I am looking at buying a 1991 Rx7 that may have a bad engine. The car is in limp mode because of the Oil Metering Pump, has low oil pressure, and the compression reads around 78psi, which was done by the guys machanic with a standard compression tester following the instructions in the Service Manual. The car is a non-turbo fully loaded with a manual transmission. It has 107,000 miles on it, and is in really good shape and is a one-owner car.

I was wondering what you guys thought a fair price was for it. I am not going to be able to put a rebuilt\new engine in myself if it is blown, I would have to go somewhere to get that done.

I am going to look at the car this week, and was wanting to know what a fair price was to offer. The owner is pretty frustrated with the car, and said that he would take $2,000 to get rid of it. Would it be worth $2,000 if the engine is bad, or should I try to get him down on the price some?

Thanks

 

As a rule, I don't pay more than $1,000 for a "shell".

I think $2k is too much for what you're getting.


-Ted

 

i paid $2025 for my 91 "GXL" running, but i bought it with a bad tranny. i found another tranny that is pretty good for $100. the car is on its 2nd engine with about 70Kmiles when i bought it, 14X,XXXmiles on chassis. i'd say to pass it up or bring the price down, like he said, to $1k if the cars in nice condition. thats a lot of work.

 

I think every one is on the right track here. the car is ONLY and I repeat my self ONLY worth at most 1k. Not to mention you will have to pay for some one to remove and reinstall new engine. If it was a T2 maybe a different storie. lol

 

yea, i found an S5 red turbo 2 with fittipaldi (uhh, sp.?) wheels, pretty good exterior, beautiful interior, but had a engine that didnt want to start for $1500. yea, it sold quickly. i'm glad i wasn't around to buy a 2nd gen new cause their value seems to hold about as well as a hyundai. but thats good for us, right.

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

I was kind of thinking that $2000 may be too much. Although, if I fix the oil leak, and fix the oil metering pump problem, then maybe the compression may come back up or it could have been improperly tested, then it wouldn't be too bad of a deal.

I am just trying to protect myself incase the engine is really bad. The worst case is that I spend a couple hundred dollars trying to get the engine running right, and then the engine quits on me. I would then buy a street ported rebuilt motor, which will probably run around $2500 installed.

That would cost me $5000 for a 1991 Rx7 with a fresh streetported motor in good condition and a month worth of headaches. After that I plan on modifying the exhaust and suspension for autocrossing.

I go look at the car on Thursday, so I am trying to get as many opinions as possible before then.

Thanks again.

 

or you could buy a "shell," knowing you need a motor, and save a grand or so.

 

2k for a car with an engine that doesnt run is way to much. But then again so is 600 dollars for a first gen that has sat in a ladys yard for 7 years and is infested with mosquitoes and wasp.................(dont ask)

 

I talked to the owner of the car some more.

He said that he changed the oil every 6,000 miles and he drives the car about 8,000 miles a year. If you do the math that means he would only change the oil every 9 months.

How sensitive is the Rotary to oil changes? I know it is supposed to be done every 3,000 miles or 3 months.

What could be the negative effects of waiting this long for oil changes. This is a one owner car, so it was probably done this way for the majority of the cars life.

Thanks

 

Actually new they held their value remarkable well, typically only loosing $750 to $1000 a year in value (depending on the model).

That is much better than most domestic vehicles and pretty middle of the road for japanese imports.

Its a blown engine that radically drops that value to less than $1000, and mostly due to the lack of good mechanics that know rotaries.

 

Changed the oil every nine months and 6000 miles. That is crappy, consider the engine crap.

And he says he only drove it 8000 miles a year? More like 9000 a year.

I would not pay more than $1000, I was gonna pay $1000 for a blown s4 t2

 

It sounds like you really want this rx7 considering you are defending the price a liitle bit, if $ money doesn't bother you then go ahead and buy it. if its what you really want, just EXPECT to have to replace things you didn't think of on the engine rebuild.

 

i paid 1700 bucks for my 91 GXL with 145k miles and good compression and good transmission. great condition.

 

Next to 3K mi oil changes, the OMP is REAL inportant.
If you can't get it fixed first, run pre-mix.

 

I went to look at the car.

It wasn't in as good of shape as I was hoping. It had some small hail damage, and a some decent dings on the fender. Also the front bumper was scuffed up, from it hitting someone. There car also had an exhaust leak, and a broken antenna. A bunch of minor stuff, but it does add up. The paint did have a lot of shine to it, besides all of this.

The owner did add a quart of oil to it every 1,000 miles, so at least it was never low on oil. He did mention he had a radiator hose bust once, and the engine did get hot, but never overheated. Just more to worry about.

I have never experienced an Rx7 in limp mode, but it ran like crap. I could hardly give it any gas before it would start hesitating badly. I always shifted before 3,000 rpms so that it wouldn't cut out, but it barely would accelerate.

I ended up offering him a $1,000 as suggested, but he did not take it. He didn't even try to negotiate, so he probably is set on $2,000 for now.

My search continues

 

I would only pay $1000 for a car that was flawless, besides needing a motor. $2000 for a car that would need a motor, and from what it sounds like alot of TLC, is just way to much.

I payed $600 for my 90 FC with 123k miles on it. Origonal owner. She thought it needed a motor, but all it needed was a injector. Keep looking. CJ

 

I paid 1500 for an 87 N/A with 3000 miles on a brand new engine. good mechanical all the way around just missing interior pieces. decent exterior.