Hey all. I tried to look for a general Buyer's Guide for FC's, but couldn't find anything. If there is something like that here, link it to me.

Anyways, I am going to look at a 1990 FC tomorrow, and I would love your guy's advice on what to look out for. I have plenty of experience with project cars, mostly miata's from 1990-1999. I also have a garage space with all the tools you could need (for a piston engine at least) and there is 0 timeframe or pressure to get it up and running. The car could be there fore a year and I would be fine. I know my way around a Miata. However, I know very little about RX-7's. I know how a rotary works, I know it's a mazda from the time period I'm comfortable with, I know about the OMP/Pre-mix (I'd like to keep OMP(I think?)), people tell me they are money pits and brutal to own, and I think I know how to treat one when it works. That's about it. Haven't driven one, haven't even seen one in person up close, and my only knowledge comes from some googling, watching videos, and reading this site.

So, now that you have some context for my ability, here's some info on the car.

It's a 1990 GXL, the model I want (besides a turbo ). The engine/transmission are not in the car. The body seems to be in great shape. The mileage is really good for a car from 1990. I know miatas rust easily from the sills and frame horns, and while I am not concerned about rust on the FC based of what I have seen, any advice on common on rust spots or areas on the car where the rust would be or rust spots that if unchecked would lead to serious structural corrosion. I'm going to try to hand crank the engine to see if it spins. I am going to try to check the electronics, more below. Besides general used car stuff, what should I look out for on '90 RX-7's? Anything particular you recommend I take a look out or focus on? Especially for a rx-7 newbie?

I am going to try to spin the engine by hand to see if it is seized. If it spins fine, if I buy the car I will just plop it in the engine bay and see if it'll work that way. If it doesn't, the price on the car is so good that I am perfectly fine buying another 13b or having the original rebuilt. So, the engine not working really isn't that big of a deal for me, but the seller says the engine ran fine before so I am going to bet that it'll work fine if taken care of considering the mileage.

In terms of the electronics, someone else said I can put in a new battery, ground the starter and then try the electronics to see what is busted. Does this sound right? It would be a huge positive to be able to test the electronics before I buy it, and more importantly without blowing anything. Is this a realistic way of testing the electrical system without damaging anything? If not, what is?

Any other general advice on what to look for inspecting an FC to buy would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all for the help, and I hope it is a good car and I get to join the club soon.

 

if the engine isn't in the car you've kind of blown past any normal guide, however that is how most FC's seem to come....

first thing is that while Mazda made both cars in the same factory at the same time, that is about all they share, you'll soon see they are very different.
the Rx7's are well documented though, there is a book, SAE papers, training books and shop manuals, most of the known ones are here Foxed.ca - Mazda RX-7 Manuals

Second FC's have become really rare, Mazda has all of the gaskets and bushings and engine parts, but if you needed something else, its getting thin on the ground.

Third every FC was driven like it was stolen since new (sometimes they were stolen), often with minimal maintenance, and for some reason its unusual for an FC to come with any paperwork, like service records. i
t happens, its just out of the ordinary.

so the car, the interior is the hardest thing to fix. is it clean? is it missing stuff? just take it for granted things like the clock don't work, its a 10 minute fix
The exterior is the next most difficult thing, is it straight? rust is a problem on the sunroof even here where bare metal doesn't really rust. Paint can be redone, its just expensive. like the Miata there is a band of undercoat that goes around the car, it should be there and the seam should be crisp and straight. it was also painted like the miata, so body is assembled, painted and then everything else gets put on, so there shouldn't be any overspray on anything

for the chassis, the FC is pretty good, but look for what you can. make sure you get all of the calipers, they are really difficult to find. the brake master will probably be bad, and the paint under it too, 1st step in every FC resto is to paint that area, lol
Engine bay, this is the tricky part. you want to make sure what you get is complete, which is hard if its apart. there are enough variations of the FC that you're usually looking for some little widget and its either stupid expensive or NLA
for the engine itself the guy took it out for a reason, if you can find out what that is, then you can decide if you should put it back or not. take what the guy says with a grain of salt.
also since its an S5 you should either look at, or post some pics and make sure it is the correct engine. lots of S5's running around with S4 engines because someone wanted the S5 rotors

good luck! i'm not sure what a good price is, but if its clean and straight and mostly complete i'd go for it

 

Aaron Cake's buyer's guide is a good place to start. That being said, without an engine you don't really have much to check besides a solid interior and straight body.

https://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy1.htm