Tsuchiya

I am going to take a look at a 1986 NA FC (5 speed, white) on Saturday.

Supposedly the car has 130K, most maintenance records, a few minor dents, broken A/C compressor (he offers to throw a new one in), all manuals, and a tear on the driver's seat. He claims that all interior options work, and that his wife drove the car, but the insurance is too much for him to maintain with all his other cars.

He wants 1100 for it. Does this sound about right?

If all goes well with the test drive and inspection, this could be my new FC.

What do you all think?

Ni5mo180SX

If its in good condition the price sounds about right. Try to get compression done to see what shape the motors in.

Tsuchiya

I apologize for my nievity, but how do you check compression?

Matlock

Some will say go to mazda, and you may half to if the owner doesn't trust you.
If you do it your self you will need a compression gauge. They can be bought at sears for around $20-25. Step on is to remove the check valve on the guage. (BTW a haynes manual tells this much better than I) unplug the crank angle sensor (looks like a distributer) it's a simple little plug coming out of it.
Next remove the top spark plug on the desired rotor you wish to test, and screw the compression tester on. While someone is holding the throttle open have them crank the engine over. The guage should bounce 3 times evenly. If it does not start backing away.

The method I use will in the field. (much better and the owner will generally always let you do it) Remove the upper spark plug and have someone crank the engine. If you hear three whooosh sounds you are in fairly good shape.

Hope this helps a little! I am not the greatest at explaining what seems simple to me. Good luck!

Steven

Ni5mo180SX

I cant believe im helping the great Keiichi lol. Where in LA are you? If you're totally serious about buying this car you can take it down to Rotary Reliability (Santa Ana) or MazdaTrix (Long Beach) and have them take a look and run a compression test. If you wanna do it yourself, here it is, quoted from the Haynes manual:
1 Remove the two upper spark plugs
2. block the throttle wide open
3. unplug the crank angle sensor and disable the fuel pump circuit
4. remove the check valve and install the compression gauge in the front upper spark plug hole.
5. Using the starter motor, crank the engine over at least 7 revolutions, two low bounces followed by a high one indicates a burne dapex seal. A single low bounce indicates a faulty side seal. Repeat process for rear upper spark plug. I belive you should have around a 90psi reading on a good motor(not sure)
BTW- isnt Tsuchiya spelled with two i's?

Ni5mo180SX

ahh you beat me to it

Matlock

Don't you hate that! Sorry! muwahhaaaa

Tsuchiya

Heh.. Thanks for the help guys. I don't think anyone is gonna let me remove spark plugs myself.. Maybe I can get the guys to let me take it to Mazdatrix...

I live in Culver City but the car is in Lawndale.. Just past Hawthorne.

BTW - Where can you buy the tester at? Should I perform voltage tests on the alternator as well?

Ni5mo180SX

lol, no problem

Yea just give mazdatrix a call ahead of time and let them know. You can buy a compression gauge at pepboys/kragen.

Tsuchiya

I'm going to see the guy about this FC tomorrow.

I ran a carfax report on the car and everything checked out, but it seems that the car was smogged every year from 1997 to 2000, sometimes twice a year.

What could this mean? Is it a bad thing? Again, excuse my nievity. :p

T

poor college student

it could mean that the car changed owner every year... i'm not sure, but i know CA's dmv requires a smog check every time a car changes ownership...

silverrotor

iTrader: (1)

How to buy a 2nd Gen RX-7. Courtesy of Aaron Cake: http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy1.htm

Ni5mo180SX

My FC has been smogged 3 months before I bought it and I didnt have to smog it.

Tsuchiya

So I went to check out the car today.. It was awesome.. Well kept.. Engine idled at a steady 700, drove like a champ and the shift buzzer even worked! Voltage was just over 12v as well.

The only noticible problems were a oil leak from the filter, a few dents, and of course the broken A/C.

We also noticed that the belts were pretty dull looking, and noises came from the steering column and right front side of the car..

Any speculation on what that could have been??

Anyways, he says he promised some kid he'd hold it for him over the weekend. He says it's mine if the kid doesn't show.

I hope he doesn't!

T

Ni5mo180SX

Not a hundred percent on those but let us know how it goes