A Stock FD RX7 Is a Magical Driving Experience

Something about getting into an FD RX7 that is quiet, no clunks, a light clutch, and overall in MINT showroom condition. That is an experience most enthusiasts have never gotten and I wish more people could drive very clean examples of the project car they are building, especially the FD RX7.
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[@jonathanwagner1697]

Great series on the FD. Going through some of the same pains in my RHD black FD with red interior. Learned a lot, thank you!

[@FitzyDoodle]

I’ve a RHD black FD with red interior too, although the top of the back seat has faded to look more like pink from the sun over the years! Good luck sorting your issues!

[@MoyLoaf]

Bird sounds in the background ❤️

[@bleachman9061]

my first fc had a power antenna and it was so sick i loved it haha

[@RADPotential]

I would spend more time than I should making a stock power antenna work on a first gen haha

[@rotaryperfection]

Unreliable my ass! I bought my 94 Touring in 2003 with 65k on the original engine. After installing a boost gauge and seeing the boost wasn't correct, I fixed the problem by tightening down the upper Y-pipe clamp which gave me a perfect 10-8-10 boost pattern. Luckily for me, the previous owner had the vacuum line recall done so the sequentials worked PERFECTLY. My reliability mods were Down Pipe and cheap air box mod. The air box mod caused a slight boost spike so I installed a manual needle valve boost controller to get the boost back to stock levels. The factory twins use simple air restricting pellets inside 2 of the turbos vacuum lines. Maintenance wise, new clutch at 75k, changed the plugs and fuel filter every 12k (as you know detonation isn't rotary friendly). Then I did the water steam clean just before changing the plugs to keep carbon out. My FD was THE most reliable rotary I've ever owned and that was after owning 2 12a 1st gens and a 91 vert. FD never flooded or had reliability issues and ran flawless. I even ran 87 octane for several years without issue. At 108k I had an accidental boost spike in cold weather and blew the engine because my manual needle value came out of adjustment over the years. My fault! Boost spiked to 12psi and popped the rear rotor. I drove my car back to my apartment sad but decided I needed to take my car back to my parents house. So I was still able to fire up the engine and drive 10miles to my parents house. That's how strong my compression was at 108k because the rear rotor had zero psi. After tearing down the block, the front rotor housing wear was damn near brand new and I didn't pre-mix either. Simply put, do proper cool downs of the car before shutting it off and do the preventive maintenance and keep the carbon out is how you get a reliable rotary. Edit! Trunk area was always black if I'm not mistaken. The factory Bose sounds even better if you wire in an Aux plug to the input wires behind the head unit. The sound quality was amazing. Also loose rear end is an indication that the diff mounts are bad and the pillow ball bushings are worn. Those bushings tend to go bad at around 75k.

[@Nitrocity7151]

93 front ends are my favorite

[@ScottJ175]

Man, I get it about the antenna. I've been through it with the one on my 96 Miata. It had one OEM but was replaced with a rubber one before I bought it. Scored a whole unit from Pull-A-Part but the aerial part was broken. Those are about unobtanium now. I had to ship one from Europe. Then earlier this year the motor died so I had to buy another complete unit and swap over my aerial. All because I like that power antenna vibe. Love the video but you're giving me an itch for a FD and I REALLY can't afford it. But if I were to have one I'd want it near stock like that one. I actually prefer without the lip, skirts and spats even.

[@gav240z]

Can you rebuild the Antenna? I've done it on my 240z's they get gummed up with dirt and stop working.

[@xcel08]

Beautiful FD. Love that it's owner is keeping it near stock.

[@scotty305]

My RX-7 was bone stock and in very good condition when I got it in 2004. I have very few complaints aside from the factory cooling system and the interior feels small even for me at 5'8" 150lbs. There's a bit more headroom on the non-sunroof models. I agree the stock suspension was too tail-happy, I think it's nicely balanced after adding a Racing Beat front swaybar. I'm interested to see how you test for boost leaks, especially with all the twin turbo piping. I've heard of people pressurizing the system and spraying soapy water, or using a smoke testers.

[@RADPotential]

I use a smoke tester.

[@andrewabbott4387]

Man that is such a sick car! Great video.

[@austintaylor83]

This was actually my friends and his dads project before they sold it to the new owner.

[@fishingwiththeks]

Glad you got to experience a stock fd. You should come get the stock fb and Mels FD and do a similar review.

[@johnnny5veeoxx]

This car is ethereal on a winding wooded road with the roof opened up.

[@iansotomayor8788]

My miata has an automatic antenna! I bought it and it never worked, but I did the clutch for the first time, did a test drive with the top down and noticed something weird in my rear view. An antenna! I must've wiggled a ground a ground, but it was a great little addition.

[@johnnny5veeoxx]

My favorite part is how you love an Fd and talk about it like you could own one the fact is you’d love to own one but you can’t honestly afford it fully at this point so let’s be honest and get real

[@johnnny5veeoxx]

Edit you could but your not comfortable with the price point enough to pull triggers behind and to match the shit you say

[@e.v.a.l.s]

a unicorn exists. a good buddy of mine has a montego blue fd that isn't loud. he forced me to drive it once and it was a blessing and a curse.

[@gav240z]

I'm in the middle of engine rebuild and going to install high flow stock twins. Simple 3" exhaust and power FC + intercooler. Perfect power in an FD and I love the twins, will keep aircon etc..

[@michaeldinsmore2235]

I know where a completely stock pearl white fd is in my home town, it's an all original non turbo automatic car owned by the local vet. It gets driven once every few months and is really cool to see

[@ericlosing]

All fd’s came turbo :)

[@therustyfisherman7922]

Such a beautiful car man! Enjoy it

[@jaywilliams3423]

Eddie Mercury 😮

[@TtheK]

Don't get too many of these 2jzbrah "instant 1, 000hp with bolt on's" and swap LS swap everything people interested in rotor's! They're about to buy out all the FC's on the planet to dump LS's in them and make better drift cars than the Sylvia ever dreamed of 🤣 The sad thing is the FC is really the better more forgiving car of the three. FB 85 mint is a death trap above 60 mph with the staggered bore four barrel Just stay in the four barrels or do not transition in a corner pro tip, unless you like doing a turbo 911 maneuver! (amazingly fun for just touring around! And the looks you get from people!) FD looks great but it's kind of twitchy and way overpriced now. I'm absolutely terrified to find the limit of grip in my 88 GTU! The chassis is just so perfectly balanced! It's on trash tires as well. Full $1300 actual rebuild by dad with 🍍 racing engine stand and Street Port guide, full Viton seals with Mazda carbon Apex plus a r e w corner and apex seal spring upgrade and all the fancy little upgrades running 100 to 1 mixed gas with no oil injection pump. Had the man who was one of the head mechanics in the RX8 Star racing cart series in Las Vegas drive it and he kept asking "you're sure you didn't Bridgeport this?". Nope, I just have fully functional 6prts which eliminate the no torque and let it flow like crazy on the top end. I will share the secret to opening your 6 chords correctly and using something most people take off for pointless reasons like the power steering to do it exactly the way Mazda intended! You're only hint is the smog pump is a valuable ally.

[@simontaylor178]

I have a ‘94 SSM base pushing ~310 wheel on sequential twins with supporting modifications and the car is nuts. Drove my friend’s bone stock ‘93 touring and it was so quiet I thought something was wrong with it. You’re spot on with respect to it being a completely different experience. I will also say that (for me, at least) the stock body cars with the ‘93 bumper, r1 lip and no wing look the best.

[@ADudesRotary]

They are so pretty you would be hard pushed to come up with a better looking 90s car. It's great to see you getting a variety of rotaries in to work on. When are you going to be doing up the rx5/cosmo?

[@Carnifex-ze8dp]

When you say “thing pulls really good” the captions say “sinkholes pretty good”

[@psychicer5022]

my antenna used to work, I dont know if my bose wave works. only thing really wrong with mine is the defroster section ruined by the sun from sitting I am torn now adays between going full track or full weekend car man i definitely know the oversteer. one of the first times after taking my fd on the road, i almost lost the back end into another car on a turn. I think the biggest issue with the fd especially now, is the old terrible 90's wiring and electronics. Hands down the FD's biggest issue in my book. i dont think the engine is unreliable, its everything around it

[@RADPotential]

Yea 30 years of heat does a way to wiring

[@davidhusband5022]

1969 mazda R100s have power antenna!

[@andymarkl7781]

@RADPotential - NEED HAND TURNING ADVICE - We have one of these with about 50K miles - bone stock. I need advice on hand turning the motor so we dont scratch the housing when we fire it up.

[@alex-025x]

My uncle had a red RX-7 in the 90s, bought it new and kept it stock. He sold it after a couple of years because my aunt told him it’s too uncomfortable 😐🤦‍♂️

[@keithrx3c]

FD's are awesome cars but too too far out of the budget now, personally I prefer the stock rear wing. BTW, I asked some questions on the 1st gen auto-manual conversion video.

[@datsoon9236]

1:28 my 1980 Datsun 280zx has a power antenna 😂

[@gav240z]

My antenna works but it makes a noise going up and down.

[@allanwenzke749]

I was waiting for these to drop under A$20,000 but now the cheapest one on the local car site is A$65,000. Damn you, american 25 year import rule!!!

[@smiththers2]

My vert has the stock power antenna, barely works lol

[@0reluis]

No way, my Fb has a working power antenna! Ahahaha

[@warrennguyen6722]

Unreliable or not, even my mechanic at my go to Rotary shop has had 2 rebuilts on his FD in less than 120,000km. There is an undeniable fact of why you mostly see high milage of over 150,000km on Series 1-3 RX-7s, they are non-Turbo. What about RX8? The Renesis is flawed in design because of the Side-port-exhaust and thin Apex seals.

[@steveobarnes]

What state are you in?