4mused

Been lurking a bit . Few questions. I've read a few of the threads. Didn't want to threadjack anyone so I made a new one. Sorry if this is frowned upon.


-I live in SoCal, Long Beach to be more specific. Those of you also in this area know our average weather is roughly 60's to 90's depending on the season. Is this hot enough to contribute to overheating?
-What am I looking at pricewise for reliabilty mods?
-Labor costs of dropping a brand new motor in?
-Time it takes to drop a brand new motor in?
-Any good shops around the Long Beach area?
-Cheap, good build quality single turbo that will give me at least the same power as the stock twins?


I'm half way through my 2nd year as a college student. I'm probably one the more fortunate kids. Some of you may call that spoiled . My parents pay for school, and anything school related (classes, books). I still live at home because I live about 20 minutes away from school (I go to CSULB). Besides that, everything else comes out of my pocket (insurance etc). I currently am out of a job, but even if I do find another one I don't plan on making anything over minimum wage.


You guys think that's a good or even feasible financial situation to be in to own a FD? If my car does break down and need to spend time in a shop, a few weeks would be ok. I can take my parents cars out (both work at home). I saw that a brand new motor is like $2.6k-$3.6k, which is attainable with what I have in my savings.


I'm not the most mechanical savvy person around. I would love to read and understand everything I can about the FD before pulling the trigger but I'm more of a hands on kind of guy. I read everything I could about DSLR's but couldn't understand it at all. I had to actually have one in my hand, to play and learn on, in order to understand it.


Now assuming I do decide to grab one.. I've had my eye on this one. It's a members so maybe one of you knows the condition of the vehicle or can vouch for him? Or just tell me if it's a decent buy or not. I didn't realize having low miles wasn't necessarily a good thing. Looks like it's still on stock twins too.

https://www.rx7club.com/west-sale-wanted-classifieds-195/93-r1-36k-miles-870832/


Trying to sell my current car (E46 325i) for $14.5k. If you know anyone that's in the market for a 'family car/grocery getter let me know . Here's all the info if anyone is interested.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=720204


Thanks in advance!

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

I would wait. The cost and time needed to do these things takes some dedicated time. Your biggest concern right now to to be the best student you can be. If you do that well, you can get the spoils that come with the hard work put in to your education. You will have time for cars later and be able to enjoy them much more once your pulling in a decent paycheck.

MakoRacing

iTrader: (12)

If you can afford it/handle it, I'd say go for it...just make sure your fully informed on FD ownership/problems by reading all the FAQ and stickies several times. Reliability mod's will run you a couple grand, and Im sure if you look in the regional section you'll find plenty of good shops down there. And I wouldn't worry about over heating, I DD'd my FD for years...it gets 110+ here too sometimes.
Btw, I was a "spoiled" kid too, I got my first FD when I turned 16

WaachBack

iTrader: (21)

Coming a college graduate that's been modding cars since highschool, I say wait. I know that when I was in college, owning my FD would have been way too much, time AND money wise. This car takes A LOT of time and money. I owned a low maintinance CRX in college. In all honesty, if you support yourself and live on your own, I'd say you'd need to make around $20/hr in Cali. I live in Hawaii and make $30/hr and this car is still able to drain my pay check from time to time.

Just wait focus on school.

widebodyseven

iTrader: (17)

If you want to save a little bit i think getting a motor rebuilt is cheaper than replacing it with a brand new engine.

As for shops in or near long beach theres this new shop that i think is located in long beach heres a thread https://www.rx7club.com/west-rx-7-forum-193/new-rotary-shop-socal-872534/

I go to 2 shops one mazdatrix http://mazdatrix.com/ in signal hill, i go there for parts bc there labor is expensive the other shop i go to for labor is lucky 7 racing in elmonte http://www.lucky7racing.net/

Also i was spoiled too my parents got me my FD when i was 16 and im now about to turn 19 and im getting rid of the FD bc i can't afford it and to many headaches.

widebodyseven

iTrader: (17)

Don't take this in a bad way i just thought it would be funny bc i was listening to this song and it reminded me on this thread.LoL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP5FYiEyicQ

4mused

Thanks guys!


So no one knows the seller of the link I posted?

theorie

iTrader: (31)

[QUOTE=4mused;9628863]I currently am out of a job, but even%

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Being a current college student who has spent way to much time and money on cars, just wait. I really wish I would have waited to get as deep as I am with cars until AFTER I graduated from school and had a job. If I could go back and do it over again I would find a nice comfortable car that would get me around while in school. Instead of doing that I ended up with a truck, trailer, and an FD.... yeah.... the one you posted a link to appears to be well sorted, not much else you would need to do in terms of reliability mods, but you would DEFINITELY want to not only read up on FD's in general but also the specific things it has done to it. It's pretty well modified and you would want to know a thing or two about what's under the hood if you planned on daily driving it.

Hell even the car you're looking at is being sold for educational reasons, it's a sign .

theorie

iTrader: (31)

^^^ hey what happened to my post. it was a pretty long post and now it's just a messed up half quote!

anyway, my post was saying, DON'T DO IT. if i have time, i'll list the reasons later.

to quickly summarize though:
1) you're in college and don't have a job
2) you're not mechanically inclined
3) you're likely not experienced enough as a driver.
4) the car you're looking at is a pretty modified car, which is likely making over 350 horses. that's twice the power (in a lighter car) than you're used to. also, modified cars need special attention and consideration - it's not just changing the oil every 3000 miles with these cars...


not trying to be a dick, just giving you advise from experience.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Many owners have reported their overheating experiences in stopped traffic and temps in the 80s and 90s. Obviously hotter is a little more likely.

In any case, with a replacement radiator and car in good condition you will have little to worry about.

$2k-$5k depending how fancy you want to get and if you're paying for labor.

Single turbos almost always make more power than stock. The cost of the turbo itself is much less than the supporting mods required to support the increased power level.

Brand new motors cost more than that, more like $4-6k. A rebuild with labor is going to be similar in price.

I would not buy this now. Min wage is a very slow way to pay car bills of any kind.

No doubt, it is very hard and slow to learn about these cars by reading alone. Your understanding will rapidly change when you are working with one.

$14k will get you a decent FD with a good engine. If you build some extra savings or get a more consistent income you could go for it but realize there is some risk and you won't have money for mods.

Oh, and don't forget fuel economy and insurance. FDs can be cruel on both, so if you drive a lot of miles you'll need to consider that, and get an insurance quote BEFORE you buy one.

Dave

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I "edited" the post and didn't find anything else there. Forum glitch maybe?

hwnd

iTrader: (4)

How bizarre. You guys talk about these cars as if they're time bombs.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

If you have a good car my experience has been good w.r.t. reliability. If you buy a used FD at a "good" price my experience has been lengthy list of expensive repairs. It's not that I see FDs as time bombs but the used market is a tremendous crapshoot unless you're a seasoned FD mechanic.

Dave

b0bab0i

iTrader: (2)

haha whats up 4mused!

If i remember correctly on E46F, doesn't your uncle work on his FD? He can help you with installing stuff right?

hwnd

iTrader: (4)

I've had a few come through here... I've seen shitty/cheap craftsmanship fail over and over (a few guys know what i'm talking about).. even some rebuilds where you might wonder how the engine would even run - but they did.

perhaps my mindset isn't focused on "get in, turn key, drive" but more along the lines of routine check-up's / preventative maintenance by habit? iunno

4mused

Hey guys thanks for all the info. I don't think I'm going to buying one for now, for the reasons you posted above, but also because I'm moving. My new house will be an extra 30 miles away from school, 60 round trip. And that's on the 91 freeway, for those of you who know how notorious the 91 is lol.


I'll probably set my sights on a low mileage AP1. Thanks again guys!