cbmmm3

Grand Rapids MI

Chad D.

iTrader: (19)

I miss my FD. It looked just like that too /\
As much as I miss it, I love how much my 8 can take a beating without having to get fixed all the time. My fd had a single turbo conversion and lots of HP. but only two seats.
The wife said I had to go and find a family car, so I brought home an rx8/
I will probably never buy another FD though. been there done that.
I'm going next level and putting FD drivetrain in my '67 Austin.

eternal_gamer

Didn't mean to offend anyone. I was jus saying that with mods you should be fine. I think its safe to say Rotary engines produces a lot of heat in general. And we don't want to scare the OP into not getting a FD. If he's already wanting a Turbo Rx-8 if not a FD, then heat from both cars are not going to be much different. Only thing thats' different is the performance.

jayscoobs

Yeah im in my 20s with no family yet so I dont need the backseats for now. Im assuming the high HP and single turbo conversion is what made your FD have to be fixed all the time? Yeah the 8 can take a beating but the reliability seems to be the same as the FD when FI is added to it.

jayscoobs

Do you happen to know the performance difference between a FI 8 and the FD? I guess I should start looking at dyno graphs because I dont know how the FDs power curve is.

Yeah coming from a subie platform made boost addicting and I miss it, I bought the 8 because of how smooth the motor was and how it felt to drive it.

I dont think you can scare me going FD, everyone tried already but as long as its not my DD then I can deal with the blood, sweat and tears that come with it. Its a good thing my friend use to work at Ricks Rotary too, he knows quite a lot when it comes to our cars.

I would love to do a turbo RX8 build but quite impossible to smog.

eternal_gamer

1.3L rotary is all going to gave similar power curves. It depends on the turbo setup more. The 13brew jus responds better to mods and can take more boost. I've had all the RX-7s, RX-8 with stock single, stock twins, and big single turbo. It jus depends what u want and how far. If u want something that pulls similar to the subie but more top end, then get the FD and keep the twins or upgrade them to BNR stage 3 or 99spec turbos. There's nothing wrong daily driving a FD as long as it's mildly modified with reliable mods, and maintenance is performed as should be on any car. The only shitty part is the gas mileage is ridiculous, so that's why I have a gas saver daily driver such as my miata before I sold it. If u already want a turbo rotary no matter what, then get the best Mazda has to offer, a FD which can also pass smog if lightly modded and u don't have to deal with cops harassing u for having a turbo in a NA vehicle.

jayscoobs

Well said! Well said indeed. Thats what I was planning to do, FD with reliability mods, upgraded twins because I just read that FDs stock turbos arent rebuildable? I really just want 300 whp so the stock turbos should be adequate. To me a 2900 pound car doesnt need 400 whp to get around, thats a lot lol. Im quite good with maintenance so I should be good there. Cant FDs get close to RX8s gas mileage if you stay out of boost? Yeah doing boost is hard on a NA car, Especially since boosting the 8 isnt smog legal like every other Greddy kit for other NA cars. Yeah I fell in love with Rotary so in the sport performance world theres nothing else id really like to mess with.

Supernaut6

I'm not saying you were I'm just saying that Davin knows his stuff and he was talking about a different aspect of the heat produced by the car. It's not just all about keeping ur coolant and intake temps in check and having those cooling mods isn't going to miraculously make your engine bay temps lower. I think I've done about all you can do in terms of reliability and cooling mods and my car still bakes.

eternal_gamer

Yea, 300whp is fine. I don't plan on doing anymore than 350whp on mine. and I would be satisfied with 300-320whp. If I am going to build a really fast car, I'm going 3 rotor.

And yes, gas mileage is going to be very similar. A little bit less. I get 14-15 mpg city and 20-21 highway with basic mods and power fc. My Rx-8 with catback and LS2 coils gets 16-18mpg city and 22-24 highway.

Basically, do your research and make sure everything is done right. After 8 years, I have yet to blow a rotary engine. knock on wood. And yes, I've had a lot and sold alot but even the ones I've sold have had 60,000-100,00 miles put on top of what it had and they are all still running. These engines are precious. Jus take care of em, and you will be fine. But I might add, that I have yet to go over 400whp on any of my cars, because I didn't want too much power unless it was a 20B, so I can't speak on reliability passed that. But you state you want 300whp only, so you should be fine.


ok. yea, i'm not too familiar with names on here and who knows what besides the vendors. but yea, I understand what you are saying. Turbo = extreme heat. Rotary = extreme heat. So theres things that you can do like I said and that you've done, and it will help drastically but not to the point where it will run cool like a single cam honda motor. If everything is working, there is no reason for it to overheat or anything in street conditions even in stock form. I don't think the OP is going to be doing hardcore track runs.

neit_jnf

If I could afford it I'd get a slightly used Blue 2009 R3, do some intake/exhaust/coils to get it about 200whp and use it as a daily driver to accompany my modded weekend FD!

I would not choose one over the other, they're too different so I want both! I also want a Renesis-swapped PRHT Miata.... and a 76 Repu to haul stuff... dreams...

jayscoobs

FD might see some track time when shes ready for it. Id only do it 3 or 4 times a year.

Supernaut6

Yea that's mostly true. I still have problems with my air temps rising in really bad traffic in very hot weather. I don't think even a v-mount would help in the situation I was in. You get stuck in traffic long enough you're going to have high air temps. My only saving grace is water injection. I'm able to get it to spray without boosting and it goes down quick but I still need the traffic to move a bit to trigger the spray.

eternal_gamer

I like ur thinking. We think alike.


That's normal, that's my goal for mine once it's ready to come out. Hope u do get a FD and possibly also keep ur RX-8. U sound like a good owner. We need good owners for these FDs now that they are getting more scarce

I know what u mean tho. In traffic such as LA during sevenstock xII traffic jam, intake temps were ridiculous on my old Fd and big single turbo fc. The Fd with the stock twins was takin it worse. But the turbo cars in general get heat soaked badly, but the rotary does add that extra spice. But when it's that bad, I let it cool before I hit the boost. But I gotta try water injection, I have yet to try that besides on my old sti.

jayscoobs

Im thinking about keepng the 8, But having the 8 as a DD would suck just on gas mileage alone lol. Yeah I believe im a good owner lol, fell in love with Rotaries and never did as much research as I did any other car I owned. I do admit im not too mechanically inclined but I do have friends that are and I try to tinker on all the cars as much as I can. These cars really need special attention, like a Needy Needy GF.

Man you guys are scaring me with the temp issues. I know that our cars run hot and all but damn, even with cooling upgrades you have to worry about boosting? Temps usually arent that bad here so I should be okay.

eternal_gamer

Its really not as bad as it seems. What we are talking about is heat soak. Happens to all turbo cars. Basically, you sit too long then the engine is only sucking hot air from engine bay. U need to move to get fresh cooler air into the engine. I mean why would you be smashing on it anyway on a congested freeway? Or its like drag racing, a little thing people do is put ice packs on top of the intercoolers to have the motor suck in cold air, because you have to wait in line for a bit. When you mess with Turbo, everything is very critical, and must be on point. You don't want detonation which is easier on a turbo car, and can cause your engine to fail, and in a rotary, most likely the engine will fail. So basically do things right, and make sure everything works and is not leaking. Monitor everything.

jayscoobs

Oh yeah Heatsoak, my bad I didnt see that part for some reason, I guess I skim read too much. If im on top of everything and monitor everything I should be fine. Hopefully I can find a good starting FD that has nothing wrong with it or very little wrong.

eternal_gamer

Ur best bet is a low mileage one, and always do a compression test.

czar

iTrader: (3)

Funny I went from a rx8 to a fd. My 8 was always causing me headaches(5 engines or so all warranty though). The fd the only thing I had happen was the heater hose sprang a leak, only thing I miss about my rx8 is ac worked. my condenser has a kink in the pipe >_< . mpg wise I get around 25+ on the highway if i dont drive like a asshat.

jayscoobs

My 8 hasnt given me much trouble at all. I hope I can find a good enough FD to do the same to me. Im trying to find ones with less than 100k on the clock. There is a few with a little bit high mileage but they have a rebuilt motor.

Davin

What a lot of people do with FD's from what I have seen is that many run Evan's NPG+ coolant. The temps will read higher, but that is because it is pulling more heat from the engine.

RIP IT!

If anyone is planning on getting a FD please have it inspected by a reputable rotary shop before purchasing the vehicle. I have seen 2 this week that were just purchased and both needed rebuilds from carelessness. One needed coolant seal due to not running an undertray and the other had a chipped apex seal from a modded exhuast on a stock ecu w/ no boost control in place.

Just be careful folks as many people sell them when they are done having fun w/ them so to speak.

jayscoobs

I definetely plan to get it inspected before purchase. Sorry but can you educate me on how a undertray would cause a coolant seal? On the second im guessing he did a midpipe and had boost creep or boost spike?

eternal_gamer

Word. Although, it's smart to have any vehicle inspected, RX-7s just happen to have a unique but fragile to mistakes engine that should be compression tested.

jayscoobs

im of course going to have her inspected before I buy.

jayscoobs

Im going to resurrect my old thread as I dont want to start a new one, but what do you guys think of FCs? I have been seeing some really nice ones and I think it would be a fun track project/street driven car. Only downside is I hate the interior lol.