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The Perfect RX7: Tuned By A Mazda Engineer

So a few years ago, my mate Davy was interested in getting his hands on an RX7. After browsing back and forth for something local, he decided to import from Japan. He enlisted the help of our good Friend rob, who you might know in the videos as the Mitsubishi guy. Rob has been helping people source cars from Japan for several years now and was more than happy to help Davy find the perfect example.

After a few weeks of searching, an FD popped up on Yahoo that looked like a winner. It was a clean black 1994 example with a facelift front bumper, decent size TE37s and a selection of tasteful mods.

After some back and forth with the owner, it looked like a winner, and Rob purchased the car for Davy and had it transported to Nagoya to be shipped back to Ireland.

Davy got in contact with the seller on yahoo. It turned out that the guy selling the car was Yoshio Yanagi and worked for Mazdas Headquarters. Davy and Yoshio became friends on Facebook. He started telling Davy FD the vehicle had been tuned by Mukai San, an engineer for Mazda and currently manages all the test cars at the Main Mazda HQ. That’s a pretty awesome piece of history to have!

Yoshio told Davy that he had converted the intercooler to a V mount and remapped it with a power FC. Mukai San had also tuned the suspension. This car was almost too good to be true. I remember Davy telling me he had picked up a real gem in Japan. The story was fascinating.

We eagerly waited for it to land here in Ireland. After three months, the car landed and was on Irish plates and not long after, we took a drive out to the coast to shoot some photos.

The exterior styling on the FD3S is timeless; it’s arguably one of the most incredible Japanese car designs of all time. This FD looked like something straight out of a 1990s Hyper Rev magazine with the GT wing, RE Amemiya hood and Te37 combo.

Davy was one of the first guys in our town with a proper sorted Japanese import back in the day, having a JZX90 before anyone even knew what to call them. He said he chose the RX7 as he just wanted something a little different. Rotaries are rare enough in Ireland, and that appealed to him.

These photos have sat on my hard drive for a few years. I was keen to release them with a video on the car, but unfortunately, the engine went last year, and we never got the chance, so they’ve just sat there ever since.

Davy has used this unfortunate event to give the car a complete teardown and rebuild it from the ground up. He said RX7 is a keeper. He only knows one way to do things and has already purchased a brand new crate 13B engine and a selection of incredible parts for the rebuild, which ill eventually showcase on the site/YT channel. The car has an epic back story, and I’m sure the next phase of its life will be just as enjoyable.