At a crossroads: Trade the EF for an n/a FC RX-7?

[Import Al]

I saw my father's '87 Mazda RX-7 today and its nice. I drove it and am impressed with the handling, braking and healthy 13B rotary engine.

He says he would trade for my '91 Civic if I pay what I owe on it.

1987 Mazda RX-7 base coupe:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/RXED2.jpg

Pros:

RWD! 146 HP/138 TQ is O.K.
Engine swaps: Mazda 13B-T's & 20B's. Seen Nissan SR20's & Toyota Supra swaps. Chevy LS1 V8's fit too..
Great chassis: This car sticks to the road and stops fast on 4-wheel disc brakes. Cons:

OEM Parts are scarce.
Mazda community way smaller than Honda, harder to get help.
Pop-up headlights! 1991 Honda Civic hatch (STD)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/ED-7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/FakeRecaro4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/Newestenginebay.jpg
Pros:

Easy & cheap to mod; Only Mustang has more aftermarket parts than Honda Civic.
Great chassis too. Civic is ~500 lbs lighter.
Cheaper insurance, better reliability & gas mileage. Cons:

Front Wheel Drive.
Being hassled by cops for fitting their "street racer" profile. :sadface:
Retards confusing my car with a Dodge Colt, VW Golf or Geo.
I'm leaning towards keeping the hatch.

But which would you want?

[vtecduck]

tough choice, but I'd keep the hatch :TU:. If you do trade him, give me your seats lol.

[Import Al]

Here they are muggin' eachother. The Fit doesn't want none of this..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/RXED4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/RXED7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/Japanesereflections.jpg

See the dog food's reflection on my hatch lol? :grin:

[d-ranged]

the mazda just does'nt do it for me . don't get me wrong they are capable of great things. especially having rear wheel drive if you want to get into drifting or something.

[jimmyb34]

id say go for it if it was turbo.. do you have plans asap for a swap or is that a "i might do it" type of deal... if your gonan swap then go for it...

[silvertuner98]

trade for the fit

[ryan89crx]

keep the hatch. only way id trade is if it were turbo already...

[Hellhatch]

Its hard to find both of those cars in that great of condition there both very clean looking for how old they are. A RX7 in New jersey that year has 50 pounds of rust on it. I almost bought a 91 turbo II only problem which you made a point of is parts are scarce.

[SPONSOREDCRX]

tough choice, but I'd keep the hatch :TU:. If you do trade him, give me your seats lol.
damn, i wanted the seats or the steering wheel. anyway that is a really hard choice. i would have to think about it for awhile.

[CrazyConscious]

KEEP THE HATCH! :hammer:

[ardevas09]

again, keep the hatch, only trade for the turbo rx-7

[91sihatch]

screw the rx-7,keep the hatch----my step dad had a 84 gsl-se rx-7,and i have a 91 si and if they both broke down guess who would still be ridin.--me the parts are alot cheaper-- a clean hatch over a stock rx-7 anyday,plus your motor will more than likely if serviced regular will last much longer than the 13 B rotary motor

[Import Al]

keep the hatch. only way id trade is if it were turbo already...

I was waiting for your opinion, thanks Ryan. :TU: I'm still pretty set on keeping the hatch.
But why does it have to be turbo to be worth trading for an STD Civic? My car did come with a 70 hp, 4 spd engine..

Why not take the lightest RX-7 from that year, which has more than double my stock power, and mod the shit out of it like Honda guys do?

If the rotary gave me too many issues, than an SR20DET or LS1 V8 would take its place. Both swaps are not all that much heavier than a 13b-t and are common, even in Miatas.

SR20 MX-5, smaller than FC3 engine bay.. \/ \/
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/cjuckett/miata/srm18.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/cjuckett/miata/srm22.jpg

Chevrolet LS-1 V8 in FC RX-7..
http://eyeoutthere.nonsensicality.com/RX7/setup2.jpg


Just think about it before saying Honda > Mazda.

[jimmyb34]

like i said.. if you gonna swap soon then do it!

[d16a8civic]

tough choise but i will still keep the hatch the underdog always wins

[Senses Fail y0!]

Unless you have one of those attitudes of "I'll probably swap..." then don't trade it. If you're 100% dedicated to swapping the FC for say, a 13B-T or a 20B, then do it. Those are probably the more straight forward swaps I can see you doing as opposed to jumping right into a swap of a different company's motor.

[whitemike]

keep the hatch fo sho!

what color rotas are those? that looks really good with the white.

[SOHC_Rules]

keep the hatch, man. the FD rx-7's are the only ones that spark my personal interest.

[NeonPinHead]

Wow, this is interesting... asking people on a honda enthusiast forum if you should trade a very nice clean hatch for an RX-7... Keep the hatch, swap out tor motor for a D15B, boost 7psi and have fun. Another thing that strikes me as odd is the fact that the only pro worth while you have for the RX-7 is the potential swaps. Clearly you don't have the money for that otherwise you'd have more work done to the Civic. Or at least I would...

[workinprog]

DO NOT TRADE FOR THE FC! 1. Most of the fc's have problems overheating. 2.Do you know anybody that knows anything about rotaries? 3. Sure there pretty fast but its not worth the hassle in fixing it when it breaks.

Conclusion-keep the honda easier swaps,easy understanding of the engine in general, and of course honda>mazda

[Levi]

keep the hatch Al

help is just a couple hours away if you give me a call. I can be over in trailertrash county in no time flat to give you a lending hand.

[Import Al]

Keep the hatch, swap out tor motor for a D15B, boost 7psi and have fun...the only pro worth while you have for the RX-7 is the potential swaps. Clearly you don't have the money for that otherwise you'd have more work done to the Civic. Or at least I would...

Well man, I am as dedicated a Honda guy as anyone on here and have had a nice '99 Integra in the past while the Civic was the beater.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/Smileyslove.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/DSCN0459.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/CleanB18-2.jpg

And here's what was left after swerving around a deer and not plowing over the damn thing..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/Tegwreck2.jpg

I sold the 'Teg to a teen in Iowa. He fully rebuilt it with a GSR LS/VTEC conversion and chipped ECU. He also gave it a carbon hatch, fenders & hood I believe. I'm glad I waited to have someone revive it rather than part it out and throw away the rest.

I just enjoy a little discussion of the merits of both cars. They are more alike then many of you might think.

But I am going to keep my hatch. ;) :TU:

[Levi]

pics of the teg after it was rebuilt?

Al, I am coming over to Ukiah here soon, want to meet up and make fun of all the ricers over there?

[Import Al]

pics of the teg after it was rebuilt?

Man, I should of put them in my photobucket account, he e-mailed some to me 3 weeks ago, but my hotmail deleted all my stored messages.

I'll email him today to see some most recent ones, hope he hasn't riced it to shambles yet..

Levi, if I'm not busy then come drop by. I lost the cell #, can you shoot me that?

[Run Away]

Wow, very tough choice man.

For me, it would come down to whatever is more practical, and seeing how we get tons of snow up here....

So in my case I'd take the Civic, but in yours...I'm almost leaning towards the RX.
It's nice that it would still be in the family too, if you wanted I'm sure you could buy it back/still drive it every now and then.

[Chrisfrom1986]

Im going to reverse my thinking and tell you to just keep the hatch because you probably dont know a damn thing about working on rotaries or anything about them at all. Listing popup headlights as a con is pretty ignorant IMO. The FC will always outperform and outhandle the EF 10 times out of 10.

So just keep the hatch.

Im sorry if what I typed offends you, but I dont sugarcoat what I mean to say, if you do know what your doing with a rotary though, ignore what Ive said.

[civic97]

keep the hatch:TU:

[flatfourfan]

if you have doubts, then don't do it...........

[Import Al]

Listing popup headlights as a con is pretty ignorant IMO. The FC will always outperform and outhandle the EF 10 times out of 10.

So just keep the hatch.

Chrisfromda909, I said the bit about pop-up headlights to be funny, the FC has practically nothing to gripe about EXCEPT those lol. They are primative, prone to failure, ugly and unaerodynamic. ;)

And yes, stock vs. stock the RX-7 performs better than an EF; its a sports car and the Honda's an econo-subcompact. But let's be practical here, how many RX-7's do you see daily? And how many Civic's? Way more :honda:'s huh? Its just a whole lot easier to find parts, modify, and get help on the Civic when you need it.

It's more straightforward to increase the FC's performance and I'm pretty familiar with rotaries, but I just like the fact that since you can change nearly every part of the Honda, you can make something truely unique; anywhere from this guys ED..

Link to this hatch... (http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread/1760470)
http://www.honda-klub.dk/data/cache/4/9/640x480.0029840b.70894.jpg
http://www.honda-klub.dk/data/cache/9/1/640x480.30cbb440.71219.jpg
http://www.honda-klub.dk/data/cache/2/0/640x480.e767493b.70902.jpg
(Nice ZC huh?)

To this guys taste, I like his style more. Click for Link \/\/
(http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=13526&highlight=honda+civic+1991)
http://pbomers.com/testgallery/GingermanTestandTune/luke4small.jpg
http://www.ef-honda.com/redcivicstandard/luke/DSCF0568%20%28Medium%29%201.JPG

And another amazing, affordable sleeper, our own Chiovnidca. CLICK!! (http://www.d-series.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46521)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Import_Al/civic.jpg

[necro]

Wow i'll take the white hatch over the red. Man thats clean and detailed nicely.

[Levi]

keep your white hatch alec, there is a reason you have one of the damn cleanest ef hatches in california. you said it yourself when you bought it.

[Import Al]

^ ^ Thanks necro & Levi, I like the white one a lot too. It's one of the few body kitted "show car" 4th gens that still look great and has a D-series.

The first red STD hatch has road course performance of a Porsche 911 and the second one runs 11.4 second 1/4 miles at 131 mph with a 404 wheel horsepower D16!

For me its Civic > RX-7. :)

[SPEEDY666]

Unless you have an endless supply of cash for gas to run the 7 i wouldn't bother with the swap. if you want a rota and you want a series 4/5 then get a turbo one OR definately do an engine swap and do it quick before the 13b sucks all your money away

[Clutchmaster]

honda are nice heck I love my Honda but I had an RX-7 too. Rotary's LOVE BOOST. and they have less moving parts than a 4cyl

[Misfit]

well i have a friend with a LS-1 rx7, its pretty nuts. and i love the old FC. depends on if gas milage is more important to you or if RWD power is. if it was me i would get the rx-7 and start looking into a s2000 motor if it would fit or a sr20det swap if it would fit. ls-jaun only if your a straight line kinda guy. not that it would handle that bad, but you could mod it and have a serious rocket

[strykersd]

Can I ask where you got the seats from? I want a set of those.

[Import Al]

Can I ask where you got the seats from? I want a set of those.

http://www.wedgeengineering.net/

They're a good value, but are a little soft for me, especially in the shoulder bolstering compared to a top-notch racing bucket like Recaro or Bride.

They cost less than half of Recaros and about a third of what Brides go for, but I might upgrade to something firmer in the future. They are well made, look great and have harness belt holes under the headrest though :TU:

Oh, Whitemike, my wheels are 15 x 7" Gold Slipstreams on 205/50 Dunlop Direzza DZ 101's.