Rotary Power

426
United States
Texas
Exitist_8
Well. I officially own my dream car. Or close to it. Picked up a 1986 Mazda RX7 (FC) GXL in beautiful condition for a 1800 bucks. She had a cracked center plate causing antifreeze to leak into the combustion chambers, but fortunately all rotors, rotor housings, eccentric shaft, etc were still in good shape. 81k original miles. Paint and interior are near perfect: overall she is incredibly clean for a car going on 30. Dropped her off with Kyle the Rotary Doctor for all new seals, center plate, and viton fuel injectors. Bought the car already equipped with a full exhaust system from Racing Beat, and a K&N performance air filter. She also has 17" Tuscani wheels which I will soon be replacing with OE size 15x6.5 (looking at a set of Enkei or Focals) or possibly a 16x7 set from BBS.

My plan is to keep the FC mostly stock, but will be making some small performance improvements as I go.

Just ordered:
- Koyo aluminum radiator to replace the heavily corroded stock rad (car had been sitting for quite a while before i bought it)
- Racing Beat radiator hoses
- Cusco front strut bar
- new fan clutch from Atkins
- custom fitting performance billet pedals from PerformancePedals
- S5 tail lights
- Dual sheave alternator pulley to run 2 belts to the water pump (Racing Beat exhaust conversion delete the air pump removing this)

Future planned additions:
- Exedy stage 1 clutch kit
- Racing Beat aluminum lightweight flywheel
- (still debating coilovers)
- Cusco rear strut bar
- Turbo II hood (if i can ever find one!!)

And now some pics:

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In the school shop next to a gorgeous GT350 (which sadly is an AT...)


Fellow rotary owners feel free to use this thread to post your own rotary rockets! I will continue to update thread with the FC's progress
 
Thanks man! I got really lucky with this find, has to be one of the cleanest 28 year old Japanese sports cars out there! The previous owner maintained it exceptionally well
 
I really like that, nice and clean and I bet it sounds awesome too!
Here's my rotary, a 2007 RX-8 'Kuro'. The engine is a stock Renesis (231) except for MRP coils and Magnecore Ignition Leads but the main reason I love it is it's 1 of only 415 left of this edition (special paint, stone leather interior and limited edition head and tail lights) in the world:

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I'm hoping to get a new high flow cat and catback system next year to make it sound a bit louder.
 
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Nice, Moglet! I'm typically not a fan of the 8's but that is a really awesome and unique car you have there. You got a pretty low number too which is cool. Looks like you aren't in the States? But if you can find Racing Beat exhaust parts I highly recommend them, as they provide an excellent low throaty if not obnoxiously loud exhaust note. But for all I know there may be other quality rotary aftermarket specialists wherever you live...

Anyway sweet car!! How is then renesis? I've heard good things and bad things in about equal proportion
 
Thanks! The Renesis is an interesting one, they're very expensive to run especially given current fuel prices in the UK. They're also expensive to tax (£500 a year). But that sound and surge of power above 5,000 RPM is addictive and it feels great to drive, too.

I'm fairly certain that we can get Racing Beat gear over here but I'm not sure if they do much for the RX8. I've got my eye on a Milltek system since it's a modular setup with wider piping all the way to the back and the tips fit the rear bumper perfectly, but it's fairly expensive. I'm going to try and get some new wheels once the summer tyres go back on too so I've got to consider my budget.
 
Yep there's nothing like the high RPM power of a rotary engine...such an amazing feeling. People complain about the lack of torque or their car feeling underpowered and yet they shift at 3500rpm...there's your problem right there haha. Glad you're enjoying that awesome ride. Keep us posted on your upgrades!
 
:0 that thing is cleeeeean. I'd pull a Slashfan and tell you to V8-swap it but that would be a bit too much :lol: very cool car, and it looks like it fell in great hands as you are ready to pour some money in it to keep it better than new. And yes, go for some other wheels!
 
:0 that thing is cleeeeean. I'd pull a Slashfan and tell you to V8-swap it but that would be a bit too much :lol: very cool car, and it looks like it fell in great hands as you are ready to pour some money in it to keep it better than new. And yes, go for some other wheels!

Blasphemy!!!!! Lol nah plenty of people do it but I have an unexplainable love of rotors :) and thanks, the previous owner did an excellent job of upkeep so it's up to me to carry on the torch. Some might say I go a little overboard, cleaning the wheels after every drive etc but it's the first car I've owned and truly loved so it's important to me to keep it in a constant state of perfection. If any of you have good wheel suggestions feel free to shout them out. Looking to stay stock size at 15"x6.5, 5 lug @ 114mm
 
I'm a rotary fan myself. I really considered an FD before getting the Evo, but I was going to daily it and a near 15 year old turbo rotary didn't have the same appeal in that light. lol. Also, I don't really fit in one with a helmet if it has a sunroof. I've driven the whole line of RX-7s at autocross and they are all great cars. Congrats on getting one!
 
Haha yeah an FD would not be recommended as a daily. Awesome cars, just highly volatile. I would like to ax my FC at some point, and maybe in the future find a cheap FB shell I can turn into a track car or just mess around in without worrying about ruining a good car. Anyone seen the Zero ****s Given RX7 video on YouTube? That is a pretty mean FB that kid built. I'll find the link and post it when I get home tonight
 
Yeah, that's a cool car. He sold it after the video I think, or at least tried to. There is a local shop here in AL, Hinson Performance, that does a lot of LS swaps on RX-7s. Cool guys. They had like 8 or 10 rotaries there waiting for swaps.
 
I don't know... the Renesis is a torqueless wonder as far as the discussion with rotaries not having torque, but that not its fault it was to meet emissions, that's why the 13b doesn't suffer from that problem but could barely pass an emissions test.:P

Anyway, as far as rims go Enkei J-10s look pretty good if you want to stick to a stock size. Not my car below but I
have a set of them.
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Also a belated welcome to the club.
plan on staying zenki or going kouki for the lights?
Here's mine. :D
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The J-10s do look very good, I'm considering those. Lights will stay stock. And that's a freaking awesome FC by the way! You don't see many T2s that haven't been turned into some drift kids slammed matte black mockery of a 7. Jealous of your turbo hood!
 
Those guys can have fun with there lsx swaps and blehhhh lol but are you planning to turbo it ever?
 
Yeah I plan on going turbo in a year or so. Like your signature states I will probably be constantly doing something to improve the FC. It's just too much fun to work on.

Haven't been on the forums in forever, so here are a few things that have happened since my last update:

Kouki tail lights installed

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Original JDM Mazda sticker still intact :)
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Cleaned up the rusty old calipers and shot them silver:

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Koyo R series rad with Racing Beat hoses installed, plus a nice carbon cover for the ugly opening between the headlights:

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A set of Enkei Raijins (18x8.5 f, 18x9.5 r) will be going on in the near future, will post pics once those arrive

(Also swapped to the kouki shifter which has a MUCH better feel than the longer throw of the S4, and installed the grid billet pedal covers from PerformancePedals)
 
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