i have heard from some that the only way to make these cars last is to drive the hell out of them. And others say that the harder you drive them the quicker they die.

What is the TRUTH??
Every once and a while I redline my 93 but most of the time I'm shifting around 4,000. Can these engines really be damaged by not pushing them to the limiter every once and a while.

 

Do you daily drive it? I would recommend a good pull to redline through third gear 2-3 times a month. (Hard to find somewhere to do that legally) If you drive under 4500rpm the secondary turbo dosen't come online. It's probably better to spool her up once in a while

But also, do you have mods? Has it been dyno'ed? I would make sure you have a proper running FD before you tear it up. That seems to be the leading cause in dead FD's..

 

on that....

After last nights run, that's about it for me until I get the rebuild.

I just ran her out for ***** and giggles...and cuz I have never gone that fast before.

Now it's back to being a granny.

Oh..and I did find a highway to tap out 3rd gear in... Mwhaha!!

 

a buddy of mine seemed to use the redline buzzer as his signal to shift...at every shift. when his engine went due to coolant seal failure the insides were very clean. no carbon build up or nuttin.
drive it!

 

Right....

 

Don't make it any harder for me....

http://www.moviewavs.com/Movies/Top_Gun/need_spd.wav

 

Damn, I don't know why some of you even own these cars!

During daily driving to work and so forth, most of my shifts are in the 3.5k to 4k rpm range, usually boosting up to 5 psi. However, I also take it out for fun at least twice a week where it gets hard street and highway driving with several runs to redline in 1st-3rd gears. Also, as dangerous as it can be, you haven't truly experienced an FD until you've dropped into 4th at about 85 mph and run it through 4th gear.....

 

Mine is my daily and usually do a few 1-3gear redline runs every week since the piggies don't come back where i live.

 

Well...my car is about 97k on the odo with it's all original OEM..so I don't think running her hard would be too good of a deal..espescially since her compression is low.

I can wait until the rebuild, knowing that I have it when I need it. It's much better than completly blowing her up, and having nothing.

 

I shift around 4k to and from work, but i try to give it a redline once a day or so, nobody likes the carbon!

 

A redline a day keeps the mechanic away...

 

63 track days, and at least 2 to 3 autocrosses per season since 1997. This is in addition to daily driving and fun runs down southern Indiana's twisty hill country.

I've been driving mine hard since about 20,000 miles or so...

I think the folks who babied their FDs for 70,000 miles, and THEN drove them hard, are the ones with the problems. You gotta stretch the motor early on...

BTW, road racing keeps your motor revving between 3500 rpm and redline 25 minutes per session during 6 sessions in one day. I typically get 130 miles of track driving in one day. Now multilply that times 63 days, and that's about 9000 miles of track time (since 1997), or about 9% of the miles on my odometer

Shane Benson at AIM Tuning (the place that's been maintaining my FD going on 4 years now), is convinced that my hard driving has contributed to the longevity of my motor. Of course diligent maintenance is a given variable...

Surprisingly, the motor still pulls well despite the low compression.

Currently I'm having trouble with the sequential turbo system (5 psi on the primaries, and rising to 9 psi to redline). I suspect the vacuum solenoid hoses have hardened beyond their flexibility, and require replacement with silicone hoses (that's right I have NOT done the hose job on my car yet!)...

 

Rev it up a little and drop it into 3d at 85!

 

My hero I figure I have done about 45 autocrosses the past two years. Only one track day but another this Saturday!



(that's right I have NOT done the hose job on my car yet!)...

Oh now I am so disappointed!! Mine worked fine but I replaced them anyway, I noticed a slightly quicker transition afterwards.

 

How many miles on your FD, DamonB??

 

Well, since my car is close to stock without a midpipe or streetport, there's not much point. I guarantee I will accelerate faster from 85-120 by downshifting into 4th than downshifting into 3rd and running it to redline (and then having to spend a 1/2 second shifting to 4th).

Now, going from a roll at 75 mph is a different story. I think I surprised a turbo 240SX one night downshifting into 3rd and chirping the tires at 75 mph.....

 

i appreciate your comments. my car is 100% stock with 34,000 on the clock. I plan on keeping this car forever as I have a 91 as a daily driver (just luv the rotor). With an average of 3,000 miles put on my car a year what is the best way to keep her motor fresh. I mean even if i redline her a few times a week I mean how often should I change fluids or start her up with as few miles as she gets a year?

 

I think the truth lay somewhere in the middle. I took my car to the track every single wed this season, except 1 or 2. I also dynoed it last month and ran 11 redline runs. with all of that the car had no issues at all, except a differential that I grenaded.

I say redline it once in a while on the street. the car likes it. just dont do alot of hard launches. do some highway redlines in 3rd gear.

 

i shift at about 3k everytime, 3.5-4 seems high, unless your turbos are not workign properly and u dont get the low end. i redline it everytime i drive it atelast couple of times, if the motor is gonna blow it will blow anyway,redlining it will not damage the engine nor wear it out faster, u can easily kill you rmotor from carbon lock (not redlining enouf, and all teh carbon gets build up on teh rotors then chips off and gets stuck on that nice and shiny apex seal) drive it normal and give it a good beating once every so often if u cant do it everytime. i dont see how u guys find it hard to wind the car up in 3rd? that only like a ~100 mph. and takes a few secs to get there from 40 i assume u are moving at least 40 mph

 

1) replace the pre-cat with a downpipe. This is just as much about reliability (if not more) than it is about performance. The amount of underhood heat reduction achieved by doing this is very significant. You can always keep your pre-cat to put the car back 100% stock.

2) replace the stock plastic AST with an aluminum AST. This will eliminate the risk of the stock one splitting.

3) I would replace the fluids based on a time schedule, not a mileage schedule. For example, I would still change the oil and filter at least twice a year; replace the air and fuel filters once a year, flush the coolant once a year, etc.

 

Argh! I can't wait anymore. Any of guys drag raced when your FD was stock? How was it. I'm just gunna throw a K&N drop in and go for it.

I haven't raced since December of last year .

 

Right now it has 108,000+ miles but I replaced the motor at 98k when I lost an apex seal on the rear rotor. Still on the original turbos. I bought the car two years as of a week ago and have put 40,000 miles on it in that time.

 

Hmm..since you have a high mileage FD...did you have to replace anything else since then...like wheel bearings, suspension components, bla bla?

I'm just making a list of possible items that might need to be checked or retrofitted.

Thanks!

 

List of things that have needed to be replaced for reasons other than me upgrading or breaking them

radiator (leak)
turbo coolant hoses (leak; have since replaced every rubber hose under the hood)
clutch
all rear suspension bushings
rear engine seal (leaking; replaced with clutch)
hood release cable (broke and hood wouldn't open!)

That's all I can think of off the top of my head (bet I missed one) but the front upper a-arm bushings are next on my list as they recently got noisy. I drive/race the car so often that it gets some sort of attention every week, but these are the things I can think of that were must do's.

 

i have a pretty high mileage FD too...bought it at 99k miles original engine, turbos. since then i've put about 4k miles on it in 6 months. the things i have done are

- fuel pulsation damper (leak)
- primary fuel injectors (leak)
- couplers / y-pipe (leak)