HunterRX7

I have driven my 1991 RX7 Coupe since it was purchased as a "new" demonstrator with 5,000 miles on it. It now has 142,000 miles on the chasis. The second engine now has 75,000 miles on it. I suspect the demonstrator was in an accident as some rust has developed on a weld under the passenger door as well as around the right rear tail light. The car has served me well, but the rust needs to be repaired and the car repainted as the paint is beginning to show quite a bit of wear having been driven 60 miles round trip to work in ice and snow. Many of the rubber gaskets around the windows must be replaced. Mechanically, the car is fine. The engine is fast for an automatic. The interior is in excellent condition. Brakes and rotors were recently replaced.

My question is, would you folks have the rust repaired and car repainted, knowing you may have to replace the engine again in 10-15,000 miles? My total restoration estimate of this beast is about $10,000 as I am not skilled enough to do the work. OR would I be better off putting that money down on a downpayment for a new RX-8 and living with the payments?

Estimate of costs:

New paint and bodywork - $4,000.
Engine rebuild - $4,000
Transmission rebuild - $1,200
New exhaust - $800.

Rotory

iTrader: (1)

man u wont need a new engine in 10-15k... jesus it only has 75k on it right....my TurboII crapped out at 140k so im sure u have some life left in that monster...just fix the old girl and go kick some Civic ***

luiml73

iTrader: (1)

Get the RX8 man. I drove it and it's a bad as car. Nothing beats a new car..........no headaches

j200pruf

iTrader: (4)

Why the hell would you spend $1200 on a tranny rebuild. I just had Pineapple Racing rebuild mine only cost me $450.
I also just rebuilt my motor for $900, but like rotary said, there should be no reason to rebuild the motor that soon unless some one took really shitty care of it.

Manolis_D

iTrader: (2)

Dude, my friend's NA got 166,000 miles on it before it crapped out, and the one I bought made it 133,000 miles on it -- I'd say you've got more than 10-15K coming on that motor!

Fix the car, sounds like it's in pretty decent shape besides the paintwork!
-Manolis

TPDNRX7

Rust can be fixed, but it is very time consuming. It took me over 200 hours to repair all the rust on my car. In total I have about 1500 in paint and body repair, doing most of the prep work for paint, and cutting/welding the rust spots/filling/ect. myself. Rubber seals and other misc things can run you a pretty penny due to mazdas high cost on parts. But getting them used is allways the better option.

HunterRX7

The question of engine life seems to be a really nebulous issue with 13Bs. My first generation 1983 RX-7 model A engine had 140,000 on it in 8 years. Despite the fact that it bled oil like a pig it was still running like new the day I traded it in.

My first 13B went up in smoke at around 70,000 miles. While it was under an extended warranty and it only cost me $900 for an exchange, I was mad as hell. The dealer confessed they had had nothing but trouble with 13Bs and 65,000 miles was the average life they had seen on the second generation engine. He said he thought the problem might be related to carbon buildup which contributed to early wear on the apex seals. He advised driving the hell out of the new engine to avoid carbon buildup. That was an interesting observation, considering I raced my 1983 for four years and never had any problems with it. The adjuster for the warranty company agreed 100 percent with the dealer's observations, adding that they had probably screwed themselves over by not charging enough for RX-7 extended warranties. He had replaced a lot of them, he said.

One of the interesting problems I had with the car from the time it was new was that it flooded constantly, even after the 5 minute warmup. It usually restarted with the 10 sec. gas pedal trick. The rebuilt engine doesn't seem to flood at all unless my kid turns it off cold, but it can only be restarted by pulling the plugs. The two engines seem to have completely different characteristics. While it may last more than 80,000 miles, I'm not hopeful as I'm seeing carbon in the exhaust pipe. While I used to be a terror on the track, I tend to be pretty tame on the street, knowing the potential safety risks for truly using the car's potential.

dr0x

Have the injectors flow tested and rebuilt if necessary. The paint work is pretty easy. Surface rust takes like 2 minutes to remove. Deep rust I recommend cutting out. The great thing about that though is most of our cars are made of steel. You dont need a 2000$ TIG welder to weld in new patchs A simple 400$ arc will do. Ive found it pretty handy so far. And why rebuild the tranny? Unless there is a problem, dont fix it. The fact its NA I seriously doubt you will have a dead motor in 10k. Just rev it out on the street. There is nothing wrong with hitting high rpms in 1st or 2nd. Just do it on a high speed road.