how reliable are the 3rd gens...
 

after reading 6 pages of how a rotary works(www.howstuffworks.com), i came to the conclusion that rotarys are pretty reliable engines, anyone have any major problems with their engine? is there anything i need to know before i buy an RX-7 and start tuning it?

Luis

From what I understand, FDs react very negatively to poor maintenance. It CAN be a very reliable engine, that all depends on how much time and money you are willing to spend. Turbos are another issue, too. If you haven't yet purchased it, check out the hoses on the turbos.

its the third day in a row where this question has been asked.

did you even care to do a search, or look on the damn second page??

FDSes are Terribly Unreliable
 

BUY A HONDA!!!!

Re: how reliable are the 3rd gens...
 

There are several post around about this, just seach for "reliable" or "reliability".

In short, it really depends on the driver. Heat is the usually the #1 problem, followed by detonation. As far as tuning the car, depends on what you mean my "tuning". If you plan on getting an aftermarket ECU that is tuneable, you better have a dyno and know what you are doing. The FD is very unforgiving when it comes to detonation.

Here is a good thread about knock (detonation):

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=36263

As you read in there, you'll see that there isn't much room for mistakes with tuning an FD. Is tuning necessary? Not really, you can use maps of other FD's or just reprgrammed ECU's. It just depends on what you are wanting to do with the car.

As with any sports car, when they go down, they go down. It's always a good idea to have a second car handy that can be useable. It's one thing if you drive a Neon around when it's making strange noises, but driving around a sports car when it's making weird noises instead of letting it sit until you can diagnose the problem can turn a small problem into rebuilding the engine.

Mine had several less than considerate owners before me (I though am rather anal about my cars) and it still went 103k (totally stock) before blowing a waterseal - Gave me the perfect excuse to do my mods! The car is my daily driver and loves the weekday commute to/from Santa Barbara/Ventura - 40mi ea way