keylempa

Hey there guys, I was just wondering if you could help me out with a decision that I have to make. Here is a summary of what is going on...

I had a deal set up with this guy where I was going to buy his mint condition 86 GXL with rougly 30k miles on it in the fall. However he just e-mailed me the other day telling me that he lost almost 15k of his retirement money this month in the stock market and now he can't sell the car.

Down the street from me there has been this really nice looking 85 GSL just sitting out in front of this guy's apartment. It has been there for about 6 months and every day I drove by it just hoping and praying that there wasn't a rusting engine just sitting in there. Yesterday when I was coming back from a movie, the guy just so happened to be sitting outside getting something out of the car, so I stopped and started to talk to him. He said that he blew the engine about 6 months ago and had taken the engine out and sent it to Houston to have "some work" done to it. He said that fe finally got the engine back a couple of months ago and he asked if I wanted to see it...

It turns out that he has a 12a with a nice looking bridgeport disassembled in the back of the car. He has absolutely everything for the car to put it back together and he showed me the new rotors, all the seals and gaskets, and sure enough, it is all there. Anyway, the car also comes with a Webber Carb and manifold, a racing beat full exhaust, 3 electric fans, an oil cooler, 2 new clutches and flywheels, a new tranny, new brakes, and new struts. That is pretty much all of the mechanical stuff.

As for the looks of the car, I looked all over the thing and could not find one speck of rust, it has never been wrecked, all the glass is excellent, the original interior is top notch and it includes a factory steering wheel and a sweet MOMO wheel that has never been installed, the sunroof still has the factory carrying case that looks like it has never been used, a Mazda front bra that looks like it has never been used, all new weatherstripping and body moulding, new "RX-7" "GSL" and "Mazda" emblems, the factory set of rims and some realy cool looking aftermarket rims. The dash looks really good and the thing still has the factory Mazda radio with a tape player and an EQ, and the thing still plays tapes!!!

My wife says that she would rather I pay 500 to 1000 for this car and fix it up from there then spend 4000 on the GXL, Shoot, she even said that she would buy it for me if it will shut me up!!

So I guess my main question is how hard ya'll think it will be to get this thing all put back together and running again? I have pretty good mechanical skills and lots of people in my car club who have the right tools to do the job, and I have about a month and a half of free time to sit around and tinker with this sucker. What do you think, is it worth the money to buy it and put it back together? I think it is, I just don't know how much work I would actually be getting in to.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

1) If you've never put a rotary together - pay somebeody else to do it. Most of the parts fit without adjusting, but everything has to be checked for exact clearances.

2) See # 1

HELL YES, especially if you have all those Go-Fast parts ready to go in the car. JUMP ON IT! FB's are MUCH more fun than FC's!

3)If you're a decent mechanic/tinkerer, you could do everything yourself except the engine (see #1).

Good Luck

mperformance

I only have one question for you, what will be the purpose of that car you are buying, racing, streetdriving?


man it's not going to be easy and you need to have patience, the right tools, make sure you got everything etc.

I personally don't like the 2nd gen rx-7s but that other one was running and with only 30k on it...you can't beat that really. That sounds like a nice car.

The car you think you can just buy for $500 needs an engine and just on the overhaul kit and miscellaneous you are contemplating on spending $1k he sates it's all there but are you sure...for a bridge you need one piece apex unless you go half bridge. Also the gasket kit might only be the simple water and housing seals... If you do the work yourself and (don't screw up) you might end up with a really nice running car but there is the big but....you have to know what you are doing. You also have to recondition everything that is bad in that car...maybe the clutch since you will have a bridgeported engine now...you'll need a stronger one than the one he shows....also a bridge port is a bitch to drive on the street, takes some time to get used to the high revs and the noise and it's defenitely not a daily driver unlike some folks swear by in this forum.

Well in my opinion that decision should be taken knowing that this guy has everything for that car and what you will use the car for...if not get ready to spend a pretty penny...

BTW a bridgeport with everything setup right is an awesome performer...

keylempa

Yeah, I guess I should have been a little more specific in what I want this car for...

Basically, I want it as a project car, I want to dink around with it and try to put it back together myself. I have the mazda factory service manuals for all generations of RX-7 and I read through them just for the fun of it. And if I put it all back together and it actually works, I would like to use it as a race-only car. I am an officer in the Texas A&M sports car club and we do all kinds of autocrossing and drag racing and stuff, I need someting that is faster and handles better than my Cavalier or my wife's Accord. I have the Cavy for daily driving and if that breaks I could always go to the Honda (eww). So I guess this would basically just be a starter car so that I could become more familiar with the rotary engine for when I do finally get an FC.

I just want to say after it is all said and done that "I put this together, I did this" I like working on cars and my cavalier is now to the state where if I do anything else to it I will turn it into a non-daily driver. So far I have about 3500 worth of go and turn fast stuff on the cav, and about 2000 on the Honda, so there isn't really much more that I can do to them and I am just jonesing to work on something...

I don't really mind how much it costs, I just want it to eventually get to a point that I can drive it around on a drag strip and out at autocrosses, and possibly even have it street legal :-)

mperformance

in that case GO FOR IT MAN....
well worth it...

that rx7 will be quick

jeremy

iTrader: (1)

i think you can do the engine. damn everyone has to start somewhere. just take you time, do some research, and ask some questions. that is a damjn good opportunity even if the car is pink. hell yes go fro it, bro.

keylempa

ok then, If everything pretty much goes together like it is supposed to, couldn't I just make sure that I have all the correct pieces for it and just put it back together myself? I know that the bridgeporting calls for solid apex seals, but I could just pick up a full set from atkins rotary or something couldn't I?

The main thing I am worried about is that it won't be at absolute top condition if I put it back together. For instance, The atkins site tells me that I have to have the solid apex seals "clearanced" before installation. How do I go about finding out how to do that?

One thing is for sure, I know that if I get this car it won't be up and running within a week, I like to do things slow and do them right, but are there any kinds of instructions that I can follow regarding the fitment of all the seals when I am reassembling everything? I know the mazda FSM tells how to do stuff on a normal motor, but it doesn't say anything about a bridgeported engine.

I guess I will just have to do lots of searching through this forum and ask lots of questions, eh?

hotty

ick, no offense but i would take the accord before cav...
although they do awesome donuts.. yank the ebrake, cut the wheel hard and punch it.. TIGHT!.. and fast... but gutless as hell
Daryl

keylempa

Yeah, I get that a lot...

The thing is that the accord is a DX sedan, so it has a dinky 2.2 SOHC non-VTEC engine in it. Lucky for me the cav has a DOHC 2.4 that now has a better intake and exhaust, not to mention a complete suspension reworking and nice nice, fat tires.

plus the honda is a girly blue color...

wait a minute the RX-7 that I am looking at is almost the same color...... Oh well

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

Keith,

It's not hard to build a rotary at all. I've done a few of them all with great success. Even the first one I did was perfect. I'm building a new streetport 13B for my first gen this week and my project second gen has a very large ported turbo engine. I live on the northwest side of Houston if you need any help. College Station is only a little over an hour away. I get that way every once in a while to run at TWS.

Fred

keylempa

Fred,
do you know of any shops in Houston that might put this thing back together for me in case I see that it is too complicated? I would really like to do it myself, but I would feel much better about it if I knew that there was a shop in Houston that I could take it to and have them do it if absolutely necessary.

Oh, and on a sidenote, our car club is having an autocross this coming weekend. It will start at 9am and run till about 3:30 or 4pm so long as it doesn't rain. It is $5 for unlimited runs each day. I will be out there on Saturday with the Cav, but my anniversary is on Sunday, so I can't go that day.

Rotor13B

I'll i have to say is, YOU LUCKY DOG YOU!!!!!!

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

Keith there is a guy that has a shop in NW Houston. He does only imports but he personally has a 1st and 2nd gen that he has built himself so he does work on them. The shop name is Wilson Imports. I have never personally been there so I can't actually verify his work. I know he was toying with a supercharged 1st gen. Not really any shops in Houston that I trust as far as rotaries go. Rick Sheveland builds tons of engines. He is always working on someones car. He is very good with them and has a very fast 3rd gen that he built the engine for. I KNOW he can help you. He was the founder of Alamo Rotary in San Antonio years back. He lives near the SW side of Houston. I'm working on mine this week if you would like to see one get built.

I would love to go to the autocross but the new motor won't be broken in yet. I'm not sure how my weekends look until they actually get here. I am a realtor and many people want to see houses on the weekends. Do you know a couple of spec RX-7 guys named Colin Mason or Thomas Thrash? I will pass the autocross news on to others. $5 for unlimited runs is unreal! Usually we pay $25 for 4 to 5 runs. Ripoff! Where is the autocross at?

Fred

Manntis

Go read "Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry". It's a thoroughly researched tome that delves into the 80's and 90's car manufacturer's scene - all the behind-closed-doors stuff from GM, Chrysler, and Ford boardrooms with Asians and Germans caught up in the intrigue. You'll never choose a Cavalier over a Honda again. Ever.

Just the bit about GM figuring it to be cheaper for a few hundred customers to burn to death versus a voluntary recall should be enough, but if not there are comparisons of technology from manufacturing methodology and philosophy to a direct analysis of GM vs. Honda connnecting rods (and the domino effect of the former's excessive weight on the design of the entire vehicle its housed in)

Both authors are pulitzer prize winners: Paul Ingrassia and Joe White. Someone (I think it was John Lamm) highly recommended it which is why I picked it up but it's a surprisingly compelling read.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

That's been the case since day one. The automanufactures figure:

If Y is > X, then they do a recall. If not, they don't.
Unfortunately, it is simple math to them.

keylempa

The autocross is out at Riverside Campus at the corner of 21 and 47. The course usually lasts just under a minute for realy fast cars and it is always a lot of fun. There aren't any trophies or anything, it is basically a "practice" autocross, but it is set up just like one of our normal autocrosses. See http://tamscc.tamu.edu for more details.


Back to the original meaning of this thread. I have since befriended the owner of the 1st gen and he is a really nice guy, we rode around together all day yesterday trying to find cheap replacement windows four the Honda and the Cav because someone broke into BOTH of them yesterday morning between 3am and 6am. In all they hit 20 vehicles that night.... dammit sidetracked again....

While I was talking to the guy I asked to clarify some of the stuff that he had told me. He said the rebuild kit he has is only the basic kit and that I will have to buy some other stuff to put it back together, also, he has had a custom intake manifold built to accept a 750cfm Holley carb, and the intake runners on that thing are big as hell!!! I have talked to my wife and she agrees that this is a really good deal even if I have to pay someone to put the engine back together. Furthermore, the guy said that if I buy it I can use all of his tools and he will help me get the engine back in when i do get it back together. I am probably going to buy it sometime within the next 3 weeks before school starts.

cool huh?

jeremy

iTrader: (1)

hell yeh. good project and someone more knowlegable willing to help out.

nimrodTT

How much are you paying for it? If it has a weber, and a RB exhaust, and plates already BP'd, and new rotors, then the parts alone are worth quite a bit. If you decide not to get it, I might have to.

keylempa

Well, I talked to the guy extensively yesterday and he is pretty much dead set on selling the car with ALL of the spare parts for $1000. He said that he has a little over $3k in it and he wouldn't sell it to anybody who did not appreciate the car. I definitely appreciate it and I know that it is worth at least that much in parts, so I figure that wouldn't be too bad of a price.

Plus if he is going to help me with it, that is just that much better

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

Hey Keith if you don't want a big bridge (although they do sound damn cool!) and want to drive it on the street, I have some big streetport 4 port housings from pre '86 that would most likely work very well for you. I don't need them. I will part with them very cheaply.

Fred

keylempa

Fred, I might have to take you up on that offer. I just looked at Mazdatrix and saw that a complete rebuild kit is going to cost me about $1000, kinda excessive, but not too bad. The engine kit is only like $90, but the rotor kit is like $770, but it comes with carbon apexes. I will talk to the guy today and see if I am going to need the entire rotor kit or just some various pieces. I know he said that he only has the carbons for one rotor, so maybe I can just buy the carbons, I'll just have to see.

As for a bridgeport not being streetable, exactly how not streetable are we talking here? Am I not going to me able to drive it the 15 miles to the autocrosses and the 35 miles to drag racing? Plus I would like to be able to take little jaunts around town to dink with the Riceboys. I don't want this thing to be a *complete* trailor-bitch but I do have access to a trailer and a friend with a big dodge that can pull it to farther places for cheap.

Josepi

I agree if we are talking about two NAs. Ever driven a S5 TII? I get a bigger grin out of getting tossed back into my seat more than sliding around corners 25 mph more than the posted limit....

Josepi

Don't expect ANY kind of idle below 2K. Power really won't come on till after 4K. But when it does....

Streetable if you can live with the high idle and bad gas mileage...but if you wanted good mileage, you would get a honda right? Just make sure the cooling system is in good running order, your going to be running high rpms for longer periods of time. Another thing to note, BP motors shouldn't last you more than 40-50K...the carbon seals are a good idea. That way when it does break, the apex seal doesn't carve its initials into the housing or rotor.

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

You can drive it on the street but you'll be at a high rpm all the time. With a lack of muffling you're going to be a cop magnet. If you want to drive it 35 miles away to drag race you'll probably have to refill your tank a couple of times just to get there The carbon apex seals will only last about 20K miles if you are good to them. Find out which parts that guy has and let me know. I'll tell you what else you need and how much it costs. My streetport engine went together last night. I hope to have it running this weekend.

Fred

keylempa

Holy crap on a stick batman!!!!!

Fill up a couple of times to drive 35 miles? That really sucks. What kind of mileage should I expect? Like 10mpg? If so, that isn't too bad, I used to have a 79 GMC Sierra that got 6mpg, I had to fill up every other day