rx7 reality check please....
 

I currently own a 1991 miata, sold my turbo NB a while back and I'm itching for boost again... Today someone trades in a 93 rx7 at the dealer I work for, we paid 6500 bucks for it. I am able to acquire this car for what we paid, plus some fees, and whatever it takes to get through maryland state inspection, so figure on a good day, for under 8 grand.... The car has 95k on the odometer, and is bone stock with no evidence of any previous mods, 5spd, green with tan leather. It has hail damage to the top surfaces, and some door dings but nothing major, and some wear on the drivers seat.

The car idles fine, seems to have a vacuum leak somewhere (big suprise lol), the tach is acting up, as is the oil pressure guage, but no CEL or any other badness, clutch seems fine, small clunk over bumps in the rear.

The question is.... do I get it? Seems like a good deal, it's always been my dream car, and I think I can sell the 91 pretty easy (only 45k original miles)
I have to talk to my credit union about cash flow, as I don't have the money outright to buy it, I'll do that monday, but in the meantime.... I solicit your thoughts!

do you work at carmax?

Depends on how much work you want to put into it. I'm usually not one to bash rotaries, but they were more work in my case than I ever planned for. I've gone through 3 and all of them were almost always needing something done to them. At the same time all of mine were at least 6 years older than the '93. For $8k, I'd probably say go for it, I've always wanted an FD.

How familiar are you with the wankel? I too have always wanted a FD...

I'm familiar enough, I owned an 86 gxl back in the day and I loved it to death despite the fact it happened to be a giant piece of shit. Brain, yes I work there :)

There are so many better cars you could buy for $8k I wouldn't even consider that purchase.
Then again I like ~'00 VAG cars so what do I know.

LSx swap. Would be immensely awesome, and they're gorgeous cars.

x2

Will it be your daily?

yes it would be my daily, I'd be keeping it stockish for reliability reasons.

I love fd's and my buddy had one.... it was like a dsm, off the road more than it was on. So get it, and when the rotary shits LSx Swap.

I love me some Wankel goodness. I've had four FB's (including one beat-to-shit GSL-SE), and one FC GXL. My dad had an FD for a while, and that thing was like crack to me - so smooth, so buttoned down, and stupid-fast at the time. From what I understand, the FD's main downfall is the sequential twin-turbo system, which involves lots of BS vacuum solenoids and flapper valves. If it's not maintained properly, then things can go awry and cost lots of money. For $8K I'd be tempted to take a chance on it if it ran good and boosted properly. The bugs can be worked out, and a single-turbo conversion is always a possibility... and so is the LSx swap.

Another vote for LS1 swap. An FD with an LS1 would be WAY up on my list of coolest cars to own list. I know of two in my area and videos I have seen as awesome. Yet to get a ride in one though. FD is super sexy inside and out, and if the engine is in good shape and is kept unmodified will be decently reliable. I found the biggest problems with my RX7's was not the engine itself, but the emissions controls and heat dried and rotted wiring and hoses. My '87 T2 needed to have a whole new engine harness, which I never got around to getting before I sold it. Wires would break completely in half if kinked. That good old rotary turbo heat.

A local guy that owns BNR Supercars (Bryan) which some rotary guys might know, can modify the stock turbos to flow a little better and run non sequential. If I wasn't going for big power, that would be my route.

Get the FD! But I must say fuck the fast and the furious, these cars should be sold at cheaper prices.

I figure I'll go through all the vacuum hosing and replace/simplify it first.... I'd prolly go to a single turbo for simplicity's sake in the future, or, once it's paid for do the ls1 swap i was planning on for my NA

For what they are, they already go pretty cheap. In their day, and even still today from the factory they are pretty damn impressive. Then you add in the rarity factor and the fact that they often go for a little as $10k with low mileage is pretty amazing I think.

Oh I just saw the mileage. Thats good actually. My 96 has like 140k I think.

As a daily, I don't recommend it. You'll be getting into more mechanical messes than your old NB, that's for sure. Also, LS swap is a major endeavor which does not equal daily driver.

Annnnnd there's lots of these floating around now for under 10k. Check out this one on craigslist now. Already has some mods. 1994 RX-7

My final vote though, is for you to buy the car, work on it, and get a bicycle for a daily.. :)

Quoted both for truth.

Upgrading or otherwise modifying the FD as a daily driver is a bad bad bad idea IMHO, it'll certainly break down.

If you buy it, keep the miata and daily it.

Lsx FD is my dream car.. If it were lower miles/rebuilt id buy it.

If I got a stock FD for cheap and the facilities to do so I would consider doing some basic resto work on it and keeping it around for sunday drives only. Those cars will get valuable again as collectable in 15 or 20 years. They were severely over-valued for a long time, most got modded to hell/blown up/wrapped around trees. So they will probably fetch a good price someday if un-fucked in any major fashion.

If was going to do a an LSX swap on a car that was going to get used a lot I would probably do an FC or a 240SX. Then I dont mind if some drunk smashes it up. FD chassis are a bit harder to come by. You can get ragged out F&F refugee FC and 240s for 2K al day with plenty of crap to sell off them to ricers to make up the cost of the LSX a bit.

I worked in the business office, so I got to see all the wholesale cars before anyone :)

Got screwed out of buying a $500 mustang 5.0 so I quit. The mechanic failed me on a bunch of BS so I couldnt register it, then the next day he drove it to work cause he bought it and passed it himself, even thought the sway bar bushings were bad...it was lame, took it up with the GM, they didnt care so i quit.

Late to the party.
Attachment 200154

3 rotor swap it!

If your gonna do a 3 rotor, you might as well do a 4 rotor...

+1000. This would be my next project. Love the chassis and body, hate the engine.

I had a montego/tan 94 touring for a while. Never had any problems out of it, but I also took a proactive stance in selling the car before it had the opportunity to fail on me. I put it in the autotrader the day the odometer rolled 60K. And it was not my daily.

Even with my good experience, I wouldn't recommend a stock one as a daily driver. The motor will eventually fail on you, and the stock twin turbo management is an absolute nightmare--and often some of the components have been known to melt due to the extreme heat.

If I did have to own another FD, I would again get a 94 because it has a few refinements and dual airbags. A 95 would also be great, but due to their rarity, sometimes they command a premium even though it's the same car as 94.

A 94 shell with a V8 swap would probably be a fine daily. The dual bags should command a significant insurance discount versus the 93 and its single bag. There's no supply shortage of FDs with blown motors out there.

Ok here is my FD expereince. Buddy buys the car for 8000 because it wasn't making any power, we find clogged pre-cat. Eliminate the clog. Now the car over boosts a little. Installed intercooler and radiator and 3 inch exhaust/dp. Ran it for 3000 more miles. One day it starts smoking real bad and and won't run/ make power. Takes to the rotary guy, finds out blow apex seals.

Rebuilds engine, gets it installed. Drives it 1000 miles while breaking it in. Apparently a bubble doesn't get burped from the cooling system correctly (everyone was pointing they're fingers at each other) coolant seal dies, engine goes. Shit.

Engine gets rebuilt again, we make damn sure there is no bubble. 2 weeks later, we are raising hell, and all the sudden a huge ass cloud of smoke comes from the tail pipe. We look under the car to find fire in the high flow cat installed, good thing he had that anodized blue fire extinguisher i gave him hell for a day earlier. Turbo's dead, shit.

He goes to Iraq. Orders all kinds of nifty parts, aem, huge ass injectors, single kit. Has it tuned by a reputable tuner in the area. 2 months later, TOAST.

His next step was to sell it for 11k and get and a G35.

VQs seem to boost pretty well :)

I'm certainly not afraid of the miantenance, and I plan on doing all the reliability mods. I've also been reading that cars with a reasonable single turbo setup and the right fuel mods do pretty well on the reliability scale due to reduced heat and a simplified boost control system, so that may be a route to explore.

I'm not opposed to swapping the car if need arises, it certainly seems well taken care of mechanically at this point, so I can surmise that the previous owner put the work in to make it nearly 100k on the car... I'm trying to decide if I can afford to keep the miata as a daily or not and still buy the rx7, if I can, I'm defenitely going to get it provided I don't get raped on state inspection. I love tinkering, so it seems it might be a good fit for me :) I could always swap in a spare Bp as well lol.

Well i think we have all told you to get it, so buy the damn thing allready. Put a huge ass single on it, then when the rotary lets go, transfer the turbo to your new LS1.

My thoughts too.

Umm yeah lol, deep down I think we all lust for that car. If I saw one for a reasonable deal, I would jump all over it. One day I WILL own one, rotary powered or not. It will eventually have an ls1. This is why I would probably not ls1 my current car.

How much more is the series 8 there? Apparently they are much more reliable than the series 6 (93), and the OEM body kit looks sex too:

http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...111399_9lo.jpg

we didn't get the series 8 cars... :( Mazda stopped selling them here early...

I have to wait on state inspection to get a final price and decide if it's still a good deal or not. I'll certainly keep you guys updated!

What are the chances that you can buy it and at least flip it for more on an enthusiast form. I'd never turn down an opportunity to make a couple g's.

I think I can buy it, give it a good detail, and flip it for a couple grand.... always an option!

If you're gonna spend the money and do a motor swap, might as well go for the gold...

GE T58-8F:

The General Electric T58 is a free-shaft axial flow gas turbine. The compressor has 10 stages with variable inlet guide vanes and variable stators on the first three stages. The compression ratio is 8.4:1, it flows approximately 13.7 lb/s (11,000 cfm) @ 27,300 rpm. The combustion chamber is of the annular design. Two turbines drive the compressor and one drives the load through the rear at 20,500 rpm. Specific fuel consumption is 0.64 lb/shp/h. The engine weighs 350 lb [159 kg] and produces approximately 1,400 hp. With a 3.25:1 reduction gearbox this engine will produce 1,270 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm.

Or C-5M engines, only one of these would make your car haul ass.

CF6-80C2

The CF6-80C2, which entered revenue service in October 1985, has a thrust rating of 52,500 to 63,500 lbf (234 to 282 kN). It has a reputation of good new engine fuel economy in its thrust class, but unfortunately degrades quickly over time. The CF6-80C2 is certified with 16 different thrust ratings. This versatile engine has the most widespread use of any large turbofan engine.[citation needed]

For the CF6-80C2-A1, the fan diameter is increased to 93 in (2.36 m), with an airflow of 1750 lb/s (790 kg/s). Overall pressure ratio is 30.4, with a bypass ratio of 5.15. Static thrust is 59,000 lbf (263 kN). An extra stage is added to the HP compressor, and a 5th to the LP turbine.

The CF6-80C2 is currently certified on eleven wide-body aircraft models including the Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11. The CF6-80C2 is also certified for ETOPS-180 for the A300, A310, Boeing 767, and, as the F108-GE-100, the U.S. Air Force's C-5M Super Galaxy.

Haha, mucho funny.. me thinks this guy isn't Jay Leno, however, and prefers tank/helicopter/turbine generators in their respective locations... or, not cars.

So, I do here/know that a good way to keep a rotary reliable after you've gotten ahold of it is running Methanol injection. The only issue is that if the car doesn't have a fresh motor I'm not sure I'd do it. The basic theory is that carbon build-up is the main killer of the engines, and by utilizing methanol/water injection you prevent this from ever happening, thus saving the Apex seals from hitting a bit of carbon and deciding to off itself.

If you did try this out, I'd ask the Rotary guru's about it since you've got a 100kmi motor. I think when I was researching it the best bet some said would be to run catless for a bit incase you had build-up in the cat. However, I don't see why that aspect would be any different from a gas engine adding W/I... Hard to say

Anyway, for sure buy it, and have fun with it. Maybe if you don't like it after a month or two you can actually get a net gain out of it, as long as you don't go mad on mods.

I passed on the car... I had it on the lift, and noticed that one of the drivers seat mounting points (the rear one closest to the rocker panel) is rusting out... I'm perfectly capable of fixing it, but I don't feel like it's worth it at this point. after Maryland stste inspection, the car would have been nearly 9k with tax tags and title, I can get a much cleaner example for that...

do it, do it now.....my friend has an LS1 fd that ran 12.0 with no other mods than a custom exhaust.

if you don't want it, i'll take it lol