I was just reading a thread that made me actively again start thinking about what would be wise to purchase in the way of parts that will probably be discontinued as time rolls by?

Which parts on this car that are of the more difficult to replace or find crossover parts for, or just plain hard to make a standard part work as a replacement that Mazda may or probably will discontinue?

I know a few scares have ran through here like the thought of not being able to get std. replacements for our rotor housings. And the fact I cannot get stock floor mats has always burned me!

What would be some wise things to stockpile for us people that know this car will be in their lives for many years to come?

And I don’t mean to make this into a crazy overcompensating list, just the necessities to make sure my rotary will still be puttering along, even after dino power is finally getting to be obsolete.

I know it is imminent, what is the best route us diehards can protect ourselves with.

 

Are you talking about just getting the car running or just rare OEM parts??

Just to get the engine running, FC parts will interchange with FD (low compression rotors and housings) and RX8 seals are same as FD seals.

Few things I could think of that are rare OEM parts.

Floormats... I think this single item is near impossible to find one new or even one in good condition. Since it gets stepped on every single time you get in and out, shifting thru gears, etc. It will wear out. I've been stock piling OEM mats for about 4 years. I think I have total of 5 blk sets.

Glass sunroof... I've only seen maybe 3-4 FDs with glass moon roof. If you can get hold of this part, I think it will fetch quite a bit of cash. Luckily my MB has one already.

Good set of seats... especially leather since it wears out quicker than cloth. But leathers are leather.. But cloth base seats are rare and also can't replace it due to specific cloth Mazda used.

Good condition OEM shift ****. I've only seen few FD's with stock shiftknob in great condition.

I think you could get these car running for a LONG time. There are so many replacement parts made for these cars and I just don't see it becoming an issue anytime soon. Just think of it this way, there are ton in Japan that just sits in a junk yard.

Also, Rotor housings can be ceramic coated when out of spec to get it back in spec. I just found out about this recently.

 

No, not really aesthetic parts but vital running gear that would essentially cripple the car if replacements are not found or may become scarce in the future.

I have an extra fully functional engine sitting in storage for the day parts like that may become scarce. Not that I went out searching for one, but I got it on a deal, and always thought it was a good idea to have a engine ready to go with these cars to be able to swap out at a unfortunate minutes notice. Hopefully helping me to avoid any impatient rebuilds or mishaps that might come my way.

The most important thing that does come to mind is housings, but I am sure there are a lot of little things that would be wise to purchase now that will be or could be very important to have that are model specific to the FD.

 

I just found out about this thru another thread on the forum.

http://www.jhbperformance.com/

So, pretty much you take your used rotor housing and they will ceramic coat the housing, which will add material to bring your off spec housing back to spec.

Also, they claim it will last 10X longer.

I've been stock piling parts also. I'm definitely going to try to keep these cars as long as I can. I have few more engines than you though (2 x 20B and 4 x 13B REW + 1 in the car).

But to be honest, I don't think you'll have issues finding parts. Every year several FDs go out of commission and several RHD parts cars get imported. Also, people are starting to convert their FDs with LS1s. 2 of my engines I bought were from LS1 conversion.

You might consider E shaft as when they are out of spec, I don't know who makes aftermarket version (except for 3 and 4 rotor aftermarket ones).

 

well if the fd's follow the same patterns as the rest of the mazda's the things 20 years from now that will be hard to get are the trim items.

you can still get carb kits, and gaskets and things like that for an rx2, but a taillight, or fender is long gone.

you want things like the center console panels (if its a 93), taillights, shift ***** (ive got the last new perforated leather 93 style one, all the new ones are solid leather 94+), defroster grilles etc.

theres enough engine parts around, that its not gonna be a problem anytime soon. they arent really that unreliable

 

aren't e-shafts interchangeable with fc shafts as well?

 

all 86+ shafts are interchangeable.

 

yes, coating the housings is a very intriguing idea, from reading it seems no one has really made it work all that well except mazda.

Last time I was reading about JHB there were problems with finish tricoidal geometry differences, flaking material thickness issues, just to name a few. I haven’t really been keeping up with it lately so things may have changed drastically.

Have you read scallies thread? Very interesting theory.

 

I'm actually not too concered for any parts that are interchangeable w/ RHD JDM FDs, because they're still readily available in Japan, and will be for quite some time. True, it's not cheap to get stuff from Japan, but the fact that it *can* be done puts me at ease. Besides, you gotta pay to play

The parts that REALLY worry me are those that are NOT interchangeable...ie LHD US-specific parts, namely interior parts. The dash, clusters (in mph), door panels, center console and A/C panel, etc. I believe one of these was just recently discontinued for the '94s (A/C panel was it?) These are items I think it would be well worthwhile to keep a spare of, but prob is, even though I can't *stand* scratched or damaged interior pieces... who's gonna wanna drop the HUGE chunk of change to get spare door panels and a dash?!

That's my $0.02
~Ramy

 

No, I recently found out about the cermet.. Please share with me about this theory..

 

Mm...considering the number of posting you have, herblenny. I am surprised that you have not read that thread before.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ht=JHB+coating
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ht=JHB+coating
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ht=JHB+coating

 

You self bastard :P ..hehe..

 

You can use the RX-8 shaft with a little work. Not to mention I think it's cheaper and lighter!

 

Thanks for the link. I guess I need to start heading over the the tech section...


If you don't mind, share some info.. Also, how is your alternator relocation going??

 

I posted this pic on this thread.. regarding ceramic coating..

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?p=5486326

But I'll also post it here.. since we kind of got to talk about this coating process.



This is a close up pic of the poster I have of a rotor housing. As you could see, the inner side of the housing has the coating. Also, if you see where the coating meets the aluminum, the aluminum part is angle etched for better adhesion. I'm not sure if the Cermet JHB are doing have the same etching process. I'm sure when Mazda was coating this for 787 they were using this etching process.

In order to verify if JHB is doing this, someone needs to take a microscopic pics and verify this.

I just read thru the links (quickly) Someguy has posted. I personally can't say its worth it to coat it vs paying 300 more a a new housings.

Far as what I've heard in the past from top rotary guys is that Ianetti ceramic seals are good for track but not good for street use (Ianetti told me that when I asked this question). Also, someone from Jim Downing told me that Ceramic seals wear rotorhousings less than oem. I also thought 787 had Ianetti seals when it won the LeMans. But don't quote me on that...