Hey everyone, i'm buying a 1988 Rx-7 from a guy who repairs and deals with RX-7's, and he's given me the option of either a Turbo II or non-turbo(He's putting the engine down into the body himself, he has quite a collection of Rx-7's....). I have no experience with rotary engines or turbos so I was wondering how much more trouble a turbo would be to maintain and own?

 

It's the same as with any car. Fun and reliability are inversly related.

 

you can have a fun and fast car that is reliable but it does take proper steps and some more regular maintenance than a regular non fun and fast car. of course the n/a will be more reliable because there is less to go wrong with it but it all depends on which you want, faster but more maintenance or slower and less maintenance/repairs/upgrades.

 

If you have an opportunity to have either a TII motor or an N/A motor installed for the same price, I'd definitely go with the TII. Both are a lot of fun, but if you got the N/A and then got to ride in a TII, I think you'd definitely regret your decision not to get the TII.

I'd be cautious about this guy (unless you know him well). Make sure that what he's dropping in is in really good condition. The fact that he's offering you a motor worth nearly twice as much (the TII) for the same cost as the N/A is slightly suspicious. Make sure you know what you're getting into, or try and get some sort of warranty on it... (maybe where he'll fix it if it breaks down in "X" amount of days after purchasing it)...

GOOD LUCK!

 

Turbo's RX-7 are less trouble and most satisfactory.

 

easy to work on for the most part in my opinion

 

yep pretty easy to work on with these guys help and really its kind of a trade off because the n/a has 5th and 6th port actuators and stuff that get stuck causing headaches just like the tII has a turbo that can cause headaches! I would choose the tII because those suckers can be fast!