Well that's it for me. I roasted another engine on Sunday. I've been oddly calm about it. I can't justify throwing more good money after bad and I decided before I would give it up after the next big failure. I'm surprised that it occurred so quickly. The last couple of years have not been fun and in fairness to the car, much of it is due to my own sub-par mechanical abilities. I'm going to slowly part it out (PM if you want early dibs, but I'll soon start posting in the FS section).

It's odd to think about all of the joy and fun the car has brought me since 2001. It's honestly meant more to me than than makes sense to describe in this forum. The troubles I caused in late '06 felt like a death of someone close to me.

I'm thinking of building a Locost from a kit although even with a newish economy car drivetrain there I am probably going to run into the same issues as I did with the TII. Others would be a Cobalt SS - but it's wrong wheel drive and a bit expensive for me, although maybe able to stretch to it if used. A used RX-8 or Mustang GT are at the right price point. The RX-8's acceleration and fuel economy are weak, the later because I would make the car my daily driver. The Mustang GT is okay, but a bit large and the handling could be a bit better. I really want to do track days again (it's been waaay too long!), and that's obviously tougher to do with your daily driver. Thoughts/suggestions?

Jeff

 

Jeff, build a mid 90's Stang. They go very fast with some work. Parts are cheap. They are being raced everywhere and with the same amount of money that you have in your RX7, you can build a car that will do 1:37's at Mosport, mid 12 1/4 miles and still get close to 20 mpg with the right gear set.

Down sides will be brake costs and rear tire costs, but like I said there are a ton of cars out there and a ton of used tires available. Look at the NASA site in the American Iron Series, American Iron Extreme Series or at least the CMC Series. I have seen complete cars going for around $10,000 for a very good car.

Besides a V8 under full load at 6500 rpm sounds soooooo horny and its great fun stomping BMW's for 1/3rd the cost. A 450 HP tricked out 347 is available, new, for under $7,000 Cdn.

Granted I am biased....

Eric

 

Hey J, sorry to hear about this. Believe me, I understand your frustration. You come across a piviotal point (ie. major engine rebuild or painting of car) which than you later accomplish and from that point on you know you gotta keep going until YET AGAIN your back to square one. Thats the Rx for you. Love and hate have never been more pronounced.

You'd think with Aaron being your neighbor he'd do an overnight rebuild to remedy this situation.

 

PM'd!!!!

WRX? STi? G35 does 250km/h on radar

 

hey jeff

long time no see!

I had kinda wondered what had happened to you.

The line came for me back in 2007 when my 10AE blew up for the last time.

I've still got the car and I keep telling myself I'll fix it some day but will it happen, I dunno.

I'd consider buying a daily driver and making the rx-7 a weekend car.

or, doing a v8 swap
or both.


RX-8's aren't /that/ slow. They're a whole lot quicker than a stock TII. I'm sure there's ways of making them quicker as well. And they've gotta be fun on a road course. I'd think about getting one, prices have REALLY come down on the used ones in the last 6 months.

 

You desperately need to visit.....http://www.v8rx7forum.com/ don't give up on the car, just give up on the motor and put something reliable in there.

 

I'm with Paul, but differently: throw the playbook out, do a turbo DISI mazda swap, or a RWD K-series V-6, or go nuts with a TT nissan V-6.

If the rest of the car is sound and/or built, just find a different motor.

Or, Part the car, and get an RX-8. Trust me, you'll like it.

 

I know exactly how you feel so I'm not even going to try to console you because it's just insulting.

Back in 2001 when I was in University I bought an E34 M5. Other than my coop terms I had no income and took out a loan on it. The chain tensioner on those engines is hydraulic, my oil pump was on its way out. Not enough to throw an oil pressure warning but enough to let the chain skip, bend all 24 valves and break 2 pistons. It disappointed, scared and frustrated on me on a scale too huge to put into words. I took out more debt to have the engine rebuilt and it all worked out in the end but I never had faith in the car again and I ended up selling it.

With regards to replacement, I like American Iron too but I'm biased, I'd suggest an E30. They're not so easy to find rust-free around here but I can help you track one down. A 325i stock will be tons of fun but I can walk you through a swap of the DOHC engines from the E36 cars which make it ridiculously fun. Mine has the S52 from the 96+ M3. It makes the car sinfully fast (edit: well... not in the context of you built RX7 guys but for the money it's a barrel of monkeys). They're RWD, they're solid, handle amazingly, they're dead easy to work on and stripped they weigh under 2500lbs. Replacement parts are also dime a dozen - blow an S52? No problem, get another one for under 3k (or obviously way less if you just need a new head).

Mine has FD RX7 front brakes too.

The other direction you could go is SpecE30. It's only second to Spec Miata to popularity and field size (most races have over 30 cars) and it's super cheap to run. You're limited to weight, the tire sizes, shocks, even exhaust are all spelled out. Cars get randomly dynoed to make sure they're not cheating.

I'm planning on a testing day at Dunnville within about a month or two when it warms up, you're welcome to come for a ride to see what I mean.

 

Yeah. Pain in the butt. I found some of your pics and your car looks really good. Looks like its solid and well looked after. Why not keep it and do a swap? Best of both worlds IMHO. I have a nice na 86 thats great except the engine popped. Its a 90k street car lightly modded for the track (brakes, short shifter, smaller wheel, etc). Just had a ton of fun in it. It would have been rebuilt by now but when I was looking for good engine or parts, I found an 86 that someone had put a done up 325hp small block chev and 5 speed OD tranny into. Higher milage body but got it for a good deal so the money went there instead. Talk about real fun street car!!. No worries, just turn the key, listen to the snort n rumble and play with the 300+ dependable hp Even tho it had stock suspension I took it to Mosport last fall for a track day on my race tires. Sweet time.

Theres good kits for 8's, lots of straight six swaps....So anythings possible! I have had alot, I mean alot of cars in my life and the rx7s are just the most fun cool cars! Thats why I'm still fixing the rotary one ... I think there really neat engines...just somewhat tempramental

 

Put a vg30de in it. NA, v6, 240hp, really easy to swap in, and will give you enough grunt and reliability to daily drive and track the 7. They're cheap to buy.

Or, go with a 1jzgte. Make sure you get the 91/92 year versions though, they're better tuned.

If I wasn't so hellbent on triangles, I would've gone 1jz.

If you do part, can I have your RB exhuast?

 

Conveniently, my brother has a '91 318is for sale. I don't know too much about the car but he was saying its a pretty rare model - no sunroof, plaid interior (some guys pay big bucks for it... no idea why), M-steering wheel, etc.

PM me if you are interested.

 

I say stay in the game just loss the motor. Don't give up all together just because your motor did. The swap is the way to go. I can't recommend any, but Alot of people say the V8's are easy, reliable and tons of fun. Just save your pennies and get a good motor from a beat up Domestic.

 

Swapping an engine is a nice idea but this isn't some junker body he picked up to toy with. It's a car he's put a lot of time, money and soul into. If he's anything like me, he just wants to put it in the past, along with the bad feelings.

Yeah, that is indeed a rare car. It was only made in '91 and it's the lightest of any E30. But the premiums they fetch in my opinion aren't worth it (esp if it's rust free). There's nothing they have that you can't do to any E30 unless you want to daily drive it. SpecE30 provides for a lower min weight for 318s but they're still realistically too slow to be competitive. If racing is your game then an M20 i car is your name. If you're planning to swap in an E36 motor then it doesn't really matter what car you pick as long as the shell is straight and rust free.

 

I'll be a little different and suggest you look into water/methanol injection.

My rotary has 6 years of hard use in it at power levels over 400 rwhp, most recently around 450 rwhp. I have a very simple Aquamist 1s system that injects a fixed amount of windshield wiper fluid into the motor after 9 psi, and the car hasn't skipped a beat. I'm not tuned for it so if the system ever fails, runs out of fluid etc it shouldn't be a problem, hasn't happened yet anyway. road trips, drag racing, road racing, hard street driving, top speed pulls etc and it's been bulletproof

 

I second that, stick with it man. Take some time, learn from your mistakes and come up with a solid plan to fix the problems you've got. I'll admit rotaries are high maintenance, but I wouldn't want anything else. I dare to be different, and the RX-7's are just that.

 

That's what he did with his other '91 318is
My Audi is faster though

 

Man, I know how you feel. I chose the "more money" route (for the umpteenth time) last summer and I still haven't driven the car since.....

When you own a car for a long time - a car that you genuinely love - you will always hit those moments when you have to make that big decision of throwing money (that you may not have) at the car. You often have to throw more money at the car than it's worth - but you do it anyway. What we have to remember is that this isn't the first such moment for Jeff.

Whatever you do, don't make the decision this week. Sit back, let it sink in and weigh your options. No matter what you buy it will come with headaches and dollar signs so there is no one right answer.

If you do go away from rotaries, come back and visit!

Now go watch Free Practice from Melbourne.....

 

Man you guys are though, i sold mine just before problems could start appearing a while ago. If i calculate all the money some of my clients put in their FD, they certainly could be rolling in a Porsche TT like i do today...

 

Sorry to hear that Jeff.
I remember meeting you and your car waaaay back in summer of 03 i think, it was a Niagara meet. I think Mr. Cake was riding along with you.

I myself am in a situation that i have to sell my RX-7...it's tough, but sometimes you just have to make a smart decision, making a sacrifice now so that down the road maybe you can come back to something you love.

But, it's not all so bad. I decided to get myself a WRX. It's a great car for doing anything all year round. Driving to work in 1+ foot of snow, hitting up auto-x/track days, driving more than 1 person around (hah), and they are quite reliable and easy to maintain. On top of that there is a great community for Subaru's, and a lot more reputable shops that will work on the them compared to the rotaries.

So yeah, if you are really looking for another car...i'd suggest a WRX.

--
Aaron

 

^ And I will counter that suggestion with the suggestion of a B5 chassis A4. Anything the WRX can do, the A4 can do with a nicer interior... haha

 

Heh, I was considering a B5 S4 actually, it would be about the price i picked up my WRX for...but then i found out about how much it would cost to replace things when (that's a when, not an if ) they break.

I also looked at the A4s, but they need a little bit of work to get the same performance out of them compared to the WRX.
But you are right, those interiors sure are nice.

 

Ask IAN how long his engine's been running 400+hp. He's got damn near 70,000kms on that bad boy.

Then there's guys like me though who measure their sucess in number of oil changes!

 

Ian only has 383rwhp...

And Joe if he parts the car out, guess what you get work on?

I'm a Vulture I know

 

I'm talking about inflated dynojet numbers kev! Not egobruisers (mustang)! lol Actually IIRC Ian craked the 4 mark with 20psi and meth last year on the mustang dyno.....and I still have your haltech manual?

But you vulture! Let the man choose first!!

 

Oh Dynojet, should have said something hahah. Yeah, I know you have the manual still, I'll get it someday... Actually might be in the area this weekend...

I say part the car PART IT!!!! BUAHAHAH Joe needs to make some money for his next engine rebuild.