Anton CH.

I've always wanted an FD but never felt that I could afford one. After seeing so many lemons and not enough clean FDs on the market I started thinking:

• Pick up a roller with a good paint job
• Swap in a reman. engine
• Buy rebuilt/ported stock turbos
• Aftermarket catback/suspension/wheels/seats
• Remove AC/PS/Air bag/other useless junk
• Stronger clutch

How much am I looking to spend at the end of it all? I am not new to turbos but new to rotaries. I want to keep this car CARB happy. So I probably won't be able to do the single turbo swap. Oh and this will be a weekend/autox/track car.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Most rollers have some combination of a salvage title, very high miles, bad paint and bad interior.

You will end up spending as much as a non roller and will have a car that is probably far less valuable because it will inherit all the flaws of the roller.

Remember, a new paint job is $3-5k, a new interior can cost many thousands also, and, for example, new suspension bushings can run from $500-$1.5k depending on how many you replace. Then there are little things like $800 engine harnesses...


If cosmetic condition and miles matter to you, then you will have to spend $15k+. If not, there are plenty of high mileage FDs with poor cosmetics for $10k or so that will do just as well as a resurrected roller with a lot less hassle and total cost.

JDMRevolution

iTrader: (6)

youre looking to spend a minimum of 10k for a running fd that you can track.

It really depends on what you want to have on the car and how reliable you want it to be.(intercooler,radiator,bushings,ast,tuning,etc.. ) Its starts to add up fast.

Anton CH.

Well say I pick up a clean running FD for 13K. Can probably get one cheaper than that but just for the sake of the argument. It will probably have 100k on it. At 100k you are still looking at a new engine, turbos, and bushings.

Cosmetics are pretty damn important to me. Otherwise I would've just picked something else up and would have been done with it long time ago.

Does electrical wiring go bad on these cars?

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

A roller with excellent paint and interior cosmetics is pretty much the holy grail. I have not seen even one half decent roller in four years of eying the market in the Bay Area. Hell, many running FDs have pretty awful cosmetics.

You can get an FD for $13k or so in the Bay Area with recent engines, e.g.,

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/454704952.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/car/453872683.html

If cosmetics are important (and they were to me when I was buying) you are probably going to have to spend north of $15k - though you may get lucky.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

The main wiring harness gets brittle over time from the engine heat. They run a little under $800 for a new one. Getting a reman, new engine harness and all the little bits and pieces to go with it all will run you probably around $5000 (maybe a little more if you get a reman without having a core). Consider that if you get a "roller", a decent one will run you about $8000. Add in your aftermarket parts, transmission, turbos and such... you'll see that it can add up quick.

It's cheaper to buy a decent FD to start out with. However, it's hard to find one which already has on it what you like (and not too over-done). IMO, its better to start with a roller and build it up. That way, you know exactly whats going into it. However, doing things yourself is generally more expensive as you want to make sure you do it right.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

There is no such thing as saving money by buying a "project" FD. Unless someone is literally selling you all the parts you need, every single one, and you just need to assemble it, you're going to pay way more.

Dave

BigJim

you can find good, low mileage fd's, your just have to look. I looked for a few months and got mine, 40k miles on chassis, 10k on reman engine, 1k on rebuilt turbos, lotsa mods, excellent paint, 7/10 interrior and paid $10,800. Just keep looking.

Anton CH.

OK, so seeing that it is possible to find an FD with a rebuilt engine/turbo, I think I'd rather go with that. Here is the price list that I got so far (this will help set the lower bound on price of the project), did I miss anything else big? Or did I add stuff that is probably OK in oem form. Also I guess the real question is do I want to spend this much on a car I won't use everyday. But the FD has got to be the best looking sports car ever made!

I got a few PMs regarding overseas vehicles, I would like to purchase a US spec one to keep CARB people happy.

FD 10000
bushings 100
coilovers 1650
sway bars 300
tower bar 300
ss brake lines 130
wheels 1000
tires 600
tranny syncro ???
clutch 500
flywheel 250
catback 500
seats 1000

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I see a lot of upgrades and no maintenance money.

There's another seriously f'd up issue here: you claim you only have $10k to buy an FD, but you've got $6k worth of performance and appearance mods in your budget. You will need a few thousand for maintenance mods and fix-ups, and the other few thousand should be put into buying a better condition car.

Things like bushings, tires, and tranny work are important as maintenance, but the coilovers, sway bars, strut tower bar, wheels, clutch, flywheel, and seats are purely unnecessary. I'm sure you feel a lot of push to mod the car and make it different, but the last thing you want is to be the 'different' guy with the broken car who can't afford to fix it.

It's a lot simpler than keeping CARB happy. They are not legal to import at all for street use. You'll risk getting it seized and crushed.

Dave

scrubolio

iTrader: (8)

i think your bushings will cost around 400-500 depending unless you are just doing your diff bushings or something

i feel like almost everything i buy for this car there is always something else that also needs to be bought to accompany/compliment/whatever it, probably goes for most cars though?

4CN A1R

iTrader: (6)

just a sugestion...dont buy rebuilt turbos.

aftermarket exaust with support mods
-catback reg($250-$400)
titanium($700-$1000)
-fuel pump($100)
-injecters($200-$400)
-ecu w/ comander($900-$1000)
-optional: headers($200)

wheels/rims
-4 new tires and rims 17"-19"(250-$1500) depending on budget

lowering springs
-replace shocks, stiffer susp($160-$200)

turbos
-big single($2000-$5000)
-twins, seq and non($2600)

thats wat i figured up, someone will prob quote and harass my mod list. its wat i personally looked up for mine

Anton CH.

I hope you are not saying that just for the sake of sounding smart. I never claimed that I have only 10K on a car. I am just sizing the cost of this project. As I said earlier, this is not my first turbo car. I know what I am doing and I know what I am going to end up doing to it. It's stupid to jump in on a car without doing research first.

Tranny syncro issue is a maintance item. I said I wanted to buy an FD with a rebuilt engine/turbos. Most of the items will be replaced anyway (suspension, bushings, tires etc). I consider those items to be maintance items as well.

I don't mod cars to be "different", I mod cars to make them faster from the factory. Notice that there is not a single cosmetic mod on there.

scrubolio

iTrader: (8)

i doubt he said that to sound smart, he's just saying you should rethink your plans somewhat, i mean you were asking questions about your plan, hes just giving answers?

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

You have to realize that people like you are a dime a dozen on a forum like this. People come here all the time with some "plan" on getting a cheap RX7 and then spending a few thousand dollars on modifications to have their perfect car. Rarely does it ever happen that way.

I can assure you that VERY few individuals get an FD for around $10k which is sound mechanically as well as aesthetically, especially with a freshly replaced engine and/or turbos. What dgeesaman was getting at is that there is more to maintenance than just replacing the engine. There are a ton of components "around" the engine which do not necessarily get replaced when someone has a rebuild. Those can and will fail over time. i.e. various solenoids, actuators, master/slave cylinders etc.. While those aren't necessarily expensive components, it all begins to add up after a while. I know with my rebuild, I probably spent about $2500 on replacing stuff just around the engine like the iring harness for $800 and the knock sensor for around $250. Anyone selling their running RX7 for $10k probably has never touched most of that stuff.

My suggestion, concentrate on getting the car first. Once you have it, make it sound mechanically with stock parts. Obviously, if it has a stock catback which is rusted out, it doesn't make sense to replace it with another stock one, but more things like the wiring harness, bushings, and other things which wear out or take a beating over time. Once you have a sound fairly stock car, then plan your modification path.

That's just my 2 cents....

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

Here is my story for reference

Purchased my first FD locally. It was a 93 with new paint, some mild bolt ons but a blown motor for $9k. I had the motor rebuilt and did a clutch adding another $4k. Fixed the Fuel Pulsation dampener afterwards for $500. Fixed clutch fork cost another $600 (towing was expensive, labor, parts were fair). Added a boost controller for $200 and replaced the mid pipe with a stock cat ($100).

The car ran great for street driving and I had about $15k into it. It did need a wiring harness and the turbos neeeded to be replaced and needed new bushings. Everything else was OK.

I wound up buying a forum members car for $16k that sounded better on paper and had lots of good parts but I spent a good year chasing down small issues related to the build and PO's mechanic's screwups. Spent a fair amount of time and money getting that (current) car working reliably for street and track duty.

Anton CH.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know what other "big" items that should be put into the price point. I want to buy the car but first I want to know how much its going to cost me in the long run. No point of getting the car and then figuring out that it needs the harness, syncro, etc....

Believe me, I do want this car, the price is a big factor. I don't want to be surprised when something common breaks. I wasn't planning on this being a 10K project either. There is a big difference between a 20K and 30K project. At 30K, I don't think its worth it.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I apologize on the budgeting remark - there was another new poster this week who mentioned that limit for their budget. 6:08am is probably not my best time of day.

In any case, Mahjik clarified what I was getting at. You should never underestimate the amount of maintenance required to get/keep an FD in good running order. In many cases it's not that bad, but in some cases it's a big handful, and spending money on mods before the maintenance is fully caught up is IMHO a major cart-before-the-horse.

Also, reviewing your list I see your mods are sensible for a track / autox car. Just take a look at the class you intend to run in, particularly if you autox. So an aftermarket radiator will push you out of SS and ASP and into SM2, which is not competitive to cars with bolt-ons. If you don't intend to be class or PAX competitive then it doesn't matter.

If cosmetics matter, particularly if you want a clean stock interior, shop heavily with that in mind. The replacements from Mazda are obscenely expensive and a few aren't available. If you want to refinish or gut the interior then you have more options. A seller's opinion of "immaculate" can vary widely.

Tranny rebuilds are pretty expensive, and with low-mileage used trannys being imported for $700, not always practical. If the tranny has 5th synchro only, I would rebuild 5th. But if it's notchy in any 1-4 gears I'd plan on replacing it.

The electrical system is pretty good with the exception of the $800 engine emissions wiring harness. It's simply subjected to too damn much heat to survive the life of the car. It roasts to a crisp, and the problems a damaged harness can create are purely demonic. I'd budget to replace it unless it's been replaced and it's still flexible, and tape up with new one with self-fusing silicone tape before installing it.

Regarding bushings, this car's suspension has a lot of em. Buying a full set of poly or delrin bushings will take care of much of it, but there are ball joints (not serviceable - replacement = new control arm) and pillowballs too.

It's been mentioned, but rebuilding these turbos just doesn't work. It's been done many, many times by reputable builders and they just fail too often. Something about the bearing design being very difficult to replace and maintain factory specs. Fortunately good used turbos can be had for less than a twin rebuild.

Dave