Reliability mods -- am I missing anything?
 

Hi All:

Just got my car this past weekend. It looks it was well taken care of, but I would sleep a lot better at night knowing for sure about some things. Buying this car cleaned me out, so for this first round, I have about $600 to spend.

The engine is a Mazda reman with about 10k miles, but I don't really know what was replaced and the previous owner doesn't either. Here's what I plan on doing over the next 2 weeks. I'll be driving my backup car while the RX-7 is down.

1) Silicon vacuum lines ($100)
2) Fuel filter ($50)
3) Fuel pulsation damper (~$100...i'm ordering it tomorrow)
4) HKS downpipe ($200)
5) Cleaned/balanced injectors ($100)
6) Aluminum AST ($100 used)
7) Boost gauge (free...had 2 for the CRX)
8) Fluids flush (new coolant, engine oil, tranny oil, diff oil...$100)

Damn...that's overbudget already. :p: Oh well...gotta do what you gotta do.

I'd like to be able to do a Koyo rad right now, but it'll have to wait 2 months or so while I build some cash back up.

See anything there that can wait until 'Round 2' or anything that I should be including in 'Round 1'?

Thanks,
Sonny

I'm not an expert but perhaps a radiator?
The 7 is going to be your daily driver??? you might be building up cash permanently...

You dont really have to replace the pulsation dampner unless there is a problem with the current one. Its more of a problem piece on the fcs than it is on the fds. I'd say dont forget the temp gage because the stock one is a POS and will never move until after you already fried a seal.

Re: Reliability mods -- am I missing anything?
 

if the turbos are boosting good i wouldnt worry about the vacuum lines in round 1. fluids flush, fuel filter, and downpipe are a must. then a koyo radiator, and the rest of your list. thats close to how i did my FD.

Turbos are boosting 10-8-10. I don't have a gauge in the car yet, but the diagnostic report from Rick's Rotary had this printed on it.

Black R1? Niiiice! Definitely don't see many of those!

Thanks,
Sonny

Downpipe?
Radiator?
Catback?
Boost guage?
Temperature guage?

oh really?

Radiator! How about the fan mod??

I'd also have to agree if its not broken don't fix it...i'm referring to the vacuum lines. Also get a temp/boost gauge..Just from a downpipe i was spiking 12+ psi

Don't buy a radiator unless you are having problems with it.

its absolutely retarded to do #1 with a perfect boost pattern. Also, you dont need to upgrade your radiator unless its leaking. I am running a single turbo with front mount and will not upgrade mine until it falls off of the car because it works so well. Save #s 3 and 5 for another time until you need it. Add a water temp and boost gauge for sure. Fluids and fuel filter are a good idea. Id save for a pfc and commander if I were you thats a great mod if you are going to start modding the car in the future why not have that first to always be safe. Good luck and great job getting the car youll be so happy if you mod it slowly and do it all the right way no cheap shit its not worth it

Well, first things first. This weekend it gets new fluids, fuel filter, and the boost gauge. The turbos did 10-8-10 while being tested at Rick's, but every now and then I seem to get a stumble under acceleration. So, I'm not even driving it until the fuel filter comes.

In the summertime it gets to 100+ deg out here and there are definitely times where I get stuck in stop-n-go traffic.

I ordered my stuff from Malloy. Man, Ray Crowe is like a machine! As I was telling him what I needed, he was spitting out part numbers so that his helper could look up the prices. :eek:

Sonny

Stumbling is 3K RPM hesitation??? Maybe not fuel at all. For sure do fuel filter, and every 15K thereafter......

The stumbling doesn't always happen at 3k. Sometimes at 5k...sometimes at 7k. At any rate, I'm not comfortable at all with any kind of stumbling, so no boost till the filter gets changed.

I have several very high quality 6 awg wires that are additional ground straps from the engine to the battery. Unfortunately, the 3k RPM hesistation is still sometimes there.

Sonny

Hey Sonny, is your car at Rick's Rotary right now? I was there today and saw a red R1 on the rack.

Nope...my car is in my garage. When I was there last weekend, in the parking lot there was one of every color FD.

It's really hard to make a 'bad' color choice with the FD...they all look so good to me. The only thing that is a must-have (imo) is the black interior.

Sonny