Alrite, here is a crazy Seattle rain story for you...

I was driving across 520, a bridge that connects the Westside and Eastside of the greater Seattle area, at around 1 am.

As I come down on to the bridge and start my way across, I notice an ENORMOUS puddle in my lane. No thanks to the great visibility of the 7 I have enough time to make my way about a foot to my left to hit the "not so deep" part of the puddle. Or by this time I should be calling it a small lake, going a blistering 45mph.

BLAM! I hit the puddle going 45mph and see a wall of water rise in front of the car and feel the car slow to about 15mph in a split second.

Now, I don't have a shift boot on the car because the old one was torn up, and apparently the rubber sealing the outside from the inside was ripped! I think we all know what happened next.

My buddy and I get a face full of water Old Faithful style. There was a stream of water that shot in to the cabin that managed to get everything wet. The drivers door, My amp in the back hatch area, both of our laps.

I had to drive with the windows half down 20 minutes back to my place to get towels and dry the thing at a local mall where I could get enough light to see what I was doing.

Good news is I managed to dry everything and now I have a kick *** story!!!

Thought you all might enjoy that, wish I had a camera to get our reactions when the water came shooting in, priceless.

-Taylor

 

doesnt it get hot in your car without the rubber seal and shift boot?

 

Yea, a bit.

During the summer time I had to roll with the windows down most of the time, but then again I always do anyways when the weathers nice.

Now that winter is coming, it's not soo bad. It is loud though. I have my shift boot coming though in about a week.

So all will be well inside the 7!

 

damn i wish you had a camera also...that sounds really funny

 

Good thing you were only doing 45mph. Any faster and your tires probably would've compeletely hydroplaned, possibly resulting in both of you and your FD taking a very unpleasant dip in the Lake Washington waters...

 

That's all I could think about going over the bridges. Every time I would feel the car hit a puddle and pull I would think about it just flying out of control and flipping over the barrier into the water. I don't know how possible that really is, but it still scares the crap out of ya!

 

Funny story. Sounds like you don't take very good care of your car. Too bad, it could be a nice car

 

1st rule of owning an RX-7. Don't drive it in the rain.

Joe

 

lol why? is it not a car?

 

uhhhh, because I drove through a puddle...or because the shift boot was torn and I didn't have it on?

first off, this is my first RX7 an first rain drive.

secondly, the shift boot was torn from the previous owner, I have a brand new one in the mail as we speak.

THIRD...I don't know if you've noticed, but when it's pouring rain and dark out...it gets just a LITTLE bit hard to see.

It bugs me when people say I don't take care of my car...because I do. OK!

 

I wouldn't drive my FD in the rain unless I had no other choice - esp. if you're still sequential. It takes a lot of practice to drive around w/o boosting at all, and adding rain to the equation...it's just not smart. CAN you? Yes. But I'd hope ppl take heed from the 1001 pre-existing issues w/ the FD that make it not such a good idea (bad headlights, rear wheel drive, very light, easy to overcorrect, sudden power jerk from twins...etc etc)

 

some people glamorise these cars into something they're not...it's not a quarter million dollar supercar folks... beat the **** out of it, then rebuild it and do it again.

if you never step on the gas, what's the point of owning this car? go get yourself a geo metro and enjoy your gas milage.

 

It's a fun car, plus knowing that you have to rebuild the engine so frequently, I think what guitar said is completely true.

 

YES...put oh so perfectly. Just don't kill yourself in the process!!

 

Because the shift boot was torn, ALL SUMMER, and you didn't fix it ........ even though it was letting hot air and fumes into the car ......... ALL SUMMER!! Since you didn't fix it for several months, and it was a simple fix, it is a valid assumption that you don't take care of your car.

Because you don't take care of your car, you have driven it in the rain, and soaked the inside. You knew there was a big hole there, and you drove it in the rain anyway. Now you wonder how could anyone assume that you don't take good care of it

 

^ retard

that's like hastling people who break their body kits if they drive over a pothole...

YOU KNEW YOUR CAR WAS THAT LOW!!!!! YOU'RE SO STUPID FOR DRIVING IT...IT SHOULD BE LOOKED AT AND RUBBED WITH A DAIPER...
come on man... use your head.



as of today i have 60 miles on the motor... gotta take it easy for the break-in because i used new bearings, but you can bet your *** this thing is gonna get raped on--on a daily basis!

 

520 always gets some gnarly puddles on it. I dont like driving on it when its wet at all.

Why werent you at the meet in Federal Way a few weeks ago?

 

^ Moron

People that take care of their cars, fix things when they need repair. A worn shift boot and rubber seal will allow hot air and potentially dangerous fumes into the car. This guy knew about it, and didn't fix it all summer. Please explain to me how he was taking good care of it.

And thanks for telling us about your motor. That really has alot to do with this topic

 

1st rule of driving any car: learn how to drive.

There is zero reason to be afraid of driving an FD in the rain (other than OTHER DRIVERS, perhaps). I have done it for four Bay Area rainy seasons. Don't drive like a moron, don't drive on bald, worn-out tires, and it's a very easy car to drive in the rain.

 

Well said. These arent 100k showquality cars here, for the most part theyre sub 20k, fun little sports cars.

 

Pretty funny story

I dont see any reason not to drive these cars in the rain. Rain or shine, my FD is daily driven. I've never had any problems with spinning out or any other crazy things during the rain. The biggest problem I see is the windows fogging up when I dont use the A/C. Drive the car and enjoy it. Afterall, its just a Mazda .

 

it does, actually... not caring about a shift boot and not taking care of an engine are 2 WAY different things. i've got a crack in one of my side skirts. does that mean i don't take care of my car?
you remember the retard comment? uhhh... yea.

 

shiit ive even got caught in 3 inches of snow and got home safely.. it just takes patience and driving skill!!

 

that's how you learn to drift involuntarily

 

i always like driving my FD in the rain. funny story and hope you get that whole fixed. don't listen to the haters soon they will have a post that they too will open themsleves up to humiliation. take the bad with the good and move on, but its sad how poeple on this forum are so quick to pass judgement.