Waking up and seeing it in the garage is inspiration enough for me

 

I just have my priorities straight which is maintenance and reliability. I over look the visual and cosmetic flaws and just drive. I have a 2010 Nissan Titan in the driveway that I pay monthly on and I hate driving it. Nothing like driving an RX7 everyday. I think some people worry too much about how pretty it is, how the rattles develop. Its not a new car and its far from a luxury car so no reason that have those expectations.

 

I have mine for almost 10 years. Its been off the road a few times with the usual stuff, blown engine etc. But i'll tell ye when you put the time and effort into rebuilding the engine for an FD and you dont appreciate the car after, then its not the car for you. Longest I had her off the road was almost two years with turbo problems, but I got married last year and that was the motivation, big effort was put into getting her back on the road and Car was used to transport the happy couple. Again like many the car is only used now as a toy, and will be garaged now over the winter. Absolute class car that will drive you crazy at times, but then for anyone who keeps one longer than a year that is part of the attraction.

P.

 

i love my fd, i hope i never have to / get the urge to sell it.

 

The best way to stay 'dedicated' to ANYTHING is when you DON'T have to be messing with it all the time. NOTHING will turn you off quicker than having to constantly fawk with it. While it is fun to tinker and do regular maintenance, etc on any car, FDs included, there isn't much joy in having to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars and hours/days/weeks of time just keeping a car on the road.
I love my car, and am fortunate in that I have had nothing but fun with it (even the engine rebuild was fun...ONCE!), but if it ever gets to the point of nickle and diming me to death...it is GONE.
I drive my car maybe 20 -30 times a year anymore, and it is really easy to stay infatutated with it when you have nothing but 'feel good' times with it.

 

^What!
No two or three year long unfinished "build thread"? No 500 hp "street beast" aspirations? You won't spend $30k on a $10K car? No tuning dramas or tuner-brand brag rights? Mostly just driving it?.....that's crazy talk.
Get your meds adjusted old man.

 

I guess I fall in the 40k on a 15k car category. But I love it and I enjoy making it into the perfect FD for me. No-one else. Just me.

I have had an obsession with keeping the original design "spirit" of the FD while upgrading/updating many aspects to meet my power/comfort/aesthetics goals.

I stay dedicated by putting her in a bubble thus guaranteeing I wont see any new scratches from cats or raccoons. lol

 

Its always cool when people ask what kind of car it is.
With agressive setup it helps to have a dd for sure.

 

I bought my 4th rotary and my second FD about a year ago. When I bought the FD I was told that the engine had about 2k miles and needed a tune to get it to run correctly. Before I could get that done it started losing coolant and I found coolant seals blown. I think probably from falty installation, but that is just my opinion.

Soneone tried a patch fis with stop leak but that did not work. I tore the engine down and replaced the seals and some other parts. The engine started on less than one revolution and is running better than before, and not even close to running hot, about 83 degc.

Anyway I know FDs need care and attention, just like any other performance car, but I had a choice of several and went for another FD. With any car if you drive them hard they will break so one secret to lonjevity is avoid the temptation to "put your foot in it". This trick will also reduce the amount of "green stamps you feed the bears".

 

10 years and 10+ motors was enough for me.

 

why are you still here...

 

Because I choose to.

 

It goes along with Frit'z Choir statement

 

I just like to check up on people... see what everyone's doing !

 

Wow I think that should be enough for anyone really lol.

Thankfully for me about 8 years and counting. Supposedly 2nd engine and I put 21k miles in those 8 years. Not bad.

 

The Rx7 has a siren call, and if you can't here it then you are a lucky man. I am past the event horizon. I will not be satisfied until I could sneak my FD back onto the showroom floor or get a magazine feature.

If I approached any 20yr old automobile with the attention to detail and expensive taste in parts it would be the same plight.

You need yourself a beast of burden. Get an old EG or something.

 

I purchased a rebuilt with 2k on it, that was back in 2006...I am now at around 10K on top of that, in 5 years...that includes about about 9mo as a DD, and a year or so parked because of maintenance issues...as follows

I had to deal with Smog/exhaust, clutch fork, coolant, battery, relays...but mechanically, the engine has been solid.

That being said, it hasn't been cheap...average cost of play for me has been around 3K/year (oil/fuel not counted), that includes some really nice goodies...including new wheels/tires, body parts, etc... Just maintenance is closer to $300/year for oil changes, coolant and plugs.


~CYD

 

You were definitely doing it wrong. I also went through a bunch of motors back in the day (2000-2001), but with the RA/ALS apex seals and water/meth injection thankfully those dark days are gone for good

 

eh? what's that, sonny?

 

I suspect the 10yrs and 10+ engines was to stir the pot or to spur attention. Didn't Viking War Hammer drag race heavily, thus a rebuild for every race season? Maybe I am thinking of someone else? I doubt it was 10 engines on a street car, daily or not.

 

8 years, same apex seals.

That might change after I put in the high compression rotors, though.

 

Like mentioned before, just seeing it the garage is inspiration enough for me. Still the original 20 year old engine.

 

Im torn between rebuilding my FD or buying a 2012 GTR. Fml the FD sure can steal a heart. I think the blood and sweat bond will have me keep it... maybe I'll use it as a coffin.

 

The way I deal with it is like this

I spent around 20k on my car (including original purchase of car) its got a single turbo, new paint job, vmount, everything in the suspension replaced, and all high end stuff to support all the mods.

The car looks great handles awesome fast as hell and on top if it unique. Does it have its quirks? Yes it does, but because I did everything on the car myself I know it inside and out so maintenance on the car is easy.

If I were to take 20k and go look for a car that comes close to my rx7 no freaking way would I find anything that comes close.

In conclusion, the reason I deal with the rx7's quirks is simple, the car is a bargain for what you get. I don't mind spending the little bit extra a year to keep it running perfectly.

Yes I said the fd is a bargain.. that has probably never been said about the car before ha

 

Seeing it parked up makes me smile, driving it makes me feel alive,
It's a drug. Regular maintenance and fixing problems keeps it running good.
Guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

Rix