Hello everyone, I'm new here and thought this would be the place to ask my first question. Here's the deal, soon I will have enough money to buy my first ever project car, and right now I have it narrowed down to a Nissan 240sx fastback or an 88 RX7 turbo II. The RX7 has 150,000 miles on it and needs a new clutch; my question is this: Is that too many miles for the 13B? I mean, how much maintainace am I going to have to do to make it able to be driven pretty har; nothing too extreme, but just enough to have fun and do a little drifting. The car runs, but I am sure that the motor could use an overhaul......what are some basic things that I could do to make sure the car doesn't blow up on me right after I buy it. Is that TOO many miles? I am wasting my time trying to fix up that old motor? Should I get the car ( $1500 btw) and then save up for a rebulit motor? I just need some suggestions before I decide to make any purchases.

 

I would be very weary of any Turbo II over 140,000 miles. I've seen TIIs go as high as 150k or more when properly maintianed and not many mods, but that is asking a lot of a turbocharged 1.3L rotary.

Ill be honest.. these cars are not cheap to own especially if you are not good with a wrench. A big probably is the electrical system is dated so you run into problems with interior parts going bad (AC controls, window switches, etc) in addition to the other engine electrical stuff. Not to mention the risk of blowing the motor with that high of miles. If you dont think you can afford to maintain the car and pay for premium gas @ about 15 MPG, then this prob. isnt the car for you.

$1500 is a very good price for any running TII. As for wear on the motor, basically all you can do is maintain it properly, let it warm up before driving hard, let it cool down (helps the turbo too) and change the oil and other maintenece stuff. I would not buy this car if you could not afford a new motor ($800 min. if you do it yourself, much more if someone else does it)

Good luck, they are really fun cars but hopefully you wil be realistic with what you can afford. I prob spent almost as much in 2 years on maintenence than what I originally paid for the car.