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16k miles? Totaled. :p So cool to hear there is another low mileage VR R1 out there!
The low mileage dilemma is very real. ~15k miles is ridiculously low and gives the car value as a novelty above what normal value a clean stock FD already has. Owning a super low mileage museum piece has its own separate appeal, and that will be gone if you drive it too much, not to mention the diminished dollar value. I suppose it comes down to whether you value the car more as a rare object to lust over and fetishize, or more as a driving machine. The rational choice is obviously to value it as a driving machine, but as a long-time admirer of the FD, it is hard not to want to preserve the car, especially considering how rare unmolested examples are. Since I'm planning on keeping the car forever, the appeal of low mileage to me is more in the novelty aspect and preserving a classic than in the financial upside.
Having a mid-mileage example to use while the low-mileage car stays in the garage would be the best of both worlds, and I have considered it, but I know I don't have the resources or desire to maintain two FDs. Ultimately, I bought this car to drive it and that is what I intend to do. I was actually hoping to find a slightly rougher example for the reasons discussed, but this one is the one that came up. I figured I would probably be saving this one even if I did drive it, since at least I wouldn't be modifying the hell out of it. It is still a weekend car though, so mileage will likely accumulate quite slowly. As of now the mileage is not accumulating at all because I'm still searching for a set of stock wheels so I can replace these damn original tires, haha. If anyone has a set, please let me know.
Having recently purchased a very low mileage FD, you wrote down everything I have been thinking. Mine isn't as low as yours, mine is 22K miles, but being a Spirit R and the prices they are now commanding, it kind of increases the pressure to preserve it. I didn't actually want to get a very low mileage example as I liked the idea of being free of pressure and driving it as much as I want, but the opportunity to get this was too good to pass up.
My plan is to initially drive it a bit and enjoy it on weekends while I continue my series 3 RX-7 restomod. Once the series 3 is finished, I will be much happier putting miles on that as I have owned it for over 20 years, put on 70,000km myself during that time and with extensive modifications it is by no means a collector example. I figure then that I could take the FD on a 100-200km cruise once a month or so and it will only do around 1,000km (600 miles) a year. That is still quite conservative and in 10 years time, the thing will still have under 30,000 miles and that is low enough to still be a collector example for a 30 year old car. The alternative is to stick it in a bubble, but IMHO not driving it is actually worse for it mechanically than letting stretch its legs nicely on clear roads on a monthly basis (which in turn is also better than lots of hours but low miles in bumper-to-bumper traffic).
Not to get all morbid, but we all got a limited time here and everything eventually perishes, personally if I manage to get lucky enough to get a very low mileage "show quality" car, I won't garage queen it for resale value. I want to enjoy my passions and not make decisions purely based off of financial reasons.
With that said, I would still make smart decisions when I can, and not strip the heart of a low mileage car and turn it into a track beast. Would try to stay true to the original intent of the car, and at most go OEM+ with reliability mods. Can always buy another car for cheaper and do a build that deviates from that goal.
I'm starting to think I'm not losing coolant at all, and just being paranoid about the level on the filler neck. To be determined...
Another little update: my quest to make the car ready for more regular use continues, and it now has paint protection film installed on the front bumper, fenders, hood, and windshield. I also had the engine bay steam cleaned and a very light polish done to the paint, which was topped with Cquartz ceramic coating. The detailing outfit--who is supposed to be one of the best in Houston--initially returned the car with various detailing-related issues (engine bay still dirty, some parts of paint not polished), and it went back for a do-over before I picked it up the second time, which was last week. Now the engine bay is super clean and the paint looks great, though there are still a few little things that I may fix later. Overall though, I'm happy with the way it turned out (the polish was desperately needed, honestly), and excited to move onto the next phase of work.
This weekend I'm planning on doing the coolant flush and also swapping the Redline MT90 that Sakebomb put in the transmission for the Ford/Motorcraft XT-M5-QS, which in my opinion is what should have been put in in the first place. Also have an appointment at the alignment place on Tuesday, so we will see if that makes the car more sensitive to steering inputs like I'm hoping.
In other words, the boring maintenance phase is almost complete. After that we can move to phase 2: single turbo widebody drift build. Wait no, that's not right. I meant to say mild bolt-ons. Nothing too crazy, just enough to hear the engine and wake up the turbos a bit. The first mod I'm planning is a catback exhaust, and I have narrowed it down to the Fujitsubo RM01A or FEED Sonic Ti... curious to hear from forum members who have either of those. I'm hoping for something not too loud, but more importantly, also not too quiet, since this car is a weekend toy, I would like to hear a decent amount of engine note.
Looking to buy a Fujitsubo RM-01A catback if anyone on here has one.
Maintenance-wise, the car is basically up to speed. This past weekend I completed the coolant flush and filled with the green (Asian car) Valvoline Xerex 50/50. This is what the first flush looked like after running the Prestone for about 4 hours:
Honestly, I thought it would look a lot worse. Regardless, it was worth the peace of mind knowing that the cooling system is running at optimum efficiency - important for an FD!
For burping the coolant system, I basically followed post #6 in this thread, and it worked great. The Lisle funnel and disconnecting the throttle body coolant hose helped a lot as well. Some additional air bubbles came out after backing the car down off the ramps.
Project #2 over the weekend was swapping the Redline MT90 transmission fluid. This fluid had just been put in, but I wasn't happy with the shifting performance. It was very stiff into second gear when cold, and also had some notchiness in all gears when fully warm. I ended up using the Ford/Motorcraft XT-M5-QS, which is very popular in the NA/NB Miata world, and has been used with good success on FDs as well. It even says on the bottle that the fluid is recommended for older transmissions that take GL-4, plus it is subject to OEM quality controls. So what are my impressions of the fluid versus the Redline? To be honest, the change is not as dramatic as I might have hoped. It might be a little easier into second when cold, and there is a small but noticeable reduction in notchiness when fully warm. Of course, this is on a fresh change, so I expect it to smooth out with a bit more mileage. In all likelihood, my expectations of shift feel are just spoiled by my Integra GS-R.
I was really proud of myself with how smoothly the fluid change was going until I made a stupid mistake and spilled about half a bottle of fluid. This was enough spillage to not have enough to finish the job, but an emergency trip to the local Ford dealership saved the day.
Yesterday was alignment day. I'm running the Pettit street specs except with 1/16" toe-in in the rear. The alignment dude was great but for some reason I let him talk me into the rear toe-in, not sure what I was thinking since the whole point of getting the alignment was to lessen the dull steering response and sharpen turn-in. Unsurprisingly, the car now feels ultra stable but still has the same dull steering response, if anything made even worse. I'm sure it is caused by 1/16" toe-in both F/R, and I will eventually need to back off the front toe and probably run 0 out back.
...Yesterday was alignment day. I'm running the Pettit street specs except with 1/16" toe-in in the rear. The alignment dude was great but for some reason I let him talk me into the rear toe-in, not sure what I was thinking since the whole point of getting the alignment was to lessen the dull steering response and sharpen turn-in. Unsurprisingly, the car now feels ultra stable but still has the same dull steering response, if anything made even worse. I'm sure it is caused by 1/16" toe-in both F/R, and I will eventually need to back off the front toe and probably run 0 out back.
In formula car alignments, it's common to use rear toe-out as a tuning tool to minimize dull turn-in and power-on understeer. This is especially applicable with radial tires, because radials have a characteristic called "camber thrust", where the negative camber that is necessary for optimum grip causes a lateral footprint force similar to what one gets with toe-in.
The Ford fluid continues to improve shifting feel after putting some more mileage on it. An update from my M/T fluid thread:
Update: I have been running the Ford/Motorcraft XT-M5-QS for about a week, before this was a fresh fill of Redline MT90 that had been in there for several months. This is on a stock 14k-mile car, so the transmission should be in good shape.
Now, the fluid has only been in there for less than 50 miles, and I expect it will continue to improve. Even so, the Ford fluid is an improvement over the Redline. The 1st to 2nd shift is still stiff when cold, but the fluid seems to warm up faster, and once warm, there is less notchiness than before.
Overall, I'm really happy with the Ford fluid and would highly recommend it.
Any thoughts on whether just a catback would be safe on a stock ECU? Most people seem to think it is safe (including the 'dyno comparison for each part added' thread), but others report boost spikes. If there is any risk, I will just wait until I get a standalone ECU.
Modifying a turbo car is a new world for me, and I'm not sure I fully understand what happens when you open the intake/exhaust. People say get a boost controller to make sure you don't go above 10 psi, but isn't AFR the only thing that actually matters (for safety)?
Any thoughts on whether just a catback would be safe on a stock ECU? Most people seem to think it is safe (including the 'dyno comparison for each part added' thread), but others report boost spikes. If there is any risk, I will just wait until I get a standalone ECU.
Modifying a turbo car is a new world for me, and I'm not sure I fully understand what happens when you open the intake/exhaust. People say get a boost controller to make sure you don't go above 10 psi, but isn't AFR the only thing that actually matters (for safety)?
cat back is totally safe.
the way it works is that the turbos have a boost control solenoid, and it is basically a fixed duty cycle that is setup to work with the stock intake and stock exhaust. once you remove a restriction in the exhaust, the turbos will spool faster on their own, so at some point you get spikes because the boost control solenoids still operate like its stock. there is a little restrictor (boost pill) in the hose and these can be drilled out or changed for bigger ones and this reduces the authority the solenoids have .
or you get a power FC like everyone else, and you can adjust the solenoids and the boost.
Quick update: since finishing the baselining I did in the past few updates, there hasn't been much to do other than drive. I did get these floor mats from Garage Alpha to preserve the fresh factory ones, which are now safely stored away.
If you're familiar with the Garage Alpha mats, you'll notice that the little metal emblem is in a different place than the GA mats normally have it. I asked them to put it on the side since that is where the RX-7 logo is on the original mats, and they were nice enough to oblige. These are the Lux version, and I think they look great! If I have one complaint it is that I'm a little skeptical on their durability, as there is already some piling at the heel area with very minimal use. I would expect better wear resistance for the price, and I would probably get the mid-grade cut-pile version if I had to do it again.
I have been going to a lot of car shows with the FD, and it is fun. I'm a little apprehensive bringing the car to public shows, and I have already picked up a couple of scratches from careless people apparently leaning against it while taking pics (did not see them). Here's a photo from the latest show that was cancelled last minute, but me and a few others still showed up:
I finally received my Texas license plate, and have the car registered as a Vintage Automobile, which gives you a sweet plate with red lettering, and also eliminates the front plate requirement that we normally have in Texas. My smartphone camera doesn't properly pick up the color, it is much less pink in real life. The C7 Z06 had over 700 horsepower and was a much more orange shade of red than the FD VR.
After seeing (and commenting) in your WTB ad, I didn’t ever see this build thread.. but Ill keep an eye out for you on the Japan sites. You might be in for a little extra shipping, but honestly it would be worth it.
Impressive car man, great job and great taste. The Fujitsubo will be cool if you can find it. After reading your thoughts here, it makes sense why you would want such a one off piece, and not some run-of-the-mill muffler.
Having said that, the turn-down RE-A and similar “dolphin” mufflers produce a very noteworthy bass/low tone at idle, I really like the sound. Not high-pitch, typical rotary. Beefy rotary. If you are interested, check yahoo japan and similar sites. Good luck man, congrats on the low mileage ride
After seeing (and commenting) in your WTB ad, I didn’t ever see this build thread.. but Ill keep an eye out for you on the Japan sites. You might be in for a little extra shipping, but honestly it would be worth it.
Impressive car man, great job and great taste. The Fujitsubo will be cool if you can find it. After reading your thoughts here, it makes sense why you would want such a one off piece, and not some run-of-the-mill muffler.
Having said that, the turn-down RE-A and similar “dolphin” mufflers produce a very noteworthy bass/low tone at idle, I really like the sound. Not high-pitch, typical rotary. Beefy rotary. If you are interested, check yahoo japan and similar sites. Good luck man, congrats on the low mileage ride
Thank you, and yes, I am still hoping to find the Fujitsubo (RM-01A). There was a group buy on it here in 2012, and it was sub-$300. Quite a few got sold, so I'm sure there are some still floating around. I imagine there are some that are still NIB as well, since if y'all are anything like me, you somehow end up accumulating parts even if they never get installed.
As I mentioned, I would be willing to pay $400-700 depending on condition, which is around what I'm seeing used FEED catbacks go for on Yahoo Japan.
I just really like the look of it (single, smallish muffler canister, slight angle), and haven't seen anything similar.
First mod is done - IRP brake master cylinder brace from Sakebomb Garage. The FD has a pretty flimsy brake pedal setup, so they benefit from bracing in this area. Car is officially molested now. Not really, no drilling required, and I'm so insane that I even kept the little piece of factory fabric tape that you have to remove when threading the shock tower bolt. I haven't gotten a chance to test it out yet, but it's nice to have the peace of mind that the firewall isn't flexing.
I added some rubber tape to prevent contact with the shock tower:
Still looking for Fujitsubo RM-01A. I need some exhaust sound...
Here are a few pics of the master cylinder brace installed:
It took a few tries to get the stopper centered. I found the trick was to install everything loosely and tighten the innermost jam nut first, so the slotted bracket doesn't move, since this bracket is what locates the larger bracket vertically.
I finally got the chance to take a short test drive, and wow. This thing makes more of a difference than I thought it would. The brakes feel more responsive and easier to modulate. It feels like there is a more direct connection between your toe and the brakes. I once drove an old Porsche 911, and one thing that stood out to me (other than the fact that it drove like a tractor :p) was how rigid the brake pedal setup felt. This makes the car feel more like that, though still not quite as much. Overall happy with this mod.
Have you considered stripping your interior and caging the car? That way you can sell me all the carpets and interior plastics. LMK. I would never steer you wrong.
DO Engineering titanium catback, special thanks to ZE Power MX6 for sending me the Yahoo Japan link after seeing my WTB thread. Originally I was looking for the early-style FEED catback, and it turns out this is the exact same exhaust, just with a slightly different muffler tip. It seems a lot of the Japan-made titanium catbacks all came from the same supplier, just with different tips depending on the branding, e.g. FEED, Ganador, DO Eng, etc. I wanted a single-exit with a reasonably sized muffler tip, and this one fit the bill. Of course, it being titanium is a huge bonus and it is incredibly light. Will compare weight versus stock catback during install, so stay tuned.
Thanks guys. On a related note, does anyone know what hardware is required for the install besides hangers and the gasket? I ordered a replacement gasket from Ray Crowe... wondering if I need a flange or anything.
Yeah, the JASMA labeling just refers to the aftermarket parts standards in Japan, similar to CAFE in California/the U.S. There are certain decibel limits that an exhaust must meet to receive the labeling.
01-13-22, 12:03 AM
