good for the road and dragway

[craig]

juat a quick 1  what is the most you can get out of an rx  and keep it road legal.(bhp)?

I am planning on getting a pree modded 1 for around £13.000 some time next year,would this get me somthing that would be good on a dragway up with supras and SKYLINERS,but still be good for road use? or would by making it good for a dragway make it unable to drive on a road?

[J4P RX]

Well theoretically you can run as much hp as you want depending on mods, but buying one already done doesnt leave much scope for getting your own spec so you\'ll have to go with what you can find.  400 should be findable though on that kind of budget.  

Obviously the higher its tuned the more maintenance needed over a standard car.  They should still be driveable on the road no problems.

Beating a Supra on a drag strip shouldnt be a problem, but you will find it hard to beat a Skyline as the launch determines the time and they have 4WD.  EG with only 150bhp at the wheels my Pulsar was in the high 13\'s for a stock car, which would trouble a lot of RX7\'s.  Its possible to make a lot of time with suspension set up to get more grip off the line.

Cheers
Lee

[craig]

thanks for that i\'m new to all this  so i\'m just trying to find the best way to get what i want with out to much fuss.The way i was thinking if i got 1 that had already been moded then it would cost me less than getting 1 for say £8.000 and adding the mods my self 400s not bad was hoping for 600 but thats prob in my little fanticy world.i got a book rx-7 performance handbook  so i have been looking at the chassis and suspension setups just trying to take it all in bit by bit  thanks for the info

[20B_boy]

YEp, getting a car with a lot of mods already will save you a fair few quid. But the down side is you dont get to select them, nor do you know how well they\'ve been put together and subsequently looked after. Obviously a car with a lot of mods is not likely to have lived an easy life which added to the fact that lots of FD\'s dont seem to like sailing here doesnt equal much hope of years of happy motoring

Also, dont forget that a mod\'d FD will need retuning when it gets here as it\'ll have been mapped on jap fuel which can go as high as 103 octane as opposed to our measely 98...

Finally, a 600 horse FD would be an animal to drive much on the street. I\'ve been in a \'98 which was initially dyno\'d at 409ATW and it flys; it WILL kill most things on the road without really stretching its legs.

A stock car will do between 13.5 and 14.5 on the 1/4 depending on year and tyres. A few mods will get you in the mid/early 13\'s. I have a single turbo (which isnt big enough I dont think) 13B half bridgeport running about 13psi on any Unleaded and premix on loan from the guy that does the spanner work on my car; dunno what it makes ATW, 350? - no idea really - but its run a 12.37 1/4 at 123mph which will despatch a lot of cars on the roads today. Hopefully more to come too. It\'s a bit lumpy on idle and a little loud (and uneconomic ) but otherwise its fine around town...

Just dont buy an FD with loads of mods at auction and expect to have cheap tarmac shredder; they need looking after alot. When you buy an FD budget for an engine in the price and you shouldnt shed too many tears too soon...

R.:wave

[craig]

thanks 20b got me thinking  now + better satisfaction from doing it your self as well.think i could be jumping right in without looking at what i am landing on.
so in all i would be better off getting a car for say £8000 then find a good  tuning shop that manly does fd\'s tell them what  i want and work my way up  

[J4P RX]

If you were going to have it built anyway then id say get one with a blown engine for 4k, and then at least you will know what has been done.

Trouble is once you start adding the cost of parts up you realise that even starting at 4k you dont get that far and think about a ready built one again.

Cheers
Lee

[20B_boy]

I agree Lee, get a dead un if you can for 2 or 3 K.

[bnaellis]

I think you are better off getting a modded car from Japan, yet thats what forums are for differing opinions.
I have yet to see a problematic fd that has not been remapped to uk fuel, I also have yet to see a well proven fd modded for serious power in UK and maintain the same level of reliability that is found in Japan, Australia etc.
For this reason I would much rather buy one already done in Japan than over here because that\'s where the experience is. IMO


rgds

[20B_boy]

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

How many FD motors have gone pop in a short space of time since arriving here from Japan? Loads!! Every time I go to Geffs there is pretty much without fail at least one car their dead waiting for a rebuild...

These cars die from detonation. It doesnt take much to chip or crack a seal. Run a car thats been mapped on 103 hard and you\'re asking for trouble IMO, regardless of how well tuned it was from Japan. Surely running a car tuned perfectly on 103 without booster on 97 or 98Ron is as bad as a less than perfect tune done on our shitty pump fuel? When you need it most the protection that extra octane provides isnt there and *ping*.....

JMO

R.

[bnaellis]

If alot of fd\'s go bang when they get here do you have proof this is directly related to the kind of fuel being used ?  

rgds

[20B_boy]

Nope, not at all. If a seal is chipped etc from detonating though isnt it likely that either the tuning is out or fuel isnt good enough? Especially if we are talking stock cars with stock ecu\'s - which the majority are I guess. There are many reasons for it I\'m sure, but I think octane is certainly one of them. I think this is a view Carl may be shares? Detonation is the reason that a major proportion of FD\'s die (outside of higher mileage issues) - wouldnt you agree Bri? reducing octane decreases survivability - thats a fact isnt it?

Let the debate continue mate

R.

[g11ary]

Look at buget.
I have have spent enough to buy a fleet of 7\'s having it done how I want it, and have no complaints, but if to do it all again I would go down the buy in Japan route and get it tested and mapped once here. 15k for a good un from Japan or 30k do have it done here.
Why do most people sell there cars here or in Japan, coz they have had the best out of it and want to sell before it pops.
Notice I put most not meaning all before I get flamed. There are some genuine cars out there.
Just be carefull, check every thing and buy from someone you trust, ie recommedation, and leave the rest to lady luck.

[bnaellis]

Yes & Yes,

I tend to lean on the fence of tuning insufficent fueling etc rather than the difference between 100 octane which most Jap cars run on and 98 octance shell optimax. I really don\'t think that difference in octane is detrimental as long as everything else is right.


I\'m with Gary on the basis that when I want a serious modded fd rather get it built etc over here I would rather buy from Japan instead.

rgds

[20B_boy]

My point is that if the car is tuned based on the anti knock properties of a higher grade of fuel then?? the car may have enough fuel chucked in to prevent pinging on 100/103 octane but running the same map on less protective fuel...

Why do so many stock cars from japan blow up not long after they get here -  I\'m not saying its the only reason but I think its contributory...

Why did UK cars have 237bhp? I know they had precat etc but were the ecu\'s programmed different for the fuel here?

This is an interseting topic I think, which could be debated forever. I hope a few of the real techies comment at some point.

Cheers Bri,
Rich

[mr_tim]

Also if you do buy a modded FD from japan (or anywhere for that matter) and it does go pop you\'ll still be left with all the ancillaries - ECU, turbo setup etc. which cost a lot to upgrade a standard car to.