has 110k miles....needs clutch...bunch of cracked interiior peciecs needs cleaning....dont know if it runs....the engine oil looks clean and full and i can tell its not been changed to look new....he wants $500 should i?...what could i sell it for?

 

Find out if it runs. Does it smoke? How is the idle? Let it warm up, then see if it pulls nicely to 6000.

Clutch will cost probably $700 to have someone install it because it requires removal of exhaust system, heat shields, and transmission (I've done it twice on mine.). If you do it yourself, it's about $200 from rx7.com and 8 hours of work.

Check to make sure there's no oil in the coolant, and no coolant in the oil. How is the oil pressure?

There's a good chance there's holes in the exhaust, you'll want to put a new one on anyway.

 

BUY IT! All 7s need to be restored!

B

 

bump

 

how's the rest of the car -- paint, sheet metal, etc? If it's really nice, then go for it if the engine seems decent (ie GOOD COMPRESSION).

Interior parts are no problem to replace at low prices -- get 'em on e-bay, wrecking yards on the Web, online parts traders, etc.

But if the bodywork and paint is bad, it's not worth buying a $500 car over a $3,000 car, 'cause in the long run, you'll spend a lot more money on the cheap one. I found a REALLY, REALLY nice '87 GXL with 88k miles on e-bay for $2,000, with great exterior, almost perfect interior. I've spent probably less than $150 to replace some cracked plastic, another $150 for some better speakers for the factory stereo, and now I'm pretty much done (once I fixed the infamous idle problems and 3,800 rpm hesitation, of course!)

also check out the power windows, gauges, etc. to make sure they work. but almost everything you need in that department you can find very easily on the Web.

 

chiconate has a good point about making sure it runs. If it does run then try to get it as cheap as possible see if he will take less than 500. Another thing to check is warm the car up to normal operating temp. Then trun it off. See if you can start it back up again. If it wont start then either the injectors are bad or the engine is on its way out. If you are going to make it your daily driver and have another RX-7 that is in good shape and you want to work on and put more mods into it I would say it would be a good buy for transportation.
Chris