Alex-7

I've been away from 7's for quite some time but just picked up an FD that was advertised as a perfect 40k mile car on eBay but turned out to need quite a bit of attention.

The car is currently at a air cooled Porsche shop we've had a good relationship with in PA and as talented as they are at what they do, they don't have any RX7 experience and the car should probably recieve it's attention elsewhere to make the best use of time and money, for both parties.

Is Peter Farrell supercars still in business? Their email address isn't working and their site hasn't been updated in years so I'm guessing not. That's too bad cause Fredrick MD would be perfect and I remember them having a great reputation.

What are the other shops I should deal with in the north east? PA, MD and VA would be preferable, anywhere is ok. I could even have it hauled to rotary resurrection but I'm trying to find something closer to where the car is and avoid that shipping charge.

Thanks for any newb advice for an old timer.

It'll be nice to be back once this car is on track.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

IRPerformance | 55 Prospect Street, Metuchen, NJ 08840 Tel. (732) 662-1794

Jason94R2

iTrader: (3)

A bit closer is JPR in Blackwood NJ and Speed1 in Allentown. Heard good things of all 3 shops currently mentioned.

Jason

Mdessouki

iTrader: (7)

They're still around, just a little hard to get ahold of... Leaving a voicemail or info@pfsupercars.com will get you a response. All the other shops mentioned have phenomenal reputations as well. Anyone know what happened to Reactive Racing?

Alex-7

The info@ email address is giving me delivery failures but I might still try giving them a call and seeing what their situation is.

Thanks for all the recommendations. Ill get ahold of the PA and NJ shops for sure.

Careful on eBay fellas! After being really pleased with other of cars bought sight unseen from California dealerships I think I got a little over confident. Shoulda known better with an RX7.

Clean and low mileage often mean long periods of sitting and neglect then a brutal detailing for resale. I knew that as well as anyone. But emotion can get the best of you.! Ha.!

KNONFS

iTrader: (14)

PFS is still in bussines and Ray is an awesome TUNER (my only experience with him), be warned tho, they are quite busy, and depending and what you need done; your car might be there for over a year.

Speed 1 is a great place too, and your phone calls will be answered 95%

Marshallbc

iTrader: (2)

My car is currently at Ray's (PFS) he is crazy busy, my car is at the back of a very long line of cars. But when it comes to tuning I wouldnt go anywhere else... Mike Quinn is around as well at Unique Precision Rotary (240)374-3152, he is in Laurel MD

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

SpeedOne provides excellent service. Both Dave & Jason have tuned my car on two different occasions and did a great job. Top notch mechanical and fabrication work as well.

IR Performance is another quality shop. I know Rich and Ihor. Both are on their game and provide quality service.

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

I went to PFS exclusively for several years and sank tens of thousands into work there. Almost ALL the work I had done there needed to be redone, or failed before I could get it fixed.

I used to speak very highly of PFS, but I will NEVER take my car back to him, for anything, again. His work has cost me multiple engines (I actually just lost my third engine because he threw away a mounting bracket when installing my dual oil cooler kit, that caused a fitting to vibrate loose and dump 5qts of oil on the highway) and I don't even want to go into how miffed I am by his shop. PFS cares about one thing, and one thing only... getting YOUR money. Once he's got it he could care less (unless you threaten legal action).

That being said, Speed1 is in central PA (in Lenhartsville, PA about 45 minutes East of Harrisburg) and they (formerly KDR) are an excellent shop! Honestly it's become the only shop I'll take my FD to on the east coast now.

Who is Jason? I thought Brian and Dave were the tuners for S1...

RE-Amemiya

^ Interesting that you post bad things about PFS as well. Your car had a bad experience there when it was in my hands as well.

I've only heard about how good Ray is at tuning; but with his EXTREME lack of communication with his customers I can't imagine how they stay in business. There's always a simple way to fix communications problems even when a business is busy and he just hasn't seemed to care.

moehler

iTrader: (12)

For what its worth, I have experience with both Speed1 (inc. KDR) and IPR and they are both great shops.

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

[QUOTE=gmonsen;11476259]I used to take my car to PFS...

ROFL!!!

I haven't been up to PFS in a long while but I know Ray very well and I can tell you he is an honest guy for sure. The guy who said they are after your cash only is probably smoking some good stuff. Ray may be hard to get on the phone, a little attention deficit but he is legit, and really does very good work. He does seem to get backed up though, but being a business owner myself can understand.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

I meant Brian...lol. It's funny, he looks like a guy I know named Jason, so I always get mixed up.

Alex-7

Speed1 is gettin some serious love in this thread.

And Allentown would be convenient enough.

Again, thank you all for the input.!

Regardless of the situation with PFS I don't have time to deal with a boutique/flakey shop no matter what their reputation is. My laundry list of **** I need done is pretty pedestrian for an FD and I doubt they'd be interested in making time for it. If I was trying to build a monster it'd be one thing. But I don't wanna wait a year for a safe running stockish car.

Alex-7

UPDATE!

The car is still a total disaster and I haven't driven it.

It's currently over at Speed1 awaiting a new motor from Malloy.

The car currently has a fluidyne, metal AST, silicone vacuum hoses and a down pipe. I'm having Speed1 install a high flow cat.

Now I'm in the middle of a PFC debate. I want to run the car at stock boost forever but, I want it very drivable. back when I got the basket case and it was running my mechanic at the Porsche shop that had it at noted the pronounced 3krpm hesitation.

I know this has been beat to death but if any of you feel like giving me any personalized feedback on my setup it would help the decision.

Should I get a PFC while I'm doing all of this? If I did I would likely get a racing beat catback as well.

The car will already be on the dyno for a break in after the new engine is in place.

I just want a smooth running reliable (for an FD) FD and after all is said and done I'm going to have over 30 grand in it no matter what, so I want to make sure that goal is achieved lol.

So, to PFC and exhaust or not to PFC and exhaust?

Feel free to philosophise and think out loud.....

evo_koa

iTrader: (2)

the pfc is great, i have a pettit racing street port motor,pettit high flow turbos, pettit intake, no air pump, downpipe high flow cat and a apexi gt spec exhaust with a factory ecu. cam at pettit said it is safe to run my setup. hope that helps

Alex-7

Here's the car just to add a little interest to the thread. Some of you might remember seeing it on ebay last year.

Looks great! isn't great at all!!!

Alex-7

Thanks!

My main concern is with it being overkill for my setup.

I'm really looking to eliminate the hesitation and provide better overall drivability and safety.


If the PFC is the best way to do that then that's what I'll do.

evo_koa

iTrader: (2)

the pfc will help some with hesitation, but other issues may be causing the hesitation. the O2 sensor will if its old, an old fuel filter may, old plugs and wires will also contribute to the hesitation. even with my setup i dont have the hesitation really at all

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

If you're just looking for stock(ish) boost levels, on sequential twins than a PFC should work.

However, there are MUCH better options out there these days that will give your tuner a much better range of control and that can/will probably end up saving your engine from random misfortunes.

PFC/Commanders can be had for $750 all day on the forum now, a newer ECU (keep in mind the PFC is like 20 years old now) will be a little bit more but worth it imo.

At the end of the day though, speak with Dave as he's the one that will be tuning you car. The man really knows his **** and he's not likely to sell you on some crap that you don't need just so he can make an extra buck. Apexi PFC, Haltech PS1000, Adaptronic, whatever... Talk it over with Dave and see what he'd advise.

Alex-7

^^ Thanks!

I'll speak with Dave once the car is up and running again. They should have the motor at the shop by next week...

Price isn't as big of an issue as getting it driving perfectly. like I said I'm already taking a complete bath on this deal.

Is there a consensus on the best current ECU for a "set it and forget it" type of application?

IRPerformance

iTrader: (41)

Hi Alex. This is Ihor, owner of IRP. I would be more than happy to help you with your car and address any questions you may have. Give me a call at the shop tomorrow 732-662-1794. As for the ecu, its really a matter of your power goals, how you plan to use the car, and budget.

TwinCharged RX7

iTrader: (14)

^ Isn't the car already at Speed 1?

Alex-7

^ Car is at Speed1 and no plans to move it again for the moment. Thank you though, Ihor. If I have issues down the road I'll give you a call!

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

That's likely going to depend on who you ask. If you talk to Brian (TitaniumTT) he'll tell you Motec, if you ask Elliot (Turblown) he'll probably recommend an Adaptronic, if you asked C. Ludwig he'd likely recommend a Haltech. I'd say that just broaching the subject with Dave is going to be your best bet. Discuss it with him to see what he recommends and is most comfortable with.

At the end of the day it matters less how capable your ECU is, and more how capable your tuner is in mapping that particular brand. You could install a top of the line ECU, like Pectel, that's gunna run you over $15k out of the box and it won't be worth a damn if the monkey "tuning" it only has experience with the PFS Purple Box and Megasquirts...


Myself, I'll be putting in a Syvecs S8 ECU into my car over the winter, and I'll only allow two people to touch it, neither of them are active on this forum.