Plain and simple, I am looking for a new car. My civic sucks and I will soon have enough money to make payments on a really nice car.(thanks to a 2nd job)
I really want an rx-7, but I am kinda paranoid about used cars. I was wondering about how the frame and chassis are effected with age and about 60k miles. I want the base of the car to be as strong as possible cause it will be a autoxer and maybe a drifter. I plan to lighten the hell out of it to lower the stress on the entire car while hard cornering and sideways shindigs. All I really want to know is should I get an rx-7 or a new car like the s2000, mr2 spyder, or maybe miata. I know the 3rd gen is the king, but I don't want to spend all of my money on a wounded king! OH YEAH, how does spot welding and/or rivets stiffen the frame? Also, who does that kinda thing and for how much?

 

About $720 from: http://www.jt-imports.com/Mazdaspeed_FD_Parts_List.htm

 

Oh my god, Mahjik changed his avatar. How will I ever recognize you?

Mahjik have you been in a 7 with the chassis stiffeners? How well do they work? Is the difference noticeable?

 

Yea, it was time for a change.

Nope, I've never been in one using those. IMO, they don't look like they are worth the price. IMO, if you are doing any racing when you need those, add a roll cage instead. That will add all the stiffness needed with the added safefy (and mounting for harnesses).

I have ridden in FD's with roll cages and they do feel stiffer (however they also had full race setups, stiff springs, sway bars, etc).

 

I cannot imagine those little sticks of metal do anything noticable.

Subframe connectors certainly serve a purpose but I don't believe those look adequate to do much of anything.

Particulary for $700 bucks. What a joke. The things people will pay for just to say they have a "mod" other people don't have.

The FD chassis is plenty stiff and assuming it hasn't been compromised in a significant crash there shouldn't be any noticable degradation in solidity.

Replace all the consumable bits in the suspension and the car should, and can, drive better than new. Any "slop" or other ill feel you experience in an FD is most assuredly from some part needing replaced.

I can already imagine that there are FD in America with stock struts, eibach springs, OEM bushings, tie rod ends and toe control links but they do have the "blue rods" pictured above. ahem....

 

It seems to me that many things at that link http://www.jt-imports.com/Mazdaspeed_FD_Parts_List.htm are quite expensive.

The $700 strut bar they list would be another example of this.
wilson 94T

 

Exactly. The mod is especially good if it's "JDM". Oh man, JDM is the sh*t!

Mahjik's point is spot on: If stiffness is so important you need a cage, and a cage will do even more for stiffness than the braces will. Those braces ain't gonna do much at all for torsional stiffness and for 700 bones you can get much of a custom cage.

 

Jeez, you'd think I was promoting these as the best product in the world. I was really just wondering if they did anything. I was a bit skeptical myself, that was why I asked the question.

 

I have 230k miles on chassis and no braces on it and it's still very stiff.

 

Someone had mentioned a chassis stiffining foam a few months back. I Think it was injected into the pillars. I tried looking for it but in the vast myriad of posts on chassis stiffening but i'm not so search inclined. Anyone remember the post?

 

BAH!!! for $530 I believe you can have a freaking solid rollcage made for you. Search for my old post on roll cages, someone posted the name of a shop that did custom cages for RX-7s, but I had to email them for the pricing, but I rmember it being somehwere in the 500 range and I am pretty sure it was something like 530.

 

Auto EXE for 550 from www.corksport.com, look a lot more solid to me.