Messages

Just to say, the recovery truck did eventually arrive, so car is now at Super 7 to be mended.

Thanks for organising, I had a great time apart from the last five minutes (!)

Hope you can get your engine sorted without too much hassle, you were going well (as ever) until then !

I will be at Brands tomorrow with my FD, look forward to seeing some fellow rotor-heads there

Finding a good specialist is vital but tricky.  I'd see how far you are from Steve Rivett, if it's reasonable distance then I'd start with him.

The rats nest is a network of aged, leaky rubber pipes, connecting fragile plastic valve bodies, and solenoids that cook in the underbonnet heat.  Almost any part can fail, giving erratic boost pattern when it does.

If you buy a '96 or later car the rats nest is somewhat simpler (although it can certainly go wrong).

Replacing the rubber pipes with silicone ones is a good start, although be careful not to snap any of the fragile plastic nipples off the connections at each end.

Personally I'd say, be aware that this can go wrong, and find an FD specialist who'll be able to fix it when it does.

Most FDs came with 8x16 wheels all around.
A few came with 8x17 front, 8.5x17 rear (RZs and later cars).

Jason at Super 7 thought that my car having the latter fitment was a handling advantage, but it's less than 10% extra width, so I don't think it's going to make a decisive difference.  I guess the benefit is the wider tyres can absorb the power on corner exit.

I guess that any effect on handling will be small, and it's all part of the overall package of spring, damper and arb rates, and geometry.  It's not as if your rear tyres are too narrow.

One option would be to fit the wheels you have, but put wider tyres on the rear only - you should be able to get 275 or 285s on a 9.5 I'd imagine.  That would give wider rear rubber while still using the wheels you already have.

Hi

Any pics of the broken RX-7?  What's wrong with it?  Any good roads to drive where you live?

I only have one car, and it's an FD.

It's actually fine for shopping mostly, it's small so not hard to park, only problem is that the doors need a lot of space to open.  I find it pretty comfortable on longer drives too, and 25mpg isn't too bad.

However to be fair, I don't use it during the week as I take the train to work, so I only need a car at weekends.

The only real problem is that it keeps needing expensive maintenance, apart from that it's fine as an only car

After writing a reply on a thread, when I submitted it the board took me back to the topic listing, not the thread I just posted on.  (This is unlike the old forum).

I fixed this by going to my profile, Modify Profile > Look and Layout, and set "Return to topics after posting by default.".

Although each person can do this, it might be worth setting this to true on everyone's profiles, to keep it the same as the old board ?  Just a suggestion, I don't personally mind as I set it for myself anyway

And showing how small european sales were compared to other countries (mainly Japan and North America I guess):

Year   Global Production   EU Sales   EU as % of Global
1992   26654   580   2.18%
1993   6801   312   4.59%
1994   5962   143   2.40%
1995   5202   94   1.81%
1996   4762   23   0.48%

Awesome work, not seen the breakdown for other European countries before.

I used your text version to add up totals per country, EU total, and also the total number of RHD and LHD EU models sold:

Austria - - - 6
Belgium - - - 35
Czech Republic - - - 2
Denmark - - - 3
Finland - - - 1
France - - - 45
Germany - - - 447
Greece - - - 168
Ireland - - - 3
Italy - - - 76
Luxembourg - - - 7
Netherlands - - - 9
Portugal - - - 9
Spain - - - 57
Sweden - - - 8
Switzerland - - - 66
UK - - - 210
TOTAL - - - 1152
(RHD Total) - - - 213
(LHD Total) - - - 939

And the top ten EU countries:
1   Germany - - - 447
2   UK - - - 210
3   Greece - - - 168
4   Italy - - - 76
5   Switzerland - - - 66
6   Spain - - - 57
7   France - - - 45
8   Belgium - - - 35
9   Netherlands - - - 9
10   Portugal - - - 9

When I got my FD I was concerned about turning it off cold, after all I\'d read.  Then one time I started it up from cold, and after ten seconds the low coolant buzzer went off, so I instinctively shut it off straight away.  It re-started without any trouble, so my worrying hadn\'t been necessary.  (Obviously I topped up the coolant first).

So at least on my FD, it isn\'t a problem.

Oh yeah, that car looks great - did you pull the trigger on the deal?  Price looks good for the year to me.

No, you don\'t need to fit a Power FC, although do make sure you always use Super Unleaded (97 RON).

There are many import FDs that have been driven for years in the UK on their original factory ECUs.  The FD I have was among them for six years, from 2007 until last year, without problems.  (I\'ve since fitted an Apexi, but that was for trackdays, not because I was worried about the map).

I\'m pretty sure the \'Japanese petrol is higher octane\' is mostly myth, I think their high octane is pretty close to what we have.

I posted some general FD first-time-buyers\' advice here - http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81893

Really I just want something that is fast, loud, goes round corners really well and doesn\'t blow up!

well, three out of four is quite good right?  ;-)
Joke, buy a good FD and look after it sensibly, and you have as good chance as with most other 20 year old performance cars.

I would suggest you try and get one with upgraded radiator and intercooler (FMIC or V-mount) already fitted.
If going single turbo for 350-400hp, look for a relatively small turbo so that the boost is evenly spread over the rev range - IMHO, having a big spike of power makes it hard to balance on the throttle and spoils the handling.
Be patient, there are some terrible cars out there as well as some really nice ones.

I really rate the FD\'s handling, it\'s so poised, agile, well-balanced and responsive, you can really push it hard and play with the balance.  As you like turbo cars anyway, and want good handling, I think you\'d really enjoy an FD.

Talking to Carl is a good start :up:

Yes, it\'s normal for insurance companies to have it listed as a 2.6.

It was officially classed as a 2.6 when they were sold here, however since in Japan the registration documents state 1.3, it is sometimes possible to register private imports as 1.3.  This is good for reduced annual road tax, but makes no difference to insurance.  There is only one engine in FDs.

With the clutch, is it a continuous noise while driving, when accelerating, or when letting the clutch in?  Also what sort of noise is it?

Third Tuesday of every month, I infer from the first post.  I guess Skifle was posting from the pub last night.