Hey guys my name is Daniel and I'm looking to buy an RX-7,

It's a 1994 Mazda RX-7 FD with an estimated 90k-100k ("odometer broken") and automatic transmission. The car is in California so no rust. 4 owners, last owner bought the car in 2015 with 76k miles and drove it "once a week" estimating that he added about 15k-25k miles. RX-7 looks really nice with white paint and knock-off VOLKs. Unfortunately the plastics/seats of the interior are scratched/cracked/torn but not horrible. Current owner of car doesn't know if the engine has been rebuilt by previous owners but said "modifications were added to increase reliability such as replacing rubber hoses with silicone hoses." I plan to take it to a rotary specialist with him to see the condition of the car and more importantly the condition of the engine and find out if it has to be rebuilt soon, if so, it will be a hard pass for me. The owner is asking for 25k but I was thinking about talking him down to 15k since its an automatic transmission and rotary, a combination not sought after. I don't mind getting an automatic transmission since I'm a dwarf and it would be much easier on my legs but I do want to eventually swap if I'm up for the challenge. Do you guys think its worth it and is there any tips/advice I should know before going into this?

Thanks!

Craigslist Source (photos): https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto...917533115.html

 

Is the engine bay silver? Hard to tell in those pictures.

 

Looks like it is silver.

OP if you can get it for $15k and be happy, go for it. I doubt youre gonna be aboe to talk someone down nearly a 1/3rd of the price though. The color change, auto, unknown engine history, and unknown mileage would be a no go for me.

 

If you go here ----> https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...l-links-68640/ (link also at the top of the new member tech section) and scroll down to 'B' for "Buying" you'll find some links that are worth the read.

 

This guy is in dream land. $25k for an auto FD with an ugly body kit and unknown service history.

 

JM1FD3339R0301613 is a 1994 touring package automatic in silver stone over black. it was built 12/15/1993 and sold new 3/15/1994 at Peninsula Mazda in Redwood City California.

the original engine was 13BE 120614

 

Welcome to the forum!

+1 with AE_Racer's post. If you really don't mind the automatic and you can haggle it down to 15k like you plan to, then maybe??
But with the unknown engine or service history, this car can quickly cost you more than you paid for it trying to get it back up to good working condition if it wasn't well kept.
Rob Robinette's site (You'll find it in SgtBlue's link) was a big help for me when taking a look at these.

Personal opinion though,
If you're planning on eventually owning a manual, I think it's more worth it to just wait for the right manual car to show up.
Trying to trace back and clean up after unknown service/mod history is a headache on top of the manual conversion.
If you're patient, you'll definitely find a car in nicer condition for around the same price.

 

How short are you? RX-7's are tiny and designed for someone probably around 5'8". So even if you're 5 feet tall you'd probably be fine driving one. The only case I'd make for buying an automatic is if you're physically incapable of driving one (can't reach the pedals, one armed or something). Even then, this car is way too expensive and I'd look elsewhere.

If there's nothing else around, you can import a 25+ year old, RHD, RX-7 for under $20k by yourself. Automatics in excellent condition are much cheaper. I'd get one of those over a sketchy automatic that the owner wants too much money for. If it's a daily driver then RHD is a little annoying, but for a weekend car it doesn't really matter.

Best advice I've gotten about RX-7's: Buy the cleanest one you can find and assume you'll have to replace the engine.

Exterior and trim pieces are expensive or no longer in production, so buying a riced out RX-7 will cost you thousands to restore. And even if you want something to track and abuse, you'll probably have to unfuck a lot of stuff. The engines can be a crapshoot and you should get it compression tested before buying, but I wouldn't bet on anything great. Even ads like this one advertising "great compression" are more like what I'd call acceptable.

Here's a chart showing acceptable compression levels:
https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...sion_chart.png