hello all from camberley

Ada7 · April 22, 2011, 08:35:19 PM

Welcome to the club Carl.
I live near Godalming not far from you. Sadly i cant make it to Brooklands this year but your welcome to come have a look at my car or we can meet up somewhere nearby if you like (once i get it back from the painters which will hopefully be next week). I\'m not the best with all areas of stuff and you\'ve had lots of your questions answered already but i can do my best to answer any more you may have

Adam

carlbrainiac · April 22, 2011, 09:00:18 PM

Thanks mate. Yeh would be nice to see your car too. To be honest I have kinda missed the whole car meets and stuff. I used to be a bit of boy racer but grew out of that phase. But miss seeing all the nice cars and the people. Used to be a regular at the guildford cruise till it just became chavs in their corsas doing hand brake turns and drugs and lots of police drawn round. Just wasnt my scene.
Though I guess if I keep my Subaru I should really go back to SurreyScoobies as I assume this being Mazda rotary club I would be the odd one out lol. But if you guys do occasionally have local meets would be nice to see ya even if I dont get one as then at least I can still partly live the dream of my dream car by being around them regularly lol. I just dont know what it is. I just love the 3rd gen FD RX7. I honestly think it is one of the sexiest cars ever made. Just the lines and everything are gawjus.

Ada7 · April 22, 2011, 09:08:34 PM

We do have an occasional Guildford meet so keep you ears peeled and eyes to the ground for when one pops up.
As a daily car i will say the FD would be a lot more expensive to run compared to a Scooby but you will get a hell of a lot more smiles for your miles in it

As for insurance, you could try AON as they do modern classic policies. Car has to be a 2nd car, must be over 10 years old and you have limited mileage for the year driving it. Its what i do and have a cheap (crap) daily run about to counter act the running of my FD

Adam

carlbrainiac · April 22, 2011, 09:33:12 PM

Cool.

And to be honest I dont worry too much about running costs as I dont do many miles. Work is only 3 miles away. If I wasnt so lazy I could ride my bike to and from work. lol. And I dont really go out much unless Im going to ride my bike or fly my planes. Or occasionally out with the mates. I guess if I had a nice car I might go to more meets so then would do more miles. But as it stands atm Im probably only doing about 5000 miles a year lol.

Ada7 · April 22, 2011, 09:36:31 PM

Believe me if you got an FD you\'d be finding the longer routes to get places

Adam

carlbrainiac · April 22, 2011, 09:38:03 PM

I guess in my situation the sensible thing to do would be not own a car altogether so I dont lose all the money and then I\'ll be in my own place in no time. lol. But eventhough I never really go anywhere I just couldnt be without a car. So I guess you could argue I should just get an electric car or something lol. But ermm no I think I\'ll pass thanks lol

carlbrainiac · April 22, 2011, 09:41:59 PM

Also with the rotary engine. Is it really as bad to live with as everyone makes out?

Horror stories I hear all the time is oh they are terrible on fuel, they are noisey, bad emissions, And spend more time in the work shop with engine rebuilds than they do on the road. lol.

Any truth in these comments?

Also the other thing that worries me is when it does come to repair bills its a very specialist thing as not many people know how to work on them and thus repair costs are massively high.

Ada7 · April 22, 2011, 09:48:49 PM

Repairing the engine is a specialist tihng yes but the costs dont have to be massive if you\'re able to get your hands dirty and can handle a few basic tools (believe me, if i can remove an engine then anyone can).
Fuel bills can be high depending on how you drive (but thats no different to any sports car) and also depends on the spec of the engine (porting size, turbo size.. etc).
Find a friendly MOT center and emissions aren\'t a bother then and as for noise.... well they sound great, no problem there

If you find and get one with a strong engine (low mileage or proof of rebuild and compression test a must) and treat it right then it will look after you as long as you look after it.
The last thing i will say is to buy the best you can afford. Dont be distracted by shiney bit and pieces and fancy add ons, cos they\'ll be no good if the rest of the car isn\'t solid and well looked after. Some of the FD are now 20 years old so you have to remember there will be somethings that\'ll need doing to them anyway but buy with your head and not the heart... you\'ll grow to love (and Hate) it later anyway

Adam

carlbrainiac · April 22, 2011, 10:16:33 PM

Yeah I hear ya. Would be easy for me to fall in love with the way the car looks without even thinking whats going on under the skin. I shall keep your advice in mind. Cheers.

Prof · April 23, 2011, 02:03:19 AM

Quote from: carlbrainiac;757535Thanks mate. Yeh would be nice to see your car too. To be honest I have kinda missed the whole car meets and stuff. I used to be a bit of boy racer but grew out of that phase. But miss seeing all the nice cars and the people. Used to be a regular at the guildford cruise till it just became chavs in their corsas doing hand brake turns and drugs and lots of police drawn round. Just wasnt my scene.
Though I guess if I keep my Subaru I should really go back to SurreyScoobies as I assume this being Mazda rotary club I would be the odd one out lol. But if you guys do occasionally have local meets would be nice to see ya even if I dont get one as then at least I can still partly live the dream of my dream car by being around them regularly lol. I just dont know what it is. I just love the 3rd gen FD RX7. I honestly think it is one of the sexiest cars ever made. Just the lines and everything are gawjus.

There\'s the Reading Jap meet every 3rd Tuesday of the month - can\'t gaurantee rotary presence - but during the summer months, you can normally see about 3-4 FD\'s, I turn up in the vert from time to time, as I only work around the corner. It\'s a static meet, and allthough the crowd is a little younger than 2 years ago, it\'s not been invaded by the chav\'s yet - they tend to stay away for fear of being severely outclassed.

If you\'re lucky Kermit the 20b FD makes an appearance too.

Big Al · April 23, 2011, 03:51:52 PM

I\'m sure others more knowledgable will put me right, but I wouldn\'t want to use my FD for a lot of short runs.
No car likes to be used in that way and I\'m sure the rotary is no exception. In fact I walk the 4 miles to work, rain and shine while my car stays at home !!!

Lacey · April 23, 2011, 03:57:27 PM

Quote from: Big Al;757668I\'m sure others more knowledgable will put me right, but I wouldn\'t want to use my FD for a lot of short runs.
No car likes to be used in that way and I\'m sure the rotary is no exception. In fact I walk the 4 miles to work, rain and shine while my car stays at home !!!

Far as I know all cars are suitable for short runs providing you let the car come fully up to running temperature before you actually set off - i.e. let it idle for long enough to be a suitable temperature to drive, it\'s the starting up and setting off, then shutting the engine off when it hasn\'t been up to temperature for very long that ruins the life of them as far as I know? But I could be wrong, even in the EGI I don\'t think I\'d ever set off until the engine had come up to temp, it only takes about 5 - 10 minutes on normal idle to warm up, which is about how long it takes to drive 3 - 5 miles in light traffic, and when people usually turn the engine off after a shortish drive which is what does the damage?

Just what I\'ve been led to believe.

carlbrainiac · April 23, 2011, 06:45:30 PM

Actually having an engine idling doesnt do it much good either. And takes longer to warm up because it isnt under any load. It is actually better to set off straight away but just dont rag it. Go easy on the revs till the engine warms up. But agreed that short journeys doesnt do any engine any good. But every now and again I give it a good long run.

carlbrainiac · April 25, 2011, 10:30:02 PM

I now own a FD :-) Thanks for all the help and advice guys. Im sure I will need more in the future lol. So hope to see ya at the shows.

Oh and I have decided to keep the Subaru as well. Yes its gonna cripple me running two expensive cars but hopefully the FD wont be too bad as its classed as a 1.3 so only Â£125 tax a year. And have left my details for a call back from the Insurance companies you guys suggested and hoping will be able to get it insured pretty cheap as a second car and a classic car with limited mileage. Wish me luck :-)

Prof · April 25, 2011, 10:35:05 PM

Quote from: carlbrainiac;757700Actually having an engine idling doesnt do it much good either. And takes longer to warm up because it isnt under any load. It is actually better to set off straight away but just dont rag it. Go easy on the revs till the engine warms up. But agreed that short journeys doesnt do any engine any good. But every now and again I give it a good long run.

I run mine pretty much straight away, but stay off boost for the first 5-10 minutes until it\'s warmed through

With the engine just idling, as long as your fan is working, it shouldn\'t do it any great harm, but your transmission is cold as are the brakes, and they are not warm when you set off with your warm engine.