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Who else here has a 'dead' FD?

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Old Jul 24, 2004 | 11:14 PM
  #1  
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Who else here has a 'dead' FD?

I was out puttering around my garage today, looking at my blown-engined FD...wondering when I will get it going again.
In the 4 years I've owned the car, it has really become part of....me. Sort of an extension of part of my personality, if you will. And now that it is going on 7 months without being able to drive it, I find that the sense of loss is getting greater every day. I really need to just yank the damned engine, send it off and get the thing going again. But there are SO many other demands on my time right now, it is close to impossible to do so. I've contemplated sending the whole car off somewhere and letting someone else do it, but there are few if any shops that want to take on a half-disassembled car and return it in operating condition.

It really sucks to have a 3rd gen just sitting dead. My other cars are fun and serve their purpose well, but as you fellow owners know, there are few cars that instill such a sense of wonder and joy as the FD.

Yeah....I'm feeling depressed about the whole thing. Crying in my Crown, as it were.

Anyone else?
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Old Jul 24, 2004 | 11:20 PM
  #2  
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Originally Posted by bajaman
I was out puttering around my garage today, looking at my blown-engined FD...wondering when I will get it going again.
In the 4 years I've owned the car, it has really become part of....me. Sort of an extension of part of my personality, if you will. And now that it is going on 7 months without being able to drive it, I find that the sense of loss is getting greater every day. I really need to just yank the damned engine, send it off and get the thing going again. But there are SO many other demands on my time right now, it is close to impossible to do so. I've contemplated sending the whole car off somewhere and letting someone else do it, but there are few if any shops that want to take on a half-disassembled car and return it in operating condition.

It really sucks to have a 3rd gen just sitting dead. My other cars are fun and serve their purpose well, but as you fellow owners know, there are few cars that instill such a sense of wonder and joy as the FD.

Yeah....I'm feeling depressed about the whole thing. Crying in my Crown, as it were.

Anyone else?

Well, my car was out of commission for 6 mos last year ever since I bought mine almost 10 years ago. I can sympathize with you.

You can always sign up to drive trucks in Iraq, get paid $120,000 a year at only 15% tax, hell with that pay, you can buy a few mint RX7s.
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Old Jul 24, 2004 | 11:23 PM
  #3  
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Dead. Better that way. At least no more jealous ******** can spit on it or put candy bars on the hood.
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 08:42 AM
  #4  
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Yup Im in the same boat, car has been down for 3-4 months now , feels like forever. New motor is in and mounted , just waiting on driveshaft , cooling , intake and a few other bits and pieces . I predict another 2-3 months and Ill have her back on the road killin mustangs n vettes
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 08:44 AM
  #5  
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From: AL
Mine is just a pile of parts. I just had a dream about driving the damn thing (I posted a thread). I think we should have a support group where otherwise strong grown men can whine and cry on each other's shoulders about having a broken FD.

My advice is not to let someone else do it. You're better off taking the time and doing it yourself, and knowing that it's done right, and having the satisfaction (and bragging rights).

Mine is taking forever, and even though there are things I need that are budget issues, there's still stuff I can be doing that I'm not because I get discouraged at how disassembled the thing is right now. It just takes occasional motivation to tell everyone else to **** off or help me because I'm going to work on my car, dammit.
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 11:49 AM
  #6  
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Dead

DEAD... I'm going to tackle the build myself
I'll let you know how that works
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 12:02 PM
  #7  
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From: Hawaii
why dont you rebuild it yourself (or attempt to)? if you say you dont know how, just buy the rotary aviation video which showed exactly how to do it step by step. if you need new apex seals, its like $182/set (+ $5.00 shipping US/Canada) includes 6 apex seals and 12 springs - for 2 rotor engines from rotary aviation. if you need new water/oil seals, just buy them for like 20 bucks each from mazdatrix or something like that or just go all out and get an entire kit which comes with everything for about 500 bucks (that is not really that much for a rebuild kit). if your too scared to do that, why not just buy a reman and stick it in? unless your flat out broke or do not have a paying job (i know some of dont which makes it super hard on you, hell i start my first paying job tomorrow ) you should beable to afford it. most of the investment your probally gonna have to devote to is putting the time and effort in to actually getting off your *** to finish it. most say it takes 5 hours to pull the engine, 45 mins to put it back together after you have it apart and have speced all the parts and another 2-10 hours to get it back in. if you think about it, most of us spend more time watching tv each week

in anycase, good luck with your cars, hopefully they run again soon
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 12:31 PM
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Mine was never born does that count?
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 12:43 PM
  #9  
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It has been a year and a half for me. Kinda tough. But, I have a new motor and transmission. I just need to put it all in the car.
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 12:55 PM
  #10  
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From: alberta canada/soon to be cape coral FL:D
mines been dead since nov
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 01:05 PM
  #11  
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Join the club man. In the 4 1/2 years I've owned my FD, I've driven it 6 months. I'm on my 2nd rebuild now. That's the 5th rebuild for the car. I guess the FD is not prejudice to whom it quits on. My friend calls my FD the "black hole for money", meaning it just sucks up money like a vacuum cleaner and last for eternity. I'll be getting it back from the body shop in about a month. I currently live in Clovis, NM but my car is in San Antonio, TX so I have to take a bus ride down there and rent a U-haul truck and trailer and tow it back. It sucks but I wouldn't trade the car, I love it.
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 01:12 PM
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Originally Posted by Crazy_Jake
Join the club man. In the 4 1/2 years I've owned my FD, I've driven it 6 months. I'm on my 2nd rebuild now. That's the 5th rebuild for the car. I guess the FD is not prejudice to whom it quits on. My friend calls my FD the "black hole for money", meaning it just sucks up money like a vacuum cleaner and last for eternity. I'll be getting it back from the body shop in about a month. I currently live in Clovis, NM but my car is in San Antonio, TX so I have to take a bus ride down there and rent a U-haul truck and trailer and tow it back. It sucks but I wouldn't trade the car, I love it.
Is it at Alamo Rotary?
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 02:14 PM
  #13  
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mine has no motor getting ready for painting now thinking of selling it, because im moving to florida, and it only has 54k on it i will miss it, but i will be getting another one soon
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 02:33 PM
  #14  
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mine's been siitting for almost a month now. I wouldn't call it dead tho. I just pulled the motor and tranny for fun I'll put them back in this weekend tho and I CANNOT WAIT!
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 03:17 PM
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Any of yall thinking of giving up on the project, shoot me a PM.....I'm trying to find a blown FD to work on. Anyone have any idea of the going rate for a blown FD in decent shape?
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 05:35 PM
  #16  
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Originally Posted by T2 Tsunami
Any of yall thinking of giving up on the project, shoot me a PM.....I'm trying to find a blown FD to work on. Anyone have any idea of the going rate for a blown FD in decent shape?

You know, I was at the point one time of just saying **** it and selling my car for whatever I could get. I had some tentative offers of $5K - $6K....not near enough moola to really even consider selling, but that IS what the going rate for blown-engined '93s, pretty much. You can add a few thousand TOPS for the later model years, at any rate I doubt you'd ever get more than $10K for even a low mileage '95 if it had a blown engine.

No, the way I see it is even if it takes another year or even more to get it going, it will be worth it. And every day I DON'T drive it, is keeping miles off of it...lol!
I had a friend with a '64 XKE that took 11 years to rebuild it. It was kind of cool, his son was pretty much an infant when he garaged the Jag, and was a big part of the final rebuild/repaint/restoration in the end.
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 08:46 PM
  #17  
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I too have blown mine. its been at mom and dads house for about 5-6 months now. they are so kind in letting me leave it there. Cant wait till i get my last few bills paid off and caught up. it will be on the road again...i hope
kris
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 09:00 PM
  #18  
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Mine is running wonderfully. *knocks on wood*
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 09:19 PM
  #19  
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It will be 2 yrs this november, a failed business attempt has forced me to keep it off the road not to mention my focus is going now too lol i hate cars but i love them
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Old Jul 25, 2004 | 10:22 PM
  #20  
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I bought mine mine right after the engine caught fire for 5K. I've had it for over two years, spent quite a bit of money on it, learned not to go to the Mazda dealer, and finally decided to just pay to have it repaired at a rotory shop in the tacoma area. I've heard stories back and forth about the wonders of that car, I love it, I've never driven it. My friend had it for a while, he was working on it and he got it running. He drove it around the block and then it quit on him. That ticked me off. I've had people challenge me, stop to look at it, offer to buy it, trade for it, a little bit of everything but that's my baby and I'm going to get it running. Sooner or later but I am, hopefully sooner. One more reason to love this car is the lack of them especially in my area. That is one of two. I still love it.
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Old Jul 26, 2004 | 03:14 AM
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Mines off the road too, its been 2 1/2 months now.
I miss driving it so much, it just sits there waiting for the new set up.

It will all be for the best.
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Old Jul 26, 2004 | 05:23 AM
  #22  
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Man some sad stories in here
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Old Jul 26, 2004 | 06:58 AM
  #23  
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Mine just died, well its not DEAD per say, but it has a coolant leak that I cant find so its going to have to go down for a bit.
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Old Jul 26, 2004 | 07:09 PM
  #24  
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I think mines "went into hibernation" I'm going to say apex seals but, I have to double check. Its my dream car, dreams don't die.

Holla
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Old Jul 26, 2004 | 08:02 PM
  #25  
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Mine is dead. I bought it dead, brought it back to life for about a week, it had low compression on one rotor), and now it is dead again. Only because i will be reviving it with all new organs, and a new heart.
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