well ive been doing shopping a few posts about questions and reading other posts and i can't help but notice alot of trouble with this/that. Are these cars or maybe engine itself so unpreddicatable although a majority of reliability mods are in place? Is it juss the nature of the engine? I juss wanna know exactly what im getting into should i decide to buy one i mean how much can i expect to spend on this car in a yr outside of maintence e.g. oil, gas etc thx

 

Read my sig.

 

Depends on what you consider unreliable.

 

The RX-7 is best described as the Japanese Ferrari, it requires constant care and maintenance but when taken care of the car loves to run at its limits.

The basic rules of the car are:
:Maintenance, always on time or prior to actual need
:Reliability mods FIRST (radiator, downpipe, and silicone vacuum lines)
:2 performance mod rule, get an ECU afterwards (intake, cat-back, IC, etc)
:Never boost or rev the car when under operating temperature
:Once the car is warmed up feel free to run the car at its limits
:Always take an easy the last 5 minutes of your drive to allow the turbos to cool

That being said, my car has surprised me a few times and will surprise me many more. I knew this when I bought her and I enjoy the lessons I learn from each 'adventure'. Yes, in 'normal' terms the FD is unreliable but for the kind of car it is, it is not all that unreliable at all. Just dont buy an FD if you plan to mod it out without backing it up with proper care... if you plan to do that get a Supra.

~Kris

 

I spent $12,900 on the car and about $10,000 over the last 18 months.

 

never had a single issue with my car other than this damn tachometer that keeps bouncing around oddly... sometimes it reads correctly, other times its 300rpm over, other times its 1000rpm over (i know this based on my PFC commander)... its like 75%, 12.5%, 12.5% though, so its only mildly annoying.

 

Knock on wood...my 100% stock 94 FD is still on it org engine with 48K miles...run and drive flawlessly.

 

So far 4,000 miles driven dailey and the only problem I've had is the rubber coolant hoses going pop.

Read the FAQ and you'll know they are the first thing you change, ironcally 2 days after the popped hose my new ones arrived, so all is well again

 

FD is fast. But if you **** it up its hard to fix.

 

Not much trouble if you buy mine =P.

 

basically, a lot of stock stuff is insufficient, such as anything made of plastic, tiny intercooler, etc. if you modify it reliably and have it tuned well, it should be fine. its just very easy to **** up. tuners that blow motors like to blame the motor or seals for it but really its their fault. i DD my FD, roadtrip a corolla. no problems yet, we'll see...

 

I think also you only ever hear the bad about these cars, the good times are very very good!

 

It depends honostly. It depends on the condition of the car you get and how you take care of it. Be prepared to be your own mechanic. If you are not good at fixing stuff, I hope you have deep pockets.

On a side note, the RX7 was my dream car. Emphasis on was. I had the chance to purchase one and asked all my rotor friends if I should. EVERY one of them told me not to. I did anyways. I learned my lesson.


If you really want one, EXPECT something to break, and expect it to cost an arm and a leg to fix. And while the car is broken it wont run. And it'll take a week to fix. And if all that doesnt bother you and you still are interested in the car, go for it. If not, its not for you.

 

of all my fellow rx7 owners around here that i know, i think all the FCs are broken except for a couple, most FDs are running except for ones that are totaled or sitting waiting to be painted.

 

That's actually not completely true. The stock stuff is sufficient for "stock performance". I had ZERO problems with my car when it was completely stock. The stock parts are designed for stock performance. As you increase performance, you are going to break things as the stock parts aren't designed for the increased performance level most people are trying to achieve with these cars.


FdWannaBePt2, if you want the most reliable FD you can get, do the following:

1. Downpipe
2. Aluminum AST
3. Alumiunm Radiator
4. Leave the rest of the crap alone.....

 

How many hp could gained from these modification? or none?

 

You would gain a little from the downpipe, but not enough to put too much stress on the rest of the stock parts. The other parts have nothing to do with performance.

 

Woops, forgot to add the AST in the mix as primary FIRST mods. I didnt do anything to my car until I had all this installed... now my next mod that is both performance and reliability is my IC as it cools the intake charge and relieves some worries of det.

You'll learn quick that Mahjik and quite a few others are the leading sources of info around here.

~Kris

 

Knock on wood My stock 93 FD is still on it org engine with 73K miles...run and drive flawlessly.

 

i bought my car with 42k miles on it. bone stock, great condidtion

i had two mechanics check it out (both rotary experts) and they both said it was like a brand new RX-7

it ran great... for about 3 months

the stock car does not hold up, period

i can gaurentee you i took care of it, kept it oiled, ect. but she still shitted out on me. its running great now, but thats because of a new engine, downpipe, radiator, intake, and exaust. in my opinion the stock car simply wont hold. but i would be lieing if i said i had any regrets. i love my car more and more everyday even if she does bitch back every now and then.

 

youl get about 15 just from the dp

 

You sure about that?

 

except for reliability mods, i'm keeping mine all stock...for reliability reasons. i want my baby to LAST, and stock she's already plenty fast for me

i think you hear a lot of reliability nightmare stories 'cuz a lot people mod the heck out of these cars (and they really are very easy to crank out ridiculous amounts of power) and don't take good special care of 'em. rotaries can be easily broken if you don't respect it and are careless

 

well it seems that the problem lies inherently in the engine itself would getting a different engine altogether help resolve the problem like people puting ls1 or i was even thinking about a 2jz-gte. I am aware that there can be post engine swap problems but if lets say everything was done meticulously to minimize any post swap issues would this be a better route than constantly rebuilding a 13b or would i juss be introducing myself into a whole new world of hurt? I know some of you might say "juss get a supra then" but i would if i wasnt so attracted to the styling of the car i mean com on guys u kno how beautiful this car is.

 

I would hardly say constantly rebuilding the engine. Depending on how you drive it and how you take care of it, a 13b should give you alteast a good 50k miles if not more. Since most people don't drive the car everyday, they last for awhile. Daily driven, eh, you could but even then, its not so much the engine but just the fact this car is simply not practical.