my litttle brother is looking for a daily driver rx7. he found one thats a 1985 gsl-se. the car has 118k on the engine, has been street ported, and has had a turbo charger added. im trying to convince him this car is going to be expensive to maintain, and wont make a good dd. can anyone tell me what the repair costs are going to be like. also, ive heard these engines need to be rebuilt after 100k or so miles, is this true?


thanks john

 

well first the car has been modified fairly heavily, from your description
sure that could very well be expensive to maintain..might be why the car is for sale in the first place..if it was done right and was mine..I would never sell it.. a stock GSL-SE would make a great daily driver
and a rebuild after 100k or so..sure just like a piston engine..depends on the care it was shown..they can last just as long..200k is not unusual with some care
but this example you are looking at may be a pos, or may be nicely done and reliable..give it a good sorting through..look for smoke after warmup...nice idle? etc....obviously a hybrid car like this won't be the best choice for a daily driver

 

I have a friend that bought an SE from the original owner, 244k and it has never been opened up. Still has good compression and very little start up smoke. Well maintained they can run for 150-200k easily. Maintenance is the key, along with 3k oil changes and never overheating them

The turbo will stress the engine more and shorten it's service life. The big question is how the previous owner treated the car. Abuse will shorten service life on any engine, piston or rotary. The myths about the rotarys short life is mainly die to it's uniqueness and people not understanding them, or knowing how to work on them. They are really very simple, the general public just never got the clue.

 

How much is he paying? A tubo GSL-SE is a very desirable car.

 

ive got a 1985 gsl/se with 170,000 miles it works great, never been rebuilt or anything. they took car f it.

 

I do 110 miles a day in my pretty much stock GSL, more than 25,000 miles a year. If properly maintained, they are very reliable, good on gas and lots of fun to drive. They are especially nice for highway commutes, real sweet at 80 mph. I haven't had to rebuild a motor yet, mileage on my three GSLs are 170,000 on the brown 85, 150,000 on the tan 84 and 94,000 on the white 84.

Here's a website I made for my GSL commutemobiles:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/479957

Here's a couple of pages on my current GSL, the best one yet:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/479957/16
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/479957/16

Try it, you'll like it.

Ray

 

hes asking 3500.

 

If 3500 is truely a fair price for that machine, it sounds like/ it should be in very good condition. Go drive it yourself and see what you think.

 

I've had my car for only two years. I use it as a daily driver and it is fantastic. Parts are easy to get, lots are available at the local junk yard. Also it is very easy to work on. I've replaced the front brake pads and did it in a half an hour, and I had never done it before.

In my opinion it is a great first car.

 

A street ported turbo car is not going to be a good daily driver. Fuel costs will be extremely high, reliability suspect with extensive maintenance, difficult to drive in traffic and difficult to insure.

A stock gen 1 if driven conservatively is reliable and the engine will easily do 150,000 miles without a rebuild. This is why a stock RX-7 is a great first car/daily driver. It is well engineered for its stock ouput. Modifying with a streetport and turbo is going to double power. This comes at a cost called wear and unreliability. If you have the time and skills to do your own maintenance and rebuilding with a back-up car it can be a rewarding experience. Without mechanical skills and a pocket capable of meeting 8mpg fuel costs I really doubt the wisdom of buying it.