gw7

Hi all, love that this flame-free section exists. Need that as a new forum user/past lurker. Prepare for the thoughts of a person who doesn't know what he's doing and needs a hand.

I'm currently hunting for my dream FD, or a car I could build to become that. Really hoping for white and RHD, and willing to be extremely patient until the right one comes along. I need your help determining what the "right" one is.

There are two options floating around in my head. I'm looking for feedback, advice, or other directions you'd recommend. I would like to keep the total budget around $27,000. I know that's not much in FD world, but I am looking at RHD models, and I've seen very clean ~60k mile examples going for $19-$23k. I should also add that I am 100% okay with buying used parts from forums and Facebook marketplace to save a few bucks — not everything has to be brand new off the shelf.

Example car here:
The goal for the car is a reliable (as it can be) ripper that is comfortable around town for casual drives and date nights out with the fiancee, but can handle canyon carving or the occasional track day and not skip a beat besides the usual stuff (brake pads and fluid, oil change, tires, etc).

I would love to do a few power mods and get the car into the 300-350whp range to wake it up a bit if I can afford it, but to be honest, finding a nice set of coils and wheels + tires is probably more important to me off the bat. I'm coming from a 420whp STI, but that car is a pig at 3,350lbs and an FD at that 300-350 range would feel like just as much of a rocket. Even a stock FD engine would be fun in its own ways, I'm sure. Power numbers do not make or break a car for me.

Anyway, the two routes my brain has cooked up:

Option 1
Find a really nice OEM or OEM+ example, preferably with records or at least signs of being well-maintained around 50-70k miles. Cost-wise, this should run around what I mentioned above, in that $19-$23k range.

From there, it would be nice to do wheels + tires, coilovers, and a little maintenance refresh along with some power adders. I'd figure $2.5k for a halfway decent wheel and tire setup, $1.5k for some Fortune Autos or similar quality coils. That would bring me to $23,000-$27,000 (hopefully the former).

Let's get anecdotal for a moment. Figure I get lucky and score a halfway-clean car for $21k with coils already installed and I'm adding $2.5k with some wheels and tires ($23,500).

What could I do with the remaining money? (~$3,500 in this example.) Reliability mods like sorting the rat's nest and a two stroke reservoir setup would come first, yes — but from there, is it even worth trying to add power on a budget of $3500? For example, BNR Stage 3s are $2,350 not counting a single supporting mod or a tune. A BorgWarner 8374 or another quality single turbo is going to be ~$1,800 not counting a single conversion part, supporting mod (fuel, cooling, etc.) or tune.

Would it even be safe to upgrade the turbos or convert to a single on that old of a car without a full rebuild? I feel like at that point, I'd be best off just doing a couple of little bolt-ons like exhaust and intake and having the car tuned as-is because more power just seems WAY out-of-budget.

Option 2
Find a car with low compression/blown engine that's otherwise clean. I have no idea what this would cost, so let's get anecdotal again and say $15,000. That would leave me with roughly $12,000 to play with. Let's subtract another $4,000 for wheels, tires, and coils leaving me with $8,000.

Would $8,000 or so be enough budget to tow the car to a reputable shop and have it rebuilt and set up to hit that 350-400whp mark? Or is that a total pipe dream?

I'd be thinking rebuild/refresh, mild port that gets me some braps and better flow, turbo (or turbos) upgraded, fuel pump and injectors, cooling (radiator and possibly intercooler?) and labor for the whole shebang. Plus a tune. I doubt I'd be able to fit a nifty V-mount in that budget, but who knows. Am I smoking something funky?

More thoughts: If I go this route, would I be better finding a rolling chassis or shell (hopefully with an interior) for like $8,000 and going completely nuts on stuff like a big brake kit and a paint job while the engine is out?

Looking for any and all wisdom you guys are willing to share. Quite excited about getting into an FD, as I've had an obsession with these cars for quite some time and honestly never thought I'd have the chance to own one. But as you can tell, I need a bit of help determining my build's direction and allocating my budget properly.
THANK YOU sage forum users for your advice. Remember, this is the flame-free noob section so please be nice.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Option#1. Find a clean car with a sound engine running properly. Change ALL fluids. Supporting mods always should start with cooling...all metal radiator (Fluidyne and Koyo are popular), AST, all coolant hoses, especially turbo coolant lines. S5 FC fan thermoswitch is pnp and lowers low-speed fan threshold from 105 C. to 95 C. Most standalone ECUs will also let you do this. Dual oil coolers if you don’t already have them. Consider a simple boost-activated WI system.
THEN consider things like a silicone hose vacuum job, header wrapping the downpipe, a hi-flow cat and cat-back. Note I did not mention a midpipe or test pipe with the stock twins. (See “boost creep”).
Since you intend to add power you will need a standalone ECU. A popular and proven one is the Apexi PFC. Not as cutting edge but a new one with a commander will probably be the most reasonable and there’s good support here. It also allows you to remove emissions which greatly simplifies things under hood...including that hose job.

You don’t need a lot more than that to reach your power goal other than intake and a larger SMIC. No bigger turbos...you really shouldn’t even need to raise boost (so you will need boost control, manual or electronic) which helps things last a lot longer.
Read through this thread https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...added-1104322/

For suspension on some budget I’d look at Tein or Ground Control with Koni’s. Play with sway bars as money allows. Since you want something civilized for date night, stay with OEM if any pillow-***** or bushings need replacing. If engine mounts are stock they’ll probably need attention. Search for more info.
FWIW if you decipher my signature it lists all performance mods. I probably make about 300 whp (~ 350 FW) that’s been very reliable and fun.
My .02

AE_Racer

iTrader: (1)

Owning a RHD FD myself, and doing tons of research, finding one with maintenance records will be difficult. A lot of the cars i've seen pop up over the past few years come with guesses and bad translating from the auction sheet.. And that's all the history you get.

You may get lucky and find one with lowish miles that has been meticulously kept up but I would be prepared to do these things on your average car:

• Have money set aside for a rebuild/new engine. Roughly $5k will get you a brand new engine from Mazda or you can have your local rotary specialist rebuild what you have. Not necessary to do until its blown obviously, but if you don't have a history of rebuild you don't want to be caught by surprise when it goes.
• Be prepared to spend $4-$500 without labor on replacing all of the rubber under the hood. Coolant hoses, vacuum lines, throw in a new FPD while you're in there. While the coolant system is open, a new water pump and tstat are no brainers.
• These cars have pillowball joints in the rear suspension, these will run you another $400+ depending OEM or J Auto replacements, plus labor and alignment. A car with 70-80k miles will likely need them if they haven't been replaced. They make clunking noises when worn.

As for reliability, a new OEM or aftermarket AST are a must if not already done. Or delete it totally. A new radiator is also another "while you're in there", Koyo's are great and what I use.

A healthy stock engine should support 400whp no problem. This is where it gets expensive. Anything past intake and exhaust is going to result in boost creep and even if thats under control you will need more fuel for the extra boost. At 14psi I was seeing 99% duty cycle. Bigger secondaries and pump will fix this but you should consider the future plans. Obviously this will require an ECU and tune. You are limited on options if you want to keep the twins and sequential control. And even further limiting will be what your tuner is willing to work with.

As far as finding a shell and building.. I've just told you some basic costs, these cars are expensive. Things you find like broken or missing interior pieces, add up very quickly and some can be really hard to find. A stripped rear interior, for example, could run you up to $2k or more to replace.

My advice, working within a budget, and if I could do it all over again... Find a car local, or that you're willing to travel to, whether RHD or USDM. Preferably from an upstanding forum member. Most of the guys still hanging around here have gone through every inch of these cars and know them well. What should be done, what needs to be replaced, etc. A well sorted example may come at a premium but it will likely save you money in the long run. These cars are old now, and need lots of love from the right owners. Good luck, feel free if you have any questions.

gmanpie

Just a note, you CAN get vehicle history for JDM imports, but it's expensive. There's some importers that will do the legwork for you by going to their equivalent of the DMV. You can probably get it after the fact as well. I exported a car from Japan and re-imported it to Japan years later and they had the car's records still. I got to find out that it was last registered in Fukushima prefecture and I'd bought the car shortly after that disaster... I've seen around $200+ quoted for basically what amounts to a carfax report in a language you can't read. It probably won't be easily OCR'd either, so you'd want to pay a translator another $100-200 to get it translated. But if you find a really clean Spirit R or are going to spend a lot of money on something, it might be worth the extra expense. Generally the auction sheets are pretty accurate when it comes to obvious stuff such as accident history, visible damage, and overall condition. The engine compression and stuff like that won't be tested for though so it's buyer beware with that.

If you're planning on importing one (not sure if you're importing or buying a RHD locally), I've tried a few companies and ending up doing it myself both times. Both times I tried out various companies and Auto Access japan was the best experience I had. They're Aussie/U.S. expat run so the buying experience is easy and they actually go inspect the cars at the auction lots which is important. I paid about a $1000 deposit up front and they'd go inspect various FD's at the auction site. That ate up about $200 of my deposit, and I ended up buying my car elsewhere but overall that's the kind of experience you should get if you're paying someone to do it for you. Avoid non-Japanese/expat run companies. There's a lot of Pakistani run companies that, in my experience, are focused on volume exports to Asia and aren't really in the mindset of letting you know if that silver FD you want is actually blowing white smoke, but that there's a red one right next to it in better condition that you could bid on instead. Anyway, enough shilling. Like I said, I ended up doing it myself both times because you save a little bit of money and things just kind of worked out that way.

In my experience with RHD FDs, in both cases I spent probably $7-8k getting them into what I would call daily-drivable condition. The first one needed new suspension, a lot of exterior fixes (paint, cracked fiberglass, de-Ricing, etc.), new turbos, new vacuum lines, and eventually a new motor after about 1.5 years. The second one needed some interior help and a lot of miscellaneous mechanical stuff like replacement of engine bay plastics, vacuum lines, power steering system. In either case, you'll want to replace all fluids in everything, get new brake pads & rotors, air filters, tires, basically anything consumable on the car.

You'll probably need an engine rebuild as well, because if it was running well and in stock condition it would've stayed registered in Japan in the first place. Basically, if it doesn't leave the country with a "Shaken" inspection, which most auction cars don't, it wasn't considered road-worthy enough at the time to register. If it had a valid inspection and the engine was in good condition, then when it was sold to a local used car dealership they probably would've sold it to a local instead selling it at auction.



[Edit:] I haven't touched your power goals, just what I'd want to do to get a car livable and not have it be sitting in my garage all the time broken. Date nights would certainly make me want to make sure the interior is looking good, which most cars aren't.

As far as power goals, I'd first look at doing a stock intake mod (cheap bastard mod only requires a dremel and some sheet metal bending, totally DIY), a full exhaust, and a tune. I forgot to mention that the catalytic converter on the car is probably in need of replacement after 25 years, so you might as well replace everything else while you're down there. A racing beat exhaust is nice if you want it to look stock and sound tame, and I'd recommend a Trust titanium exhaust if you want loud noise, a little more performance, and weight savings. An ECU and tune will probably cost you over $1k, so factor that in as well. Some recent testing seems to suggest that as long as you don't straight pipe it you're probably safe without getting a new ECU, but to play things safe, support future modding, and just for the car to drive better around town it's probably worth going for. A lightweight flywheel is also a good idea (don't forget to replace clutch while you're at it) and won't require tuning which is a plus.

Here's a good thread with dyno results for each part added: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...added-1104322/

I skipped suspension. Coilovers don't last forever and I think Teins are garbage, so if there's anything on the car I'd probably throw it out. I went with Ohlins on my last car and they were everything people rave about. If you want to track the car a lot you'd want to opt for stiffer spring rates than they normally sell, but the defaults they come with should work fine for occasional track & autocross driving if they're set to stiff. I've used Koni's in the past and liked them, but they were inferior and I don't think the hassle is worth saving maybe $500.

SingleTurboRx7

I have brought cars over from Japan and Asia as well as Europe. unless you go over there and buy from an individual and arrange your own shipping there is no telling what you are buying. Most of the JDM stuff that has made its way here were sitting in scrap yards, and gets hacked up or dealt around the world. They literally stick them in a container along with what ever else will fit and then stick it on a boat.

Another option would be to look in the UK, RHD just like the JDM models, and the laws are a little less restrictive, and easier to arrange a deal with a private seller. shipping is also a bit easier, I helped a friend bring over a Lotus Elise a couple years ago and it was easier then some of the car deals I have done here in the US.

as far as owning an FD, its a 25 year old car (maybe older), and its going to have old car issues, its always going to need something. as for engines, you will need a rebuild at some point, but thats fairly easy and relatively inexpensive compared to modern sports cars.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Quoted for emphasis

BrianC1

Already quoted but a very valid point alot of people don't realise when importing, dealer RX7 are often alot dearer than auctions for this reason