Newbie Rex owner-Midlands

[lippydave]

Newbie alert!
Evening rotary people....
 
Recently bought a Silver \'92 FD3S RX7 (in the Midlands).
Car appears to be very original and unmolested by spotty oiks, clueless
yoofs, or chav "tuning" aficionados.
TFFT!
 
Car has done 100,000km and doesn\'t have a bill for a engine rebuild amongst
the service history. (NB the only Japanese documentation I have is the
auction papers, so it may or may not have been done prior to export.). (S\'ok
anyway, I got it for decent money...)
 
I bought it direct from the guy who personally imported it 2 years ago and
got it SVA\'d...(Nice middle-aged sensible chap, not averse to spending a few
quid on his car).
 
It does have an Apexi power FC ECU and complete Tiger (decat) exhaust system
fitted by Carl Hayward, along with a clutch and rear engine seal
replacement. It has a few other nice bits including Magnecor leads and a
lovely Nardi Steering wheel.
 
It seems to drive quite nicely and starts easily enough both hot and cold,
the running temp stays nice and constant both on open roads and in traffic.
It does however seem to backfire a little excessively on the overrun,
particularly from low rpm in town driving when not completely warm. I
appreciate that a certain degree of backfire on the overrun from higher rpm
is fairly typical, but from my novice rotary viewpoint it feels indicative
of the Apexi ECU not quite beingset up correctly.
(I do have a bill amongst the history for fitting the Apexi at Haywards, but no mention of mapping).
 
WGT are local to my place of work and I\'ve booked it in there for a
compression test and fuelling diagnosis/mapping, (but they have a 10 day
waiting list), in the meantime I\'ve left it with Tinker-27 (7.0L V8 RX7) of
this list. He\'s a good friend, a top engineer and car builder
extraordinaire, and I intend to test his skills (as wellas his patience!), to the full.

BTW Contrary to what some folk here seem to think, he\'s not
anti-rotary...More simply he\'s pro-V8!
(He\'s fitting tyres, generally checking the car over, and some other odd
jobs I want doing)
 
Any useful advice, general abuse, ****-taking, and humorous responses
gratefully received....
 
Gratuitous in-house rotary snobbery and petty small-mindedness happily
ignored.....
 
BTW It\'s ace to drive....but I guess most of you already know
that........:Thumbsup!

LippyD

[lippydave]

I wrote this a couple of days ago, and today went to WGT to get the car checked over and mapped.
 
All I can say is WOW!
 
I have to echo all of the positive comment about WGT.
Pip is superbly knowledgable on the rotaries, a good communicator, down to earth chap, and thoroughly likeable nice bloke. :god
 
Did a fantastic job on my car, compression check proved there was plenty of life in the old girl and the remapping provided a bhp increase, but more importantly, far superior through the rev range fueling and driveability.
 
Took the long way home through the backroads of Cheshire, Staffs, and Shrops, all the way down to the West Midlands....
 
An absolute joy to drive now, steers so nicely on the throttle....
 
Anyway, a top job by WGT, reasonably priced, and superbly executed....
 
Can you tell I\'m happy?
I got a top car for (relative) pennies...Anyone wanna buy a V8 Westfield that\'s now surplus to requirements?

[johnf]

West Midlands is quite a big area - where are you?

John

[lippydave]

West Midlands is quite a big area - where are you?
 
John

Just down the road from you....
 
Actually in Rednal, south west Brum....
Follow the elliptical rubber arcs on the road....

[tinker-27]

hes a full on yam yam !!!

[Red and Single]

Rednal aint the black country you know.....they dont have "Toys Am We" there

P.S. Welcome Dave

[grinder]

Anyone wanna buy a V8 Westfield that\'s now surplus to requirements?

ekkk that must be a monster of a car

if its going for pennies ( as per your FD ) give me a shout

glad Pip got it sorted out for you

Stu

[lippydave]

ekkk that must be a monster of a car
 
if its going for pennies ( as per your FD ) give me a shout
 
glad Pip got it sorted out for you
 
Stu

Yup!
Pip truly is "The Rotary Meister"...
 
Tinker-27 is however, "The V8Meister".....I took a ride in his 7.0L V8Rex yesterday.....What a piece of kit that is!
 
Bear in mind that by profession I\'m an automotive design engineer, and that I get to ride in a lot of trick cars, including recently an M6 CSL, a Ferrari 612, Vantage etc....
 
\'tis no word of a lie to say that Tinkers car embarrasses these cars in terms of performance...(Measured by my not inconsiderable "seat of the pants dyno")....
 
The best thing is that it takes a lot of the RX\'s stock attributes and enhances them..The braking with the monster AP\'s is almost as stunning as the instant, always-on-tap grunt. Also, it\'s not an uncivilised beast, if you want to pootle at 1500 rpm, you can, and in the full knowledge that mind-warping acceleration is just the twitch of a right toe away....:evillaugh
 
I love the characteristics of the rotary engine, but the LS monster is something different but equally as captivating......Think my Westfield might go to finance a 2nd Rex witha blown motor....That way I can get Tinker to install a V8 and have the best of both worlds..A V8 Rex and a proper rotary to compare and contrast as the mood takes me!:D
 
PS took my wife for a spin in the Pip fettled Rex yesterday, demonstrated some serious sideways action on a big deserted industrial estate...She swore profusely at me, and told me she\'s never getting in "that f***ing car" with me again.....Result.....My 17yr old daughter thinks it\'s fun tho\', and my young lad thinks Tinkers red Rex is Lightning McQueen....Just goes to show that women get cranky when they get old, whereas blokes toys just get more expensive.....:evillaugh :evillaugh

[Warthog]

Hello and welcome mate.:wave

[RobbieRX-7]

Welcome to mrc dave, how much power is the fd puttting out now?

[Carrington]

Hi mate, I was at WGT at the same time as you, the one with the blue RX7 getting a remap as well (as well as a decat pipe due to the old cat shooting its self out off the exhaust). Glad to hear you having good fun with the RX and you got it dirt cheap aswell. Good luck.
 
Danny

[lippydave]

Hi mate, I was at WGT at the same time as you, the one with the blue RX7 getting a remap as well (as well as a decat pipe due to the old cat shooting its self out off the exhaust). Glad to hear you having good fun with the RX and you got it dirt cheap aswell. Good luck.
 
Danny

Hi Danny,
how long did it take you to get back?
I had two hours worth of hooning down the lanes instead of the drudgery of the M6!
 
How did your car feel doing the before and after comparison?
 
The fueling on mine is now absolutely spot on.....
 
I have to drive 70 miles up the M6 to Crewe early in the morning in my work car, but the RX feels so good I\'m tempted to do the backroads thing and add a few miles to the journey, then have the B roads to look forward/sideways to on the way home in the Mazda again!  
 
Have fun with the Rex...:Thumbsup!

[lippydave]

Welcome to mrc dave, how much power is the fd puttting out now?

285 IIRC, put the dyno sheet away somwehere safe where my Missus can\'t see it or the invoice! :2eek
 
(Did buy her a new sofa today to keep her sweet tho!   )
 
Current plan is to enjoy it  more or less as is through the summer, with some gentle(ish) refinement then look at big power options over the winter..
 
I quite like the idea of keeping the appearance fairly stock, but carrying a big stick under the bonnet IYSWIM......Currently thinking of starting off with a v-mount intercooler, bigger injectors and more/switchable boost (after an eventual refresh of the engine).....
 
The only real exterior mod I  ould like is a later \'99 style rear stock spoiler...A mate has just bought a replica one, want to see what the quality is like after it\'s prepped and painted.....
 
Next job is to give the brakes a refresh this week...Tinkers oversize AP\'s are fantastic, and I\'d love something similar, but I\'ve run out of vital organs to sell..........:2Rolleyes

[mar71n]

Dave lippet + Mazda rotary + limitless amounts of bolt on goodies, what could possibly go wrong!

Hi Mate

[mx1311]

welcome mate

that makes quite a few of us around the birmingham area now

regards

colum