So yesterday, I travelled 5 hours out of town to see an 87 T2 for sale.

Its well maintained with the original paint. Needs a good cleaning and some paint touch up. Still shiny; been indoors most of its life.

It has 230,000Kms (143,750Miles) on the chassis and 70,000KMs (43,750Milies) on a replaced engine, probably from Mazda; it was new when installed. The engine was replaced in 1994. The seller has service receipts back to 1990.

It has many quality aftermarket mods and parts:

- Racing Beat turbo back exhaust
- HKS intake
- HKS FCD
- ACT clutch
- the turbo has been replaced with reman and upgraded stock unit; it has the wastegate mod.
- some very nice Momo rims.
- an HKS boost gauge
- a very basic A/F ratio display. Its a square panel attached to the dash that has 2 rows of LEDs.
- Momo steering wheels
- Racing Beat springs and sway bars
- Illuminas all around
- RB toe eliminator bushings

It needs 4 new tires to certify. The brakes were services recently. The PS hoses have been replaced. The clutch master and slave have been replaced.

Drove it. Drives, handles, and accelerates nicely. Its only been driven 7000KMs (4375Mi) since 2008.

The shifter is sloppy (probably bushings) and it has a bit of trouble going into 2nd gear in a hurry. Tranyy probably needs replacing.

The asking has been $5500 all summer. It recently dropped to $4500.

I was reviewing the receipts and I found a hand written note dated 1999 that refers to a compression test result. There were 5 11.0's and a 9.5, which would seem to indicate a side seal problem. The note was just a peice of paper; no shop name etc. I am guessing the numbers are either Metric or they actually mean 110psi and 95psi. Some help in clarifying much appreciated.

As worrisome as this is, the car has clocked off quite a bit of driving since 1999, and the engine still works, starts right up, and restarts after being shut off, and doesn't smoke.

So, we agreed on $4250, contingent on another compression test result. If its the same result, I am not sure I want it, despite that its probably the nicest of the available cars for sale near me.

Thoughts?

 

it sounds like a really nice car actually. pics might be nice if you had any. i agree on making it contingent on the compression test results, but if it idled it'll pass.

back in the 90's that car would have been badass, its got like ALL the mods on it. actually if i bought it, i'd probably put an FD fuel pump in it, and camber plates and just drive and enjoy it

 

OH, it does have a newer fuel pump on it; the bill was $750; forgot to mention that.. It didn't specify what brand or type.

 

Here are some pics:

 

You probably won't find a clean chassis like that again. Look very nice

 

you're not going to do better than that.

 

Probably. Just the performance parts and the rims alone would cost upwards of $6k or more.

 

+1

The parts are not worth as much as you think but if you like them...bonus. That's a clean car. Someone seems to have taken great care of her.

 

Obviously, they are not worth that much used, but if I were to buy them brand new today, or today's equivilent, I think that's what it would cost. Having RB ship parts to Canada is really expensive, as are the taxes and duties at he border.

As for liking the car, her is a pic of the FC T2 I owned in the 90's. Do you see the resemblance?

 

If I had the cash and were on the market, I'd be all over that.

 

i don't know what its like in canada, but in california finding an FC with a clean body is hard, they have all had some kind of bad bodywork. the interior is the same way.

body, paint and interior is the hardest and most expensive part to fix.

 

jump on that

 

Yes, clean and unmolested FCs for sale are also rare here in Canada. They have either been driven in snow and road salt, hacked up for a stereo install, or turned into a drift car; sometimes all 3.

I saw one pristine FC that had zero rust for $7500, but it was a bone stock 10AE and it was too perfect. I would have felt guilty driving it or modding it.

 

OK, so the consensus of the thread is to not worry about the compression test numbers and the possible bad side seal and buy the car?

 

yeah. thats what i did. i found a near perfect 87 turbo II with 64,000 miles for 3,000 us dollars and it had a blown motor. i got a reman from mazda and now thats one less thing i have to woryy about

 

In this case, I just drive it until it dies. I only plan on putting maybe 2000 miles a summer on it, so it could last quite a while, or maybe not.

 

It seems like a solid car and a good deal at that price. If it were me buying it, I would reverse a few of those mods, but those are just my tastes. It bares an uncanny resemblance to your old TII, even down to a set of aftermarket five spokes, so I've got a feeling you have a little bit of a soft spot for this one.

 

if it idles, then the motor is probably ok. however if it doesn't compression test right, maybe you negotiate price again?

i think it'll pass though, they really have a hard time starting and idling if the compression is low/uneven, its really noticeable. although granted it helps if you have seen healthy ones first

 

OK, well the PO has the compression test booked for tomorrow. Wait and see what the numbers look like.

 

OK, so the PO has been to a Mazda dealer and gotten a compression test.

The good:

Rotor #1 - 7.5, 7.8, 7.5

The not so good:

Rotor #2 - 6.9, 7.3, 5.3

Just as the I thought, apparently a bad side seal. Yet, the car idles perfectly and runs strong. But, its below the Mazda spec to be rebuilt.

So, my quandry is the buy or not to buy. It could grenade tomorrow, it could last for a while longer. Either way, a new engine will be in the future somewhere.

Comments?

 

depends on how much you wanna spend. For me i dont care about mechanical issues. I can fix that. When i look for a car i look for no rust, good paint and good interror. the rest i can deal with.

 

I hear that, and part of me agrees. Buy my fiscal side is challenged to pay over $4k for a car I know is damaged goods. I might want to pay $2500, but I doubt the seller will go that low. The car runs so well (right now), I am sure he is having a hard time believing there is a problem with it.

 

I would offer him $3,000 saying that the motor NEEDS a rebuild before it blows a seal and possiably destroys a housing like it did mine. look at this link, its my rebuild, i paid 3k for mine with a blown motor

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...6#post10680566

 

Thanks for your input Jsense. That's one really nice car. I wish I could find a black one; there just are not that many around.

I talked to the seller on the phone this morning and told him i could not purchase the car at the agreed price. He says he has another buyer lined up; he didn't offer any discounted price. I wonder if he is now going to misrepresent the car to the next guy?

I think he is having some trouble believing that there is a problem with the car, as it runs and idles so well. It was sold to him by a long term friend, and apparently, I have shown him in the pile of service records that his "friend" knew he had tweeked the motor and damaged it. Not nice.

I sent him an email suggesting that if nothing else works out, I would be open to buying the car at a renegotiated price.

Being my fiscal self, for the cost of this car and a new motor, i could easily buy the super-clean stock 10AE that I mentiend in the other thread i have on the go.

Wait and see.

 

From what you say, it sounds like he doesn't want to face the music about the engine's health. It would have been worth it at a lower price, but with a rebuild on the way, it's tough to pay exactly what they want, even if the body and interior are all straight.