I don't really know much about this type of vehicle, what I do know is that I would like to have one by the time I graduate college. I would love the help on what to look for and how to build it for the street use. And there are things called widebody kits as well, I have no idea which would be best for the street use.

 

Welcome to forum

 

Welcome to the forum!! First off, you need to decide which year range you want and then we can help you with details about finding the right car.

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Probably the 1993 year. A manual transmission if possible. And left hand drive.

 

There's currently one listed on Bring A Trailer.

1993 Mazda RX-7 R1 5-Speed

 

This sounds like a VERY expensive project that's guaranteed to make you miserable as your first foray into anything Rotary. I would suggest 86-91 instead, preferably S4 (86-88), because diagnosing any issues that come up is FAR simpler and easier to correct. They're far more "forgiving" to newb mistakes than a FD (93-02) could hope to be, making the learning process less frustrating or overwhelming. That means more success in building the car the way you want to, and more enjoyment overall.

FWIW, Aaron Cake and I both started out with S4 non-turbos.

 

Ok thank you for letting me know. I had suspected that starting with the FD might be a bit more challenging. Would it be better to get it in s auto or a manual transmission? And how much would the swap cost roughly? Also is there any place you know of to buy one on the east coast?

 

You are located in Maryland?

The FD RX7 that is posted on Bring A Trailer is located in Spring City, Pennsylvania 19475 .. which is only a couple of hours away from you.

You are never too young or too old to learn how to drive a manual transmission. However as others have mentioned, the FD RX7 may not be the best choice for your first foray into anything Rotary.

 

Def look for a manual. The autos are (generally) regarded as dogs and only old ladies bought them new, so they were rarely revved high enough to keep the engine internals clean. Swapping from auto to manual will be an extra expense and parts hunt you don't need, on top of your $25K entry price for a decent FD.

As said before, a 2nd gen car (FC) is probably the best choice since there are a lot more of them, easier to work on and easier parts availability. The FD was an expensive car new and is now a rare collectable. The FC can be had for a 1/3 the price and won't be so bad if you slide into a curb or need pulled from a ditch. My brother has a '93 that he bought in '96 and he hardly ever takes it out anymore because of it's rarity, irreplaceability, and he says it's PITA to work on (compared to his other rotaries).

 

I have an automatic rx8, helped me a lot with the traffic. When I got some open road I used to drive it through the high rpms. It was about the functionality for me.

 

Thank you guys so much. I am going to start on the fc gen cause I don't really want to deal with the issues of a FD just yet. And my apologies for responding late I was doing a 15 page essay. But I do have some more questions. Like, would it be better to leave in the rotor engine or would it be better to swap the ls in it? And should I keep it stock bodied, or should I make it a widebody?

 

I think you will find most members (99%) will recommend that you keep any RX7 as a rotary engine.

You will most probably get an even split response on whether to keep your RX7 as close to original as possible, or OEM Plus, or heavily modded. That's more of a personal choice based on what your future plans are for the car.

 

For a new owner, OEM Plus is a reasonable, attainable goal. It maintains the original serviceability, while addressing issues that came up after the car was released. For example, silicone vacuum lines, hoses and an all-aluminum radiator all correct issues related to heat cycling or age-related failures. Same with using Series 5 (89-91) Radio and Shifter trim pieces and a FD or Taurus Alternator. All of these allow everything that stays original to do the best job that they can do.

First make it run. Then make it fun.

 

What's it a good widebody kit for the FC? Not looking for something to crazy just mildly wide.