CKD

Hello, I had sent out an email to a site to ask this question, but never had a reply.
I understand that a lot of problems occur in the rx7's or at least when discussing the 3rd gen fd3's. But I would like to know, how would it be if I were to buy a rolling chassis and put in a new rx8 engine. First of all, would that work? And second, does anyone know if the rx8's have as many problems? I would only imagine not, but I could be wrong. I love the look of the fd3, but I can not afford the maintenance. But I also love the rotary, so here is my bind. Any suggestions? Thank you for your time

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

The FD will not be as punchy with an RX-8 drivetrain. It would be a lot of effort for a loss of power.

IMHO, swapping drivetrains will cost a whole lot more than doing lots of maintenance. If you shop carefully for a well-maintained car and spend money to prevent things instead of waiting for things to break, the costs will be controlled. With the maintenance done thoroughly and a few reliability mods in place the car will run very well without many breakdowns.

However, I don't think it matters a whole lot what drivetrain you put into an FD. If the cost of maintenance is an obstacle, have you figured in the cost of fuel and insurance?

Dave

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

i think Dgeesaman hit the most important points so i just want to add a couple of things.

maintenance is a part of owning ANY car, especially sports cars. you're not going to escape that or sidestep it and find yourself with a good result. period! if the FD was a new car, then perhaps i could swallow people saying it's unreliable, but at this point in time (with all the information on how to keep them alive at your fingertips - literally!), i must say that if they fail, then it's because the owners are doing something wrong. i've never owned an FD, but i do own an Rx-8 and i can tell you for a fact that you CANNOT sidestep REW maintenace with a Renesis.

bottomline is you're going to end up paying more - a lot more - with your proposed plan of action. do yourself a favor and just find an FD if that's what you want and keep the REW in it.

Sol5t1c3

you could just buy a scrapped fd or a roller and find a good deal on a motor and throw it in. i heard alot of ppl did that, buying a couple parts cars and throwing all the goodies in one and have the unused fd for spare parts.

z06 rex

go ls1!! i destroy vipers!

CKD

Ok what you guys said all made sense. But let me understand. If I were to buy an fd roller and put a brand new rx-8 engine in, it would require me to buy a while new drivetrain? Or am I missunderstanding?
And I know whatever car I get I would need maintenence of course, I just know the fd is a bit well known for that more than others.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

let me put it like this ...

unless your sole purpose for doing this is to say: "i have an FD with a Renesis," there is really no point to doing what you propose.

the similarities between the REW and Renesis get pretty thin after "they're both rotary." they both go about doing their jobs in different fashions as do the FD and Rx-8.

to answer your questions as you asked them,
if you consider the drivetrain to be engine, tranny and differential, then the only thing you'll NEED to buy is the engine. the Renesis is a smidgen longer than the REW, but i doubt it would pose nearly the mounting issues of say, a 20B into an FD. the mounts are in a different place, but fabrication is a given.

you can make the FD tranny work or you can go with an Rx-8 tranny, either way there will be some work necessary to get it operational. i just don't know which is more work. there are a handful of Rx-8s out there that have put REWs and REs in them, but from what i remember, they all used the Rx-8 tranny. i only mention it to illustrate that anything can be done ...

your main issues (and costs) will be getting the Renesis to work as it was intended - i suspect the drive-by-wire alone will limit your EMS choices to the more expensive end of the available spectrum. i'm sure at this point you would have more than likely exceeded the cost of a decent FD by several thousand bucks (and you're still not driving it yet). having never done the swap myself i can only imagine that there are several things i haven't even mentioned that you will need. complete the swap, then tune, then maintain ...

CKD

Alright, now that makes a bit more sense to me. I appreciate that. All in all, to be honest, I was trying to think of a way to keep down the chance of something going wrong with the engine (or the overall car) and yet still be able to have the body of an FD. If that makes sense.
Now I don't expect to get out of having to maintain a car, because that can be simply not possible for the most part. I am just afraid of buying a FD and it would break down on me very often. So that is where my worry comes in.
Now on the other hand, if my thought process is wrong on the fact that I think it may breakdown a lot, please correct me, because the best I'm trying to do is learn. Also, did the first and second generation have as much problems? Thanks again

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

every generation/model has their own quips and quirks ... obviously each one got more complex and expensive with time. for the quirks that are FD-specific, i'm sure there's got to be an FAQ sticky in the Gen III section. familiarize yourself with it and make sure it's something you want to do. you may read and find that an FD simply isn't for you ... and that's fine. this is the time to find out, not after you've spent money.

generally speaking, if your engine is solid (NEW seals and springs, new or resurfaced sealing surfaces, a few oil supply tweaks, etc.) your only major concern will be keeping heat to a minimum. this is true for stock right up to the ultimate in modified setups. keep it cool!

after that, just make sure it's maintained - tune it up, keep records. if you choose to modify it you'll have to adjust your maintenance regimen to match. obviously there are things that will break since even the youngest of the USDM cars is over 10 years old, but that's just a part of owning a used car - especially one that probably got used hard! another thing to keep in mind if you choose to modify, make sure that the car is tuned to match.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

decided to get it for you ...

Gen III FAQs

theRJpackage

iTrader: (2)

I had an RX-8 before my FD, and it honestly broke down more. If you're looking for reliability, you can A.) maintain the 13b properly and do mods to that extent, or B.) put a paper mache FD body around a honda civic-- and that's just plain stupid, so stick with A (please?)!

CKD

It seems to me that if I'm looking for reliability, I should probably be looking for a different car. Haha, wouldn't you say? Unless I become my own mechanic of course.

CKD

I'm thinkin that probably means you all agree with me about the looking for a new car, haha. I guess that's how it's gonna go

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

if your heart is set on an FD, then you should find a way to come to grips with getting a well-kept stocker (or mildly modified car), then just keep it that way - no major modifications! tend to the essential stuff like cooling system and vacuum hoses, etc. and just keep up with the general maintenance.

if you can't reconcile with that commitment, then yeah, i'd say save yourself (and the car) some headaches and skip the FD - look for something else.

CKD

Now that I can easily comply with. By my understanding, there was a lot more that goes wrong, or there are more complicated things. But what I dont really understand is when I look around and a lot of FDs with low compression around 60,000 miles already. Could this really be from simply people not checking hoses and such things like that? Thaks, I appreciate your help, and I will continue reading the 3rd gen techical thread.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Yes. Or buy a $1000 beater to go along with the FD. $1000 is nothing compared to many FD repair and maintenance bills.

I believe that a stock FD, unless it sees a good mechanic that knows more than the average dealer, will burn up it's engine in most cases by 60k. The sustained temps in the engine bay are downright nasty, making every mile wearing on things in the engine bay at twice the normal rate. Plus the exhaust downpipe has a real thing with clogging by 50k, and most owners/dealers never catch that. So the engine just can't hold up.

If you have the cash to buy a really clean FD with a burned motor for a deal, for another $5-8k you can get a new motor put in and change out all kinds of maintenance parts and have a very solid car. But it really helps to know what you're doing or have a shop that knows the deal do it for you.

Dave