Does anyone have any experiences of owning/driving Mazda RX7 twin turbos? Seen one that I like a lot and got the insurance go-ahead

It is a 1993 FD3S model with 50k miles and I would be the first UK owner.

So far I know:
Low MPG (15mpg to be expected on a run )
Engines can wear at any time between 40k and 100k
They look coooool as hell

What do they handle like? (as std)
Anything special to look out for?

Cheers in advance

 

ive been in counless RX7s, inc 11 different ones at brunters from 100% standard (inc a 2002 Spirit R) to mad track cars with over 500bhp (inc 2 that competed at TOTB this year) and they the tits, fucking LOVE em.

Handling was unbelivable, and unlike RS thrashes at brunters, NOBODY broke their cars, a slipping clutch was the only casualty.

The noise is mint too

100% standard ones are bizarre too, never known such a silent smooth car, the gearchange buzzer isnt a gimmick!

 

They handle very well from what i have heard but use alot of oil and petrol cheep tax (1.3) Vast amount of parts for them from all the top jap tuners and theres quite a few purely Rotory tuners out there as well re amemiya being the biggest of them. Very popular time attck cars in jap land and also used in drag racing dont know what the thoughts on them are for a daily driver are. Thats pritty much all i know.

 

All I know is I have wanted one for years

 

they go well,handle mint and rebuilds are fook all

 

Fookin quick, got thrashed by one once! lol Bloody nice looking IMO too!

 

my friend has a tuned one,, and it is fast as fook and sounds wicked
theres one thing i dont like about them,,, where the pedals are too the seat,, you sit alittle crossed in them

 

So long as they handle better than my last saph then thats ok

Elephant have quoted me 1k to insure it as a named driver (not bad for a 22 year old I thought!) Although by the time I put that on pay monthly it will go up astranomically

I'm fed up of driving a Laguna diesel, want a car I can care about again as my daily drive (althought when I say daily drive i've used my car twice in the last week )

 

P.S. Surely they can be mapped properly to run slightly better mpg? (Although I think I read somewhere that the rotary engine has to run richer than a normal engine)

 

PM Burk.....

He`s had 1 and LOVED it!!!

Pete...

 

fookin love those cars

 

I went out in a claimed 500bhp built by RoTeckniks (sp) nr Reading and that was awesome. The guy use to race it in a class that I cant remember but it went well and handled like it was on rails ......

Not bad for a small cc car

 

Ohhh at last a subject that i atually have some practical experience with

Right, i had an rx7 a couple of years ago and it was, in a word, astonishing..........
Because the engine is so light the balance is a nearly perfect 50/50 split front to rear, which makes handling amazing

2 things to bear in mind with rotor engines.......1)They MUST be warmed up to normal running temps every time they are driven.......this is to avoid flooding the cars the next time it is started up. Flooding is quite a bit more serious on rotors than on piston engines........best to avoid it than to cure it after the fact!! 2) Budget for an engine rebuild ever 45-50k obviously depending on your level of tuning.......this will cost in the region of 2-2.5k. This price is usually quoted on rebuilds of engines that have NOT failed yet. If by chance your unlucky enough to not notice signs of impending engine death, then the rotor tips will break and the rotor will smash the housings.......which will hike the rebuild price up to a possible 4.5k at the worst. Not bad for a reliable 50k of motoring!!

So bearing this in mind, if your gonna buy an RX7, then get one with a recent rebuild by a respectable rx specialist ( WGT in northwhich, Hayward rotary engineering in god knows, RX heaven etc ) because the chances of you doing enough miles to need another rebuild are slim..........esspecially at 10 ish to the gallon.......which never happens by the way.....more like 7.....

 

engines are crap and cost a fortune to fix rx8 has more or less same engine and mazda recon it only lasts 90000 milles

 

Why are they sometimes quoted as 2.6's?

 

Hmmm........ sounds like you know what your talkin about! As a result of this highly thought out argument, i retract my previous post, and am now of the opinion that yes the engines are crap and cost a fortune to fix. My deepest apologies for any inconvenience this abrupt U turn has caused anyone, my only excuse for such an act is that jacko's vast knowledge of the mazda rotary engine has totally surpassed my own, and i abase myself at his feet and worship at his altar of rotor knowledge.

 

The actual displacement is 654cc per rotor giving a total of 1308cc's but the government decided to double it for tax purposes.......dunno why

Edited to say "see below"

 

The engine has a swept capacity of 654cc per rotor, so both rotors together are 1308cc. That is it's swept volume.

In a rotary you get one power pulse per rotor per eccentric shaft revolution, the same as a two stroke engine.
So it's working volume is effectively double that of a normal four stroke piston engine of the same swept volume.

Kinda like why they used to race 500cc two stroke vs 1000cc four stroke bikes in Moto GP- Because they have the same working volume.

In a piston engine you only get one power pulse per piston every two revolutions.

In simple terms the Rotary engine is a four cycle two stroke.

this is quite good too- www.rx7.com/techarticles_displacement.html

 

there caled wankle engines for a reason and iv owned an rx7 in the past my mate had one at the same time his whent bang when i seen what it cost to fix it mine was sold oh and mine was verry quick and i liked driving it but the engines cant be made that much stronger so the enevitable happens and it blows up

 

they called that cause thats the guy who invented them, they cost fuck all to fix compared to other performance engines, and they last 60/70k when caned to fuck, which is not much worse than other engines of similar power rhat are that small.

 

if thay are sooooo gud why do you own a skyline oh and by the way im not slating them as thay are a realy good car but my mates rx7 was rebuilt twice in a year and it ended up owing him a fortune and i wasnt going to have that and if the engines where so good why wauld mazda tell people when thay where buying the rx8 engines wherent going to last more than 90000 milles as my aunti told me when she had bought hers

 

Well the one I wanted went for a little more than I was hoping to pay for it on a whim, but I will get one very soon now I have sorted everything out, just waiting for the right one to come up at the right price (i.e. lairy yellow and standard )

The way I figure it is that a car with a freshly rebuilt and properly documented engine sells for nearly 2k over the price of one without a rebuild anyway, so its not like the rebuild costs anything

 

there is a cheep red one on ebay with a fucked motor

 

why do i own a skyline? cause i wanted 4wd too, and until the last year or so there was nobody in the UK i trusted to look after a rotory.

infact before i bought my 3dr cossie i was actiually after a RX7, jus stumbled on the 3dr when out test driving RX7s

most engine rebuilds and breakages on all tuned cars (esp RX7s, tho skylines and scoobys also blow up far more than they should) are down to poor mapping.

just cause an engine went dont make it shit

i dont see a problem with an engine lasting 2/3 as long when they generally cost 1/2 as much to replace

 

The fact that the engine will need a rebuild is not in dispute.........however they are not expensive to fix at all, provided you take them to reputable specialists. The only time you will be given a large bill is if you either take them to mazda for a rebuild ( IF they will accept the job ) or you take it to a garage who is looking to rip off somebody with what is still quite a rare and unique engine........both of these issues should be avoided at all costs.

On the plus side after a rebuild they can take massive ammounts of abuse and still keep kicking. The power delivery is super smooth and they love to rev, which makes them a winner in my eyes....... I made the mistake of selling mine and gettin a twin turbo GTO 4WD, which was a massive dissapointment after the RX......am on an EVO at the minute but as soon as it goes, ill be back in a rotor, without doubt.

 

iv had shed loads of cars and could never find one i could agree with till my threedoor a cosy has a realy strong motor as standard apart from pistons and head gasket whitch can be easily sorted and my mates car cost him £5500 the first time it went

 

if u want one with a nice new rebuild and a clean motor then do a search for jimmys rx7..they seem to have a good rep on the rotary board

 

Cheers for all the great advise guys I look around on the mazdarotaryclub forums but there is so much there all spread out it would take a week of reading to get as much knowledge as I can get in one thread on here

 

This is basically exactly what I am after, just love the colour! (i'm such a girl!)

 

this caught my eye the other day

Simplt stunning rx7, resprayed, in blue, colour coded trim, full roll cage, rolled arches, 18 inch wheels, ings+ sideskirts, re-amemiya rear spoiler & bonnet, gandor wing mirrors, 99spec front end, trust t88 turbo, rebuilt ported engine, front mount intercooler, twin plate clutch, hks adjustable suspension, boost controller, uprated fuel pump + injectors, boost controller, in uk car will have apexi ecu & water injection fitted,car will come rolling road tuned for 98 octane fuel with a minimum of 450rwhp

 

Looks nice but sounds expensive, i'd rather have a more standard one, and definitely one that hasn't been painted (they never look right even with a bare shell job)

And what the hell is that bonnet vent?!

 

yeah the vents are a bit much for me

Think that car bout 11k i think

 

Still 1 of my dream cars a full re-amemiya kitted with the crazy front carbon canard re amemiya carbon reer diffuser large carbon gt style wing 400 odd bhp track weapon, like this 1.



maybe one day

 

Phil last week i just went on a road trip to pick one up for my mate Loverly looking cars imo!!! Though tbh i dont think i could live with one permantly as its a bit cramped inside . Though other than that they seem a cracking car! my mates one is only 260bhp but seems to go really well.