Questions from a newbie, had read alot about the FD.

[Nobbie]

Hi,
I\'ve been looking at getting an RX7 FD, UK Spec (If lucky), around a 1994. I\'ve seen the market flooded with cheap imports, all around the 60k ish miles. From my reading i see that if an FD has around 60k on it, and hasn\'t had a rebuild its gonna need one, and to budget £1500-£3k for a rebuild.

Now i\'m quite happy building \'normal\' engines, and have progressed from std na mini engines, to race mini engines, to Vauxhal XE engine, and now drive a Vauxhall LET engine with circa 300bhp. I\'ve built all the engines up myself, have had things like balancing done by a local well known engineers, and basically built it to a blue printed spec.

Now back on-track to my question, i was gonna buy a knackered FD engine, and have a poke about and try and re-build it, they look pretty simple tbh, and the main problems seem to be the inner/outer water seals, and the rotor tip seals.

Now that was my plan, but i\'ve seen an RX7 pop up on autotrader, for £3k, with a blown engine, i\'ve emailed the guy, and am waiting a response, but i\'m hoping its flooded, and he does\'t know it, and i\'ll get a bargin, if not i could buy one of the members engines, being sold in the for sale section for about £1k, then for £4k, i have a nice RX-7 With a re-built engine as a solid grounding, and a blown engine to take apart and learn.

What are the chances of it being flooded, and the owner not knowing it?.

What are the chances of getting a good re-built engine for £1k?.

If the car is flooded, what are the chances that its gonna need a re-built as the reason its flooded it due to the rotor tips?.

What Rotory specialist do you London\'ish people use?

Good Plan/Bad Plan?

Thats the questions, hope your not asleep due to the reeeaaaallyy long post.

[TRex]

Hi and welcome mate.

 Drop me an e-mail for a small chat....     diver7diver@hotmail.com

 rgds
 Dom

[dandan]

Hi and welcome,
I don\'t know too much about resale values of engines but I sold my freshly rebuilt engine (1000km\'s after rebuild) for £2000 so that might scupper your plan a little bit.

As far as being able to rebuild it yourself, if you have worked on piston engines previously, I think you will find the rotary very straightforward to build. I have very little mechanical experience and was fully prepared to rebuild my own engine with quite a lot of confidence, luckily I didn\'t need to in the end.

Not sure on the location of Herts, but RE:worx is quite close to south/west london, its down in portsmouth. or carl hayward is in Newbury i think.

I have no idea about the odds of it being flooded, I know an inexperienced person would find it quite hard to re-start and could be under the impression it is blown. Usually a blown engine will still turn over, it will just sound like a tractor and/or kick out A LOT of smoke or only run on one rotor, depending on the damage.
I say go for it though!
Hope this helps.

[Nobbie]

HHHmmmm, okay thats kinda interesting, whats the avaliability of parts, like the water seals for the end cover. I can get a full gasket set for Vaux for my let within about 3 days to a week, is it the same deal with Mazda?, can i just walk in and ask for a gasket set.

[dandan]

gasket kits are pretty widely available, any of the garages on the sponsor banner above will be able to supply you with a set, or possibly straight through Mazda as well, but dont quote me on that (some dealers are barely even aware of the existence of the rotary engine!). A vendor could tell you time frame but i dont think it\'s any longer than you are used to.

[Lisa]

Hi Nobbie

See the thread below, contact Carl as I think the price may have been reduced. Tel: 01635 846598 - Email: carl@mazdarotary.co.uk

http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21930&highlight=yellow

This car belonged to Clive (President of MRC) and myself and was sorry to see it go! maybe worth a look to see if it is what you are looking for.

Regards

[Nobbie]

Out of my price range at the mo, looks a very nice car though..

The reason i\'m willing to move my rx7 owning forward is this http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_search.asp?modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&make=MAZDA&model=RX7&variant=&keywords=&min_pr=75&max_pr=4000&mileage=&agerange=&postcode=hp1+2lu&miles=40&max_records=50&source=0&photo=1&sort=4&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH

Looks ideal for the scenario above, and rather than pay £5-6k for a possible crapper, £3k get you a known bad engine, spend a grand, and get a good one.

[dandan]

hey that looks pretty promising, it already has the PFC and commander (circa £500) and nice suspension, looks a right bargain.

if i had a spare 3g...

[Nobbie]

Bargain if its flooded, almost a bargin if its water seals, not a bargain if t needs a new engine.

Is there anywhere online where there\'s a haynes type manual for  it in pdf? I\'ve got one for my LET, through my Vaux forums.

[vxer]

Bargain if its flooded, almost a bargin if its water seals, not a bargain if t needs a new engine.

Is there anywhere online where there\'s a haynes type manual for  it in pdf? I\'ve got one for my LET, through my Vaux forums.

Look < here >  :Thumbs-up

Ta, Paul.

[Nobbie]

Thats excellent, i\'ll do a bit more reading and thinking and try and create a cunning plan!
Thanks

[Spartacus]

Hi I am looking for an fd too and have been in touch with this guy a few days ago as I had much the same thought as yourself (maybe, just maybe its just flooded). He said that the engine went with a loud pop when slowing down at about 5000 revs and the engine suddenly went lumpy so I don’t think it\'s flooded. He\'s said that he\'s been offered £2800 for it already but will let me know if it falls through. To be honest if your aim is to have a modded Fd it seems to be far better value to get one already done rather than to build it yourself. The cost of parts + mapping etc soon adds up.

[Nobbie]

Well not really after a modded one, just a std one for now, but maybe in the future i will. Thing is i think of myself as from the old school of thought, if i\'m gonna build a car with a fast engine, i want to be building it, and that way i know at 150mph that someone who\'s gone for a smoke mid-torque up, hasn\'t missed the flywheel bolt or whatever. But to build a race engine, you need to understand the std engine.
I know that if i want to make my engine faster, i up the boost, and fuelling, and slightly change the timing. With the FD, or rotary in general thats not so easy by the looks of things.
Interesting about the one i was looking at though, someone\'s got a bargain i reckon!, but from my limited knowledge i\'d say one or both of the rotor tip seals look damaged?

[Spartacus]

Hi Nobbie, the auto trader one is already modded about as much as I\'d like. Sounds like you know your stuff already, so if I get one with a blown engine would you like to rebuild it for me? 1 year unlimited warranty? No popping off for a quick smoke though  :bandit .

[Nobbie]

lol, I\'m exploring the possibilities, asking for interest on my car, and if i get what i want for it, i\'ll be getting a blown RX7 for cheapness, and cutting my FD virginity!!
Looks like you can get all seals, gaskets, and stupid little springs for under £1k.
And at the end of the day if i paid £5k for one on autotrader, its likely to need a re-build soon anyway.