I have the opportunity to buy a 1993 FD but I have some questions and concerns I’m hoping the brain trust here can help me with.

The bad: The car has been sitting in a front yard, uncovered, for about 5 years. It needs a new transmission, specifically 3rd gear, new ignition solenoid, and new tires. This is based on what the seller said was wrong when life got in the way of him being able to spend time on the car.

The good: The current owner is the 3rd owner and said the car has 40k original miles on it. don’t know the owner personally, but he’s part of my wife’s extended family. The owner did a ton of stuff to it when he got the car in 2007:

- Engine was built by PF Supercards in Fredrick, MD (has about 2500 miles on it)
- Full Bridgeport with single 67mm Borg Warner Turbo wrapped in heat blanket
- Downpipe wrapped
- Water/Meth kit
- Apexi FC commander
- ACT 6 puck cluth
- lighweight flywheel
- carbon fiber drive shaft and diff cradle
- a/f, oil temp, and water temp gauge
- carbon fiber hood (probably toast after sitting in the sun)

After 5 years of sitting, it obviously needs the fluids flushed and checked for rust. Probably new hoses/lines as well. The town its been sitting in is a coastal town and the car was probably no more than 3-5 miles from the beach. I can’t imagine that salty humid air did it any favors. A buddy I talked to who has an RX8 with an RX7 engine and tranny is advising me to keep away. He said if that engine is Bridgeport and hasn’t been turned over in 5 years, the seals are probably toast, nevermind whatever else could have stopped working due to Father Time. On the flip side, I’ve got some other gear head friends who think that it should be OK with some love and repairs.

I owned an RX8 back on 2004 but I never did any mods or got my hands dirty with it. Not 100% sure what I’m getting myself into here. I’d appreciate any feedback/thoughts on what this car may need, etc.

I’m not sure I can do that since the car isn’t drivable and it’s in a small NC town where I highly doubt there is anyone who knows anything about a wankel. As it stands now, I’d have to probably take the rims off and put new tires on it just to roll it onto a trailer. I saw it a few months ago and just now got in touch with the seller. I’d have to go back and look again but those tires are probably so rotted out, I can’t even roll the thing.

Its worth looking at it if the price is reasonable.

Not sure what defines reasonable but the asking price is $7k.

Thanks. I asked the same question in the TECH section. The sticky at the top said I shouldn’t use that forum for buying advice and that it should for very specific tech questions.

Im not an experienced wrencher. This would be a project car as I’ve been looking for a 2nd car. I do love cars and have had a decent number of modern fun cars but I’ve always wanted something to build/tinker with. Space I have. Time is debatable as we just had our first child. Part of me thinks this could be a steal if I can get it for maybe $4-5k but with no rotary expertise in the Raleigh area (that I’ve been able to find), I am a bit worried. I know some guys who know rotaries but they all live out of state. They can be a resource on occasion but not a local one if I get stuck and decide to just pay an expert vs DIY. My buddy across the street is a gear head and handy with a wrench. He’s putting a lift in his garage. He suggested LS swap ...

The original owner was on this forum. I found some his old posts. From talking to him, life got busy and and car got put aside and never got touched. It’s not even at his house. It’s at a family members. It’s a real shame because he put quite a bit of money into it that he knows he’s not getting back. I’m sure it was one of those I’ll get to it and then time just kept ticking by. He seems to think it’s needs about $4k of work to get it running. I think if it hasn’t been sitting for 5 years, he’s probably not far off but it’s the 5 years that scares me. Would the engine just need new seals and some cleaning or would the time have caused more issues? I also worry about when we the turbo would even spool.

And after 5 years, I wouldn’t even attempt to turn it over. All those fluids need to be flushed first. I’d never want to run that crap through it, even for a few minutes.

Also, when it was running it was putting out 525WHP

Ah. Gotcha. I assume the $4k is having someone do it? I think I saw new seals are around $1500 or so. Is a rebuild a DIY job? I know there are a lot less moving parts so maybe it’s something I can do with some good guides and internetting? I however know nothing about water/meth Injection but I’d be inclined to take it off. A LS engine swap sounds easier but part of me thinks that just bastardizes the RX7