stripling

I got my FD new in '95... I was 7 years old j/k --- I'm old as hell So, now I'm thinking... Save it or junk it? Tell me what you think and I'll email you a pizza roll. Here's the skinny:

Attachment 529116

I've gone through a few engines and bla bla bla ... SOS ... and for some reason I can't junk it! Back in 2004 or 2005 I got hit in the quarter panel... hit and run, btw ... hope he burns in hell...

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After that I cried like a baby and just drove it around for a few years like that. Mexicans stopped me once or twice a month offering to "fix it". Well, the entire thing, actually, 'cause before I got hit-and-run in the quarter panel I got hit in the door as well... as you can see here:

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Now, this is AFTER I gave a Mexican guy $200 who SWORE he could fix it good-as-new. Well, he took most of the money and did the crappy job you see there. Next thing you know he didn't answer his phone and his "I speak no English" old-lady said he was in Arizona running from ICE or something. Awesome. Lesson learned. Stop being such a cheap SOB ... got it

After that, in 2007 or 2008, I started thinking of getting carbon fiber doors and modify the fender and bring it out and stick 12" wheels on the back. Ya know, stupid dreams that never amount to anything when you're broke. I heard carbon door rattle and don't fit right and are a nightmare and they were expensive anywayzzzz so I just forgot about it.

Time went buy and once the engine finally blew in... sheeze, I guess it was 2008? It was before Obama got elected, so yeah... summer 2008... I just covered it up and let it sit there for years in my condo complex. It was towed twice for expired registration so I got smart and put the front plates of my SUV on the back of my FD and just stuck a new sticker on it and it never got towed again. Cause, ya know, I'm cheap! Truth is, I bought a motorcycle and I've got an Infiniti SUV and another convertible sports car so I just ignored it... for... years!

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Time passed, grey hairs started in, my business started to take-off and I moved into a nice house... I stuck a cheap-*** tow-bar on the FD, bolted it down and towed it to my new place.

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Now it sits in the front on my house. My girlfriend doesn't care what I do with it. To her it's worthless. She says it's "kind of cute" but really she doesn't care if I fix it up or not. She does, however, think it's not worth my time to do so. She's right... it's true... but I actually kind of enjoy doing it! But, seriously ... do I have the time anymore?

So, I found a guy in Vegas! Great guy, too! A shop on the West side off Tropicana ... the only decent rotary guy in this town... his place is called "Rotary Evolution" and I went in there the other day with my girl. She did NOT dig it... no Prada, no Dior, no Cattier - NO INTEREST! Ya see, about 5 years ago I found some guy on this site and bought a short-ish block from him. My original FD engine I took out to get fixed and it got stolen so I had to buy this one. He's from OK and sold me this newly rebuilt (by rx7.com) engine. It's got 3mm apexes and street ported with the rx7.com or "rotary performance" or whatever the hell they call themselves, and the "RP" fuel-rails. I think it's got 850 primaries and 1600 secondaries? I dunno. It's sitting loosely in my car, under the hood, for 5 years now! NOT kidding!

Back in 2004 or 2005 I (stupidly) stuck a front mount on it... Greddy... whatever. I was young and dumb and didn't understand the issues. Wish I'd have gone with the Petit FMIC but whatever. Now, it did make a lot more room in my engine bay but sheeze...

Anyway, I got a new efini turbo and I'm thinking of sticking it on the engine. I know, I know, the FM IC will screw up the lag and all that... but I can't go with that "big turbo" crap 'cause I HATE HATE HATE zero torque! HATE it! That's what I get for driving a Hayabusa around for all these years... Anyway, here's what I'm thinking:

Yeah, I've had a Power FC forever with a datologit ... whatever ... and I'm thinking of sticking in the 3mm, ceramic sealed, RP engine and fitting it with the sync-turbo and setting up the Power FC correctly all with my brand-new wiring harness (expensive... this damn car is such a money pit and I'm struggling to understand the psychology as to why I don't just junk it) and ADD NITRO! A dry shot! Maybe 75 HP shot ... the injector rail with the stock turbo and 13 pounds of boost should easy handle it!

And before you tell me I'll never get it DEQ'd ... he's the AWESOME news! The state of Nevada will let me license this thing as a "hot rod" and require NOT DEQ! I can't drive it more than 2500 miles a year ... which I'd never do! Sheeze! I've had it since 1995 and it's got less than 70,000 miles on it! So, yeah, no air-pump, simplified octopus, straight-pipes with no cats and I'm in the 400 HP club! And that's 400HP much more flat across the curve from what I'm reading ... wow, I LOVE that! These big-turbo dynos I look at which read "700 HP at 6800 RPM!" but at 4000 rpm are around 120 HP and 100 TQ? Eff that!

Right?

Or am I just and idiot... should I just junk this thing? What's wrong with my brain? Why am I in love with this car? Ya know, I've got a 300zx convertible, '96... it's an auto and I'm in love with it too! And it's gutless! I purchased a 150 nitrous shot (wet) for it... but I think maybe I'm insane. What's my malfunction? Why do I love these Japanese cars from the 90's? Oh, and get this! I'd love to get a 2002 NSX! Wait, David, do you mean the new Corvette? Maybe a Cayman or some exotic, used Ferrari? NO! I mean a Japanese sports car from the glory years!

Seriously, what's wrong with me? And why did I hate the RX-8 when it came out and why do I hate it today? And why am I excited about the return of the RX-7 in 2016 with the 16X engine - especially if it goes turbo! Why don't I fall in love with the M3? Now that I've got money, why don't I get a sweet, new Vanquish?

Why do I feel like all those cars are over-priced crap? Why does the only car that's new which excites me have to be a GTR? Am I in love with Japan? I lived there for a while back in 2001 and really didn't like it at all. I'm pretty sure it's not Nippon I'm diggin' ... but my fantasy car to own is the Datsun 2000GT! Well, that and the '64 Ferrari 250 or a Veyron... but since I can't afford a car worth 2 million dollars or more...

Anyway, so there it is. Save it or junk it? And if I save it, from the looks of it, should that quarter panel get cut off and replaced or would YOU flare it out and not bother buying a quarter panel at all?

All opinions welcomed from "junk it, idiot!" to "nitrous? are you stupid?" to "this car needs to be fixed and worshiped! it's the savior or cars! long live the FD!" Whatever you have to say, for some reason, I'm interested.

Oh... and I do kinda like that Tesla... stick a 3 speed Ti Tranny on one of those puppies and I'd probably buy it.

End of ramble ~

jasonn

iTrader: (10)

Rotary Evolution is on this site and from all the reviews, a no bullshit and excellent builder. I say that now you have the money, either go wide fenders on the rear and chop what you can or just fix it. I wouldn't junk it just because I have a thing for silver rx7. Btw, a Greddy fmic isn't bad at all!

Spalato

iTrader: (33)

First you must forbid your girlfriend to ever say "it's kind of cute"...cuz thats worthy of brake up material right there...

Second...no one writes such a long post for a car they dont care about. If you junk it you will end up having nightmares and be haunted

Third...just on this forum alone I've seen FDs in much worse shape that were brought back to their full potential

Nitrous? *Face palm*

My suggestion is to keep it and and slowly work on it, dont go all out crazy and ****...a stock FD is a fun car...and they are getting more rare. If you can afford to keep it why junk it? Just my 2c

jasonn

iTrader: (10)

Agreed on everything! However, stock FD does kind of look like a miata from the front so I can see why it's cute

WJM ROTARIES

Easy choice for me I live to rebuild RX's . Do what's in your heart , Rebuild the car that you cant part with, Have the body repaired and painted ,give it a new [heart] engine and go and drive the wheels off it

Spalato

iTrader: (33)

Haha very true, though the R1 lip and some agressive wheels on the stock body can lower the cuteness level quite a bit

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

5 min of my life I will never get back.

It's a piece of ****, email Fritz, he'll give you a few grand for it, maybe. Then you can spend more time writing over indulgent shitty literature. Seems to be what you're more interested in.

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

I'd reshell it personally. That's one of the worst panels on the car to damage.

Tem120

iTrader: (5)

First id tryto figure out why your motors keep blowing I know they arent exactly the most reliable motors In the world but so many so soon reallly seems like something is off

Also that body panel looks pretty bad but im no bodywork expert

It really depends on why you like the car and what you want it for. These are great cars and can do some crazy things when pushed to the limit or they can be really expensive cruisers yiu gotta weigh the pros and cons and see where you stand is it worth it to fix the car I say yes but thats judt me.

stripling

"brake up" ... that made me laugh. what other misspelled words give away a guy as a motor-head in such an obvious way, i wonder?

stripling

Oh ... crap-stick! I totally forgot to mention that I got some awesome wheels over eBay a few years back and once it's fixed up I intend to stick 'em on there. They're Fikse (hope I spelled that right) 18"ers that look crazy awesome. Forged and beautiful. Let's see if I can dig up a photo here...



...just more money sunk into unrequited love

stripling

Oh, wow, so you can link a site, link a photo WITHOUT the photo showing up or manually upload images so they make sense with the text. How pathetic. Yeah, I've been on this site ten years or so but seriously - this is sad. And when you edit the options are even more limited. Sigh. Okay, here goes the manual upload to picasa download to my pc and upload to rx7club as an attachment then re-select attachments and say "insert all" ... just pathetic!

So, here are the photos of these sweet, sweet wheels i got back in 2009 and need to put on some rubber and stick 'em on my FD

Mdessouki

iTrader: (7)

Sell me the Fikse and sell the shell to be parted. problem solved...

stripling

hey! i paid 3 grand for the short block under the hood and it's never been installed! soooo.... there's that

make me an offer ... i was told by fiske at their 800 number they sell this sob's for $839.30 USD a wheel now, if memory serves. i'm kinda surprised they still make this model/style but hey - what's not to love? what amazes me is that when they were 1st introduced they sold for like $450 or so... maybe the price of aluminium went up? who knows... i know batteries have sure gone sky high

man, i sound like my grandpa back when i was a kid.... sheeze...

stripling

correction ... $1253.80 per wheel ... but that's new... i'd probably be lucky to get a couple thousand to be honest...

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

Interesting build thread... I would just pick up another shell if you really wanna get back into the game.

tt7hvn

iTrader: (5)

^it's not a build thread, yet. He needs to make up his mind first...which I guess is what this current thread is for; to help him decide.

djseven

iTrader: (56)

Is the car a 94 or 95? That is important in the decision making process.

TwinCharged RX7

iTrader: (14)

I don't understand the whole 93 vs 94/95 issue. At the end of the day there were no significant changes. Even though fewer were made in the latter years, it won't change the long term value. 10 years from now a 93 will be worth the same as a comparable 94. If you look at muscle cars, the ones with a big difference in value were a special edition / package / engine. The year itself doesn't matter too much. Being an R model is what will change the value a bit. But not much, as they all have the same engine.

Now in Japan, you will see a big difference in value between pre 98 and post 99. As that was a pretty decent change. And the Bathurst and spirit R's will have a higher value as well.

I don't know why people are caught up on 93 vs 94. Makes no sense what so ever.

tt7hvn

iTrader: (5)

^i agree.

in the US I can only see a significant valve change for those cars made in 95 with a late build date since they were some of the last FDs imported and 95 alone there weren't many imported at all.

stripling

It's a 93... october of 92, i think...

yesterday i was in portland with my g/f ... we rented a brand new corvette convertible ... wow ... brutal machine! the thing chirped its tires at 50m/h with t/c in "performance" or "off" mode and made elevens for years and miles. sheeze... i always hated american cars but now... i dunno... that thing was scary awesome. wonder if i should just sell my 7 and get one of those terror machines.

so, i'm back home in vegas now and i still dunno what to do with this thing. while in portland my g/f saw an old, shitty miata and said, "oh, hey! that's like your car, right?" i was like "oh no you DIDN'T!!!" i swear, my last 5 or 6 g/f's have ALL, at one time or the other, made that unforgivable mistake.

RogueFab

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm. How about track car? Roll some aluminum fenders for the back and cut the stock ones up. Rivet on widebody. Go for that uber race "modified" look (you know, like circle track).

OR do a cut&splice on the rear fender.

rotary_rob

iTrader: (5)

just ls swap it with a widebody


good to go

stripling

It's occurring to me that as much fun as it can be to fix up and drive an old car like my FD what with the prices of parts and the time of doing it or paying someone to do it when compared with just buying a new or used quality current generation car ... well, basically, it makes no sense. this is all about falling in love and getting f'd in the a. my FD reminds me, at this point, of my old g/f who truthfully gave me a lot of thrills but, in the end, was just not worth the maintenance. my new g/f, however, is a lot newer model/younger and if i'ma spend money, it occurred to me, then it makes a lot more sense to get over my emotional connections and just move on.

my theory is this - if more men like us (i'm assuming there are no FD/FC women ... not sure i'd like to meet a woman who knows that much about any car, to be honest. probably looks like Susan Boyle) refused to fall in love with cars that f'd us in the A then maybe Mazda and other after-market manufacturers would be more reasonable with their prices.

Still have not decided one way or the other - just did a spread-sheet on what I've spent so far and what I yet need vs. just getting a new car and --- wow. Still --- I do love my FD, insurance is way cheaper on a POS like her and I don't have to get it smog checked so ... sigh ... it's a pickle!

s2kguy17

iTrader: (5)

That is easy to rebuild compared to my build lol