Alright here's the deal. I finally found and purchased an 87 RX-7 TII, burgandy colored, 170k miles, (with salvage title, at some point it was rebuilt) and all of this was semi-acceptable. I just wanted a car to have THEN fix it. So anyway, it felt slow from the moment I started driving it and eventually I went on a backroad around here and tested it against my friend's sisters '95 saturn. Needless to say I jumped off the line ahead, but it quickly reeled me in and kept pulling away. So now I'm asking a simple question. What the **** I know that it has 170k miles on it, but I figure there's no way that car's original motor has lasted 170k miles. So somewhere in there, there was a rebuild or something. If not then holy **** that engines got alotta miles. Now what I wanna know is what things should I have my mechanic check out on the car. I'm thinking the turbo may be bad so a turbo rebuild kit is one thing in my mind. But honestly, what kinds of things are notorious for slowing down RX-7's? What should I have my mechanic check out? ANY input would be great. (About the salvage, we think that someone damaged the left front quarter panel in a collision of some kind. Everything looks pretty straight so that's not so much of a concern. I dunno, it only costed me $2300 (which around here is a steal, regardless of the condition since I've been waiting about 9 months for one) so I've got about $2500 to spend in repairs (over a bit of time). Lemme know what you all think. Thanks

 

a properly mainained engine CAN last 200k miles. get a compression test to see how this engine is doing..... if the engine checks out you might have a vacuum leak or turbo problem. you need to start with the basics and obvious things clogged cats,etc it could be anything wrong with your car. or bring it to a rotary specialist there are quite a few in CALI

 

Maybe your cats are clogged. Does the car start up right? Does it smoke? Hows the boost on the boost gauge (stock boost gauge sux. get an aftermarket one).

Whatever you do, dont take it to a regular mechanic or the dealer. Find a rotary shop and take it to them. Theres plenty of Rotary Shops in southern cali. Congrats on your purchase

 

like wan said get a b. gauge if it's low check for leaks then check the turbo for poblems

 

Ok, could be the cats are clogged, good thinking. I have an aftermarket boost gauge that I'm going to install as soon as I have some free time (just bought the car yesterday). I have a rotary mechanic and he's gonna take a look at it next thursday. It has problems starting up (clogged injectors?). This is how that goes. I get in the car, sit down, crank the starter and it sounds like its close to starting just barely on the edge. It almost never starts just by cranking the starter. What I do (this was told to me by a mechanic friend of mine) is hold the gas to the floor (for fuel injected cars) and don't let up till it starts. This seemed to go against everything I'd heard before but it's the only thing that'll get it started in 2 or three attempts. Otherwise it's more like 10-20 attempts. It seems VERY likely to me that the turbo is bad or leaking. (possibly the cats dunno) Because I've noticed the powerband seems to be between 4.5k and 5.5k anywhere outside of there seems kind of weak. If I start off at 1krpm and floor it, it takes FOREVER to reach a decent rpm (like 4k or more) its horrible. That could be part of the problem or it could be just the way these cars run. I've never driven/ridden in a good working TII so I don't really know what it's like. Is there anyone in the Capitola/Santa Cruz/Aptos area that wants to get together and check out my car or his/her car? Lemme know! Anyway, I don't think that it has bad compression since it seems to run ok. It's not horrible boggy and this one actually IDLES!!! (hehe, last rex I bought didn't) But I could be wrong. I don't know what the problem is but I can't wait to have it running around the stock quoted 14.5 1/4mile because my friend has this stupid *** Eclipse RS that can currently blow the doors off my rex and he was like "Damn, your car is a slow piece of ****, you should have gotten something better" and I swear to ******* Hell I almost hit him. But I restrained myself and brought up how I smoked his *** road racing on the back roads against my '87 Mercury Tracer Stationwagon....and how he crashed his Eclipse trying to keep up with me in the twisties

So (hopefully) all will be known next thursday and I'll be smokin ricers and muscle car kids all day long. Anymore input would be appreciated though since I'm still checkin stuff out myself.

OH I FORGOT ONE THING! The person who sold it to me said they replaced the fuel dampner but they don't know if their mechanic put the 89-91 dampner or the 87-88 one (Which will still have problems). Is there some way I can visually identify which it is without pulling my motor or disconnecting ****? Thanks I'd REALLY appreciate it.

 

you have some issues! baby the car for now!

 

Your car seems to be flooding itself. Putting the gas pedal all the way down acts like a fuel cut off switch and thats why your car starts up faster this way.

Give the car a complete tune up (plugs, plug wires, filters, oil, coolant...). Just baby the car until your friend checks it out. You dont want to break the car.

 

*nod* Exactly my thoughts, I've got it sitting in the garage waiting while I drive my moms stationwagon. The last thing I want is to blow the motor or **** something up.