Hello All, I just bought a 1st gen. Where do I start on fixing it up?
 

I just bought first gen. A buddy bought it at auction for $115, I'm taking ti off his hands for $200. I haven't seen it, don't know what color it is, or anything else. Don't worry, I trust the guy.

Now, after I get it to run properly, what should I do to turn it into an Autox car? Any and all ideas will be considered.

I"ve only driven an RX-7 once, I've never worked on one, and I don't know jack about rotories. I'm truly a newbie to the RX-7 world. I do have a Mazda pickup though :)

Well, first off you should make sure its structurly sound. There are some spots notorious for rusting on the RX-7s that can be structuraly devistating. Under the rear storage bins, and in the rear wheel well arches are just a few spots. After you check out the damage, and if you decide to continue, you need to look at performance upgrades. There are way too many things you can do for us to just tell you what to do.

My first choice was a full Racing Beat exhaust system. They make something for everyone, and if they dont, the'll sell you the parts to make it yourself. After that, your gonna want to turn to the intake side. Upgrade your fuel pump, add a regulator, get an aftermarket carb and intake manifold (maybe even go FI
??), tune it, and then to suspension. Struts, shocks, springs (maybe coil-overs?), sway bars, bushings, etc. There are WAY to many things available for us to just tell you right here. You can build custom turbo setups, or even slap on a supercharger. It depends on your budget.

~T.J.

Welcome to the wild wacky world of the rotary Bob! Ok its really very fun and rewarding. 200 bucks is a steal! I suggest that you simply begin with tune ups and basic maintenance..just like any other car to make sure it is running right, cleaning it, etc. and take it from there. Get a feel for the car on how it handles stock..learn how it behaves when driving. As far as an autoX car that would depend on which class you will be running it in. Again I would say try stock first. Get a set of sticky tires..other suspension mods will be more responsive with the tires, then upgrade the shocks and struts then front anti-sway bar. Take your mods from there..cat-back or full exhaust, etc. The guys on this 1st gen forum are great and will offer more suggestions. Enjoy :)

I've been autoxing since June in my Sentra Spec V (and beating RX-7 and lossing to some too).

Anyway, I know about starting stock to get use to the car. I just need a list of mods that have the "best bang for the buck." The engines can be ported (whatever that is) but are suspension mods better? That kind of thing. I'm not familiar with the RX-7 yet and what the "best" mods are. So, assuming you are going to stay N/A, what order of mods would you do.

I'm not too worried about staying in stock class but I'm going to stay N/A. Turbo's and SC will probably cost too much. I'd much rather nickle and dime myself than do it all in one shot. :)

Thanx for the advice about the rust. The guy who bought it was going to race it. He's into autox and road racing and has 10 years experience with racing. He's actually has an Indy team looking at him as a driver. The guy is good.

Anyway, he knows what he is looking at in a car. I don't know if he knows RX-7s per se. I'll look at the locations you suggested.

I will recomend making the first mods on yous suspension IE; Wheels & Tires, springs, shocks and struts, front anti-roll bar, and some clack hawk brake pads and SS brake lines. If you do this the car will handel like its on rai!s!!
After yoou get the suspension squared awaystart modding the engine.
I and everyone else here would start with the Racing Beat streetport Exhaust. Should be good for around 15-50 Hp depending on how cloged the origionaly cats are.
Then you can either upgrade the inkate with something like a Weber side draft, or by then you will probobly want rebuild the motor. At this point porting the motor is a good idea. YOu can either do the work yourself or take it to a professional. If you arent very familuar than I recomend taking it to someone who knows that there doing.
Portinmg consists of basicly making the exhaust and intake ports bigger, there is a little more involved but thats the main part. With a good streetport motor and a Weber intake, you should be good for 180-220 Hp. basicly double the stock power.

I auto-x my 85 GS and couldent ask for anything better.
Good luck and savor your new rotary.

Here some good links;
www.racingbeat.com
www.ground-control.com
www.mariahmotorsports.com
www.mazdaspeed.com
www.kspeed.com
www.bfgoodrichtires.com

851stgen12a,
Great reply, that's exactly what I'm looking for.'

Cats? What cats? I forgot to mention the cats were already "punched out." I don't know for sure but I'm guessing, he drilled a hole and got all the guts out of it. Or maybe he took them off and reamed everything out. In either case, I'm guessing the cats are nothing more than a coupler from one pipe to the next.