Turbo my klze or buy a 3rd gen?
 

About my car

http://www.mx-3.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...c;f=2;t=008846

I am losing sleep over this because on one hand the mx-3 with a klze alone is a bad ass sleeper. I have killed a type r,rsx type s and a stock rx-8 by more than a car length with the swap alone and a major diet. I love smoking cars with my mx-3 because it is an mx-3 of course. Being the underdog is a lot more fun than being expected to be fast. The problem is that I want to start playing with the big boys! which means turboing my klze or do what every hardcore mazda lover does and this is to buy a 3rd gen.

I could get about 300whp with the turbo klze mx-3 reliably or 350+ whp with a mild turbo upgraded 3rd gen. now I am not asking which one would be faster cause we all know the answer to that one but having an mx-3 that has 300whp would be a blast and probably get more respect .

Wat do u all think?

Question:

Can you afford it?

Reason I ask is I see SO many people here buy FD's and beat the hell out of them.. Then they can't afford to fix or maintain them.. I'd hate to see "another" FD go down.. :)

Unless your Bill Gates nephew, it's probably not the right car for you, especially if your going to be using it for racing. Since the general age of the FD is over 10 years old lots of parts are wearing out. You would have to invest some serious thought into restoring the cars worn out parts first, and then maybe think about racing it. It's also a gas hog in comparison. So in other words your looking at some serious $$ to get involved. And unlike other cars where little tweaking is minor, things like that can be fatal to the car.

Well I think I can afford one but I will definately not beat on an rx-7. I used to have an FC and it was good to me as long as I was good to her. If I buy one and blow the motor right away then I would be in a little financial strain to get it back and running. At least mazda does well in supporting the rx7 and I think that mazda will never make another 7. Even though there are tons of rumors, I think it is not feasable for mazda to make another 2 seater sports car.

If I were to go ahead and get the 3rd gen then it would definately be a 94-95 r2 and
under 50000 miles. I think I would go with the efini sequential turbo set up with some porting.

What makes this such a hard decision is the fact that my mx-3 is flawless and I might miss the sound of the V6. I would love to have both but part of me is telling me to move on. :confused:

I'm not a big fan of the mx-3 but your's look preety good, about buying an RX7 if you think that you can afford if then go for it, it looks to me that you do know how to take care of your car...

Believe me if you get an FD, you will not miss your car. You'll be to busy fixing the FD to think about anything else (hehe). Or be like me use the FD as a weekend driver and drive the ford probe and 300z during the week.

I am not going to daily drive the rx7 but I might lease an rx8 for my dd and use my FD for cruizing and racing. I am interested in going full jdm on the 7 and making it look like a 2001 jdm 7.

Thanks guys for not trashing my mx-3, I know that most guys rice them out but they are some
guys like me out there that do the right thing.

I'd suggest waiting awhile or not making the change over at all.

Also, don't concern yourself with getting an R2 model. Just look for the car in the best condition. Efini turbos are the same as what is stock in the US.

I thought that the efinis were better and only came on the bathurst edition in japan. neways the reason I want the r2 is cause they don't have sunroofs and are the lightest version of the 3rd gen. :redface:

To go along with this, you can easily find base models without sunroofs. If you're going to be mostly using it on the street, there is nothing in the R models that will really aid you that couldn't be added easily. If you're tracking (As in road course, not drag...), you'll probably change out most of what the R models have to offer over other models.

wow I was unaware that they had a base model 3rd gen!!!! In canada, we only got the touring and the r versions. Thanks for the link ..........very informative.

Turbo your KLZE, youll be out of the ordinary. I really like MX-3's and MX-6's, they are like our little brothers almost. If you really want an FD, you cant go wrong unless you have the funds to keep it running. The FD isnt as unreliable as most people put it to be, but it is unreliable SOMETIMES. Id just turbo the KLZE, and be a sleeper ;) Just my .02

ALI

BTW - Efini turbos are not the same as stock US models. Efini turbos are rated at 280HP where the US stock turbos are rated at 255HP. They're better flowing than the turbos installed on the US models.

I have also heard they can handled more boost with greater reliability that stock US turbos.

Personally, if I was making the kind of power you're talking about, I'd hate to have it going to the front wheels. That would make for a real tire-smoking handful to drive. Losing traction is fun at first, but gets old REAL quick when you're not going anywhere and the other car is :).

The biggest thing to consider with an FD is cost of maintenance and upkeep. It's not a cheap car - used parts aren't in plentiful supply, new parts are typically pricier than on other cars, etc. I've known a LOT of FD guys that had one, but had NO money left over to fix and upgrade the car. So, they end up being the guy driving the FD around with clearcoat falling off the car, one primer grey headlight cover, torn up seats, and a big fuel smell every time you pop the hood. That's just uncool.

On the turbos - the later Japanese turbos were upgraded from the American counterparts. Different wheel designs for higher efficiency and abradable seals around the compressor wheel. The abradable seals were basically a sprayed plastic surface in the compressor housing that the compressor wheel, when first spun, machines out to a VERY tight fit which ups the efficiency of the compressor, since less air is lost around the blade. Dunno exactly how much more horsepower or spoolup they're good for, though - it's some, but not a crazy insaneo amount. One of those things that are more worth doing when the stock turbos die out on you and you need to fix it.

Dale

Hmm, I haven't paid any attention to what other people are saying.

I say TURBO THE MX3. Your car is very nice and mostly stock "looking". TOTAL sleeper. You've done a very good job. No rice at all. Turbo your MX3 and go FD hunting :D

280PS models came out in 1999. RX-7's were no longer badged as Efini after 1998.

turbo the mx-3 w/ a jspec 2.5? i forget the engine name/code... The swap if needed is like 1500.oo get the turbo and make a kit and your pocket will be a hell of a lot happier!!!!
found this for you "well i dynod the gtr with 13 psi and a little more tuning with the haltech and i was quite suprised. well with out the fmic i made 202 and 194. and with the fmic i made 220whp and 211wtq. quite suprised. anyways when i get back ill be trying a few more things like a 3 inch downpipe and a 3 inch exhaust. then hit bout 15-16 psi and be at about 265-275 hp and tq. well im out and thats what she makes." and this.. an I4 kit " http://www.racingmazda.com turbo kit. 318 WHP @ 15 psi 301 trq.12.1 @ 117 mph."

that should do it...

The J-spec 2.5 is the KLZE....... Which I have already. :D There are no turbo kits available for the engine so everything will have to be custom. The klze's compression is 10:1 so it can only be boosted at 7-9psi. This will put me at or around the 300 whp mark with a standalone and fmic. It will not be cheap but when I do things like this then it will be done right . That is why I face this cost/benefit debate that tells me that $5000 more in my car is a lot to put into an mx-3.

Unfortunately the mx-3 was built on its own chassis and were only produced from 1992-96 and Mazda hasn't gone out of it's way to support parts for these cars. I really think that Mazda must have thought about using the klze in mx-3's but they didn't because it might have hurt mx6 and possibly rx7 sales quotas.

This decision is getting harder and harder. :(

where can I find a blown 3rd gen for cheap?

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-rx-7-1993-2002-vehicles-107/

Even an FD with a blown engine won't be cheap in the rest is in good condition.