How did you first get into rotaries & where has it taken you?

[Miguel]

Thought this would make an interesting thread...!...So I\'ll start off - So share, how did you get into RX-7\'s then?

At first, like most people - I was afraid of the rotary engine. I didn\'t understand how it worked and I believed the stories I\'d heard about unreliability, etc.

Living in Tokyo since 1998, I saw my fair share of RX-7\'s....One night I heard a big single one exit a corner and accelerate hard...
As a petrol head, I had already started to get hooked!

In 2002, I bought my RX-7, purely to drive as a daily use car - and learn a bit about these beautiful cars.
Mine started as a standard 1995 Type R Bathurst model. Very clean, standard condition - aside from a set of RE Amemiya alloys and a big exhaust rear section.

Remember my excitement as I drove it home. Awesome handling. Nice sound, super smooth engine....!

My R33 GT-R V-Spec at the time had been my dream car till then... I\'d enjoyed it for nearly 3 years....

But now I\'d always take the keys to the RX-7 every time I went out! The GT-R was abandoned for months at a time!

Fitted a Knight Sports ECU, downpipe, cat replacement pipe and a knight Sports EBS boost controller, together with an ARC air box. Amazed at the performance gain....Sold the GT-R!

Then it just carried on from there. Have spent 3 years building my definition of the perfect RX-7 for road and track use.... Pretty much there now, although I have learnt it\'s a labour of love that will never end!

[Kieron]

Cant remember the 1st tiem I saw one but I\'ve always loved the look of them, I didn\'t and still don\'t know much about the rotary engine, I had heard the horror stories but wasn\'t put off. Once I turned 21 I set about to sell the MR2 turbo which I have had for 3 years and buy an RX7.

2 months ago I met Nigel Fright, a rotary engine builder local to me and he has kindly lent me his FD, it came 3rd in the 2004 Cannonballrun.



(me at rotorstock)

Hopefully before japshow I will have brought this lovely white RX7




Spec is:

1992 RX-7 type R in Pearl
RMagic Front lip, skirts and rear spats. (I think)
Panspeed hood (I think)
Racing Beat wheels
HKS Megaflow filters and hardpipe kit,
HKS circle earth kit.
Mazdaspeed fully adjustable coilovers
Street ported engine.
Bride Fixed back bucket seat with harness.

Than I plan to change the ecu and exhaust and enjoy her for years to come.

[gsb876]

Quite funny how i got into them as the first one i ever saw was Gary Goodings purple rx7 in of all things "max power" :rolleyes:  i\'d never seen one before and was interested to know just what it was ?
After a little bit of research found that they were actually quite affordable and straight away i started to devise a plan to get one, i had a toyota mr2 at the time and found a rx7 twin turbo on autotrader, i had to part with the mr2 and £2500 for the rx, although the car itself was great i found the noise too loud and the suspension was way too stiff, after only 3 months i\'d had enough, also because of my limited knowledge on the rotary engine i felt alittle out of tune with the car, so swapped it for a R33 GTS Skyline, and then also bought a Escort Cosworth. Both cars were great but lacked the raw drive of the rx7, i swore i would have another rx7 some day

Anyway a year later and the search began, upon inputting "rx7\'s for sale" on the internet i came across "mazdarotaryclub.com" now never had been on forums before and could not believe all the answers i seeked were right there !!!! After nearly 8 months of searching the R33 was sold to a chap in Edinburgh and the Escort cosworth had gone to Dartford i had the money waiting but no rx to buy !!!! finally after much help from Ben Linney who worked tiredlessly to find me the right rx, he put me in touch with "evilrotors" which was run by a certain Ross Juniper, after a few phone calls there was no luck, but out of the blue a phone call from Ross had me excited as he had found a purple rx7 with serious power, the rest as they say is history and EVILROTORS became DRAGON.

Incidently spoke with Gary Gooding at R2 and told him of the way in which his car has inspired me to get an rx

My car you guys already know, heres my first rx7:

[MattR]

Hi

Well after owning my evo 4 rs for a massive 1 week...i decided to sell it this was a coupla years back...after that week i was offered a px for a scoob type r...must say at the time i fell in love iwth it...awesome peice of kit and so well setup for the b road blasts around us!!! Freddy knows what i mean!!!

Wel the time came i had to sell her!! And thats when i was offered an gen 3 rx..hadnt really had much to do with them before ..or read/heard much about them..but as soon as i saw it..i knew a deal had to be done!!! It was a mildly modded 95 Type RB!! And WOW what an experience.... amazing handling..braking and such a beautiful power delivery something i had not experienced before after mainly driving cossies..scoobs and evos..!!

Unfortunaly,had to make way for further plans for the business she had to be sold...and now owned by Chirs who i know enjoys it almost as much as it did!!

Well after being out of them for a coupla of months...a friend of mine informed me about a very very clean 92 montego blue rx. landed over to his and wow ..i knew i had to have her so off we drove!!!

Well im up to my 5th now in what is only a 1 1/2yr  max!!experiencing singles..uprated twins and stock twin ones they are all just as good! and am always on the look out in JP for some special ones!!


So there is my little Rx history!!

Hoping to get into hillclimbing/sprinting in a rx for the 2006 shud be fun!! not quite the usual rx route.

All The Best

Matt

[chrisBoid]

Nice thread  This is the sort of information that the commentator for Rotorstock 2 was after, but no-one could figure out how to present it :rolleyes:

My story
I had been saving hard for 3 years and it was time to replace my faithful Clio 1.4RT with something more fitting.  I scoured the domestic market and nothing lept out at me. Clio 172\', Civic Type-R\'s and Seat Leon\'s were affordable but common and not \'unique\'.  I wanted more but couldn\'t find anything.

So I thought if I was going to end up with one of these run of the mill sporty hatchbacks I would at least get it cheap, so I typed "import car" into Google and that\'s where my life changed and Japanese performance cars entered my life.  At first it was the Skyline and Supra which dominated my thoughts and by luck I stumbled across the RX-7 which was a far better looking car than the other two with performance to match.

£500 down after an unsuccessful encounter with what I would describe as a bedroom importer, I came across Newera Imports.  A professional outfit that impressed me with their timely responses and defined processes.  My £1000 deposit was laid down along with my wish list whch including what I thought were impossible requirements; nice aftermarket rims and having blue body colour being the most difficult to achieve.

1 month later, May 12th 2003 and I had bought my RX-7 which exceeded my so called impossible requirements.  Miguel recommended I check out a website called //www.mazdarotaryclub.com without which I would not have survived rotary ownership.

21 months down the line and I\'ve spent significantly more on the car than the purchase price and not even moving house shortly will make me give it up.  I have many plans outstanding and I look forward to seeing them through.

Chris.

[MikeLMR]

My dad bringing home rx7 brochures from work got me intersted when I was quite young, then during my training I ended up writing a few thermodynamics projects around the rotary as it was far more interesting than a piston engine, and then once I could afford to insure a half decent car I bought an FB and havn\'t really looked back since.

[RobbieRX-7]

after owning a 2.0litre 140bhp rover coupe for 4 years..i was looking for more ..erm..everything! i had a line up of cars to buy next with a £6000 budget..mr2 turbo..too common and cant tell difference between turbo and natrual aspiated, calibra turbo-squashed cavalier with crap handling and too common but i rate vauxhall ,  vw corrado vr6-too pricey for what they are, skyline r33-too big and not good looking enough, supra-too big and nasty dash,96 nissan 200sx-i liked the front,hated the back then a mate of a mate bought a silver 94fd rx7 for £10,000..he took me for a spin and i could not critisize..smooth delivery, great handling,quiet engine and fighter jet style cockpit and nice curvs..id only saw 2 others on the road in my life including a competition yellow come past my house. i could not believe he bought an rx7 and i was amazed at the price of rx7`s  on the autotrader..i never knew they were so cheap and i just had to have one. my mate later sold his fd rx7  because of the fuel consumption,after taking him for a spin in mine after he sold his..first thing he said
"i should`nt have sold my rx7!"

[mazda bait]

At the tender age of 19 i already had 3 project cars under my belt 2 x mk1 Golf Gti\'s and a beetle roof chop, i decided i fancied something a little more challenging.  A local Jap breakers were advertising a 300zx twin turbo with light burn damage to the wiring loom! (After inspecting the engine fire i decided it was a no go)
 
But also in the yard was a sleek black car that caught my eye, my first real glimpse of an FD.  Well i was hooked from there on, 1 year later and after a lot of saving i started ringing insurance companies.  After eventually finding a company that would insure a 20yr old lad on an imported twin turbo i set off shopping.

I found a 92 type x with an Apexi FR front bumper and spoiler.  Since then the car has benefited from new rims, carbon bonnet, re-ameniya console mounted boost gauge, DVD + screen, HKS backbox, HKS induction kit, turbo timer, Full rebuild and street port courtesy of carl hayward..... and loads i can\'t remember!

2 years down the line with a very empty wallet i still love it more than ever, even though my mates constantly like to remind me i could have bought any selection of new sports cars from the money i\'ve spent on mine!:D

[the lemster]

mine aint as fancy as ome of the previous...

I have had mazdas all my driving life.... apart from a hilman imp!!! great car that was till it hit some black ice ended up in a ditch and got hit from the back by a mondeo... rear engined became mid engined!!!

anyway... ahd an e reg 323 1.5 glx... great car... my sister has it now 130k+ and still going strong

then I had an N reg 323 2L v6  again lovely car and the reliability was outstanding

loved mazdas for this even if the servicing was a bit high...

had wanted a rex for about the last year of ownership of that car... had seen afew around but though they were out of my price range so I kept on searching and as my wage grew asnd the price stayed the same I could afford one....

my mate were taking the P**s as they thjought the engind would blow after a week.... m ine didnt but both theirs did... thats 300ZX\'s for yer!!!!

and now am the proud owner of my silver type r special edition ( or thats what it says in the driver door sill!!!)

still make me smile getting into it even after having it for nearly9 months


yeeeehaaa

[shaunwil]

After going to Japfest in 2003 i fell in love with a silver one on the show stand. Loved the shape of the car and when got home tried to get all the info on this lovely car !

At the time i was thinking of changing cars from my AXGT (i know) to something more rare. At the time i looked at an FTO and the rx7. The FTO was about slightly cheaper to insure and petrol costs where alot less. So i went for the FTO......

After 18 months i was driving about 40 miles a day to work and back and was completely bored with the FTO. I disliked the auto box. It looked great and the boot was full of ICE ! So when i turned 25 I looked back into getting the Rx7 again...........

I found my rx7 in a garage that didn\'t even realise a rebuild was a big plus. I remember the first question i asked the guy was "how much will you give me for my FTO ?"

It is now my second car and im loving it. All my driving costs are cheaper, having a 60 mile/gallon deisel and i get a fantastic drive for the weekend ! I\'ve had it for almost 12 months and it still gives me a massive smile to drive and i don\'t think it will ever change !

Shaun

[Ada7]

I was on holiday in Canada when i got an email from a mate to say that he\'d just bought an FTO. We\'d got into Japanese sports cars together after the release of \'The Fast and the Furious\' film. So when i got back i decided that it was time i joined in all the fun and get myself something special. I had heard of the Rx7 before but really know nothing about them apart form they had a weird engine.

So after spending many hours looking over the internet and though Japanese Performance magazines, and seeing as i always seem to want the best out there, rear wheel drive and lots of power, i\'d narrowed it down to either a Supra TT or an Rx7 Gen 3. I really loved the look of the mazda and seeing that the Supra was gonna be more expensive, it seemed an easy desision to go for the 7.

I then started to look though the auto trader every week to find the car i liked the look of. I been to a coupe of garages to see if i fitted in the car (i\'m 6\'4"ish), and as long as it had a smaller than standard steering wheel i was ok... Just. Its a bit of a squeeze but i can deal with that. I then found one i liked the look of. A really clean 92 efini with only 62k on the clock and some nice extra thrown in as well. It was a private sale, but the guy was part owner of a garage and had done a lot of work on it since he\'d got it imported. So i stumped up the cash and for a month or two things were great.

Then sadly after only doing 600 miles or so the engine went bye bye\'s and it was off the road for 6 months while i worked my arse off to get get the money together to get it rebuilt. A lot of phone calls and bigger bills than expected happened, and for a time i really thought that owning my dream car had turned into a total nightmare, but i stuck though it and now all is well again. It was only after all that i then really got to know the mazda rotary club, wish i found you guys earlier, but by then the car was back on the road, and now it fun, fun ,fun till the fuel tanks empty again :rollin

I\'ve now been loven every minute behind the wheel and have been to some great shows this summer and am looking forward to many more.

[gmogle]

Hi this is my story.

Here we go....watched the Fast and the Furious and after that it HAD to be Japanese !!! tbh I liked the black honda civic coupes most. Anyway did some research into a VTI coupe but after weighing up the cost of getting some decent performance out of it I decided against it.

Then I did some research on Jap cars and it was whilst watching the F and F again (cmon guys you know you have ALL seen it more than once !!!!)  I liked the look of Doms RX7 and started getting into the Rx7. I have been lurking on this website for the best part of a year learning all about the cars/engines etc etc but it wasnt until I did some insurance quotes and got 2k that it put me off.

So I looked at other cars like a Honda Integra (never got to sit in and see one up close as being in Norfolk the back end of beyond nobody has them up for sale).  However I did see a few driving round the city and thought they looked nice and started doing some budgeting on running one of these..bullet proof engine...honda reliability...I thought i had found the car for me. Anyway running through Jap perf mags I found back issues with buying guides for both an Integ and also an Rx so I bought them both.
Reading through this mag showed me that the RX is light years ahead of the integra in terms of 0-60 performance....on a track with the handling of the Teg I\'m not sure. It happened that an RX came up for sale in a garage near me so I dragged the missus along and went to look at it.
Opening the hangar door where all the cars were kept (PJ Davey is the place...some great jap cars inc evos...supra..scoob etc) and my eyes caught sght of the RX7. I was gobsmacked...it looked like no other car I had ever seen and couldnt believe the curved panels. aggressive front...pop up headlights (everyone knows they are cool !!) Then going to sit in the car...well falling in I was amazed at how low it was. After this day..the missus and I both knew it would be an RX !! Even she who never really gets interested in cars was amazed.

So to cut a very long story short...after spending even more time on this site I found an insurance company who would quote me 700 squid fully comp. Job done.

Meeting Alexb and sdminus and seeing their cars and being taken out for a very fast spin by Alex deffo made my mind up.

So I found out about Jimmys in Hoveton up the road from me and went to see Andrew, he showed me a very dirty looking black tyre r rx with all the mods I wanted..dump valve...big exhaust..brand new retrimmed seats..rebuilt engine and guaranteed plus a whole heap of other bits and pieces on it I put the deposit down there and then. This was in june and then in Nov it was ready to be picked up. Taking the car home with mum and dad behind me I just had a big grin on my face like a kid in a sweet shop !! Driving for the first 1000 miles under 4000 rpm certainly gets you used to the performance of the car before being able to launch it up the rev range.

Havent done anymore mods to it apart from the power fc and commander and tbh I think its fast enough as it is but a mate has just bought an r32 skyline and thats fractionately quicker than mine so maybe more mods are needed. I wouldnt ever want to lose the twin turbo feel.

All in all a great car and thoroughly recommend Andrew at Jimmys for new cars plus work done on them.

I cannot believe the amount of attention you get from driving it...people just stop and stare....unbelievable...the missus said she doesnt like this attention.....but deep down we all know...women love attention !!!

Bad things...why is the fuel tank needle never showing full for very long ?!!!? Why is that another BMW driver deciding to sit on my ass ?!!!?  Why is the boot so tiny ?!!? Why are jap mods so expensive ?!!!!? And why do I panic about everywhere I leave it...car parks..peoples houses etc etc ?!!!!?

Gareth

Oh,1 last thing....people always seem to look at mine and mention 2 words.....Knight Rider....noooo !!!

[RobbieRX-7]

RRRRRRRRR..it seems we are in a relationship with our cars here..

i think its funny when even old people turn their head at break neck speeds when you drive by:rollin :rollin

i must admit i hate leaving it anywhere and its 1 of those cars im gonna be keeping for a long time. ive only just got mineback on the road and it makes you appreciate it a lot more when youve been driving a shed around for 6months then go back to the rex..it seems exta fast, faster than before and ive been drivng it for 2weeks now with no mods since last time

 VERY BIG GRIN

[grinder]

ha ha some good reads there

i had been on holiday a few years back and can home and jon ) hotstepper ) had an EGI on the drive

didnt have a clue what it was and the word RX7 meant nothing to me

he offered time after time to take me for a spin - eventually i gave up and accpeted

after being in the car i feel in love ( the pop up lights really did if for me ) - so thats when my hunt began

managed to get an F reg EGI for £900

i got this - john got a turbo II - sheesh neighbours eh !

i ran the egi for about 10 months - what a superb car

then the girlfriend told me she was pregnant - that was it - the car went - cant have 3 cars and a baby

sold the car ( eventually ) but stayed around here as i knew so many people

i was on the hunt as soon as the guy drove the car away ( although the better hald didnt really know )

after a few weeks i was really on the hunt for another - the better half was getting sick of RX7\'s at this point ( and still is ! ! )

managed to get a TII from the yahoo groups - the car came on the wed - picked it up on Sat 03/10/2003

my daughter was born 3 days later - i was very lucky to get the car in time - i feel that if i hadnt - i wouldnt be an owner right now

and soon after that jon sold his TII and got an FD - although im in no rush to follow that route

there is just something about these cars that make them a love - hate relationship - still cant narrow it down though

i spent months rewelding mine back together - which is still a shock as any over car - i would have just thrown away !

Thats enough from me

Take Care

Stu / Grinder

[Ada7]

Originally posted by gmogle
Then I did some research on Jap cars and it was whilst watching the F and F again (cmon guys you know you have ALL seen it more than once !!!!)

Oh,1 last thing....people always seem to look at mine and mention 2 words.....Knight Rider....noooo !!!

Think i\'ve nearly seen that film far to many times now :rollin

Once at work, when i was out on a job, some of the other guys desided it would be funny to stick a red strip across the bonnet, a la KIT and change my number plates to KIT 1!! :rollin