1990's, hrmm... 400whp. Well as far as imports... the supra was still around doing stuff like that with upgrades, then u have all the american cars... I am sure there were quite a few. BUt.. technology has allow things to progress making it easier and less expensive to do it.

But still....

Personally, with two fd's. I've spent over 25k in misc maintenance, rebuilds, parts, etc.... some people have spent over 100k through time with their rx7's. Some people will spend $100k on a porche and never do a single upgrade.

Lets do a small comparison...

Me (dhahlen) vs Weili (Walien) here on rx7club.

My current mods/parts laying around:

93 Original SSM now custom paint / Black INterior
Monster Ported Engine
T51r KAI Kit
V-Mount
Eliminator FUel Setup
850/1600cc Setup
Haltech e8
Cusco Bars
Pulley Kit
Apexi-GT Intercooler
Gauges
Racing Hart c2 3-peice wheels
10k in Paint
Molded Body kit
GT35r Kit for sale
Reman Engine for sale

I can make a huge list but thats just a quick summary.... now lets take a look at Weili's car.

93 VR Red/Tan Interior
Majority of Bolt on mods
Piggyback ECU
Stock Twins
Larger SMIC
Downpipe / high flow cat
boost gauge
aftermarket wheels
stock body w/r1 lip

Granted Walien's car is one of the cleanest FD's I've ever seen, he takes great care of it... but his mods and upgrades simple cost far, far, far less than what I've done/spent on my fd.

Like I said, wide variables here.

Easy way.... start a poll... money you've spent on your rx7 in UPGRADES (excluding maintenance and upkeep)

Start out with 0-$500
$500-$1500
$1500-3000
$3000-5000

etc etc etc

Might give you a better idea of what people spend on their car's...

Do the same on the EVO forum, or Supra forum. It would give you a good idea of who spends more money. Even then it's not very accurate, but it'll give you a good idea. Then you can factor in cost for the car, horsepower for given mods, etc.

I believe I'll dump a ton of money into any sport car I own... unless I end up buying one that needs nothing... say $144k on a porche.. lol. Then again, that is just me.

 

Well, I'm about to drop 2k down on my FD and that's just gonna get me exterior stuff like possibly EVO-Rs, mudguards, Scoot Hood plus paint and maybe small interior stuff like a Greddy shiftknob....2k out the door.

I figure once I'm done with the exterior stuff then I'll just start buying "go fast" parts 2k at a time and stock'em in my garage and then just "go fast" all at once. Hopefully stopping around 10k.

So I bought mine at the beginning of last year for $18,000 w/ 26k on the clock, then I should put about 5k of exterior mods and 10k worth of "go fast" mods, that gives me a $33,000 car that I think blows Vetts and Vipers away. Not to mention that's about what you would spend on a brand new RX-8 with nothing on it. So I'm stoked.

By the way exterior mods = Mudguards, ASA wheels, Dunlop tires, Springs and Shocks, Scoot Hood, 99 spec front, 99 spec wing, 99 spec front lip. Just wanted to clarify that. And I already have the wheels, tires, springs, shocks and mudguards.

 

My goal ~ I've spent 2500 on parts so far and thats only the tip.

Engine/Power
Hks SMF Intake (Yellow)
Blitz VGTT
Pettit unlimited ECU
Pettit AST
Earl's oil cooler
Samco Intercooler Tubes
Koyo AA oversize radiator
3 inch SS Downpipe
3 inch SS Midpipe
Racing beat Catback (DT)
Autometer boost gauge
J&S Knock sensor/airfuel guage
Rx7store silicon hoses
Front strut-bar
Oddessy battery
NGK wires 8mm
NGK plugs leading & trailing

Exterior
Re amemiya N1 hood (fiberglass)
99 spec tails
R1 lip
Kouki turns
Carbon heat plates

Coming ~
HKS TO4Z (.84 or 1.0) 5,700
HKS V-mount (Custom) 1,200
hks dual oil cooler setup 400
hks DLL ignition - 350
Apexi pfc - 650
Titan R1000 exhaust (Full) - 1500
93 spec pass side guage pod 100
Volk te37's & Tires 3,700
Nexus GT coilovers 620
+ Exterior & Tuning which is another 2,800 or so...

I have 47K original miles so a port is out of the question for now.

 

Guarantee that v-mount is going to cost you more than $1200...

I've change my mind about a million times when it comes to my setup... so if you get something in mind.. try and stay with it otherwise you'll end up throwing money around.. it never ends hah.

 

And i see the exhaust stuff but no mention of a ported wastegate or boost controller

 

Well said, I know I want to go with FEED for exterior and a lot of carbon for exterior an some feed goodies too for the drive train as well.

 

Feed is one of the best kits IMO

 

I don't even own an FD yet and I've already bought/spent money towards my future car.

 

On of the many untrue statements in this thread.

 

**** this made me think of how much ive spent since ive owned my fd (about 7 years now). holy crap counting maintenance, 1 motor, and mods. Im over 10k and i dont want to add anymore.

i think we spend too much..............

 

So my opinion is, if you compare the price cost of parts between imports then yeah i say among that community we spend the most on our cars. You cant compare an exotic to an import in the case of price for modding. Its not that the parts cost more to make for an exotic its that they can charge way more because there are less people making them. When you try to compare the exotic vette models (hennesy and such) the the RUF Porche and all the various BMW models you just cant thats a different price bracket. But Ill bet you money comparably price to preformance you cant beat what we have.

Chris

 

I don't think it's really that much different than other cars factory built with FI. You can't really compare modding a NA car to modding a FI car. Apples and oranges. Obviously its easier and cheaper to squeak out more performance out a car that already has FI. Just take a look at Supra's. They lay down some crazy dyno numbers much easier than our cars.

 

Not according to my math.

 

Thats because the stock exhaust is restrictive. I've seen a 40hp difference when going from Stock pipes (stock everything) to full unrestricted exhaust. That'll run you around $500 depending on which catback you choose. Tom93r1 had that problem. His stock cat was clogged, and the new exhaust free'd up around 35hp.

 

ive spent about 6grand since nov. after i bought the car vmount maint. etc...
i dont mind spending it on this car because im not planning on selling it...took me 2-3 years of looking ...
the german car parts my friends buy are a little higher....and the fd parts are higher then honda parts ....
all in all i dont think rx7 parts are that badly priced...little high from what im use too...

brad

 

For obvious reasons. The market for rx7 parts isn't as great as hondas and whatnot. Not as many FD's floating around, and more and more disappear each day.

 

i think FD's generally get more money put into them for a bunch of reasons, some of which have already been mentioned. i have an STi that is my daily driver. so far i've upgraded the brakes, speakers, and reflashed the ECU. a 325 hp / 350 tq (flywheel) daily driver is great, and i don't have much else to do to it. i'll get the windows tinted, slap on a turbo-back exhaust (bumps it up to 350 hp / 385 tq) and call it a day.

in the meantime, my FD's going to be getting fully revamped. sure, it'll take years and years, but it's my toy so that's what it's there for, eating up all my money. i mean, i can get into the list of things i want to change on my FD, but it's nothing that hasn't been said before... intercooler, ECU, fuel system, single turbo, wheels, suspension, etc etc etc etc... and i don't have to worry about compromising with it because it isn't my DD.

another way to look at it, strictly at cost, is that there are a lot more used parts floating around for RX7's because they've been around for so long. it seems to me that most STi, Evo, and S2000 owners are buying newer (and therefore more expensive) parts. so that could kind of even the playing feel if all you're looking at is strictly cost.

anway, that's just my personal view on the topic. go ahead and continue squabbling.

 

Exactly. The supra's stock flywheel hp is 320. Thats about 295rwhp. With intake, full exhaust from the dp, front mount and a boost controller my car put down 425 rwhp with the clutch slipping pretty bad. I'll upgrading the clutch and going with a 14 pound lighweight flywheel ( because the stock one is 36pounds ). That will most likely put me in the 435-450rwhp range. Still on the untouched stock twins and no internal motor work. Got a T-78 kit that is being shipped to me as we speak so I'm going for some big numbers soon.

 

Yeah, I have BMW driving friends that think nothing of dropping $3K for a LSD.
Hell....friggin' WINDSHIELDS are close to a grand!

By and large, I will almost bet that the British sports car crowd spends the most.
When I had my Triumph TR-6, I remember a half-shaft and bearing hub costing $800....
Jags and Triumphs and MGs, along with older Aston Martins will cost you an arm, both legs, your firstborn, and a deal with the Devil.....

 

Any car is expensive if you want to go fast. You gotta pay to play. As far as maintenance, I believe its not to bad for a 18 yr old turbo car. Any old turbo car requires alot of maintenance.

 

OMG why did you revive this thread!

 

Holy batman necrothread! WHY U NO DEAD?

 

At least it's still very applicable lol

*feed me seymore*

 

This is a difficult question to answer.

Any turbo car owner group will spend similar $$$ to their cars because brands change but the concept doesn't, we all need/want similar parts.

If you are comparing brand new to brand new, probably RX7 owners spend quite a bit dollarwise but atm we probably aren't spending as much (or costing us as much) especially for US owners as there are plenty bargains and 2nd hand parts circulating.

Also RX7 is/was such a great package from factory that common sense tells me we'd need to spend much less on it than we would on another car to improve it.

Reliability costs aren't as bad as some make it out to be. You can buy a brand new or a rebuild and ported engine for $5k or less, that's how much a regular service interval costs on some other brands.

I'd say we are in the top 30-40% because we are more dedicated and passionate about our cars. Another group similar to us (or worse than us) would be the Supra owners I think.

 

I wanted to see how this generation of RX7 owners now feel as oppose to Rx7 owners of 2007.