Rotary Drift Engines

[Velvet]

hello, I just turned 16 and thinking about getting a FD RX-7 as a car that I can start drifting with (If I can save enough lunch money in a few years).

I know, I know, that kind of car is too much for a drifter to start out with, much less a kid like me; but its been my dream car ever since I have gotten into the import tuning scene and I love those cars more than anything else on the road.

So my question is what are some upgrades that I can do to keep the 13B-REW engine reliable after the abuse of a n00b drifter? I dont plan on making any real hosepower upgrades, but my focus is more on the suspesion, safety, and making the engine last longer than some big turbo upgrade.

Thanks for your help !!!

[PRC]

1. Keep it stock. 255hp will be more than enough for a begginer.
2. Install a higher capacity aluminum radiator.
3. Put a 4 point cage with harness.
4. You dont need much suspension to start, but a nice set of tires will go a long way.

Now, before even thinking about drifting, learn how to drive. Im not talking about driving thru you BKs drive thru, im talking about learning how to attack a curve the correct way, where the apex is, etc.
After you do that you are ready for drifting.

[Ghost of Duluth]

My advice to you.........give it up right now. You are only going to be dissappointed. FD's are not and I repeat NOT a beginners car. Not only are they hard cars to slide, meaning they do not have a sweet spot like a 240 or a Corolla but they are hard to judge and come around on you really fast if you aren't paying attention due to the boost. Add to that the EXTREMELY high maintenance costs due to over inflated parts, hard to find parts and easily breakable parts. Also throw in there the super high starting price to buy one in the first place. Oh and lets not forget that once you get it, a 16 year old with an FD........CHA-CHING!!!!!! The insurance man gonna get rich off you, trust that. Then we need not forget that once you pay the exhorbitant buying price, the killer insurance bill and the rib breaking costs to get it perfectly running, then you need to go and do all the NEEDED upgrades to the car before even thinking about sliding it. Let's cover those here.

1. Radiator. A MUST have. No coolio doolio Radiator and you have no engine.
2. Vented hood. Another must have. You need to get as much, and I mean AS MUCH hot air out of that engine bay as you can.
3. Hose replacements. Not the easy to get to Radiator hoses either but the most pain in the bumpkiss, stuck to vital solenoids, heated to a brittle, finger slashing hardness vacuum hoses under the intake. Let's see, I think at last count there was about 30 feet of 6 mm vacuum line and like 15 feet of 5 inch. I think thats correct, someone tell me if i'm wrong.
4. May have to replace the turbos. They sure like to crack around the housing after about 30k. Got to get them working right. Not really a needed one if the car is in good shape.

Now that we have just spent about 17-20k total for all of that, with labor, let's turn our attention to the engine. The FD engine is not the most "Stay running" friendly engine there is. They are good for launching into the stratosphere at random intervals. I am on my 4th one now. And at 3200 bucks a pop from Mazda for a stock one, it hurts. Notice that 99% of the FD's you see for sale have new engines? There's a reason for that. Heat, abuse, bad vaccum lines (notice how we get back to that), owner neglect, all that adds up to one melting pot of pissed offness when you realize you bought a car that requires a 30k a year job for getting it going right. A great Rotary engine that will handle the high boost and be good for Drifting is going to run you about 7 grand. Thats a reman from Mazda, dissassembled, ported, pinned and some random other stuff and put back together. Not to mention the 24 hours book time that it says shops can get you with for R&R.

Also you can explore the rear ends breaking due to wheel hop, the 5th gear syncro going out from missing the shift to third and assorted other goodies, but you can read about them on the web.

FD's are great cars, but for Drifting they are too delicate. They can't take much physical abuse or they will break something. Oh boy, and when they do, watch out. Replacement parts are like solid gold bars if you want them and they are always special order. I changed my engine, took me 4 days, what a fun time that was. I had to replace the snap ring that holds the clutch in. $75 my man for something that looks like it came out of a candy machine. Fun fun fun til the FD takes the wallet awayyyyyy.

Gripping is a different story. They are wonderful grippers as evidenced by the record on the Dragon. If you don't know the Dragon is HWY 129 outside of Knoxville Tn. 318 curves in 11 miles. These ain't no sweepers either, hairpins, switch transitions, mad hunters throwing bottles and about a gazillion motorcycles make for a fun ride there. Anyway, the same guy holds both records, motorcycle and car. Motorcycle record is 9min 48 secs. Car record is 10min 18secs I think. And he was in an FD with 350 HP. It's a hanging ride. Don't think you will get your FD and drive straight to glory though, that guy is an ex AMA Superbike rider and has been driving and riding professionally for many, many years.

You are 16, at 16, I think an FD is a little, well way too much car for you. It was for me at 16. If I would have had one at 16, I would really be a Ghost right now. I had a first gen RX7. That was in 87 though. This is my second FD and while my first one was the 2nd highest mileage car that Pettit Racing had ever heard of with the original stuff still in it (142k miles), I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of 25, not really because of skill but because of fundage, you know, flow, moolah, cream, scratch. You better be saving more than lunch money and pennies, might want to be selling you entire worldy posessions.

Ouch. Good luck though, maybe my words will make you realize that light and run away from FD land. If not, check out some of the forums, you'll see.

[nissanguy_24]

Yes listen to the Ghost, hes deffenately alot wiser then most of us and has alot of experience with these cars. Your best off buying your self a FC and getting used to Rotarys.. then when your older looking into upgrading to the FD. At least the FCs are more forgivable and not a matinence nightmare.

Besides its good enough for Ryosuke right?

[DONKEY_WEAR]

damn pettit they make some weird asss ports ive seen one before and to me i think they have very sorry ports! if u want a pretty good motor built cheap and u still want it to pass smog you should give jeff at rotary power a call hes located in gardena, ca the # is 310-516-9959 give em a call and hell set you in the rite direction....

[Ghost of Duluth]

Pettit makes some superb engines though. Rotary builders are different from each other in every way. My buddy had an Atkins engine and that thing was scary fast, way outran his Pettit one with the same mods. My car was built by Pettit but the Pettit engine is long since destroyed.

Nissanguy is right too. Get an FC. If you want the Turbo, get a Turbo even though the insurance is still going to be harsh. See, the reason the insurance is so high is due to a couple different things.

1. Age. Contrary to popular belief, people your age tend to go out there and speed and race and generally try to kill themselves all in the name of glory. Yea right but back to reality, so you are more likely to smear that beautiful FD all over the highway. Therefore, they raise the price so that people like yourself cannot afford to insure it.

2. The cost to repair the vehicle. Since we covered this in the first post, no need to do it again.

3. The price of the vehicle. FD's are like Supra's. they hold their value remarkably well for a 10 year old car. I think at last check a couple of months ago, my trade in value was like 9 grand. I have a 93 R1, triple black with about 342 to the wheels on a good day. Resale is way higher. See they up the price again due to that.

3. Color. Yes insurance premiums can be based on color. So you getting say a Red FD at 16 would be the worst thing you could do to your bank account. Red is bad. Blue, white, soft colors like that are the cheapest.

4. Grades. You can get a discout on insurance with good grades. Straight A's gets you some slackage at the hangmans noose.

5. Few little other ones.

The FC Turbo, with the capacity of being just as fast with mods, is a whole lot more reliable. It doesn't have the heat dissipation problem that it's older brother has, is easier to drive and just all around makes more sense due to the low price of them. I would start there, even with a non-turbo FC. Great car.

[Velvet]

FDreams shatterd!

Thanks for all the advice you guys have given me.

You guys are right about the FD and the problems they have and they problems they can cause for a teen like me. Its not the car for me just yet. So i thought of these alternatives.

So now im thinking about getting a N/A FC in my area. Its a 1987 in almost perfect condition and only 21,000 miles on it. It costs about $4,500 and is it worth it? Does anyone know how long these N/A FCs last without blowing apex seals or having anyother problems?

I'm also thinking about still buying a high milage FD and replacing the 13B-REW with one from the RX-8 (the Renesis, more specifically known as the 13B-MSP). Since this engine is N/A I doubt it has the same problems as the FD turbo charged 13B-REW. The only problem with this motor is that it doesnt have alot of torque in the bottom end and has to be reved up to really get the tail out. So do you guys I think should do this? And would it cost alot to do? I dont mind the loss of HP and Torque caused by the swap. I have alot to learn about driving and cars and I should focus on basic racing skills than drifting. I think this could happen with me driving in a Renesis powerd FD becuase it isnt as fast and more reliable. Tell me what you guys think.

And lets say I buy the FD and never do any kind of racing with until I get older, is it a good car just to have at my age without actually racing it?

And again, thanks for the help.

[Velvet]

1. Age. Contrary to popular belief, people your age tend to go out there and speed and race and generally try to kill themselves all in the name of glory. Yea right but back to reality, so you are more likely to smear that beautiful FD all over the highway. Therefore, they raise the price so that people like yourself cannot afford to insure it.

2. The cost to repair the vehicle. Since we covered this in the first post, no need to do it again.

3. The price of the vehicle. FD's are like Supra's. they hold their value remarkably well for a 10 year old car. I think at last check a couple of months ago, my trade in value was like 9 grand. I have a 93 R1, triple black with about 342 to the wheels on a good day. Resale is way higher. See they up the price again due to that.

3. Color. Yes insurance premiums can be based on color. So you getting say a Red FD at 16 would be the worst thing you could do to your bank account. Red is bad. Blue, white, soft colors like that are the cheapest.

4. Grades. You can get a discout on insurance with good grades. Straight A's gets you some slackage at the hangmans noose.

1. Very true, everyone tells me that.
2. very true again!
3. I'm gonna get a job and have my parents take a loan that I can pay off.
4. Any car I drive has to be black!
5. I get pretty good grades in one of NYCs better High schools.

But I still reckon what you mean...Insurance will be a *itch

[DONKEY_WEAR]

id say get a 2nd gen i men they r cheaper and a lil easier to find but ummmm a non turbo wont be that bad but id wanna get a turbo2 ne way for more power but damn i dunno if u can get ahold of a turbo get a 89 or newer!! better turbo and computer sh*t i think better brakes but im not really sure about 2nd gens.....i want either a 82 celica with a 3rd gen motor in it or a 510 the same i want a big street port single turbo and a haltech but yea i better start savin my pennies cuz that like 15000 project sooo ummm yea id go with whatever you can get for cheap.....

[FD3S_pilot]

yeah i have to agree with ghost and nissanguy not only because they're older and wiser but because it's correct..my freind's cousin had a sweet red FD...he was beginning to get into drifting..pretty good too..but the Fd was too for him..crash in straight into the wall...after trashing it and my crying... he got a Fc now...and his drifts it like nothing....

[Velvet]

OK OK, FC it is!

[twcfc3s]

start from down to the top.....youll get expirience..and other thing if you wanna get into the sport please keep it legal..and i mean like license and practice places...

[Vosko]

i had a FD for three years. when you spend twice as much as you paid for the car repairing/upgrading you know its a special car. i've had about 8 rx7's i think though but yeah for drifting there are much better starter cars

[FD3S_pilot]

Originally posted by Vosko
i had a FD for three years. when you spend twice as much as you paid for the car repairing/upgrading you know its a special car. i've had about 8 rx7's i think though but yeah for drifting there are much better starter cars

dam 8 rx7......all FDs or what?.....where do you find them?

[Ghost of Duluth]

Well, problem is the Renesis engine is going to cost you. It also has the same (or supposedly) the same HP as the FD. 255. But when they tested them, they couldn't produce the hp so they did a voluntary recall on the RX8's.