I have a 86' base model and it has a very rusty frame. Do you think I should go to a shop to weld in a new frame or to buy another 2nd gen rx7 and swap out the parts onto the new car? What do you think?

 

How bad and where is the rust? Got pics?

 

I would not worry about it.

 

if your car is worth saving, i.e. turbo model.. if its a base 4 lug S4, throw it away lol jk

 

Lets see some pics......

 

If the subframe is rotted through the cars scrap. Buy an s4 and swap the parts over.

 

I faced this dilemma with my old S5 base (GTU) car two years ago. I had the car 11 years so I was attached to it, it had a nice rebuilt streetported engine, everything was well sorted, etc. But the rust was pretty extensive including some holes in the floors and pretty advanced rot in the frame rails. Two body shops told me to scrap the car. One said they could weld some reinforcements for $1500 that might make it last another two years before the rust came back. I decided it was a better idea to just look for a better car and part the old one, and I'm happy I did.

On the other hand, if you can weld and fix it yourself, have at it.

 

lets be honest with the guy tho if its a base model 4 lug scrap it and get something worth while...
TwEaK

 

Get rid of it and get a TII.

 

base model...ah I had the same car with the same problem for 2 years before I decided to get rid of it I took off all the parts and vin#'s and keep them in my parts shed for if I get another 86
so if you are going to do anything get another I hate to say get rid of an Rx-7 but it is not worth pouring countless bags of cash into when you can buy another one for what you might put into this one

 

Don't get too attached to any one car, RX7's can be had dirt cheap. Might just be in your favor to buy a second chasis\vehicle.

Rust is car cancer, sometimes its cheaper to put grandpa down

 

You might want to consider buying a southern or southwestern car and driving it back (or shipping it) to Massachusetts if you can't find a clean one up there. I know I struggled for a while trying to find a rust free one even here in the Washington, DC area. Apparently these cars are really plentiful in some areas and nonexistent in others.

 

Well its bad enought so that when I try to jack it up, the frame starts cruching. Well Ill look around for another car because my only other option was to weld in new metal for the frame but it sounds like its not worth it. Ill keep my eye out for southern cars with maybe just a frame so they would sell it cheap and it would have very litle or no rust and I can build it up from there.

 

My plan was to find a rust-free S5 NA shell back in early 2007 with the idea of swapping over all my good parts (rebuilt engine, perfect black interior, etc., etc.) and had surprisingly little luck. It is very tough to find a nice rust-free car in the Northeast; even harder if you're looking for an S5. I ended up buying a mint low mileage complete original car from someone who had just moved up from Florida.

 

Yeah that's really the best thing to do if you want to keep a car for a while and are serious about building it up. I picked up a shell from Texas for $500, and this thing is perfect. Not a speck of rust anywhere on it, most of the brackets and bolt heads still hae the gold zinc coating on them and everything just comes apart so easily. I think the best example is the screws that hold the brake rotors on. On my first FC (IL/MI car) I had to drill them out. On the new FC, I was able to turn them out with a flat head screwdriver

Although, I guess I did it wrong, since the car I got is a 4-lug base, which apparently isn't even an FC and should be crushed, according to most opinions on here . I guess no one realizes that engine swaps and 5-lug swaps are easy.