The Mid Night Club Wangan Run Touge Monster FD RX-7 RZ!

[declasm]

A couple more track shots I was sent from Castle Combe.

[clarki]

The rx7 shape has just aged so well.

Not a huge fan of the stick on bits tbh but understand why others would completely disagree with me. If that makes sense??!!

Nice car.

[declasm]

So the car is looking alright and running alright. I've got the BC Racing dampers setup to feel really good for road driving, everything should be great but I'm finding more and more that I have so little time to drive the car. This is very sad. Part of the problem is that with only two seats I can't take the family out in it on weekends and my weekend activities invariably revolve around the family! To this end I'm looking to sell now and move onto an E9X 335i and tune that for power. I've had some interest in the car and for peace of mind for me and the prospective new owners I sought to get a compression test done. Mazda wanted to charge me £170 for what is a 10 minute job with their special tester but I couldn't schedule that in so I did it the hard way at home - here's a little video:

https://youtu.be/U1Cuf71caac

And the results:



And a reference diagram for engine health:











And another video with some boosting for good measure

https://youtu.be/ivJMXVQLOqU

[ecksjay]

Not sure how i missed this... i've been mucking about with jap cars for years so recognise many of those less common parts on the car. Never fancied an RX7 myself but do love how they look and all the weirdness surrounding a rotary. Just not something i have the balls for myself.

Those Quantums were so hard due to the Swift springs - those were 12k (from the ones you posted) which are basically rock bloody solid. Japanese roads are far better than ours so they can get away with them, but that's just too angry for our roads. Your BC's are probably around 8k/6k springs, so bordering on half the rating of the swifts (im not actually sure if it's linear in stiffness but either way, the swifts were virtually track spec).

One of my cars is like the little brother of this, black mk2 NB RS mx5 (or roadster, if i'm being pedantic), only it's a 330bhp turbo with loads of mazdaspeed/jdm goodies. Have a weird concoction of jap parts from when it was there and installed subsequently, so follows a similar strategy to yours. I've unfortunately not gotten the opportunity to track test it as you have but i'll get there eventually.

If you ever need any help with retrimming those seats then let me know - my father, based in bristol, has retrimmed a few of those in the past (as there are some MX5 owners that have used him, given those seats were also installed to the Mk1 RS model mx5's).

[declasm]

I went along to the new cars and coffee style Re:Fuel meet at the Froginwell Vineyard about 15 mins away from me on Sunday, a friend of mine with another black Mazda (mk3 MX-5) managed to arrive at the same time so we could park up for some pics







Good meet and I got did some testing of an old GoPro that I recently got my hands on too:

https://youtu.be/lH0qWNWY2Wg

[Nunga]

Love FDs. Mazda just got it so right in every way I can think of.

[declasm]

Time to wrap this thread up!

Back in November I took the car over to Smeatharpe airfield for some more drag racing. I was really hoping 1. that it was going to be dry and 2. that I would be able to get the car into the 12s. Fail on both counts, it was wet and miserable and the track was soaked and slippery, quite intense and a challenge to keep my foot down for fear of aquaplaning off the strip. The car didn't cut a 12 either, really no chance in the conditions. In the end I got a 13.79 @ 111MPH with a best 60' of 2.5. Pretty much means that with dry conditions and 2.0 or better 60' the car would get mid 12s but I wasn't going to see that.

Here's a quick video of one of my runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izAPJdLv1lk

The only other worthwhile driving in the back end 2019 was a good run up to Warwick castle and back in December but on that trip I found that I was experiencing a new crunch shifting into 2nd gear. ffs.

With the MOT due early January I decided to get a bit more serious about selling the car, having done all the mods and having done all the events I wanted to do. I decided to sell it as is, mentioning the new gearbox fault and the short MOT and try my luck.

Final spec (as per the ad) went like this:

1997 Mazda RX-7 RZ Special Edition

PZ Black
45K Miles

RZ Special Edition features:
Original Recaro RZ Carbon Kevlar seats
RZ alloy passenger footrest
RZ rear bins not seats
Twin Front Mounted Oil Coolers

Engine and performance modifications:
Rebuilt in Japan prior to export in 2015
Compression (at 35K miles) F 7.5, 7.3, 7.3 R 7.7, 7.5, 7.3
Compression (at 44K miles) F 7.4, 7.1, 6.7 R 7.2, 7.4, 7.4
A'PEXi Power FC ECU, Commander, boost controller and upgraded 3 Bar MAP sensor
HKS T04R single turbo conversion
HKS Turbo Timer
HKS Coil Leads
HKS Twin Spark ignition amplifier
Knight Sports V-mount radiator / intercooler
Knight Sports throttle body
Greddy Type-C wastegate
HPI Induction Kit
AEM 30-4110 Wideband AFR gauge with Bosch LSU 4.9 sensor
Denso Iridium Racing IRE01-31 spark plugs
2-way Kaaz LSD
Competition paddle race clutch

Fuel System:
Uprated fuel pump wiring
SARD Fuel Pressure Regulator
850cc primary injectors
1700cc Injector Dynamics ID1700x secondary injectors
DM Motorsport secondary fuel rail
Modified primary rail

Exhaust:
Trust exhaust manifold
HKS downpipe
TG Motorsport silenced mid pipe
HKS Hi-Power Silent cat back
Screamer pipe
This exhaust setup has no problems with track day noise regulations

Chassis and suspension:
Cusco Front Strut Brace
BC Racing BR Custom Adjustable Coilovers with F 8Kg R 6Kg springs and rubber top mounts
Transmission chassis brace

Brakes, Wheels and Tyres:
H&R 25mm hubcentric spacers all round
Brembo GT 332x32 2-Piece 4 Piston Black Front Big Brake Kit
Girodisc 332mm grooved / vented front rotors
Dixcel 314mm rear discs (larger RZ / Spirit R specific size)
Rays Mazdaspeed MS-01S Forged Monoblock 17” wheels, F 8.5J R 9.5J
Rear 255mm Continental ContiSportContact 5 tyres
Front 235mm Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres

Interior
Motamec suede steering wheel
Boost gauge
APEXi commander
Turbo timer
Knight Sports WT Controller (controls the rad fan)
Single-din bluetooth / mp3 headunit
Speedo and mileage converted to miles / MPH

Exterior
ARC Magic GT Rear Wing
Knight Sports vented bonnet
Knight Sports vented headlight cover
Knight Sports side skirts
Knight Sports bolt-on wide arch kit
“Extreme Dimensions” branded C-West rep bumper
Rear fog light

Extras
Quantum Racing "RE Spec Coilover kit" with pillow ball top mounts (best for track only)
2 spare (exceptionally loud) exhausts (mid pipe and cat-back)
FC-Datalogit APEXi ECU interface cable


So last weekend I sold the car, for asking price, to an enthusiast who drove several thousand miles from Prague! Apparently it was 24hrs each way. My car is now sat in his garage, next to his S13







Reflecting on the sale, I got a good price for what I had and now I have a sense of relief, so I know I made the right choice to sell. This was my 3rd FD RX-7, with my first 2 I had unfinished business but with this one I ticked all the boxes, did the majority of the work myself and learnt how to map a rotary. I did mods to improve reliability and performance but also made it a road car with the suspension and exhaust mods. It was never a perfect road car, always too extreme for that and that meant I couldn't use it maybe as much as I could have. Despite all the horror stories you hear, a 400bhp RX-7 isn't a ticking time-bomb, it was probably one of the most reliable cars I've had, never failing to start, even after sometimes spending weeks in the garage. Now on to the next thing!

[supacool1]

Epic thread. Thank you for the write up.

[Monsterlime]

Superb thread, thank you for sharing. Got me looking at RX-7's (again) to go with my TVR. The wife would kill me.

The design is really timeless and IMO the best looking car any Japanese manufacturer has ever made.

[Rod200SX]

Awesome car and I'm glad you had a good time with it. A few friends that have got/had RX7s in various shapes have all been generally reliable.

Am I right in saying I saw you posting on a facebook group looking for a new car? Maybe a BMW one, I've got so many pages I follow

[declasm]

Rod200SX said:

Awesome car and I'm glad you had a good time with it. A few friends that have got/had RX7s in various shapes have all been generally reliable.

Am I right in saying I saw you posting on a facebook group looking for a new car? Maybe a BMW one, I've got so many pages I follow

Yep that's me, looking for an e93 335i - are you selling one?

[Rod200SX]

declasm said:

Rod200SX said:

Awesome car and I'm glad you had a good time with it. A few friends that have got/had RX7s in various shapes have all been generally reliable.

Am I right in saying I saw you posting on a facebook group looking for a new car? Maybe a BMW one, I've got so many pages I follow

Yep that's me, looking for an e93 335i - are you selling one?

Alas, no! I wanted an E93 but couldn't find a good one in budget at the time so ended up with a manual E92. The N54 is an incredible engine despite their issues!

[declasm]

Rod200SX said:

Alas, no! I wanted an E93 but couldn't find a good one in budget at the time so ended up with a manual E92. The N54 is an incredible engine despite their issues!

How do you find the manual? My current daily is an e91 330d auto with flappy paddles and it's perfect but I'm going to look at a manual e93 on Sunday as a weekend car to replace the RX-7

[Rod200SX]

declasm said:

Rod200SX said:

Alas, no! I wanted an E93 but couldn't find a good one in budget at the time so ended up with a manual E92. The N54 is an incredible engine despite their issues!

How do you find the manual? My current daily is an e91 330d auto with flappy paddles and it's perfect but I'm going to look at a manual e93 on Sunday as a weekend car to replace the RX-7

To be fair it's the best manual bmw box I've experienced. That's from my own shagged E36 drifter, a few various E46 I've driven (including an M3, hated the gear change in it) and a Z3. It's not perfect but up there with the other German cars of the same ilk. My old Nissan and mx5 were sharper but that's to be expected.

The one thing I'd recommend if you go for a manual is to remove the clutch delay. Can do it manually but there's also an option in the MHD flasher to remove torque restriction when changing gear. Helps when changing quickly and makes it a bit less likely to slip the clutch & makes it a bit more happy when rev matching.

The one thing you'll miss is an LSD, I'm planning on fitting one when I can afford to but there's masses of torque & a good map could have you reaching high boost by as low as 2300rpm, add in standard 255s and an open diff and it can be a bit unpredictable.