For the love of our cars and our passion.

[elsm80]

Hey guys,

I've been an Rotary owner for nearly 8 years and all this time I have yet to see/meet an Rx7 that has been built well. This includes me.

Before everyone gets worked up and start hurtling abuse at me, let us first examine the facts.

Most of our cars in all honesty are shit.

We've got show boaters with tons of un-original, heavy ass, lousy fitting body kits that have Ah Beng with money written all over it. Look into the interior of these cars and they have the requisite 100 different DEFI meters BUT follow them up Genting and you find these cars slow, overheating and downright destroyed by other cult classics like the 180sx or even those rev-loving Hondas. I can bet that most of us can only shake our heads in frustration when an Evo or Subaru tears us a new asshole.

I too am guilty or treading this path of lousy modifications. I do not fancy the bling stuff and have always loved the clean JDM look. I however chose to stuff a big turbo on my rotary and ultimately ended up with a dyno queen who is scary fast on the straights. The lag and twitchy nature of the power delivery makes the car downright crazy to drive.

I have put in tons of money and time. Love and passion has been poured in BUT still I am guilty of misrepresenting the Rx7. I do not know where to start making things right. The worst part is our Rx7 community is oblivious to this. We have feel good yum chas and mini touges but we are never ever competitive. The only Rx7 that has ever done us proud is a Veilside example (Orange) which was in SNF. It was a strange looking beast but at least it did us proud.

My car is languishing on my porch as we speak. She's got semi-slicks on, she's been lightened but why am I not driving her? I guess I'm ashamed of her. I'm ashamed of the culture and reputation the Rx7 has built for itself in Malaysia. AND not helped by my reclusive car too!

A cheap, fragile sports car. Good to look at only. Expect it to come with wide body kit, happening rims and little else. Most likely to be seen at a Puchong/Kepong/Cheras pub surrounded by people who think Initial-D represents their motoring heritage.

What are we going to do with ourselves?

Just my humble 2 cents as I contemplate on whether to sell the RX or not.

 

[Alchemis]

it's sad to see such scene.... no doubt that the car is expensive to be treated badly... but that's the price to pay for such ownership. the car was once crowned the 4 kings from Japan... NSX, GT-R, Supra, RX-7.

if any of you guys read the details of Rx-7 and the interviews, they design the car as a "pure sports". pure sports doesn't really mean nice dress, nice shoes, nice specs, which converts to nice body kit, nice rims, nice lights. we don't see basket ball player wear a suit and prada shoes to play. (but i do know that some boss wears a suit to make french fries back then )

so... ditch the behavior of afraid engine kaboom, ditch the behavior of making bling colors, 20 inch rims, ... stock JDM 99 spec body kit weights like feather... put on a 17 or 18 inch tires... hit the track... go kill some subaru and honda.....


*btw, GT wing and front canard works :)...

 

[Dayline668]

Just a passerby here.. I always love a RX looks, stock is the best...

 

[dawghause]

Its always the quiet unassuming, unmodified cars that are the fastest.
I seriously think visual modders are compensating for something.

 

[savahn]

Hmmm...? I see good quality RX7s once a while. That said, I do see loud rotaries more often. Don't know if they blow up driving to Genting though. I recently saw an SA and an orange FD with Veilside kit both with super clean engine bays getting touched up at Ah Choy's.

As for getting rid of your rotary, that is a question of why you bought the car in the first place. My FC is laid up as I save money to restore her properly but she still runs smoothly. An FC isn't a pure-bred sportscar like the FD but I see her as a contemporary classic. And she's my dream car. Out of all the cars I aspire to over the years, the one car that is always on my list has been the FC.

That and she still gives me satisfaction. Very easy and satisfying drive.

You could clean up your RX7 and take her out to do a few rounds of GRA or Sepang. That's a great way to stay in tune with your car.

 

[6UE5t]

Don't be a ricer, but a racer!

 

[adamckc]

fd has done no 1 in 24 hr endurance race before in australia what..

 

[Alchemis]

i would love to see someone doing that in malaysia... i'm waiting Dev to get his car ready to drive on the circuit....as for the rest... please get more active on the motorsport scene.... else other's perception of Rx-7 club is another yet DEAD club...

like everyone know.... i drive a GTI now. and i join the VW club now. they are very active in coming out together for a drink etc... as what i know.. GTI is nothing like FD or FC... GTi is like a boutique car. so.. it's kinda okay to see them mod their car with all sort of big rims, big brakes, big carbon wings etc etc etc.... it's a norm for GTi.... but no matter how they do it... GTi will never perform like FD... NEVER in this life... the group do have some enthusiast, they go ulu yam often and go sepang often as well...

so.. let's not let the rotary spirit die off... mazda killed their rotary project... we must not die like them..... yada yada yada... i don't have a rotary now... please give me a few numbers... so that i can buy sports Toto... and get myself another FD...

 

[elsm80]

Hmmm...? I see good quality RX7s once a while. That said, I do see loud rotaries more often. Don't know if they blow up driving to Genting though. I recently saw an SA and an orange FD with Veilside kit both with super clean engine bays getting touched up at Ah Choy's.

As for getting rid of your rotary, that is a question of why you bought the car in the first place. My FC is laid up as I save money to restore her properly but she still runs smoothly. An FC isn't a pure-bred sportscar like the FD but I see her as a contemporary classic. And she's my dream car. Out of all the cars I aspire to over the years, the one car that is always on my list has been the FC.

That and she still gives me satisfaction. Very easy and satisfying drive.

You could clean up your RX7 and take her out to do a few rounds of GRA or Sepang. That's a great way to stay in tune with your car.

Well, its good to know that there are some passionate people still out there!

 

[kariayam]

Few reasons that make us (rotary) less competitive:
1) it's a rotary- you cannot run away from the risk of overheat
2) it's a fr car without any traction control. Pure mechanical sport car. Most of us are average skilled driver. To handle a fast fr car with average skill costs u a pair of big balls.
3) evos,subarus,hondas doesnt really require a pair of titanium balls for average-skiled driver as you'll hardly experience 'loose ' from these cars.
3.5) 'loose' is always scarier than 'push' for average skilled drivers. Not many people who can really handle a fr beast and push it to the limit.
4) i agree with you..most of the 7 are spoilt by those ah beng bodykits. The stock look is 100x better than those c-west bumper + ah beng side skirt + ah beng rear bumper + 6 feet
high gt wing.
5) most of the drivers did not realize the importance of the cooling system upgrade (aftermarket radiator,silicone hoses,WATER TEMP GAUGE,radiator cap rating etc) before their engine is fu#ked.
6) yes, most of the fd only ends up with ah beng bodykits with 18tones color which only resides in front of the shopping malls,clubs just like a daddy's little girl instead of motorsport event. Most of the owners love to 'baby' and pamper the fd instead of finding its true potential. May be they just love the beauty of the 7.
7) let alone to find the real fd enthusiast who is comitted to motorsport is only a few to name of. May be less than 5 people. Instead of proper engine tuning, there's a secret of suspension tuning that will be a 'sweet spot' for any fd to go fast on track(together with our very own titanium balls). only the real enthusiasts will discover this on their fd.
8) so elsmo, keep your fd, me n few others will make the fd alive again on the track perhaps after the appearance of phat7 track car in sic

 

[IdzarSavanna]

Wait for my SA fully restored and I'll go bang all those evos subarus and especially HONDAs haha =D Its much fun drive a rotary, be 'one' with your car and you'll enjoyed it. Although I'm new on this rotary shit but I don't care what others say about disadvantages of using this rotor engine, to me if you love it, you never care to spent how much money to your 'baby'. Do a lot of research then you okay with it.

 

[BLaCkHoWLiNG]

well... it goes 3 ways so to speak.. either the car dies on u.. or u die on the car, literally as u try to prove something or doing it as you live out yr passion... or the 3rd scenario - u grow out of the passion... either way, nothing lasts forever... one thing though, real man do it and dont regret ;)

 

[elsm80]

All fair points and honestly is good to hear from you guys.

I guess, owning an Rx7 in seclusion does cut you off from the scene.

Who knows, maybe I'll take my RX down to my next track day this week. Pray nothing explodes!

HAHA.

 

[Jaymz]

hmmm.. I tracked my RX7 on pasir gudang track 2 weeks ago... did 6 laps...

1st lap - water temp 95 and Oil temp 100
2nd lap - water temp 110 and oil temp 100-105
3rd lap - water temp 120 and oil temp 110

Took a break and did the remaining laps..

Nothing happened .. :3

 

[savahn]

FDs are really really good cars. But they are also from the era where the driver has to do lots of work to get to the limit.

Far cry from the cars today that have all sorts of electronics that massage your butt while flossing your teeth and giving your hair a blow-dry as you reach 700MPH in 2.3 seconds :p

Blackhowling is right about outgrowing your passion. Not too sure about you dying on your car though XD