

William

 

Turbos usually last around 160k km. Engines often die around 100k km, but a few make it to 160k km.

Dave

 

The japanese use 100km as rule of thumb for engine 'overhaul' time. The reason it's cheap - odds on the car hasn't been rebuilt. Even if it has, it will still be cheap - that sort of km = white elephant in the Japanese market.

At those kms, the ones that are still in fairly good shape will be sold ultra cheap, often as 'dorifito' dungers, or exported out of the country. Many will simply just be scrapped (the car will be converted into a front-cut, then sold to someone overseas as a '30k km' 'fresh' JDM engine).

US$2-4k shitheaps are a dime a dozen these days.

 

yeah the kms are little higher but it seems to be a pretty tidy car.



An engine rebuild is around 300,000 yen right? Im aussuming that for them to put effort into selling the car, that the engine is in a reasonable condition.

 

300,000? no way - pick up a copy of rx7 magazine (if you haven't seen it - you'll need to go to one of the bigger book stores or somewhere like super autobacs) - they have all the prices listed. I would asume x2 that price at least, depending on the level and who you get to do it.

there's some good sports car specialists in the kansai area and hiroshima - makers is a very good store in the latter. GT net has quite a few yards, and, may I suggest, total 7 in nagoya:







and, if you are kanji-capable, car classifieds sites like car sensor, goo, carciao, etc are the first place to look. Whatever you do, look around before you buy - these things can be a serious money trap if you're not careful. Just about everyone I know who has bought cheap, ends up paying more in the short or long term. It's a real catch 22.



The best advice I can give you is stay away from anything built between 91 and mid 93 (will have a vin that reads FD3S1.....).

 

btw, my rule of thumb is 1 million for a good FD.

 

Man i wish i lived near one of those car yards, im down in Okayama, and Osaka is do able but Nagoya is just too far for browsing.

Yeah, ive been browsing on goo and using that as my guide for prices.

Why do you think i should get something not 92, 93? What types of things go bust? Im assuming these would be the cheapest to repair also.

 

Why are all the wipers on those cars up haha?

 

snow - screws the blades.

"Why do you think i should get something not 92, 93? What types of things go bust? Im assuming these would be the cheapest to repair also."

91-mid 93 is version I. As with any car you care to mention, the first generation is always riddled with teething issues. They had the highest number of recalls (no surprise) - and lots of things were changed over the years (improved). I say - buy the best you can afford, and stay away from the earliest.

No offence, but earliest = the cheapest to repair gave me a good laugh Quite the opposite.

95% of parts are interchangeable from version to version anyway.

 

You could save money on a rebuild if you did it yourself.

So DaiOni- is it true that shops throw away "99" R, RS, RZ twins?

 

So here in America we're stuck with screwy first version FDs haha, man I wish I could have gotten a series 8.

 

99% of owners aren't going to do their own rebuild. Of the 1% that have a go, how many do it well?


as for the 'throw away' question - no, that's total bollocks. A good set of '99-spec' twins = good auction money.

 

Well i keep tosing and turning over what car to buy. I know its probably not the wisest desision, but i just keep comming back to the FD.

Im also considering Evo 3 and 4s, and STIs, neither which really hit the spot like the FD does.

I think im just going to try and find the tidiest and the lowest km FD i can find, which is probably around the 80, 000km region with my budget. Im planning on only keeping it for one year anyway before i do a personal import back to oz.

On another note, ive got one of the thick green books on the RX7, and it has plenty of workshops the quote 300 to 350, 000yen for engine over haul.

 

I'll eat this laptop if you can find a workshop that actually charges that much for a rebuild. First rule of tuning in japan - advertised price and the denpyou they slap in your hand at the end are two very different things.