Greetings. I am in the market for a 3rd gen. I am looking at the option of buying a pre-moddified RX7, which would have app. 350rwhp. Or, I am thinking about buying a "project" RX7, fixing it back to stock, and then modifying it to attain the 350rwhp (or there abouts).

Advantage of pre-modded: No wait time while the car is being fixed, no headaches from fixing it.

Advantages of project: added cost of mod parts, knowing everything about the car (since I would have fixed a lot), knowing I "built" it

Right now I'm leaning towards a project car. I could afford to get a "junk" 7 & fix it to stock, plus i wouldn't plan on driving it (or be able to afford the insurance) until mid summer next year or possibly the summer after that. I have no idea how much the add-on parts I would need to attain app. 350rwhp would cost me though... so...

How much would the performance modifications I would need to get about 350rwhp cost me? I know there are cheap & expensive parts which claim to do the same thing, so use your best judgement. If you wouldn't use the part in your car, don't use it for mine.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hrmm the way I think of it... When someone with a modded car sells his car , he usually loses alot of money from the mods and doesnt get his money back.. So thinking on that note , you will save money on buying the 350hp , than taking the time to get a stock one up to 350hp..

 

Before you spend up to $17-20K on everything, spend a week online looking up prices of parts, reading about how to do things, and understanding what you're getting into. If you base your decision on this one post, you're going to lose money.

 

Not to be rude, but I know that. I am wondering how much it would cost in parts to get the car upt to 350rwhp. I would be willing to pay a bit more to build the car up myself. Plus, I could buy a project 7, then once its running, it could be driveable (which is still fun stock), and then I could add-on parts as funds are availible.

 

Like Silver93 said , just search around and start pricing out everything , im pretty sure there is a good thread on how to make 350hp. Remember you have to pay for tunning , and with project 7s , you should always expect the worse.

 

I'm looking at a project 7 that I could get for $2500 (engine fire). Throw in a used complete engine & man tranny I found for $2000 (50k miles), & I have a close to running 7.

 

i am a firm believer of "let the buyer beware" especially when it comes to modified cars...you are buying someone elses problem. it might have been done wrong, it might be on the verge of blowing up, some of the parts listed might not actually be on the car...it's much better to do it yourself from scratch.

 

Let me put it to you on numbers. I have put around $4k on the motor alone to get close to 350whp. But it doesn't include the other stuff to help the 350whp to get to the ground. That would be another $4k. So you are better off buy a car that has been modded then go from there. But you need to read a lot about the car first so you can understand it.

 

I am under the same mindset as "Pressurized". If I were to buy a pre-modded 7, I don't know what was done to get the hp. Plus the parts could have been installed by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Plus stuff could have been cut out that was in the way. If I could get a project 7, plus a rebuilt engine & tran for around $5k, I think it would be better to do it myself. Even if I spend $10k on parts (which I have read on forums $3-5k on engine, plus all the suspension stuff), that would still put me at about where a pre-modded HIGH MILES 7 would cost me.

But please keep this discussion going, I want to know what everyone thinks so I can make the most informed decision possible.

 

I don't understand what you are doing? You say you can't afford insurance but you can afford to spend money on modifications?? Either you driving record is horrible, you are 16, or a mix of both. If you can't afford insurance for a year possibly two then this isn't the car for you. Plus I can't imagine buying a vehicle and then not being able to drive it for possibly two years unless it was a complete resto. Maybe you should just save your money untill you can afford the car and insurance. Wait till you understand the car then mod it. While your saving you can research the car to understand what your getting into.

 

You obviously need to do some more research. I doubt you're going to get any decent engine/tranny for $2k and if you do it sure isn't going to make you 350rwhp or last very long at it. I'd imagine the main wiring harness, sensors, ect would all need to be replaced too ...and what, do your expect us to come up with a detailed list for you pricing every part that it would take to get to 350hp? Get real.

 

Okay, what I MEANT (I know, this is different from what I said) I won't be buying a pre-mod until next summer or possibly the next. The $15k to $20k price tag is something I can not afford right now. HOWEVER, I could afford the $5k I would need to get a project 7. I could spend the time between now & next summer fixing it up to 'stock'. I could then drive it next summer stock, or if funding was availible, add parts.

You can flame on if you want about how I'm 16 & can't drive (neither of which is true), that's your time wasted. I'm just here to get opinions so I can make an informed decision.

 

You can usually not build a modded car cheaper than you can find an already modded car being sold. Because mods do not always carry over to the selling price.

For instance. I'm told by those in the know my car would probably carry a $17,500-19,000 price on the open market. Here's a list of the car's background and mods, and my cost for those mods. Note that I do my own engine building, labor, install work, etc. as well as a lot of good deals on trading, so actual costs could be considerably higher. You'll see that I have, in theory, far more invested than the car is worth. Or, put another way, a man could not replicate my car for what it would sell for. This is true of most highly modded cars.

-cost of stock/blown FD 2 years ago $6800
-paint/body work, $2500
-wheels/tires $1900
-body parts/lights $2600
-ported 3mm engine, single turbo setup, custom resonated midpipe, fuel system, 3 row IC/piping/elbow, pullies, fluidyne rad, r1 oil coolers, other mods, $6000
-PFC and commander $800
-big brake kit $1200
-jspec trans to replace bad 5th gear stocker $600
-clutch and flywheel $750

There's over $23k in parts cost, not counting for labor/installation/tuning. Plus I still havent touched the suspension yet, at least another grand there whenever I do. Yet the car's value will stay about the same regardless of what more is done to it from thi point on. This is the case most of the time.

So its obviously better to buy a built car from a cost standpoint as well as time/trouble (as I have hundreds of man-hours in this car which is time I dont get paid for). the only problem is that you can't be sure of the quality of parts or work that went into the build, and you also may not know specifics about the setup/installation from a technical standpoint.

 

Man, people are friendly here. I found a factory rebuilt engine for $2500, and that was with only looking for 5 minutes.

As far as what I wanted from this post... I did NOT want a detailed listing of parts & exact pricing... that OBVIOUSLY isn't reasonable. What I THINK is reasonable is for owners who have moddified their 7 to be able to post something like "I have about 318rwhp... & i spent about $7,500 on parts"... doesn't seem like I'm asking that much, maybe I'm mistaken.

 

I think you're going at it the wrong way. A car is MUCH more than a dyno sheet.

I've seen cars that made that type of power that were ratty, torn seats, bad paint, engine bay a mess, leaking oil, you name it. But, there's also cars that make 350 that are really nice, well-done cars. There's MANY ways to get to that amount of power with an FD, some of which aren't necessarily the right way that will give a stable, long-lived setup.

Also, if you're looking at a fire damaged car, there's MUCH more involved than just putting in a motor and tranny. I would hesitate to recommend a fire damaged FD to someone as their first FD, unless the damage was VERY light. You really need to know these cars to do that level of a rebuild - there's MUCH more under the hood than you'd guess.

I bought the nicest, cleanest, nearly-stock FD that I could find. I've found that you're typically money ahead with a car that's clean, with good paint, solid interior, straight body, etc. All the little stuff, like broken interior plastics, bad seats, etc. add up to a SUBSTANTIAL chunk of change.

It also depends on what you want the car for - if you want a daily or weekend driver, find the cleanest, best-running car you can for the money.

You also need to look at what your commitment to the car will be. A project car WILL take a great deal of time, patience, and some cash in addition to the selling price of the car. Does your life allow you to make that type of commitment? You could also quite easily reach your horsepower goal while driving the car every day - 350 out of the stock twins isn't out of the ordinary, just mod the car on weekends and drive during the week. I went that route with my FC.

BTW, I've got a guide to finding the perfect FD on my website in my sig below (http://www.clubrx.org) - might give you some pointers on how to find the right car.

Good luck,
Dale

 

DaleClark - I'm looking at that "perfect fd" guide... all i see is an intro... I must be looking at the wrong page... this is all I see...

"The Perfect FD
Building the Perfect FD
I've come up with a philosophy for building the Perfect FD. Read on to find out more!


So, what is the perfect FD?

To start with, Mazda made one helluva sports car to start with. Gorgeous body, fantastic suspension and chassis, and an amazing powerplant. But, to bring it to market they had to make a number of compromises to sell it in North America - some due to emissions, some due to costs, some due to various regulations.

My goal is to make my car what Mazda R&D would have made if the bean counters and rulemakers didn't get their fingers in the pie. I also don't want to sacrifice comfort or reliability.

So, what's the formula?

I have put a LOT of thought into this. I used to have an '88 turbo RX-7 that I went full-bore with, and I ended up with an obnoxious, unreliable car that I didn't enjoy driving. My FD is my daily driver - I plan on enjoying it every day, but that also puts some limits on what I can do to the car as far as time. But, so far I've been able to work around that.

First, the car needs to be in the best shape possible - as close to factory fresh as possible. The previous owner had some sort of car stereo system in there"

 

It's also hard for many people to estimate how much they spent to make x amount of power. VERY few people buy all the parts in one shot, and many people buy parts, outgrow them, and sell them for something bigger/more capable/etc.

You also end up spending a lot of money on parts that don't make power - suspension, brakes, cooling, general maintenance, tires, etc. Not to mention fixing general stuff with the car. You have to look at a car as a total system - if you can make 350hp, but you have crap tires, brakes, and your car is overheating, that's a worthless setup. Tires is a biggie - trust me, you'll be bitten VERY hard in an FD with junk tires.

I know you don't want any age comments, but is this your first car? The FD is a great car, but it's not a good first car - it's pricey to maintain, drinks gas, will be VERY expensive on insurance, and IT WILL bite you if you haven't had plenty of experience with high horsepower rear wheel drive cars. You definitely don't want to sink a lot of money into something that could be wrapped around a phone pole - been there, done that with my first FC.

Dale

 

My bad - it's in the How-To's section -

http://www.clubrx.org/default.asp?id...ntent=25&mnu=5

I haven't finished that Perfect FD section yet .

Dale

 

No, I don't mind the age comment, I don't like the rude comments in general (after all, I am here for advice of those who know more than I). This will be my 4th car. I am 21. I had a 1989 RX7 vert a few years ago & sold it for something more 'practical' (Jeep Grand Cherokee). Well I miss the sporty RX7, & now that the Jeep is paid for, I would like to buy a 3rd gen 7.

& did you see my comment about that perfect FD guide DALECLARK? I couldn't find anything with much substance to it? Could you send me a link to the guide itself or tell me where the full guide is at?

 

Ahh, I went to the "Features", "The Perfect FD"... it was just a teaser intro. THanks for the link.

 

That guide of yours is really good. I think I'll just save up my pennies & buy a pre-modded one next summer. I'll just run the car I'm interested in past the forum to make sure I'm not getting a bunch of junk parts & work.

Thanks to everyone who posted.

 

This thread seemed familiar...

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...78#post4561478

I posted some prices of mods in your earlier thread. They haven't changed in a few days.

 

smart choice

 

Didn't realize that was the entire parts list to get an FD up to 350rwhp...

 

if you buy someone elses project...you are buying someone else's trouble shooting too, and rigging, etc...BUYER BEWARE