Well,I knew this day would come,but I didn't know it would come so soon..I bought my FD a month ago for $8,000..It needed 'some work',and it was an automatic,but it had some expensive exterior upgrades and I fell in love with the car..Then after a few trips to Pettit Racing,I put about $4,000 into it for maintenance and other repairs..My car has been dying on me a lot recently so I had it towed back to Pettit..Fortunately I live 20 miles away..I come to find out today that my motor is basically shot..Cam from Pettit said that everytime the car warms up,the seals are failing and it's dying..So he is charging me $5,000 for a rebuilt motor..Unfortunately,my financial situation isn't the greatest..I guess that's why people don't usually recommend an 18 year old getting an FD..So what do I do?Do I sell the car as a roller and take a big loss on the car?Do I do the rebuild?Or do I consider the "forbidden" LS1 swap?I really need help...

 

Well a ls1 swap isn't going to be much cheaper, and I guess that you don't want to take a huge loss so that only leaves one option......rebuid or find another motor.

 

$5000 for a rebuild?? better be a quality *** rebuild with a helluva warranty.

Do some research if you are on a budget.

RotaryResurrection.com

 

Pettit does great work, but you definitely have to pay for it. Having said that, with your given circumstances, I would suggest you take your car home. Round up some local help, order a Mazda reman and pay your local help in the form of pizza to swap out your blown/damaged engine.

The money difference between a Pettit built engine verses a Mazda reman will allow you to get other things taken care of like cleaning and flow balancing your injectors.

If you decide to let Pettit do the work, you are stuck with the car for good or for bad for the next few years as there is no way you'll get that money back out of the car.

 

I learned the mistakes of getting rid of my FD when i had maintaince problems; so i'd advise you to do whatever you can to keep the car...even if it means not registering it and keeping it in storage until you get enough funds to fix it.

Best of luck!

 

the ls1 is better than that stupid slow *** rotary..

 

Well,let's pretend that hypothetically,I have $5,000 to fix the car if I need it..What would be the best direction to go in?I'd be extremely thankful if I knew some people that could help me out locally so that I don't have to spend all the money to have Pettit doing,but unfortunately I don't really know many people around my area that could do it. (South Florida)

 

the ls1 swap is at least 10000 to do it right

 

$5k for a rebuild, R&R is not a rip-off.

An LS-1 swap? You are looking at $10k to do it correctly if you can't do all the work yourself.

If you can't afford Pettit, then get a reman, get some FD guys over and R&R yourself, as Mahjik suggested. Otherwise store the car for now, as others have suggested.

And next time a teenager starts a "can I afford this car" thread, please post your story.

 

ahh.. im 17 and did the ls1

 

you could just pick up a used working motor from ebaymotors or here on the forum for around 2200, than you just have to drop the motor in. Just make sure you get them compression checked before you buy it. That will be the cheapest and most affordable way.I aim 18 and paid for my fd with cash at 16 and havent had any problems keeping up with it, i only get into trouble when i pay for more aftermarket parts than i can afford, maintenance wise i havent had any problems i couldnt afford to fix.

 

Great? You want a cookie?

Authentikdit,

There are many RX-7 owners in Florida. They don't have to be 3rd Gen owners just to help. Many 1st and 2nd Gen guys have a lot more knowledge about these cars than a lot of the 3rd Gen owners, so don't discount them.

I would suggest posting a message in the South East forum:

https://www.rx7club.com/se-rx-7-forum-35/

Say you have a motor that needs to come out and see if anyone is interested in helping. I'm sure you will be more than enough bites to get the work done (as well as learn a lot more about your car in the process).

 

5K for a regular rebuild is high IMO. Especially since you can reuse most of your old parts (coolant seal failure, not apex seal). Now if your inrtent was high HP application then pettit price and experience is warranted.

the LS1 swap is going to cost more than 5k that is a given. So that's out of the question. Like others have said contact rotary resurection or Ray Crowe and get an engine from either one of them and have pettit install it for you. $1500 is a good price to charge for just "removing an engine and installing another".

 

Not to be neagtive but it's a automatic.....

You can trim alot off that estimate, find some local help and pull the motor yourself. I would go the distance and get a new wire harness .

But LS1 Fd's are nice but thats some big money, and are you read for a car with that much power? Just a well tuned stock FD will ripp your ears off if driven correct.

But dont sell it if you can. Buy a cheap Honda for daily transport

 

May as well spend the extra few hundred to get a Mazda reman which at least has a warranty for a little while.

 

what a genius...

I don't believed you did a FD LS1 swap...show us your work.

 

I'm just curious, how much is your insurance a month. I remember mine being pretty high, when i was 20. i feel your pain. 8,000 is a good deal on a Rx7, so you are already ahead, if not paid off or atleast a small car payment, but i know car payment, car insurance, and constant expensive shop bills,will make you in debt. Not to many people can work on these cars, doesn't give you to many options. good luck Rotary power with a single turbo will smoke a Ls1.

 

That's with R&R. He's probably getting charged about $3000 for the engine and the rest is parts & labor. I don't believe Pettit does standard rebuilds anymore. I believe all of their engines are ported in some why (whether it's mild, large or race ports).

 

Okay well I appreciate all the responses..Evidently I won't be going LS1 now knowing that it will be much more expensive,and my rx-7 will continue to be my DD,I don't have the money or the driveway space for another car,and I love DDing it anyway,so I will still continue to..I'm just wondering if I spend $2500 on a Mazda Reman,and then probably have to pay some locals around here to help me out,that might even put me close to $5,000,in which case I would just rather have Pettit take care of it for me..Unless having some locals help me out is going to be a lot cheaper?

 

X2

 

that $5000 is probably for labor of pulling and installing the motor too. As well, Petit does build good motors and do good work...

However I'm skeptical of a stalling car = blown motor...sounds like a tranny problem.

In fact, didn't someone JUST go through this for like a year and a half, had his FD in and out of a bunch of different shops who replaces everything BUT the tranny? and it was the tranny.

 

look at the long run...let's said you spend $5000.00 to have the FD running again.

$8K + $4K + $5K = $17K

if the car last 2-3 yrs trouble free then you might broke even on ROI...but if something major happen like transmission, 3rd member, etc...you soon will be out at least $20K.

Sell the car...there will be a nicer FD down the road for you to buy.

 

If you have to "pay" locals to help you, then yes just leave it at Pettit.

However, the rotary community is generally pretty good in most areas. Buying a few pizzas and some sodas is generally more than enough. I think you could probably get it done with "some help" for around $3500. That will include doing things like getting your injectors cleaned and replacing the parts that you should when putting in a new motor.

 

Sell it before you end up being in debt up to your eyeballs!! You are out 12k and now you want to throw another 5k into a 12 year old car with an auto trans. The 5k quote is reasonable <IMHO> This will not end at that point as these cars require constant care and feeding. Do not get me wrong I truly love my fd. It is far more cost effective to buy one that is working than to pay the price to make it work.

 

that's not so bad then.