I don't have an RX-7 yet but I have driven my friends 1987 GXL (non-turbo) and its nice and fast. So I found a 1991 that was in the near by area and went to take a look at it with my friend. My friend's car has 87k miles on it everything stock. (no rebuilds yet)

The 1991 was stock engine wise as well, yet this thing didn't take off nearly as fast as the 87. From what my friend said and from what ive been reading here, it should be a little faster then his 87 ? Something like 10 to 15hp difference? The 91 had 78k miles (with no rebuilds yet as well) on it so we were thinking something was up with the engine. Vacuum leak or 5th/6th port stuck maybe?

It just didn't nearly have the same amount of power the 87 did.

I was wondering if this 1991 has problems or they are infact slower then the 1987 version of the car? Thanks for your time.

 

yeah if it seems flat on the top end it could be the aux. ports not opening or maybe the VDI is not functioning properly. if a car doesn't get driven hard (over 4k rpm)for a long time the rods that control the 5th & 6th ports can stick. the 91 should be faster, it has 160 hp stock and the 87 NA has 146 hp stock.

 

Hmm...I know who used to own that car.

They weren't too much faster. Despite the 14hp difference, the S5's also weighed in more. But the condition of the engine has a lot to do with it.

 

hmm thanks for the reply...

The car seemed to be in great condition other then that not climbing in rpms very fast.. well it had two small dents, one in the front passanger wheel well and another at the driver side rear wheel well. It seems pretty significant to me but I don't know how the prices are for these parts if they needed replacement...

You think it would be in my interest to pick up this 1991? Or are they known for having more issues then other years? The guy wants 4000 for it.

How much would the VDI cost to fix? Or is it easy enough to do myself? Im fairly decent at doing some r & r, havent done a rotery yet obvously.

Would I need to take the ports out I take it to unstick / relube them??

I just don't want to pass something up that I might miss out on.

Hmm well really im just looking to find an RX-7 that would be pretty good in the reliability side of things. (thats why im not going for the TII since ive heard horror stories)

Dan H: You know who used to own whish car? The 1991? or 87?

Such decisions... maybe I don't know enough to be getting into buying one yet...

 

to me $4000 seems a little high

 

just checked kelly blue book private party value for that car is $3735.00. thought you might like to know

 

Ahh great, thanks for all the replies... I guess I might try and throw a lower price at him 3500 maybe... Otherwise keep searching I suppose.

 

Thats wierd cuz i just checked KBB and got $4280... 4000 sounds like a fair price to me.

 

hmm yeah I just did kelly blue book as well, in FAIR condition it came out to be 3,650 and i put fair becuaes of the two dents in the body and the rev thing with it...

 

If the RPMS aren't climbing fast or you notice stutter on the top end, besides clogged cats it could VDI or aux/6 ports as mentioned above. My 91 vert feels much faster than some of the 86-88 Series V cars I've driven, and all I've done is a full tuneup, partial headers, and a performance main catalytic converter.

 

Any RX7 is a good RX7!

For the record my 91 with 53,6XX miles cost me 3500. And it's the fully optioned "B" package.

 

Heh, in my area, they tend to cost a little over $4,000 as well..... Not many here either


Bay Area.. Interesting... I have a friend there who says he sees FCs all the time....

 

holy crap 4000$ for an NA.. shoot thats double the price i paid for my TII. look around before you buy that thing.

 

I think you are talking about my old car. Check the pix in the sig to make sure. I'm pretty sure it is mine. For what it's worth the car pulled very hard when I owned it and no known problems.

 

100 bux says the cat is clogged

 

It could be. I keep in touch with the current owner and I think he has true duals on it now. Not sure if he took it off before this guy checked it out.

 

Well if the cat was clogged wouldn't I see some sort of temperature incrase while driving it? It was sitting dead center on the temp gauge, or maybe even a little lower then the middle...

but again im new so I don't know very much about these nice cars.

 

As for the exaust... It looked and sounded like it was stock (duel) exaust that was on there. He didnt mention anything about the exaust being modified at all..

Whoops sorry for the double post, I forgot about the edit button...

 

yea, but yours has 200k (per your sig)

NA's go for 4k all the time here, Turbo's 5k-10k easy. Condition dependant obviously.

 

get a turbo and never look back

 

Can a Turbo II be reliable for a daily driver? I was under the impression they suffered from more issues then the N/A ones and you only had a slight increase of HP from the turbo.

 

yes, I've had three TurboIIs, all of which I used as daily drivers.. of course if you buy a beat up one with an unknown history, then you're taking a risk.

 

with the right person who doesn't abuse the car it can be very reliable i have a daily driver though because im really rough on mine.

 

My kbb value says it is only worth 2900. It has to do with what area you live in, I guess cars arent worth much around here...

 

The car probably needs a tune up. Spark plugs, air filter, and an oil change.

Like everyone mentioned, other causes:
stuck 6 ports, stuck VDI, clogged cat... Also does the check engine light come on? The car could be in "limp mode" due to a bad TPS or Oil Metering Pump.

Overall, nothing mentioned above is difficult to diagnose and fix. Use the lack of power to bargin the price down...