437boxed

For thirteen years I tooled around in a 1988 Nissan 200SX. I was sad when it finally went down last summer. My next car was a 1984 Buick Park Ave. Having two young children and having my music equipment to haul around, I thought this vehicle would work for me. But it really didn't. Call it fate, or the silver lining in the clouds, but this car went kaputz on me after (of course) I had finally commited to holding on to it and sinking some bucks into its restoration. In a moment of absolute desparity looking for a cheap ride I searched for a "sports car", yearning for the thrill of driving a good machine. Well, turns out that I saw a 1986 Maxda RX7 for sale for 650 bucks. At first I figured that it was a heap of junk that someone was trying to get rid of. To make a long story short, after visiting the seller and taking two short drives in this car, I was hooked. Big time! I had to put new tires on it and new wiper blades. Two weeks later the trans went out and I had it replaced. I absoutely enjoy this car and have learned much about it in the short time I've been an owner. So I have sunk a couple thousand dollars into it and I think it's well worth it. It has 128,000 miles on it and I must say that the engine purrs nicely. It is a mechanically sound car and is just a BLAST to drive!!! So I do have questions about it as I begin to work on it and try to find parts and try to make it as much of a fun machine as I have seen other owners achieve. I thought that my Nissan was a real piece of work, but this one really takes the cake! Any help I can obtain from the members of this board is GREATLY appreciated as I am an avid fan of high-performance driving and truly appreciate the extensive knowledge and excitement for this classic sports car. Thanks in advance.

zub

We've had 2 '86 N/A's, and loved them both. All you really need to remember:

Change the oil early and often (no synthetics), use good quality filters and fluids, and change the spark plugs every 10-15k.

Be careful not to flood it while cranking (they're very susceptible). Not difficult to clear, just annoying.

Most importantly, if it ever overheats, DON'T DRIVE IT until the problem is fixed. You could very easily damage a rotary engine by driving it hot, and you don't want to pay for that rebuild.

Have fun!

zub's wife

gotdatfiyah

437...you owe every member that read this 3 minutes of their life back.

Raymr

Don't worry about it. I like to hear about positive owner experiences. Good luck with your new car.

Now where did you put the kids and equipment??

Evil Aviator

Yes, the 2Gen RX-7 is well made and well designed.

My suggestions to nubies:
1) Read through the nubie "stickies" at the top of the 2Gen forum. This will take a while if you look through all the web links.
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/forumd...?s=&forumid=17

2) Most of the questions asked here can be answered by simply reading the service manual. It will tell you when to change the oil, what grade of oil to use and when, the proper water to coolant ratio and proper procedures for changing the coolant (everybody screws this up needlessly because they refuse to read the manual), what size wheels are on the car, etc. The manual is about $100, but the two websites listed below have it scanned for free online viewing. If you do a lot of work on your car, the $100 investment is well worth it, but otherwise the online manual should work fine. The 1988 factory manual will work for your car, and sometimes you can use the 89-92 factory manual for clarifications if the parts are the same. You can also pick up a Haynes manual at your local generic auto parts store for under $20.
http://www.iluvmyrx7.com/
http://fc3s.org/

3) There is only one part that you MUST buy from Mazda, or from a Mazda parts retailer. That is the coolant thermostat. Never use an aftermarket coolant thermostat.

I think this is a suggestion to use the Search function on this website.

437boxed

in 2 seconds I can only say that... we make it work! Please consider this one minute of my 3 minute debt to society!