But I'd ended up with an s4. After months and months of searching, I'd finally found a sweet one. I wanted a coupe, but it was a convertible. A sweet little 88 white convertible. Back in February. It had 68k on it. It was in such good condition, all those things that on s4's seem to be faded and cracked, where nearly perfect on this thing. I melted for it... and drove it home to discover the bad coolant seal. "yeah, you're gonna have to get it rebuilt"

I was like.... **** that, I'm drivin' this bitch. I was sick of my honda, I wanted a nicer car to drive. That car made me fall in love with it. I even became fond of the convertible "feel" - that 'comfortable' feel. I raced my friend in his s5 vert, and he'd always beat me by just 'that' much. but I liked it more than anything I'd driven before. And I drove it on nearly a "daily" basis. Because of the water seal problem, I had to move just a little coolant from the over flow back into the radiator every morning, but other than that, it never worsened, and ran like a charm.

But then this last July, i had to move. So my seven got parked, and I drove only my toyota, hauling all my crap to the new house. The seven sat for two weeks. When I drove it to the new house, it still seemed fine, albeit it was a short trip, just moved right accross town. Then for another week, I was still just driving my truck.

After that three weeks, I decided the seven needed a drive. i started it, let it warm up, and two blocks away from the house, it began to over heat. parked it again for another week, thinking "**** - I think it gave up on me... I shouldn't have let it sit....." After that week I started it, and nothing but plumes and plumes of steam.

So, it's done for, the engine will not run without overheating.

Another week passed by. I scrolled around craigslist, just bored. And found the same thing, a white covertible... but an 89, with 61k. I thought i'd just waste the dudes time, go have a joy ride, and 'test drive' the guys s5 vert.

I loved it. So smooth, in better 'visual' condition than my s4.... and more power. I felt it off of the get go. And I melted for it. I handed over the cash and took the 89 comnvertible home.

Well, now I have two white convertible FC's. haha.....

The s5 runs just frikkin fine, and it's become my daily driver (it gets better gas mileage than my toyota truck, wtf?) and the s4, with the bad engine, sits covered in the driveway.

What do with it, what to do.

I dont want to get rid of it, I really liked it, it was my first running rx-7, and it has... well, "memories." It was the first seven I lost control in - and nearly shat my pants.

So the question for everyone is.... What do you think I can/should do with it? I'm gonna get it rebuilt as soon as I can fish out the cash. And I figured.... **** it, I have another one now, and I don't need to 'really' depend on the s4 being 'reliable' - I thought, I'll have it ported, and maybe do a few other things to it.

Keeping in mind that I want to keep it at least somewhat passable as legit for california steets, what should I do with it? What do you think? I just want to know what anyone will say. Input, advice, whatever.... would it be too difficult to do a turbo upgrade/swap and actually have it pass state inspection?

 

get some crc block weld. Not the brown can, but the clear bottle with copper flakes. 2 bottles most of the time will fix the coolant seal.

 

no can do bro. I refuse to use anything like that in any engine, I'd rather fisho ut the cash to have it properly rebuilt

 

Well, I have a similair situation. Only I have an 88 SE and an 89 GXL. I noticed the low end power the most in my GXL when I first drove it. Must be that VDI....

Anyways, I just turned my 88 SE into a parts car. And many of it's parts are comforably installed on my GXL. Including the engine for the time being (my S4 was good, my S5 lost a coolant seal).

 

I've considered parting it. Two white convertibles, the 88 would supply plenty of spare parts. The problem is that if I turn it into a stripped shell, my family will demand I get rid of it. So either I sell it, part it and junk it, or sup it up.

If I don't ever have the extra cash to fix it up, yes, it will be parted. But I'd rather beef it up, and have a fun car.

But since the subject is out there, would anyone even be interested in a relatively stripped-for-parts convertible shell?

 

i say rebuild. parting it out means wasting a nice car (as i take it from your original post). Port it if you want, or whatever. NEVER waste a rex to parting it out, unless the shell is toast. Then you will have 2 verts. A while back I saw a vert, obviously blown, in ok condition with the drivers side window busted out at a gas station (it was the station owner's rex) I was gonna offer the guy 300 bux. but that was 3 years ago. Verts rock, so dont waste it, i know $1500 (min) for a rebuild (if you do it yourself) is pricey, but worth it IMHO.

 

If a car has fuxored coolant seals, it shouldn't cost any more than a gasket kit (180 bucks) to rebuild it... that's how much I paid for the parts to do my rebuild and my car still runs fine with the original apex seals (although it was already rebuilt before the coolant seals blew... I guess I wouldn't recommend using 100K mile old three-peice apex seals any more).

 

dam my buddy is looking for a s4 engine longblock but cali is a little far