THSCC Forums

Mark Hughes has a nice 2nd Gen RX-7 that he tracks regularly. I don't think he hangs out here on the forum, but I'm sure he would have some good input on those cars. Talking with him some last year, he said he rebuilt the motor in his car with about 120K on it, and said that was pretty normal rebuild interval. Mark's car put down about 160 at the wheels at dyno day - not too shabby. I don't think it's terribly agressively tuned, but it did spit out 2 foot flames when he backed off the gas. Naturally aspirated rotaries are decently reliable, and they rev like there's no tomorrow.

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Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

I'll add another vote for a na 944. Right now they are extra cheap, perfect examples for less then $5k. They have a 2.5 4, sound familiar? Not high on hp but good torque. There are lots of parts, especailly for track use. And except for clutchs and interior trim bits parts aren't expensive.

Been thinking about those, too. What's the best one to buy - model year, options, etc.

There was a big change mid 85. The early ones have the old 924 stlye dash, no ABS, and steel control arms. Post 85 have the newer dash, opional ABS, aluminium control arms, and better AC system. There was also a slight compresion bump to the motor, resulting in an extra 5hp and 5ftlbs of torque. The M030 optionial suspension package is the sh*t. It added bigger torsion bars, roll bars, stiffer springs, adj konis, and bigger brakes.

As a side note I will be bringing the 944 to the night events if you want to give it a spin, mines and early 85.

You can drive mine anytime too. It's an 84.

There are an endless series of posts on Rennlist arguing back and forth which era 944 is the better car. It seems to boil down to whether the car is going to end up a race car or a street car. The streety people tend to prefer the later cars, as they have nicer interiors and more creature comforts. The race people tend to like the early cars as they are lighter and marginally more nimble. That said, the holy grail of non-turbo 944's is the 1989 8-valve with the M030. It has an extra 200CC and apparently many tiny tweaks taken from the turbo cars. Good luck finding one. I looked for months before buying the WRX and found a total of 1 car available. It was trashed, in Texas, and expensive.

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)

The general feeling in the ES community is that the 944 is the car to have. The issue is finding one that has not been modified from stock. And the general perception is they are expensive to maintain as opposed to the MR2. That is the perception...

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Jim Pastorius
2008 Silverado VortecMax
1992 Camaro CMC#92
2002 BMW R1150R

2009 3rd Place CMC Mid-Atlantic Championship
2009 CMC Hyperfest Winner

Assuming I don't sell the 944 (the WRX is for sale again, too...) we'll see how the 944 does in ES. I'll be getting Konis, a front sway bar, and Azenis for next season. If I'm within 1.5 seconds of you (Jim) with that setup I'll be very happy.

--Kevin H.

(hijacking the thread. Sorry Kevin.)

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2003 WRX (again!)

or maybe this?
http://personal.rockbridge.net/rustyford/

Will you be posting the Rex on here?

Wow, my plans as well. Koni's and r compounds on the stock rims and I am going to run only the night events with the 944. If I get within 1.5 of Jim hell, I'll do a dance, it will ugly but I'll do it

I am also bouncing around the idea of an E30 BMW or 944 for next year. It most likely would start out as a daily driver/autocross car and eventually migrate to a 100% track car. Other outside options are Imprezza RS for STS or 00-01 Civic Si for STS but I don't think I want either of those for eventual track use.

Right now the E30 is winning only because it can win with prep in DSP and as people already mention is a popular track car. If the 944 is non-stock and has some level of prep how competative would it be in *SP for autocross purposes?

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

The NA 944 has a tough challenge in CSP, as the competition (Miatas and CRX's primarily) have OK power and are a _lot_ lighter in SP trim. I don't know of anyone successfully running a 944 in CSP nationally. Regionally, a well prepped and driven car can do just fine. We don't have any national level CSP cars or drivers locally with the exception of Tim Aro, and he doesn't make many NC events as I recall.

944's rock for track days and are good, if expensive to prep, in ITS road racing.

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)

I'd go with either the 240 or the miata.
240...turbo the ka motor. sr engines are overrated for the price
you can find good used ka motors for cheap when needed.
for miata, I'd go with a 94-95. That model 1.8 longblock is only $1500 brand-new from the mazdaspeed program. obd1 and a good car to turbo as well if you wanted to go that route.

parts for both of these aren't bad. If it's a track-only car...you might not worry about insuring it, but if you plan on keeping it streetable (good way to sort the car before track day) consider the difference in insurance on a european vehicle and one of the above.

...my .02

That's true, each model year got a little heavier. My 72 weighs in at 2150 with out me in it, and it's not stripped at all. My old 77 280 weighed in at 2500+. heck In 74 they added 350 lbs of bumpers for new safety standards.