I'm hopefully going to get a first gen RX7 within the next few months. I have a few questions for you 1st gen RX7 guys.

What kind of maintence is involved with a rotary? I've heard about apex seals needing to be replaced?

How reliable are 1st gen's? I see some with 120,xxx + miles on them. If I purchase one with these high of miles what should I look for? Anything I should replace?

Where do 1st gens rust the most? Do they have problems with the chassis rusting real bad?

1st gens are RWD correct? how much would it cost for any kind of drive train parts that might go bad? Tranny, drive shaft, ect.

How much hp are they putting out to the wheels?

What kind of mods can I do to a 1st gen?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

~Andrew~

 

do a search first ...

 

I quess I could do that. Sorry for my stupidity. Can a mod. please close this thread. (If the forum has moderators)

~Andrew~

 

Welcome to the club! Just remember that RX-7s aren't just cars - they're addictions. Doing a search is a good idea, but I'll try to be helpful ...

Maintenance is about the same as any other car. Just because it has a rotary engine doesn't mean anything special. You have to change oil, filters, spark plugs, etc.

Well-maintained, they are very reliable. Keep in mind that the cars are 19+ years old. 120k miles is not bad for a car that age.

Aside from the obvious areas where you'd look for rust, pay special attention to the rear wheel wells and the bins behind the seats. If it's real rusty there (like holes or you can poke your finger through), it can be fixed but it's a PITA to do it.

Yes, RWD. Check parts prices at places like Mazdatrix, local parts yards, eBay, the "for sale" sections here and at nopistons.com and mazspeed.com.

These and the rest of your questions are answered in the FAQ section and more details can be found by searching here and at mazspeed.com and nopistons.com.

Good luck. Where in Iowa?

 

Thanks for the welcome and help. I live in Bettendorf. Any car to me is an addiction. For the past year it has been DSM's. But I'm hoping on getting a RX7.

~Andrew~

 

1. Maintenance - gas, tires, and oil. Replace the coolant every year or so, make sure it has decent hoses, make sure the battery and cables are good. Just like any other car, really. Only gotcha is that it's a VERY good idea to replace the spark plugs every 5-10k miles, the sooner the better. Rotaries eat spark plugs, because the spark plug never really has any time to cool off - that part of the chamber stays "hot" as opposed to a piston where all of the cycles happen in the same place. If you have a carbureted car and a stock fuel pump, replace the fuel filter with every oil change.

2. Extraordinarily reliable. 300k on an engine is not uncommon. Mine has only 166k on it and still runs like a champ. My last one had 120k on it before I pulled the engine out for something a bit more powerful, that engine is still sitting in my garage waiting for me to crack it open and do some heavy-duty work to it.

3. Yes, mainly the rear inner fender area (aka "bin rust" because it rusts through to the bin area). When this gets really bad the rear upper suspension links can tear away from the chassis. The rocker panels also tend to go (especially when there's good bin rust-through), the rear edges of the rear wheelwells tend to go, and in extreme cases the part of the body where the rear lower links attach tend to go.

Aside from that, they're alright, they seem to hold up better than most Japanese cars.

4. Depends on where you go and what kind of luck you have. Just like any other car.

5. All depends. Stock is 100 flywheel HP for the 12A, 130 flywheel HP for the '84-85 13B. This is laughably easy to change.

6. Anything you want, just like any other car.