as you may know, i'm looking to buy my first car. and I want it to be a 1st gen rx7.

I test drove 3 cars today. they were all at "west coast 4 wheel drive". this company seems to be primarily a racing company that also rebuilds cars. all 3 of the cars were rebuilt.

car #1.

can2600$
GSL-SE. Black. about 210,000 KILOMETRES on it.

tires were kind of low. now power steering. very nice interior with working stereo and aftermarket rubber antenna. the steering wheel was not on straight, and combined with the low tire pressure, it felt a little flakey, handling-wise. body was very clean, almost no rust. the hood gap right in front of the window did seem a little large . the sales-lady, who was very nice and seemed very knowledgable and honest, told me the car(not the motor) was rebuilt over seven years ago.

http://frontfly.com/myrouter/rx7/01_...01_31_40PM.jpg
http://frontfly.com/myrouter/rx7/01_...01_31_57PM.jpg

car#2
can2600$ -500$ for lack of stereo equipment light blue color
gsl-xe, or something . imported from US. 230,000 MILES

Power steering was very nice. zero play in the wheel. car was a write-off due to having been broken in to. no stereo equipment at all, so they said they would knock the price down by 500$. had AC, but it was broken. Interior was NOT leather, but rather blue swuede. very good condition. car has separate keys for door and ignition, due to break in.
while it passes all emmissions tests, the car seemed to backfire excessively. the lady said they had to tune it that way to get it to pass, but it could be re-tuned to not do that.

this car had a metal sunroof, and just a taped-over hole where the antenna used to be

I forgot to take pics of this car.

car#3

GSL, can2400$.

dark brown.

While this car had a nice leather interior, the 12a motor felt weak compared to the other two cars. the engine has been "re sealed", not re-built. car has a big patch of rust behind the fender, and the front bumper was off kilter and flaking paint. the steering wheel had about 2-3 degees of play in it which was annoying.
the power antenna was stuck up.

I didn't really much care for this car.

http://frontfly.com/myrouter/rx7/01_...01_37_49PM.jpg

http://frontfly.com/myrouter/rx7/01_...01_37_16PM.jpg


Thoughts? oh yeah, and these were the first FBs i've ever driven. it's nothing like my mom's ford escort! :p the over-rev buzzer freaked me out!

oh yeah, and they all seemed to have a problem with the blinkers not shutting off when you turn.

 

I'd take car #1

 

#1 for sure

 

Definitely #1

 

Will they let you take the car to a mechanic to have checked out? Although the hood misalignment might just be that someone adjusted the hood incorrectly, it could be a sign of some damage repair. The mechanic should know.

 

1

 

#1 ,purple82 is right take it to a mechanic

 

I'd go with car number one, too. For the money, the SE's are the better cars. And the reason the 12A car felt down on power.. ::drumroll:: IT IS! Left the factory with 30 less ponies.. and on a car that started with 100hp, that's quite a bit. And besides, the car is only $2600.. that equates to, what? $500 American? That's a pretty good deal for a running driving SE.. ROFL

--Danny

 

Take #1 to YOUR mechanic. If they won't let you take it(or at least go with you while you take it) they're probably trying to hide something.

 

#1 sounds like it needs a lot of work, i wouldnt pay $1300 US for it

 

I'd go with number 1, but I wouldn't pay any where near that much for it.

 

I dunno, I think personally I'd look into #2. #1 from your description sounds like it was wrecked, and "rebuilt" which may mean nothing. It may mean somthing. the only down is that #2 has no stereo, right? for the 500, you could pick up somthing cheap, that would still be better than 18 year old stock equipment. Backfiring could be a number of things... but could probably be remedied without significant expendature.

 

I'd say none of them , there must be more than 3 FB's out there, I say keep on looking till you find one thats perfect

 

just had a look at the photo of number 1

another few things you might want to think about

1. it should have a rear spoiler
2. the rubber trim is missing from behind the rear wheel arch (around the marker light)
3. it looks like its not got a sunroof ( I thought all GSL-SE's had them)

 

No Rx-7s in the states had the rear spoiler standard. I don't know about Canada.

 

holy ****, watch out for falling toilets

 

I like #1...

A few things:

The spoiler wasn't standard, but I'm not sure is the sunroof standard on GSL-SE's or not? At least I've never seen a GSL-SE without? But from the rims, the cars is definitely a GSL-SE so...?

And A LOT of the 1st gen RX-7's I've seen seem to be missing that rear trim around the read side marker, mine included. Not hard to replace...

Get a mechanic or autobody guy you trust to give the body a good once over, also be sure to check under the read storage bins for rust. The hood should be fairly easy to re-adjust, but isn't really a big deal anyways. The rubber antenna replacement is almost always done at some point in a car's life.

What did you mean by "the steering wheel was not on straight"?
I would maybe suggest getting the tires filled up and taking another test drive, although sloppy steering is common, and VERY easy to fix.

And 210k isn't bad Those -SE 13B engines are durable as hell. My GSL-SE had 204l when I bought her, and is now at 222k. Runs GREAT, although rust is a problem out here in Southern Ontario...

 

The first car seems to be too good to be true. That hood gap is massive. Does the hood rub against the header panel at the front? The crooked steering wheel is probably due to bad front end alignment, which coupled with the hood gap seems to point to poorly repaired collision damage. Getting this car checked out is a must.

Good Luck

Matt
1979 SA22C

 

hey jutny!

when i say the steering wheel was not on straight, it was exactly that. when the car was going straight, the wheel was in a tilted position.

It didn't really 'pull' in any direction. so i think the alignment was fine. it was just very disconserting, and coupled with the low tires, it made it hard to be completely sure about it.

I will be having my dad, who has owned, driven, and repaired many many cars, take alook at it. also, I work at canadian tire, so i'll see if i can have one of our mechanics lift it up and look under.

the hood gap DID see pretty tight up front, so if it's easily adjustable, great!

about the trim... i actually didn't notice it was missing. I think it may just be the crappyness of my digicam.

it had a sunroof, btw. and the leather interior was almost perfect. stereo worked great too.

oh my god. the thought of owning this car consumes my every thought while i wok minimum wage at canadian tire... sometimes i just stand in front of the computers there and look up various parts for the car.

these cars are NOT in any of the local trader publications, so i dont think they're ging to sell too fast. a new buy-n-sell comes out on thursday, i'll check out what new fb's have come on the market then, but I think im gong to buy a ist gen within the week!

Alos, my stepdad know the owner of the dealership. that leads to interesting possibilities....mayyyybeeee...

glee!

I'm going to ******* burn my bus pass.

 

Sounds like a good car... As long as the collision check inspection check works out, it shoudld be fine

Keep us posted...