RX_Rick

Hello all. I'm brand new to the forum and what brought me here is that I'm thinking of buying an RX-7 for my 13 yr old son for his first car. I am looking at a 1990 GTU that has blown apex seal(s). I know this means rebuild or replace, but I'm trying to weigh my options. More about the car: It looks nice and has a straight body with fairly good paint (some small door dings) and is black with black interior. The interior is in pretty good shape but missing the dash/console piece and I think a passenger side door seal plate. Oh and I'm not sure if this was a GTU option or not (I'm still learning), but it has drilled brake rotors on the front. Oh yeah, it is also missing the exhaust system except for the tip is still there.

Here are some things I'd like opinions on:

• Is this car worth $1000?
• What are my least expensive options for replacing/rebuilding the motor?
• Should I consider a turbo swap?
• Are JDM engines trustworthy and if so, who's the best dealer to consider?

Obviously my main goal here is to give him something reliable for the least amount of money, but I do love turbo engines.

I'd be interested in hearing any of your opinions.

Thanks!
Rick

dw89s5

its probably worth the 1k
i wouldnt think of an rx as a good first car its really tempting and quite easy to go real fast and there are almost no safety features and unless u have alot of time and or money to keep it maintained reliability becomes an issue

if u buy it for him i would deffinitely send him to driving school(skip barber) or somthing like that

as far as i kno drilled rotors were not stock

RX_Rick

Well, I grew up with hotrods, but none of the non-piston type...so I don't mind having to work on it every so often. I wouldn't attempt to do such as this if I didn't feel I can do it. I have a lot of past experience with cars...so I think this could be fun for both of us. I can't imagine though these cars being so fast you need to send them to a driving school. These things are less than half the horsepower I had in my high school rides....of course power to weight probably wasn't half.

Thanks for the response!

SailentShadow

JDM motors are wayyy better,
they get a rebuild every 35k or less(country wide law in Japan)
I did mine, and mine's ran pure... sometimes, you mayyy just end up getting a ported one.... you can only do so many rebuilds before it gets ported somewhere down the line, I'm guessing? hehe...

1,000 is 'worth' it, but you need an exhaust, you're saying it's missing the downpipe and cat?? They go for cheap, I had one out my garage for $50... with cat...

he's 13, when are you planning on buying this? Sheesh, I would have LOVED to have a dad, much less a dad to buy me a car...... AT 13!!!

SailentShadow

ahhhh yes..

Rotary.... power of a v8, weight of a 4 banger...

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

SailentShadow

they're 'safe' :P automatic seat belts are good.... a metal car is good, not none of those junk *** plastic cars like they're made today...

driving school? You WANT him to race? >P

micah

I'm seeing a bit of misinformation, so I'll try and help the best I can.

Sounds like a straight enough car... if it has a clean title, its worth 1000. However, keep in mind a rebuild isn't going to be cheap.

Yes, if it has a clean title and decent paint....

JDM engine swap would be a BAD idea for a beginner.. its not as easy as most people will say.. and they aren't better. They are exactly the same, just cheap. And its hit or miss as to whether or not you will be given a good one. The best bet is to rebuild what he has yourself. Depending on how the engine blew, the engine will have a certain amount of stuff you will have to replace... If it threw an apex seal, chances are you'll have to replace a housing, a rotor, and perhaps an iron or two.. Luckily, all of those things can be had for cheap with either a cheap donor motor or from the for-sale section. Once you have all of the right parts, rebuilds are easy. Buy a rebuild video from atkinsrotary.com or mazdatrix.com. It shows how to do it... step by step.. and shows what tools you'll need, how to clean everything, etc... or atleast the mazdatrix one does. Your second option is to have somebody do it for you and will probably cost anywhere from 2500-4500 depending on what you have done and how many NEW parts you get.

A turbo engine, maintained properly, is just as reliable as a non-turbo engine. Some will debate that, but most of the turbo guys will attest to the reliability of a properly cared for TII.



That stuff said, I think an RX-7 is a terrible choice for a first car.... I'll keep my first-car opinions to a minimum and tell you that the RX-7 is a relatively safe car for its size.. I've seen a bunch of accidents involving them (because they tend to be driven fast and unsafely <hint>) and in almost every case, the OTHER person was in worse off shape in a newer "safer" car. The RX-7 crumples very well in head-on and rear-end collisions.. side impacts are the most dangerous as they are with any car.

Make sure your kid isn't a moron before handing him keys to a fast car. At that age, I definately was a moron. Some on this site will debate that I still am.

SailentShadow

They're the same engines, yes.... but they've been maintained a lot better, I'm sure.

a rebuild after 35k? instead of here in the states, going 200k, 300k then blowing a motor?

Yeah, I'd have to go with the motor that was rebuilt frequently, thanks....(not trying to do it in a ****-attitude/tone)

the motor swap is easy, it was my first time touching a rotary car, and it was easy.
I've done less than 15 motor swaps ranging from a few Hondas, a few trucks and vans, to a few tuner cars(not Hondas... lewl)

It was simple IMO... You say you have history behind cars, a motor swap is a motor swap.... that's pretty much what it is...

keep in mind, if you go from N/A to TII, you'll have to replace the ECU, and the throttle cable, that's about IT in the inside of the car, other than that, you're working out on the engine bay...

motor, tranny, map sensor, driveshaft, rearend unless you do what I did, and bore out the holes for the bolts where it goes into the rearend...
yes, you can keep the N/A wiring harness, so you don't have to worry about the extra 2-3 hard *** clips to get from under the dash near the front panel of the car....

if you want, you can even take out all the emissions stuff like I did, which would eliminate lots of stuff from the engine bay.... lots of stuff...

a rebuild will generally run you around 1,000 if you do it yourself.
you can get most local people to do a street port rebuild that is around 2,200 which is like, a few hundred more than a normal rebuild... and adds loads more power.... and flames.... hehehe >)

RX_Rick

thanks everyone!

micaheli: I'm not worried about my older son driving like an idiot. It's my younger one that will need a moped with a governor to keep from killing himself I told my older son if he wanted to race, we'd take it to the local drag strip.

Oh and I have considered rebuilding the one in it. However, I'm not certain how easily I could find a donor motor around this part of the country. I'll have to check out the for-sale section....thanks for the heads-up!

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

Un-true. Simply un-true.

JDM engines are a gamble same as buying any other used engine. Its not running in its original car for a reason. And although Japan has strict maintenance programs for their vehicles - there's nothing even remotely close to manditory rebuilds every 35,000kms.

When buying a JDM engine, go down to the place in person and check it out. Pull the plugs, crank it over (usually they still have tranny's attached so you can jump the starter) inspect it for shipping damage and go from there. Plenty of good deals to be had, but plenty of ways to flush $1000 down the toilet without blinking.

Sounds likea good buy for the price. I would personally look into rebuilding it since:

a) You know what you have when it goes back together
b) You'll only find turbo engines at JDM places since all RX-7's in Japan were turbo. That means a host of issues involved with swapping the more powerful turbo engine into the car. Although they're not huge issues, they can be when dealing with 20 year old harnesses and electronics.


Its your son's first car? Or will be in 3 years anyway? I'd rather give him the "can-kill-yourself-with-its-current-hp-level" N/A rotary as opposed to the "extra-gas-and-extra-power-to-insure-stupid-driving-behaviour" model. But I'm not a Dad yet either

One thing to bear in mind also. There's going to be many other nick-nack costs involved in swapping engines or even rebuilding. If you did a rebuild, chances are you would get the injectors cleaned/replaced, new plugs/wires......pretty soon you've spent $1000 on other items. You'll want to budget with those in mind.

Sounds like a nice find though, have fun.

SailentShadow

So... if all JDM Rx7's were turbo, why does coolestofdudes Chris here in Vegas, have an JDM N/A base model?
Sorry to bust your nuts, but there's N/A's in Japan. o_O

rebuilding the motor would be a waste of time when you can buy an N/A motor w/tranny for like, 400 bucks.... 500 bucks.... running
My motor has GREAT compression.

When I started up my JDM TII front clip it clicked right over, no troubles.
I had to replace the oil and tranny fluid and obviously coolant, but who doesn't? doii

I bought my front clip for $2,200, a bit expensive, but the hood was in great shape, just needed paint, one dent/ding but it's too minor to even list...
Swapped in great, even got a universal JDM wrench that was left in it... haha
had a dual pully alternator and coil overs. Can't be that. free coilovers and a good pulley? (not free, but you know what I mean. :}

texFCturboII

iTrader: (17)

And the rotor love spreads to the next generation!

Rbrashear68

*

RX_Rick

hahah! Well, I guess you can say that. I wasn't a big fan of the cars, but I've always been intrigued by these engines! I think I want to tinker with one as bad as he (my son) wants the car. But that said, the more I research them, the more attached I've become. Learning nuances of certain machines can definitely create an attraction....or make you run!

RX_Rick

Well, I thought about this a while and I put down deposit and I'll be paying the balance owed on the car tomorrow and hopefully picking it up sometime this weekend. I'll have pics hopefully soon.

My son thinks I've moved on and not getting the car and I think he's going to be beside himself. Looking forward to his reaction!

BASTARD

iTrader: (4)

really???please enlighten us on such laws...


i am under the impression that the vehicles get inspected every 35k and the ones that don't pass are either reconditioned or taken off the road.. if the engine does pass, then it can be driven for another 35k... which means that a motor may have much more then 35k on it

BASTARD

iTrader: (4)

I think if you do some research ... you will find that the only N/A FC's in Japan were built by owners because there were no factory JDM production N/A FC's

RX_Rick

Don't need any blasting about the Z wheels okay

Here's the car:

RX_Rick

The body is pretty straight and the paint isn't really bad at all. It has a few little dings on each side and a small dent in the rear lower quarter panel and a small one on the right front fender. All in all, it's pretty clean. My son loves it and that's all that matters!

texFCturboII

iTrader: (17)

I don't know if its my computer, but there are some wierd distortions to the image! But otherwise it looks real good!

arghx

iTrader: (3)

-I think an n/a would be a great father-son project. just make sure that he will have a backup car if it's not running right.

and I must say I've never seen Z32 300zx wheels on an FC before

Boosted11

iTrader: (11)

Nice buy for a grand! Good luck with the car and have fun building it back up to new again!

Evil Aviator

The least expensive option is to rebuild it yourself. However, this may not be the smartest option, depending on how well you think you can adapt to the rotary engine. There are videos available if you want to at least take a look to see what is involved.
http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Books_videos.htm

Heck no! There is no point in making more work for yourself, your son will be better served by a non-turbo engine, and the swap is not as financially efficient as simply buying a good used Turbo II RX-7. I had a non-turbo RX-7 as a college student, and it fit perfectly with my lifestyle.

The JDM engines are NOT rebuilt every 35,000 miles, and they are all turbocharged. Given that, I think you should just stick with rebuilding the non-turbo engine. If you do not wish to tackle that yourself, there are several good rebuilders to choose from.

freemanrx7

If you spend a little more money and wait I think you could find a better (running) 7. Have your son rebuild a dirtbike or something he can ride now.

Although rebuilding a 7 over time can be fun. I've been having fun with mine

RX_Rick

I agree with you, but I had a plan in mind with this. One...he knows nothing about cars really, but has the desire. And two, I want him to invest some of his own money, blood, sweat, & tears to teach him to take care of it. We are already having fun and spending fun time with each other on it just cleaning it up.


Evil Aviator: That's good info! Now all I have to do is get rid of my turbo desire! I flippin' love turbo engines of any kind...including my Cummins diesel.