In the short time that I owned my fc, Ive experienced firsthand some of the downfalls (yes I admit it) of the seven. Ive had to replace me starter, and have had to trouble shoot my cooling system (almost fixed, I will know if its fixed once I replace the T-stat).

Yes it (n/a) is slow (planning to get a tii after I become familiar with the rotary engine). Yes its almost 22 years old (1988 GTU). Yes the gas mileage is worse then almost any other car out there. Yes it is unreliable. But every time I am driving it (when its working to its full potential), hear it, or look at it, I know that it was meant for me.

I love it because of how it looks
I love it because of the performance and handling (even thought I have an n/a).
I love it because of the sound
I love it because it forces me to learn new things, take care of it and work on it.
I love it because it's different

I just thought it would be interesting to see how long the people on this forum had their fc(s) for, the problems they've had and the reasons they still love them. (or hate them if thats the case)

 

First off your car is almost 20 years old.... BUT I also love my rex for the same reasons. I've only had it for 6 months, but it's already under my skin. I have re-done all the vacuum lines, replaced the starter, replaced the water pump, replaced the OMP, replacing the AFM, replaced the alternator, repacked the wheel bearings, and several other small things,.I have spent way too much money and time on it, but everytime I think of it I get a warm fuzzy feeling. When it's running I cant wait to drive it and often make excuses to do so. When it's not running all I can think of is finding out what is wrong with it and fixing it so I can drive it, even if it bankrupts me and forces me to drop out of school. When I'm driving it I just want to make it faster. I love the fact that it is a unique and rare machine. I love how drivers of older Z's and Supras stare with envy as you go by in your RX-7. It's like a child to me now.

 

i feel you in every single part of that, i have a 88 gxl.....i just got mine before last winter, and i absolutely love the thing even if it has its maintenance pitfalls.

 

Buy yourself any 20year old car Import or Domestic and you get the same problems, maybe even worse.. But the diffrence is in the hood

 

I bought my first 7 back in 98. I'm driving my 5th FC and in the process of finishing my 6th FC. Which is a 87 turbo


These cars can take hold of you......

 

Exactly, so i'm not alone. I am always thinking about my seven!

 

****, i don't even have my vert yet, but I get this tingly feeling just thinking about picking it up after all this time wanting an FC!

 

I feel the same way... 89 GTU and i personally would chose the GTU over the GXL simply because they are lighter. i dont need no power windows forget that.

 

I haven't even had my car start(because im building the motor) and i am more in love with it ever damn day i look at it. I go outside sometimes, when nobody is around, and i sit in it.

 

I have a love-hate relationship with the sevens. When they work, they work great. When they're bad, they're very bad.

 

omg i did the same thing while I was rebuilding my engine.

I bought her running on one rotor and rebuilt the engine and replaced just about everything under the hood. took me 6 months before I got to drive her with both rotors, then the clutch died because I was too poor to replace it during the rebuild, and now I find out i need a new turbo! its always something. But I wouldnt trade her for any other car on the road, except maybe an FD :P

 

Yeah me too, I'm always blabbing away to whoever will listen about all the stuff I have to do to it and how happy I am to be doing it. My Family is getting annoyed, then again I have the feeling they were annoyed the day I brought it home I've had it over a year now and I still talk/think about it 24/7

 

I have 3. That pretty much sums it up.

 

I got my 86 n/a back in SEPT of 06' and the only problems I have had with it is.... the damn light switch and wiper switch and other light issues (that I cant figure out).. However it runs great, it drives fine the only things I have replaced were normal tuneup stuff I WANTED to do..

I have removed the omp, emisions, clutch fan, changed seats and steering wheel etc.

now I have had my vert since March I think and I love that car as well, I got in an accident yesterday and I hope I can get her straitened out..

as for my future I look forward to having a fb, fd and 8

 

I love my seven even though it hasn't run since I bought it last Oct. I'm finally making progress on it doing things the right way the first time and I cannot wait for the day that I fire it up (hopefully soon). I'm guilty of sitting in it when no one is around too. Although it got a little harder to pretend to drive it with the seats and transmission out.

 

Bought my 7 back in march, it has its issues/flaws and needs plenty of work but i love it.

 

I've been in love with the 2nd gen's since high school, for all those ^^^ reasons. I picked my '87 TII up this summer and I just absolutely love it. It's kinda hard to not spend too much on parts and tools now, haha.

 

I heard and somewhat understood rotary engines since I was a child (mid 40's now) by building a plastic rotary engine. lol, it never really worked right but my cousin's did and I could see how it worked.
Later in the 80's my one friend had a 12A in his dune buggy. I gave him a good deal on a VW bus tranny and as part of the deal I said "you owe me a ride".
Later in the summer we went camping in the coal hills of Pennsyvainia. He took me up a hill none of the other buggys could pull, we went up that hill in a few seconds. The buzz and power of the rotary sold me. I gotta get me a rotary, was in my mind for years.
This wasnt the hill he took me up. That hill was about the same grade but 10 times longer. This hill is a bitch to slow down at the top, right turn only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yq9bdnFx9I

Last year about this time I saw a add for a 86 RX-7 Mazda in the local paper.
I thought about it, did some research, no doubt ended up reading parts of this site, knowing this would be a project b4 I even looked at the car.
I had a 85 Cavalier which was very well mantained, ran and handled like new but I drove it for 10 years and was so sick of it I was gonna enter it in to the local demo derby just to kill it.
So I called the number. Looked at the car, it wasnt too bad. Looked like it was well kept for many years but changed hands many times in the last few years.
It had low speed front end collision, dings and dents, bald right side tire, add coolant light went on during my test drive, minor rust on the front fenders, in the back where they rust anyway but all in all it was stock and all the electric stuff I read horror tales about seemed to work.
I bought it. I wanted a rotary, I didnt care if it was a pick up, I wanted a rotary.
Since I had the the car I fell in love with the body and love driving the rotary engine.
I didnt add up my recepts yet though I'm sure I put more than I payed for the car (1800.) originaly but I know (thanks to you all and this site) I'm repairing everything right. Most all stuff I had to fix was **** somebody else did wrong and theres still miles of pennies to drive.

OverB00st's "I love it because....." hits the nail on the head.

 

the way I see it FC's were made to be worked on by their owners
the only other car I can think of like that is another little Mazda
and that why own both

 

I had mine for 10 years now.

When I first got it, I still remember the day , I told everyone how I would never ever sell my car. I was 20 years old. Everyone was saying ''yea, right''. And I never sold it. In fact, I put so much money in it that I could have bought a brand new car. But no thanks, I'd rather get from A to B in a 7 than in a ''responsible vehicule for my needs'' crap. 7 for ever. I'm pretty sure I'll be 80 and will still own the bitch. lol

 

+1
My wife hated me for it, always in the garage sitting in a car that doesn't run, or even after the swap when it was running I would go out and sit in it. At work sometimes if I drive the car, I will look out the window and stare at it's beauty.

I think of the car as a mystery to other people. I think thats why I like it. Nobody gets it unless they have owned one. I think Mazda truly understood what it should feel like to drive a car. Thank you Mazda for giving me a simple joy in life.

 

I used to do the same thing when my motor blew and I was looking for a new engine. I'd sit in it with the radio on, smoking a cigarette, and shifting the gears. Man, I missed it a lot when it was down.

 

When i bought my first rx7, i actually stopped so a friend could look at it. It was a 1988 GTU. We checked it out. It was clean, started up with no problems, and ran smooth. But he decided not to drive it, because he probably wasn't going to buy it. I was looking for a car too though, but more for a 240 than an rx7. But i decided to drive the car.
Straigh up fell in love with it. Drove it with the owner riding with me down a few backroads, just loved the handling, the way it felt to roll up through second and third. Sure, it wasnt real fast, but it was smoooooth...

Went back and bought it two hours later.

Sold it early this year. Less than a month ago i got my new turbo II. I had actually been looking into getting a 240 (again) for drifting because it might be cheaper to build.
But after sitting in my current tII (before i bought it), i just loved the way it feelt. Surrounds you like your in a fighter jet, not all open and clumsy like other cars. And it just feels so solid while driving it. And it all came back, all those memories from the year or so i had my GTU.
I had to have it.

It felt like when i bought my GTU. There is just something about these cars. But you have to own one to understand lol.

I sold my GTU because of unfortunate circumstances, and because it was straight beat.

My friends think im crazy when i say i will NEVER sell my tII, but honestly i can't see myself ever getting rid of it.

-Austin

 

RX7s don't get old, simply because theres no new car like it. I don't think theres any other type of car that can satisfy my adrenaline like my RX7 can. Everything just feels right All the RX cars IMO are about the driving experience, you have to drive one to like it. The styling and bragging rights (acceleration) are just bonuses. Driver's cars ftw.

 

I can give you a real sob story.

Had to leave my RX-3SP in the states when I got stationed in Germany (couldn't fit the whole family in it). After a year there found my dream car at a silent auction on post. A Red 90 TII without any body or interior damage. It was love at first sight. The guy conducting the auction told me that the car was onwed by an american woman that blew the engine. Due to cash problems I put a bid of $500 and wished for luck.

1 month after the auction ended I get a call from the guy saying that all 9 bidders that outbided me did not want the car. It was a memorable day. Had to sell my RX3 to make sure I had enough money to replace the engine.

Took the car to the local mazda shop because there was a RX7 guru that from what I found out are extremely hard to find. He worked on my car and call me 3 days after dropping the car. The car was purring on the phone. As you can imagine I could not believe it and hauled *** to go pick it up.

So it cost me $500 for the car. $121.00 for the mazda shop and now I was a turbo rotorhead!! Of course all this good luck was bound to end and the sad day cameone year later at 127 MPH on the german autobahn.. Racing that damm Audi TT I heard a sound that will forever haunt me. ( Give credit to my baby she still ran 12 more miles to get me home).

My mazda buddy was gone and found a german guy and the raping experience began. first enine replacement was brand NEW. $4k invested and 3 months That ****** gave me the car told me to take it easy while the engine was broken in. He lived 8 hrs away and after the first day you know that there was something wrong. Put the car on a dolly and headed back to see him just to find out the whole shop disappeared!. <Stefan if you read this F/U> Second engine was trash!

So still undaunted on my pursuit to get my baby back on her feet. I found a Brittish company that would ship me a rebuilt engine. $2k more and the dream was kept alive. The car never started in germany but after a divorce it was time to head back to the states. The army was kind enough to send me to Ft. Drum NY which it might as well been Canada. Shipped the car to the states (another $1k) to my brother in law who is the only guru that I know personally. He cussed me out cause I connected some stuff wrong but 9 hours after we started my baby's heart started again!!!

Of course on the way up from GA took a pitstop in VA to rest just to have her die again. Had to rent a truck and dolly ($800) and she was given a lift to new york. Believe it or not the mechanic at the current local mazda gave her back to me after two weeks and told me "he didn't have a clue what was wrong with her".

So after months of farting around with her decided to put a carb on her. Got her running and while she only had one leg at least she still purred. 2 months after that I went to Iraq for 15 months and thanks to my buddy "eddie" which puts up with my baby she now has her other leg. She still has a cough that hopefully I will get to fix soon.

So I wish you luck with your car! And trust me you need a turbo!!

Rey