Hey how's it going. I just discovered this forum two days ago and I'm not even sure if I'm posting this in the right location but I've read some of the other posts in this area and I'm from the far east area so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'm a bit new to car modifications but I've owned my car for about 5-6 years. My first car I owned was a FC. Years later I bought an FD as the 2nd owner of the car. I own a 98 model Rx-7 and am bored with what it can do at the moment and wish to spend some money on it's performance. The car came with Aphexi 2x Air Intake, Tein Adjustable Suspension, unknown aftermarket muffler (from the c coverter back), an ugly mazdaspeed rear spoiler & JAM something or another I've recently went to a nearby performance shop where the owner suggested that I get a Greddy Intercooler, a Boost Controller (don't remember company or model atm), and full exhaust titanium piping that won't pass shakken. Also I'd inquired about a PowerFC as I heard that's a good choice for computers but he said I'd have to take it into a performance shop everytime I made serious upgrades to the car to get it fixed again and this could cost me a lot of money. He then suggested I should get an E-Manage where I can connect it to a laptop and adjust things on my own.

I'm still pretty clueless to what the hell really goes on in my engine so for the past 6 years the only maintenance I have done to it is the basics (oil change, spark plug change, etc) and nothing of serious part removals. After getting my intercooler delivered to the performance shop my friend and I began working on it some but then came across a few unmentioned problems such as needing a smaller battery, or rerouting the existing one, as well as how my Aphexi air intakes are now in the way of the Greddy front mount. So now I went back and ordered Greddy air intakes as well and bought a smaller battery to fit.

About 5-6 months ago I purchased a Knightsport front bumper from a used car part store (the type with 4 fog lights), and tried to put that on today to fit to my car with the front mount on. After grinding away the lip part of the bumper to meet the front mount I realised the fog lights won't fit and the lip of the bumper would be pretty much non existant to get a perfect fit. (I'm assuming you'd need a V-mount Intercooler with this bumper?)

So basically I wrote this long post to describe my lack of knowledge on my car but interest in learning about it without blowing cash on stuff that's incompatible with my previous choices. I'm looking to put some power under my car for now for fun and possibly later on get into racing. Any pointers on dos and don'ts while I'm under the hood from past experiences? Also any good sites or books that may help me learn my engine and what's good and bad with after market companies/parts.

 

FD is a tuff and expensive car to learn on IMO. However it can happen and sounds like in your case it will. I sent you a pm.

 

I would love to know what Kms are on the beast?

 

there is a lot of good FD specific info on the web and also a lot of people willing to answer questions on this forum.

a tough car to learn to wrench on but i guess it can be done

have you downloaded the service manual and parts books from below?

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-archives-73/tech-manual-directory-614824/

i also bought a 2nd hand knightsports nose for my 1992 FD and while it was fiddly to fit it looked very good when mounted and didn't have to be altered for my stock car, (no molded-in studs like the OEM nose, just holes. so it was difficult to get my big hand up in the guard with nuts, bolts and washers)

those manuals above are for the 1992-3? FD's that most of the world got

lots and lots of people with the later cars would LOVE to get hold of the service manual and parts book for the series 8 cars......so if you come across something...

eric e

 

Ah thank you for the replies. So far I've been relying on the instruction manuals that are included with the upgrades that I am trying to slowly put on my car, and I've been getting by. But still have no clue as to what pipe I'm pulling off and where it leads to deeper into the engine. I will read the pdf files this weekend a bit hopefully it answers some of the questions in my head. My car is around 75,000km atm I've made some stupid purchases already recently (cracked the middle screw from the stock radiator fans to the radiator causing my radiator to squirt everywhere, replaced it with a new radiator but since I order out of a company I wasn't 100% what I was getting, got another stock-like radiator brand new haha (went to 2 different places one tells me I can't use aluminum if I'm driving in everyday traffic due to overheat, other tells me this is ridiculous and only used to happen to old voltswagons), I bought a pair of over fenders? for my car with a 20mm front and 50mm back because my current rim size is 10J and are sticking outside of the frame of my car, then decided to get an entirely different kit and scrap the knight sports front and these new fenders that I haven't even put on yet, have a computer I have no clue about yet (E-manage?)..Yeah slowly learning though one step at a time.

 

yes, it's always good to go through the manuals as soon as you download them so you have an idea of what's in there

and then the night before i do a job i haven't done before on any of my cars, i sit down at the computer with a beer and go through the relevant sections.

when i find important info like torque values and exploded parts diagrams i print them off and put them in my folder for the next days work

after owning 4 twin turbo cars, 3 fd's and a gto, i've finally worked out what a y-pipe does, (brings together the compressed air from both turbos for feeding into the intake manifold)

knowing that it makes sense that all the pipe clamps around the y-pipe and other related turbo piping have to be clamped up good and tight or they will pop off under boost and the car will feel like a slug and make whistling sounds....

looking inside the usually accessible y-pipe will also give you an idea of the condition the usually hidden turbos. the main wear point of turbos is the oil seals that lube the turbine
a "blown" turbo usually means a blown seal letting in lots of hot oil into the y-pipe and combustion chamber. so lots of smoke on boost

so it's always a good idea to have an occasional look in the y-pipe, if you see;

no oil in a y-pipe it is a good sign that that the seals/turbo is in top condition.
if you see a little oil it means the seals/turbo is in average condition
if you see a LOT of oil then the seals are starting to get pretty bad and you should start saving for a turbo rebuild

so keep reading the manuals, if you want to keep these cars healthy you need to know what's going on under the bonnet. this goes double if you are adding your own performance parts without much idea of what they do

eric e