fc3sdrifting

so heres my story...

im 17, working towards buying an rx7 for a while now. been looking at fc's but theres an fb that i always knew about that someone owns a couple houses down from me, it stays in the garage so ive never really went to look at it before. turns out its a gsl-se. one owner, female, 98000 miles, and a new paint job. she has actually been getting it ready to sell to her nephew but his parents didnt want it for him. so i let her know i was interested in it, she said she was taking it the next day to get and oil leak fixed and a new battery. it was gone for a week so i sorda lost hope and thougt the engine was dead, my dad also said he saw a tow truck over there. but she hadnt driven it in a month so the battery just couldnt charge up or anything. i called her 2 days ago and she said she was gonna pick it up from the detailing place the next day...

so today i went over there, and all she said was the key is in the console, you can drive it around till tomarow. so that was awesome. my first time driving one was today. heres what i thought about it...the steering was good but had way too much play in the neutral position, the shifter needed some force if you werent at the right speed especially slowing down with the clutch in going to first. the brakes were really smooth, she had just had them redone or something too. i did get on it a little bit to make sure the engine was running good and it excellerated strong through the rpm's but wasnt quite as fast as i was expecting it to be. still it was a lot better than i was expecting from the car. turn the key and it starts right up, goes to about 3k rpm then drops right to like 500. that seems a little low but it holds it steady there.

only problems with it that i can think of are the left front shock (at least i think thats the problem) is bad cause it sits a little lower than the right side and when i go around a right hand turn sometimes it scrapes the fender. the rear hatch doesnt pop open so i have to lift it and hold it. the power antenna is really loud, probably just needs some grease. the doors kreak a good bit, also probably just need some grease. the interior is good, a couple rips in the leather, not the cleanest but i can work on it. the back carpet is ripped up and missing. one other thing, my dad thinks the power steering pump is about to go because when you turn the wheel almost all the way it makes that noise. then he thought that to replace it it would be $700. i knew this wasnt right and im sure its fine cause a lot of newer cars make that noise. my dad was happy with the way it drove though which is good because at first he didnt have high hopes for these cars.

other than that i really like everything about this car. im gonna take it to a rotary mechanic tomarow to let him check it over. then go back to the owner to talk pricing. that leads to my next question. what do you think i could get this car for? blue book says its worth about $1400 with excellant condition. im hoping i can get it for less. its definitly not excellant condition but still its damn nice for what it is.

ill try to take some pictures of it tomarow. hopefully ill end up being able to buy it. ill have close to $1000 in two weeks to spend on it. it all depends on how much she wants to sell it for, what my dad wants to do as far as chipping in, and i was thinking she might even let me pay with what i have for now and pay the rest later. she is my neighbor and she did let me have it overnight and she doesnt need the money really cause she was about to buy an rx8 and she wasnt even looking to sell the car in the first place if it werent for her nephew or me. so hopefully everything works out. just thought i'd share this life changing experience.

therotaryrocket

If you have the rpms in the right spot at the right spot, any gear should be easy. You shouldn't really go to first gear unless your stopped, if your going say 10 mph then you should probably have about 2,200 rpms before you put it in gear. For example, if you're pulling 4,000 rpms in 3rd gear when you downshift to 2nd gear press the gas while its in neutral to (for example) 5,000 rpms, then when you release the clutch the rpms shouldn't really change. As far as the power steering thing goes, try to minimize turning the steering wheel when you're stopped. $1000 would be like the best deal, i think???

fc3sdrifting

what i meant about the shifter was that when your slowing down say towards a stop sign and you have the clutch in and as you slow down you put it in first because you have to stop, its kinda tuff to get it in gear until im going about 5 mph. thats when it slides right in though. same thing with second too, slowing down for a slow turn it doesnt want to go in until i have slowed down enough.

SERIES 1 XLR8

doesn't seem too bad. just get the rotary mechanic to check it over 4 u and give him a drive. he'll tell u what u need to know.

tjgosurf

As for that tranny thing, mine does the same thing. Nothing wrong with it, don't force it you could end up breaking something. Its a little safety feature added to keep people from destroying their tranmission; for example slamming it into first at 30 mph.

fc3sdrifting

some other problems i forgot to mention...

the drivers side door doesnt lock with the key. it will unlock though. the windows dont go down quite all the way, they have about another .5" or so. there auto if that makes a difference. the door kreaks pretty badly.

the only other concern i have is this morning i went to move it out of the way so my dad could pull out, it started right up but the revs dropped down and stalled out. im pretty sure it was in neutral and everything. so i turned the key again and it started right up, i reved it a little bit, then it held its idle.

and what is the temp guage supposed to look like, cause it takes a good 15 minutes of driving, or mabey 10 to get it to go about 1/4 up, but on the cold side. if that makes sense.

today i took 1 grand out of the bank. my dad doesnt know but i earned the money. im going to talk to the owner when she gets off work. basically if i have enough money to pay for the car, my parents will pay insurance. so hopefully it works out.

Unsupa

iTrader: (2)

1/4 on the cold side is good. anything above that and something in the cooling department isn't right. for the door creak you can probably spray some wd-40 on it to lube it up, that's what i did for my passenger side. My driver side doesn't lock with the key either, it's quicker to just open the door and lock it anyway. good luck with it. as for your acceleration concern.. last time i was at the dragstrip in my 12a 1st gen, i beat a couple of 2nd gens, one was stripped out with just a windshield and the other one was just slow.. i run on average 10.50, the stripped fc ran 10.70, and the full 2nd gen ran like 11.7's... those were in the 1/8th too.

rotariesrule

the car is worth around $3000 if it in in very good condition. if see put it on ebay she would get $3000.

tmking66

I wouldn't worry about stalling right after the first start up of the day. As long as it started back and then held an idle you souldn't have anything to worry about. Rotaries hate to run when they are cold. Winter temps make the problem even worse. So don't think you are having major problems if you buy the car and it won't stay running right at first in the winter. Once the engine warms up a little it should run fine.

Good Luck on making the deal!

LongDuck

You may need to change your signature name after your purchase!

On the power window issue, that is 100% normal for the windows to remain up by about 1/2" - that's due to the limited track length in the doors, and is the same on all 1st Generation RX-7's.

As to the engine temperature gauge - the lower you can get it, the better. A rotary engine's worst enemy is overheating, so if the gauge is reading low - it's a blessing in disguise. I put a new radiator and hoses in mine, along with a new Mazda thermostat just to keep it below 1/3 on the gauge, and I'm satisfied. Anything above 1/2 on the gauge is too much, IMO, and I live in AZ where it routinely gets over 110 deg F.

Good luck on this purchase - the EFI SE's are a treat when cared for...

fc3sdrifting

thanks for all the help. yeah, i sorda need to change my name on here if i get the car. whoever said its worth $3000, is the blue book value not all that accurate, cause it said $1500 for excellant condition which is basically like a brand new car, and its not excellant condition.

i think i should be able to make a deal though, she wasnt even looking to sell it, but it seems like shes happy to sell it to me because i think she knows i have the same love for teh car and will take care of it.

Mr. ImportGuy

Blue book value doesn't really mean jack. If cars are going for higher than blue book on the market that will set the market value of the car higher. Blue book values are more for looking at what the dealer is going to give you when you trade in a car.

fc3sdrifting

the big letdown...

yeah the car is in pretty good shape, but still had a lot of problems as i listed above. just got the asking price...$5000. im not even gonna try to bargain with that. theres another 85 se that the rotary mechanic guy i was talking about has that is ready to sell in a couple weeks for 2300. and im sure its in better shape mechanically than this one. she said she put about $2000 in it just getting it ready to sell. i mean, i woulda bought it like it was before all that. for $5000 i can get my uncles 98 leather camry that hes selling. oh well...ill keap saving up and mabey i can work something out with the mechanic guy with his gslse hes selling. and i just took out $1000 cash today from the bank.

so um, i found out about the price over the phone, and i still have the car, and we left it as i would talk to my parents and stuff and i would keap the car another day so i can think about it. since i know theres no way i can get it and i put $5 of gas in it, i went out and beat on it a bit...

takes off like a champ from the line, im guessing the lsd is still good in it. i had it around 4000 rpm, dropped the clutch and floored it, cought second, after that it didnt feel too fast, especially once in third.

i raced my friends 99 v6 5spd stang, i took him off the line, had him a little ways through second, but once he shifted to second i heard him roaring up beside me and he flew by and cought third. once i shifted to third he didnt get to far away.

i went around a few turns at speed and it felt stable. didnt go fast enough where it started loosing control but it felt like it handled well, keaping in mind the shocks i think are original cause the left front sits low and rubs around turns and bumps.

she wasnt even looking to sell it before i came and asked about it, besides her nephew looking at it. so anyone interested in a $5000 gsl-se let me know and ill give you the number. in my opinion, its not worth that much, mabey $3000 at the most. but i dont think she wants to lower the price either, she said she spent $2000 getting it ready to sell so....

Breadfan

I would never spend over 1k for a first gen. its not worth it, sure as hell not worth it if you plan on drifting it.

fc3sdrifting

lol...thats really just my name for on here. if anything i would autox with it. mabey a couple fish tail drifts everynow and then. some 1st gen's can be worth over 1k. just not ******* 5.

Myc1972

I payed $1650 for mine, with 88,600 miles. This car was very well taken care off, almost no rust. Almost everything works in it. Was kept stock. Only some wear on the inside door upholstery were one puts the arms when the windows are down and a two inch hole on the drivers leather seat.


1981 Mazda RX-7 GSL (pictures coming soon!)