R1ckyB0bbyyy

Hey guys, I am new. I sold my SRT-4 a year ago and I now drive a 1998 Accord. I am looking to getting myself a new (to me) car within the next year or two but I am educating myself early...

I have driven many cars, anything ranging from the latest gen M5, to 911's... TT Supras etc. One car however STILL sticks with me even after I have forgotten what it felt like to drive other nice cars I've had seat time in. It was almost 5 years ago but I drove a 1994 RX-7... it was white. The thing was awesome.

Now is this car for me? or should I steer clear (no pun intended). I as of late have decided to spend between $10-15,000 dollars on a car I can use as my weekend, nice day, random drive to relieve stress warrior (I will drive my 1998 Accord any other time). I initially had planned on spending $20-25k on something like an EVO or an STi but between insurance, expensive things that break and on top of modding and the car note for a $20-25,000 car I decided to go a different route.

I would take this car to the occassional auto x, or road course... I would do minor cosmetics and bolt ons to wake it up a bit but mainly focus on appreciating the car for what it is, improving my behind the wheel skill and cleaning it up/taking care of it. Whatever I get I will not be babying it, it will be driven like a sports car is supposed to but I will also take care of it.

I hear these cars are hopelessly unreliable, require GOBS of money to keep running and are extremely finicky... I am looking to put this to rest as a misconception or the truth...

What I know or have heard about them:

Every other fill up, you must put a quart of synthetic in

They require 3 minutes start up idle and cool down idle before being shut off

Something about apex seals (usually a big deal)

They get VERY hot and that causes issues...

You should redline it at leaste once every time you drive it to reduce carbon build up (or is that the RX-8)

They are extremely good looking

They handle and sound amazing

I love this car, but what should I know about it... the good and the bad, what would I be getting myself into?

MADDSLOW

iTrader: (11)

No, it is not. Here, read.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/faq-3rd-gen-other-useful-links-68640/

7_rocket

iTrader: (6)

Your signature is jokes alex

MADDSLOW

iTrader: (11)

Anthony*

Rx72Heaven

iTrader: (2)

its a very reliable car if you take care of it. Expect a rebuild when u buy one, but when u do, take care of it, and it will last a long time.

Davin

iTrader: (14)

the best way to sum it up: if you can put up with a GF that gives you **** time and time again and for every hour you drive it, requires one hour of maintainance, then you are good to go :-)

zack4173

iTrader: (3)

The only way I would recommend buying this car to anyone is that you must be willing to deal with the worst that might come your way. If your not truly ready for your engine to go pop then just dont buy this car, because it can happen at anytime no matter who built the motor, no matter what you have done to it. Its a risk we take to drive these awesome cars, and i wouldnt take any other car under $50,000 than my FD and i mean that. Maybe you should look into getting a used S2K there nice cars good handling better, reliability it is a honda what more can I say.

R1ckyB0bbyyy

That sucks... the cars are so sweet... I just don't want an LS1 FD... not the same if you ask me.

R1ckyB0bbyyy

They just don't do it for me... they really don't. I have driven them time and time again and the S2K just isn't my cup of tea...

Hitokiri_Gensai

iTrader: (2)

oh thank you god... you have some sense... congrats... YES stick with the rotary >.>

Basicly, if you can keep up with the cost of owning one, sure go ahead, but on top of the price of the car, set aside 5k for a rebuild down the road, that includes the turbos because if an apex seals blows theres a good chance itll rip up the turbos a good bit.

I personally, wouldnt have it any other way, i love my FD. Ive put the last year and a half into it and keeping her going, rebuild is coming up soon. Its an amazing car, but you have to make sacrifices for it.

R1ckyB0bbyyy

Ok... so what will $10-15,000 get me for an FD? Year, trim... mileage? And what will it probably need? I mean, out of what I am most likely to find? how much will it cost and how long can I expect to drive the car without having to do more to it to keep it tip top?

Rx72Heaven

iTrader: (2)

it will get you a decent FD, 15 000. Just remember, in the near future, (1-5) years you will need a rebuild. Who knows how well the previous owner drove and maintained the car. You may not have a problem at all. But that being said, id say over half of the people who own a FD don't know how to maintain it, which like any sports car, it will start to fail.

Just look up and read all of the FAQ and you will understand what goes into owning one of these! Its worth it for me, i bought one, ran great, i started modding it, i needed a fuel pump, thought id wait on it, and on a cold evening i blew it, i think because lack of fuel. Its entirely my fault, but when modding the FD you have to make sure you are thorough with everything (like making sure you have fuel to support your mods). Read the FAQ.

-Mark

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

I bought my FD just over a year ago. I paid $14,000 for it. It is a '94 touring with (at that time) 82k on the body and 12k on the rebuilt engine. Immediately I had to drop about $1k on the transmission (5th gear syncro) and I put another $1k into a new paint job. Additionally I dropped about $3k into ensuring that all the reliability mods were properly seen to.

So... you can get a decent (stock) car for under 15k, you can get a decent car and make it solid/nice looking for 19k.

This winter I dropped 7k on toys and wheels/tires. So, for +/- 26k you can have a nice looking 7 with rock solid reliability and around 370-400 rwhp (keeping sequential twins).


The car will treat you as well as you treat her. Be mindful of maintanance, conduct responsible, intelligence modifications. Pay attention to her when she is speaking to you!! and you should be ok.

I've only had one or two real scares with my car and they revolved around old coolant lines bursting.



Take the time now to surf around the forum and read up as much as you can about the car. You are the only person who can decide if the 7 is right for you.

CYD

I ended up with a '93 Single Turbo with 2k on ported rebuild, performance mods+reliability mods. On top of the cost of the car, +2k fixing minor issues, adding reliability stuff, and items to pass emissions. After 1 year and 7k miles as a DD, the car is still running. I was "prepared" for the worst when I got it last year. Besides the above mentioned, just doing regular maintenance. Besides the short commute to work, I frequently take it out on 200mi day trips, and the occasional 1000mi road trip. I enjoy the sense of reliability my car has given me so far.

Sukai94

Remember, after the rebuild you aren't "done" I was so relieved when I had my rebuild done. Oh boy! I didn't have to worry about my FD's motor poppin for a while. Who knew it would blow again in another 2 months!?!

Although that was due to a very bad rebuild it can happen in any situation. Find an excellent rotary shop near you. If you don't have one ship the car or motor to one. It will be worth it in the long run. I would really recommended Pettit racing.

So what are you getting into? The best and worst thing that could ever happen to you (or more your wallet) all wrapped up in one happy package.

PLEASE: Read the FAQ! It took me years of pain and $$ to figure some of that stuff out. It will really really help you out.

FDWarrior

iTrader: (6)

WTF Im glad I dont have any of your experiences with my FD. I did my homework on the cars and bought the right one. I have had my car for about a year. My FD went through a season of autox, and had some nice power making mods done to it. When I bought my car it had a 40k reman in it. I used my car as a daily from last spring to the start of this winter befor I parked her untill the spring comes again. I have never had a problem with my car. I dont know what you all do to your cars to make them be so unreliable, or why you have to put so much money into them to keep them running. The only thing I have spent money on was making my car go faster and turn better. I did have a small scare, I thought a coolant seal was blown but it was a leak in my lower radiator coupler( $5 fix, I lied $5 dollers of my money went to keeping it running). Just pick the right FD and take care of it. I have some other reasons alot of peoples engine's go (like choices in ecu's they make). I wont get into that now.

Wargasm

Oil : A stock or close-to-stock car does not require any more oil than a normal car if it's well maintained and running right. Just check the oil once a month or so.

Idling: Treat them like any other car. Don't floor it when the engine is cold, and don't beat the crap out of it and then immediately shut it off. I start my car and I'm out of the garage in less than 30 seconds. When I come back, I make sure to give the car a cool-down lap and not drive it hard for the last 5 min or so... much like on any other car.

Apex seals: Yes, a weak link. 95% of the apex seal problems in my opinion are bad tuning or over-moddding (incorrectly doing mods). Let's just say this: On older non-turbo RX-7s, there are quite a few running around with 200k on the stock engine... an even some with 300k. Turbo ones have never lasted as long - usually around 100k (?) if you don't modify them. To avoid problems, make sure the car runs as perfectly as possible even when bone stock, do you routine maintenance (fuel filter, coolant, plugs, wires), and never ever make a modification without very in-depth research.

Heat: yeah they run hot. There are some mods you can do to help on this like a larger radiator. In Maine, I doubt it will ever get hot enough that this will be a major issue. (except if you intend to do long-track events at high speed, you SHOULD get a radiator)

Redlining: Yes, it's a good idea to excercise the RPM a bit. I wouldn't say you need to do it every day, but you should not be afraid to wind it up !

Handling: hadling is superb as long as nothing is worn out due to age. The only car that I've driven that drives even close to my FD is my S2000.

B

R1ckyB0bbyyy

I live in Maine, so I do not know where or if there are any good rotary shops around here... I might be moving to PA to go to Penn state but that depends on if I get accepted or not.

This car sounds like a treat... and to be honest I think I would rather have one of these and focus on taking care of it more than I would like just being another EVO on the road...

It would either be $18-20,000 spent on the EVO...


or $10-15,000 spent on an FD...


I don't know if this sounds nutty but there is a peace of mind I get from having just a special car, keeping it simple and instead of trying to be the fastest or most unique EVO on the road, I can focus on making myself a better driver, wrencher and in turn the FD would mean much more to me because of my time and effort...

swif

iTrader: (4)

Research and more research.

I searched for my car for three months. I bought a 95 with 13k on it. Mods that came with the car were exhaust, springs, boost gauge, turbo timer, and duel oil coolers. Paid $21k

I put 10k on the car in two years. Know I have the car down due to mods. I have about 7k in mods to be installed in the car. I still have about $1200 more in parts to go. This is all with out porting the engine. I hope I do not pop the engine anytime soon. I do know that it is a possibility.

If you buy a 7 research for the right car and be ready to spend a ton of money on mods. Also make sure that you have a great tuner in mind.

wolf_9782

owning an FD takes dedication and lots of patience as well as cash. the car is only as reliable as you are so if you take good care of it, the car will repay you.

before doing any modifications to it make sure to research the FAQ because that information will save you lots of cash, those are very expensive lessons in there that you should take heed to.

when you get the car make sure to have at least a few grand left over in the bank for repairs that will need to be done. you will also want to have a compression check done to it so you can know more or less where the engine stands.

if you decide the RX-7 FD is for you then welcome to the brotherhood/insanity!

bbade

iTrader: (5)

If you are mechanically inclined and enjoy working on a car yourself then there is no reason you cannot handle an FD. There are so many horror stories floating around most of them due to a lack of homework, but there is truth to it.

You pretty much summed it up in your original post when you said that the FD stuck with you years after you drove it. As any owner will tell you this car is second to none in the feelings it generates when you get behind the wheel. I absolutely love my car and can't imagine ever not having it.

I bought my FD 2 years ago for 13k. It had 56k on the chassis and 1k on a KDR rebuilt motor and rebuilt turbos. It was stock except for an intake and downpipe along with all the factory service bulletin maintenance done. I had spent several months researching and an entire Saturday following Dave at KDR around asking questions. I also had Dave look the entire car over before I bought it.

Do your homework, find the perfect one and enjoy it.

skir2222

I agree with what everyone says, I bought my 93 touring 5spd 58k miles for 13k. Treated me well for about a year, I started modifying it wanting more and more power. The motor was a Reman with 35k on it, gasket on the oil pan clogged the pick up tube and killed that motor. 7 months later and it's up and running again, I love the car to death wouldn't want anything else. Got to pay to play, but it's fun to modify it and learn the car. It's best to prepare for the worst so you have a safety blanket if/when something breaks.

SLOASFK

iTrader: (5)

There are 2 GOOD rotary shops in the northeast and 1 GREAT shop. All of them within an hour of each other, so whether you live in Maine or PA, I'd still recommend the same shops.

Good shops are KDRotary in Bethlehem, PA and JPR Imports in Marlton, NJ. The great shop is IR Performance in Clifton, NJ. I'd trust them to do anything on my car, and they catch a lot of things other shops would miss or ignore.

Some advise. Don't buy this car because you think it's something special. This is indeed a special car, but it has incredibly special needs. As they've said in this thread, maintenance is key, but what they really mean by maintenance is money. These cars don't tolerate cheap-o's or morons. If something breaks, it has to be replaced or else something else(usually more expensive) will break.

Some more advise, if you're willing to spend $20k on an Evo, there's no reason to be willing to only spend $10k on an FD. From experience, paying the extra and taking the time to find a nice, solid RX-7 is much cheaper in the long run. Buying a cheaper one that you think is nice, but for some unknown to you reason is selling for $5-7k less than all the other nice ones is a stupid mistake that all too many owners fall for. There are people here who will tell you that you can find a perfect FD for $10k and will run on ebay mods, but those are the same people who are constantly bitching about issues that are nickle and diming them to death.


If you choose to go for an FD, choose wisely. The car will not tolerate any inadequacies you may bring to the table. Anyone can purchase an FD, but it takes someone special to keep one.

MADDSLOW

iTrader: (11)

Oh my God...

PhoenixDownVII

Lock this thread. Ban this guy. Rickybobby has been flooding Supraforums "Other Cars" Sub-forum with endless "What about this car?" "What about this setup?" That hardly sound like they are worth asking.

Check: http://supraforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480767

Maddslow: You're in Poughkeepsie, have an FD? I have a set of stock rims at my parents place in Montgomery with Victoracers on them. Need a second set of stock rims? Looking to sell them locally. I live in Highland now, just across the river