You've mentioned limited budget, daily driver, 400whp, and you are clearly very worried about a blown engine (which will cost $7k+ to rebuild at Gotham, BTW). An FD is not going to work well with that mix; it is hard to think of a car that would be worse.

I have spent about $7k on my slow trek to 400whp, plan to spend $3k or so more, and am anticipating a high chance of a blown engine too. $10-$15k is probably a likely budget for you to reach your goals. You will need a daily driver too.

 

If you're that close to gotham you should just go talk to them in person.

 

Mid-pipe isn't a reliability mod either.

 

Right. And if you get a midpipe and want to be "reliable" you should have your wastgate ported.

 

forget about the hp goal and just remember that it's a daily driver and weekend track visits but i'm wont change my setup just for the track so what I run on the street is what i'll run on the track, and having a recently rebuilt engine with 3,000 miles on it and you still say I should worry about blowing an engine?

 

I have talked to gotham in person and they said that it'll be a love and hate experiance, because it'll be in the shop most of the time, but in the same sentance I was told that if I have it checked out and comes back clean and working properly that I should have few to no problems unless I get too crazy with power mods. So if I stay mostly conservative then should I have much to worry about? (remember the engine has only 3,000 miles on it)

 

I have seen very few modded engines fail from age/wear so yes you should be worried about blowing the motor even if it only has 3k miles on it.....If your going to mod it be ready to pay....JMO

 

With conservative goals (say, 300 whp), you should not have a problem for a long time in a street driven car. However, once you track the car, you are in a different universe. A pretty hefty disposable income is preferable if you are going to track an FD.

 

well if the setup dosent change (neither does boost) would I still need more money just cuz im driving the car harder?

 

Driving hard means pushing limits. limits = NOT to be broken on a rotary. hence why a/f ratios are so important. ever seen another car have a custom EGT guage made for it for tuning? another fun part: stock fuel system will not handle over stock boost reliably and sufficiently. I wouldn't trust it over stock boost unless you have ALL new components.. and even then, i think 11lbs would be my max... and even then I wouldn't feel very good about it.

driving hard also means things wear out faster. wear = money

 

I was thinking of useing only 8-10psi boost anyway. But is there really any way to make this car work in my position or should I just come back in the future to revisit the FD as a track only car? And just go with a Supra for right now. If anyone thinks this can work please let me know.

 

Any FD can "work"..It's just all a matter of how hard you are going to push it..If you make it a reliable street car and only run 8-10 psi,you are in good shape..If you are going to try to get 400hp out of it and still make it streetable while pusing 15psi on pump gas for instance,then you are taking a much bigger chance..That's all there is to it,if you are going to be careful,then get it..If you know you are going to push it so hard and blow a motor with 3,000 miles on it,then don't take the chance.

 

If you need the car to get to work or school and don't have a back-up, or have the occasional need to carry more than one passenger, or something that will carry more than a couple of back-packs, or have to live within a tight budget (as you've suggested), or need something that get's decent gas mileage, or your name causes bells to ring when insurance companies check your record.....I'd say re-visit.

 

seriously. . . its kinda like this if you need to ask 'should i be worried' that is not good like i just said in a different thread a few minutes ago an FD is not just a car to own but a way of life. These cars are like high maintenance girlfriends you have to pay attention to em ALL the time, they always need you to buy them something, really if its not one thing its another. If you don't have the money already and let us not forget the TIME to work on it I'd say think about it again in several years. If you want a car to DD and track hunt around and get an evo, they are much more tolerant to that kind of abuse they just don't have that certain 'finesse' that an FD has. just my .02

ps. peep this site: Rob Robinette's 3rd Gen Site (thankfully archive by those loveable bay area FD heads)

 

Slightly confusing when you mention the words budget and FD. Then you mention about just going with a supra for now. If you're looking for a car to mod and beat to hell and it doesn't break down get the Supra. If you're looking to mod a car and beat it to hell and pay for that hell then get an FD.

The words "budget" FD and Supra do not belong in the same sentence. In the high end supercar game it's the old addage in motion...............You have to pay to play.

 

i am on the same boat as you, however, i am not actulaly thinking of power, but more on the driving experience of the FD.

ive been into ae86 for a very long time now, and i am feel that i need to graduate to something more challenging.

instead of thinking of power, learn to drive the car, learn its cornering characteristics, understand its breaking points, learn how to drive using only throttle position, learn its braking power and how the car reacts to weight shift. Power isnt everything, even if you do have that much power ur still not fast.

but all in all, i think learning every aspect of the car before modding it for more power would be best. atleast that what i did with my mr2 and ae86. im assuming its probably best if i did the same with an rx7.

 

Let me explain my budget a little, I can spend about $18,000 for the car its self and I still have about 3-4K left for modifications, so I have about $22,000 to buy a car. Now I can't afford to have the engine rebuilt/replaced, but I can afford just about anything else that would go wrong. And I have no problem with frequent standard maintnance. And I have found Supra's in that price range (all 4th gen.) But as for the FD, if I just do reliability mods, flow mods, and electronic upgrades, and only run 8-10psi, then should I have a reliable street car but still be able to track it occasionallly using the same setup and not change boost pressure?

 

The only thing I cant afford is to spend hundreds of dollars every month just to make it run.

 

Right there, that means you need to look at a different car. I'm not saying if you get an FD your engine will explode. However, the simple fact is that at some point, the engine will let go. Will that be 200 miles, 50000 miles or 80000 miles, who knows but it will happen.

Once again, if you are afraid or can't afford to replace/rebuild an RX-7 engine, don't get an RX-7. I'm sorry, but its that simple.

When I purchased my RX-7 (many years ago), the M3 prices were MUCH higher (as it was a new car then). Had they been the same price, I would have gotten the M3 instead and been better of really. IMO, you should look at something like this (you'll need to register an account to see the pictures):

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=636322

That is a car you can daily drive and tear up a track with on the weekends without much problems at all. They also have large aftermarket support and you can find mechanics all ove the place to do any work on them that you might need.

 

My last two thoughts before I admit defeat,

1:I can afford to replace the engine but not for another year or 2.
2:Extended warranty on the engine? (I talked to my local Mazda dealership and they said they could do a powertrain warranty for 12mo./12,000 miles for $1,300) and considering it took me 3 months to put 1,000 miles on my car and if I can make it past the first year then I could probably afford a whole new engine w/ street porting and 3mm apex seals

 

You can forget an engine warranty. We'd all have them if it was possible. Simply put, the warranties only cover if there was a manufacturing defect. An engine failing because someone assembled it wrong is not all that likely. Generally with these engines, if you do something wrong in the assembly, it shows up VERY quick.

 

Your questions have been asked and answered, most more than once. Re-phrasing your questions and getting different wording on the answers doesn't change things.

 

All right well thank you for your time and input. I think because of my situation i'll just revisit the RX-7 when I become more financialy stable.

 

i dont see even why you want to get a warrany from Mazda... because even if you get some kinda of warranty from them... and somthing breaks....... they seriously wont be able to fix it :] lol


i think your best source would be talking to Steve Kan scince ur very close to him.... a 1 hour convo should answer alot of your questions

 

Mazda told me their warranty was vaild as long as they were a certified mechanic and I even asked if I HAD to take it to a Mazda dealership or could I go to a specialist and they said the specialist would be good, and they actually recommended that I do that.