I found a 1988 GXL for sale at a dealership for 1350. They say it needs a new alternator, clutch, and tires(2 of the tires are flat). Its just sitting in the very back of the dealership. It has 125,000 miles on it.

How much should I offer to them or how much do you think I can get it for???
How much do you think it would cost to fix it up??

I need to get really good winter tires because I live in UT.

The only thing I dont like about it is the red interior.

 

Rx7-15,

As usual, get a compression test done on the motor before making any decisions.

If the results are good, then have a good rx7 mechanic look it over and spend at least 3 hours looking it over in detail.

 

Where in UT do you live? I live in Salt Lake and if it is in SL then I maybe could help you look at it. There is a vert at a dealership down down that looks like it is in good cond. I would buy it if my TII didn't cost so much to fix all the time.

The Alt. I got one for around a hundred.
The tires vary on what brand you want to go with, but I would say 50 each.
clutch: if you go with OEM it should be around 300, but you could upgrade it if you are looking to add some mods.
If they want 1350 offer them 1200 if the motor is OK, but keep in mind that is a lot of miles.

 

I live in Roy right next to ogden, its about 15-20 min drive to get to salt lake.. I usually go out to the races out by the airport and rc *******, how about you.
The car is in ogden on Riverdale road at an iszu lot.
I was thinking of offering them 900 and take out a 3 or 4k loan and pay it off and fix it up..
By the way my name is Mike.

 

I went to roy on sun for a car show. It was OK, but there was a lot of ghetto cars. If they will go for 900, that would be great, but I think you will have to settle somewhere in between. I used to go watch those races, but they just get busted now. I race at Rocky Mountain Raceway. There is a big race sept 14. It will be great, but I don't think my car will be ready.

WOW if you take 3 or 4k out let me know if want any help with the mods. you could do quite a bit. Rotary is the best.

Chris

 

Hell Ya baby sept 14th is the battle of the imports.. Have fast is your rx7????? Theres about 5-7 different places they go to race but almost all of them get broken up..
Have you seen a black 1992 Prelude with a black widow kit on it. ( And an asian kid with ugly 14 inch rims on it)??
Do you know an asian kid called jerry??? He usually flags the races..
Did you go to the ZDR car show in Layton 2 weeks ago???
How much does porting cost??

 

As soon as I learn to drive my car it should do low 13's. I am going to the track next wed to tune and get her ready. Im not from around here, so I don't know too many people up here. I've only lived here for about a year. I guess there is a new place to race that I am going to next weekend let me know if you want to go. I can let you know where it is. When I get my turbo upgrade finished over the winter my car will be in the 12's.

Porting is easiest to do when you do a rebuild. That's when mine was done.

I heard about the show in Layton, but I didn't make it to it. Too far of a drive. Was it any good.

Any new news about the car? If you get it let me know, I have talked to a few people from here that want to make a club for Utah 7 owners.

 

The Layton car show was off the hook!!
Along with the tight cars there was a booty shackin contest.
I havent got the rx7 YET but hopefully soon.
If they start an rx7 club here I would love to join..
I'll try and find out where the races are this weekend..

 

Back to the original question, the $1350 car. 125k miles is only 10k miles a year, not too bad all things considered. Being in Utah, I'd imagine that the corrosion factor isn't too bad, and I'd suggest the compression test like the others. I have had rotaries with 150k on the original motor, so it all depends on maintenance and upkeep.

Personally for $1350 I'd spend 15 minutes looking the car over, definately run it and look for oil leaks. If the overall condition is reasonable, it may have a lot of life left in it--or not. It's a 13 year old car. I'm not trying to say $1350 isn't a lot of money (I remember my first car was $1400, not cheap to me at the time!!) but almost any car this age is going to have some problems. The key is avoiding the catastrophic surprises--ie. motor is shot, major electrical gremlin, transmission. Beyond that all you're really facing is a less than optimal candidate for aftermarket items. The support here is tremendous in terms of knowledge depth.

If this were my $1350? I'd ask them to swap something onto the rims to get them to hold air long enough to drive for 10-15 minutes and drive it--Fix-a-Flat--I don't care. Get it rolling. How bad is the clutch --slipping in 5th & 4th only or all gears? Lastly, how does it run, is it blowing a lot of smoke? Does it idle smoothly after warmup (3-5 minutes). While I agree a compression test is a good measure, it doesn't tell you everything. Certainly 3 hours of mechanic time plus a compression test is going to run a few hundred $$. Not to say it's not a good idea, but if you're looking at a car like this, you're priorities should be to identify major repair expenses before you buy the car--know what you're getting into.

My car cost $6k back in 1999. It had 105k on it, original everything. A lot of money?....yes, but being a southern car and the condition of all of the bodywork and parts made it worth it to me in here in the rustbelt. I have yet to see a better preserved 10th Anniv, but my goal is partly restoration based.

Good luck with your decision. If my garage were bigger, I'd have you buy it on my behalf assuming it's in not too bad of shape. Dealers are very good at not losing money on cars you know.....

Greg O.

 

I havent had a chance to get a compression test done on it.. Right now it doesn't even start because the car has been sitting there forever and I'm guessing that the battery needs to be recharged..
I know the car has just been siting there for over a year...
Would I be able to get the car for even cheaper because its just been sitting there???

 

Since it's been sitting for so long, there's a few things you have to do before starting it to clear the inner gunk, unstick & lube stuff, replace the spark plugs, etc...

Correct me if I'm wrong people, but I'd think you'd want to do the compression test while it's cold and after it's been running/driving for a while. Sitting for that long isn't good for the Apex seals. The compression test (both hot & cold) would be the final say so though.

 

Thx
I was planning on getting the things that it needs to run than do the ATF tricks and blow the junk out.
Is this a good idea.

 

buying a used car is great fun. If the guy won't bargin with you then don't buy it. I think that you could get it a lot less. Just let them know that you are interested, but not eager, then tell them that is too much for the condition that its in and miles ect. Start to walk a way and I bet they will lower the price. If you are really interested in buying it, I could poss. come out there to check it out for you, and talk them down. I got my TII for 3k and the guy was stubbern to get 4k. The ATF trick is a good idea, but I would also change all of the fluids. Start out clean. Let me know c_shepherd7@hotmail.com
Oh yeah if you want to check out my car go heremy car

 

Today I'm going to go in there and tell them an offer and see how it goes and let them think about it for a day or two. And hopefully they'll accept my offer of 8 or 900. Then I could take a 3k loan out and get what it needs then work on other performance parts. It will cost anywhere from 500-800 to repair it then the rest is for performance. What can I do with the left over money???
Any ideas and prices, or how much it will add????

 

Many ideas for upgrades, safe upgrades. Jus let me know if you get it. My car will be out Fri. Night, In a undisclosed place Email me if you want to know where we meet up.

 

I finally got to start it up and it started up real nice and as soon as they took the jumper cables off the car turned off, so I know for sure that it needs an alternator. I sat down with them and started talking prices and I got them to drop it down to 1k...
I just need to take at the loan now......

 

Remember,

Low compression on a rotary engine does NOT mean loss of horsepower. Get the compression test anyway.

 

I guess I should get the compression test...
What kind of numbers should I get with the compression tests if it is good??

 

Dealership converted them for me to a % of OEM - so I don't remember. If you post the #s here, we can probably do the same.

 

Any new news? I went out on fri. There were a lot of people. Some bad *** cars, but the cops were every where. I sick of going to those night races. I will be at the track from now on if I want to race. Let me know if you got the car

 

I just need to get the loan now..
I'm going to take out a 2500 dollar loan fix it up a little.....
It has a cool paint job.. Its that rare green type color....