Hey alright, welcome to my project thread! Driving the faultless IS was providing for a too-financially-stable lifestyle and the Homelite wacker is collecting dust in project purgatory, so I bought this:
![[Image: 36962866292_0c5d14ed9a_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4427/36962866292_0c5d14ed9a_b.jpg)
![[Image: 37309053235_d22e0c6cfd_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4405/37309053235_d22e0c6cfd_b.jpg)
![[Image: 37309052145_ea47da4d2a_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4397/37309052145_ea47da4d2a_b.jpg)
Purchased on Thursday, August 24th and delivered this past Saturday, the 2nd. She’s a ’94 PEP (Popular Equipment Package) in Vintage Red with 88,2xx miles. Mine is 1 of 159 for ’94, with the PEP package bringing a metal sunroof, leather seats, and a few cosmetic deletions such as front lip, foglights and rear wing. I found this car on eBay from a dealer in Florida, who had purchased it from a 83 year old man who had owned it since 2009.
Why?
Purchasing this car was what I like to call a very, very slow impulse buy. I’ve grown to love the FD as much as any other car over the years - the ride-along encounter with Robin’s (Zach’s brother) LS2 V8 FD in 2010 gave me a raging clue that this was a car to truly lust after; gorgeous inside and out, with a sublime chassis to match. Loving its little brother - my NB Miata - as I did, and coming across many mouth-watering FD’s at Cars and Coffee and other events over the years only grew the desire to experience one. And then I saw this video:
...which quickly became one of my most re-watched videos of all time, up there with the probably NSFW Mastodon "Motherload" music video and Acid Trek.. I've watched this video in the shower on more than one occasion. I've pushed my supermarket shopping cart into the quietest wine section aisle for a RX7 reprieve. That video did a number on me.
RCR's review didn't hurt either:
If you dare to descend into to the comments section of the above, Dylan6611 wrote:
You gave me every reason not to want one of these, but you also gave me every reason to want one of these.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Despite the festering desire to own a FD RX7, I've long been fully aware of the fact that owning one could be likened to volunteering to hold a hand grenade with the pin pulled. So I benched the idea, test drove a handful of other cars, and waited. And watched. Watched as the values of anything remotely desirable or "future classic" offering an analog driving experience built in the 90's/early 00's skyrocketed in price. I began to write off one car after another, but the pang of starting to see the FD ascend to such heights stuck with me. Damn logic, and reason, and logic again, it was time to act.
Around the time of this realization I noticed two stars were aligning: I'm soon to turn 30, and my parents, including my 66-year old dad, had recently retired. The thought of being able to not only enjoy one of my hero cars as a milestone birthday gift to myself, but to enjoy it with him as a quasi-retirement gift was more than enough to 2800 lb. red-pill myself into taking the plunge into RX-7 ownership once I saw this car's listing go live. He's garaging it and will have keys to drive it whenever he wants to stunt on everyone about town like a retired sir.
![[Image: 36320476943_07729dca81_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4368/36320476943_07729dca81_b.jpg)
Y u no V8?
This was a struggle. In the end, my purchase decision came down to this car, or a ’93 LS2-swapped FD in South Carolina that was built with all the right parts. There still would’ve been a healthy amount of making the latter car “mine” - there were some cosmetic choices I wasn’t a fan of - but it was the diamond-in-the-rough high-caliber build in a sea of shadetree project cars, and such LS-FD builds don’t come up as often or as well-priced as I’d like, as this example was.
In the end, the desire to at least experience a twin-sequentially turbo’d rotary engine reaching 8k rpm won out. Saying that sequence of words still sounds bonkers to me, as does the idea that I now own something with that nature and capability under the hood. I have a goal of owning a car of every (at least somewhat mainstream) engine configuration, and the uniqueness, rarity, and shall we say “quirks” of the rotary just gave it a charm over time that I couldn’t ignore. I can experience a V8 in so much else in the future, and even in this if I want to - but I want to give the rotary its due.
There was another reason that increasingly bugged me, however, when it came time to seriously consider buying a swapped car: no one keeps them for long. The LS-FD community is the pinnacle of “buy-build-sell” activity, and I can’t assume that it’s because their community is solely-composed of those masochists who truly prefer “the experience of the build” versus driving and living with the fruits of their labor.
An example? Here’s one of the nicest builds I’ve ever seen - not just of a LS-FD - that went well above 100k all in. Surely after all was said and done, this would be worth hanging on to for more than a ~year?
Nope, up for sale it went. And then the car, with the new owner was featured on Speedhunters and the new owner repped how amazing the car is. And then within a month of his comment, he put the car back up for sale.
I know the swapped cars are generally raw, unrefined beasts to live with, but until I figure out what’s going on with that part of the community & ownership experience, I wasn’t 100% comfortable with making that leap right now. Despite the rotary’s reputation, there’s a much larger diehard community that has solved basically every issue and answered every question about these cars by now. The idea of relying on one guy halfway across the country who makes this or that one crucial swap part to always be interested in answering emails or phone calls was too much of a risky proposition for now. The market, cottage industry, and community around the LS-swap is maturing and expanding at a steady rate, however, so we’ll see what the future holds.
I knew this one was coming…
But what about the Supra!?
Well:
This is normal.
So here’s the deal: I almost bought one of those too. Remember when I said I test drove a few other cars up there? Back in the summer of 2015 I drove up to NJ to test drive a ’93.5 TT 6-speed targa car, that was warmed over to so-called BPU (Basic Performance Upgrade) levels with bolt-on’s to the tune of ~450rwhp on the stock twin turbos.
It was amazing. And it sucked. I’ll try to explain: when I owned my MKIII Supra, driving (Ryan T’s) MKIV was a revelation. It was like everything my car wasn’t - lithe, athletic, communicative, all with the feeling of such solidity that it felt as if the car had been hewn out of some sort of space rock. It was one of the best drives of my life, on Rt. 33 with that car. I had met my hero and it. was. good.
And then I lived with a Miata for 4 years. Now, I lusted for a MKIV throughout my ownership of the Miata, but during those 4 years, the memory of my drive in Ryan’s MKIV faded in equal, if opposite measure to my growing appreciation for the lightweight, supremely communicative driving experience that the Miata afforded.
In truth, the MKIV can kick up its skirt move like a sports car, but has the bones and true character of a GT car. And after the Miata, a GT car the Supra very much was that day in NJ. It felt huge and wallowey, but once the throttle was pinned in a straight line - I couldn’t imagine what, say, a 700whp single-turbo car must feel like. It was insane how that car moved out. But it no longer felt as right. Maybe it was the one I drove that day - it was on the rougher side cosmetically, the trans needed a new synchro or two, and it needed a tune (hence why it was even able to be on my radar as the price reflected these issues)- but I didn’t walk away with quite the same butterflies in my stomach as I had some years before. I’d still love one, of course, but I don’t quite believe that the price they command these days ultimately lives up to the experience. I’ve now long thought that, dollar for dollar, a FD is probably a much better value. Time will tell.
Future Plans
Immediately: the car does need a little TLC. The tires are 11 years old, the shifter bushings feel worn and a bit sloppy, and there's a slight vibration coming from somewhere in the rear. I'll be diving into some minor work here and there, but the plan is to take it to an area rotary specialist for a good look over to ensure it's 100% healthy or make it so.
Longer term...
I learned many a lesson during and after my experience with my Miata, which stands as my one and only true “build”. Namely, that unless you have megabucks, cars can generally only do one thing *well*. I tried to make the Miata into one of those fabled “dual purpose” street/track cars, but in the end it sucked to drive on the street, and was too nice and full of my capital and emotional investment to wad up on track, so it just kind of….was.
The RX-7 won’t become a “track car”. No concessions will be made to tracking - there will be no FIA seats, no 6-point harnesses, no squealing pads or widest, stickiest-possible tires.
No, this car will be built to live happily on the street, and the occasional, casual autocross, first. Remember, my 66-year old dad will be driving this car too - and to that end, I’ve formulated a build plan that should hopefully make this a very competent street car.
On the horsepower front, my goal is to keep things simple and extract every safe, useable, livable bit of power out of the car and nothing more. I want to keep the stock turbos in place in sequential mode, and eventually reach in the neighborhood of 320whp with them. Thankfully, there’s a very simple recipe that’s been well proven by now to reach this level:
- A full 3” exhaust - I’ll likely go with the quiet Tanabe Touring Medalion.
- An A’Pexi Power FC EMS
- An uprated fuel pump and possibly injectors
- An aftermarket intercooler
- Requisite cooling mods, namely a sturdier radiator and fan controller fixings
- A slightly uprated clutch
- About 12-15 psi with a tune
The PO handled a few of these mods - there's a RX7Store catless downpipe (absolute necessity to rid the FD of the killer clogged cat in this section) and catless midpipe which - OK - how does anyone live with a catless car? A catless rotary no less!? I was starting to get a headache and my clothes stank inside of 40 miles! Catted midpipe incoming ASAP.
He also installed an aluminum radiator and AST (air separation tank), and an ACT 6-puck clutch and lightweight flywheel. This will be replaced with a full-face disc because street car - though my dad is a total boss at handling it as it sits. I also have a PowerFC and Greddy SMIC (stock mount intercooler) on the way. The PO also installed an A'Pexi Power Intake which I'm on the fence about, it seems to be more of a hot-air intake, TBD on that front.
![[Image: 36320476493_a88f610b97_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4367/36320476493_a88f610b97_b.jpg)
Appearance wise, the exterior will be getting a JDM '99+ front end, and probably an OEM R1 rear wing which I've always loved, though I didn't think I'd like the current wingless look as much as I do. I'm mulling my options for wheels to replace the wee-little stockers, but again, nothing too crazy for a street car.
Speaking of nothing too crazy, it's pretty wild how this car handles out of the box, even on ancient tires and lacking a needed alignment. I can't imagine doing too much in the suspension department, but I'm sure the original bits could use attention at some point so perhaps some springs/shocks or a set of coilovers and sways.
On the interior the A-pillar gauges will be getting ditched entirely for a new trio of combined boost/AFR, oil pressure and water temp in a triple dash pod. The original leather presents well, but 90's Mazda leather was never approaching Montalban-approved levels of quality so recovering would be a "nice to do" at some point. A few other touches here and there should set it off nicely.
![[Image: 36962864622_431cc775dc_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4432/36962864622_431cc775dc_b.jpg)
And the final and most importat part of the plan - to enjoy and share the car with as many people as I can. See you on the twisties :mrgreen:
![[Image: 36962864772_733a25335e_b.jpg]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4420/36962864772_733a25335e_b.jpg)
Purchased on Thursday, August 24th and delivered this past Saturday, the 2nd. She’s a ’94 PEP (Popular Equipment Package) in Vintage Red with 88,2xx miles. Mine is 1 of 159 for ’94, with the PEP package bringing a metal sunroof, leather seats, and a few cosmetic deletions such as front lip, foglights and rear wing. I found this car on eBay from a dealer in Florida, who had purchased it from a 83 year old man who had owned it since 2009.
Why?
Purchasing this car was what I like to call a very, very slow impulse buy. I’ve grown to love the FD as much as any other car over the years - the ride-along encounter with Robin’s (Zach’s brother) LS2 V8 FD in 2010 gave me a raging clue that this was a car to truly lust after; gorgeous inside and out, with a sublime chassis to match. Loving its little brother - my NB Miata - as I did, and coming across many mouth-watering FD’s at Cars and Coffee and other events over the years only grew the desire to experience one. And then I saw this video:
...which quickly became one of my most re-watched videos of all time, up there with the probably NSFW Mastodon "Motherload" music video and Acid Trek.. I've watched this video in the shower on more than one occasion. I've pushed my supermarket shopping cart into the quietest wine section aisle for a RX7 reprieve. That video did a number on me.
RCR's review didn't hurt either:
If you dare to descend into to the comments section of the above, Dylan6611 wrote:
You gave me every reason not to want one of these, but you also gave me every reason to want one of these.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Despite the festering desire to own a FD RX7, I've long been fully aware of the fact that owning one could be likened to volunteering to hold a hand grenade with the pin pulled. So I benched the idea, test drove a handful of other cars, and waited. And watched. Watched as the values of anything remotely desirable or "future classic" offering an analog driving experience built in the 90's/early 00's skyrocketed in price. I began to write off one car after another, but the pang of starting to see the FD ascend to such heights stuck with me. Damn logic, and reason, and logic again, it was time to act.
Around the time of this realization I noticed two stars were aligning: I'm soon to turn 30, and my parents, including my 66-year old dad, had recently retired. The thought of being able to not only enjoy one of my hero cars as a milestone birthday gift to myself, but to enjoy it with him as a quasi-retirement gift was more than enough to 2800 lb. red-pill myself into taking the plunge into RX-7 ownership once I saw this car's listing go live. He's garaging it and will have keys to drive it whenever he wants to stunt on everyone about town like a retired sir.
Y u no V8?
This was a struggle. In the end, my purchase decision came down to this car, or a ’93 LS2-swapped FD in South Carolina that was built with all the right parts. There still would’ve been a healthy amount of making the latter car “mine” - there were some cosmetic choices I wasn’t a fan of - but it was the diamond-in-the-rough high-caliber build in a sea of shadetree project cars, and such LS-FD builds don’t come up as often or as well-priced as I’d like, as this example was.
In the end, the desire to at least experience a twin-sequentially turbo’d rotary engine reaching 8k rpm won out. Saying that sequence of words still sounds bonkers to me, as does the idea that I now own something with that nature and capability under the hood. I have a goal of owning a car of every (at least somewhat mainstream) engine configuration, and the uniqueness, rarity, and shall we say “quirks” of the rotary just gave it a charm over time that I couldn’t ignore. I can experience a V8 in so much else in the future, and even in this if I want to - but I want to give the rotary its due.
There was another reason that increasingly bugged me, however, when it came time to seriously consider buying a swapped car: no one keeps them for long. The LS-FD community is the pinnacle of “buy-build-sell” activity, and I can’t assume that it’s because their community is solely-composed of those masochists who truly prefer “the experience of the build” versus driving and living with the fruits of their labor.
An example? Here’s one of the nicest builds I’ve ever seen - not just of a LS-FD - that went well above 100k all in. Surely after all was said and done, this would be worth hanging on to for more than a ~year?
Nope, up for sale it went. And then the car, with the new owner was featured on Speedhunters and the new owner repped how amazing the car is. And then within a month of his comment, he put the car back up for sale.
I know the swapped cars are generally raw, unrefined beasts to live with, but until I figure out what’s going on with that part of the community & ownership experience, I wasn’t 100% comfortable with making that leap right now. Despite the rotary’s reputation, there’s a much larger diehard community that has solved basically every issue and answered every question about these cars by now. The idea of relying on one guy halfway across the country who makes this or that one crucial swap part to always be interested in answering emails or phone calls was too much of a risky proposition for now. The market, cottage industry, and community around the LS-swap is maturing and expanding at a steady rate, however, so we’ll see what the future holds.
I knew this one was coming…
But what about the Supra!?
Well:
This is normal.
So here’s the deal: I almost bought one of those too. Remember when I said I test drove a few other cars up there? Back in the summer of 2015 I drove up to NJ to test drive a ’93.5 TT 6-speed targa car, that was warmed over to so-called BPU (Basic Performance Upgrade) levels with bolt-on’s to the tune of ~450rwhp on the stock twin turbos.
It was amazing. And it sucked. I’ll try to explain: when I owned my MKIII Supra, driving (Ryan T’s) MKIV was a revelation. It was like everything my car wasn’t - lithe, athletic, communicative, all with the feeling of such solidity that it felt as if the car had been hewn out of some sort of space rock. It was one of the best drives of my life, on Rt. 33 with that car. I had met my hero and it. was. good.
And then I lived with a Miata for 4 years. Now, I lusted for a MKIV throughout my ownership of the Miata, but during those 4 years, the memory of my drive in Ryan’s MKIV faded in equal, if opposite measure to my growing appreciation for the lightweight, supremely communicative driving experience that the Miata afforded.
In truth, the MKIV can kick up its skirt move like a sports car, but has the bones and true character of a GT car. And after the Miata, a GT car the Supra very much was that day in NJ. It felt huge and wallowey, but once the throttle was pinned in a straight line - I couldn’t imagine what, say, a 700whp single-turbo car must feel like. It was insane how that car moved out. But it no longer felt as right. Maybe it was the one I drove that day - it was on the rougher side cosmetically, the trans needed a new synchro or two, and it needed a tune (hence why it was even able to be on my radar as the price reflected these issues)- but I didn’t walk away with quite the same butterflies in my stomach as I had some years before. I’d still love one, of course, but I don’t quite believe that the price they command these days ultimately lives up to the experience. I’ve now long thought that, dollar for dollar, a FD is probably a much better value. Time will tell.
Future Plans
Immediately: the car does need a little TLC. The tires are 11 years old, the shifter bushings feel worn and a bit sloppy, and there's a slight vibration coming from somewhere in the rear. I'll be diving into some minor work here and there, but the plan is to take it to an area rotary specialist for a good look over to ensure it's 100% healthy or make it so.
Longer term...
I learned many a lesson during and after my experience with my Miata, which stands as my one and only true “build”. Namely, that unless you have megabucks, cars can generally only do one thing *well*. I tried to make the Miata into one of those fabled “dual purpose” street/track cars, but in the end it sucked to drive on the street, and was too nice and full of my capital and emotional investment to wad up on track, so it just kind of….was.
The RX-7 won’t become a “track car”. No concessions will be made to tracking - there will be no FIA seats, no 6-point harnesses, no squealing pads or widest, stickiest-possible tires.
No, this car will be built to live happily on the street, and the occasional, casual autocross, first. Remember, my 66-year old dad will be driving this car too - and to that end, I’ve formulated a build plan that should hopefully make this a very competent street car.
On the horsepower front, my goal is to keep things simple and extract every safe, useable, livable bit of power out of the car and nothing more. I want to keep the stock turbos in place in sequential mode, and eventually reach in the neighborhood of 320whp with them. Thankfully, there’s a very simple recipe that’s been well proven by now to reach this level:
- A full 3” exhaust - I’ll likely go with the quiet Tanabe Touring Medalion.
- An A’Pexi Power FC EMS
- An uprated fuel pump and possibly injectors
- An aftermarket intercooler
- Requisite cooling mods, namely a sturdier radiator and fan controller fixings
- A slightly uprated clutch
- About 12-15 psi with a tune
The PO handled a few of these mods - there's a RX7Store catless downpipe (absolute necessity to rid the FD of the killer clogged cat in this section) and catless midpipe which - OK - how does anyone live with a catless car? A catless rotary no less!? I was starting to get a headache and my clothes stank inside of 40 miles! Catted midpipe incoming ASAP.
He also installed an aluminum radiator and AST (air separation tank), and an ACT 6-puck clutch and lightweight flywheel. This will be replaced with a full-face disc because street car - though my dad is a total boss at handling it as it sits. I also have a PowerFC and Greddy SMIC (stock mount intercooler) on the way. The PO also installed an A'Pexi Power Intake which I'm on the fence about, it seems to be more of a hot-air intake, TBD on that front.
Appearance wise, the exterior will be getting a JDM '99+ front end, and probably an OEM R1 rear wing which I've always loved, though I didn't think I'd like the current wingless look as much as I do. I'm mulling my options for wheels to replace the wee-little stockers, but again, nothing too crazy for a street car.
Speaking of nothing too crazy, it's pretty wild how this car handles out of the box, even on ancient tires and lacking a needed alignment. I can't imagine doing too much in the suspension department, but I'm sure the original bits could use attention at some point so perhaps some springs/shocks or a set of coilovers and sways.
On the interior the A-pillar gauges will be getting ditched entirely for a new trio of combined boost/AFR, oil pressure and water temp in a triple dash pod. The original leather presents well, but 90's Mazda leather was never approaching Montalban-approved levels of quality so recovering would be a "nice to do" at some point. A few other touches here and there should set it off nicely.
And the final and most importat part of the plan - to enjoy and share the car with as many people as I can. See you on the twisties :mrgreen:
Current: '20 Kia Stinger GT2 RWD | '20 Yamaha R3 | '04 Lexus IS300 SD
Past: '94 Mazda RX-7 | '04 Lexus IS300 (RIP) | '00 Jeep XJ | '99 Mazda 10AE Miata | '88 Toyota Supra Turbo
My MM Movies - Watch Them Here
Past: '94 Mazda RX-7 | '04 Lexus IS300 (RIP) | '00 Jeep XJ | '99 Mazda 10AE Miata | '88 Toyota Supra Turbo
My MM Movies - Watch Them Here
Congrats buddy, very well-written post and I can't wait to see the car in person. Sounds like your plans will keep it street-focused but very fun. Love it!
![[Image: 200.gif]](https://media.giphy.com/media/vcgonGplNGMVi/200.gif)
![[Image: w6yRN.gif]](https://m.popkey.co/737465/w6yRN.gif)
![[Image: 20170905_094401.jpg]](http://dloaded.com/images/20170905_094401.jpg)
hock: I went over after work to try to diagnose it, but a thunderstorm was bearing down on me and I got about as far as sticking my nose near as I could get under the upper intake manifold. Definite strong whiffs of gas (wheee) under there where the FPD is...if I don't get the chance to do more investigating before the tires show up at Curry's, I'll probably just have them dig into it.