what's the highest mileage ever obtained on a single FD motor?
Originally Posted by GoodfellaFD3S
Ramy, you rat bastard! Hehe. Actually, there is some good drama on the first page, with Batman's many motors and DK shooting down his buddy, so resurrecting this bad boy is ok with me 
.
Here's my contribution: Chris at RP recently told me of an FD that came into their shop for a motor build. Female driven, 166k on the first motor. He also told me of an 86 n/a rx-7 with *444k* on the original engine. Crazy.
.Here's my contribution: Chris at RP recently told me of an FD that came into their shop for a motor build. Female driven, 166k on the first motor. He also told me of an 86 n/a rx-7 with *444k* on the original engine. Crazy.
166K?? That may very well be the highest so far! W/ the guy Gil knows being right behind him! That's awesome...
Originally Posted by su_maverick
hey ramy, you thinking about seeing how much more you can get out of yours?
So the short answer Neal is no, I'm just curious who holds the record
I had 111K on my (and numerous track days on it) before I lost an apex seal on it (although it was eating alot of oil and was burning some coolant right before that).
It lived a glorious life before replacement ;-)
It lived a glorious life before replacement ;-)
I know, youre sorry...
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
From: Sacramento
Well I had a 17k original mile engine blow up on me. By original i mean, thats how many miles the stock engine and chasis had on it. Then my friend and I put a downpipe/exhaust/intake and hks fcd before we knew not to. This was before I found that there was a problem with too many mods with a stock ecu. Now i have 3000 miles on my new motor with 20k on the chasis.
145K and still going strong when I decided to have my '93 FD rebuilt in Aug '04 (due to white smoke blowing out the exhaust during the first few minutes or so during startup each morning). Was more embarrassing for me than anything performance-related actually.
Chris Ott at RP-Garland did all the work for me. Chris even remarked how unique it was that I was able to get so much mileage out of the car. But nobody ever told me what actually caused the white smoke problem. I'm still curious to this day. Was it a turbo seal...or apex seal...or still some other seal??? Btw, that lady's 166K+ FD was at the shop at the same time mine was if I recall correctly.
Note: I also had a first gen RX-7 with 100K+ miles on it, too. Never understood the fuss about blown rotary engines. But I guess I've been quite lucky. That, and most of my mileage has typically been of the highway variety.
Chris Ott at RP-Garland did all the work for me. Chris even remarked how unique it was that I was able to get so much mileage out of the car. But nobody ever told me what actually caused the white smoke problem. I'm still curious to this day. Was it a turbo seal...or apex seal...or still some other seal??? Btw, that lady's 166K+ FD was at the shop at the same time mine was if I recall correctly.
Note: I also had a first gen RX-7 with 100K+ miles on it, too. Never understood the fuss about blown rotary engines. But I guess I've been quite lucky. That, and most of my mileage has typically been of the highway variety.
Originally Posted by Topolino
145K and still going strong when I decided to have my '93 FD rebuilt in Aug '04 (due to white smoke blowing out the exhaust during the first few minutes or so during startup each morning). Was more embarrassing for me than anything performance-related actually.
Chris Ott at RP-Garland did all the work for me. Chris even remarked how unique it was that I was able to get so much mileage out of the car. But nobody ever told me what actually caused the white smoke problem. I'm still curious to this day. Was it a turbo seal...or apex seal...or still some other seal??? Btw, that lady's 166K+ FD was at the shop at the same time mine was if I recall correctly.
Note: I also had a first gen RX-7 with 100K+ miles on it, too. Never understood the fuss about blown rotary engines. But I guess I've been quite lucky. That, and most of my mileage has typically been of the highway variety.
Chris Ott at RP-Garland did all the work for me. Chris even remarked how unique it was that I was able to get so much mileage out of the car. But nobody ever told me what actually caused the white smoke problem. I'm still curious to this day. Was it a turbo seal...or apex seal...or still some other seal??? Btw, that lady's 166K+ FD was at the shop at the same time mine was if I recall correctly.
Note: I also had a first gen RX-7 with 100K+ miles on it, too. Never understood the fuss about blown rotary engines. But I guess I've been quite lucky. That, and most of my mileage has typically been of the highway variety.
my '82 with a 12a in it had it's original motor replaced around 172k. high mileage n/a rotaries aren't unheard of. it's when you boost them that they loose durability (relatively)
BACK FROM THE DEAD!
Originally Posted by Topolino
145K and still going strong when I decided to have my '93 FD rebuilt in Aug '04 (due to white smoke blowing out the exhaust during the first few minutes or so during startup each morning). Was more embarrassing for me than anything performance-related actually.
Note: I also had a first gen RX-7 with 100K+ miles on it, too. Never understood the fuss about blown rotary engines. But I guess I've been quite lucky. That, and most of my mileage has typically been of the highway variety.
It's the boost and heat associated with strapping those turbos on that cause lower reliability. The n/a rotarys don't really have any durability problems.
Dave
I looked at one (a 95), it was the original owner with 162K, he worked at a mazda dealer, and when he purchased it, and it had several mazda comp parts, (radiator, y pipe, maybee intercooler and others), he had replaced all the vaccum hoses with silicone early on, and he knew how to work on it and maintained religously.
Its not uncommon to see NA 1st and 2nd gen's go over 200K, the T2 also comonly go past 150, its the complexty of the FD turbo system, and the design and nature of its engine controll that makes makes reliability suffer so much.
Its not uncommon to see NA 1st and 2nd gen's go over 200K, the T2 also comonly go past 150, its the complexty of the FD turbo system, and the design and nature of its engine controll that makes makes reliability suffer so much.
reliable performance
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 383
Likes: 1
From: MA, USA
What I'm picking up from this thread is that there is no reason an FD engine has to die at 60,000 miles. I'd like to see more info on exactly how these engines which went considerably past 100k did it, but I don't think it was a matter of blind luck. It appears good maintenance and a low level of reasonable modifications are the key.
toeachisown
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 223
Likes: 0
From: glen burnie, md
It seems as though most of these motors that last this long are original, for the most part. i never knew they could possibly last that long, period... i hope mine goes that far.
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: Seattle
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 31,837
Likes: 3,234
From: https://www2.mazda.com/en/100th/
What I'm picking up from this thread is that there is no reason an FD engine has to die at 60,000 miles. I'd like to see more info on exactly how these engines which went considerably past 100k did it, but I don't think it was a matter of blind luck. It appears good maintenance and a low level of reasonable modifications are the key.
the car was sold around 120k, and the next owner went single, aftermarket ecu, and then burned it to the ground...
I love a good thread resurrection. I wonder where all those fellas are now, the ones back in 01,02,03,04 etc. Lots of names I don't recognize. In fact, j9fd3s is one of the few I do recognize.
Only 43k on mine. I had 125k on my 1980 GS but that is not uncommon.
Only 43k on mine. I had 125k on my 1980 GS but that is not uncommon.