Well, I did it. I bought a 94 FD Touring on Thursday in Missouri, had it's oil changed by a Mazda shop in Olathe (sp?) KS, that afternoon, then drove it 3000k miles back home to Tacoma WA, arriving last night. The trip was less about the car than it was about the chance to do this trip with my 17 year old son.

To steal from Master Card:
Air fare $600
Lodging $300
Gas/Oil $500
FD $16,000
Drive 4 days with my son in an FD, Priceless!

Time was short but I checked out the car as best I could when I test drove it. There were a few problems that I picked up on the way home that were not evident at the time. The car was even more fun to drive home than I ever could have anticipated. We ended up going West via Hwy 54 to I-40 then north along I-5. Hwy 54 was the most fun.

We drove through 7 states with neither front or rear license plates. We only got stopped once in Oklahoma as I sped up too soon leaving a small town on Hwy 54 and was pulled over for going 55 in a 45 zone. He was more interested in the car itself than why I was driving without plates. He couldn't even get a response on my DL when he tried to run it but let me go with a warning and envious look.

The car handled well although the fastest I drove it was 102 mph. I'm thinking it has some issues with the second turbo as the boost tends to fade to about 5 psi after 4500rpm. (I did a boost pattern test when I test drove it but may have missed it then). It also has a strange electrical problem somewhere that I'm thinking is related to a bad cable or connection somewhere. Still, it was a stinking load of fun. I'm 6'2" and 49 years old. I can still move after spending four solid days in the FD. Not bad.

 

you drove 3,000,000 miles? wow, thats some journey! good luck with the car

 

Congrats on the buy and on the fact that your FD made it through four days of driving without a major look over... enjoy!

Tony

 

pics?

 

wow good job, but man thats pretty fast driving. Whats the legal limit in the states? please let us see some pictures.

 

Always good to hear another positive story about the FD. I admire you on the length of time you spent in that seat! I have been wanting to drive my FD from Kansas to Missouri where I keep my boat, but the idea of 5 HOURS in that seat has kept me from doing this...lol!

 

Welcome to the club! I bought my own FD just a few months ago after waiting for what seems like forever. It's just as great as I thought it would be...I'd like to take mine for a long drive soon. Cheers!

 

congrats take care of it.

 

Congrats to another Washington FD owner. You'll have to bring it out to the next local meet which I believe will be the last Friday in January at the Rock Woodfire Grill in Federal Way. I'd love to check it out. Any mods?

 

This actually made me laugh

 

Thanks. I was a bit nervous, but I figured that the worse that could happen is that I'd break down in the middle of nowhere, at night, in a blizzard, with no cell phone coverage... dang I feel lucky.

 

Legal limit varies depending on where you happen to be. The max is 70 mph. Depending on road conditions, traffic, what state I was in (I would never drive as fast in western Washington as I would in New Mexico for example), I would usually cruise between 80-85 mph. The 102 was what my GPS read as I was passing a line of semi's on Hwy 54. This section was a two-lane road in the middle of nowhere. I was disinclined to drive much faster in a car that I hadn't had a chance to thoroughly check out. Tires and suspension seem good, but I'm old enough to think about the consequences of a major failure at speed.

 

Kansas was great. Hwy 54 is a fun road. We spent the first night in Wichita after driving from Kansas City. I hear the '94 has softer suspension than the '93 so it may have been less pleasant in another FD but it wasn't bad. My son kept getting a sore back from sitting and he and I are the same height. The only uncomfortable part was the narrow seat cutting into my butt/thighs. I weigh about 185 lbs at 6'2". I can't imagine how a "big" guy would ever be able to fit in the stock seats.

 

Will try. My thought initially was to own it and drive it for a couple years then sell it. I'm not any kind of rotor-head. However, it was so much fun to drive that I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to sell it unless it is for an even nicer Rx7.

 

^haha you will soon realize that owning one of these cars is an addiction. Its a love and hate relationship.

but congrats! treat her well and she will do the same if not more for u. enjoy your FD!

 

This was a very nice story. Congratulation on gettin' the FD. You will most definitely love it, that's IF you already don't.

 

welcome to the rx7 craze i would have loved to have made that treck n the fd...my son i made a trip from great bend in kansas to indianapolis in a 8810ae with 11k miles on it straiggh thru i was great first ride in rx7...so been there

 

Welcome! great story. love to here story's of FD running and not in the shop with an angry owner. post some pics.

Jeff

 

Congrats, These cars are great and I am also a lover of Road trips. Heck I bought mine from a dealer only 6 hours away but I had a blast driving it back home that day.

 

any pics of the car? mileage?

 

I'd like to meet up with some other owners. I'm truly ignorant so I can use as much borrowed intelligence as I can get. I'm hoping to get the car into Illtech in Tacoma pretty soon and have them go over it for me. I'll be able to do some maintenance myself, but I'd like a pro to do a look over and discuss some problems that I've identified with the car during the drive.

Mods and upgrades are relatively minimal. What I know/think so far:
Bonex Downpipe
Bonex high-flow cat
Racing Beat Dual tip back-cat
Greddy Oil filter relocation
Greddy Airinx intake
Greddy Grex strut tower brace
some Silicone vacuum hoses
Silicone radiator hoses
Triple gauge pod in center speaker location with Defi-D Boost, Oil pressure, and Coolant temp gauges.

Not much that I want to do to the car at this point. I would like to replace the AST with an aluminum one. I'm considering a '99 spec spoiler. If the car runs hot in the summer, I may see about the FD thermoswitch swap. Really, I don't want more performance, just reliability.

 

My son has some on his camera. I'll grab them and post. We have some pictures of it looking really ugly, completely coated in road much from the snowstorm we hit east of Albuquerque. (Note to self: NEVER drive the Rx7 in the snow again!)

It had about 54,400k miles on it when we bought it. It burned 1.5 quarts of oil over the 3000 miles since and of course now needs another oil change.

 

WoW...you drove it in snow?!? I'm just glad you made it home. Snow and FD do NOT in anyway mix. I'm sure the lessons been learned though, I hope. Oh, and if you're in the market I have a Pettit Aluminum AST for sale.

 

The whole point of going the southern route was to avoid snow. We got caught at night though and it was a bit tense for about 30 miles. The rest of the trip was great other than lots of rain in Oregon and Washington.

I might be interested in the AST. I am going to have to wait a little before doing it though.

 

you will change your mind on the power, more is always better: to a point. Im almost 59 and more power is in the future, 480 h/p isn't enough! Good luck.