Rx7 Forum and Owners Club - View Single Post

toddah · 11-04-2013, 05:41 PM

Returning to your original question, the term street legal has many different answers.
Most states if you can pass emissions testing it is street legal, However passing emission's tests in a modified car can become challenging to say the least.
One of the first mods to gain more horsepower is to remove catalectic converters and factory muffler systems and replace with more free flowing and less restrictive systems. That alone is illegal in many states. Typically when adding aftermarket modifications like turbo or exhaust systems it is required to replace the ECM (Engine Control Module) with an aftermarket ECM that allows a tuner to make required adjustments to the entire fuel mapping rates for the entire RPM range the motor will operate in and doing so will place the car out of a compliance with federal and state clean air guidelines.
Depending on where you live you may or may not be able to pass vehicle inspections with any mods to the motor/fuel delivery/exhaust systems and in other states like where I live we do not have mandatory inspections so unless you get ticketed for some offense we are free to do whatever can get away with because they never look under the hood.
Having owned, raced, street driven and modded rotary's since 1983 I would not most likely advise an FD for a first car, they are like owning a fine Swiss watch. When they work they are awesome but like any thoroughbred they have special needs and require special attention to some areas of operation that generally only come with experience and deep pockets.
Before I get flamed by everyone who is young and owns an FD I LOVE MY FD and it is a great car and I would have killed to own one when I was young but the above statements are just my opinion and just offering some advice to a potential buyer. The advice is based on being the go to guy for rotary's in my area I see many good F cars die an early death at the hands of young, broke drivers trying to get by on a wing and a prayer and the cars suffer neglect due to lack of knowledge, funds or skills.

11-04-2013, 05:41 PM	#9
toddah Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Southern Wisconsin Posts: 3	Returning to your original question, the term street legal has many different answers. Most states if you can pass emissions testing it is street legal, However passing emission's tests in a modified car can become challenging to say the least. One of the first mods to gain more horsepower is to remove catalectic converters and factory muffler systems and replace with more free flowing and less restrictive systems. That alone is illegal in many states. Typically when adding aftermarket modifications like turbo or exhaust systems it is required to replace the ECM (Engine Control Module) with an aftermarket ECM that allows a tuner to make required adjustments to the entire fuel mapping rates for the entire RPM range the motor will operate in and doing so will place the car out of a compliance with federal and state clean air guidelines. Depending on where you live you may or may not be able to pass vehicle inspections with any mods to the motor/fuel delivery/exhaust systems and in other states like where I live we do not have mandatory inspections so unless you get ticketed for some offense we are free to do whatever can get away with because they never look under the hood. Having owned, raced, street driven and modded rotary's since 1983 I would not most likely advise an FD for a first car, they are like owning a fine Swiss watch. When they work they are awesome but like any thoroughbred they have special needs and require special attention to some areas of operation that generally only come with experience and deep pockets. Before I get flamed by everyone who is young and owns an FD I LOVE MY FD and it is a great car and I would have killed to own one when I was young but the above statements are just my opinion and just offering some advice to a potential buyer. The advice is based on being the go to guy for rotary's in my area I see many good F cars die an early death at the hands of young, broke drivers trying to get by on a wing and a prayer and the cars suffer neglect due to lack of knowledge, funds or skills.