First Post - First RX7
 

Greetings, all.
I am in the process of purchasing a 1988 Rx-7 GTU (well, co-purchasing, really, but that's not the point); it is not my first car (that... honor... belonged to a 1991 Eagle Talon TSi), nor even my only current car (a 2000 VW Jetta with almost 200,000 miles), but it is my first rotary, and the first car I plan to do significant work on myself.
I will be picking up the car with a friend via a long trip (from PA to WI), and the current owner has assured me that the car is in excellent shape. Of course, as a precaution, I wish to ensure that the car will be fine for the trip back. I've read the faqs, I've been reading the archives, and so forth, so hopefully, I don't need to be reminded of precautions which are in the faqs (or performance tips in the archive), but, that's something of a longshot.
Regardless, I'd like people's suggestions for anything I should take a look at, to ensure it will be okay for the drive back. While it shouldn't be necessary, feel free to remind me of anything that's in the FAQ's, as, while I should know it, repetition is a excellent memorization tool :)
Further, my friend (who will be the copurchaser, and, in fact, the person who will probably use it as a daily driver) and I are looking to maintain and mod it ourselves. Being college students, we don't have a lot of resources, but we'd like to turn the car into something special (well, being an rx-7, it is special. But we'd like to make it something, er... especially... special).
The car already has dual (true dual, I believe) exhaust, and we were thinking of what mods should be priorities. We'd been thinking a cold air box, new ECU, and maybe having it street port'ed (maybe manifold port at the same time). Any recommendations for what should be our priorities, and which parts we should get?

edited to add: I apologize for being yet another newbie asking similar questions to all the other newbies, and for asking a question similar to those that simply get linked to the "beefy n/a" thread. I've read many of these, I was just hoping for some... customized, I suppose, advice.

Intake and exhaust are the first mods that should be done. If the car really does have true duals (look at the header, the two pipes should stay seperate all the way to the mufflers) consider yourself lucky, Mazdatrix sell them for $1500. By new ECU you probably mean a Haltech or something, those are pricey, and not the best option as a first mod for a street-driven N/A. If you got it street ported you'd probably want to wait until the engine needs rebuilding, since it needs to be taken apart anyway. Cold air box is a good idea, but make sure you either have a cold air headlight cover or you run the stock air tube into the box.

-Darren

i saved up and rebuilt my engine first, started with a nice fresh engine

The current owner says he rebuilt the motor about 12k miles ago, so it should be in good shape. Does this change your suggestions at all? Should I still wait for the motor to accumulate some wear?

Just check the engine to see that it runs good. No smoking (besides a bit at startup).

The engine is 4/5th's the price. So make sure that you're not getting screwed there.

Very important, the car should Idle rock solid at about 850 rpm's. 2 rotors- 3 apex seals per rotor. If one seal is bad the idle wont be smooth. Check the condition of the coolant - Corrosion in the radiator and overflow bottle ?

look for 3 bounces above 100 psi if you do a compression test with a piston compression tester, the previous owner told me he rebuilt the motor 10,000 miles ago, but he lied...

as far as mods, drop weight.....most important thing to do. see what you can live without and lose it, don't go insane but drop weight, I chiseld out all the tar(35 pounds) dropped my ac/powersteering/powersteering rack(good for another 40 or so pounds, and frees up the engine, 2 less pulleys) dropped air pump, another pulley gone, and another 10 pounds gone, single sided exhaust, less weight more power, but if you need emissions, you need an air pump. Other then that an SAFC-II, some intake porting( all manifolds, throttle body) and your gonna start noticing a HUGE difference. One place over looked though is suspension, a sports car is not about straight line speed, its also about cornering, so get a good suspension set up

Don't worry about the idle too much, it should idle smooth around 750 (850 is too high for a completely warmed up engine, if it idles that high after driving for a while something is wrong) after the car is warmed up COMPLETELY. It will idle at 1500 or so for a while and gradually drop down. There are many causes for a bad idle, mine idles like crap when cold but once it warms up it gets a lot better. Drive it around for maybe 5-10 minutes and park it, then check the idle.

-Darren

All right, everyone. Thanks for the advice! Hopefully, I'll pick the car up soon, and start working on mods.

You're not going to make anything particularly special powerwise, so concentrate on the suspension. Coilovers, great tires, anti-swaybars, struts tower bars, bushings, etc..

Read This. http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/buy1.htm

I wouldn't consider that a gauge of the condition of the apex seals at all. 7's are notorious for idle problems...99% of which are very easy to fix with a little know-how. I got mine with TERRIBLE idle. Removed the BAC and fixed a few vac leaks and its rock solid. Compression is at 105-110 psi on all rotor faces. The best way to check the seals is obviously a quick compression check.

-Joe