Hey gents,

I'm driving my (newly acquired) red RX-7 back from Vancouver to Calgary on Tuesday (May 9th, 2006). I was wondering if there are any Calgary owners on the board that have any advice for me, and if anyone knows a good place in Calgary to go for regular maintenance, dynos, performance tweaking / modifications, et cetera.

The car is already fairly heavily modified:

· T60-1 Hi-fi Turbo kit

· 3-mil street port dowell pinned 13B

· High-boot Teflon seals

· Greddy Rebic IV AIC

· 850CC side feed Mazda OEM primary injectors

· 1600CC top feed Bosch injectors

· RX7.com secondary injector fuel rail kit

· 720CC top feed injectors

· J&S knock sensor unit and a/f monitor

· Cosmo fuel pump

· Full aluminum 1 ½ ’’ radiator

· Petit downpipe, dynomax/Apexi N1 custom exhaust

· HKS EVC IV Boost controller

· HKS Twin Power Ignition

· HKS Powerflow intake

· Dual HKS race blow off valves

· Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator

· Oil temp, boost pressure, Westach EGT guage

· Apex-i front mount intercooler

· Greddy intake eblow w/2 injector bosses

· ACT heavy duty pressure plate

· RB aluminum flywheel

· 17” alloy wheels

· Momo Corse steering wheel

· Nardi leather shift ****

· Hawk black brake pads

· RX7.com block off plate kit

· GAB Revolution Stroke II Coil overs

· Eibach 500lb/in race springs

· Urethane bushing kit

· Mazdaspeed short-shift kit

· Suspension techniques sway bars

· Aftermarket front fascia

· Apex-i Power FC w/commander

· HKS turbo timer

· Panasonic CD/MP3 player

· 500 Watt amplifier/Alpine speakers/Clarion 10” subwoofer

But I would like to keep it in tip top shape, and while I have no intentions of touching the body, anticipate myself wanting to see what I can do to improve performance, and maybe put some nicer rims on it (albeit, I love the ones on there).

Heres a pic:



I'll be back to post about first impressions and experiences driving the car for the first time... and for the long winding mountain road from Vancouver to Calgary.

(God, I hope that Escort 8500 X50 I ordered arrives before I leave...)

 

There is only one "Rotary" Shop in town. www.rotaryengine.ca
They are in the SW i believe. I went there once and it was not what i expected at all. Small and very dirty shop. I think if they cleaned the shop up a little and the front waiting area it wouldn't be a bad shop but it was just plain dirty when i went in there. They did seem like nice guys and fixed my car with no problems. So maybe give them a try.
May i ask how much you ended up buying that for?

 

I don't understand. You have bought a highly modified FD and you haven't even driven It yet?

Perhaps If you were to do a search you can have a better understanding of your question at hand. Your very same question has been asked several times.

 

I get the impression that your 'new' car is the first RX7 you have owned. RX7 Specialties is a small, cramped shop near the corner of 17th Avenue and 38th street SW. They specialize in engines (modifications and 3 rotor installs). The owner is knowledgable and is fair with his pricing. I suspect that he will understand your set up better than anyone else in town. However, my experience with the staff is somewhat mixed and my advice is to inspect any work done thoroughly. Having said all this, a car like yours demands that you get to know the vehicle intimately and do as much work on it yourself as possible. Otherwise things are going to get expensive quickly.

 

Intend to do just that. I'm thinking of doing a 20b, some interior mods, and some other things in the future though, which are a little (lot) beyond the scope of my knowledge, experience, but mainly -- my free time.

Also, need a place to go to for regular maintenance if I don't have time / haven't learned how to do everything yet.

Yes, I this is my first RX-7. No, I have not driven it yet, just a deposit and full intentions. Yes, I'm aware that I don't know very much. Yes, I know how to buy a used car but following the 'rules' is a little more difficult out of province. What I do know is that I need to learn alot, fast. That's why I registered here. So calm down guys

 

I think there is an tuner shop in the northeast end of town which may also be able to help you. It does not specialize in rotaries but I ran into an FD owner that worked at one of the Mazda dealerships. He told me he always took his car to this particular shop. Unfortunately I don't remember the name. His car looked and sounded good and had a fair number of mods.

 

Go drive the car and have fun. Don't join the "going to drop a 20b in" club just yet.
I'm sure you will be plenty happy with the power it will be putting out with those mods. Learn how to drive it first then go from there.

 

I'm sure I will be happy with the power, and I don't plan on putting in a 20b anytime soon - I know how I drive and know that in a year or two I'll be ready for a new engine and drivetrain and maybe some new tires / suspension upgrade ect.

In the meantime I'll focus on the interior and keeping it extremely well maintained (every 2000 miles) I plan on babying the car.

I'd just like to know of any specific address in the city that I can take it to - to have someone who knows what they are doing do basic stuff like an oil change. I will eventually learn how to do everything myself, but all in good time. In a month and a bit I'll need an oil change and would like to know the options *aside* from doing it myself.

 

At least until he has your money. If you ask for 4 brake rotors for an FB, and he sells you 3 FB rotors and 1 FC rotor in an FB box, he suddenly has better things to do than return any of your calls.

 

Ever since I've registered here, I've been getting the distinct impression that it would be a very bad idea to trust my baby (car) to aformentioned shop...

Sadly, nobody can recommend me anywhere else to go? Is all hope lost?

 

Is that Amir's car?

I was going to buy that when he listed it. It looked like a wonderful machine, but my insurance company wanted a full list of mods.... he's got alot of mods. So i never bothered to find out/take the chance on, getting it insured here.

 

Yep, it is. Looking forward to picking it up tomorrow. Amir seems like a great guy, and I'm fairly confident the car is excellent all around. Insurance was a bit of a pain, but got that sorted

 

Sadly, there is nobody else around here. The owner of the aforementioned shop is fair. But always busy. So busy in fact, if you want something, you have to walk into his shop, up the stairs, open the door to his office and stick your foot in the door.

His turnaround time can be fast, too extremely slow depending on the project. I seen an FD getting a 20B swap sit in there for years.

My advice is if you get anything done, be there while thier doing it to help, or after you pick it up and everything works. Drive to the end of the street and double check. Im not knocking him at all, but sometimes big jobs miss small things.


I personally wouldn't hesitate to take my car there. Hell, I take my miata there from time to time with mods. His shop rate is by far the best. I think anyways. Beats $100/hr from mazda.

 

I have nothing but positive things to say about Adam from my experience! I've had a rebuild and a Cmden installation done and found him to be fair and approachable. Turn around time, well that can be an issue. Buttttt, how would you feel about an empty, spotless shop waiting for business to show up at the door, kinda tells ya something doesn't it! When I was a tire salesman 20 years ago the owner of the company would visit and the manager always made sure the shop was washed and the showroom spotless and had a bottle of rye wating in the drawer so they could visit. Long after this manager was gone the owner told me he would much rather walk into a dirty, busy, profitable location where nobody had time for him.

 

I have nothing but positive things to say about Adam from my experience! I've had a rebuild and a Camden installation done and found him to be fair, honest and approachable. Turn around time, well that can be an issue. Buttttt, how would you feel about an empty, spotless shop waiting for business to show up at the door, kinda tells ya something doesn't it! When I was a tire salesman 20 years ago the owner of the company would visit and the manager always made sure the shop was washed and the showroom spotless and had a bottle of rye wating in the drawer so they could visit. Long after this manager was gone the owner told me he would much rather walk into a dirty, busy, profitable location where nobody had time for him.

 

You missed the deal of the century.

You could've bought it, stripped it off all the parts and had a FD for almost free.

17K? Wow. Good grab likeadrug! I can't believe that car took that long to sell.

 

And ****... it's perfect. It's got a great sound system, great rims, lots of tread on the wheels... and the engine and exhaust... my GOD. This car is bad ***. I just drove it 11 hours yesterday home from Vancouver... it's insane. It puts the old Trans Am WS6 I used to drive to shame so badly, it's not even funny.

Going to have fun taking it for a spin around Calgary today after I get the out-of-province inspec. and registry taken care of.

 

As for my experiences, avoid that shop. i dropped a ton of cash there and got back a pile of ****. they made alot of mistakes on the rebuild. he has no clue how to tune these engines at all and i wouldnt recomend getting anything ported there because, in the past, he has made them to big on the side and that causes the corner seals to catch and get thrown. iv'e seen it on a engine with 700k on it. as far as im concerned, he owes me about $20,000. i'll never see it but i will tell others about my experience. when i had my first gen, there were no problems at all, but with the 3rd gen there was nothing but problems... dont even start talking about three rotors. he cant even get his own car running. I know Adam reads this forum aswell and he can get mad about this all he wants, it doesnt change the fact that he seriously messed my car up....

 

Did you buy it off a lot out here in vancouver or did you buy it from a private sale. the car looks great. just please take care of her.

 

That FD is insane. Hopefully he never has to take into a shop

 

Call Adam at RX7 specialities, I bought eveything from him...and he shipped it to Northern N.B
Not a glitch...not an over charge...on time and on budget!
That's two years ago and never a problem!
Regards,

Paul

 

then your one of the fortunate ones Paul. Adam couldnt Organize a rock fight in a gravel pit as you can see from his shop....

 

The car is abso-******-lutely insane, and is totally a blast to drive. I've had all kinds of faces leaving big smudges pressed against their windows getting a better look while I cruise down Macleod trail.

To spite some of the bad feedback I have heard, I'm going to go up and meet Adam on either Thursday or Friday of this week and get my HKS turbo timer installed and perhaps an oilchange / checkup. He sounded like a good guy over the phone and I'm willing to give people a chance. Niche market or not, you don't build a big busy business that lasts many years from nothing.

I look forward to meeting probably the few other FD owners in the province... lol.

 

give him a chance.... but when he ***** up you FD dont say you werent warned. oh yeah, one more thing. make sure you bring cash because Adam does'nt take credit or debit. thats how a shop like that stays around. screw the clients, then screw the tax man... **** you Adam

 

Wow it is interesting how much the owner of the aforementioned shop was able to either scare or **** off all those people soo much that they don't bother to respond to these kinds of threads... IMHO any shop that resorts to name calling legal threats over the internet might not be the best bet... do yourself a favor and search for that shops name either specialties or adam in the canadian section and you will find all sorts of good/bad... i suggest you read it all.