NorthwindHost

Hi, My name is Phillip Ma and I am now a proud owner of a 93 Touring VR RX-7.

I have actually been researching this car for about a year now and basically I built up the funds to get one.

The mileage on the car honestly is pretty crazy and well I couldn't find a better deal around.

The engine was rebuilt about 33,000 Miles ago so hopefully it will last another another few ten thousand miles. The turbos and transmission however has never been rebuilt. Anyone have any clue on how much this would cost?

Anyway, before I do anything I decided to come here to get some advice on a few things.

At this point, I am not going to go to crazy into modding the car as my company is now beginning to become more stable and such and would like to use most of the funds back into the company for marketing.

However, I saved up a good amount to get a few reliability mods.

I was thinking of getting a new air intake, exhaust, thermostat, alum. ast, and a boost guage.

What else should I replace to enjoy my ride even longer?

NorthwindHost

Also, I was planning on getting a new BOV to replace the stock one.

Which brand would you recommend. I am leaning towards the greddy so when I replace the elbow, I can get the one with the flange that is built onto it to easy my troubles of welding it on.

Also might add the HKS with the RX-7 kit where the stock unit used to be.

Kaotic Dan

Do your basic reliability mods and such first (ast, downpipe, replace hoses, change fluids, etc). Then open up a second bank account and put the rest in there for when things come up that need to be fixed. I found this out the hard way. I'm out of money and I still need rear control arm bushings, both engine mounts, the diff mount, and a new windshield that just cracked. I think once i'm done with this stuff i'll have a new list lol. Enjoy the new car, they sure are a trip to own!

Sparkey

I agree with Kaotic Dan do all of the reliability stuff first and then worry about your bov. You really wanna get that stuff done first. If you dont then you might blow a motor running it too hard and then your up a creek with rebuilding the thing. But save money you will need it the list never never ends it only gets longer and longer. Good Luck and welcome.

kyle@insight

Check this link: http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobi...eliabiltiy.htm

NorthwindHost

Thanks for the info. I was thinking maybe the BOV might help increase the turbo life.

Kyle, I will have a look at that site.

And B.T.W, I am sure you probably heard this many times.

Nice Sig. =)

kyle@insight

An aftermarket BOV isn't going to prolong the life of the turbos. and yes, I do hear that all the time

dubcaps

Downpipe, Boost gauge, aluminum AST, Silicone Vaccum hoses, Fan Mod, change your fluids, and spark plugs. Hold off on the BOV and consider getting an aluminum radiator instead.

-stephen

Street King

Exactly, before you even touch a wratchet to the car in performance mods, change every single fluid. Change plugs, wires, fuel filter, FPD. Then you can do the reliability mods, alum ast & rad, dp, gauges. I wouldn't suggest doing the silicone vaccum hoses UNLESS you already have boost problems.

dubcaps

Good pont on the vacuum hoses street king. I guess if it aint broke don't fix it.

Just listen do what street king says and you're golden. =D
-stephen

rotorbrain

id do the vaccum hoses. there is a reason to fix it if it aint broke. do you wait till your engine goes out before you change oil? do you wait till your car wont start before you change plugs? do you wait till your tranny or diff go out before you change fluids in them? the list can go on. changing the hoses is a reliability issue. serious problems can occur if you dont make sure theyre in good order. change them if they arent. . . or if the color isnt what you want. haha.

paul

Street King

It's a hose man, what are you talking about? Go ahead, rebuild your engine you are going to have to any ways right. Didn't I just say change all fluids? Well my hoses are still the normal ones from factory and I have a perfect boost pattern, why spend the money if it doesn't need to be spent, unlike oil and fluids.

Chronos

Vacuum hoses are a HUGE problem for so many people...luckily when I got my car they allready had the silicone hoses, they last a lot longer and will save you plenty of grief!

Do's now: Downpipe, Aluminum radiator, Boost gauge, Fan mod, Aluminum AST

Dont's now: Intake, exhaust, midpipe, bov (completely unnecessary!), boost controller (to increase boost)

Do's later (when you're ready for more performance): Intercooler, Fuel controller or full programmable ECU (A'pexi PFC, haltech, microtech...), Intake, exhaust, bigger injectors and fuel pump (enables you to turn up the boost), midpipe (debatable...gives huge power gains but is illegal, super loud, and makes your car smell like ****!), front strut tower bar if you don't have an R1, battery relocation (looks so much better!), springs/struts, BNR rebuilt turbos (once they go bad)

That's all I can think of now, a bank account is an excellent idea for when things go wrong, that way you won't be stuck! Save the money on performance upgrades now for fixing stuff later!

Good Luck and congratulations!

Ohh yeah, and don't listen to the 3 mod rule for when to get an ECU, or "instant-performance upgrades" They'll just get you into trouble quicker as they did with me!

rotorbrain

im not bashing anyone. just pointing out something. the vaccum system on an fd has always had trouble. just because your car is fine, doesnt mean his is. its new to him and he will need to check it out. thats why i said, "make sure theyre in good order. change them if they arent". the engine comment is taking to a different degree. were talking about saving an engine here. the stock hoses have their own wear issues. eventually, they will go bad. all materials go bad. . . yours will too. i hope you dont have any trouble past your vaccum system when they do go bad. its my recommendation to change them out. it isnt hard to do, just tedious and time consuming. the only real hard part about doing it is making sure you dont brake any nipples off while pulling the old hoses off. the best way i found was to take a set of diagonal cutters and take off a bit at a time from the nipple so you can EASILY take them off. an exacto knife wont work so well if they are hardened badly.

i didnt say that you didnt say change all fluids. only pointing out that this is one of the things AS WELL AS those that needs to be addressed.

make sure you look at suspension as well. look at all the lines on the car. make sure they match up. if the car has a salvaged title, but has been repaired CORRECTLY then id still pay a good price for it. the money has been paid to make it right and the car might even be better than factory. check the engine wiring harness to see if it is still intact. a lot of people go out and try some odd things with these cars and often sell em cause the messed something up and dont understand that its their own fault. check all synchros, make sure they dont grind. a tranny rebuild can be quite costly. usually, its just a 5th gear synchro (especially on the 93s) that grinds and thats no more than $100 to replace if you do the work yourself. make sure the boost pattern is an even 10-8-10 pattern. buy a boost gauge and hook it up (if the car doesnt already have one) to see. if it doesnt have that pattern ask the owner what he did to make it do that and why. more than likely he didnt do anything. . . its just a bad vaccum system hose or something (this is the reason for the replacement of the hoses). if its over boosting then youll run the risk of blowing that motor sooner than later. dont trust "oh, its got 30k on the new motor". every joe shmoe (like mentioned above) tries their hand at "making it better" and mess up a lot of times. the man that sold my car to me said that the hoses had been replaced. it was acting funny so i decided to open it up. whoop-de-doo, what did i find? only 5 of the hoses had been replaced and most of them were pinched. rate the engine bay to another fd that you KNOW is stock. compare them and see if there are any differences with yours. you wanna know what in the world has been done to your car, basically, is what im saying.

paul

yes, streetking, it may only be a hose, but that hose connects solenoids to mechanical points that MAKE THE CAR RUN. if that "simple" little hose is bad. . . those mechanical points no longer do their job.

rotorbrain

i hear ya, chronos, on the midpipe thing. hahaha. my car smells so rancid since i put it on. no smoke, but the fumes are rotten. haha, i saw a rabbit jump past the tail end of my car. once it passed it, it paused and all of a sudden a third eye popped up. hahaha. my car is definately the tree-hater edition.

i have felt for a long time that a reprogrammable ecu should be the first mod. the stock map on a power fc is fine for the car to run on. i ran the same map on an intake, dp, and cb. no probs. w/o that computer. . . i was gonna be in trouble. i would save up the money for a power fc and get someone to tune it. someone that everybody trusts. there are several tuners out there that can do the job. steve kan, tony (badog), kdrotary, rotorsportsracing, etc. it depends on you and what you feel they can do.

paul

Street King

You say my engine analogy is bad but you use fluids as your analogy to prove why vaccum hoses need to be changed as soon as possible. What I said was if the boost pattern is good no need to change the hoses just yet. I know in time mine will go but as right now I can spend that money elsewhere. I would like to see a thread where a vaccum hose having only air passed through them was leaking or cracked that cost engine failure. Yeah it would probably idle weird maybe not boost properly then yes that time comes then change to silicone hoses. I have seen tons of threads were someone changes the hoses that were good to begin with to have problems and go hunting down a hose problem. This is why I recommended a boost gauge as a preliminary mod to know's what's going on with the car. Anyways, he has both of our opinions along wiht other peoples, let's not argue and let the guy decide on wht he thinks is better for his situation. Good luck.

Jonas

NorthwindHost

Now now, this topic is about my car. Lets not go and start an argument. =)

Do's now: Downpipe, Aluminum radiator, Boost gauge, Fan mod, Aluminum AST

-------------------------------------

Thats pretty much what I had in mind. Boost guage, ast, radiator is done. Did it a few days ago. I did the AST with the radiator which made things a bit easy since there was a lot of room.

The only thing that worries me is the downpipe. I heard it would pass the sniff test for emissions but no the visual.

Can anyone confirm this?

I just don't want to switch back and forth everytime I have to go in for emissions. =)

DaedelGT

I kinda feel the same way, but the PFC is not nescesarily the only way to go. It all depends on what he plans on doing with the car. Perhaps an M2 or Pettit would be better suited to him.

Street King

Exactly, a PFC is not for everyone. How many engines were blown because of a PFC not tunned right and how many engines were blown for the reason of using an M2 or Pettit chipped ECU? ECU's you can always sell them for almost all of what you paid for them, it's the way of the market(well not new chipped ECU, but used ones). Buy an M2 or Pettit ECU for the bolt on's for 400-500 dollars and when you are ready to move on to another level and want more power and more options in tunning for the ECU, go ahead and sell the chipped ECU and opt for the PFC, Micro, Haltech.

NorthwindHost

I was thinking about getting the M2 but had my doubts a bit.

I just wanted to setup all the reliability mods before I do anything with the actual car. =)

DaedelGT

Good idea Northwind. I'm doing just that myself for now.

Silcone Vacuum Hoses
Fluidyne Radiator
Aluminum AST
Miata Thermoswitch
Fan Mod
Boost Guage
K&N Drop-in Filter
Downpipe

My only mods. Soon to come are a water temp guage and an intake temp guage. Maybe then I'll get an intake or catback, but only after I have all the info I need to do that safely.

Street King

Heard your engine went South, any news?

rotorbrain

i just opt for a programmable ecu cause i dont like redoing a lot of stuff. thats me. . . thats what suits my needs. if you are just wanting to drive your car safely. . . m2 or other remapped ecus would be a good way to start out.

paul

DaedelGT

Twas only me panicking. I guess you missed my other threads. It turned out one of my turbo coolant lines was close to busting, and was causing my leak, and my champagne bubbles. After 600 miles of driving the coolant was down maybe a 1/4 inch from the top of the filler neck, and even that was from me opening the cap when the car was still a bit too warm (oops). Disaster averted, and lesson learned. I also got to know another part of the engine. Slowly but surely...

Street King

Doesn't news like that just make you take a deep breath and go, thank God!. I'am in the middle of tracking down the overflow tank puke up syndrome, hoping it's something else than a chip in my seal. Will be done in a few days. Wish me luck.