A ‘82 GSL was my first car back in ‘03.

he may experience some oversteer, or locking the brakes, but he only has 100hp. I’d say that’s safer than all the airbags in the world and a 300hp STi. And these are valuable lessons to learn.

I made my mistakes, but it also helped me, you can’t zone out in traffic when you have to row through the gears in a slow car, you aren’t fiddling with touch screens or infotainment menus, just twist ***** and pull levers.

And what I really learned having a FB as a first car. Gas is expensive, and having to always top off the oil and coolant made me really consider if I wanted to make the drive. That car wasn’t a faultless appliance that got me places anytime I wanted.

 

Stick shifts are great first cars, especially these days, because it's a heck of a lot harder to be messing around with some gadget when you're shifting the gears. Pair that with non-assisted, loose steering (aka no knee steering) and it's a fully hands on operation. My phone is in the center console 99.9% of the time when driving, even though I have a phone mount permanently affixed to my windshield. Only time it ever comes out is for navigation, and that's it. I'm personally on the other side of the fence here about adding a phone mount or new infotainment system as it's just an easier way to distract ones self. Just my two cents.


As for the mechanical bits, I'd definitely check out everything that the others have already suggested, but I'd certainly emphasize tires. I know that at this point the inspection was already done, but as gracer7-rx7 mentioned, tires with good break-away characteristics (ie, predictable) are up near the top of the list for me. These cars are fun as all get out to drive, but when you're pushing the limits (which your son will inevitably do) they can swing around. With the stock 13" rims these cars sport the options are limited, although I had fairly good luck with some Cooper Trendsetters. In the dry they were very predictable, albeit not particularly sporty, and in the wet they were adequate and still perfectly predictable. This being from someone who daily drives their SA year-round.

Regarding the oil leak, unfortunately that is one of the more "fun" oil leaks that these engines can develop (assuming it's near the top driver's side corner of the engine). There is no way to properly repair a dowel pin oil leak without tearing down the engine. That said, there have been some creative fixes that folks have come up with; searching "dowel pin oil leak" on the forum will bring up a number of examples. And of course - while I'm not a fan of it - there are stop leak products. I'm not going to suggest you use them as I am not a proponent, however plenty of people claim they do wonders.

Anywho, best of luck on the car! It's going to be a fun project in one way or another.

 

My youngest, who is 18, has a GSLSE that is being rebuilt. the PO decided it was worthwhile to remove the cat and not hook up the aux port lines. The sleeves were not removed. So that worked well for them. Anyways I talked to my kid and suggested that the silver lining here was that the car would bu underpowered as he familiarized himself with driving. When he can afford a proper exhaust then he gets the aux ports activated , kinda like a power up.

I mention this as would disengaging the secondaries on a 12a or putting in a restrictor pill in the vacuum lines tame things down a bit?

Also, I would look at brake pads that are not autozone stock. I would consider Hawk HPS (street compound ) or a similarly marketed pad set.

one more thing.

You need a bit of a motorcyclist mentality when it comes to safety. One example is always have a way out. Do not drive up on the back bumper on a car stopped in front of you on the freeway. ( stopped at intersection or heavy traffic for example). That way while stopped your son can monitor the rear view and if a car or likely truck comes barreling up behind him he can quickly pull to the shoulder.

that may be overthinking it but there is a vigilance in driving any smaller car, modern or classic.

 

To what Richard said ^^^
As for the motorcyclist mentality, I totally agree. If a truck t-bones you it's bumper is going to punch you on the cheek. Guess who wins that fight. At least with a modern low-slung sports car (350Z, BRZ, etc) they have side curtain airbags and stronger A pillars.

I don't know about dissabling the secondaries though. I bought my '85 in Providence RI and drove it back to Philly that night. I didn't realize the linkage rod that allows the secondaries to operate was disconnected (the hammer sitting on a seesaw thingy). I drove 9 hours on the highway on primaries only, and while it could eventually get up to speed there were no quick evasive moves possible. Richard mentioned leaving space so you can make quick lane changes in a panic situation, but with only 40 or so horses on primaries only, that gets less likely.

 

So true, I have personally avoided a number of possible rear end collisions doing this. Diving to the right to get out of the way has become automatic for me over the years.

 

If you are going to do one thing, and one thing only ,, replace all the brake hoses and hardware . A blown engine won't kill anyone, not being able to stop will.

 

^^^So true. Everybody wants to go faster, but not everybody thinks about stopping. Heck, look at the Big 3 in the muscle car years. You could special-order a big block in a lot of mid-sized sedan, who's brakes could barely handle the base 6 cyl.

 

I’m sure this is overwhelming at this point. But I remembered something I feel I should share as well. I was about 20 when I got my first Rx7. It was a ‘83 no mods. We went out and put some cheap tires on it. I was going for a fun run drive with the local rx7 group. There really wasn’t any speeding, maybe 5-10 over but the speed limit was respected, although slowing down for the corners was not. My cheap *** tires exceeded traction and I did a spin, two actually… on a two lane road..

unfortunately 13” tires are impossible to find that are appropriate for this chassis. Find some 14” or 15” rims and get quality rubber.

 

Oil leak? Meh, send it and check/refill regularly.

 

Better to leak on the driver side than on the manifold side A.K.A. smoke city.

 

The body and bumpers on these are very strong (been rear ended multiple times in my old one). 100% check the clutch and brake lines! Losing one of these means losing control, losing control makes less experienced drivers panic, panicking makes people dumb.