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1985 rx7 gsl-e with 160k miles on it, should I buy it?
As the title says there's a $5,000 1985 gsl-e that I'm looking at buying and I'm wondering if it's a decent purchase or not.
Some information
I haven't dealt with rotary engines before but I have done quite a few moderate repairs on my 03 mustang as well as helped some friends with their car problems.
I'd most likely be daily driving it as I don't have the room or the money for 2 separate cars.
I'd be doing most of the repairs myself.
I wouldn't be doing any sort of performance mods to the car, most likely I'd clean the engine bay, get it painted, put in a better sound system & maybe redo some of the interior bits to make it look a little better.
Some questions
What should I look for when I see the car in person?
Roughly how expensive would this be to maintain?
Is it hard to find parts for the car? Where should I look?
Are these at all practical to daily drive?
Here's a picture of the engine bay to get a better idea of the state of the car, one thing of note is there's some rust and it's hard to tell just how much with the provided pictures so most likely I'll update this thread with some more relevant pictures of the car.
Last edited by JameSingular; 01-17-22 at 03:57 PM.
What should I look for when I see the car in person?
rust! other people will chime in, but these like to rust behind the seats. the rest of it is a car, and it should start, and run and drive like any other car with no excuses.
Roughly how expensive would this be to maintain?
its dirt cheap, there is no timing belt, or chain, no valves to adjust. parts prices are still in the 90's... even if you have to do the whole engine its still less than a rebuilt engine for the stang
Is it hard to find parts for the car? Where should I look?
compared to a mustang, parts for these are impossible. lol. basically Mazda makes the stuff you need, and then that is about it. my friend built one of these a couple years ago and they got a lot of wrong parts too, from people who should have known the difference.
Are these at all practical to daily drive?
yes, its Mazda's best car in that regard. the balance of practical, fun and reliable is really really good. these things would regularly go 250-300+ thousand miles, and you can fit an extra engine in the back, or a pair of house speakers, or a drum set (the FC holds a full sized fridge). gas mileage was ok at the time, but 22mpg now is only ok.
Most important, you're looking at a brown one, which is the best color .
I agree with @j9fd3s that it's a car with all of the same stuff that 80's cars had. I maintain my own and I'm no mechanic. If I did need an engine rebuild, I'd take mine apart and do it my myself. The help here on the forum is excellent.
If you can't afford to have a daily down for over a couple of days, I would never daily a first gen RX-7. If you run into an issue you can't fix yourself, your only choice is the dealership. How many Mazda techs know rotaries this day and age? And your in Minnesota. The cold weather is not kind to rotaries.
Last edited by KansasCityREPU; 01-19-22 at 09:16 AM.
Your silly if you think you can DD this without spending months and dollars getting it up to snuff and reliable. Budget a solid beater Honda as your DD and buy this at that price and start reviving it.
I agree with T.G.Farrell. Buy a boring Toyota for a DD and buy the RX7 to restore. That is what I did with my 1985 GSL-SE. Bought it cheap and spent a year working on it. Fixed a lot of issues myself and just had it repainted. Never could have done this if it was a DD.
Don't do it. Not as a daily driver. With a 160K behind it, this car will need maintenance. If you want to buy it, fix it, and flip it, you might be able to subsidize the costs of a newer Civic or such. If properly sorted and detailed, the car should go for somewhere between $12 and $18 grand (using Hagerty #2 and #3 as a reference). The ONLY reasons not to buy it for $5K are a) rust , b) failing drivetrain, or c) a crapload of improper repairs by the prior owner
Look carefully at the trailing end of the rocker panels, inside the rear wheel wells, and pull off the padded covering of the INSIDE of the rear wheel wells. That's where the worst rust is likely to be. Find someone that can do a rotary engine compression test. Check the transmission for proper operation. Be cautious and good luck.
yes, its Mazda's best car in that regard. the balance of practical, fun and reliable is really really good. these things would regularly go 250-300+ thousand miles, and you can fit an extra engine in the back, or a pair of house speakers, or a drum set (the FC holds a full sized fridge). gas mileage was ok at the time, but 22mpg now is only ok.
had to emphasize this ....
it's easy to look at the size of the car and think you can't do much outside of driving it, but ir's simply not true. these things are phenomenal. i went back to school shortly after i moved to Florida, and i had my '84 and my MR2 Turbo at the time, so i had the occasion to drive them both and the difference in practicality is night and day! the MR2 is good at looking pretty and going quickly - and it's not even good to sleep in. the Gen 1, on the other hand, looked good, went quick enough, carried stuff (fridges, futons, etc.), you can get decent sleep in it.
Here I sit at 248k miles, zero rust (*AZ desert), as the 2nd owner - my dad bought it new in 1984 - and I cringe at the thought of a neophyte rotary owner trying to DD one of these...
Yeah, they're Japanese classics, but you really need to know your way around them or you'll quickly start racking up tow expenses when simple things start to go wrong, but you don't know they're simple; like a leading ignitor going out at 10pm, or your clutch slave cylinder leaking out on a road trip, or a myriad of other things that we've all experienced in our lifetimes of ownership and just take as part of the joy of maintaining an 80s classic.
These cars run great as weekend runners, driven on sunny days with cool temps and you can roll down the windows and take the sunroof off and enjoy the wind blowing. If you NEED to drive it somewhere, or have a schedule to keep, it's never my first choice. It would be your ONLY choice. As the others have mentioned, if you live in the rust belt of Muhrica, take a very close look under your storage bins behind the seats and gauge the general health of the body and frame. Rust never sleeps. If it's cancerous, you're going to break yourself trying to fix it, or you'll be shopping for another DD soon enough.
Its just an honest opinion from a guy who's first car was a 1st Gen. I took my driving test in the -SE I own and drive today, and I've spent the last 42yrs living with these cars (*my 1st was an 80LS). There has never been a time in my life when I didn't own at least one...
I use mine as a DD. The rotary apex seals go without warning. And it is an obvious lack of power when they do.
Parts? rockauto.com is best
Annoying things breaking (door handles, windshield wiper motor), get good at fabrication and gerry rigging.
Rust behind storage bins? rear wheel wells. If none, I would buy it.
Things like door glass, windshields are hard to come by.
A clutch master/slave cylinder can blow on any car.
Leading ignitor? You should do pre-emptive studying about it on this site.
If it weren't for the internet, I would have junked my rx-7 a long long time ago.
RX-7's handle better than mustangs. Your 2003 mustang is way faster.
My youngest adult son (19) bought a 85 GSLSE as a roller. We knew it needed a rebuild. I have a fair amount of first gen experience, Every turn has been another expense. Rebuild included new housings. New OEM Mazda fuel pump $350ish, New radiator, way to many bits to list
Things to deeply consider,
Of course there is the replacing the Cap, rotor, plugs and wires.
You may want to change the fuel filter, and send the fuel injectors to be cleaned.
The Aux ports may be sticking and not rotating freely. May want to clean the sleeves and port.
Vacuum lines are likely hard a brittle.
I would replace the battery cables
Drop the fuel tank and have it cleaned, I have used the two part epoxy from Caswell for coating the inside of the fuel tank.
As I understand it, Ethanol is rough on rotary engines. If someone could chime in to verify or correct this understanding
Rear brake calipers do not exist, You will need to rebuild your existing ones if they are in need of service.
it seems to be fine, we switched to 10% ethanol in California in the mid 90's, and it just isn't a thing.
I’m referring to e85 or what ever it is . Not available in my area in Washington. We do have the 10% ethanol but not the stuff you can run aggressive boost with
I'm with everyone else here. Buy the car to restore and enjoy as a weekend car or summer cruiser. I have daily driven these cars over the years and while they were incredible to drive, they did require quite a bit of upkeep. You will want to ensure you have a reliable car so that you can take your time with the RX-7 and make sure the repairs are done correctly.
As far as making the interior look better....well about 90% of the interior is NLA from Mazda. So you will be buying used and restoring what you have. Parts availability is not what it once was and some parts are impossible to find. Again, this is why having a reliable daily driver is paramount.
If the car checks out and is not a rust bucket then 5k is not out of the question. You need to inspect it thoroughly for rust and accident damage. Seeing the engine bay doesn't give us much to go by.. You'll need to go in person and grab some pictures of the car and post them and we can give a better opinion on if the seller is asking a fair amount for the car or if you should offer less or just plain walk away.
01-17-22, 03:52 PM
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had to emphasize this ....
