The Drained

What would I have to do (monthy I'm assuming) to keep the FD in good running condition? Regular check up's at rotary specialists? Suggestions please.

Thanks in advance

And to the people who use their FD as their primary car, what problems have you faced?

insomniac

iTrader: (5)

I use my FD as a daily commuter, just oil change myself and take it to Ivan if anything goes wrong that I can't figure out.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Here's a link for you to check out:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=199382

Also, change oil ~2k. I recommend Valvoline VR-1 Racing 20w50 for dyno juice and Mobil1 15w50 for synth.

Tranny and Diff, I use Mobil1 synth. I change every year.

Keep tabs on how the coolant looks.

I clean my race plugs pretty frequently.

Alot of maintenance depends on how heavily modded your car is. If it's pretty much stock and used for street use only, it's about the same as any other car.

SleepR1

The FD is a fine daily driver. I've had no problems with it as my primary car. It's when you begin track driving regularly PLUS daily driving that you start seeing problems. My R1 has 109,000 miles with 10,000 of that on various road courses and autocrosses. I've had mine for 8 years. I have 6,000 miles on the new motor, turbos, and mods.

vudoodoodoo

Daily drive mine.

I feel bad for it though. It's 90+ today!!!

fdslave_g

used to be a daily driver myself, but now i need to get mercedes c180 as my daily car.

Look out for the overheat problem...so alway have a water bottle with you just in case. That should be the only thing to watch out.

In my case i have control problem (I dunno I think it just me) I always oversteer the car...

And the gas problem....mine consume like 3KM a litre...

yeah that's all the problem i had with my FD

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Did a woman just admit that she can't drive ?

Hehe, juuuuust kidding

On a serious note, my R1 was a daily driver for 4 years and ~60k miles. I'm in the Army so transported a lot of gear in her as well. You'd be surprised how much you can fit in the car after you take the passenger seat out

jbrennen

I used my FD as a daily driver for over 8 1/2 years, but I bought it new, maintained it pretty well and didn't do any mods.

In 8 1/2 years, I don't think I had any significant problems that resulted in more than a two day shop visit. And no drivetrain issues, except for a clutch replacement at 65000 miles.

The two most recent unexpected shop visits were both for electrical problems.

That being said, if you buy an FD used, it's hard to predict what shape it is in.

DaedelGT

I daily drive mine daily and put at least 15 miles a day on it. Some times more. Thank God I live right next to campus and don't have to worry about a job durring the year, but I haven't had a major problem I couldn't fix over a weekend.

Lost Time

The rotary engine is just like any other motor. The more use and abuse it receives, the more maintenance it'll need. If you drive mostly highway miles, it'll require far less. If you spend all day in stop and go traffic, it'll require far more. The more power the motor produces, the more maintenance you'll have to do. It's as simple as that. Don't let the fact that the motor is different cloud that.

Just be prepared for a maintenance-intensive car.

man_of_steel

mine was my daily beater. just expect to change the oil often, and bitch a lot on spending so much on gas....nothing less than 93 octane for your baby.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

just keep it fairly stock except for the reliability mods and you should be fine.

apneablue

I don't daily drive mine...if I didn't mind giving it a daily beating I would love to drive it every day...However, it's my baby and only sees about 2k miles a year...I think a second STOCK FD with reliability mods is in my future as a daily driver...I love my FD

DamonB

Yes. I don't have problems that sideline me, but my preventative maintenance schedule on things like suspension parts is very accelerated due to all the time the car spends on race rubber.

FormerPorscheGuy

I use mine as a daily driver and love it. You just have to keep up with oil changes and other small mechanical things.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

One of the big advantages of having your FD as your daily driver is this: such mundane tasks as going to the grocery store, going to work, or going to the police station to bail your buddy out from jail are all a frickin' blast when you're behind the wheel of your 3rd gen .

Hell, when we were getting ready to deploy and I was working 20 hours a day for 2 months straight, one night I got a call at 3am to come down to the railhead where we were loading all of our Humvees to handle an issue.
I was tired as ****, had drank a few beers before bed so had a headache, and was basically pissed about having to make the 12 miles trip on post.

One advantage of driving around at 3am is the utter lack of other people or cars. So what did I do? Revved out all the damn gears, took turns sideways, and hit a buck sixty on the highway. Didn't take long for me to cheer up. I showed up at the railhead with a huge ****-eating grin on my face

westfield32

lol to the guy ^

fdslave_g

Yeah I do admit!

I think my OS twin plate clutch is just too hard that i by mistake burn my rear wheels off and spin.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

^ I think it's the extra HP from your RZ model and the fact that you like to shake your booty baby.

I think it's fine to and from work as a daily driven car but very short trips to the corner and using it ever few hours is another thing since it needs to be properly warmed up and cooled down. I've seen people put their auto's in reverse within a fraction of a second of turning the key.

fdslave_g

Shhhh! Rob, don't go tell no one bout that....
hmmm! you bad

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Hmmm, this thread is getting *much* more interesting

Dragueur

i get about 100 miles a week...

I had to replace my clutch... getting an efini y-pipe this week... change oil every 2K miles...
havent checked my plugs though...

car is fine..

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

1000?

Dragueur

what do u mean??

100 miles a week...