hi i am new to this form. i currently own a toyota celica gt4 st185. but i new fancy a change. i have always wanted an rx7 but the stories have scared me a bit. i have always done the work on my cars myself from a simple service to a forged engine rebuild. but when i comes to the rotory engine i dont know anything about them. i was hoping you guys could help me out? i will be using the car every day. so looking for some info on reliability how often rotors need changed. i plan to gradually do some tuning to it. what are your view on going to the single turbo conversion? also handling is important to me. i love the handling in my St185 what is the rx7 like. i service my car every 3000miles is this the same for the rx7? and also i get about 26mpg i hear the rx7 is heavy on fuel?

thanks any help will be much appreciated.


Gordon

 

welcome to the forum gordon.

well, first of all, you need to throw out about 80% of the conventional thinking about piston engines when it comes to rotaries. these engines can be extremely strong as long as you take care of them, but one single scratch and the match will go off. The biggest rule of thumb is to carry out maintenance on the car and if anything, and I mean ANYTHING, was to seem out of whack, you need to get it checked out right away. These cars are quite literally the divas of all sports cars. They are amazing to look at and put you into a state like extacy when you hear them sing (driving all out on a lonely road), but you ignore or abuse her and she will make you pay in blood, a lot of time literally (I have yet to do a job on my 93 R1 where I did not get bloody knucles or cut fingers). These cars are amazing, simply put, and are capable of a lot, but you need to take care of them.

I daily drive my FD and put quite literally almost 250 miles a week on her, but I change all fluids once a year, change my oil and filter every 2000 miles, change the spark plugs every 20,000 miles, change the fuel filter every 20,000 miles, replace the air filters every 2 years (well, clean them now since I got an intake kit). But you get the idea, you need to maintain the car and it will be fine. I have gotten about 60,000 miles out of the engine and it is still running strong. (oh, and by the way, engine rebuilds on this car will run you about $3000 depending on what has to be done during the time of the rebuild).

Also, you may want to get a very cheap beater car to fall back on when this car is down, because there will be times that the car will need some work done or will need to get something fixed, it is a simple reality with this car, and if you live in a state where you get a lot of snow, forget about driving the car, you need to either not go out or get another car for snow (trust me on this). This car has absolutely no traction control and weighs only 2800lbs, so it will spin.

Look around on the forum and do your homework, search around and look for advice on what to look for when buying an RX7, if you have friend that knows about them, have him take a look at it when you look at a possible car to buy.

Good luck in your search and welcome to the forum.

 

oh, yeah, and you'll prbably get about 20-24 mpg on an RX7 with highway driving, driving all out on the turbos, probably like 16-20 with a good running engine.

 

i need to keep asking you guy for info on them as all my mates are into gt4`s and supras. i want something different. there is only one rx7 in my area that i have seen. all my mates are trying to talk me out of it but i want one. i can check out the body work and suspension stuff like that. just when it comes to the engine not to sure what am looking and listening for. ave never even been in one. am pretty scared to take the step untill i find out more about them. thanks for any info that will help me. the fueling doesnt bother me to much as i am walking distance to my work.

 

In the FAQ you will find links to buyers guide info. The FAQ is here.

FDs are fairly reliable if you 1) realize that a stock engine or rebuild lasts around 60-100k miles, 2) keep up with all the maintenance, and 3) keep it near stock power. The more mods, the shorter the engine life, on average. Also, blowing a motor isn't too common with a stock setup, but becomes more of a worry the higher your power. As for HP, 400HP+ at the wheels is IMO heavily modded for a 2-rotor FD. The big HP numbers you might see on other cars can be ridiculous on an FD.

Since you say you'll daily drive it, buy a stock car or one with just reliability mods and leave it that way.

As for doing the work, you can get info on this forum and other websites, as well as videos decribing (in excellent detail) how to pull the engine and rebuild it. Not much worth doing that hasn't been well documented. Plus the factory service manual can be downloaded from the sticky thread.

Dave

 

this is really helping me out. getting to fell a bit bitter. not quite as scared now.hehe! am hoping to get one that has just been imported into the country was wanting to get one with maybe just and exhaust system and suspension done although i am currenttl looking at one down south . not been to see it yet tho. it has a single turbo convertion. but doesnt say which turbo it is. in my gt4 going above 350bhp means forge pistons and possibly rod and thicker head gasket.to cope with the extra power. what internal would need to be changed in the rx7 if i decided to go for more power and at what stage of tune?

thanks

 

its in the the FAQ's, but basically ur cat, precat, fuel delivery system and an IC among other things

 

for 350hp on an RX7 you really wouldnt NEED anything apart from an aftermarke ECU. Dont expect the engine to last long though.

350hp is attainable on stock engine port injectors and fuel pump, but it is pushing it. The best thing for 350hp would be uprated injectors (a set of standard secondaries in place of the smaller primaries will do) uprated IC, uprated radiator and an ECU and fuel pump.

Not alot you can touch for the internals of an RX7. You can enlarge the ports, but thats it. No uprated head gaskets, forged internals and the like are available or needed.

 

do yourself a favor, if your gonna daily drive anything, keep your gt4. I dont know about you guys, but for the life of me I cannot drive my car in the rain/snow/ anything. I'm constantly pissed off when I drive because of traffic(yes we have either 1st or second worst traffic in the country).

An FD is not really made to be a daily driver, I've been daily driving mine for almost 2 years now, and I've been broke every second.

 

traffic where i am is nt that bad. i live in the country side so lots of twisty roads the gt4 is superb on these roads what would the rx7 be like? i have had enough of the gt4 now this is my second one and need a change. the gt4 spends more time off the road than on it. its just one thing after another. i have just about finished a full rebuild and respray. i have paid out over £20,000 on this car. and i just cant do it any more.

 

well, one of my first questions is: is there a shop around you that knows how to work on rotaries? i.e., if you are working on something wrong with the car and just can't get it, is there a shop you cant take it to? as far as handling, the GT4 is 4 wheel drive, right? well, very different driving experience here, the FD handles great even with just a coilover setup, but since it's rear wheel drive, you gott baby the throttle a bit more around the turns, but as far as top end coming out of the corner, a GT4 won't be able to hold a candle to a modded FD.

I would be careful about the single turbo conversion. if it's single turbo, chances are they might have beaten on the car for a bit, which means that the engine may be on its way out, but if you can afford the rebuild and the turbo system is in good shape, it may be worth it.

honestly, the way you feel about the GT4, there will be times that you will feel the same way about the FD, it's inevitable, but the pluses are more than the minuses. My recommendation though dude is to keep the GT4 as a bad weather car and the FD as an all out sports car.

 

I DD my 7, we dont get much snow here and when we do the world basically stops. Rain can come pretty heavy here and I've hit some BIG puddles in my 7. Car really isnt bad in rain unless your being an idiot. Recentlyconverted speaks the truth, listen to him, you MUST maintain this car. If you do not maintain the car or mod without research you will do some costly damage, its not a forgiving car.

 

Worst traffic country. You have never been to Malta then. No single road except 2 where you can fully lunch you RX7 all the way up till 5th. If you changed your clutch like mine to a cerametallic one you will know what a 1st 2nd nightmare it is here. Passed a year fine tuning her to have at least a decent 1st 2nd shift especially in up hill roads. I was about to give up the car jsut for that. On the other hand I never felt unconfortable in rain you jsut have to remember well what car you have. Snow I do not now what it is never seen.

I agree with all the rest. maintenance and good very good researched moding is essential if you want to avoid trouble. If you do not know anything about this car do not even touch a bolt by yourself or you will regret it. First thing to do before bying the car is to find a specilist, not a mechanic, A SPECILIST and let him do the work. If you really want I am sure he will teach you step by step.
Still I love my car too much.

 

4WD Celicas kicks ***. Didn't some 185's come with turbo? I know the 165's did. Good rally machines back in the days.

 

>< obviously you havent been to the DC metro area!!! I was stuck in arlington VA, had to take the beltway home(50 miles away). One road 15minutes from my house was blocked off because of a fatality hit and run. Needless to say it took me 7 hours to get home. And when I talk about in the country I am talking about the U.S.

 

the closest specailist for these cars to me is dragon performance i think which is an 8 hour drive. yeah the st185 is four wheel drive turbo. i have just fitted the later spec st205 engine to mine. so should be running around 300bhp. al see how i feel once i get it on the road hopefully in the next week or two. i have fitted front mount intercooler uprated fuel system greddy e-manage hybrid turbo twin plate clutch light weight fly wheel for now. any problems and it will be for sale wouldnt mind if i could get a swap for an rx7. what ever happen i am going to own an rx7 at some point. they are the best looking car on the road!!