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The journey started back in November '22 when I saw an FD on Facebook Marketplace with what seemed like a promising list of hardware. In November, I booked a ticket, flew out, and checked it out.
Problem #1 - Get to the car, it super dirty, stored outside for who knows how long with a wash. Try to start it, dies after 2 minutes of running. Spend 3 hours at the seller's house to help him diagnose it to find out the coils have gone bad.
Kept in touch with the seller to see when I could come down to actually drive it. In December '22, I fly down again to try to work out a deal but can't agree on a price. Finally in the late part of January '23, work out a deal, and get it shipped in order to receive delivery on 1/22/23.
Can't really drive it since the tune is so off, need to go over all aspects before being able to enjoy it.
Update:
I don't know if people actually care since I've owned many sports cars I've built but never had a thread... but here goes lol.
The first time I fell in love with the RX-7 was when I was in elementary school when a good friend of mine's brother had an FD and did a burnout in front of his house. I was hooked! Since then, I've owned over 7 DSMs (both 1gs and 2gs front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, all manual turbos), a C6 corvette, and 2 EVO 8s. All the while, I never thought I'd actually own a rotary FD as they were either too expensive or the idea of owning an "unreliable rotary" was daunting. How ironic, DSMs are likely way more temperamental than rotaries, it seems (knock on wood).
Funny story - first time I sat in a rotary FD was in high school, the owner wouldn't let me drive it nor did he go above 10 mph in the parking lot.
Second time - was this car; couldn't get it to stay started long enough to reverse it and drive it
Third time - was when I found one in Orlando but by the time I got there (2 hours after talking to him and driving an hour), the owner refused to sell it and wouldn't let me drive it
Fourth and Fifth time - went to go look at 2 cars locally but both refused to let me drive it even though I told them on the phone I needed to in order to buy it
Finally drove this one as soon as it was pulled off the trailer... I wasn't going to let this curse linger!
Last edited by Phyzy; Jan 24, 2023 at 02:42 PM.
Reason: Added contextual background
Finally got around to checking some items off my list. The car was so filthy, I couldn't even get myself to work on it before spending a couple hours scrubbing the algae and mold off. Even removed tail lights to really get into all crevices the best I could.
I didn't think to take before and after, but here is the "cleanest" part of the car before I got done cleaning it.
Some sample after pics:
Oil reeked of fuel, car is running super rich, changed out the oil filter and oil with VR1 20w-50
Pulled the plugs and they were ridiculously fouled. Hoping the new plugs I put in don't get trashed before getting it tuned properly.
Fuel filter job was "fun" lol. My neck and back are not happy, but thankfully got it done.
Dropped the car off at Rotary Performance in Garland, hoping they can get it running right, haven't even boosted it yet!! On the way, the cracked lens cover flew off .
Finally got the car back from RP and boy was it worth it. Although the bill was more than I expected and it had to go up a bit from the original estimate, Chris knows what he's doing and you can tell is passionate. The money and time I had to wait was 100% worth it as soon as I drove out of his lot I knew I made the right decision.
Summary of work RP had to take care of to get it working as expected
-Brand new injectors and secondary rail installed
-Rats nest ACTUALLY taken care of this time with all new extra thick silicone hoses, check valves, and replaced solenoids
-Twin turbo ACTUALLY working sequentially
-Tuned
-All coolant leaks addressed
-OMP lines replaced since previous hackjob was bubbled and leaking
-Fans working to cool now instead of running all the time
-Power FC wired in correctly with EBC working at 11psi
While I was driving to RP, driver's side headlight cover flew off lol:
Weight reduction?
While waiting for the car to be ready at RP, decided to buy an HKS SSQV and have it ready to install. Actually shipped it from Japan with the FD install kit... which does not work as expected perhaps due to my Greddy piping even though the picture and instructions are phenomenal and show it should, I had to rig it a bit to get it to fit right.
Also decided to swap out the headlights since the small projector lenses looked so odd to me but I couldn't afford the popup headlights. For some reason, the high beams were working fine on my drive home from RP but no longer work, need to figure that out. Replaced the relay on one of the circuits since it was blown.
Finally last thing I noticed was none of the bumper turns were working, harnesses were unplugged for some reason? Plugged them back in and now the turn signals work (yaay!) but the inner fog lights (?) aren't working. While getting those to work, noticed the mount was snapped, glued it together.
List of stuff to do still:
-HVAC control working (stays on luke warm regardless of what the temp dial is set to, maybe blend door?)
-Inner lights on bumper lights
-High beams working
Curious why they decided to replace the injectors rather than clean them. I'll be tearing mine down soon and having them cleaned professionally but at what point should you replace them with new ones?
Car is looking great. Can't beat a properly running sequential setup.
Curious why they decided to replace the injectors rather than clean them. I'll be tearing mine down soon and having them cleaned professionally but at what point should you replace them with new ones?
Car is looking great. Can't beat a properly running sequential setup.
@boostin13b
They were done at a shop. Many shops don't want to sit on a car for a few weeks while the injectors are shipped out (1 week), cleaned (another week) and shipped back (third week). New injectors can be installed today and the work is finished.
You and I working in our garages and have time to wait - usually.
Haven't updated this thread in such a long time! Sad to say I haven't really been driving the car either! Work started kicking my butt, and then the Texas heat really makes you take detours around the garage. Even though progress has been slow, there has been some!
1. My cluster odometer was crystallized over, although it wasn't prior to my car being taken to the local shop near the seller in Florida. In any case, I sent it out to have repaired... but with all things FD... anytime you touch the plastics, they have a teenager-level meltdown on you. I ended up cracking my coveted textured cluster hood...uggh.
Ended up buying a brand new smooth textured one. I wonder if someone repairs these?
2. Noticed the radiator bracket was rubbing and cutting a groove in my piping, so easy fix to bend that Before After
(hopefully no boost leaks in the near future!)
3. Replaced all pillowball bushings with JAuto bushings and new seals (no pics!)
This has reduced the clunk down to virtually nothing, but still a bit left. Need to figure out if its my 20+ year old Ohlins or perhaps end links. Ohlins has already confirmed they will not rebuild this model since it's too old .
4. While I was doing the cluster hood, I decided I did not like the triple gauge look and removed that, replaced with a brand new piece as well as cleaned up all the rats nest of wiring behind the dash for the gauges. Fixed the e-brake which wouldn't even work in fully up position. And finally what kind of a ricer would I be if I didn't swap over the bulbs with LEDs?? Smells like the 90s! New hood
I must say the green LEDs in the turn signals are a bit much, they blind you every time you turn them on lol.
Didn't even realize its been 6 months since I updated! Quite a bit of progress has been made, started with trying to get the car more functional, then suspension improvements and finally cosmetic. Here we go...
Started by putting in hood struts since the car didn't come with a hood strut bar, I figured why not upgrade from stock for a little more convenience. Folds up nice along the fenders and has some nice feel when putting down or opening. Once I eventually get a carbon fiber hood, I hear these struts are too strong, but we'll see at that point.
Moved onto replacing all the pillowball bushings with the JA bushings, finally most of the clunking noise reduced by about 90%, but still there was a little, which took me some time and money to get rid of .
Next was to tackle the slop in the rear and front strut bar links. I knew I was going to eventually upgrade the coilovers and so this was a "might as well".
Ever since I've had the car, I've been putting it on a battery tender and I was advised by a seasoned 90s cars owner the hood cable may snap at any moment. To reduce the wear, got a harness I plug the tender into now and tucks away easily behind the bumper. This was the cheapest mod at $11.
Since I started driving the car around much more (relatively speaking of course), the drone started to get to me. Bought a Vibrant resonator to reduce cabin noise. I'll say it helped by maybe 70%, but right around cruising speeds, it gets bad. Waiting for 1320 to get their 3" resonator back in stock (been waiting since December). Hopefully end of April '24 they said it should be in stock.
Before resonator
After resonator. I'll say first time going to this shop, hes a 90s car fan and so good conversation was had.
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