Joshatdot

1st time owner of any RX-7. It is a early year 1987 RX-7 Coupe, Artic Silver. I got this car May 4th from my Boss, who owns a 86 Coupe. He got it mainly for the 17" ENKEI(sp) rims. It had its little problems, mostly the problem of the fuel injectors leaking and the "no start"/flooded problem.

It has 169,000+ miles, the belts needed replaced, headlights reinstalled, and afew other lil things. It was in a minor fender bender, left front corner panel needs to be banged out/replaced and part of the bumper.

ANY-WHO, he got it from a guy who basicly sold it as a "non runner" cause of the fuel flood/injectors thing, for $600 (including these bad *** 17" Enkei rims). He switched the stock rims from his car with the 17's, and sold me the car for $350.

He showed me the trick of unpluging the fuel pump relay? under the dash to get it started. I got her running fine after learning how to get it started.

Afew days ago it has been getting harder and harder to start. Once it finaly starts, it blows out WHITE smoke. It does not smell like Fuel or Oil. My boss knows a local Mazda TEch, and he said the seals are failing in the engine!

So my delima is ...

1. spend $1700 + installation ($850) for a rebuilt 13b engine.
2. look for a decent used (not rebuilt) engine + install (about $900 + $850)
3. or buy a Red 87 or 88 GLX? GLE? (the one with all the bells and whisles non turbo) for $1000 from the mazda teck guy my boss and I know, that has 130k miles.

I have not fully checked out the GLX/GLE? yet, but I am very tempted to get it.

iceblue

Rebuilt motor and get your injectors cleand or replaced. If you like the car if not you will be in same boot in probly a year with the white one. If the 350 u spent is worth a parts car "a good thing to have with a fc" and you have the dough and for a rebuilt motor for white one in neer future then do that if it makes u happy. All and all How much do you like the car vs other one and how much can u be happy spending on one.

Icemark

no such thing as a GLE (no Nissans here),

but I would have Kevin Landers (Rotary Resurrection) rebuild it, or rebuild it yourself for half the price you were quoted.

CompuBob

rebuilding = expensive and reliable
used = cheap $500 or so, and can be reliable but you dont know where it's been. (like a dirty *****)

... anyways, thats your choice, cheap and possibly non reliable or expensive and reliable.

Syonyk

A rebuild may not be that expensive. It doesn't sound like it's actually blown yet - coolant seals, compression, generally worn out, but not actually blown.

Ever want to learn to work on a car? Now's the time...

You'll need, at the bare minimum, new soft seals for the engine, and new apex seals. You'll also want to get some new housings - the old ones are probably just worn out. You can get good condition used housings from people here cheap - S4 NA housings are easy enough to find.

If you're on a budget, you can get away with the minimum rebuild kits - Rotary Aviation has one that works nicely. Reuse the side seals & such, the rotors will be fine (though dirty).

I wouldn't spend $500 on a used engine, honestly.

If you can float the cash, I'd go for the GXL. They have better brakes, a limited slip rear end (though it's probably worn out & needs a rebuild with new clutch plates), etc.

Then, as you have time, pull the motor out of your current car. Since it sounds like it's burning coolant, you'll either want to do this quickly or flood the engine out with oil to keep it from rusting. Pull the engine, take it apart, see what kind of shape it's in, and start looking for parts to rebuild it with. If you're not in a rush, you can usually find apex seals & such for sale reasoanbly cheap in the Parts For Sale forum section here. Rebuild it, put it back in, and have 2 running RX-7s!

-=Russ=-

canaduh

Or get a TII Engine+ tranny and everything else you need for 650$
Oh, and most of them have under 35000 miles on them. Pm me if you want the site, as i don't know if im aloud posting it here.

Icemark

as long as you are not the one selling them, then you can post the link just fine. It only becomes a for sale ad, when both the price and the company are posted by the person working/running the company.

and Jspecs are like any other used motor... a crap shoot that probably does not last more than 10K miles without needing rebuilding

sonyman

ok i know this sounds not true but im getting a 86 GXL with a good engine and tranny but with a bad ecu for about $250. im going to put the engine int to my 88 GTU. and if you really love RX7s than you will put alot of money into them. i also bought my first for about $600. and it was running and was in good shape. and if anyone needs parts from an 88 GXL tell me and i will see what is on it.

lastphaseofthis

iTrader: (8)

i have a wrecked 88 GXL with working engine and tranny, the car starts fine has 132k miles on it, but the engine is it descent condition, id say another 40-50k miles left on it, but its still in the car, if you want it just let me know i can see what i can do about getting it out,
personally get a good rebuild from a good source, one that will go 100k miles for you, some rebuilds dont last as long as Oem engines, but then again its all how you treat it.

Joshatdot

Thanks for your input guys, the $1700 engine is from www.atkinsrotary.com , he is located about 60-70 miles south of me, nice and pretty close. His engins have 2 year/20k warranty I beleive.

I have not checked out the Red GXL yet, but after looking up that model...I am very interested ^_^

Since me and my boss have similar RX7's, we'll both use my current Artic Silver one for parts car, and I'll get the red GXL =)

Joshatdot

Oh..How hard is it to rebuild these 13b engines...man, Atkins Rotary has overhaul/rebuild gaskit kits for $965 =\

I do have some mechanical exp. I've had 3 Honda Civics, 77, 78, 79 CVCC's, 89 Accord LXI. I did regular general maintiance with those cars, and on the 78 Civic I helped replace the 1500cc engine with a 82 Accord 1800cc engine+tranny.

Joshatdot

edit:

I'll just make a new post about whats happening.