20Bforme

the wife and i were walking around town looking for some good rummage sales when i got a call from her parents (which were doing the same thing). her dad mentioned that someone had a silver 1st gen for sale a few streets up from us. i get mildly excited (i really wanted a 2nd get, but a 1st gen would make me happy) and we take a walk up there... turns out to be a fairly mint 2nd gen base model for $900. the owner and i shoot calls back at each other for the next few days. that next sunday afternoon, i stopped out at his place and talked him down to $700 minus the lame pioneer stereo that he removed.

thats how i came across my diamond in the rough:

InsomniacFC

iTrader: (4)

That's looks great for $700! Nice find dude.

RTY PWR

iTrader: (4)

found mine for $1300 in the iwanna newspaper here in greenville. '87 gxl with 150,xxx miles on it. went looked at it, wanted it. a week later i sold my 86 fail *** prelude for $1000 and went to get it. some minor stuff needed work like windows, no radio, and the radio surround was gone. year and half later, ridin in a '87 gxl w/ tII swap, still no radio tho, but who needs it when you can hear that turbo spoolin so loud

Tyler [S5 FC]

Well I picked up my first Rx7 just one year ago (Aug 07) and love it!

I have been obsessed with cars since I first knew what one was. I always loved Euros until I was about 14, when I first started watchin some Option Videos. And was amazed at those. Late night canyon drifting in skylines and silvias. And one car stood out way more than the others. A super clean red S5 TII. And I remember just wanting that car so bad! In the video, the guy wrecked his car, and it left a scar. After that, I just got what was available and affordable... and reasonable.... A Honda Hatch. Built that up and was satisfied, but i knew I needed better, I deserved better. So I broke up with my Fiance, which in turn, made my funds more available... stupid gold diggin... well you know. So about two blocks from my house there was always this Pearl White GXL just sittin there for sale for about two years. Noone picked it up cause they were asking $5,500 for it! Although it just had a custom pearl paint, brand new rebuild (only 6k on the new engine) and was in immaculate condition. My best friends sisters ex husbands sister was the one who actually owned the car, so when I told him I was interested they seemed pretty anxious to get rid of it. So with a couple weeks of haggling, I picked her up for $4k. Which i sold the honda for the exact same price that week. So it was a straight up trade pretty much. After dumpin about 1k into fixes she has been runnin like a champ. Minor things here and there, but nothin i can't handle! When i got her, she was completely stock (minus injectors, intake, and a TII hood) But I've got some major makeover plans. Just finished the suspension over the summer, and am doing the TII engine swap this spring. Shootin for 350 whp, which should be cake walk. And hopefully during the summer I am either gonna roll the fenders or add some wider fenders, and get wider wheels to compensate for the power increase. But as she sits she is still pretty quick... not on the straights, but on road courses and mountain passes. I love the Rx7 and will never get rid of her! She will be solely a track car, but for now my DD. And love the shet out of her!!!!

LaSkt9

well there was a guy selling it on the way to my school i drove past it everyday going once i get the money... so i graduated started work at cat and 5gs later and 2 full van trips i have my turbo ii with 2 spare engines and trannys and tons of other random crap lol

smokie

iTrader: (5)

well mines was a few years ago....at the time when i was married i was looking for a car...my god broter told me that my good friend was going to give his rx7 to charity so i told him to have him call me he called and i told him i want it so i pick it up from him for free and drive for about 3 or 4 months and it got stolen well when i got the car back by the way it was a 86 base model no ac no power steering no power mirrors so any ways after the police finds the car i tell my god brother that i want a turbo swap so we do the swap and a couple years later the car gets recked i get a rx8 and it cant be financed....so i get into a sentra (that i hate) and i loose my job and they take the car well by the time i can come up with money to get the car they sell it....so i was carless for about a month or so and i go to mazdatrix and dave lets me know that he has a 88 gxl for dirt cheap and i picked it up and also picked up a race engine for cheap and now it is a work in progress

shika805

iTrader: (1)

i found my car at a garage sale... early birds gets the worm!!! ha!

ArtOfRuin

iTrader: (1)

Good ol' Craigslist and a very motivated seller.

Slammedblk7

iTrader: (7)

Got my first one in mid 01' from a newspaper ad for $2200(90'GXL)and then saved my second one(87'T2) from the junkyard in late 03' for free.

rksti89

i guess you can say it all started earlier in this year at about may....i was deeply into cars and loved the fc because of GT3 and GT4. I was big into road course racing (laguna seca was my fav along with trail mountain on the GT games) and of course was into drifting because watching WRC got me started and then saw initial D to see that it can be done on tarmac too. well i was working a bus boy job and just broke up with my first serious girlfriend and was depressed. one of the guys i met at work drifted on his nights off and did touge too. at first i didnt know this untill i saw his hachi sitting in front of the restaurant. i asked him if it was his hachi and from that moment on we became best friends and i was hooked into the racing world. soon i decided i needed a car to race too so i started looking into affordable yet easy to tune and drift cars. 240s popped up but i refused to get one since everyone and their mother has a s13 and s14 are expensive as hell(4k or higher in nor cal). i then thought subie because i loved rally and thought they would be perfect for the touge with the right suspension but they are expensive to. my last thought was on hachi rokus since my friend had one but i soon realized its a bitch to find a gts or to upgrade the sr5 to gts yet alone find one running and in good condition. so i was about ready to give up.

in june my friend asks me about rx7s...me loving the style of fd and fc jumped with joy but i easily doubted owning one since i saw fds were expensive and not knowing to much about rotaries. well soon enough i find fcs aren't as bad in price and pursued the idea...i eventually find an '87 base for 800. it aparently had only passenger side fender and rocker arm damage(under the passenger door) and a "clogged injector problem" so we go take a look and we check it out...clean body and interior, an engine with 174,xxx miles and flat tires. we talk them down to 600 and i take it home...turns out, after we put the injectors back in and the intake, it was just a bad fuel pump, i buy one of a fellow seven owner for 40 bucks and bam it runs. i soon bought a parts car for 220 and now my seven has the five lug with upgraded brakes, r32 wheels and a custom apexi N1 exhaust. i couldn't be happier

rksti89

all of my seven friends always complain on how crap their fcs are and say how jealous they are of my clean and complete interior....mine is only 75% as clean as this and 90% on complete compared to yours...i should show them yours and say no...this is a CLEAN seven.

killalot13601

iTrader: (5)

Alright, I give in here's my story.

Alright, so Im in high school. My Jr. year, I meet a kid who tells me he bought a 87 GLX for 900 bucks, it didnt run. Im like dude you should let me take a look at it and see what I can do, mabye I can get it running.

So I go over to his place and check it out. It had fuel and spark and compression. It was mind boggling. Never got it running. So for the next year we were pretty much best friends. I turbo'd his 2001 cavalier 2.2 at no cost. He is my bro so obviously. Somewares along all that I get the rx-7 running turns out the AC seized up and couldnt get the car turning over fast enough. I cut the belt it started right up ran AWSOME.

2 years down the road it is still in his yard. He joins the marines were bro's for life without a doubt. He comes home from boot camp and decides his 6 port N/A needs a turbo.

I knew how much work it was to turbo the 6 port... he said he would help as much as possible. I picked up a T4 manifold off from Ebay and a used garret GT35r.
I everything fit perfect no modifications.

He has a week before he is going back to work so we have a week. I get the turbo on, oil lines, downpipe made, everything but the intercooler piping.

Time ran out.

His car is sitting for prolly 2 months and one random phone call he tells me I can have it. So I go get it and finish the turbo setup immediatly. Start delivering pizza with it and having fun. Waste gate line failed. Its clear what happens after that. So I chug home on 1 rotor. Tear the engine out that day. Call a junkyard get a running 13b swap it in the next day. Sold the car for 3500.

Went down and found a 240sx for 600 in great shape. I drive that for a short while, not a huge fan of 240's after driving my seven. My other buddy wants a 240 and I want a seven. So we go to Syracuse(NY).

I find a Gold 86 base. He bought it for 500, we trade straight up. I do a TII swap on it and thats how the story sits.


Thanks for reading


Chris

10thaniv

iTrader: (1)

I was driving home from another wasted weekend at my friends lake house. Rain,wind.. Im pulling my 1988 Glastron Ski boat, btw, I paid 4000 for it. I pass by a mazda dealership and a perfect 10th anniv is sitting there. Ive always wanted one. I pull over and take a look. A salesman walks over and I say, "this is my car." They wanted 8900 for it. I told him I have a trade in and cash. He looks at my xterra and says ok. I say no I want to trade in the boat. He says he need to talk to his manager, but he will be in the next day. I tell him "I'll be back." I go home and detail the boat. Looks new. The next day I get a call from the saleman and the deal starts. I show up and they try to low ball my boat. I drive off 2 times before the dealerships owners son comes out and wants the boat. I give them the boat and 1500. I got a 10 AE with 56000 miles in mint condition. I'm happy.

RxFuel

iTrader: (1)

my vert has been in the family since it was purchased brand new by aunt in 88, she took good care of the care and drove it as a weekend car till about 95 when she started traveling, she put in the garage and it was forgotten about for almost 6 years, I moved near her in highschool, and one day she needed my help cleaning out her storage unit, I find the car in mint condition under some junk and immediately begin freaking out because I had assumed she sold it so long ago, she lets me take it for free just tow it home, Needed a good tune up and new fluids and battery and tires, but it fired right up and only had 70k miles on it and was 5 speed.

revox7

iTrader: (17)

i was driving down to my firends house one day when i saw this older gentlemen ptting a FS sign on his car i noticed it was an rx7 i pulled up looked at the car it was in great condition paint interior i loved it except for the fact that it was a 2+2 guh i test drove it ne ways and found that the driveshaft was dented so it rattled lot above 40mph i asked what the lowest hed go he said 800 after some negotiating and price relating he let it go for 500 i got a ned drive shaft for 400 and now i have a no problem running drift car

20Bforme

go right ahead... granted, she probably need a good cleaning/dusting. she has been sitting in a dirty old garage for the past 2 years... covered... this year i hope to bring her home.

g14novak

iTrader: (1)

Alright. So my story begins probably back in about 2006. I was 16. I had just dropped out of high school because I was so far behind, it would literally be impossible for me to catch back up. I decided to start going to SCC (Seminole Community College) for a adult high school program that they run there. Every day on my way to school, I would pass this little buy-here-pay-here and they had this little (what I thought at the time) Porsche sitting out front. I use to look at it every day when I was riding to school with my mother and say "I'm going to own that car, I don't know what it is, but it looks really nice."

After passing it every weekday for about 2 months, I started researching. I actually found the 944 Porsche, but it looked nothing like this car that I kept seeing. Doing more research, I found out that the car I was seeing was a 2nd generation rx-7. I managed to find my way onto teamfc3s.org where I started doing research on this car. This is where I got stuck to the car at. I had never heard of a rotary before this point. All of a sudden, I start seeing all this stuff about the motor only runs on spinning triangles, no valves or cams or anything.

This REALLY caught my attention and I did more research about Felix Wankel and the rotary engine. Everything from the 40A to the upcoming 16X. I think I read every single main and side page about rotary engines on wikipedia. I was ready for this car.

I went to the buy-here-pay-here on August 7th 2008 (yes, the car was at the same place for 2 years) to take a look at the car. When I get there, the first thing out of the salesmans mouth was "Ah, I see you have interest in the rx-7. Do you understand how the rotary engine works? At this point I explained to him that I'd read everything their is to find about the motor. At this point, I was ready to throw him the money for his asking price, which was originally 3700 plus title transfer fees and tag fees. This is where I started finding all the quirks that the car has now. When he first fired it up, it was really hard starting. I was able to tell him it had low compression, talked him down on a couple dents and the sunroof opening extremely slowly, as well as the outside handle for the passenger door not working. Left the lot with my 1989 gunmetal GTU that day for 2600, tag and title included.

First thing out of the parking lot, I didn't understand that you cant just stomp the gas (use to driving my friends little honda prelude ). it was a 90 degree turn out of the lot onto a highway. I spun in about 3 full circles before I could get the car back the right direction to start going.

And I've been hooked since.

Heres a picture of the car from the first day I had my baby girl .
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Xenium911/l_4d80f0933163c4e07aff7151aee70aa7.jpg">

rksti89

what you got planned for her, just keeping her stock or a special build in mind?

beautiful story i love the spinning out part haha

fcdrifter13

I just wanted something different. I bought my first FC when i was 16 or something like that. I have had my fair share since then. Hell my memory is so bad I cant remember half of them but I have all kinds of titles.

iani1.1

iTrader: (13)

bought my first 7 july 06, loved it TII swap custom fmic then regrettably traded for a brand new 06 gsxr. then bought another jan 07 and plan on never trading or selling EVER!!

20Bforme

i have a lot planned... but weather itll happen is a different story

rksti89

im gonna guess it depends on how much money you an put towards your plans haha

cosmo7

iTrader: (3)

Well I seen a car out in my grandpas fram and he said I can have it if I got it to run so I got that **** running and I took my 88 convertibel 7 home. All it really needs now is a new top.

shazmybot

Well, my story started back when I was nearing the end of high school and was bored one evening at my buddy's house, thumbing through some of his DVDs when my finger lands on a blank case. I pop it open, reading a burned DVD that read "Initial D Battle Stage". I'm not gonna lie; I've dabbled in anime since I was still in grade school and had heard that Initial D was about street racing. At the time, I was still into Hondas, mostly the EF and EG generations. Needless to say I popped it in, thinking I'd see a few Civics running around in circles whilest someone shouted about Godzilla. I was, of course, wrong for the most part. I did, however, leave my buddy's house with one thing burned into my mind: FD3S.

So I ended up doing some research on that magical letter/number combination and found information on the RX-7 and its rotary engine. Needless to say I had never wanted a rotary as much as I did when I saw that triangle spin. It fascinated me in both design and in terms of what it could do. However, college and money pinching led to me benching the desire for a few years.

In the previous summer, I rekindled my desire for a rotary powered vehicle, even if it wasn't an FD. I started searching the local classified ads, as well as Craigslist, and the regional automotive club message boards. On my third day of searching, I found this:

It was an '87 SE with no engine or transmission for $400. The previous PREVIOUS owner had blown the engine, so the guy I bought it from had invested money into doing an S5 TII swap, but ended up selling the engine for parts because it was carbon-locked when he got it. He had already swapped over a TII rear end and driveshaft, so I knew my work wouldn't be that hard. I bought the car the next day and had it towed to my house that evening.



I gave her a good bath, replaced some of the interior trim, threw some clean fender-mats on the floor, and stored her away for the life-saving surgery in the spring.

It should be noted that I sold my integra-powered civic hatchback to make room for this beauty, so I've renounced my EG-head status and now prefer playing with my Wankel.

RotaryJun

Years ago, back when I was starting my freshman year in high school, my brother ordered a dvd set about racing. I had no idea what it was but I ended up watching it with him. It was Initial D Stage 1, 2, and 3. Needless to say, I was pulled into the whole drift scene. I really liked the 86 but the character driving it wasn't nearly as interesting as another driver, Takahashi Ryosuke. I fell in love with his car and started researching about RX-7s. I got sucked into further than I did into the drift scene. I eventually found this website and began reading.

About 2 years later, during the summer going into my junior year, I had a job and saved a bit of money so I decided to try and find a car. I went straight to eBay and it was an incredible find (to me at least). Arctic silver Turbo II, here in my area! I didn't quite have enough money but after a few words with my older bro and my mom, they agreed to help me out. We contacted the owner and went in to take a look at it. It smoked a little bit, had dents, bent driver's side fender, and a rough rear bumper, but none it bothered me one bit. I had to have it. We ended up putting a bid very, very late and we won. We picked it up a few days later and brought it home. I had my dream car as my very first car.

These are the very first pics I took. The stickers are faded purple because it belonged to the PO's wife.