Hey all,

Not new to the forum, but new to posting I'm going to be in the market for a '94 or '95 FD in the next couple of months. I've done research before, but I'm curious what everyone things about this. Realistically, how much work can I do on the Rx7? With a normal toolset, and a normal garage, can I take care of a lot of the maintenance or am I going to be spending $$$ on a garage and a decent mechanic?

Just curious on your thoughts. I'm in Ohio, so if anyone has a nice 94 Rx7 red on black, that would be nice!

 

Well, how mechanically inclined are you on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being: "fughedaboudit, I don't even know what a Phillips head screwdriver is" to 10 being: " I shoulda' been working for NASA" ?

If you're under 5 you'll be putting braces on the teeth of your mechanic's kids AND sending them to Harvard.

If you're over 5 you are qualified to mod it until she blows like all of the rest of us rocket scientists here.

You're going to spend a shitload of $$$ either way - that's why these cars are so much fun - it's like burning money!

 

I've been able to do almost all minor maintenance and modification to my car with minimal equiptment and garage space. If you look hard enough and make use of the forum, you should be able to find how to's and get advice on almost all projects. I think most mechanically inclined people can do almost all the work on their own car. The hard projects would probably be motor swaps and tranny/clutch work.

 

Oh, I consider myself very technically inclined (not quite NASA material ) I'm certainly not afraid to jump in a try to do maintenance/upgrades/etc, but if you need to drop $5g in tools before opening up an FD, that's not quite gonna work.

Guess I want to feel more confident that an ordinary joe can actually work on these things.

 

You dont need alot of tools to take one apart.
Would run you under 600 bucks or so if you goto sears.

 

You'll be fine. I can do everything on it and my brother does everything on 300ZXs with the same fairly basic tools ... like Yenven said about a half grand and you'll be in great shape. The only non-basic tools I can think of is having a 3/8" ratchet with 1 and 2 joints in it, a 1/2 socket to 3/8" drive adapter is helpful for a couple of reasons, and some ratcheting hand wrenches in 10mm, 12mm, and 14mm you might find helpful. Actually, nearly every nut and bolt on the car is 10, 12, 14, or 17 (exhaust), so you really just need a wide assortment of those size sockets in various lenghts, drives (with extensions) and different wrench types. Throw in a screwdriver here, a torque wrench there, perhaps a pair of standard and needle-nosed pliars, vise-grips, and that's pretty much it.

 

I didn’t even change the oil in my old car..... This is what I have done to the 7 so far.

Downpipe, Midpipe, Power FC, Remove Air Pump, Relocate the Fuel Filter to the engine bay, Replace most of the coolant hoses, Oil Changes, Evans Coolant Install (a lot harder than it sounds), Replace Fuel Pulsation Dampener, Silicone Tie-wrap Job, Non-Sequential Turbos, HKS Blow Off Valve, and various other things I don’t feel like typing out.

As far as tools I bought a 100$ mechanics tool kit, add a few extra tools I have got along the way.

It is also good to find a couple of mechanic/7 friends that you can talk to if you ever get in a bind, the forum plays a big part in this as well.

 

I think it's more about how many tools you have and if you have access to a lift and other specality equiptment which will makes things a lot easier for you. Take for example dropping your tranny to replace your clutch. If you got a lift and a tranny jack, it should only take you a couple of hours to do the entire thing (I have a friend and he has a lift, it only took him about 1/2 an hour to get the tranny out, and hour or 2 to rebuild his tranny and another 1/2 an hour to replace everything), there are only a couple of bolts holding the tranny to the engine. But if you don't got a lift, your gonna be struggling under there for a very long time (up to 35-60 hours from some post)!

If you need any tech help, just ask a question and some one on this forum will be more then happy to answer your question.

Good luck

P.S. If you do get a FD, try to get a deep socket 10mm (it will save you lots of time).

 

Despite how it may seem, FD's are actually very simple cars. It seems like almost every bolt is a 10mm or a 14 mm. Oh, having small hands helps as well.

 

I really wish people would read the other posts in the same thread before they come along two hours later and repeat something that someone else said. It happens all of the time.

And not this thread in particular, but I really wish people would stop with the random stab in the dark responses if they don't know the answer. It happens more than all of the time.

 

if u think u can handle unscrewing some bolts without dopping them deep in the catacombs of the engine bay and ur reletivily nimble with ur hands u can probably work on this car. its realy up to u on how hard of a job u can do, use ur best judgment and find out with the job includes first. for example for me all i have had a chance to do was intake and at first it was scared but it was almost as easy as changing the oul, next up exaust battery relocation and maybe if i can find te money a bigger intercooler

 

I had never even done an oil change before I did the hose job on my car. Now, Mindphrame took it all apart and changed the FPD, but I did the hoses and put it all back together again.

 

Thanks for all of your replies. Now I can't wait to get started! If only I had the car now!

Be aware though, you may have created a monster that will be returning with LOTS of questions Will be a good time though.

- Abe

 

Abe,

The main thing is down time. You can do anything you want on the car as long as you have the time and the patience.

If you have a daily driver, then it will be your best friend when you begin to do work on the car. Keep in mind that you will be looking to purchase a car that's 7-8 years old. When you get in it and start working on it, you may find things you need to replace that weren't necessarily involved in the job you set out to accomplish (or just simply breaking something by accident). Ordering and waiting for parts sometimes can take a while, so be prepared for downtime if you plan to do your own work.

 

I have very minimal tools and am nearly completed on a tranny conversion... you can do whatever you want to do

 

Atta boy!

Don't worry about asking questions. We all want to see another healthy FD on the road.


P.S. A not so little side-note: BE SURE TO HAVE A FULL RESERVIOR OF PATIENCE BEFORE WORKING ON YOUR CAR.

 

this is great info guys.

luigi

 

Here's some of my favorite tools, that I always use:

~ Metric Socket set 8mm-16mm You'll be using the 10mm for almost everything.

~ Shop light.

~ Cordless Drill/Power driver. This will preserve your sanity when you have to tighten and untighten and retighten stuff over and over again in one night because you kept forgetting to do ****.

~ Dremel MotoTool. I love this thing! I polished the UIM/TB & brake calipers, sanded down curb rash, made a restrictor plate, cut down the stock shifter stalk = short shifter. GET ONE.

~ Wire Cutters. Always having to cut off Zip Ties.

~ Don't forget to buy a cheap set of jack Stands and a Floor Jack. I bought a "garage-in-a-box" from Kragen for $35.00 bucks that came with a Jack Stands a 2-ton Floor Jack and a Creeper(useless).


****I Almost forgot: lots of B E E R !!!!

 

$35 for jack stands? That sounds pretty cheep. What could I expect to pay for a set? Any suggestions? That sounds like one "tool" that I will seriously consider.

And I like the other tool mentioed too.... beeeeeeeer. (Not to be mixed with driving the FD!!!)