Smooth styling: FD3S

Ive always liked FD’s. The design and thought that went into the process of developing such a car and having a finished product like this puts you in awe.

These cars have been on the market since the early 90’s and from then, enthusiasts of all sorts have developed the FD to suit their own way of driving

Every style has been covered by the FD3S RX-7, from Circuit/Grip, Drift, Touge, Street, Wangan, Drag and the list goes on

This particular FD would have to be put under the Wangan/Street Categories and for this reason:

Wangan built cars are for high-speed runs down “deserted” highways getting up to speeds well over 300km/h and I’m sure by the look of that engine bay, you can see why I have categorized this as Wangan…

The Engine is a 13B Bridgeport, fully re-conditioned with added dowels for strength in the housings to eliminate twist from boost pressure etc with 3mm Apex Seals control each corner of the housing. On the induction side,  the turbo is a Borgwarner S400 Turbo with a anti-surge front housing which swings off a Custom SPEC Performance Stainless port Matched exhaust Manifold. Excess boost is dispelled through twin 48mm Tial Wastegates and exits through a custom 4″ exhaust which keeps the traditional Bridgeport pulse. With the turbo running a mild 14psi which is the low boost setting for this setup, It can be turned up to 30psi, this street driven FD lays down an impressive 422kw at the Rear Wheels (566BHP).

The air is cooled via a Greddy Intercooler and compression tube (Piping) and excessive pressure is plumbed out through a Tial 50mm Blow Off Valve. The water is cooled through a 52mm Alloy Race Radiator with twin electric fans pushing the air through into the engine bay.

The most common stereotype for rotary engines is that they “guzzle” the fuel and that they are unreliable… This is mostly according to people that haven’t owned rotary’s or people that don’t know how to accommodate one properly. This FD is definitely not in that category. With the delivery of fuel sorted through a bosch 044 fuel pump into a Custom Surge tank, pumped into the engine by Twin SX 600Hp Inline Fuel Pumps, so starvation isn’t a problem… On the engine side, a Mallory Fuel Pressure Regulator feeds the fuel into a custom Top feed fuel rail then distributes the fuel to 880cc Primary Injectors and 1680cc Secondary Injectors.  This is all controlled, not by a stand alone computer, but from one of Japan’s best tuners, an Apex’i Power FC piggy back whereas boost is on point via a Greddy Profec-B Boost Controller.

This power is transferred to the rear wheels thanks to the holding force of a HKS Twin Plate Clutch which is mated to standard Series 7 Gearbox which relays the power down through a solid Mounted Diff and split through to the wheels thanks to a Cusco LSD.

The wheels on show are the infamous Volk Racing GT-C’s with gold centres. Measuring at 19×9 & 19×10 at the rear. This FD hasnt gone for the tsura-ichi/Hella flush look, but more for function over form and with traction in mind, 275/35 Yokohama’s have been slipped onto the rear and 235/35 at the front.

The exterior of the car is accentuated by a famous Japanese styling company, C-West. Front, side and rear kits were added, with the Custom Wine red with gold Pearl adding to the smoothness of the car. Series 8 Front Park Lights were added to the front with Series 8 Rear Tails also joining in to give this car a more modern look. When the FD3S was still in development, the designer had the concept of water running over rocks when it came to styling the FD.  The word sleek comes to mind and with such styling produced, the RX-7, even now days is a car which doesn’t age.

Full Gallery Here: