Quick Engine Clarification requested
 

i was just wondering, having recently joined the FD world...

i was lookin at pics...

comparing my "stock" engine to others..

how come some have black "hot pipe and cold pipes" for their SMIC

and some have silver?

take this for example..

http://rx7.apneablue.com/photos/engi...nsform/001.jpg


and then here's my very dirty engine

https://static.flickr.com/31/54954019_20bb3fe292_o.jpg



oh and my Second Q... how do I know if i have an R1 or R2?

i have front and rear strut barts, dual oil coolers, no leather, no sun roof, no bose sound system...Vin number doesn't give a hint...

any ideas?

Diff. color piping probably reflects Mazda changing suppliers midway through production, as they did quite a few times for various components of the vehicle. No real significance. I'm inclined to say the silver piping was on earlier years, and the later years were black. But I can't verify this for sure

Re: R1 vs. R2, what year is your FD? ;) R1s were only in '93, and R2s were in 94 & 95. Go here: http://rx7.voodoobox.net/infofaq/bguide3g/bguide3g.html for more info of the various trims the FD came in, as well as a bunch of great info. I'd read that site as well as the FAQ sticky on the top of the 3rd gen section. You'll find virtually every question you have already answered in there ;)

Oh, and congrats on getting the FD.

~Ramy

PS: Also read this post: https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...59&postcount=2 It has some really important info that you need to know NOW before it's too late... ;)

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/disp...ersHome.action

you can go there and register your vin and it will tell you the model you have... and some other things about your car

You have an R1.

As for the pipe colors, I dunno - Ramy's suggestion makes sense. Keep in mind the aluminum "Efini" Y-pipe is also silver, but looks a little different from the original one. The blue couplers are aftermarket.

Dave

HOLY SMOKES! You have what appears to be a '93 State Inspection Sticker (looks awfully like a VA inspection sticker, at that). Was this car sitting for a decade??

yea that's the sticker (i think ur right, it is a VA one)

the car is no longer in the states.. it was exported my a Navy guy when he came over sea's and he sold it after his tour was done... changed hands here a few times.. no rotary mechanics around here to fix it, ended up getting abandoned... left in the sun and dust for like a year, the last owner (whom also happend to be navy) was leaving and heading back home...

got a Running FD, with an exhaust leak, clunking rear end, a small amount of rust... and a shit load of dust for $2500 59 K on the ODO and a JDM engine in it...


so i can't complain :p


i think they left the sticker as a reminder kinda thing...

Wow...what country are you in? I'm guessing Kuwait or Saudi?

Holy Crap!!! How come I've never seen this before??? Arigato Taikutsu-san!
Yuichiro

They told me I had an R2 and 5-speed, but that's about it.

Dave

Ditto... but it does let me know what the original co;or of the car was! So guess what...there IS a way to verify if a CYM is really a CYM, or just a respray! And if the interior was swapped from one color to another. Badass...

As for my FB, they have no IDEA what it is LOL. All it says is 1984 RX-7. Transmission: Unknown. Engine: Unknown. Exterior: Unknown. Interior: Unknown. And it won't even let me manually change that... =-/

After I bought my FD, I suspected it was either a base model with add-ons, done by/how whoever, or a PEG. The site confirmed I have a PEG! So I'm happy.

Silver plastic tube out of IC to throttle body was '93, production went to black after. Pipe into turbos was black plastic, I do not know of a silver colored plastic version.

For the overseas '96 and on models, the design changed to the smoother flowing and more robust "silver" aluminium Efini Y-pipe.

I always wondered about this, just never really cared enough to find out.

Ditto. Plus, I've seen exceptions to every rule so far

- R2 with leather
- 94s with non-reinforced wheels (mine included)
- 94s with R12 (mine included)
- 95s with 96 ABS Units

So I'm sure there's a 94 somewhere running around w/ silver pipes, or a 93 with black pipes :p:

I just used a little paint remover and some brillo pads on my elbow (got an efini crossover pipe now)

In general, the 93's have the silver intake pipes. I think Mazda just realized they could save money by not painting them, and that the paint gets scratched and crappy looking in short order. I do seem to recall seeing a later '93 with a silver TB elbow and black crossover pipe, though. All '94s and '95s I've seen had all black.

I've heard the AC thing with '94s, but I think all proper '94 models have R12 AC. My '94 is a fairly late one (going off the VIN) and has R12. Blows damn cold, too :).

I think some of the other weirdnesses, like R packages with leather, are from previous owners. Dealers will do a lot to please a customer, and if a customer wanted to buy an R package on the lot but wanted leather, I'm sure the dealer would swap in some leather seats to make the sale. Happens quite often. Or, a previous owner could have got some leather seats and swapped them out.

Dale

Man, I'd love to find a dealer with a pile of unused R2 seats because of customers who wanted leather...

Dave

How dare you! Blasphemy!!! It wasn't to save costs...it was to save WEIGHT!! Every mg counts!! :p: j/k. But you gotta admit, the Mazda guys are really something. They actually drilled the pedals to save weight. Talk about weight freaks. Ya gotta hand it to 'em... In fact, I think FD's had the lightest pedal set of any production car at that point!

From the 1994 Brochure:

"And because weight is the enemy of performance, we subjected every part, every design of the RX-7 to intense and thorough weight-reduction scrutiny -- but never at the expense of structural strength. In pursuit of every last extra gram, we even drilled out the aluminum brake and clutch pedals and shortened the spark plug lead wires." :eek:

Dale, I'm not quite sure what you mean by a proper '94? Cuz '93s have R12, '95s have R-134, and '94s seem to be a mix. From what I've read on the forum, most are R-134.

BTW...mine blows real cold too, and I love it. BUT, my friend who's a certified A/C installer & repair specialist was telling me that R-12 and I think R-22 are being completely discontinued. Before, you just had to be certified, and small quantities were available. Now, they've completely halted production, so the car and home A/C units using the older freon will eventually HAVE to convert to R-12. Either that, or use those fake R-12 bottles they sell at auto parts stores lol.

I'm sure that's the case as well.

I think you're backwards on your R-12 vs R-134 stats. From what I've seen, R-12 is in most of the 94s with a few at the end of the year switching to 134.

R-12 has been out of production for some time. There is old stock being used up.

Then I'm going to be blasphemous and say that drillng pedals doesn't make them lighter - not as much as a better design in the first place. Drilling holes is not as effective as simply redesigning the pedal to be lighter in the first place - perhaps a cast frame with a lighter weight inset might have been superior. Drilled holes looks high-tech since it's a actually poor-man's weight reduction technique used to modify existing parts - and Mazda knew that it would be recognized among the sports-car buffs.

But Mazda did really design a lightweight car - especially in unsprung components - I'll give them a lot of credit there.

Dave

I'm just repeating what I read on the forum. Big argument over a few threads (back in the day) about how only 93s have R12, and the rest have R-134.

Re: R-12...I guess maybe the old stock is almost gone?

Dave, would a cast frame with a lighter weight inset be lighter than an aluminum pedal? I thought aluminum is pretty much as light as it gets...? :scratch: And remember, this was pre-CF days haha.

As for shortening the plug wires...are they serious? :0

Cast aluminum...:)

And for those of us who have no idea what the difference is (between regular aluminum and cast aluminum)? Sorry, engineering isn't my steeze lol. I googled it, but found no explanation.