Dell'orto Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 So not really very OS at all, but there appear to be a few rotary fans here so I thought I'd post some stuff. Anyone who knows me knows how long I've wanted one of these for - god knows I've talked about buying one often enough over the years! A combination of nearly finishing my nearly-7-fucking-year long project KE70, having a bit of spare coin and a nicely priced Series 8 popping up on TM finally made me take the plunge. So the aforementioned Series 8 turned out to be a bit of a dog, quite untidy, slow, shitty brakes and generally handled like a sack of piss (This one here actually). A few weeks of looking proved pretty frustrating, not many decent examples showed up (I am/was pretty particular about what I wanted which didn't help) and getting info/replies was ridiculously difficult! After a while of looking, one popped up semi locally. Shithouse ad with few details, and average pictures but the chap actually answered questions so I went and had a looksee. I arrived to find a surprisingly tidy looking car parked outside a tyre shop. I gave it a good going over, took it for a drive through the suburbs and onto the motorway, and decided yes, that this will do nicely! It's a 1998 Series 7 Type RS, which have bigger brakes (320ish mm vs 296) bigger rims (17x8/17x8 1/2) and supposedly less weight than the Type R and RB versions. The best part about the car is that besides an HKS catback exhaust, its 100% mechanically stock. Pretty damn hard to find, believe me! One of the things that really sold me on it was how tidy the interior is. It's done just under 98,000ks but you'd be hard pressed to tell from the inside Has a random sticker on the back, from what I assume to be a Japanese audio company, and they stuck a neat plaque on the centre console which summed how how I felt driving it home. Their install work leaves a bit to be desired though... Not all sunshine and roses however, it was advertised as having problems, which it does. The test drive showed it wouldn't really take much more than half throttle without coughing and spluttering, sudden full throttle made it buck and shoot massive flames. I went for a drive with a mate's wideband o2 which showed its running stupidly rich, as in barely making 11:1 AFR's. However the price I paid was well under what I had budgeted, so in the new year I'll either go to Speedtech or PPRE and get it sorted out and hopefully get some summer cruising!! Thanks for reading my novel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bling Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Do a skid! Good read, keen to see how the fine tuning goes next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell'orto Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 Heh, it can't, I've tried Not enough cubic torque to do 1200rpm skids sadly. Definitely has an LSD though (as all Type RS's are supposed to) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3spct Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 low 11's is not that rich, unless the spark is weak and it cant fire it. I would pull plugs and check all the ignition system before looking to hard into a fuel issue. Does it still have the stock ecu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 That wing and those skirts are terrible. Wing might be factory but dear gods it's yuck (not as yuck as the skirts). Edit; fuck, that sounds super negative. What I mean is those are the only things I would change, congratulations on getting one of your goal cars man, awesome stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozin Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Awesome you finally got one, pretty sure it's been on the wish list since I first met you god knows how many years ago!!! I'll come and have a looksee on New Years day or thereabouts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pusherman Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 awesome space saver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyball1 Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 u tryed changing the o2 sensors? they are probably full of oil and fuked. had a simular issue on a clients car but then again it wasnt a rotory 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EURON8 Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Hah wow, my batty was almost exactly the same as this one Except I had a different brand of cat back and I had a yuck front bumper and spoiler instead of skirts. I will/might/maybe own another one one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattt Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Realy tidy man congrats. Very nice eample. Sounds like it could be coils, which is extremely common on the rotas (as im sure you already know). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi808 Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Awesomeness. Glad to see another rotor on oldschool. Looks super tidy body wise, so hopefully with a quick tune you will be away laughing. Now the world is full of Internet experts, but from my limited experience working on the rotors I have owned, and now the modern set ups like my FC and mates RX-8 any kind of miss, usually can be traced back to the coils. If the car doesn't come with a service history, I would be changing the plugs first. Then try changing the coils and even the leads. Even if this doesn't fix the problem they will probably need doing anyway along with a oil filter change. But obviously I wouldn't be doing any of the above advice till I had been givien a second and third opinion... Anyway, awesome car mate and will love to hear more about it and how you get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell'orto Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 low 11's is not that rich, unless the spark is weak and it cant fire it. I would pull plugs and check all the ignition system before looking to hard into a fuel issue. Does it still have the stock ecu? Nah, 11.1 was the leanest I saw it under load, most of the time it was between 10.2 and 10.8. It definitely pumps out black smoke! Yup stock ECU. Changed plugs the.night I got it, made zero difference Awesome you finally got one, pretty sure it's been on the wish list since I first met you god knows how many years ago!!! I'll come and have a looksee on New Years day or thereabouts Yeah man, ever since I sold my series 4 (circa 2001) I've wanted one. Drop by, I've only got stats off so we aren't going anywhere. That wing and those skirts are terrible. Wing might be factory but dear gods it's yuck (not as yuck as the skirts). Edit; fuck, that sounds super negative. What I mean is those are the only things I would change, congratulations on getting one of your goal cars man, awesome stuff. Wing will stay until I can find a series 8 one, skirts are fucking horrible but thankfully only held on with 2 screws either end, they're off as soon as I can jack the car up! u tryed changing the o2 sensors? they are probably full of oil and fuked. had a simular issue on a clients car but then again it wasnt a rotory Nah only had it since tuesday...bit more diagnostics to do yet! Coils are also on the list of things to check, a mate who works on FD's said to check the coil loom too, it is pretty prone to breaking down apparently. But thanks guys, its certainly pretty cool to finally own the dream! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grotty Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Mean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRWEST Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 nice work man, love these, have always wanted to own one but will have to wait a wee bit longer now im knees deep in the 64! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I'm the same as that guy ^ ALWAYS wanted one and it was luck that I ended up with the RZ rather than a 7. these cars are just SO SO good looking and have aged fuckin well for a 90s car. look at the s15 ( for example. thought they were sweet when they came out but now every one I see is just shit. envy the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell'orto Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 Mean You should become a rotary specialist BTW, there is a distinct lack of them down here! nice work man, love these, have always wanted to own one but will have to wait a wee bit longer now im knees deep in the 64! Impala is a pretty sweet substitute for the time being though! I'm the same as that guy ^ ALWAYS wanted one and it was luck that I ended up with the RZ rather than a 7. these cars are just SO SO good looking and have aged fuckin well for a 90s car. look at the s15 ( for example. thought they were sweet when they came out but now every one I see is just shit. envy the end Yeah for sure, some 90's stuff is looking pretty dated now, FD's have always looked pretty damn good though (IMO at least!) and the subtle updates through the model run kept them looking up to date. Dunno about luck buying a Supra over an RX-7 though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombsquad Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Sweet car!! again always loved em and want one super bad but cant afford. I agree with Kyteler about wing n skirts (though I fuckin hate all wings on pretty much everything apart from planes) There was a gun metal grey one that used to cruise round here with no wing or skirts ect, just a chin spoiler and slammed to fuck on gloss black factory 17s, looked sooo mint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryup Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Very nice find there mate, especially with the low km's. Hopefully you get the problems sussed and can get into the hills for some summer evening thrashes! Keep an eye on the approx 4km of vacuum hoses that run the sequential turbo set up, they are famous for causing low power/rough running issues. Good excuse to go big single anyway haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Requiemk Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 put a pic up of a rx7 s8 wing you are after? i happen to have a factory (possibly s8) wing in my shed. its white too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell'orto Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 Sweet car!! again always loved em and want one super bad but cant afford. I agree with Kyteler about wing n skirts (though I fuckin hate all wings on pretty much everything apart from planes) There was a gun metal grey one that used to cruise round here with no wing or skirts ect, just a chin spoiler and slammed to fuck on gloss black factory 17s, looked sooo mint. They're getting so cheap now, can get S6's for under $10k if you dont want a minter. Would want to have some coin aside just in case though for that price! I'm the opposite, can't stand the de-winged looked....FD's look good stock, thats likely how it'll stay (Maybe a touch more low though!) Very nice find there mate, especially with the low km's. Hopefully you get the problems sussed and can get into the hills for some summer evening thrashes! Keep an eye on the approx 4km of vacuum hoses that run the sequential turbo set up, they are famous for causing low power/rough running issues. Good excuse to go big single anyway haha TBH the k's are a little higher than I would have liked, there are TONS out there with 70 or less on the clock still! Again, hard to find one in NZ that ticked all the boxes I wanted though. Hahaha - yeah tell me about that spaghetti nest! Down the track a single turbo would be nice, if only to simplify things....will get used to it as it sits first though! put a pic up of a rx7 s8 wing you are after? i happen to have a factory (possibly s8) wing in my shed. its white too Kinda similar to the similar vintage MR2/Veilside one, must have been a late 90's thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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