I'm a noob here, I have two RX-7s an 86 and 88, the 88 has never ran, I bought it as a parts car. The 86 is a beautiful thing, inside and out, but now she's boiling the coolant . I spent the last 3 days using the "search" feature and reading all the posts that pertained to overheating, white smoke, etc. and I am thoroughly convinced I have shelled the motor.
I know you guys hate these kinds of posts, and I wouldn't dare ask if I wasn't genuinely torn on what to do next, I have a few options but what I need is some advice on what the best course of action would be.
My 86 is fully loaded, NA, 5 lug, big brakes, sport suspension, etc but its an Auto. My 88 is a manual but I'm not sure what kind of shape its in.
I can:
- Get a salvage yard motor for about $1000 and just swap motors
- do the above and put in the manual
- Get a rebuild from Atkins for $2000 (they are about 25 miles north of me)
- V-8 swap for about $2000

I would like to keep the car for a long time, the problem is, I'm like everyone else, I'm basically broke !
If anyone has any suggestions on the easiest and most economical way I can get my car up and running again, I would greatly appreciate it. BTW, don't flame me to bad on the V-8 thing it's only an option. Thanks

 

dont lose hope yet, just try to figure out what you really want. i got a junkyard motor once for like $300 and it ran perfectly. i would pull the motor and for like $600 do a rebuild your self. then if you want, do a auto to stick swap. just remember, everything happens for a reason

 

do you know whats wrong with the 88? maybe try to get that running. or ^pull out the motor and do a rebuild yourself. ive heard its very easy, just get the ra dvd

 

im in the process of pulling my 88T2 motor and doing a rebuild my self

 

i will be pulling my 88 n/a motor for rebuilding as well in about a month. i found another motor for $100 to rebuild first though

 

i agree with the figure out what is wrong with the 88 motor. maybe it is ok? while you are at it i would go nuts and get that auto out of there. as long as you have a parts car that is a manual you should have everything you need.


2000 for a v8 swap will result in a hack job. it just really isnt enough money to do it right.

 

The engine in the 88 was ran dry of oil. It is siezed solid, I tried to turn it over today with a breaker bar with no luck. I would like to swap in the manual but I have a question for everyone first, the shifter on the manual is very sloppy, for instance, if you pull it down into 2nd and then let go, the shifter pops back up into what looks like neutral even though it's still in 2nd, are the shifter bushings/linkage just worn out or is this a symptom of something worse ? It seems to still be in gear, its just really loose.
Thanks for the help !

 

^well, there are no shifter bushings to speak of. The end of the shift lever goes into a square block that fits on the end of the rear portion of the tranny case. When i got my trans rebuilt, the plastic piece that fits into that block was broken and i had the same problem. The only thing is, the trans needs to be out of the car to replace this item.

 

I have no idea where you got those prices. You can rebuild a rotary for as little as $450. Depending on the condition of the engine. As far as the salvage yard motor, they are about $150-200. Unless its running for some reason I don't know where the $1000 came from. The V-8 swap, unless you already have the engine will more than likely cost more than $2000. I just did a simple turbo swap on my n/a and it's costing me $4500 and thats with alot of used parts.

 

The salvage yard motors are "running motors" with a warranty