I was just surfing eBay yesterday for accessories. I did a search for "93 rx7" and there were just tons and tons of cheap (or inexpensive?) stuff from $40 intakes w/hard pipes and filters to $100 downpipe/midpipe combos, lots of JDM replica headlights and turn signals for sub-$100, etc. Has anyone any experience with any of this stuff or is it strictly to be avoided? I'm looking at getting at least an intake and downpipe in the near future and am tempted by the low prices but mostly scared away because it's probably all junk. Comments?

 

garbage. plus, you get zero customer service/support.

 

agreed, the old phrase you get what you pay for comes into play here. On the other hand you can find some nice deals on NAME BRAND products, I picked up a brand new apexi intake for $110 on their last week.

 

Oh ya? That deal still going on? Are there any issues with installing an open element filter directly in the engine bay and losing the cold air ducting?

 

If you've removed the precat I don't see any significant problems with having the element open to the inside of the engine bay. If you are racing, that's a different issue. You'll want a cool air intake coming off the front of the air dam or other exterior location.

 

yes. unless you build a Damian style sheild to keep the intake blocked from the rest of engine. Or you can get a cold air intake that is the M2 style box. E-bay stuff can be good. I have a bunch of stuff that worked out great, including engine torque brace, poor man intake (I will say it works just as good as a $400 intake, and intake is and intake.) Obx radiator hoses, strut bar. So I would keep those stereo typical E-bay comments to yourself. Each experience is different. I think its ediotic to pay for something that performs the same or close to the same for 4 times as much. DIY has been awesome for me. on the other hand you get no CS, and take your chances on what you actually get. If you make an informed buy you can get some very nice stuff.

 

Hard pipes on ebay are fine, I know tons of people who have em, just buy some K&N filters and you're set. Also the smoked / JDM turn signals seem to work. I know 2 people who've picked up those sub $100 dollar ones and have had no problems for 3-4 months. No cracks, no seal problems and the lights work

The downpipe / midpipe combo's I'd stay away from. The cheap intercoolers and turbo kits obviously stay away from as well...

 

I want to point out that many have purchased the "Cheap" stock mount intercooler SS autochrome, including me. I have not heard one bad thing and actually someone posted numbers after having it installed. I have had no problems with mine and I actually think its one of the best deals I ever got, anywhere. SO like I said before, you can't stereotype off of a couple peoples mishaps. I have used e-bay to save thousands of dollars and none of my stuff is junk. So the fact that all e-bay stuff is ****, is completely and uterly false.

 

i have done some searching because i have been think about buying the pulleys off of ebay. I have seen that many people have had good luck with them. But sometimes you can find some jdm stuff and name brand products on there at a fairly good price.

 

I dunno but i beat a bmw 6-series on the ebay turbo kit at 8psi. muahahaha.

But i would like to go with a bigger turbo.

somethings arent crap tho. Like the downpipe and midpipe combo. As long as you can get it to fit (mine did with no modification), it works good, its a straight pipe, hard to **** that one up or say one company is better then the other. Im still using the midpipe on my setup right now. As far as electronics go, i wouldnt trust ebay unless its name brand stuff.

 

I had luck with the Ebay short shifters. They are basically B&M replicas. I grabbed it for less than $30 shipped.

 

Yeah, because we all know how hard it is to make a piece of pipe.

Sorry, I'm not a name brand kinda guy. IF the price is right and the fitment looks okay then I am down. My experience with installing tons of aftermarket parts ranging from body parts to lighting, interior, and mechanical, is that regardless of manufacturer, you almost never have 100% proper fitment to begin with. Usually a spot has to be ground down, a hole drilled bigger, a pipe bent, or your own bolts and spacers used.

The last intercooler kit I bought brand new was a greddy 2 row for the FC. That damn thing required so much cutting and fit so poorly in the end that I could have fabbed something up from ebay for half the price and had it fit better and work better. When all was said and done the last inlet pipe literally layed against the brake MC, and hose clamps were necessary to keep the MC reservoir from being pushed out of place or popped off the cylinder entirely. Yeah, quality Greddy engineering for 1000 bucks right there.

For non electronic, non moving parts such as intakes and exhaust pipes, and to some degree even intercoolers, I have no problem buying off ebay. Some here would second guess that decision, and those are the types that wouldn't even be considering it anyway because they have an (apparently) endless supply of money on tap.

 

Thanx..Ive wanted to buy an intercooler off e-bay because its about 7 to 800 dollars cheaper..Any good ones recommended?Or are they all the same....Also is there a good place to get the fd non-flip light conversion where I wouldnt have to pay 600 dollars for..I seen them on e-bay but they have no plastic housing the lights are bare to the elements..thanx

 

Hmm I guess I should remove the cheap downpipe I bought from ebay that's been working perfectly in my car for nearly 2 1/2 years.

 

I've also bought a bunch of stuff off ebay for my FD. I love a good bargain or better yet a Ghetto mod(that works)

Down pipe
Strut bar
Side marker lights
HID Kit
Intake pipes (before they became really cheap)
MBC
I'm sure I have purchase some other stuff too...

I'm sving up my nickles for these bad-boy

 

No need to be a smartass. In my experience, a lot of the ebay stuff I have seen has had fitment problems. that includes a few downpipes that were a royal pain in the *** to install. Not everyone is a 'do-it-yourselfer' or has a machine shop at their disposal. That said, be my guest and roll the dice. it isnt all bad, i just dont have any of the stuff on my car.

 

I got a ton of stuff on E-bay for my FD, including CW headlights, '99 spec front end, wing, '99 turning lights, springs, steering wheels and adaptors, downpipes, K&N filters, strut bar, rebuilt turbo, etc... Most came at a very substantial discount to other store prices.

Had pretty good luck with most except the two downpipes I received did not fit to the stock cat converter. They were excellent quality, stainless pipes, nice bends, great welding, nice fit to the turbo manifold but, they were designed to go with midpipes instead of the cat. I lost about $70 on the original and return shipping.

Following the saga with the downpipes I purchased one locally for over $300 and it had similarly bad fit. Ended up having to file the holes, and stress-tighten the bolts to force and bend the mating surfaces. Seems that after a few hot runs, as the pipes heated up, the stress was eventually relieved from the pipes. In retrospect I could have done the same thing with one of the E-Bay pipes and save a couple of hundred dollars.

The '99 spec front was a knockoff in fiberglass and required a fair amount of glass work from me to make it fit. But, it is there, looking good for much less $$ than others.

 

I'm not being a smartass. You should have elaborated the first time about your personal experience with each individual item before making a blanket statement about those items being "garbage". If I was a troll and came in stating that rotarys are **** as my only statement, I would have gotten my *** flamed and you know it. That's just immature. But since your a part owner of Gotham Racing, I can see why you replied that way originally.

 

If you're implying Rich said that to try and get ppl to buy parts from him, you're way off the mark. I dealt w/ Rich for quite a while when he was still working physically at Gotham (in Texas), and he's NEVER tried to pressure me into buying a part. He's not like that. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, Rich isn't repping parts at ALL for Gotham anymore. I know Rich, and well at that, and he's by far, hands down, one of the best guys I've met on the forum. And I've met MANY. So careful w/ the assumptions.

I think what Rich is trying to say is simple: a good part will sell itself, for the most part. But there's a dichotomy when it comes to FD owners: those that only care about expense, and those that spare no expense.

Those who are very thrifty (usually means Home Depot rigged parts and Ebay items), while there's nothing wrong w/ that, you run several risks. Fitment is the first and foremost/most obvious one. Second, no support or warranty if/when a part malfunctions. Third, a design that appears sound, but may not perform as well or as reliably. Believe it or not, while many aftermarket parts may be a bit overpriced, there is considerable engineering and R&D that lies behind these parts. That's what the guys who spare no expense really stress. They tend to push their cars harder and go farther (in general) when it comes to pushing the limits and performance in their cars. The LAST thing you want when doing 140+ down a straightaway with a sharp turn is some poorly engineered or even crappy quality copy of a part to fail or malfunction on you.

I'm not for or against; I simply believe you DO get what you pay for, the VAST majority of the time. I've seen TONS of guys w/ years of handywork under their belt fab parts up themselves, and end up going through sooo many revisions and encounter soo many problems along the way -- problems that larger aftermarket manufacturers have already tested, and their designs are tried and true. That's something many ppl overlook.

So while cheaper parts may get you by, when at the limit, you want top-quality actually engineered and tested parts supporting you, or at least that's my humble opinion.

~Ramy

PS: Not to say they don't work, but I'd be really curious to put certain parts (Ebay vs. brand name) up to the test, back to back, not just in immediate performance and initial quality, but also in long-term reliability and longevity. That's where the difference lies. In English, there's a real reason as to why Kia's and Saturn's are so damn cheap. Don't tell me they're just as good as a Honda or Toyota, because you DO get what you pay for. You just may not notice in the short run

 

If that's the way you took it, then that's or opinion. Besides he can speak for himself. At least you elaborated in your first post. I'm not the only one that's quoted his original post. See the difference?

 

Downpipe Midpipe combo for 110 bucks...Can't beat it! I bought those, tapped out the holes a liitle on the downpipe, bolted up great, and car ran like a beast.

 

I was looking for clarification...hence the "If" in the beginning of the statement

 

I'm not real big on "no name" ebay deals, but thats in part because stuff like intercoolers, downpipes etc are stuff I can have fabricated by a friend of mine out of quality materials and not have to worry about. Personally I'm all over ebay and this forums classifieds for the deals on used parts. Used name brand stuff works great and can be had at a huge discount, there's only a few parts that I wouldn't trust used <turbochargers being about the only one to come to mind>. My rims, PFC and several other large parts of my car were purchased used with no issues. Alot of people are turned off by used parts, but there's some real deals to be had, especially if you're willing to put in some effort, for example I got my wheels for under 1500 shipped, they needed a couple hundred dollars worth of polishing to fix the curbage from the supra owner i bought them from and they're good as new for about half what a new set would cost.

 

i got the ebay "greddy type-s" and it works awesome. take out one of the springs inside to make it open easier and itll work like a charm. sounds identical aswell. i got the ebay xspower intercooler works awesome too. with my koyo rad i run no higher than 160 F with fan mod. i dont care what people say, so far ive never had a problem on replicas/ebay parts.