Willsy

Hey everyone,

I'm currently in the process of buying a 1984 rx7. I'm looking for some info on Known issues for this year.
I've been searching all day and haven't been able to find much info. Anyone got any resources that could help me out? Or maybe some personal experiences?

My biggest concern is the mileage. This car has 240K kms on it already. There's been some work done, and I know it's a 20 yr old car. But that's a frightenning number of Kms.

Thanks for your help folks.

Willsy

Ok, I'm gonna add to my own thread here...

Couple more questions from an obvious car-newbie:
1) What should I expect to pay for a 1984 GSL?
2) Though, in the long term, I plan on doing some serious work to this car (my fiancee will likely grow insanely jealous of the thing), for now I wanna keep it stock and use it year round. What kind of issues can I expect from a car this old/well used?
3) Related to the previous question, how's this car going to handle a Canadian winter?
4) Once I start making modifications to the car, what are changes do you recommend which will be both affordable and significant?

This is going to be the first car owned wholy by me and I'm pretty damned excited... and at the same time scared out of my wits that I may be getting in over my head.

cpt_gloval

iTrader: (1)

an '84 GSL with that much mileage should probably sell for $1500usd or so.

as far as issues go, look for rust in the rear wheel wells as well as under the storage bins (takes just a couple phillips screws to get 'em out). also make sure it runs smooth.

pull the radiator cap before you start it, rev the car to 3k and look for little champagne bubbles in the radiator. that's a bad sign.

it'll probably smoke a bit when you start it up, but it shouldn't be excessive and it should stop after a minute or so.

my old '83 GSL was really moody when it came to cold weather. it would run like crap until the carb warmed up, which was AFTER the engine got to operating temp. i would run it with my foot on the pedal to keep it alive until the coolant reached operating temp and then turned it off to let the heat from the engine bake the carb a bit, after about 5 minutes rest, the car would start up perfect.

these engines are very sensitive to how they've been maintained through the years. a well-maintained rotary can last way more than 200k mi. my '84 is working on seeing 220k mi. but they can easily die at 40k if they aren't maintained well.

Willsy

Cool! thanks for the info.

This was posted by the seller: "New clutch and exhaust, .... May need tie rod to cert."

riofrio

For a car that old I'd look for rust first. Specially under the wheel wells and the storage bins. See if you can get underneath it and visually inspect the chassis.
Try to get a rotary compression gauge and test the engine compression. Let us know if you need instructions on how to do this.
240K Km = 150K mi = not too bad. A well-maintained rotary engine should last at least a good 250K mi IMO.
In terms of price, it all depends. How does the car look, how does it run? Is it a GSL, or a GSL-SE? There's a big difference between them. I think a GSL in very good condition could be worth between $1500 and $2500 (and that might be pushing it). A GSL-SE in MINT condition could be worth up to $5K. See if you can post some pictures for us.
I can't think of any particular *major* issues known for these. Generally, though, they are fun and easy to work on.
There's tons of mods that you can do on it: Exhaust, intake, ignition, to name a few.
Look at the FAQ page (it's one of the sticky's), and there's pretty good coverage on the subject of buying and modding. You can also run a search on the forum and get tons of useful info.

Willsy

Here a pic: Can't see any rust from this angle...
I'm pretty sure it's not the SE. Though from what I've read i really wish it was.
I checked out the FAQ earlier. Definitely going to be refering back to that a few times over the next while!

cpt_gloval

iTrader: (1)

def not an se. looks pretty straight. as long as the engine is in decent shape and there's no rust problem, i say go for it

Willsy

still worried about the winter issue.... but **** i'm excited.

Willsy

still worried about the winter issue.... but **** i'm excited.

Willsy

still worried about the winter issue.... but **** i'm excited.

Willsy

apparently my computer is excited too... cause it just posted my message 3 times....

riofrio

How much do they want for it anyway? Is it at a dealer?

Willsy

It's a friend of my brother's.
He's selling it through an autotrader but he's giving me first crack at it.
selling for $1800 CDN. Which I think is pretty damned good.

MosesX605

My '82 had 240,000 kms when I sold it and still ran fine and my current '79 has around 175,000 kms and does the same. Don't worry about the total mileage but the general condition of the car. You will probably have to do springs/shocks and more than just one tie rod, but these parts are not too expensive.

The price is right, that's about what I'd pay for that car assuming it looks as good as the picture suggests. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty checking the car out and doing some minor maintenance, I'd say go for it.

Hadoken

Just a quick question, what does the bubbles in the radiator mean? What causes it?

bliffle

Bubbles means an internal waterseal Oring is burned. Not good (but there's a 'temporary' fix available in the archive). Usually the result of an overheating episode in the cars past. Overheating is very bad.

Two years ago I bought a fine 85GSL for $1700 in SF with 49k actual miles on it. I've been using it for my DD lately so it's up to 65k now. It's the best of my 4 FBs.

My rule is that any car over 100k is going to have problems, so it's only worth $1000 (which I figure I can lose entirely withpout being financially distressed), if it isn't an embarrassment to drive home.

B

Willsy

Speaking of which....

Since i'm pretty much a total dipshit when it comes to repairing cars... it's my intention to learn.. can anyone recommend a good shop, or particular person to go to in the Montreal, QC, Canada area?

GazXL

This is kind of ironic.

I want to purchase the same car....



If it's a friends car, then just ask them little trick questions like "Does it burn oil"? If they say NO!!! with a big grin, then you know that the car has problems.

(In Piston engines, burning oil is bad. In Rotary Engines, oil HAS TO BE injected along with the fuel to keep the seals/rings/rotars from becoming damaged)

Hades12

Buy a Manual and a Tool Box. These cars are way to easy to work on, to need the help of a shop.

WanKeL FD RX-7

iTrader: (7)

hey, i'm from quebec too, if you need help, just email me : mazda_rx793@hotmail.com and i have a Competition Yellow Mica 83 GS ..

Max