the cost has taken over the choices of car..
i think the r e blog apparently has died..
Hi Adam,
Sorry for being such a stick in the mud. But seriously, passion is easily killed when you have to fork out time and money to fix all the problems of a 20 plus year old car that has been trashed (or neglected) by previous owners. I wish I had my own workshop.
Not everyone can afford it. Can you imagine driving your car for a few days in a month after which it has to spend the rest of the month in the shop? It is not pleasant.
I've easily spent twice the original price I paid to fix up my FC from the axle frames to replacing the transmission to rebuilding a blown engine. And it still has more work to be done to internals, body work and suspension.
If the purpose is to drift. There are better cars to drift in that are cheaper to buy and run. Even an FD is a better idea.
---------- Post added at 06:42 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 06:28 PM ----------
FD RX7 was the best rotary sports car. Came RX8 but performance was a serious let down. All in all, rotaries are also unreliable compared to piston engines. Maintenance cost is high and needs rebuilding very frequently if pushed hard. So...that's why RE dies...
Rotaries are no more unreliable than pistons. If anything, they are more sensitive to maintenance - or the lack of maintenance. I.e. they are more fragile... really really fragile.
Piston engines don't need to be rebuilt - which is essentially an "overhaul" for pistons. Rotaries must be broken down at least at 100,000 KMs. Also, our weather and traffic jams are pretty crap for hot running rotaries. People do not know this and this is the primary cause of problems for rotaries.
If you compare an old cast iron piston engine to a rotary, the piston is going to win because it can overheat and seize up without too much problem - it will re-start when it cools down. Rotaries can't - they warp and melt internally.
But if you compare a modern alloy piston engine to a rotary, the difference is not too big. Alloy piston engine heads will warp and become unusable when they over-heat. And that's what a rotary is - it is an all alloy engine block - aluminium, iron-alloy, carbon/ceramics and cast iron.
There is one white non-turbo FC drop-top model in PJ area that has run nearly 30 years without issue.