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New FD owner here from Cincinnati, OH. I've always loved these cars since new, but finally pulled the trigger. Bought this car out of SC about a month ago, just been getting to know it for now. Mine's a 1994 LHD Touring with the Bose bass worm. Clean carfax (no wrecks), and probably ~130k on the chassis. Odometer quit working "recently" but who knows.
Always wanted a rotary and I'm not disappointed. Effortless RPM and it makes all the right woosh noises.
What the seller told me:
"Street port w/ about 1000 miles on it"
Greddy single-turbo kit with FMIC
1600 CC injectors
Some coil upgrade kit
APEXi FC w/ commander
dual oil coolers
OMP delete
Aftermarket oil pressure, boost, afr and temp gauges.
Tein coilovers
So far it's been fun getting to know the car. Haven't really leaned on it as it wants to go lean over about 5lb of boost. I'll post another thread about that.
Except for some excessive smashing of the downpipe, the turbo kit and oil cooler install looks well done, but it has some years on it.
It runs ~185-190deg around town. On the highway it wants to heat up. Haven't really cruised over 80 for any amount of time because the temp starts to climb. It doesn't have a front undertray, not sure if the right one would help evacuate hot air?
Glad to be here, looking forward to learning more as I go.
(the engine bay pic was from the seller, it has a proper filter on it now)
single turbo stuff can be tricky when it comes to a car like yours. still havent quite figured out how sellers of cars don't know what it is they're selling. you'll need to asses the fuel system from pump to injectors to try and determine if there are any mechanical issues causing it lean out. it could very simply be the tune but that would be too easy lol. water temp sounds good. you should be seeing no more than ~89C cruising on the highway. the undertray doesn't matter a great deal although the consensus is it does. the fd cooling system is not so fragile that the undertray is the difference between overheating and not.
you'll want to get some means of interfacing with the power fc or maybe consider a more modern ecu depending on what your goal is. the power fc will take you far and work very well if configured properly. my advice is to do that first along with an assessment of the fuel system. through the commander, you can see the injector settings to at least check if that is correct. the low end of danger water temps are ~97C and even then that's almost stock. cruise it on the highway and see if the temps stabilize there or below. the fan trigger temp may just be power fc default or something. you can actually lower the fan trigger temp with a power fc.
spend a lot of time reading and digging through the faq. i would advise leaving it alone so long as its working. things like a turbo blanket and plumbing upgrades would be advised to pursue along with other maintenance to ensure longevity and reliability. your brake fluid looks like mud, it would do you well to rebuild the master, replace the brake lines, replace the clutch master and slave and flush the system. focus on maintenance and everything else will follow naturally
Thanks for the quick reply! I did exchange the brake fluid and bleed the brakes, but a MC rebuild is a good idea. I'll add it to the winter maintenance list. I also have the ABS light on the dash.
It has a few minor drips: one tiny coolant leak from the lower rad hose and another small PS leak. Plenty to keep me busy, I'm sure.
My plan is to clean up what's currently there for now. I'm not aspiring to chase big HP, I just want something a little bit rowdy and moderately reliable.
As you have likely observed the radiator is mounted at an angle, not dead on to the airflow. The two tiered undertray, found on S6 cars, was designed to force air up into the radiator.
It turned out that the tray design created enough back pressure to force hot air back into the intercooler, which shared the same intake plenum with the air box.
Later FD eliminated the two tier tray, making it a single tray, and rerouted the intake air for the intercooler.
The tray probably also serves to limit the amount of road spray getting onto your engine wiring.
Trays get lost as shops forget to reinstall them.
New trays can be bought for about $300, used for $100.
If you don't have a tuner nearby, Xavier's PowerFC Master is a good (if expensive) way to re-tune it automatically without much knowledge and prevent damage. Sort of brings the PowerFC up to modern ECU standards (requires a wideband o2 sensor to be installed and connected for most functionality).
These cars are super fun to drive even with stock hp, so I'd recommend reliability stuff, maintenance, etc. before anything power related (except a tune of course, that would be a priority).
Here's a list of some simple stuff you can do:
1.) Consumables - while my FDs have generally all been reliable, they churn through consumables a lot faster than other cars (engine oil, spark plugs, etc.) Luckily a lot of it is the cheap stuff.
2.) Brakes - I've never had an issue with the stock brakes, just get good pads & new rotors if they don't feel up to it
3.) Shark tooth mod for the front bumper to improve cooling (basically two sticks to enlarge the front opening); I think it looks dumb, but it does help with temps
4.) Replace non-essential stuff that might've been neglected, like the coolant overflow & window washer tanks, power window switch(es), door pockets, various motors, etc.
5.) Double check that the headlight covers aren't old/cracked or they'll fly off on the highway and hit your windshield.
6.) Could be placebo, but after putting in a lifepo4 battery I felt like my car ran better and I've heard the same from other owners (also drops ~20lbs and costs about the same as a lead-acid battery)
7.) Check alternator, starter, clutch pedal/bolt, etc. (stuff that could potentially leave you stranded if it's original & breaks)
8.) Check the bushings. It's likely they need to be replaced. The front ball-joints are non-serviceable and require new arms ($$$)
9.) The later model cars came with softer sway bars. I really like my autoexe swaybars, car feels a lot flatter, and you can change out the endlinks at the same time
Do you happen to know what radiator that is btw? My latest FD came with the same one and I'm trying to figure out a better way to mount it.
If you don't have a tuner nearby, Xavier's PowerFC Master is a good (if expensive) way to re-tune it automatically without much knowledge and prevent damage. Sort of brings the PowerFC up to modern ECU standards (requires a wideband o2 sensor to be installed and connected for most functionality).
These cars are super fun to drive even with stock hp, so I'd recommend reliability stuff, maintenance, etc. before anything power related (except a tune of course, that would be a priority).
Here's a list of some simple stuff you can do:
1.) Consumables - while my FDs have generally all been reliable, they churn through consumables a lot faster than other cars (engine oil, spark plugs, etc.) Luckily a lot of it is the cheap stuff.
2.) Brakes - I've never had an issue with the stock brakes, just get good pads & new rotors if they don't feel up to it
3.) Shark tooth mod for the front bumper to improve cooling (basically two sticks to enlarge the front opening); I think it looks dumb, but it does help with temps
4.) Replace non-essential stuff that might've been neglected, like the coolant overflow & window washer tanks, power window switch(es), door pockets, various motors, etc.
5.) Double check that the headlight covers aren't old/cracked or they'll fly off on the highway and hit your windshield.
6.) Could be placebo, but after putting in a lifepo4 battery I felt like my car ran better and I've heard the same from other owners (also drops ~20lbs and costs about the same as a lead-acid battery)
7.) Check alternator, starter, clutch pedal/bolt, etc. (stuff that could potentially leave you stranded if it's original & breaks)
8.) Check the bushings. It's likely they need to be replaced. The front ball-joints are non-serviceable and require new arms ($$$)
9.) The later model cars came with softer sway bars. I really like my autoexe swaybars, car feels a lot flatter, and you can change out the endlinks at the same time
Do you happen to know what radiator that is btw? My latest FD came with the same one and I'm trying to figure out a better way to mount it.
Thanks, I appreciate the pointers!
For brakes I agree, the stock rotors and calipers look like plenty for what I plan to do. I've had good luck with EBC Yellowstuff pads on my other cars, I find they bite pretty hard without the noise or excessive dust. I'll probably get a set for this car too.
Interior-wise the dash is in great shape but the door plastics are definitely suffering. I need to do some research and see what's still available.
Steering wheel is in very decent shape but does have some wear at the seams. In my research before I bought the car I had all but decided on an aftermarket wheel, but the stock wheel feels very nice and the airbag is pretty small and unobstructive.
Driver's seat will need a new skin at some point, the outer bolster is almost through to the padding. I've used lseat.com before and it's very high quality leather for the price. Will need to see what other options people like.
Good call on the headlight covers, I hadn't considered those.
The front wipers are comically slow. I found a refurb guide for that. Hopefully just need to clean up the pivots and linkage.
This is all off the top of my head, I really need to make an actual list.
I took some better pics of the radiator and compared to what I could spot in an image search. I think it's the ' 1993-1995 RX-7 Mazda Competition Radiator ' from Mazda RX7 Aluminum Radiator Performance. Mazda RX-7 FD3S.. That's the only one I could find that has these super beefy flanges on the sides.
I'll do some looking around at options. It seemed strange that at higher speeds with more airflow I was seeing higher temps than at similar RPM cruising around town. I know the car's working harder at 80 mph than 40, but a 20-25 deg (F) difference seemed like a lot.
I'll start by seeing if I can turn the fans on earlier, but maybe the undertray can reduce turbulence and help draw out more hot air.
I had ridies leather seat covers installed on my last car and they were great, except I had to throw out the center sections and sew in larger ones because they got the sizing wrong. Definitely gives the car a more premium feel.
