'84 Checklist
 

Hey, first time poster. I haven't bought my car yet, but i am getting ready to. it is a used 1984 RX-7, Left hand drive. I am just curoius if there is anything i should keep an eye out for. anythings that end up going after a while, any recalls, so on and so forth. much appreciated.

depends what model it is, but generally, remove the rear bins and check the underlying area for rust, and get a compression test

o god yeah make shure U CHECK THE BINS check them twice. Mine where rusted and i missed it. my car is project so i pulled out the entire back and bam took me 500bux to get the frame re welded. Compression check. Take it out for a drive make shure you check all the gears in tranny (my 5th didnt work). do a once over for rust anywhere under the car. Check the rockers. make shure if you but this car from a person (the owner) not a junk yard, how he maintained it. should have heavy weight oil in it NOT SYNTHETIC (agian like mine). Check all the switches and the power windows tend to slow down over time make sure they still work good.

Check the steering - if it is sloppy (which more than likely it will be) - you can look forward to replacing tie rods, idler arm, and pitman arm.

Check the fuseable links - they will be on the drivers side of the engine compartment on the strut tower. There will be two brown and one black (if you have a GSL-SE there will be more). They are prone to going and leaving the car sitting though luckily there are quite a number of good fixes - from installing a second gen fuse box to buying updated fuseable links.

Check the battery cables - over the years they build up a lot of resistance and can make the car hard to start. Easy to replace - either by building your own or by purchasing some new ones from Mazdatrix.

Read the 1st Gen FAQ - it is full of lots of good information

Working on a RX-7 is easy, the cars are generally well made, reliable, and the engines when kept up last a while, and with a resource like this help is just a keystroke away.

Have fun, you've just purchased an inexpensive, fun, light, quick, and great sports car.

thanks guys. i'll be looking at the car on monday, and i'll be taking some pics of the underbody, the engine comp, the interior, so on and so forth. i'll post them up here so you can take a look and tell me what you think.