Midpipe Review
 

Let me share my recent experience with my newly purchased 98 FD from FAMSPEED Japan...

I've had the car for 6 months and have toyed with ideas how to get practical upgrades here and there. I live in the Philippines where parts and easy to find and equally easy to build. The car itself looks as though it's been stripped out of some goodies from Japan, and since been converted to LHD.

Although from FAMSPEED with authenticity plaque and vin, the car seems pretty tame. I came from a love affair with a 400whp Evo 5 RS and that experience is pretty hard to match. However there's an allure to the RX7 that will just develop in time. It's not love at first sight; but more of a 'you're my best friend', deep kind of wanting to get to know you...

A few months ago I installed an HKS single tip, while keeping the intake stock. Then I started toying around the idea of having a midpipe just like I've grown to love in my past cars... That's when I learned about boost creep in these things and I started to think about it.

I have then installed a 2.25" midpipe which we made out of stainless steel. Being in the Philippines these things come cheap and I left the shop spending only $60. The idea of the restrictor plate gave me thoughts of putting in a 2.25" pipe coz it made sense to me.

First impression was, oh shit. This was actually bad. Car was dry from low to mid range, and was screaming on top but basically torque less. That's when I started inspecting the lines to see what's wrong...

With this, I saw that the stock cat can actually mask the problems in the car. On my way to the shop I made sure I got a good baseline, and it felt good. No one touched anything under the bonnet, no one even went near the bonnet as it was shut, working from beneath the car...

Vacuum line to the blowoff had a huge slice, and the intake was missing a nut. Once these were fixed I went out for a drive and it was a totally different experience: lowend didn't disappear as most people say, it pulls from 3k all the way up to redline.

Boost was pretty much creeping to 11 but that's it. I set the Defi's peak alarm to 11.5 and it never turned itself on even on creep-prone driving slamming WOT in 5th from 2k.

This car is fun and simple. It does the job and maintains a unique status. It does command respect and that sense of not really understanding what it is capable of. My range rover used to spit fire from its twin tips, but this one growls and howls with the occasional fireworks too, it's just a load of pride and fun.