Hello all,

I have been owning these cars since the mid 80's.
I can say today they are more awesome than ever and
like many of us.. the hobby is an integral part of our lives.
As my cars get older, I want to keep them in tip top shape. I try to keep them stock, even my daily driver.
To drive them as original,etc.
It would be great to know from you all, what your experiences are with NOS/OEM parts { new old stock,original equipment manufacturer}

How long do you think we will be able to obtain these before they run out? Does anyone know if they {mazda,japan}are still making these parts new today?

Or is it just basically a few large warehouses in like los angeles or new jersey with parts stocked to the ceiling.. and once they are gone.. they are gone ?

I went to mazda yesterday, and ordered a bunch of stuff,OEM for my 88 turbo. Like a shift boot,a few interior pices,hoses etc. They had like 15 things out of my list of 20. Not bad for a car 16 years old. the others were NLA- or no longer available.

The prices of these OEM/NOS parts are high- its like the price of health care, or some prescription drugs- tack on the heftiest price imaginable and then wait till the rx fans ooze out of the woodwork- that seems to be the approach. Like a set of converters is over 2,000.. acv is like 500.00 if thats how it is , Im not knocking business or how people make money, but it is a strain for us, and a reason that many of these cars go into disrepair.

Does anyone have some insider info { im martha stewarts cousin haha} on how long they think the supply of parts will last?

A guy can restore a 1959 vette or 65mustang and get like a horn emblem or some oddball part- it might not be NOS , but it matches. I wonder if a company here might start making rx-7 parts.. any info would be great to know.. thanks all

 

These cars are not collectors items, nor do I think they will be in the near future.

I have no problems "reproducing" most trim pieces, and big/complex components is obtained via searching for wrecks - they are plentiful.

Almost everything else can be upgrade with other aftermarket parts.

The ONE thing that might become an issue is non-turbo engine stuff.
I've heard the production has been stopped for several years now, and the NA engine parts prices have been going through the roof or out-of-stock for some time now.
I'd worry if I had to replace non-turbo engine parts.
At least with turbo engine parts, J-spec engines are plentiful.



-Ted

 

i believe they just have several large warehouses that have a ceiling high stock. once when i was at the dodge dealership, while i was ordering gaskets for a 3000gt i had, i jokingly asked the counter guy how much a new turbo would be from any year stealth, i forget the price but it was outragous as expected, but he said they had 'limited quanities' of them in only 2 warehouses in the US, i'm sure there are more overseas of course.

dealerships know this puts a strain on the collector and causes many cars to be sold due to high prices. this is what they want, think about it. would most people fork over that 2,000 for converters on a 15 year old car when the same 2,000 would make a nice downpayment on the RX-8 the dealership just so happens to have on the lot? they use the high prices as a way to influence people to buy new cars from them constantly, where as if the someone is dedicated enough to spend so much money, the dealership still wins by bending you over and charging you more than the part is worth. I wouldn't worry about all the OEM parts being gone though, not too many people go to the factory over a junkyard any more. even if they did run out there are still warehouses overseas.

 

well its hard to say. the mazda dealer computer only looks at inventory that is in the us. so when you run an availability on a part and it shows 2 in the country, what it does NOT show are the potenital inventory in japan, and or any shipment on the way here.

we can look at the rx2/rx3/rx4's to see what parts availabilty will be like in the future.

engine parts for the for the pre 78 cars are just starting to run out now, while the trim items (fenders, badges etc) have been gone for over a decade.

so keeping your fc running should be easy for a while, but you should fix the cosmetic stuff now while its available new still

and mazda unlike mercedes doesnt care about their older cars, and once stuff is gone its most likely gone.
(mercedes will get you any part you need for any mercedes ever, they also will restore your car for you. mazda doesnt know they made cars before 78...)

 

the irony. I wanted a N/A so that I don't have to spend so much money on maintaining the car...

 

There are always alternatives to NOS or OEM. You can find items such as a new stock fitting cat for 1/4 the price of an OEM. Badges can be reproduced or custom made (though pricewise, it might be a little high).

Hell, if you're so inclined, if the part isn't available or incredibly expensive, you could make one yourself. It would probably look and function far better than the original.

I agree, RX7s aren't collectors items--yet. But I'm willing to bet that when someone goes to a car show 20-30 years from now, they'll see an RX7 among the lot.

 

Try finding parts for a Vert. My driver side window still doesn't roll down and me messing with has just made it worse. I called the dealership to see how much it'd cost to get a new one and it was $480 plus tax. Verts were only made in limited quantity and mazda had the amazing idea of making everything for me them custom. There are some parts (like that window regulator) that will be completely gone soon.