theres a guy that called me asking to buy his car. Origional owner 82 (possibly a GSL) 135k miles. runs and is driveable, but reverse went out. He didnt say what model it is, but sent me pictures and says it has leather interior and power windows. The color is a charcoal silver color and there is a badge on the "B" piller which i thought only gsl's and LE cars had in 82. Am I right or? hes calling me back today, hopefully I can go pick this up saturday, for a whopping $500! he just had it painted, put new tires on it, and a new battery to boot!

 

must have an auto tranny. don't know how reverse can "go out" on a manual. GSL will have disc brake rear end. hell, running and driving for 500 pick it up. if it is auto ur going to wanna convert it to 5spd anyway.

 

With leather interior and power windows it should be a GSL. Rear disk will tell you for sure.

 

its a 5 speed, it just wont go into reverse for some reason. i have enough parts to fix that up sunday. i just got off the phone with him, 5 or six years ago he said he had his mechanic repaint it and redo the interior. the seats are in great condidion, he said some stitching on the steering wheel is starting to come off and the dash has a glue on cover on it. did they even put auto's in the gsl's? hes even got the origional sales brosures and manuals

 

actually, now you got me thinking. on the add for the car he says "runs but needs some body work and transmission work - forward gears work cannot put in reverse" so it may or may not be a 5 speed, i have 3 rx7's now and i just assumed it would be a 5 speed. ill have to ask him later when he calls me. i was looking for info regarding the auto to manual swap and it seems that everything i find is about 84/85's or SA's. from what i gathered though, on the 82 everything should bolt up pretty easy. The one 85 parts car I have has everything that i could possibly need to do the swap. Do you know if there is going to be an issue with the 85 manual stuff going into the 82 chassy? anyone have a link?

 

no problems with 85 tranny, pedals, etc going into an 82. weird tho if it is a manual that it wont go into reverse. never had that problem before so would even guess as to what might be the cause/fix.

 

Actually theres have been cases where a manual tranny would go into a gear, usually that's caused by broken internals. gosh forgot the name of the gears. But usually rebuilding the tranny could fix it unless there is damage to the housing

 

I think the 85 tranny will have a different shifter position than your 82?

 

I finally got a hold of him later in the day yesturday. It is in fact a 5 speed. I cant believe hes letting a GSL in overall great shape for 82 go for $500, that I can drive home...

 

that's the 79-80(sa). 81-85(fb) shifter position is the same.

 

yeah to some ppl they're just not worth that much. or they're just not up on the current value of them.

 

im getting it friday now, ill post up pics as soon as i bring her home. i havnt even saw it in person yet, just pics and his word....

 

these are the pics he sent me. I asked him to send me all the pics of the rust, the quarters dont look too hard to fix, but the door may need replaced. I also asked for the pic of the rear as that was the only part of the car I havn't seen. I didnt know it had a sunroom until i saw these.

 

yeah, a sunroom is nice to have in a car, lol. wont really know how bad the rust is til u can get a good look close up.

 

^^^lol!

 

sunroom... FAIL! sunroof is what i meant haha

 

i get my car tonight, sunroom and all! I. CAN. NOT. WAIT! finally an rx7 i can actually drive around! reverse or no reverse haha

 

Reverse is fixed. All it needed was a good yank, smooth as butter now. It's a little rusty in the wheel wells, but the suspension mounts are fine. The car runs great, idles solid at ~800 rpms. Ran a can of seafoam through the tank and it's already noticeably faster then when I first got it. I'll post pics up later, indent have my laptop with me. This car is badass! I have a perma smile still!

 

excellent!!

 

Well, its time to ***** some pictures! I need you guys to tell me what you think this car is actually worth, not that i have any intention on selling it



^i need a new cassette player, and an intenna.... no tunes!

ac works, but doesnt blow ice cold



its wierd going from DD'ing that truck to this car. In the car I'm eye level with the top of the tires haha

 

oh yeah, about reverse. I got a little happy when I last posted about it. It does work, but its bitchier that my gf sometimes. Its easier to get into when the trannies warm, so when i park i leave it in reverse. What would cause that? Sometimes it goes right in, other times im sitting there slamming it from 5th to reverse looking like a mad man. Do you guys think a fluid change would make it better? Or should I just put a different tranny in (i'd rather not)

 

also, a question about the stock muffler. In 82 did it have duals running back to the muffler? This car does, and the two pipes coming out of the muffler are bigger than thoes on the red car (stock) this car has the stock 800lb (lol) manifold, to the cat, then duals to the muffler? but i cant find a name on it or anything. and when you buy a header for a 12a, what all does it replace?

 

i tried to snap some pics the best i could is this stock replacement?

 

Nice score. I saw that on CL, definitley didn't expect the interior to be so cherry. The muffler is stock replacement. They had a dual pipe from the rear cat to the muffler. Here is the diagram: http://info.rockauto.com/Bosal/Detai...l?05004150.jpg

If it starts right up, no smoke, idles well, I would have paid $1500 for it. If the tranny didn't have the reverse issue I would pay $1750. If the rust was gone and the tranny worked perfectly and there was no smoke, I would say $2450. Obviously I am no RX7 appraiser, just telling you what I would pay if I would buy it. For $500 you paid a fair price. The time and money it will take you to properly fix the rust and repaint the car will bring you up to the $2000 range.

Now I need to get my GSL-SE running so I can meet you and the other guys at import night in Valley View.

 

the tranny has been slowly fixing its self with use. everytime i come to a stop ill mess with it and put it in reverse. yesturday it clicked into R about 25 times in a row with minimal effort, and this morning after it sat all night it went right it! this is GOOD, i think a fluid change and it will be perfect. the clutch has about 10k miles on it he told me. No smoke, starts without the choke with two pumps of the gas, idles perfect. I love this car. Oh yeah, funny story... I got to work yesturday at 7am, at 9am I had gotten my new parking pass for this car. When I went outside to throw it in the window there was a parking violation on my windshield. It read: make model: Mazda RX7 License Plate: PA Temp XXXX-XXX Estimate Year: 1996. 1996!! either my car looks damn good, or our rent-a-cops are morons. Im going to go with all of the above