about to buy a 90' GTU and i have ?'s i need answered
09-07-04, 04:28 PM
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about to buy a 90' GTU and i have ?'s i need answered
there is a rotary mechanic that lives like 15 minutes from me so i guess im pretty lucky for that. anyways ive been saving and saving to get an rx7 for the longest time and i finally have enough money for one he has for sale. its a red 1990 gtu. i found out through email he wants $2500-2700 for it. i went to look at it today even though he wasnt done with it and wont be done until this weekend...
i read through the how to buy an rx7 page a couple times already so i gave it a good walk around as best i could when i went over there (it was raining though so i didnt stay outside too long). main thing i looked for was if it had oem glass since thats easy to look for, which it did. also it had the "mazda full circle" sticker on it, dont really know what that means but yeah. body was clean except a 2 or 3 inch cut kinda thing at the side of the rear bumper. it was parked on gravel and there was some mud around since it had been raining and when i looked under the back of hte car the exhuast was pretty dirty. the tires look like they have a good amount of tread left....
i then went and sat in the car. i noticed the shifter was out, i looked down the hole where it goes and i saw the ground. besides that and half the dash taken out, the interior was pretty clean. i looked at the odometer to find 153k on it. i was hoping for lower but oh well.
so he has the tranny and engine out of the car working on it (i havnt had a chance to really talk about the car yet).
so heres my questions...
does this price sound about what i should pay for it? im guessing the engine and/or tranny had problems with it since he took it out of the car (thats kinda what he does, buys rx7s with problems for cheap, fixes them and sells them, also does full engine rebuilds and all that). i dont think he would sell a car for more than 1000 if it was gonna have bad problems shorty down the road cause that would put a bad name on him.
what kind of questions should i ask when i go to talk to him about it?
i think it should be the smartest place to buy an rx7 for me because it is coming from a rotary mechanic. he is rebuilding an fd engine for someone who lives in hawaii, an fc engine for someone who lives way up north somewhere (forget) and restoring a 10ae for someone in NY.
so any advice, comments, and answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated.
i read through the how to buy an rx7 page a couple times already so i gave it a good walk around as best i could when i went over there (it was raining though so i didnt stay outside too long). main thing i looked for was if it had oem glass since thats easy to look for, which it did. also it had the "mazda full circle" sticker on it, dont really know what that means but yeah. body was clean except a 2 or 3 inch cut kinda thing at the side of the rear bumper. it was parked on gravel and there was some mud around since it had been raining and when i looked under the back of hte car the exhuast was pretty dirty. the tires look like they have a good amount of tread left....
i then went and sat in the car. i noticed the shifter was out, i looked down the hole where it goes and i saw the ground. besides that and half the dash taken out, the interior was pretty clean. i looked at the odometer to find 153k on it. i was hoping for lower but oh well.
so he has the tranny and engine out of the car working on it (i havnt had a chance to really talk about the car yet).
so heres my questions...
does this price sound about what i should pay for it? im guessing the engine and/or tranny had problems with it since he took it out of the car (thats kinda what he does, buys rx7s with problems for cheap, fixes them and sells them, also does full engine rebuilds and all that). i dont think he would sell a car for more than 1000 if it was gonna have bad problems shorty down the road cause that would put a bad name on him.
what kind of questions should i ask when i go to talk to him about it?
i think it should be the smartest place to buy an rx7 for me because it is coming from a rotary mechanic. he is rebuilding an fd engine for someone who lives in hawaii, an fc engine for someone who lives way up north somewhere (forget) and restoring a 10ae for someone in NY.
so any advice, comments, and answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated.
09-07-04, 05:28 PM
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i paid 500 bucks for a red 90 gtu with minor body damage and bad fuel pump wiring(but the place i got it didnt know that) with a decent interior(drivers seat was torn up and thats the only major issue). it had 171k miles and seemed to have a rebuilt engine, dont know milage and a set of high flow mufflers welded to the stock exhaust. SO it sounds like you are being asked a bit much. but if its got a new, good running engine and tranny id say talk him down to 2,000. that mazda full circle thing i duno what that is about its on my gtu as well but not on my 91 coupe and vert.
09-07-04, 05:31 PM
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oh for questions, ask about the alternator, the clutch hydraulic system and the clutch/flywheel, the brake hydraulic system and the brakes, check the shocks, the a/c, the heater, and maybe the fuel filter. if all of those things check out you should have a quality car on your hands but if some of those are worn you might be able to use that as a bargaining tool.
09-07-04, 06:20 PM
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ill find out on the condition of the engine.
im in a dilema right now though. he also has a black 85gslse for about 2 or 3 hundred dollars less. thats a lot of money for me cause that takes a good month to make since i only work weekends right now, although i may start working weekdays if i find time.
im gonna go find out about both cars and drive both. at this point im leaning more towards the 85. its black instead of red and its older so it will be less on insurance (i heard you can get a discount if its older than 15 years, its like an antiqure car discount or something), about $300 less so ill have that much more money (ill be broke when if i buy the fc until i get another paycheck). i have some questions on the 85...
stock gas milage (i should look it up myself but oh well)
average most milage seen with mods (safc? or other things)
engine life compared to the other one
how well it takes to mods...(full exhaust, no cats, how much hp will i see and what else makes a big difference for under $500)
basically ill need this car to last me through college and a year after that, so thats about 5 years, maybe 6. and ill be autoxing once a month or so. im thinking if i get the fb, if it lasts me that long like i said, i might have enough for a 3rd gen after working a "career job" for a year. might be nice to step up to an fc somewhere inbetween there too.
im in a dilema right now though. he also has a black 85gslse for about 2 or 3 hundred dollars less. thats a lot of money for me cause that takes a good month to make since i only work weekends right now, although i may start working weekdays if i find time.
im gonna go find out about both cars and drive both. at this point im leaning more towards the 85. its black instead of red and its older so it will be less on insurance (i heard you can get a discount if its older than 15 years, its like an antiqure car discount or something), about $300 less so ill have that much more money (ill be broke when if i buy the fc until i get another paycheck). i have some questions on the 85...
stock gas milage (i should look it up myself but oh well)
average most milage seen with mods (safc? or other things)
engine life compared to the other one
how well it takes to mods...(full exhaust, no cats, how much hp will i see and what else makes a big difference for under $500)
basically ill need this car to last me through college and a year after that, so thats about 5 years, maybe 6. and ill be autoxing once a month or so. im thinking if i get the fb, if it lasts me that long like i said, i might have enough for a 3rd gen after working a "career job" for a year. might be nice to step up to an fc somewhere inbetween there too.
09-07-04, 09:02 PM
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actually i just found out teh gsl-se is sold and someone is picking it up on friday. kinda sucks cause i was hoping to drive both and compare them and choose the one i want. it was for sale for quite a while too.
anyways he said the transmission was bad, so he took it out and he said he will be putting it back together soon. what exactly does this mean, does it mean the car was abused, driven hard, or someone just didnt know how to drive a stick properly, or just mechanical malfunction?
anyways he said the transmission was bad, so he took it out and he said he will be putting it back together soon. what exactly does this mean, does it mean the car was abused, driven hard, or someone just didnt know how to drive a stick properly, or just mechanical malfunction?
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