Hey guys, im not new too rx7s because my friends have always had them. Ive always loved them and ive come across a deal with some 18yr old kid that will trade for my running, reliable, daily driven civic ej2 B20 swap. I met the kid today and I got there and the battery was dead, he had to jump it.

It has a stupid push start button that he had to mess around with for awhile before He finally got it started and it sounded amazing, full 3" racing beat exhaust and muffler was shaped liked a rotor, I loved it! so I drove it its real rough and it grinds when shifting gears?? he says the synchros are off?? other than that it pulls soo hard!! and has a greddy bov that sounds great.

So its salvage title and not smogged, my car is clean title and smogged. But its an rx7 T2 compared to a civic with a swap, I want the damn rx7 but I need a reliable car to get to work everyday, basically I need some help with this decision guys, should I take a risk?? its a great car it just needs some work, heres the link to his car and to mine. If anyone is in the bay area near Hayward where this kid lives, id really appreciate some help this sunday, to just look it over and let me know if its worth it.

His car 1988 Mazda RX7 *Lowered Price*

My car Clean 95 2 Door Honda Civic B20 Swaped and Smogged

 

Be careful with that car. It has 143k miles on the original engine which isn't really low for a rotary engine. Depending on how well the owner maintained the engine it might be that it will need an expensive rebuild soon. The car doesn't look like the owner had much money left for the car. Why did he install an electric fan without a thermostat?
The engine is missing the air pump which is bad if you try to smog test it and it is also bad because the waterpump could start to slip at high engine speeds because the owner didn't install a second belt to drive it.

By the way that rear passenger corner panel looks horrible.

 

If you are looking for a reliable everyday car, compared to your Civic I would stay with your Civic. Not to say RX7's are not reliable, but the TII in question looks like it's a project car and needs more work to make it 100%. And as I have learned recently, it's best to have an everday car and an RX7 because you never know when you might have engine failure, especially with an RX7 that is not 100%. Your Civic is clean btw, keep your Civic and buy the RX7 as a project car if you can.

 

In my opinion, having seen nor driven either car, it would be crazy to trade your civic for that t2. The other guy must be salivating at the possibility. That car is a project at best.

 

^ +1.
Even as a project, the body damage would give me pause.

Also keep in mind that besides all the glaringly obvious faults, the car doesn't appear to have been maintained at all...I just spent $1500 (and hundreds of hours) on maintenance items (gaskets, hoses, fluids, sensors, lift struts, wiper blades, etc.) on a chassis that was in much better condition than yours.
It's not the big things that get you, it's the endless parade of little **** that sinks most projects.

 

hahaha thanks guys I didnt expect good responses, me being a big Nissan Mazda nut, I was trying to look past all the bad **** but I still had that voice in the back my head tellin me I was gonna make a very bad decision lol. I think if the rx7 was in the driving condition my civic is in, where I can get up get in it, start it and go to work everyday no issues, that I probably would have traded and just dealt with the lil ****.

But it doesnt even start consistently, more headache then fun but god was it fun lol if I can somehow keep my civic and take his car I will. Im no Honda guy!!never have been but I took it off a friend as a gas saver and it does just that, 30 bucks full tank for 2 weeks their fun,cheap and easy to work on but with a turbo z or turbo wankel in my face, take my civic!! haha thanks again guys and if you know any rotary heads in the bay area let me know, ill be joining the rotor family soon anyways and more knowledge is always good.

 

If you're willing to put the time, money, and effort the car needs to make it 100% it might be worth trading for.

The body damage would bother me, as well as the salvage title, and possible high mileage on the engine .

You may want to save money for an engine rebuild if you get it just in case the current engine goes, I'd get it compression tested to see where it stands.

Is the car originally a gtu, if it is did it have a full swap including drivetrain or is it still using an na rear-end and axles? Where did the engine come from?

Tell him to throw you some cash with it since your car is mint and his needs work lol

Rotary >Pistons

 

sell your car and buy a t2. but not this one. be patient. good things come to those who wait.
maybe sell yours and buy a cheap civic ef hatch or something. just for transportation. then, when a nice t2 or even na comes along, ****** it up. then you'll have the ef as your back up ride and the rotary. that would be the sensible thing to do, IMO. just need patience

 

i have had some really rough cars in my life, but i wouldn't touch that T2!

1. its missing the airpump/acv, so it won't pass the tailpipe test OR the visual.

2. the quarter panel looks bad, whomever "fixed" it probably made it worse. not to mention the front of the car is all fucky

3. the interior has been pieced together too. the rear is grey, the seats and door panels are 89-91..

4. salvage title, IMO car is overpriced.

5. its got that crap Ebay drifter steering wheel, if you gave me this FC, that wheel would get thrown in the general direction of the previous owner with great enthusiasm. followed by the home depotry on the speaker towers, and all the wiring for the stereo, and probably a bunch of other misinstalled junk

 

If you're in Cali you should have no problem finding a nice t2 , I see them for sale quite often.

I agree its not a great car, it should be $1500 or so not $3700

Rotary >Pistons

 

hahahaha you guys are some funny ***** ill admit, im likin this forum already haha but ya I was thinking of just sellin the civic and hopefully a good T2 will pop up ( you never know with stupid *** craigslist lol) or give the kid maybe 1000 for the car, which is all its worth ( salvage title, shitty quarter panel, maintenance by a kid and the ignition and tranny are ****) I mean come on lol not worth my civic just like you guys all mentioned.

If that can fly ill get a back up daily, cuz like I said when I did drive it aside from the rough tranny the ****** was soo fun, nice sounding and it hauled *** so I would think compression is good and healthy? and the exhaust system has to be worth something, I looked under there and the rotor shaped muffler to turn down tip was awesome looking, are you guys familiar with this exhaust system?? where could I get it if I just ended up gettin another T2? appreciate the words of wisdom and warm welcome to the forum guys haha I like RX7 club.....ohhh and one more question lol who is Icemark? is he that guy at the top inside the rotor? how did he die? thanks

 

pass on it, because an 18 year old would have just beat the snot out of it until it became unreliable(of which i can tell is true from the pics) which is why he is selling it. and since you need a reliable car, that is why you should just keep your car.

it has the horrible maroon interior, a bad transmission(probably raced by someone who learned to drive on a stick), shitty riced out body and less reliable "upgrades".

mazdatrix/racing beat sells the rotor shaped fart cans for about $75 each.

Icemark was an administrator on this forum, his name was Mark Mildice and helped make this forum what it is today. his death was mysterious and i don't believe we ever found out why he died, he simply fell asleep and never woke up. he was also my friend, as was to most of us who lived in northern california and were rotary enthusiasts. you would be hard pressed to ever run into a more kind person(even though he did give people a hard time on here, for good reason).

 

muffler is here RX7 1986-1992: Exhaust - Universal Parts: Rotor Muffler - REV30 -

there's no off the shelf catback, which means it was custom, which is ok. if the thing idled ok, then the engine is probably ok

 

It sounds like he had some kind of racing beat muffler.

Www.racingbeat.com

I see very clean turbo fcs for $3-4000, I paid $1000 for mine and I'd say it's 7.5/10 in condition, it was missing a few parts and needs an engine rebuild.





Rotary >Pistons

 

damn i swear they used to be a bit less than that... i remember them being quite reasonably priced which would have been sub $150. did they raise the price or am i getting old and forgetful?

 

damn i swear they used to be a bit less than that... i remember them being quite reasonably priced which would have been sub $150. did they raise the price or am i getting old and forgetful?

there's quite a few catbacks that are direct bolt ons to the stock exhaust. even the ebay chinese ones are fitted to mount to the stock cat(though the flanges are a bit bigger which may cause gasket blowouts). racing beat is one of the few that is meant to be used as a complete system and does not match the stock dimensions.

 

i think you're right, i don't remember what the price was (i picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!), but it used to be cheap, i wanna say $130ish

 

Wow im sorry to hear about Icemark guys, there were alot of nice knowledgeable guys like that on my other forum, z31performance. But I made a decision guys, its kinda a rotary decision but not quite lol but its alot of fun, needs lil things like small usual rx7 interior components. Pretty common for the interior to fall apart in an FC so I hear. First gear is also out but what the hell you only live once,the work on the car was done great. But here it is

1990 FC RX7 4.6 5-speed swap

 

You'll never know what a true rx7 is if you buy something like that.

I'd get an fc with a Turbo rotary, much more unique than a v8 rx7.

Rotary >Pistons

 

Ive experienced plenty of NA FCs and I loved those too.