Modena 1

As I contemplate purchasing a local FD this weekend, I can't help but wonder how long the previous owner's motor and turbo replacement will last. If the car had the work performed around 45-50,000 miles...am I to assume that the new motor and turbo's will only last the same? Currently, the setup has 30,000 miles on the engine/turbos/tranny/clutch.

How many times are you guys running through motors and turbo's in say 100,000 miles? I want this car to be reliable.

Thanks.

Fish Eye

As long as you take care of the car and motor it should easily last 100,000. But this car takes alot of TLC. You can't expect it to go with out proper maintenance like a old honda accord. My cousin has an old accord and his parent said that he can get a new car when his old one dies. We are still tring to kill that stupid car.

Modena 1

100,000? That is good news....from the amount of FD's always in the shop, you'd think that every 20-30,000 miles the owners are plopping down $5gs for new motors...

I'll see, I'm going to see this local FD tonight, I'll take some pics and post em later.

cavellm

Mine's got 76k miles on original engine and turbos. Sees awesome vacuum at idle, turbos are strong at 12 psi, and is reliable.

RollnDrty

I owned one previous FD with original engine, and sold it with 55K miles, still perfect engine, but the turbos were replaced at about 54K miles. The FD I own now has 57K miles, and original engine and turbos still operating within normal tolerances. Some say I'm lucky, I just think it depends on how the car is maintained.

paw140

Even with proper maintanence, you'll be extremely lucky to get 100K out of it. With these engines, it almost seems like a crap shoot whether it will last or not. Some guys seem to go through engines every 20K, others last 50K, some (very few) have ~100K on them.

Obviously it depends on tuning and mods to a certain extent. But they are still not very reliable, even in stock form.

I just blew my original engine, 91K on it. I was driving it hard at the time, but the boost was at or slightly below 10 psi. I don't have any performance mods except for a downpipe. I blew two apex seals in the rear rotor... I have no idea what happened. I didn't hear any detonation, I wasn't boosting excessively, I've done all the maintenance on it. I'm now wrestling with whether I want to do an LS1 conversion, because I know I'm going to be afraid to drive the car hard if I put in another rotary. And what's the fun in that?

vudoodoodoo

My old engine crapped one me at 85K miles.
That's not too bad.

Modena 1

Yeah, I hear ya. the owner of the car does religious oil changes, but doesn't know much....he doesn't use mobile 1 and just has the local firestone do the changes....i think thats why he only got 50k out of the stock motor/turbos....he is an old guy though, doesn't drive it hard. Makes you wonder...

Ohseyun

previous rx7
97k and was pulling strong but sold it

M.Piedlourde

Actually, I would think that a stock FD would be -less- reliable than a properly modified one. A lot of the design flaws in the stock version, such as the sucky stock temp. gauge, the amazing clogging pre-cat, or the plastic AST, have been addressed by the aftermarket community. Even if a person has no intentions of modding out their car, they should AT LEAST do the reliability mods.

And Modena1, realize that most of the time, people are only going to post here when something is wrong with their car. I'm not saying that the FD rotary is bulletproof and perfect, obviously it's very finicky, but not many people are going to post about how great their car is running. It's easy to start thinking that ANY car is extremely unreliable when you frequent boards like this, because most of the time people only post when they need help with a problem. The F-body/Vette boards, the 3si boards, they're all the same way. Well, maybe not the Supra boards.

Engberg

I just bought mine, 64K on original set up. The guy took good care of it with all service records. It does have some problems but I am working on them. This is a mechanical system and it won't go unless something doesn't work right. It doesn't just blow because Mazda set it to blow every 25K. If you are meticulous, and understand that you have to take care of it you'll get the most you can out of it. Every situation is different, but be willing to put a lot of TLC into it and it always helps to understand that it may go sour... I would highly recommend it though, pride of ownership is amazing. You have to learn the car, but once you do it's not that bad. It is after all, in my eyes, a supercar and I wouldn't buy a 1980s Lambo or Ferrari or Porshce and expect it to be bulletproof, this is no Honda

P.S. It may seem like there are no good condition stock (original engine and turbo) cars out there...just keep looking you'll find one...but it will take a lot of time to find the right one.

DeNguyen

haha i got 110k original motor/turbos. still pulls hard and boosts perfectly. MWAh HA ha Ha hH Ah HAha

*crosses finger/knocks on wood*

Modena 1

I'm just throwing this out in the dark, but I have a feeling the stock cars with stock motor and turbos with high mileage are from warmer temperatures...that is, the south or cali or someplace.

Here in the NE, I have not heard of 1 FD with stock original everything with high mileage. Maybe the harder winters take their toll...

I'm going over to the guys house around 6. He had it posted for $14k...but that is way too much. The car is decent, but has dings etc. Then there is the whole motor question. I'm going to tell him $9,000 and work from there...I need to protect myself.

paw140

I totally agree. The reliabilty mods are the most important thing you can do to the car. But lately it seems like there are one or two posts per week about someone blowing their engine.

Stevey629

so, if rebuilds do happen somewhat often, how much should it cost, because I think I may need one soon. Not to scare u off from the car man, I think my car is awesome, and worth every headache (well most of the time). I just think I may be needing a rebulid soon, and dont know whats really involved, so the guys out there that have done this some ballparked figures with labor prices, places to go, parts to get, etc, would be very helpful and useful.

paw140

Mazda remans are around $2100, and the price will vary from dealer to dealer. I believe labor is around $1K, but I'm not too sure about that.

You can send you engine to various places and have them rebuilt it. The prices for this usually range from $2K to $3K.

smerkinseven

i have 137,000 and counting on my stock turbos... running 12 psi's.. strong

cruiser

Is it possible to do the rebuild yourself ?
i.e. if there is no damage to the rotors and housings - can you just replace the seals and gaskets, clear off the carbon and put it back together ? Or does it involve some hard-engineering work one cannot do by himself ?

Afterall it's a simple engine design...

paw140

It is possible to rebuild it yourself if you have acess to the measuring equipement. You need to check dimensions and make sure everything is in spec.

If you are serious about rebuilding one yourself, buy Bruce Turrentine's video about Overhauling Mazda 13Bs. Mine is on the way, and I've heard nothing but good things about it.

cruiser

Well, I think I will be in the rebuild soon with 85k miles on the engine (but as I was told, car was given synthetic oil every 4k miles and it ran on 95octane gas minimum), still in good shape though. I will get both videos and will try to rebuild the engine with a friend. If it fails I can still get it rebuilt I guess, or just buy a new one...

roner

hey modena1, like everyone said... be prepared to put a lot of TLC into your car. it's a great thing to consider owning an FD3S, but first you have to consider your time, money, and patience. rebuilding your motor is only part of the experience of owning an FD3S; this is a car you HAVE to learn and grow with... so i don't think it's fair to ask how many miles the motor could run, but rather how you're going to run your motor. this is probably why so many 7's are in shops. we (owners) care about every little thing... as you could probably see from posts like 'little glove box light stays on' etc... as for the car you're looking at i think somewhere along the line of 12g's for all stock. is there anything in particular u noticed about the car that would make u think u need a rebuild?

personally, it took me half a year to get my car running the way i wanted it, plus i put in money into the car that i know i'm never gonna see a return on. BUT, i love everything that comes with the 7. it's a f**king 7!!

R1R

HUGH

32,000 kms, 2 rebuilds, 1 pair reconditioned turbo's nuff said.

P.S. I LOVE IT!!!!

Swamp RX-7

18,000 miles on factory rebuild, and 120,000 miles on the turbos. The engine runs smooth as silk, and the turbos spool fast, don't blow oil, and don't leak. It's what you do with the car. If you Redline it through every gear to get up to speed almost everyday, the motor won't last long. Drive it like a normal car, just let it warm up, and cool down. Reliability mods are a must, and change the oil every 3000 miles or less.

Kiflin

I have 56 on mine and its original.

TomsRX7

Out here in CA, when I was shopping around for my FD, I saw LOTS of them in the paper that would say "brand new engine, 80k on the car", or some even at 60K. So from all the cars I looked at, 60-80K seems to be the average life. Ofcourse, some are less and some are more (even 120K) but that's because they were either driven REALLY hard or REALLY babied.

When you find the car that is cosmetically what you want, before you buy it, make sure you spend the money to do a compression check with the CORRECT type of checker specifically designed for the rotary engine.

-Tom