Mazda RX-7 Type RS (FD3S)

[Marf]

RobCrezz said:

Where's your readers cars thread?

Up now

[Mr Viking]

you said it was cramped, how cramped? I'm a fairly fat and tall fellow but I'd love to drive one someday, but my neighbor had an RX8 and it was too small for me, had to bend my neck to a silly angle, are these any bigger?

[Marf]

Less room than an MR2 Turbo if you've ever sat in one of those.

[Mr Viking]

Marf said:

Less room than an MR2 Turbo if you've ever sat in one of those.

never been in one. Worried about my hopes of running a Lotus at any point too

[samoht]

Definitely no bodykits - IMO that would be like taking felt tips to the Mona Lisa. Only thing is, some of the ugly aftermarket bonnets you see on RX-7s have the benefit of drawing cooling air through the engine bay, and the rotary runs pretty hot. So that may have to be considered.

I've just worked out my first tankful... 19.6mpg (!) So yeah, not a car for the long commute.

I'm 6'1. I have enough headroom actually, with a couple of inches spare, but my hips are fairly wide and feel uncomfortably 'wedged' by the stock seats. The other problem is that when I let out the clutch, my left knee was hitting the back of the steering wheel rim. I've pretty well ameliorated this with the new steering wheel, which is dished (giving more length behind it) and smaller diameter. I'm still on the look-out for some wider seats.

It's hard to make generalisations since even two people of the same height may be differently proportioned, you'd have to try it out.

[DanielSan]

19.6 is actually about 12 better than I expected you to say

[samoht]

Codswallop said:

Beautiful car OP. The RS wheels and wing really complete the look of the car imo.

What "reliability" mods have you got in mind?

My understanding is that the Achilles heel of the FD is heat. The rotary engine creates more heat (due to being less efficient) than a normal piston motor, and having twin turbos and a complex manifold under the bonnet also traps heat there. A couple of weeks ago it was wet out, I made one quick overtake in 3rd gear and there was so much steam coming from the bonnet that oncoming motorists were flashing their lights, worried that I was on fire!

The problem is that if the engine bay temps build up, the intake air coming into the engine is too hot, then you get detonation and it's game over (unlike a piston engine, you don't get three lives - the apex seals can't take any knock at all).

Road driving should be fine, but to take her out on track and push hard, I possibly need some combination of a larger radiator, larger/differently mounted intercooler, vented bonnet, and an Apexi ECU that can watch and alert if the intake temps get too high. Basically better heat exchange and an alert so that I can back off before I kill my engine.

[4340BB]

Beautiful car these.
One of my all time favourites.
Please keep it standard ish!!! BBS LM wheels were made for these!!

[RobCrezz]

samoht said:

Codswallop said:

Beautiful car OP. The RS wheels and wing really complete the look of the car imo.

What "reliability" mods have you got in mind?

My understanding is that the Achilles heel of the FD is heat. The rotary engine creates more heat (due to being less efficient) than a normal piston motor, and having twin turbos and a complex manifold under the bonnet also traps heat there. A couple of weeks ago it was wet out, I made one quick overtake in 3rd gear and there was so much steam coming from the bonnet that oncoming motorists were flashing their lights, worried that I was on fire!

The problem is that if the engine bay temps build up, the intake air coming into the engine is too hot, then you get detonation and it's game over (unlike a piston engine, you don't get three lives - the apex seals can't take any knock at all).

Road driving should be fine, but to take her out on track and push hard, I possibly need some combination of a larger radiator, larger/differently mounted intercooler, vented bonnet, and an Apexi ECU that can watch and alert if the intake temps get too high. Basically better heat exchange and an alert so that I can back off before I kill my engine.

Only problem with the Apexi Power FC, is that although it can detect knock, it cant adapt the timing when knock is beginning to be detected.



Do many people use water/meth injection systems to stop knock on these?

[philwhite]

My old car! Glad to see it's gone to such a good home. Seeing the photos has totally made me regret selling it - thanks for that!

P.S. This has reminded me that I still need to send you the owner’s manual I found.

[Beefmeister]

Lovely looking RX-7 you have there. I used to have a Mazdaspeed RX-7 Type-RS A-Spec, absolutely loved it, it's the one car I really regret selling. They will always hold a special place in my heart:



Oh, and glad you like the t-shirt - I did the line graphics for PH and I spent an incredibly long time on the RX-7 one for obvious reasons!

[stew-S160]

I do really miss the one I owned for 7 weeks. But the fuel costs were too much for me.
Awesome cars.

[rotarymazda]

obob said:

Beautiful, too scared to get one myself.

You really need to do something about that front plate though.Either a smaller one (a little illegal) or a Jap style plate to one side

Import cars with no mount for a UK plate can use a smaller font (lookup the section 14a rules).

I've had my 2000 RS for 6 years and kept it standard, the kids fit in the back for the school run. No reliability issues apart from a window switch replaced. Lovely car, always feels special to drive.

[samoht]

RobCrezz said:

Do many people use water/meth injection systems to stop knock on these?

Yeah, it seems to be really widespread. I gather it's v effective while it's working, but obviously if nozzle fails or water runs out, it's another way to potentially kill your engine.

philwhite said:

My old car! Glad to see it's gone to such a good home. Seeing the photos has totally made me regret selling it - thanks for that!

The car's a credit to your discerning ownership, I'll be doing my best to keep it as nice as it is now. Incidentally it was also chosen for the recent 'readers' cars' PH story

Beefmeister said:

Oh, and glad you like the t-shirt - I did the line graphics for PH and I spent an incredibly long time on the RX-7 one for obvious reasons!

Your car looks great, those front bumpers seem to be really rare - and one of the few alterations that doesn't ruin a great shape, presumably because it was made by Mazda.

I did think that the T-shirt did a remarkably good job of capturing the FD's wonderful and very three-dimensional shape into a flat line drawing - now I know why !

rotarymazda said:

I've had my 2000 RS for 6 years and kept it standard, the kids fit in the back for the school run. No reliability issues apart from a window switch replaced. Lovely car, always feels special to drive.

Wow, I envy your kids - keep up the good work with the PH parenting !! Special is exactly the word for the RX-7.

[Flat_Steve]

Lovely example of a rare iconic Japanese sportscar. I was also lucky enough to own one for two years when I picked up an almost identical one to yours - a '97 RS-R (the 30th anniversary model) in '04. It also had a '99 spec rear spoiler and should have come with the same black alloys as standard, but had silver ones instead - someone must've taken a dislike to them and got them resprayed.



As you say, it was stupidly quick out of the box and I felt no need to tinker with the mechanicals at all - plenty quick enough in my opinion. I don't think I'll ever be in a financial position to be able to afford the running and servicing costs of one again, but I'm very glad I got one when I could.

Cars like this are a reminder of the halcyon days when you could pick up ridiculously high-performance metal that could keep up with anything you were likely to encounter on the roads, but at a fraction of the cost of anything remotely exotic.

[RobCrezz]

samoht said:

RobCrezz said:

Do many people use water/meth injection systems to stop knock on these?

Yeah, it seems to be really widespread. I gather it's v effective while it's working, but obviously if nozzle fails or water runs out, it's another way to potentially kill your engine.

The trick would be to use it to prevent knock, and not map more aggressively to take advantage of the extra power - then it wont blow its self the first time it stops working or runs out.