I have found an SA, although I cant find the owner. I owned a '79 at one time and always regretted selling it. This particular one is a rust bucket, hasnt moved in forever. has wheels I cant recognize, they arent normal SA wheels, nore are the pana's or meshies OR the Special Edition SA wheels. They look like typical steel wheels to me. not that I knew there were any wheels like this that had 4x110... its white, nothing overly spectacular, BUT it has a 4-Speed, I have actually never seen a 4-Speed in an Rx-7. I know they made them, but I had never seen one. Pretty cool for me, I like seeing all original factory crap. I dont even know if it starts. The quarters are rotted and it has large patches of surface rust ALL over, but I have been looking for a project. I wanted to do an original resto to an Rx-7, Victoria British has everything I would need. I have a junkyard I can source body panels from. So what I am asking is:

First, Steelies on a 7? anyone know if this was factory or not?? if not Ill soon be needing Orig SA wheels.

Second, 4-Speed? any thoughts? were they bulletproof? or did the lack of overdrive negatively effect performance? J/W why I never hardly see them....
Basically if you have any experience with owning them or any knowledge in general... I want to know everything about them.

Third, What do you think would be a good Ceiling for the MOST to pay for a 7 in this condition? I am going to start low, but I am going to go up until either he says yes, or I feel its too much...

No glass is broken, interior is slick albeit a little faded. Havent looked under the hood or determained if it starts or not. Will be doing that when I get there when the owner is home....

Thanks for the input, let me know what you guys think, I will be getting pics today/tommorow as its on my way home from work.

Loki

 

find a nicer one to restore and give this guy $100-200 and use her for parts.

 

I dont have the $$ to waste all at once, I can do the sheetmatal work myself. I dont even care about that, you gotta understand I want a project. If in the end it sucks me dry of $5K or something I dont care. I like being involved in every aspect of restoring. buying a nice car is just a shortcut. At the end of the day I want to remember every inch of that car, and the fact that I worked on every inch of it. The last car I did a full restoration on was my mothers teenage dream car, a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am Hurst/Smokey and the Bandit Edition. Now I want something for myself. I spent about five years working incognito with my dad to finish that T/A and it wasnt even a "true" restoration.

Its nice to show people a picture of a tottalled car, rusted to hell. Then point at the Trans Am and say, yep! thats the same car! And no an Rx-7 is no Trans Am, but its my little fling, so I just want a little background on a few things.

 

i think you like pain Loki

 

My 79 is my DD since i'm dirt poor and i can buy an FD. You are going to want to check the fuel pump and gas tank ASAP when you get it. My had a hole in the tank and it took me forever to find and patch it up. Also finding the interior parts for her will be a more of a bitch than you think. Most suppliers that have interiors are usually stocked for 1981-1985 so you might be a regular at the junkyards. Also the carb, exaust, thermal reactor, "rats nest" is alot different than the rest of the First Gens. I do not know much about the 4- speed manuel, I think it is like the five speed without the top gear. So the final gear ratio is just like my three speed auto (1.0), but you will have better acceleration than what i have. The rims on that car I would need to see a pic to know if their aftermarket or not, though I think steelies were avalible in 1979. Also when you restore it ckeck the date it was made, some of the early 79's did not have a right side mirror. My 79 cost me 500, but the gas tank was not connected and I had no idea if it ran or not. for yours it sounds like it is in worse shape than my was I say nothing not running $150-$250, if it is running nothing above $300. I would need pics for a better estimate. Good luck on the restoration I hope to restore mine when ever I get out of school and have both time and money

 

The '79's had plain steel wheels...mine came with them and I replaced them right away. Maybe it was just the S model that had them stock. You could get other wheels as an option. In fact, my spare is still the original steel wheel.

I did a complete ground up, every nut and bolt off restoration on my '64 MGB. Very rewarding and very educational. I didn't do the bodywork, but I did everything else on it:

http://64mgb.home.mchsi.com/

Rich

 

The "cheap" 79s has steel wheels and a four speed. I am restoring a second 79 that has 65,000 original miles and 23,000 miles on the motor. Parts are hard to find. When I see a 79 or 80 in the junkyard I try to get all the parts that are nice whether I need them or not.


This second 79 I have has a four speed and I like it but man it does need a fifth gear!!!!!!!

 

You should get another car with no rust and swap the interior from this one into that. The steel wheels and the 4 speed indicate this was a stripped base model 79. Most folks didn't by Rx7 base models, didn't make much sense when a few hundred got you a 5 speed, alloy wheels, and other goodies. Probably doesn't haven a power antenea either. I think the hardest part of these cars now is to find good interior bits. I have an 80 SA that I'm the second owner of ( for 23 years now) and my interior is very clean but I still had ot get some bits from the junkyard because stuff breaks or rots. If it has a good interior get it for less than $200 or walk. It sounds like a basket case to me unless you can get a second rust free car and swap in the interior. Just my 2 cents.

 

I disagree...rather than give the dealer the extra hundreds of dollars, why not use that money to put whatever wheels you want on it? That's what I did. True, you miss out on the 5 speed then, which would be nice to have. But it does have a power antenna.

Actually I bought the 'S' model because it was the next one up! I was 6th on the original waiting list at my local dealer and got the 2nd one they sold. The people in line ahead of me didn't want the 'S' model. I've never regretted it though.

Just my $0.02

Rich

 

go for it..you seem very interested in it..and as the capt said..you must like pain
there is an FC down my street that has been sitting forever..nice red paint job..starting to fade obviously...good overall shape...I want to seek out the owner..but im not partial to 2nd gens..but it's a neglected 7 nevertheless
I like SA's quite a bit..quite retro even coming from my FB GSL-SE
I'd buy it

 

I'm a sucker for those rotaries that need some TLC too. Everytime I see one that hasn't moved for a while it makes me want to buy it. I almost bought an FC for the same reason, but I'm not partial to 2nd gens either. They look too big, and with the extra weight over an FB, I don't see the point in buying one unless its a parts car with a TII under the hood.

 

Sunroof-equipped GS versions are the way to go. I couldn't be happy in my RX without the nice big hole in the ceiling! Depending where you are, there are still a LOT of dead SAs laying around and you shouldn't have to pay more than $150-ish for a nice one. Your rust-bucket not withstanding, most are pretty solid cars, since its usually the motor that's taken them off the street. I certainly respect your desire to "know" every inch of your project car, but a seriously rusted body can easily got beyond just sheet metal. It also starts doing serious damage to frame components like rear suspension mounts. If there was a big diff $$ between your rust bucket and a nice solid car, I could see your point, financially, but the truth is there are lots of truly solid SAs out there for the SAME money. Take your time and get a good one (but get that one for spares!!)
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Well the guy doesnt even want to sell it, so no worries... but it was a pretty solid car, all the rust was still on the surface, save for the quarters. I am hopefully getting an 85 with an IMSA looking bodykit tonight. Much more solid than the SA I saw, but I will always have a soft spot for the SA........

Also, I never see any SA's around here they are pretty hard to come by, so I alway want to ****** them up in a hurry if I see them.

 

Definetly get an SA!!! They're so classic, more like a 70's car than the FB, which is like something from the god-awful 80's. I love to have something that no one else has, hence the SA. I've only seen ONE SA in my entire life other than my own. (they're not very abundant around here). I didn't even do a full resto on my car, but it's SO rewarding! I'm so proud of it, it's insane.

I guess there are some advantages to having a base model. It doesn't come with A/C, which many take out anyways, it's lighter, and a little stiffer due to the fact that there's no sunroof, and it doesn't come with the rear sway bar, which you may or may not want, depending on your belief about it's effectiveness. The 4 speed has the same exact ratio's as the 5sp., just without the overdrive 5th gear. (i think it's .875:1)

If I were to get another first gen though, I'd probably get a GSL or GSL-SE, just because I already have an SA.

b.k~