richbeast1

hi all,am new on here and want to say hello and ask a few questions.

i nearly bought an rx7(3rd gen) about 3 years ago but because i had limited rwd experience and didnt like my driving while laying on the floor i bought something else with similar performance but more ordinary.i am now nearly in the position after driving more rwd cars and more lower seated cars that i feel im ready to comit to one now!
im a bit unsure which model to go for!!was planning on finding a 99 onwards model because i like the styling better than the early model and it has more power.the thing is,the later cars cost the hens teeth and as i will be modifying the engine(300+ rwhp) and probably changing some of the bodywork so wondering if i should find an earlyer cheaper car!!
im after a car with not too much lag so what sort of single turbo would be best for 300-350bhp?
how do you control where max power is in the rev range on a rotary?with a normal piston car you just cam it up which obviously isnt possible with an rotary.
have heard bad stories about using nos with rotaries,why is it such a nightmare??
what gearbox/gearkit options do you have?have seen some 6speed kits and something about a viper box.i only ask this because i have a habit of killing 2nd and 3rd gear syncros!!

thanx in advance rich(uk)

Xearo_FD3S

I dont know what got imported in the UK but in the US they stopped importing them in 95 and there were progressively less imported each year. Youre going to spend a lot of money doing "engine work" on a rotary and they are a scary engine to work with, especially if you dont or hardly know anything about them. These "rebiult" engines 9 times out of 10 are more broken then the mechanic had claimed they were in the first place. Not many techs know how to work on rotary engines here in the states, only a handfull of I know in CA.

As for NOS im not a big fan of it, thats just asking for death. And out of curiousity, why do you want to make it a single turbo? And 5th gear syncros are the most common to kill on an FD because people miss shifting into 3rd and shift into 5th causing it to pop.

SiKoPaThX

iTrader: (2)

^
There are plenty of good rotary mechanics in the US and they are definately NOT only in CA.

My suggestion to the threadstarter is this. If you're planning on modifying both the engine and body, what is the point of getting a newer model? Lower miles or something? Engine and body is pretty much the only thing they changed. Further more, I would try and find a very nice older series in good condition and drive it in stock form for a little before modding it to death.

Learn the car at stock power levels before you add any more. You can easily acheive 300rwhp on stock twin turbos and I've heard of cars reaching close, if not 350rwhp.

As far as nitrous goes, yes it can be done but it is not very safe nor does it make extreme benifits in an engine of such small displacement to begin with. My question: Why do you think you need Nitrous?

Also, 6 spd trannies and things like that are practically non-existant for FD's and are rediculously expensive. Learn to try not to break things.

salamander

As I understand it, very few cars were imported by Mazda for the UK market and the imports stopped about the time they stopped coming to the US. Nowadays the UK obtains all of their RX7's as 'grey' imports from Japan. In fact, most RX7's in the UK are of a 'grey' import origin.

RX7's are pretty much the same everywhere. Original UK cars were advertized at 237 hp (vs 255 hp in US) but I heard that was just because auto hp is measured differently in the UK than here. The cars are really the same.

So what to buy?? Many more older RX7's were built than 1999+'s. The aftermarket supply for older cars is more plentiful and there are more people with experience on older cars than on the newer ones. The newer cars are essentially the same as the older ones mechanically (although there are some differences) but they have different electronics (ECU's for both fuel management and ABS braking).

However, the newer cars are newer and therefore should have fewer miles and last longer.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Read the FAQ thread and the related links in it. Nitrous is covered (essentially, tuning it is hard, and FDs are very sensitive to tuning).

Gearbox kits exist but aren't worth considering. Stock 5 speed will spread out nicely over even the highest speed race tracks, and you can change both 5th gear and final drive ratio to suit.

The power curve looks mostly the same for all rotaries - constant torque once at boost, linear increasing horsepower. Single turbo and twin turbo make the curve look different - look for the link that has all the dyno curves for various modded FDs and you'll get familiar with them.

There is no such thing as a habit for killing synchros - only bad shifting. This car is fairly sturdy, but you will need to learn to shift better than a retarded 16 year old. Of course, if you upgrade to a dog-box transmission, you won't have synchros to break. You probably won't get in gear, either

Dave

richbeast1

the uk got cars to 95 same as uk and ours were all manual 237bhp cars.
not really bothered about nitrous just thought i would ask due to hearing the horror story's.
i wasnt planning on doing mods straight away but as with all cars i have had they would happen eventually.
i can change gear just fine its just that the sycros dont like to change as fast as i do from 1st to second and from second to third.
there are a few well respected tuners in the uk so shouldnt be that much trouble come rebuild time.i would end up doing most work myself anyway as i have done so with most of my cars.
was looking at possible future single turbo because it makes all the plumming easier and frees up space in the engine bay as well as reducing weight ect..


cheers for the replies


rich