Hello, my name is Beqa, I live in eastern europe, in republic of georgia. I own 94 JDM Honda Prelude SI VTEC, now i'm looking for JDM FD3S in Japan. Found one, it's 95 Type R version with aproximately 40K miles on it. how long will the engine last? How many miles do they handle usualy before rebuild is required?

thanks

 

It dont matter what country its from, it seems that most REW's last about 80-100K miles before starting to need/want a rebuild. Thats a stock motor, obiously modified motors usually go before that. Vastly depends on whos owned it, how its been treated, etc. If its stock, the car your talking about should last you quite awhile, if you take care of it.

 

the car has some mods:

big radiator
17" AVS wheels
Adjustable Suspension by CUSCO
Stainless big exhaust pipe
CUSCO clutch
ECU replaced
LSD
Boost gauge
5 pieces roll bar
late model rear spoiler

i asked them and the car is not raced or drifted, it was a private car. i has some body damadge, not significant. smal dent and scratches, they've sent me detailed photos and the video as well. when they start the engine, they rev it up and it's smoking. i asked them and they said that they washed the car before filming that video and its water from the mufler. it looks suspicious so i decided to ask you guys about that. here is the vid: http://www.centralmotor.net/taka/mov.../cm991773.html

 

My advice is to never by an FD sight unseen. But given your location, it may benefit you to go to a reputable store to buy one (this one may be one, but try your best to be sure). Not sure how much you are looking to spend but whatever car you buy, make sure you have enough left over for maintenece and a possible rebuild. The car seemed pretty stock but again, without looking at it in person, itll be hard to tell exactly what you are getting (video and all). Good luck. welcome.

 

From what I see in the video, that little bit of smoke is not a big deal. However, it's impossible to be sure until you have the car in person.

Get the lowest price you can, and assume something will need maintenance or work. Maybe not the engine, but something.

Dave

 

The smoke dont look that bad, maybe just a little rich, from the "replaced ECU". Dont know if that means a stock one or a reflash or what. But, if it has full exhaust, IE downpipe, no or high flow cat, and catback, your gonna want a reflash or a boost controller or a Power FC. Look in the FAQ, theres a lot of info there on buying and modding FDs. But, a "big" radiator sounds good. Stock radiators suck really bad. What brand is it? The wing is a 96+ up, same one Ive got. They might have only made them in 96, Im not sure, maybe someone else can help on that. Not to sound like a dick, but either the seller isnt being foward enough with what has been done to the car, or you dont know enough about it to be buying it. "big radiator" and "stainless big exhaust pipe" and "LSD" (by the way, all FDs came stock with LSD) is a very general and broad statement, which kinda shows that either you or the seller doesnt know about whats been done to the car. If the seller cant give you brand names or model names or anything, Id be real scared about buying a modded FD, unless you can look at the car and know what is what and whats been done to it.

 

i dont know why they listed LSD as an upgrade, i know FDs come with LSD in stock. They are japanese company who sell JDM sportcars, they inspect them and sell them afterwards. My friend wants to buy skyline GTS Type M from them (his friend bought R33 GTR from them in very good condition). i doubt they didnt know about FD's stock LSD, may be they mean aftermarket one? I'll ask them for sure They didnt mod that car so thats why they dont know exectly what brand the radiator and exaust is. But they knew about suspension and clutch. In mods they list it as: ALLOY 2WAY BIG RADIATOR FOR RACING WITH WATER TEMP. MONITOR; UP GRADE COMPUTER (ECU REPLACED)

 

wheres the IC duct at??

 

Yeah, that's pretty important - the stock intercoolers are about worthless without good ducting.

 

english is not my native language, so please explain what ducting means and what you can tell from that engine view. i guess intercooler as well as all the piping, is stock

 

duct is used to direct air into IC. see here http://robrobinette.com/ic_duct.htm
its the black part.

If this car was a private car why does it have a 5 pieces roll bar? something doesn't add up

 

Looks to me like the former owner had some more bolt-on modifications on the engine, then took them off to sell off separately, and couldn't find all the stock replacement parts when he tried to put it back together.

 

^^^ I'de bet heavily on that... i'de be carefull as stated above something does not add up Roll Cage etc.... although if you get the right price go for it... looks to be in "Good" condition (but what can you really tell from photos..)


sugestion....
tell em you will give a certain percentage of the money(70-90% ish)... then when it arives and if its in good orderly condition give the rest

Prôdigy

 

as you see it has dents and scratches, front lip is cracked as well. i'm geting it cheap. 420 000 yen thats 3600USD. shiping will be about 1300$ and everything will cost me about 6K.

 

i doubt it was a race car it has full interrior, stock seats ETC. i dont know as much (even 1/10 of that) as you know thats why i'm here 6K for everything sounds like a good deal. i want to drive that car for maximu a year then sell it and dont want to experience problems during that period

 

all i can say is good luck. the other guys covered it all

 

thank you all for you support, i'll try my best to find out more about that car. I've searched a lot on the web about FD's and looks like they ar not that good when it comes to relyability. kinda hard for me to imagine (before i face it) somthing serious braking in my car, because i have a prelude right now.

 

Sorry for bringing this back its been a while since i started this thred. I sold my JDM prelude a while ago so i'm ready for Importing RX7 from Japan. I have few questions about it:

1. which oil will be best for FD with very low miles like 30K and where can i buy it online? also i want to order fuel filters, oil filters, also general stuff like A/F meter, boost meter. do you know any respectible rotary oriented online source?

2. What engine management do you recomend? I'm not looking for monstrous HP numbers, 300whp will be enough for me so i'm thinking of simple thing like S-AFC. what do you think about that? There are no tuners in my Country so is it possible to tune fuel myself? Also my friend is selling Power FC from his Skyline GTS but as far as i know that thing is kinda hard to tune, what can you guys say about that?

3. I've read a lot on this page: http://www.rx7.org/Robinette/mod_pro_con.htm
i want to do all the reliability mods just to be safe. According to that source these mods alone can get me over 300whp. How much boost stock engine and turbos need for 300whp and how much can they take safely? the car will not be my daily driver, just a fun car for weekends and small autoX-track events but i still want to keep it as reliable as possible.

I'm looking for FD in japan with 25-30K miles and bone stock. I've seen some previously even exhausts were stock, so i think i can find one. thanks a lot and wish me luck

 

just becareful when buying, there are so many different models of the fd3s that its easy to get confused. that white one you posted as a type R looks to be a type RB which is bottom of the range. Another thing. I lived in Japan for a few years and no one EVER puts a roll cage in a car unless its raced., especially in something as small as a FD.

 

vrmmmpshhh
I didnt buy that car, for the same reason, it was a long time ago, I had some different questions so i posted them in this thred