I am considering buying a 1987 NA rx-7.
The clutch is completely shot, and the shocks feel a little soft. I'm happy to use stock parts as replacements: this will be my first car and I wont be moding it.

I can get basic tools, but not much car specific. I have little experience working on cars, one of my friends has a lot of experience, but I dont think he's ever messed with a clutch. Time required for the job is no issue.

If I buy the car, should I count on having to pay to have the clutch replaced, or is it reasonable to assume I can do it on my own? What tools / equipment do I need, and does anyone have a tutorial on it?

Also, the car has 140k miles on it and everything else seems to be in great condition. How much should i be paying for this car? (I would be buying it from a dealer)

 

Changing the clutch isn't hard. Its a little time consuming because you have to remove the transmission. Get a Haynes manual and some metric sockets and you can do it. No special tools besides the clutch alignment tool which comes with most clutch kits any way. You can get a stock clutch kit on ebay for $140 at the most. Get one that comes with a new pilot bearing, throw out bearing, pressure plate, clutch disc and alignment tool. I just did mine when I changed the auto tranny to a manual. You will probably have to get the pilot bearing seal from Mazda. It cost me a whole 5 bucks to have Mazda ship it in from another location cause they didn't have one in the supply room.

 

i have a used a used exedy clutch a little better than a stock clutch i can sell to your for cheap if your intested, pm and i can get some pics

 

The only problem with the pilot bearing removal is that it does require a special tool. you need a bearing removal slide hammer to get it out, and they're expensive and hard to find (my experience), i ended up borrowing one from our mechanic after about 8 hours of trying to get it out. It took 3 minutes with the proper tool.