My next project car?
 

Well, I just got back from checking out the '83 GSL I am interested in buying. As the owner told me, the body is in almost perfect condition, minus a small rust spot on the underside of the car. All parts are accounted for except for the radiator which he put in his track car. He says that at about 115k miles he blew his original engine and replaced it with the current one, which apparently has 15k miles on it and now has a blown seal. The transmission was rebuilt when he replaced the engine.

The owner bought the car new and seems attached to it, so the lowest I could get him to was $600. Even though that's a lot for a car with a bad engine and my student budget can barely tolerate that kind of spending, I don't think I'm going to find a better car locally. My '83 GS has plenty of problems (mostly concerning rust and age) and the drum brakes and open differential just aren't cutting it anymore.

What do you guys think? Should I buy it?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../RX-7small.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...-/DSC00459.jpg

that looks like a mint condition car from the outside... if i was in your place i would prob buy it.

Look at it this way. These cars are getting older and few are mint. If you find a car with a mint body and a blown motor for a reasonable price. Then you should go for it. It is better then replacing all kinds of body parts, rusted bins, and fixing dents. A motor can be had easily and a mint Rx-7 body not so easy at a cheap price.

Forgot to say, "nice car" :bigthumb:

buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a chance he'll go lower. If I were you, I'd bring $4-500 in cash and put it in front of him. Maybe you could even get the guy to throw in some spares, or those sweet car dollys in the pics.

Look at it this way. I was just at the junkyard, and saw a GSL with a blown motor. I asked how much for the blown motor and the complete rear end....

Blown motor = $150.00
Rear end = $250.00

So based on that, I figure I'm looking for a full car. No way I'm paying $400.00 just for two parts of a junk car. Plus, the rear needed new rotors, calipers, etc. from sitting so long. And no gaurantees on condition of bearings, etc. If I could find a car that was a daily driver til the motor blew for that kind of money, I'd jump on it. Good luck...

I'm glad to see that this is a better deal than I thought it was.

I do have some competition for the car actually, some guy from Florida is coming up this week to look at the pair (the owner is selling the '83 GSL along with his '85 track car, which is the white one in the pics). I suppose I'll give him a check tomorrow and work out how to get the thing to my house later lol

Also worth noting, he said he would give me any interior pieces that he took out of the '85 that I wanted.

body work is expensive. If you can live with the brown colour go for it. Maybe you can even find a running rust bucket for cheap and combine the two.

Call me crazy, but I like that color. I think he already has the running rust bucket.


How much is he asking for the race car?

I agree, the gold paint isn't too bad. The brown interior still sucks though lol. My rust bucket will donate black and gray interior pieces, and I'll fill in the missing bits with the ones from his track car. It'll be interesting to have interior pieces from a black '83 GS, grey '85 parts car, brown '83 and ? '85 :p: I think the only thing that will have to stay brown for now is the arm rest assembly. The rust bucket will also contribute a 12a, mikuni carb, radiator, and RB exhaust.

Man, I can't wait to have A/C, stereo, power windows, good brakes, an LSD, a hatch wiper, no weird drivetrain noises, no worries of my half-connected lower-link snapping off if I hit a pot hole, etc. This one might actually feel like a real car :D


He wanted $2000 for the pair at $1000 for each, so I assume he'll still sell the '85 track car for $1000. This is his description of it:

"The carb overhaul from Paul Yaw cost $700 alone, coilovers, springs
adjustable shocks $3k, Racing Beat exhaust, all the tuning done at
AIM (shane) etc etc etc. No one could duplicate the 85 for <$6k. I've
had it at the track twice since it was put together so Low Low miles on
everything."

If anyone is interested, pm me and I'll give you his email.

Why aren't you buying the track car? It sounds like a far better deal, even at the $1k price tag. Is it prepped for spec7, ITA, or what? I don't see a cage and that looks like a stock seat, which makes me think it's not really a track car at all.

I don't know where he ran it, but I'm under the impression that he doesnt have the time to continue working on it. I saw it too today, engine bay is bare except for the essentials, has some kind of custom mounts that put the radiator at an angle. The interior is also completely stripped and painted but it has stock seats. There is no roll cage, but it has a 5-point simpson harness. Like I said, I think he just got too busy to continue with it and put in racing seats, roll bars, etc.

I'd love to buy it, but I barely have the money to pay for the '83. I also have nowhere to put it, not to mention I can't even take it to a track considering I'm 17. So buying a noisy, bumpy race car with money that I don't have that I can't race and have nowhere to put doesn't make a lot of sense lol.

I just got back from another trip to the car. I payed for it and got the title. I now have $47 in my bank account lol

I asked the owner about the engine, and it is a MANA(?) remanufactured engine with 15k total miles on it. I think I'm going to have it rebuilt and possibly streetported after I replace it with the engine from my '83 GS.

If I can get a dolley I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow, then the project begins!

Well I got it! :D I grabbed a dolley and towed it back to my house, where it is now safe and dry in my garage.

It was outside for most of today though, and it got rained on. When I was in the process of Febreezing the living shit out of the interior I was shocked to see a puddle of water in the passenger storage bin. As it turns out there is a small amount of rust behind each storage bin, maybe 6 square inches on each side :( . Aparrently I didn't look close enough when I was buying it. It's not too bad, so an afternoon with a dremel and some anti-rust paint will fix the problem. I haven't found the source of the water yet though.

Aside from that, there are a couple of other things that I noticed. The car is extremely difficult to push (brakes might be set tight, the handbrake barely moves) and leaks fluid out of the differential. Also, the clutch is loose for about 3/4 before it goes too stiff to push. I guess 7 years of sitting have caused a few problems.

I've decided I'm going to keep the interior brown and for now I'm going to focus on detailing the engine bay. In June I'll start prepping for the engine swap with my GS. I can't wait to drive it :D

the water is prolly from the drain tube of the sun roof... those things bust all the time... the main source of the storage bin rust :)