Hello i was wondering if you guys could tell me if you think your n/a's are reiable? Do you ever feel weird like you aint sure if she is going to get you from point A to B? Or do you guys just have fun driving it and not a worry in the world ? How many kms do you put on in a normal day? Are they your daily drivers? My dad use to have a 91gxl and i dont remeber it breaking down much just wondering what you guys think? Thx

 

I have 3000 miles on my scrapyard GXL since I got it running and aside from the fuel pump failing (it gave me plenty of warning) it's been trouble free. It's got a motor with about 170000mi and it runs perfectly! I'm taking it to Whistler, BC at the end of the month and I'm not worried about it at all. Gotta love NAs...

 

I have 160k miles not KM's

I drive her daily when she is not getting work done.(not repairs but upgrades )

I drive around 50 miles per day if I am not busy. She has only let me down once because the oil cooler line busted. OTher than that most down time was and is for upgrades or schedualed maintenance.

Santiago

 

Well maintained NAs are reliable, in my experience.

 

Yeah, it's all about the maintenance. My former landlord had an '84 GSL. That car had 240K on the original engine when he sold it. He said it never gave him any trouble. He just followed the recommended maintenance to the letter. (Dude was seriously ****-retentive)

 

I even drove one of my sevens after one of the seals went on a rotor, for probably another 1500 miles. It didn't run smooth under 2k rpm, but it ran well on the highway. After that the car would always overheat, in town, so I really got my money's worth out of that one, at 190k. I actually took it on a trip up to Canada ( 12 hours away ).

 

Ok i was just wondering because i always hear about problem on here and i was just wondering if they are reaible or not. Cause if i get one it is going to be my daily driver and i am in university and i only got a job a future shop so i dont want to be fixing all the time. But dont get me wrong i know alot about rotarys and maintance and that stuff witch i am willing to keep up with!

 

I've got about 20,000kms on my 89 NA since I bought it two years ago and have not had one minor problem, save the heat shield becoming loose where the y pipe meets the last cat.

I just do systematic maintenence on it and it pays me back with a good disposition and willingness to rev to the redline whenever I ask.

 

Just remember you are going to hear the bad on here. People don't have questions about why their car doesn't have any problems, lol.

 

You hear about problems because this is were ppl come with there problems to solve them. Its a tech forum. Anyway, N/A's are EXTREMLY reliable, as long as they have been mantained well. Its really not uncommon to hear of N/A's with 200-300k on them. Its really amazing. Ive been thinking of getting an N/A again for my drive to and from school becuase i know how well they are at reliability.
TII's on the other hand are a whole diffrent story

 

i feel like crap.
ohhh the car... I've owned 4 cars in my life. 1) Merc capri (worthless pos) 2) subaru legacy (rolled it and it still ran great!) 3) sisters 93 ford probe 300,000 miles and running strong as ever. 4) 90 rx7. 150k running strong.. but the trannies are ****

 

I wouldn't say that Just depends alot on the same things as NAs. Maintence is very important and modding correctly is THE most important thing about them. I have had alot less trouble with my current TII than my old NA though. But I really want a first gen as a daily driver. GSL-SE to be exact.

 

As others said, maintenance is "Key".
I've driven mine twice coast to coast with over 200,000 miles on the odometer before leaving home and we'll do it again in 6 months

 

This come from a old dude who had owned a new '90 N/A GTU and a used '90 N/A GXL with 93K. The bought new went 128K on original engine. During that time it got a drive shaft, battery, pressure plate, and one leaky injector,and multiple brakes.. thats it. It died of body rust at 315K. Changed oil @ 3,000.

Knew nothing about red lining often or the **** me off occasional fludding problem (do now thanks to this forum). Second, a '90 N/A GXL with 93K, has had nothing major and now at 114K. Am now changing oil/filter at 1.5k, radiator flush annually, tranny/dif flush/change at 10K, and keeping engine bay immaculate, along with brake fluid change at 10K, and simple maintainance as needed. Neither cars were moded or expected to challenge or beat Hondas.

To those **** holes who claim the 7 is not relaible please point out these are autos 15 plus years old, now owened by kids not all that much older than the rotary themselves with no idea how they were cared for before they owned them. Do not fault the car, get pissed at the prior owners who could give a **** and the current speed freeks who want to mod an old car cuz it looks cool runs fast and expect 2004 enginering from a 80's design. To those with rebuilt and moded power plants the best of luck cuz I wonder what effect stressing a 20 year old engineering design has on its true limits and how that contributes to the plethora of laments that the RX7 sucks.

Respect her for what she is, a novel, creative, at the time cutting edge and relaible engine now a collective item not a speed deamon.

Just my two cents worth.

Jerry

 

I've driven nothing but N/A's and had nothing but good experience with them. I have one engine that's a little over 100k miles (used mainly in an autocross car, it's been tested hard). It has near perfect compression still, even surprising my rotary-only mechanic/advisor. Another is a 12a with somewhere over 100k miles on it that's been in a couple first gens and a vw dune buggy, still going strong. My daily driver and current autocrosser has a n/a 13B in it that runs excellent and still exhibits great compression after a 150k run, rebuild, now on 20k.

Like any good lover, give plenty of love and attention and you'll be rewarded with a plethora of great experiences and a long relationship.

 

I named mine Willis as in willistart? after reading all about problems here, and in the 3+ months I have owned it, it has always started (except for a loose battery cable) and never died (except for one night the air pump bracket broke, loosening all belts and causing waterpump to rest, and temp rose, but I caught it and stopped, no damage)

Of course, reliability comes at a price, I have spent $$$ on:

AC short & conversion
AC short
AC Comp & wheel bearings
Detail
Tags
Stereo
Tires, rad & hoses, brakes, LOF, blades
Air pump bracket & belts
PS rack & Oil cooler lines
Wheels
Wiper Switch
Assorted trim
Brake line & elec shorts
Tint & alarm


I also jump in it and ride from Miami to far places, west coast of FL, Atlanta, Tennessee mountain, ran perfectly.

I love mine.

 

These are old cars. Old cars start having problems. Nothing but nothing lasts forever.

I'm surprised that the turboii car I have is less troublesome than I thought it would be. Equal to or less troublesome than a n/a.

And Mazda made a number of lemon RX-7 cars. Mostly in the electrical system in my opinion. As in wiring/ECU/wiper switches/logicon . Once you find a good wiper/ switches/logicon, then its trouble free.

I'll drive anywhere anytime any distance in mine. I won't leave town in one that I have not rebuilt Old engines wear out and there are not a whole lot of hints of just when a apex seal is going. It's not like hearing a tapping of a rod knocking or wrist pin tappin. It just goes bye, bye.