91 RX7 expensive?
06-22-03, 06:15 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Troy
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
91 RX7 expensive?
I might be getting a 1991 Rx7, the thing is I am 18 years old and am wondering if something were to go out...Would it take a lot of money to repair? How reliable are the Rx7's and how expensive are they when it comes to keeping it running well?
Thanks
Thanks
06-22-03, 10:58 PM
#3
Best of both worlds
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: NJ
Posts: 1,423
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
honestly it all depends on what kind of condition the car is in...and how it was treated by the previous owner...
for instance, I was lucky when I first got my 91 n/a 4 years ago...since that time all I've had to do is change the oil, plugs occasionally, brakes and tires. Its been the same $ to maintain as a civic
Search the forum as best you can...its a great tool for research...Good luck on the car...
for instance, I was lucky when I first got my 91 n/a 4 years ago...since that time all I've had to do is change the oil, plugs occasionally, brakes and tires. Its been the same $ to maintain as a civic
Search the forum as best you can...its a great tool for research...Good luck on the car...
03-09-08, 09:27 PM
#4
Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: ST.Maarten
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
hey my name is michael,i live in the carribean {st.maarten} and i need some one to help and give me some advice about my 91 rx7. i really love this car and i want ti to last me forever, cus it my heart beat, these car are so amasing. so any one. thank u, and so there is now one me, but that lil guy thats 18
03-09-08, 11:31 PM
#5
I bought my RX-7 when I was 18 too and they're dirt cheap, to buy and repair. Rebuilds are less than 2000 (with labor of engine pull and reinstall), clutches, transmissions, used engines etc. are all cheap as hell. Even the aftermarkets cheap, only thing thats not cheap is the gas, that depends on your foot though.
03-10-08, 12:31 AM
#8
Upside-umop Racing
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Naples, Fl
Posts: 412
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What is up with people and ****-poor grammar and spelling? Is it so hard to proofread or spell out an entire 10 letter word?
Anyway, as posted above it all depends on how it was treated by the previous owners. Not all repairs are inexpensive, however most of the time you can save a good bit of money by doing your shopping for used parts on this forum in the sale section. I'm not sure about you, but $2000 is a big hole in my pocket. For your first RX7 I would recommend doing a few checks before buying the car. You don't want to have to fork out that kind of money right after you buy the car.
Get yourself (or rent/borrow) a compression check tool. Remove the Leading (lower) spark plug on both the front and rear rotor. I believe the trailing will give you the same reading, but I prefer using the Leading because I'm not positive about the Trailing. Remove the EGI fuse, depress the pressure relief button on the tool, and have someone turn the engine over (via the key of course) about 3 or 4 revolutions. The needle will bounce. You want this to read above the 90psi range as 90 psi is a bit low. (you can find a chart to get more accurate pressures by searching) If it passes this test on both rotors, then you at least are not getting a blown motor. (Don't be misled by the fact that it will run. Rotaries will run on a blown motor. They run like **** and smoke, but they will run.)
Take a look at the oil on the dipstick. If it's good looking and full, then you can be comfortable with the fact that you are getting a taken care of motor. (but people can trick you so don't lean on that too hard)
On your test drive, feel/watch for the obvious vibrations, noises, bogging. Also check out the gear box. It is not uncommon for RX7 syncros to be worn out in fifth gear. In fact, I have only been in one or maybe two RX7s where it didn't give a little grind going into 5th. However, from my experiences, 2nd gear will generally do the same thing but most of the time only when the gear box has taken a beating. If the 2nd gear syncro is going bad then chances are the previous owner was a bit rough on the car. Street racing, learning how to drive a 5 speed, etc.
Check out the tires too. Look for abnormal wear patterns.
Some of these things may be petty, but I am one who prefers to buy a car and drive it home; not to the shop or AutoZone.
And there again, it depends on how much money you spend that debates whether or not you got a good deal on the car. As far as a general view of, "are RX7s reliable cars?" As with any other car, they can only be as reliable as you are with maintenance. When taken care of, they can easily exceed 200,000 miles on factory parts. If you treat it like ****, it'll do the same to you.
I promise, if you get a good find, you'll fall in love with it. Everyone that isn't a noob on this forum has fallen victim to that same love and passion.
Don't make the same mistake I did with my first one. I killed mine with stupidity. If you are going to race it, race it on the track. The streets are for driving from point A to point B. Not for racing.
Anyway, as posted above it all depends on how it was treated by the previous owners. Not all repairs are inexpensive, however most of the time you can save a good bit of money by doing your shopping for used parts on this forum in the sale section. I'm not sure about you, but $2000 is a big hole in my pocket. For your first RX7 I would recommend doing a few checks before buying the car. You don't want to have to fork out that kind of money right after you buy the car.
Get yourself (or rent/borrow) a compression check tool. Remove the Leading (lower) spark plug on both the front and rear rotor. I believe the trailing will give you the same reading, but I prefer using the Leading because I'm not positive about the Trailing. Remove the EGI fuse, depress the pressure relief button on the tool, and have someone turn the engine over (via the key of course) about 3 or 4 revolutions. The needle will bounce. You want this to read above the 90psi range as 90 psi is a bit low. (you can find a chart to get more accurate pressures by searching) If it passes this test on both rotors, then you at least are not getting a blown motor. (Don't be misled by the fact that it will run. Rotaries will run on a blown motor. They run like **** and smoke, but they will run.)
Take a look at the oil on the dipstick. If it's good looking and full, then you can be comfortable with the fact that you are getting a taken care of motor. (but people can trick you so don't lean on that too hard)
On your test drive, feel/watch for the obvious vibrations, noises, bogging. Also check out the gear box. It is not uncommon for RX7 syncros to be worn out in fifth gear. In fact, I have only been in one or maybe two RX7s where it didn't give a little grind going into 5th. However, from my experiences, 2nd gear will generally do the same thing but most of the time only when the gear box has taken a beating. If the 2nd gear syncro is going bad then chances are the previous owner was a bit rough on the car. Street racing, learning how to drive a 5 speed, etc.
Check out the tires too. Look for abnormal wear patterns.
Some of these things may be petty, but I am one who prefers to buy a car and drive it home; not to the shop or AutoZone.
And there again, it depends on how much money you spend that debates whether or not you got a good deal on the car. As far as a general view of, "are RX7s reliable cars?" As with any other car, they can only be as reliable as you are with maintenance. When taken care of, they can easily exceed 200,000 miles on factory parts. If you treat it like ****, it'll do the same to you.
I promise, if you get a good find, you'll fall in love with it. Everyone that isn't a noob on this forum has fallen victim to that same love and passion.
Don't make the same mistake I did with my first one. I killed mine with stupidity. If you are going to race it, race it on the track. The streets are for driving from point A to point B. Not for racing.
Last edited by Bama420; 03-10-08 at 12:37 AM. Reason: I proofread my article and corrected my spelling. LEARN FROM THIS!!
03-10-08, 12:32 AM
#9
Lives on the Forum
It's like any car, if you buy a really good one that's been taken care of it'll be a good, reliable car. If you buy a cheap one it'll cost you in the end.
As always, buy the absolute best example that you can find. If you can't find a good one, consider getting something else. Also, be ready to pull the trigger of the money gun at any moment, good cars don't typically stay on the market long or come up for sale very often (why sell a perfectly good car?). Mine was a very good example, and it was only sold because the previous owner was moving across the country and it was on the lot for only a couple days before I bought it. I paid a bunch more for it than for what other FC's were going for, but I'm 100% confident that it's saved me time, money and hassle in the long run.
As always, buy the absolute best example that you can find. If you can't find a good one, consider getting something else. Also, be ready to pull the trigger of the money gun at any moment, good cars don't typically stay on the market long or come up for sale very often (why sell a perfectly good car?). Mine was a very good example, and it was only sold because the previous owner was moving across the country and it was on the lot for only a couple days before I bought it. I paid a bunch more for it than for what other FC's were going for, but I'm 100% confident that it's saved me time, money and hassle in the long run.
03-10-08, 11:25 AM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Rock Hill, South Carolina?
Posts: 316
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
I have owned 9 cars. My 91 RX-7 convertible being the least reliable of all of them and also being the 4th newest in terms of year and having the lowest mileage of all of them. Is the car reliable? That depends on what you compare it too. Does it get me where I am going? Usually.
I couldn't imagine having to pay someone else to fix this car for me, especially if you want things to work instead of just driving around in a beater where nothing works and they look horrid (these are probally most 2nd gen cars but maybe not what is presented by the owners here in the forum). These cars sell cheap because of what it cost to keep them going and people defer the repairs till it becomes a fixture in their yard.
If you are not going to be fixing the car yourself I would say to only consider it if you are willing to shell out the cash when it needs repairs, have a RX-7 specialist nearby, and the car is not already in need of several thousands of dollars in repairs.
These cars are more in line with a Ferrari than a Honda when it comes down to reliability.
I couldn't imagine having to pay someone else to fix this car for me, especially if you want things to work instead of just driving around in a beater where nothing works and they look horrid (these are probally most 2nd gen cars but maybe not what is presented by the owners here in the forum). These cars sell cheap because of what it cost to keep them going and people defer the repairs till it becomes a fixture in their yard.
If you are not going to be fixing the car yourself I would say to only consider it if you are willing to shell out the cash when it needs repairs, have a RX-7 specialist nearby, and the car is not already in need of several thousands of dollars in repairs.
These cars are more in line with a Ferrari than a Honda when it comes down to reliability.
03-10-08, 12:11 PM
#12
Lives on the Forum
Your sig is wrong, that's a radial, not a rotary in the left pic.
My experience has been pretty much the opposite, it's been very reliable for me, but then again my car came with about a 2 month old rebuild with bills for over $7k from a Mazda dealer. I have taken very good care of it though, doing regular maintenance and fluid changes, but I use it very hard, with it having seen 9 days on track, 4 of which with 2 drivers, which is very hard on a car. It's been one of the more reliable cars in my family, especially when compared to the cars in its age class, being more reliable than my dad's turbo Miata (a very well taken cars of '92 with very low milage), my sister's old '86 Toyota Celica, her ex's old '87 Honda Prelude and his '93 MX-6 V6. It's been nearly as reliable as my mom's old '96 Subaru Outback (eats fuel pumps, on it's 5th or 6th by now I think) and my dad's '98 Nissan Frontier (fuel pump, injectors, cracked exhaust manifold).
It's only let me down twice, once is when the alternator went, and it got me to the end of the driveway before dying, and once when the heater hose under the oil filter ruptured. That's not to say that it's been trouble free, because I've had to replace the rear wheel bearings, I had to replace the fuel pump "sock", I replaced the rusty old exhaust, when I installed my coilovers one of the struts was leaking, I replaced the window switches, the sunroof switch and the wiper switch because they weren't working properly. Keep in mind that's over about 5 years of ownership, so the problem frequency is rather low. Otherwise it's just been routine maintenance and modifications.
I would concede that you should be willing and able to work on your own car to make it make sense to own, but that's pretty much the case for any old car, all will have issues like I described above that will need fixing eventually, but they can be a very reliable car if taken care of.
My experience has been pretty much the opposite, it's been very reliable for me, but then again my car came with about a 2 month old rebuild with bills for over $7k from a Mazda dealer. I have taken very good care of it though, doing regular maintenance and fluid changes, but I use it very hard, with it having seen 9 days on track, 4 of which with 2 drivers, which is very hard on a car. It's been one of the more reliable cars in my family, especially when compared to the cars in its age class, being more reliable than my dad's turbo Miata (a very well taken cars of '92 with very low milage), my sister's old '86 Toyota Celica, her ex's old '87 Honda Prelude and his '93 MX-6 V6. It's been nearly as reliable as my mom's old '96 Subaru Outback (eats fuel pumps, on it's 5th or 6th by now I think) and my dad's '98 Nissan Frontier (fuel pump, injectors, cracked exhaust manifold).
It's only let me down twice, once is when the alternator went, and it got me to the end of the driveway before dying, and once when the heater hose under the oil filter ruptured. That's not to say that it's been trouble free, because I've had to replace the rear wheel bearings, I had to replace the fuel pump "sock", I replaced the rusty old exhaust, when I installed my coilovers one of the struts was leaking, I replaced the window switches, the sunroof switch and the wiper switch because they weren't working properly. Keep in mind that's over about 5 years of ownership, so the problem frequency is rather low. Otherwise it's just been routine maintenance and modifications.
I would concede that you should be willing and able to work on your own car to make it make sense to own, but that's pretty much the case for any old car, all will have issues like I described above that will need fixing eventually, but they can be a very reliable car if taken care of.
03-10-08, 12:23 PM
#13
Marvelous Hedonist
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Old-Town BrightTown, CO
Posts: 761
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy1.htm <--------NA buying guide
http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy2.htm <--------Turbo buying guide
You should follow the appropriate link and make sure you get a reliable car from the start
http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy2.htm <--------Turbo buying guide
You should follow the appropriate link and make sure you get a reliable car from the start
03-11-08, 11:48 AM
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Rock Hill, South Carolina?
Posts: 316
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Correction:
From www.dictionary.com
rotary engine –noun
1. an engine, as a turbine, in which the impelling fluid produces torque directly rather than by acting upon reciprocating parts.
2. a revolving radial engine.
It is a rotary engine because the crankshaft is fixed and the block rotates with the propeller.
From www.dictionary.com
rotary engine –noun
1. an engine, as a turbine, in which the impelling fluid produces torque directly rather than by acting upon reciprocating parts.
2. a revolving radial engine.
It is a rotary engine because the crankshaft is fixed and the block rotates with the propeller.
03-11-08, 12:20 PM
#15
http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy1.htm <--------NA buying guide
http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy2.htm <--------Turbo buying guide
You should follow the appropriate link and make sure you get a reliable car from the start
http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/buy2.htm <--------Turbo buying guide
You should follow the appropriate link and make sure you get a reliable car from the start
03-11-08, 02:28 PM
#20
The FAQ links to buyer's guides. Any 20 year old car can easily be full of problems, and anyone selling a car will often do it because of problems. Always check out a car before you buy. But no, 2nd generation RX-7s aren't especially problematic. If you get a good one it'll be pretty reliable. After buying, be sure to keep up with the basic maintenance schedule (see Haynes manual, FSM link from FAQ, or owner's manual). Search the forums for help on common problems.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Project88Turbo
3rd Generation Specific (1993-2002)
8
08-29-15 02:23 PM
