In my honest opinion- yess u spent alot of money but u know what, u have 1 of a kind car, there is no other car in the world like this one, this is the type of car that u see once and always remember it. If you would have purchase a GT3 or something similar then most people would say (meh It's just some rich ass holes car)... U my friend have a rare car that is part of our community's history and u can be proud to say "I built this car from scratch". It's more that money and value of the car *it's your own personal attachment with that car. U still have it after so many years and many headaches it must mean a whole lot to you.

... could say the same in this situation. loads of money invested in a poor investment, a car.

a one of a kind rx7 could also be an fd with no glass, no interior, a ka24e engine swap and space saver spare tires on all corners. and it would only cost 800 bucks.

my point is, i hope that he built the car for himself, otherwise it was a very expensive mistake to please the "community" with a "one of a kind car" when he couldve been happy with a clean, fast, nimble rx7 for much less "investment".

but then again, the economic concept known as a positional good gets the best of us sometimes.

Amazing to see how far it has come and that you have been the owner since new. I would love to have that peace of mind.

That's a dumbass comment if I've ever seen one. Hindsight is always 20/20.

IMO a 20B FD is more desirable than any car in that price range. Including yours.

I remember reading your build thread years ago. What a nightmare :(

Anyway as some others have said you have a really unique car that clearly means more to you than any of us can comprehend and hopefully you'll continue improving it and making it an even bigger part of your life.

PS I've owned the outlaw kit and it's a good kit that gets the job done but nothing beats the ST kit $ for $ and the Brembo GT kit is my favorite bolt on kit but cost about 1.5k more. For the record a BBK of any sort will work fine on the street but in reality the stock kit is superior for street and autocross use because the pads come up to temp sooner which will provide max braking when you need it most.

I read your saga and I feel the same. I have spent no where near your total, but probably 20k and you know who I ended up having do the work to finish her? Me. Someone who supposedly knew how to tune blew up my engine on the dyno. I pay for someone to rebuild and they used old parts, it ate itself again. A shop in Orlando wired the Microtech blindfolded with nothing but electrical tape.

I have rewired nightmarish harnesses, rebuilt the engine, etc.

I too was about to say F' rotaries, but once I started doing it all myself I have had no issues.

Thanks a lot for the comments. I am pleased with the uniqueness of the car and how it has now turned out. The money does haunt me as I could have gotten the job done for much less and that is a large focus of this thread, doing it right the first time.

As for being a part of the community's history, that's cool but it has it's goods and bads. A small amount of haters on the bad side but on the good, I have met many great rotary people over the years who have provided knowledge and resources for little to no compensation so the car can get done. That's the best about this community.

Have owned the car since new in 1994 so I have no plan on selling it now, period. After all I've been thru I just want to enjoy it and share with others so they can avoid what has happened to me. I didn't build it for the community, I did what I thought was my dream build and paid dearly for it along the way.

Thanks!

My opinion too and hopefully the details on what I've done and some advice on what to avoid will help others do this for much less.

Thanks, that is most definitely the plan. I concur on your brake thoughts as well. Since I was in the spending mode back then should put on the Brembo GTs. Didn't know enough though at the time.

It's never good to hear these kinds of stories but hopefully we can all help each other in the do's and don'ts and in what shops to avoid.

LMAO, you guys are too easy.:hah:

If this clown wants to make a thread about how much money he has wasted on his car, "for the benefit of the community," them im going make an equally retarded comment.

And btw, used Gallardos are about 100K. If u would rather drive an Fd over that, then you are officially "rotarded."

May the leg humping continue.....

dude the guy has had the car since it was new from the dealer, he built it for him self. if the guy wanted some gay gallarado he would have got one, just because you wouldnt spend 100k on a fd dosnt mean he cant and share it with the rx7 community so to speak.
your car/build thread is one of the one's you look at a get a overwhelming sence of motervation and inspirational feeling through you, thanks

i'd rather own the gallardo if i was out for the image, i'd rather own the 20B FD if i wanted to drive the car.

ever priced out how much even basic repairs are on most exotics to do a mid range tune up? you can rebuild this engine for the same cost.

i don't know about you but dropping the motor out to change spark plugs seems equally as rediculous as your statements.

Austin, David is admittedly "rotarded" which is the point of the thread but if your point is he could of had a v8, a Gallardo or anything else it's going to fall on deaf ears because the man likes, sorry LOVES rotaries.

So please stop p........ on David's leg because it's getting on my d............ ;)

Nice dave! Nice. I dont think you can BUY, RENT, LEASE anything that can out perform, out handle, out look your car for $465.00 a month. I bet theres Thousands of people just on this forum driving a daily driver or there wife is driving her daily commute vehicle and paying $500.00 a month and there no were near as fun.:nod:. 100k since 1994 Isnt Sh*t

BTW I am pretty sure David's FD can run circles around any gallardo any day boss.

I think you should show some respect to a contributing member to this club and community instead of throwing out names. Despite Dave's build, he is an avid member that not only helps other members, but creates innovative threads. Do a search.....

As far as his car, I have seen it in person and it is very well done. His choice to make this thread is also a nice perspective. Not many people take on such a large project and it's interesting to hear his thoughts on how far it has come. Someone who posts up information that is obviously appreciated by many people and all you can do is criticize his choices...... That shows alot about your character.

The purpose of this thread is for david, yet again, to say "hey, look at me!!!!!!!!"

Im sure im coming off as douche, which is fine. Im just sick of seeing these threads over and over again. David has a build thread already, put this useless crap in that thread.

Only thing to take away from the original post is that if you pay someone else to build your car, its gonna cost some cash.

Ill stop making my useless post now.

-Austin

Thank God.

Tray went with me on 151 last weekend and its definitely fun. Long enough to enjoy but short enough to learn quickly. Im going to make it a habit to run it at least once every time I go down there to work on the FD. He also showed me a lot of peripheral roads that are enjoyable cruises as well. Hell, even the neighborhoods are setup like road courses. DGRR will be great if it incorporates some runs on those roads just as long as people dont cram up on 151 since it is kind of a dead end at the top. I look forward to it.

I respectfully say you've completely missed the point of this thread. It's not about the money I've spent which I am not proud of and had I done things right, would not have had to spend. Simply put, what I have done should cost a lot less than what I paid and I hope others will profit from this thread and save themselves the same hardships. It is also for the most part not about what I have posted to date (the background). It's about trying to help others avoid the mistakes I made along the way by sharing the experience and by posting up the lessons learned. As originally posted, I am going to go thru each section of the build:

Engine
Engine Management & Electronics
Exterior
Interior
Tires & Suspension

and finally, thoughts on what I would do if I had to do it again and future plans.

Yes, I do have a build thread and could have posted up there. I chose not to put this info there as I wanted to differentiate between the build and lessons learned. Seem reasonable?

A final note about the Lambo: Don't like them and wouldn't buy one. On the other hand, if the Audi R8 V10 (Lambo engine) had existed back when I started the build, that might have swayed me away from the conversion. Love that car.

Tray told me about that. Missed the run because I was snowed in where I live (3,350 feet up a mountain). Not a ton of snow but black ice. Having slid down the mountain a few times, I decided to not risk it.

Yep, beautiful road. Gotta find some other ones close to DGRR that also have some good food options. It's tough to please the Miami crowd :)

Never thought about it that way. Can I borrow this for the wife? Might make a better case to her - not :)

Actually you'd need to throw in the original cost of the car into the mix and that would take it up quite a bit. The point is still a good one though.

It would take it up a little.....but still. Another thing to understand is insurance on a 1994 vs 2008ish+. Just recently i decided i wanted to get a new commute vehicle. My current one is a 90 civic hatch. Although its good on gas, it is in pretty poor condition from me using it like a truck. There is a spot of rust the size of a 50c pieces showing so i figured its time for something alot newer, more relaxed, not as "go kartish". Personally i believe there is nothing better than a Honda for a DD. My car has 420K on it, burns no oil, hits the rev limeter multiple times a day and runs like brand new. My current insurance rate is $92.00 per month for liability, -the lowest you can get for said vehicle. I currently have in my possesion

-90 civic hatch (current DD)
-90 civic SI hatch (dont drive in snow) Insurence stays the same but i dont/wont "DD" it
-92 F350 IDI. Poor gas milage and insurance stays the same
-04 F350. Poor gas milage and insurance goes up $33.00 Per month
-2004 Turbo PT cruiser w/ 50k. Insurance goes up $61.00 Per month
-1997 chev 2500 4x4. Insurance goes up $19.00 Per month

So after hassling and coming to the conclusion theres no way im going to pay more for insurance i decided i was going to sell some of said vehicles and buy something. I looked at everything from 1999-current, in the honda catagory. Damn near everything made my insurance raise, or stay about the same. I found one car my insurance goes down with. 99-2000 civic SI. GOes down by 14cents lol. SO i took 4 months and went to, Michigan, columbus(multiple times), NC, SC, FL & TX looking at the cars private owners had to offer. Wasting all my time/ money/ effort i came up with nothing. Still driving "old blue" until next year i guess.

Not sure what you are laughing at. My statement was in a matter of fact tone. Your comment was similar to saying 'you should have bought this company's stock on this day and sold on this day'. Really? well thanks I guess my crystal ball was kinda cloudy that day. Where were you when I needed the advice?... See it really was a dumbass thing to say.

The interesting thing about your comment is that it also applies to you. You spent time and money in searching for an FD to convert into an lsx. And then you spent more time and money converting it. You do realize that it would have been a hell of a lot easier to just buy a vette that was built in the last 10 years than to do all of that to a 20 year old car. Nevermind that the performance out of the two is similar which makes even less sense to go through the trouble.

Its called passion man that's why you did it and that's why he did it.

I certainly appreciate knowing which shops are trustworthy and what others are cabable of atrocities. So yes I do see it as it benefits the community, a community that you are no longer part of I add.

Really dude a fucking a gallardo? that's your example? A gallardo is like having a supermodel for a wife that doesn't like to fuck. Yeah you impress everyone around you, and you certainly pay for the upkeep, but deep down inside you yearn for something else as what you have is all show.

Not sure about this; RX7 may not be a supermodel like the Gallardo but it is also a model and also high maintenance, perhaps even sometimes more than most supercars.

From where I'm sitting it looks like Gallardo is great in bed :nod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qh-L31knf8

^Nice! With he name "Heffner" though I thought the Playboy bunnies would be out :). But seriously I will post up the next installment (Engine) soon where I hope we can get back on track.

Yes a model of high maintenace but a model that also delivers where it counts. Another thing: FD's don't require more maintenance than MOST supercars. Whoever is experiencing that much maintenance either has a heavily modded car or has a true lemon on their hands.

Really dude? turbodrx7 stated other cars that can be bought at $100K and mentioned the gallardo. Now Unless you can buy that twin turbo lambo for 100K your post is irrelevant.

Edit- you do realize that the 1000+ WHP twin turbo kits like the one in your vid costs like 90K right? Yep just the kit, lambo is not included lulz