I haven't met anyone in person with an FD RX-7. I don't have room in my driveway for another car. They're not available for rent on Turo, and when they come up for sale the owners aren't looking for test pilots.
I'd still like to drive one. In exchange I'll let you race one of my karts in Michigan/Ohio/Ontario. Do you have one? I'm in MI but occasionally visit MA, NC, and TX.
Attend a drift event.
I too would like to drive one, although at 6'3", I've been informed that I likely won't fit too well. Definitely one of those cars I'd like to drive but not have to maintain, judging from what I've seen in Codrus's ownership thread. Or be able to afford to pay someone to work on it for me.
In reply to NickD :
There's a solution to that 
. Well, the maintenance problem at least.
Furious_E said:In reply to NickD :
There's a solution to that
Bahh, No. Then you just own a Camaro with an RX-7 body kit. I'm not anti-LS but I'm not a fan of when it takes away what makes a car unique. And FD RX-7s are rare enough as it is, before people start LS-swapping them,
If you're ever in Northern VA / Washington DC, you can drive mine. It doesn't make big power, but it's well-sorted.
NickD said:I too would like to drive one, although at 6'3", I've been informed that I likely won't fit too well.
I'm 6'2", my knees are against the dash.
They are definitly a well handling car and can be made pretty darn quick. It's a very weird sensation though. Think about how a diesel truck throws you back in the seat but it takes 14 seconds to get to 25mph. A RX7 is the opposite. You nail the gas and it just feels like turbo lag, you keep waiting for the push-you-in-the-seat feeling until you realize you are going obscenely fast.
Patientzero said:NickD said:I too would like to drive one, although at 6'3", I've been informed that I likely won't fit too well.
I'm 6'2", my knees are against the dash.
They are definitly a well handling car and can be made pretty darn quick. It's a very weird sensation though. Think about how a diesel truck throws you back in the seat but it takes 14 seconds to get to 25mph. A RX7 is the opposite. You nail the gas and it just feels like turbo lag, you keep waiting for the push-you-in-the-seat feeling until you realize you are going obscenely fast.
At 6'0" I fit but I have to lean the seat further back than is my preference. I don't have a leg/dash conflict, although it's definitely snug. Fitting with a helmet on is tricky.
I'm not very good at putting driving impressions into words, but here's a few random things that come to mind. Yes, it's low on torque, but it does have a nice slug of it when the boost comes on around 4500-5000 RPM. Below 4-5K it feels a lot like an RX-8, above that it's got a standard turbo-spool-torque feel.
Handling-wise it feels like a slightly bigger Miata. Not that that's a surprise -- same front suspension design, similar rear, both have a PPF, both have similar weight distribution, both have a Torsen. One difference that stands out is that my FD is much dartier than any Miata I've driven, it takes focus and attention to keep it going straight. I'm not sure if that's inherent to the chassis, or if it's an artifact of worn bushings or the tires I have on it (RE-71Rs, which I've never tried on a Miata). I really need to go through mine and replace all the suspension bushings.
At close-to-stock power levels it's "fast" by the standards of the 90s, but not so much compared to many modern cars.
In reply to codrus :
Boost should come on at about 2500 if the twins are working properly, no?
In reply to Armitage :
Cool! I don't know when I'll be in NoVA next but I'll let you know.
NickD said:Furious_E said:In reply to NickD :
There's a solution to that
Bahh, No. Then you just own a Camaro with an RX-7 body kit. I'm not anti-LS but I'm not a fan of when it takes away what makes a car unique. And FD RX-7s are rare enough as it is, before people start LS-swapping them,
Technically you'd have a C5 with weaker wheel bearings and brakes. Or maybe a long wheelbase Monster Miata with a fixed roof.
Knurled. said:In reply to codrus :
Boost should come on at about 2500 if the twins are working properly, no?
In theory (and on the dyno chart), yes. Driving around on the street in 1st/2nd/3rd gears the butt-dyno shows a big jump in torque at 4500. I'm not really sure why -- the dyno & boost gauge seem to say that my boost controls are working properly. Might be that the dyno provides more load than the street in lower gears, meaning there isn't as much time for the primary to spool up when actually driving.
In reply to codrus :
Bear in mind, I've never so much as sat in an FD, let alone drove one, but I was on the RX-7 Mailing List in the 90s when these cars were new and people were deciphering exactly how the twin turbo setup worked...
That sounds like your secondary is coming on-line late, IIRC The primary turbo spins up to 10psi, then during the prespool stage the boost sinks to 8psi, then when the secondary turbo is gated in the boost climbs back to 10, and again IIRC the secondary should be online around 3800ish. But yes, there should be a torque spike around when the secondary comes online because boost means nothing without flow, and the primary turbo doesn't make much flow by itself.
It is almost criminal that FDs didn't come with boost gauges, but if you weren't a technogeek (did any other kind of person have an FD?) you might think something was wrong as the twins went through their 10-8-10 boost pattern.
Knurled. said:In reply to codrus :
That sounds like your secondary is coming on-line late, IIRC The primary turbo spins up to 10psi, then during the prespool stage the boost sinks to 8psi, then when the secondary turbo is gated in the boost climbs back to 10, and again IIRC the secondary should be online around 3800ish. But yes, there should be a torque spike around when the secondary comes online because boost means nothing without flow, and the primary turbo doesn't make much flow by itself.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the boost shape. I've measured it on mine (logged it with an Arduino & graphed it, even) and it's what it's supposed to be.
Dyno chart here, the blue lines are the FD:
That little 5% jump feels huge to the butt dyno. My old street port non-turbo 13BT was the same way. At 5500 if felt like you got a push from behind, on the dyno the difference was measurable but not particularly huge. Lemme see if I can find the chart.
The bridge port was just flat from 2000 to about 9000. Now that was a fun engine. It didn't "feel" fast, but you just sort of realize that you could be going 70mph and still be in 2nd gear... and this was with a 4.78 final drive.
I drove a brand new CYM R1 back in '93, I think. My friend worked at a Mazda dealership up in North Jersey around Ramsey and she just tossed me the keys and said "Have fun!" I didn't thrash on it much, but it was easily the fastest thing I'd driven to that point. Being such a light car, it seemed to have effortless acceleration in any gear. I think that experience may have influenced my acquisition of the Turbo II. But I was already a fan of the Mazda Rotary since my years of RX-2 ownership in the previous decade.
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