In the last 17 years I have spent over 50k into 3 different Fd's. I sold the first with light mods and broke even. The second one I popped the engine due to overboost on a cold night. Did a complete rebuild and proceeded to get run off the road by a semi and totaled it. Made it out alive, salvaged the block and bought a third roller.I have had the current one for 10 years. Have had one engine rebuild done. This car has matured from nonsequential twins to single turbo. It would have been a bit more, but have done most of the work myself and with the help of friends. I dont regret it one bit. Have not second guessed myself ever. Made many great friends over the years in this wonderful rotary community. Dont ever regret what you do in life that makes you happy. Just plan accordingly whether it takes days or years to complete. Most of us work hard in life so enjoy it while you can. G

 

I'm with Gordon on this one. Much too much money invested in one car. Very happy with where I am at now, but could have saved around $50K had I known more back in the day.

Not that $30K is chump change, but that's an amazingly small amount for such a beautiful car Drew. Would have thought much more than that. Congrats.

And "G" has it right, life is too short. Do what you enjoy and don't have regrets. The FD is a unique car and the community is a good one. Mod away and keep the bills hidden from your significant other

 

I have about 33k in mine total including buying the car over 10 years ago with 4x,xxx miles. https://www.rx7club.com/single-turbo...bo-car-276567/ (this link doesn't include the CCW rims and some other things)

I do not regret spending the money one bit. I have had lots of fun (heh) in the car over the years and learned a bunch of stuff along the way. I also connected with many great folks on this forum!

One of the things I really like about my car is that there is really nothing that will touch the performance for the price. Maybe another guy who sinks 15k into his old car hahah. What I do not like about my car is that it is smelly, too loud, and - let's face it - not as reliable as something newer and less modded.

 

Thinking about getting something else - hell no. Thinkig about if I could have gotten something better for the money - Yes but the answer is alway **** No.

And now that I starded reading about M3 E46 breaking rear chassis I just pitty those who went that way. Seems to be a design fault that breaks the rear to bits. Needs welding and dismantling the whole rear end. Costs more to fix than the car is worth manny times.

I start to wawer a bit now when a spittin mint Spirit R is for sale just a stone throw from where I live. Only 32k more .... and I have 2 FD's. Working on pushing that thought down the road because I have invested too much in the first one and it will cost to much time and money to move the good stuff to the spirit R but damn it looks good.

 

I'm at least 30k in as well.

 

Well Over 30k in the FD's that I have had, oh and add another 2k to the motor I just bought. FML. Yes I regret it, I could own a house right now.

 

I think investment is a poor choice of words....How about money spent

No regrets here. I already have "investments".

 

No regrets here. I learned a lot from my 2 FD's. The first one, right off the bat the car made clouds of white smoke. I rebuilt the engine but wanted to go custom twin turbo, fabricator lagged to no end, cut my losses. Learned a lot from it and moved on. 3 months ago I went through a rough time, bought another FD to take my mind off things and rebuilt everything. Still in shock at how much parts went up since the last rebuild . Guess it could have been cheaper if I wasn't hell bent on using Iannetti ceramics. Just waiting for my BNRs to arrive now. Combined with what I spent on both cars, $40,000?

 

"Invest" suggests you're going to get your money back, and then some

 

If you're going to invest in some car stock the FD is a top 10 pick for sure though

Pay 12 today and sell it for twelve in 10 years after you've spent 20 modiftying it and taking care of it but the ups and downs of owning your stock will keep you so entertained it's worth every penny.

There are worse stock picks like a C6Z for 40 and sell it in 10 years for 20 after spending 20 on mods and maint, triple the property tax, double the insurance and don't forget the Jewelry investment to keep up with your buddies. Sorry I couldn't resist with the jewelry comment but seriously as cool as the c6 z is it's still a corvette.

PS Hi Eric, I just realized you are OP. Anywho you have a great car so enjoy it and don't sweat the money. Similar to the money you spend on food that feeds your metabolism the money you spend on the FD feeds your soul so invest wisely hehe.

 

So far iv spent around 35k on my FD so far and it goes up around 1-2k every month ha..... Only thing that is upsetting is its been down since october of last year, But honestly the amount of looks and compliments I got last summer make up for all of it! Hell the car even had a white bumper... I cant even imagine what its going to be like when I have the body done & 500 +hp

 

From beginning to end, I'd say I've got easily $30,000+ dollars invested in my FD...and it's still not running. >_>

And I still need to do a lot of clean-up replacement parts and then my wide-body conversion w/ paint..

Is it worth it? Well, had I known my 2JZ swap was going to be SO time-consuming, expensive, and one headache after another....no, I would have just sucked it up and stayed rotary.

So if I could do it all over again, I would have just stayed rotary and built it better from the ground up.

 

Very true, but no regrets here. I came into this with my choice fully made from the beginning. As nice as a newer ZO6 and the like would be, it's too easy. I wouldn't know what to do with it. If I am limited by how much I can personalize and improve a car, I will soon be bored of it. I guess it's not in my blood to be content with a car out of the box. I need a car that I can keep long-term, and for more reasons than one, the RX-7 has the most potential to suit that need.

I'm just instigating commentary to gauge the reasons why others have chosen the same path. It's either we're all collectively crazy, or there really is a method to our madness

 

I imagine if people start buying FD's again I should be in the clear. With everything done to the car, including the car itself I'm still WELL under 20k

Ill be going on 3 years of ownership in the next couple of months...I can't wait for the 10+year mark like some others on here. It'll be interesting to see where time takes me with the car.

 

Too lazy to calculate everything at the moment but I've spent something between $30 - 40k so far excluding the price of the car. I'll probably reach $50k by the end of the current build. Overseas shipping, import taxes and importer commissions are killers.

Have I had second thoughts? Of course I did at one stage or another, I'm only human. Anyone who says he didn't is full of it imo. In the end having a second thought in a moment of weakness doesn't change the fact that I love my car

 

would you guys recommend buying an fd with a rebuilt motor? or a roller? and where can I buy a reliable engine and trans if I were to go with a roller? I/m asking for long term cost purposes.

 

buying used cars you don't have to worry about depreciation. just maintenance.
i have about $20k in it and it runs close to stock.
id rather get a Ferrari F355 or 360 than put $50k in an RX7.
$20k is good enough to have a clean RX7
I've had it for over five and a half years and put about 43k miles (27kmi on my rebuild) 140kmi total
The support from this forum has saved me millions of dollars.

 

...it really depends on the condition of The shell vs the condition of the used car.

and as for motor , used ? or freshly rebuilt ?

Used I would STAY AWAY FROM EBAY.. your best bet is Japan2la from the forums

 

I look back and I have spent somewhere between 70-80k on my driving habit since I started driving 8 years ago. One sports car money pit after another. I finally managed to save enough for an FD I bought a couple months, so yes I know it's going to get worse.

It does give me a reason to pause and consider. That quantity of dollars is enough to get a life started in a new country, attend a good college, or stroll down to a Porsche dealership and comfortably buy a Cayman R.

The thing is though... that feeling I get when I just barely get the car hustled down under braking before the turn in point then clear the apex with the wheels pointed straight ahead, feeding on the throttle... I have never felt anything more, pure, more wonderful or more honest.

I wonder sometimes if people that have taken an equivalent chunk of changed and invested it in some other aspect of their life have found that same feeling. Does the guy that earned an MBA get that feeling when he is taking people's money? Or how about an engineer writing code?

 

Seeing as how my bone stock 56k mile FD has been up for sale for the last 6months, Im luckly if I make my money back if someone finally comes up with enough cash

 

Yeah...it's definitely difficult trying to get $20,000+ for an FD regardless of HOW nice it is. We're just such a small and isolated community. We are basically just buying/selling cars from each other. lol

I've thought about selling my FD once it's running 110% on the 2JZ swap with no issues and after I do all the Burnout widebody stuff..

At that point, to really even just feel like I've broken even, I would WANT to get upwards of $30,000...but I'm sure it would/will end up sitting around for months on the forums and I'd probably have to take the first $20,000-$25,000 I can get.

Once my FD is up and running, I'm going to re-evalute my plans for the car based on the following months.... "was it worth the wait?"...."is it worth putting in any MORE money if I'm just going to sell it anyways?" kinds of questions..

Tell you what, though. I have made the mistake of taking the "easier" route WAYYYY too many times and getting burned in the end. With the finishing touches of my 2JZ swap, I've spared no expenses in having it done RIGHT....so even if I DO end up selling it, the buyer will be getting a turn-key quality B-E-A-S-T of an FD.

Meh...time will tell, if I decide to sell it or not. It's all about whether or not the experience of driving it outweighs all the time, money, and headaches spent.

 

If I were you I would just try and get comfortable with the idea that that FD is yours for the long haul. I think you will just get absolutely killed on trying to resell. If the RX7 market is generally small, the market for FD bodies with unconventional swaps is exponentially smaller.

I would just try and be content with the fact that that BEAST is all YOURS

 

Im not complaining at all about my hoddy spending. Lets see I paid $13,500 for my 94 used with 60k back in 2003. I've slowly spent about 15k in total upgrades since "20b swap, full body kit, wheels & tires". That's still far less than what the original owner paid "42k" brand new. All my mods are100% DIY so that helps cost.

 

I spend between 10 to 20k every year on just the consumables for the track so I feel your pain but the pleasure of approaching a corner, late braking, getting the perfect set and sliding the car all the way out to track out is worth every damn penny

The answer to the last question is clearly in the eye/heart of the beholder and for car guys if it's not related to the subject in question then HELL NO!!!

 

ive owned my FD since summer 2007. we're going on 2013 and i still havent looked back. its my 1st sports car and most likely going to be my last. it is also my dream car that i had to bust my *** to work so hard for. thinking of selling it is not an option, not after all what i have been through with it.

all things told i have a completed FD at around $25,000 cost of car included (which i got for about 12.5k). that includes everything ive done to it. the car has an estimated 400whp @ 15psi with a methanol injection system so it is also reliable. i have no fear whatsoever when i start it up, no concern that it'll leave me stranded, and especially no fear when i am boosting the hell out of it.

im not rich, i probably dont have any business owning an FD with my current income and finances, but i dont care. the car hasnt had any serious mechanical issues since late 2009. i finally got it tuned in summer 2010 courtesy of BDC and painted in november 2011. now that the car's finished i have money in my pocket and i dont have to worry bout it anymore. it does need interior work, but thats all just stuff i can worry about later. maybe christmas?