I was wondering how much power does the F/D make with out its turbo system (or more like, how much power is the stock turbo system making). Additionally is it possible to run the engine N/A, with the intention of reducing overheating issues and improving fuel economy and reliebility.

Also, am I stupid for still considering an FD as a DD on a limited budget? (no way in hell could I afford a $7,000 rebuild). I've been looking into various Hondas ('97 Lude, EG, DC2) and Nissans (S13-S14). Long story short, is it worth dumping 6-9k into a 3,000 car over the corse of two years, or would I be better off buying a 10k car?

Eternal question I guess, mod the hell out of a cheap old car or go with factory preformance in a newer car.

Its been a long day, got a lead on a FD shell (blown engine) for $1,900. Guy had sold it already.

 

RUN! Quick!

Seriously: No. Don't even fathom doing it. FD is a sports car. If you want robust reliability and slothness, but the same feel/fun, get an MR2.

What you're asking is a dreamer question, if you can't afford the FD, leave it for those who can...please...please...

 

there is an NA FD in one of the best motoring dvd's to lazy to check which one tho =x

 

4 rotor NA FDs dont count

 

The FD is not the car for you. Go get a nice reliable Prelude or something.

 

it's your money, is it worth it to YOU?

 

I bought my first FC, when I was 16. (87 TII) Biggest mistake I ever made. Sold my reliable, low milage, but boring ponitac bonneville, for a problem ridden, specially for a noob, RX-7....had 3 FC's and 1 FD sense. Sorry, I can't finish this post...my internet is about to be shut off because I need this last $5 to stick in the door of the FD to get it unlocked.

Seriously...pockets must be DEEP to own one of these things. I stopped putting high octane in it last year, and just started shoving $20's down the gas tank.

Take it from me, who got into it long before I could afford it (finally can now ),
get a reliable car to get you somewhere fun. The only alternative? Get an RX-7 that needs work, along with a daily beater, and consider it a long long project.
You'll probably respect it more in the long run anyway.

 

If you want NA, get an FC

 

you only live once

 

Why do I have the uncanny feeling people are thinking I'm a 17 year old punk who is begging mommy for a car?

Any way. This would be my forth car, I've survived a MKIII Golf, MKIV (which I'm hating) and a GS-T...

Oil changes every 2,000 miles, I can do. 15mpg Premium... I can do, pissed off all day...
Blown engine......... no.

As for N/A, I was looking for a number, after all many of the cars I'm looking at are around 2,800lbs, and 160-200hp. FD is 2,800lbs and 255lbs, so if I lost 50-60hp from dropping the trubo system, gained a few extra miles per gallon and reliebility increased drasitcly... why the hell not? I'm not looking to drag race or *shudder* drift. More over, if I was to get into any sort of racing (no time) it would be road racing, and merely for fun, not to be competitive, I have little doubt in my lack of "mad leet skilz yo".

 

I second that, I cant imagine being in my FD and getting burned by a honda civic. Have you driven a FD yet? Take a test drive youll find if feels like your driving a school bus while waiting for the first turbo to spool up. IMO it will probably cause more problems than your hoping it will fix.

 

Yes.

 

WORD^^^... dude... walk away from the FD, i thought i was able to afford it as well, but when things get rough, like a coolant hose blows or the radiator cracks, you will get raped in the *** by the rotory gods, and it will take your money along with it.

I'm nearly 20 and bought the car when i was 18, and it's still a burden on my paychecks, and i make anywhere from $17-$27 bucks an hour working only 25 hours a week, and go to school at the same time. IT DOESN'T WORK BRO, drop the idea. I'm currently selling mine just so i can get back on my feet and generate some sort of savings to get by comfortably so i don't have to work as much and so i can focus on my studies more.

Once you get a good job with a lot of disposable income, by all means i wouldn't care if you were a noob or not getting the FD, i just know you won't have such a burden on trying to keep this car up and running. I'll leave you with this... mine's been sittin in the garage for the last 3 months while i drive my saturn, a super reliable car that saves me gas money for the time being.

There's a difference between owning one, and actually owning one and being able to afford it.

 

run before the flames really start coming!

 

Sounds like where in similiar situations, however I only have one more year of college to go (thank god), and hopefully will be dropping my current doopy job for a substitute teachers postition in the next week or two.

 

Yeah, I've posted here before, I have a feeling where this is going.

 

I drive a Golf, postal-trucks leave me in the dust. As for the problems, I do imagine the ECU would cause problem, fuel mix and what not. However I know a Corrado can be run with out the S/C hooked up with ease (and 100hp), also I've had the GS-T going with out a turbo for short bursts of time, doest SEEM to hurt, after all the first gen did have a 4G63 minus the turbo, though the ECU was different I'm sure.

 

Yes you can do this. I've driven my stock Fd NA once on accident. The coupling to the IC came loose because I forgot to tighten it. You do realize that the engine is basically in NA mode while your cruising on the highway? Anytime the engine is in a vacuum state, it's NA. Just yesterday I was experimenting to see how much power the engine had in NA form, so I disconnected the same coupling and drove the car all day that way. It had decent power. The engine kinda fell on it's face in the upper rpm's during some WOT runs. That was expected since there isn't a 6th port to open increasing flow. Anyways the engine drove just fine and there wasn't any issues. I suspect that you could get a little better fuel economy because your not getting into boost. No boost means less fuel is used.

You can also just drive the car responsibly and hardly ever have any issues. Take it easy and it will be fine. I've got 98k on my original stock engine and it will still trap 100mph in the 1/4(even though it's the heavier Touring model and I weigh 210). I've put 30k on it in the past 2 1/2 years of DD. No expensive reliability problems what so ever. Just basic routine maintenance and regular carbon cleanings. One of these days I'm going to hook up a wideband and see what the A/F ratios look like in NA mode.

 

Isn't it really bad for the turbos to just run n/a by disconnecting a coupler? The turbos will still try to boost and will overspin in the process, or so I thought.

The last n/a 13B made 160hp and it was a 6-port. I'll venture to guess that running the FD n/a with stock ports will have less than 160, more like 140-150.

You'll need a stand alone engine management to properly convert to n/a by removing the turbos and all related parts. You'll have less power but also the car will be lighter.

 

Yes, Running FD with stock turbos still hooked on will be BAD!

I highly doubt that it would make 140RWHP or even at the flywheel on a low compression engine.

Corbic, I'm glad that at least you seem sensable to not wanting to make power. FD would be a waste if you don't want to go fast. Also, in order to go true NA you would need to rebuild the engine w/ higher compression rotors. Which if you are going to do that, why not just keep it stock, run a boost controller and keep it at 2-3lbs.

In my opinion, get an 85 GSL-SE. 13b fuel injected, NA, and lighter than FD. I had one and it was pretty fun to drive. Different than an FD but fun. Or like FDnewbie said, buy an FC. My first RX7 was an 91 FC convertible. Loved it until my ex wrecked!

Like others said, FDs aren't cheap to maintain. I love driving it, but hate it when its down. ALso, I think its highly addictive. Look at me, I have 3 of them and I don't know why I keep spending money to buy things for it.

 

Yes. The FC and FB chassis are a LOT of fun to drive, and much cheaper. Wait until you can afford the expensive car, and you'll be a lot happier in the meantime. People these days seem to have a tough time understanding this concept.

-s-

 

Sounds to me you just like the looks only. If so, dont get the car, cause its alot more than that. Trust me, i know. Ive been thru 2 motors, and 2 sets of turbos myself. And im only 19. All paid for by slaving over 2 jobs. And that means giving up your friday and saturday nights for about a year and a half.

 

Well first of all, a rebuild is not $7K you can get a complete rebuild and replace (with all labor uncluded) for $3-3.5K, you just need to shop around.

An NA FD ???? Any civic will smoke you, anytime, never mind an accord or a prelude , don't even think about it, it would be and imbarrasment to you and a disgrace to the FD world.

If you can find a low mileage FD, by all means you can used it as a DD, I used mine for years and years, every car needs maintance, FD's might need litle more pampering and care, you'll need to do some extra reliabillitie mods and you're good to go.

When my motor blew @ 80K miles, I was at my worst financial situation, at that time I had lost my job (comp. when bankrupt) and had very little money to my name, so I borroved few hundred bux, threw a new dealer motor in and I was good to go.

So never say never, just buy it, drive it, and enjoy it. like someone already said, "you only live once"
Good luck.

 

FIRST OFF IF YOU DON"T LIKE HOW THE CAR WAS MEANT TO BE, GET SOMETHING ELSE. This holds true with any car, buy what you really want. Don't make a VW Rabbit into a Ferrari. If risk is what you don't want, then don't buy the FD. It is a gamble for sure. I don't care what people claim, you daily drive this car and it will show. visually and finacially. Yeah sure there are people that have DD and had no problems with reg. maintenance, but look at the percentage of those cases, very, very, low. These are fragile cars if your are trying to keep them nice and will depreciate very quickly if used alot. period. You sound like a sensible person with finances as a priority, get a reliable car with good fuel economy and worry about finishing college and started your life, enjoy a sports car after that. Why torture yourself with something you claim to love, have fun with it. Did I mention being a recluse in order to find all the time to work on this car. That is not practical, think twice about your decision and good luck in school.

 

These nickle and dime problems, what are they besides the catastrophic over heating issues? I've been reading the FAQs again, and it looks like most of the issues partain to the cooling system and how Mazda failed to use the highest quality parts, so that they could cut cost.

It sounds like roughly a $1,000 would replace all of these "weakest links" and get the car to stay in the green. Would the car then be good for 90-100k miles with out fears of a catastrophic break down? Also, how are parts costs in general? I'm paying $50 a rotor for the Volkswagen and those are carp (warp and wear down once a year) and the GS-T is like $70 a rotor (at least their decent). I go through breaks a lot.

Another way I a look at an FD is this. (I'm not trying to be pig-headed mind you).
Buy the car for 10 grand (I've seen a few on dealers for as low as $6,400). I'd assume a car under 10k will have some issues, but if you spend $3,000 fixing her up, that putting you at 10-13k, which is still less then spending 12-15k for a car that supposidly has been well taken car of and still may blow up in your face a month latter.

Any way, assuming I get tired of it, it's being a b@tch or I have a catastrophic failure, I could always sell the shell/project and get anywhere from 3-6k for it, thus recooper rating much more then had I bought many of other cars. I see guys selling their S13s they spend 15k on for a mere 6k now.

Also the other purchasing delema is to buy from an enthusist who surely could not leave boost alone, or from a joe-schmoo who drove it once a month on a clear sunday morning but changed the only once a year.

Past that, FD's added cost is what, double my fuel bill, double my oil expenditure and triple in insainly low insurance?

Fire away guys, I'm an idealist, and I need to be brought back to reality.