Bought my dream car (FD RX-7 content)

Congratulations! 

Fantastic! 

I love seeing someone get their dream car.

I currently daily my (realistically) obtainable dream car as well as 3 other cars that are on my bucket list.

You have purchased a sweet darn car.

That car is beautiful.  One of my favorites.  Congrats.

Awesome buy!

dannyp84 said:

Congrats! The FD is one of those cars that feels really special to drive, especially when all the bushings are in good condition and everything is still tight..

They had bushings?

I thought they had spherical bearings everywhere.  When they were new, especially the '93s, they updated the control arms multiple times because the bearings would clunk or squeak.  Many cars were laid up at dealerships for months waiting for the latest updated parts to arrive to be installed under warranty.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

dannyp84 said:

Congrats! The FD is one of those cars that feels really special to drive, especially when all the bushings are in good condition and everything is still tight..

They had bushings?

I thought they had spherical bearings everywhere.  When they were new, especially the '93s, they updated the control arms multiple times because the bearings would clunk or squeak.  Many cars were laid up at dealerships for months waiting for the latest updated parts to arrive to be installed under warranty.

Some spherical, some bushings. The control arms are works of art as well - double wishbone all around, and the components themselves are either forged or squeeze-cast.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

It was very bushy.

Well-bought - your car is stunning!

c0rbin9 said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

dannyp84 said:

Congrats! The FD is one of those cars that feels really special to drive, especially when all the bushings are in good condition and everything is still tight..

They had bushings?

I thought they had spherical bearings everywhere.  When they were new, especially the '93s, they updated the control arms multiple times because the bearings would clunk or squeak.  Many cars were laid up at dealerships for months waiting for the latest updated parts to arrive to be installed under warranty.

Some spherical, some bushings. The control arms are works of art as well - double wishbone all around, and the components themselves are either forged or squeeze-cast.

The sphericals are in the rear, the fronts are all bushings except for the obvious steering-related ball joints.  Front suspension is pretty similar to a Miata, except aluminum arms instead of steel.  Rear suspension is a multi-link setup, not actually double A-arm, with lots of sphericals.

The front upper (inner) bushings go bad pretty often, I believe there's a TSB out on it.  If you drive the car forwards, stop, shift into reverse, and then back up slowly you may hear a clunk.  If so that's the dead bushing shifting around and it needs to be replaced.

Mine has a couple of worn sphericals in the rear that I need to get around to replacing.

Yes, wow, very cool score. 

Amazing buy. Love the car. 

Nice score! Still one of the best looking cars ever made..

I think in some ways the FD is the peak design of a sports car. It was beautiful, driver focused, light, nimble, exotic without being unobtainable.

Snrub said:

I think in some ways the FD is the peak design of a sports car. It was beautiful, driver focused, light, nimble, exotic without being unobtainable.

I agree, but then again I am biased. : p

The combination of the cockpit driving position, turbine-like powerplant with sequential twin turbos, and dramatic styling (especially from the rear with the R1 spoiler) make it feel semi-exotic on the road. There are also the special warm-up and cool-down procedures and specialized maintenance that to a non-car person would be an annoyance, but to me just add to the experience.

I must admit, I was never impressed with the FD when it was new. I am not sure what I was smoking back then, but something about it said that it just didn't measure up. Years of Fast N Furious BS soured my opinion more.  Today, I see them and think they are about the hottest thing ever. And from a performance standpoint, they flat out haul ass even as stock. By today's standards that is.

I mean, wow.

The '99 spec cars are even prettier

That whole generation of Mazdas - also the nb Miata, MX-6 and MX-3 had a pleasing design language to my eyes. But the FD was the queen of the ball. Glad that one's gone to a good home and didn't end up ridden hard and put away wet, which these days often means that it's fated to sit, broken down and sullied with bad fiberglass in someone's driveway in perpetuity.

I actually find that I prefer the nose on the series 6 cars (what we got in the US in 93-95) -- the 99 front plate mount is a travesty molded into the bumper like that.  The ones with it deleted are a bit better, but I think the revised lights and grille openings are too angular and don't match the rest of the car as well as the older nose.

A car that is least in need of a body kit.... that almost always seems to have body kit.

I also think the original 1993 bumpers match the design better than the '99-spec refresh. I almost always prefer the original design of a car to its refresh, and I think it is a shame that so many swap the pure early design for the '99-spec bumpers.

It is excellent to see so much love for the earlier bumpers and lights here. I've gotten crazy looks many times when I said I had no interest in downgrading/updating mine to the '99 spec front end. 

Powar said:

It is excellent to see so much love for the earlier bumpers and lights here. I've gotten crazy looks many times when I said I had no interest in downgrading/updating mine to the '99 spec front end. 

Yep. maybe its an age thing but I prefer the original design because it is cleaner and more timeless to my eye. Lose the wings, spoilers and other "anime" touches and it makes me happier. Ducktail spoilers are so hot, it has me looking at the new GT86.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Wow!!!  Well bought!  An original vehicle is super hard to find, a lot of them got modded all to hell when you could find them for $10k.

 

My brain kept going "what's wrong with the powerplant frame to where you don't want to drive it? Usually those only break on big turbo cars launched on slicks" until i realized you meant paint protection film.

Thank you for that. I was also very confused and didn't put it together. 

Awesome car c0rbin9. FDs are beautiful.

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

That red one in the middle has a 99 spec wing, I think that's the perfect compliment to the cars design. I can't get behind the totally bare wingless look, seems unbalanced somehow.

Ill try to appreciate the early bumper more. It is a bit more playful, showing it really is the Miatas big brother. And a lot closer to the look of an E-Type, an already timeless design. I would love to see an FD parked between an E-Type and a 2000GT!

From a cooling perspective though, 99 front all the way. Larger radiator opening, larger oil coolant ducts. The heat these cars put out when worked hard is no joke..

I think I may be a bit jealous of how clean your FD is haha. Very nice buy, I hope you get to enjoy it for a long time