I'm a new owner of an '89 NA RX-7, and I purchased it with 240k miles on it. I bought it off of a friend who was able to get it for a good deal himself, but he wasn't using it and wanted it to have a good home... :P

I just finished replacing the clutch and the hydraulics associated with that, along with the pilot and throwout bearings while I was in there. The engine itself seems to be in really good condition, as it doesn't shoot out any smoke on start-up and it eats very little oil(I've gone through a pint in the past two months). It runs a little rough, but I'm assuming that it's mainly in need of a good tune up.

As such, I'm about to take it in for a complete fluids flush and refill, as well as the various filters(air, oil, fuel) and spark-plugs. I'm guessing that should help smooth out a bit of roughness.

I'm mainly curious as to how best to go about maintaining and repairing the car. I really like the way it looks, and as I got it for cheap I wouldn't mind dropping quite a bit of cash into it, especially considering that there's no rust on the chassis. The owner prior to my friend purchased the car for his wife as a "the kids are out of college!" present, and it came complete with a well documented maintenance history.

I have noticed that it "clunks" a little in the back end if I don't have the revs well matched when switching gears, and there seems to be a little bit of steering play which I don't notice until after I get above 55 MPH. I'm also going to be replacing the shocks soon, so if there's anything else that I should check/replace while I'm there(and I'm sure there is), and any suggestions on the shocks, I'd appreciate the heads up.

Overall, I'm looking to keep the car in excellent condition and use it as a ready-to-play daily driver. So any tips would be appreciated, haha.

 

What is the engine history?

You definately need to, well basically, re-bush the entire car and replace the struts.

 

Clunks from the rear might be a rear diff mount or a driveshaft u-joint.

As far as keeping the engine going... Just keep that oil changed and keep the engine cool. Not much else to do. There are no valves to adjust or anything like that.

The rest of the car is just like any other car.

 

Start with a basic engine tune-up. Filters, fluids, spark plugs, ect... Then you need to work on replacing the old suspension components. Fix any leaks if there is any also... You can find the FSM on the internet....