Getting a 2nd hand Mazda RX-7 1996

RENESIS VIII

7,000 RPM
Senior Member
Jun 13, 2012
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Ipoh
Galant looks better than wira anytime.

U find him only unless u want to buy his VR2. His is VR2 cuz not 4wd :biggrin: Can drift only. :smokin:
Galant's interior resembles the old Saga interior too much. I guess that is Mitsubishi's design trend during the 90s. The aircond vents looked awfully similar.

2WD Galant isn't it in FWD instead of RWD?
 

Supra_Fanatics

Beyond 20,000 RPM!
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Sep 17, 2008
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Galant's interior resembles the old Saga interior too much. I guess that is Mitsubishi's design trend during the 90s. The aircond vents looked awfully similar.

2WD Galant isn't it in FWD instead of RWD?
That I not sure how he drift :biggrin:
 

TitanRev

You think I print money?
Helmet Clan
Moderator
Mar 3, 2005
8,180
3,678
5,213
A car from vr2turbo definitely will buy. Car 20 years old still bling bling like new :rofl:
Cars from you I won't buy......period..

No matter how good you think Vr2turbo's car is.. he'll never sell it for anything less than 3 times its worth. :biggrin:

Jom.. molest silver VR2 TT!
What happen to that molest SF's BLM....I'm more interested to see how does his engine bay looks like compare to VR one....
 

elsm80

Known Member
Senior Member
Mar 21, 2006
389
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Rx7 - FD3s
Maintenance is cheap as long as you do everything sensibly. Proper warm-ups, no stupid boost levels and proper cool downs.
Handles beautifully, superbly balanced and great top-end. Brakes reasonably well.
Revs and sounds way better than a SR20 anytime of the day.
Achingly beautiful as compared to the dreary lines of the S15.
Feels like an occasion

S15 -
Maintenance is peanuts with parts aplenty, problem is there is so many parts floating in the market; you kinda lose track of what works and what doesn't.
SR20 is rock solid with a "characterful" engine, definitely more street friendly as compared to the 13B. BORING like hell...
Lousy gearbox with iffy ratios.
Stock LSD is almost hopeless.
Stock brakes also crap.
Looks wise - put it this way, only the JDM fanboys will notice. To the rest of the world....its just another 2 door jap car.

Nett-Nett.

The Rx7 requires passion, discipline and focus when owning it. It is not a simple car nor the cheapest car to run. But it rewards in terms of driver satisfaction and at the limit will forever beat the S15 down. It is not as forgiving but its handling limits are ultimately higher BUT less accessible to the humble enthusiast. It rewards and punishes in equal measure.

The S15 is a credible performance car gifted with a reliable engine and none too shabby handling. Its got fantastic aftermarket support and also is a hell lot more durable. Its strengths are ultimately its downfall, it is boring; it is predictable. It isn't electric until you throw 400bhp at it... at that point the argument of the S15 being an everyday streeter with low maintenance goes out the window. Twin plate clutch....fully adjustables....noisy high temp brembos.....all these combine to make it as dastardly to own as a Rx7 PLUS you will need to add all kinds of visual/aero addenda to make it look good. Have you even seen a stocker S15??

Before you decide on what car you want, decide on what you want to achieve with your car hobby. Is it going to be a track refugee, a stance beast, a streeter, a drag monster? It becomes a lot clearer what your decision will be.

My 2 cents la boss....
 

Clutch_Shift_Accelerate

Known Member
Thread starter
Sep 8, 2013
81
17
508
Kuala Lumpur
I'm most likely gonna this FD3S after thinking and researching hard on this.
http://www.zerotohundred.com/newforums/cars-for-sale/438738-rx7-fd3s-for-sale.html#post1064414960
Talk to the owner and he seems to have taken care of the car in a decent way. Gonna see the car soon as he's driving it up to Selangor.
I'll have a detailed look at it in terms of its engine, maintainance and how it rides.

If I do get it I would probably do the following upgrades to it:
- Carbon fibre hood
- Reduce exhaust size a little bit as the current one tilts the rear diffusor.
- Switch from single turbo to twin turbo
- Change the headlights to something like this Mazda RX7 Headlights | eBay
- Any other engine related maintainance

Opinions & thoughts?

---------- Post added at 01:01 AM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 12:48 AM ----------

Rx7 - FD3s
Maintenance is cheap as long as you do everything sensibly. Proper warm-ups, no stupid boost levels and proper cool downs.
Handles beautifully, superbly balanced and great top-end. Brakes reasonably well.
Revs and sounds way better than a SR20 anytime of the day.
Achingly beautiful as compared to the dreary lines of the S15.
Feels like an occasion

S15 -
Maintenance is peanuts with parts aplenty, problem is there is so many parts floating in the market; you kinda lose track of what works and what doesn't.
SR20 is rock solid with a "characterful" engine, definitely more street friendly as compared to the 13B. BORING like hell...
Lousy gearbox with iffy ratios.
Stock LSD is almost hopeless.
Stock brakes also crap.
Looks wise - put it this way, only the JDM fanboys will notice. To the rest of the world....its just another 2 door jap car.

Nett-Nett.

The Rx7 requires passion, discipline and focus when owning it. It is not a simple car nor the cheapest car to run. But it rewards in terms of driver satisfaction and at the limit will forever beat the S15 down. It is not as forgiving but its handling limits are ultimately higher BUT less accessible to the humble enthusiast. It rewards and punishes in equal measure.

The S15 is a credible performance car gifted with a reliable engine and none too shabby handling. Its got fantastic aftermarket support and also is a hell lot more durable. Its strengths are ultimately its downfall, it is boring; it is predictable. It isn't electric until you throw 400bhp at it... at that point the argument of the S15 being an everyday streeter with low maintenance goes out the window. Twin plate clutch....fully adjustables....noisy high temp brembos.....all these combine to make it as dastardly to own as a Rx7 PLUS you will need to add all kinds of visual/aero addenda to make it look good. Have you even seen a stocker S15??

Before you decide on what car you want, decide on what you want to achieve with your car hobby. Is it going to be a track refugee, a stance beast, a streeter, a drag monster? It becomes a lot clearer what your decision will be.

My 2 cents la boss....
Boss to be honest your description seems to be one of the most sensible of the lot that i've read on here. If I got the S15 it would be just for fun and maybe drifting. That car is a holy car in the drift world and one of my childhood dream cars to own. Although, I'm not that interested in drifiting. My one goal is to improve & go as fast as I can, be it time attacks, circuit & street runs, mountain runs, etc...

I just wanna improve my driving and I believe the FD3S would give me that oppurtunity to reach a much higher level. Not to mention i've done some research on maintaining the Rotory engine and it doesn't seem so difficult, despite what I've heard from people. Though i'll definately need the help of a Rotary specialist/mechanic to help me have a good look at it, and also for tuning. Don't get me wrong, in terms of cost it'll be really expensive cause of the petrol consumption, changing of oil every 3000km and the patience to warm it up from cold starts along with its cooldown. Though from the start I wanted to get a car in which I'd get lost into its driving, maintainance & upgrading. This car seems to have grasp all my attention.

All I can hope for now is that the car i'm gonna check out is in a good condition, doesn't have any oil leakage whatsoever and I have the patience to work on it week after week.
 
Last edited:

Supra_Fanatics

Beyond 20,000 RPM!
Senior Member
Sep 17, 2008
20,673
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I always like the Veilside design of the RX-7, very aggressive with nice curves and tone of the body. Modern look too.

 

12savefuel

Known Member
Senior Member
Dec 10, 2008
195
75
1,528
I'm most likely gonna this FD3S after thinking and researching hard on this.
http://www.zerotohundred.com/newforums/cars-for-sale/438738-rx7-fd3s-for-sale.html#post1064414960
Talk to the owner and he seems to have taken care of the car in a decent way. Gonna see the car soon as he's driving it up to Selangor.
I'll have a detailed look at it in terms of its engine, maintainance and how it rides.

If I do get it I would probably do the following upgrades to it:
- Carbon fibre hood
- Reduce exhaust size a little bit as the current one tilts the rear diffusor.
- Switch from single turbo to twin turbo
- Change the headlights to something like this Mazda RX7 Headlights | eBay
- Any other engine related maintainance

Opinions & thoughts?

---------- Post added at 01:01 AM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 12:48 AM ----------



Boss to be honest your description seems to be one of the most sensible of the lot that i've read on here. If I got the S15 it would be just for fun and maybe drifting. That car is a holy car in the drift world and one of my childhood dream cars to own. Although, I'm not that interested in drifiting. My one goal is to improve & go as fast as I can, be it time attacks, circuit & street runs, mountain runs, etc...

I just wanna improve my driving and I believe the FD3S would give me that oppurtunity to reach a much higher level. Not to mention i've done some research on maintaining the Rotory engine and it doesn't seem so difficult, despite what I've heard from people. Though i'll definately need the help of a Rotary specialist/mechanic to help me have a good look at it, and also for tuning. Don't get me wrong, in terms of cost it'll be really expensive cause of the petrol consumption, changing of oil every 3000km and the patience to warm it up from cold starts along with its cooldown. Though from the start I wanted to get a car in which I'd get lost into its driving, maintainance & upgrading. This car seems to have grasp all my attention.

All I can hope for now is that the car i'm gonna check out is in a good condition, doesn't have any oil leakage whatsoever and I have the patience to work on it week after week.
If you do buy the car, keep the single turbo. It much less hassle. The stock twin turbos are a pain in the ass to get it working again and keep it working properly as its a sequential design. Its a real headache to make sure all the vacuum system works properly.

Best if you don't go pass 0.9 boost for the car on any turbine size and don't make more than 400hp at the engine or else it'll be short life. But 3mm apex seals are nice to have since its already in there. Personally I like HKS full turbine kit for the FD as it uses a TO4S non ball bearing turbo as its more reliable because of heat factor Also if tuned right the engine response is superb. Best all round turbine setup personally. The kit is rated at 400hp engine. But since the car already has single turbo make sure you get it fueled and ignition mapped properly as detonation will break an apex seal real quick unlike piston which is much more forgiving. But since its got 3mm seals that helps also. 3mm seals doesn't make the engine last longer, its just more forgiving when you get detonation.
 

elsm80

Known Member
Senior Member
Mar 21, 2006
389
120
3,043
One tip.

Converting back to twin turbo is one hell of a difficult exercise.

Try a smaller ball bearing turbo, GT2830 kinda range.

I like the attitude you seem to have adopted. Not many motorheads today are into the all encompassing pursuit of reducing lap times.
The ones that do are truly the few and the mighty. Even then, not many are purist beyond the handful.

The scene for rotary power is even sad-er. None of the street registered FDs I have broken the 2.35 mark on Sepang. This includes myself. There are of course numerous factors for this but none of them seem to indicate that WE (rotor heads) are serious about the pursuit of time. Our cars look the part but by god, we are the slowest and most fragile of the lot. Type Rs, Evos, Scoobies and about any other performance car shit on us.

You are possibly the first Rotor head that I have heard that ones to achieve the above. I have thought about it many times BUT I too give plenty of excuses. No time, car not in good shape, setup crap....etc. The honest truth is that there are very few options/knowledge to be gathered here in the local rotary scene. Most members enjoy the car the way they know how without the urge of accessing that huge potential. WHO can blame them? Nobody seems to be able to build a rotary properly. Its like buying 4D, one build can be solid, another one can bomb. People who can afford regular rebuilds have already move on to better cars (R35 or so on...HAHAHA)

BUT notwithstanding my rant....I salute you for your goal, perhaps it is also time for me to evaluate mine.

Sorry boss for "cheong hei"
 

Clutch_Shift_Accelerate

Known Member
Thread starter
Sep 8, 2013
81
17
508
Kuala Lumpur
If you do buy the car, keep the single turbo. It much less hassle. The stock twin turbos are a pain in the ass to get it working again and keep it working properly as its a sequential design. Its a real headache to make sure all the vacuum system works properly.

Best if you don't go pass 0.9 boost for the car on any turbine size and don't make more than 400hp at the engine or else it'll be short life. But 3mm apex seals are nice to have since its already in there. Personally I like HKS full turbine kit for the FD as it uses a TO4S non ball bearing turbo as its more reliable because of heat factor Also if tuned right the engine response is superb. Best all round turbine setup personally. The kit is rated at 400hp engine. But since the car already has single turbo make sure you get it fueled and ignition mapped properly as detonation will break an apex seal real quick unlike piston which is much more forgiving. But since its got 3mm seals that helps also. 3mm seals doesn't make the engine last longer, its just more forgiving when you get detonation.
If its sequential, can't one use a big turbine turbo for high RPMs and a small turbine turbo for low RPMs?
Also, I still don't understand why people say plugging a turbo into a car is gonna ruin the car. Its just recycling the combusted air that comes from the engine before exiting the car? If there were to be any damage it would probably be the back pressure from the turbo and it that case wouldn't the engine just stall?

---------- Post added at 02:15 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 02:14 PM ----------

One tip.

Converting back to twin turbo is one hell of a difficult exercise.

Try a smaller ball bearing turbo, GT2830 kinda range.

I like the attitude you seem to have adopted. Not many motorheads today are into the all encompassing pursuit of reducing lap times.
The ones that do are truly the few and the mighty. Even then, not many are purist beyond the handful.

The scene for rotary power is even sad-er. None of the street registered FDs I have broken the 2.35 mark on Sepang. This includes myself. There are of course numerous factors for this but none of them seem to indicate that WE (rotor heads) are serious about the pursuit of time. Our cars look the part but by god, we are the slowest and most fragile of the lot. Type Rs, Evos, Scoobies and about any other performance car shit on us.

You are possibly the first Rotor head that I have heard that ones to achieve the above. I have thought about it many times BUT I too give plenty of excuses. No time, car not in good shape, setup crap....etc. The honest truth is that there are very few options/knowledge to be gathered here in the local rotary scene. Most members enjoy the car the way they know how without the urge of accessing that huge potential. WHO can blame them? Nobody seems to be able to build a rotary properly. Its like buying 4D, one build can be solid, another one can bomb. People who can afford regular rebuilds have already move on to better cars (R35 or so on...HAHAHA)

BUT notwithstanding my rant....I salute you for your goal, perhaps it is also time for me to evaluate mine.

Sorry boss for "cheong hei"
Yea I've heard its a bit of a work to plug a twin turbo in. Not to mention getting the proper exhaust manifold for the turbo exhaust ports for an FD3S is apparently rare now....
Thanks mate :smile:
 

4gbanger

1,500 RPM
Jun 26, 2013
1,958
386
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Johor/ShahAlam
plugging turbo with no proper adjustment will ruin the engine operations... the fuel mapping will affected, combustion, ignition, ignition timing, air to fuel ratio, gasket reliability, piston/sleeve wear n tear and list goes on n on... its an engineering. so engineering need each n every element to be monitored.. probably the least to emphasized is plugging a supercharger as the fuel mapping is not has alot different. but everything else such as air fuel ratio need to be adjusted... :smokin:
 

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