This oughta stir up some emotions, keep original or go all out?
 

So my 93' R1 totally original 19K mile car, black on black, assumably lost an apex seal. Fixing to do a compression check but I've been a rotar head for many a year and it doesn't look good. Now I have been in a tug of war with myself since I got this particular car about keeping it original or do some fun mods and it seems the car is trying to convince me to go for it now. I mean would it really be worth keeping it original? It is super clean and not many out there with these kind of low miles. What to do??:scratch:

honestly, it's your car. do whatever you want.

But, that being said, I would personally try to sell the low mileage one and buy a medium to high mileage one and use the profit from that to do what you want to do.

Good point but by the time I rebuild the engine I'm waiting on the right person for the right price. I guess there is some reasoning to consider that there might be someone out there with a nice setup that is wanting an original car possibly, that might trade? Doubt it.

On the other hand, I've had my share of car shows and done well with originality. Refrained from driving it for fear of racking up the miles and getting rock chips. What kinda life is that for a car? Let's get real here, I'm treating it like a $300,000.00 car. Garage queen. It's a $25K car! I think I've lost my marbles.

It would be one thing if someone would present a case here that this car if rebuilt would bring serious dollar or Mazda wants to buy it back but is it really worth less with low miles and moded with good mods? I see some pretty expensive cars out there with miles on them and mods.

lets face it, this car will never be original again if the apex seals are blown. Pulling the engine will mean doing some reliability mods out of due diligence. How far do you go while your in there? I've always been taught if your going to do it, do it right. Does doing it right mean keep it original or put a single turbo in?

You might be able to get a little more than that. But, if you do modifications that are all reversible and keep all stock parts (and hardware) labels and such... you will still have the resale value ability of whatever mileage it is at. THis is why i went with a 100,000 mile 95 chassis. it has the inherent value of a 95 (obviously no low mileage premium) but I don't feel bad modifying it.

I'd keep it fairly stock with reliability and minor power upgrades that are reversible.

A very low mileage stock black R1 like you have will be worth big time money in the future..... hell, I sold a 12k mile example (black R1 just like yours) for $27,500 back in 2013--- and people were beating down my door, I had three guys offer me $30k if I'd back out on the agreed on price with a local guy. Just to give you an idea for the demand for something with such a limited supply ;)

It is easy enough to get to 350hp with simple bolt on mods that can be removed to return the car to bone stock, no real reason to chop it up unless you want big power, at that point buy another one.

Reality is that leaving the precat on the car is not increasing the value, just cooking the rear turbo and engine harness.

^Beat me to it. Unless the OP is looking for a lot more power he should read through your thread listing the individual power gains from the common bolt-ons. Seems like Option #1 to me.

Ok, good advice fellas. That's why I put it out there so I could get some input. Kinda been struggling with it, but, I tend to go to extremes. This seems to be a moderate yet sensible approach.

I guess I'll get under the hood and confirm my fears next...

Here you go

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...added-1104322/

Banzai - That is certainly motivational. I went straight out and put the gauges on her. Seems I have good compression still.. now onto looking for vacuum leaks. Waiting on the smoke machine from a buddy of mine since starting fluid didn't uncover anything. Still rough idling and blowing smoke. More to follow. Once I get this part figured out I might just see if I can order a package from you like you installed on the link you forward me above. That would suit me just fine. Something I could install easy enough on my lift. Nice write up by the way!

Look at the vacuum line to the map sensor

Banzai rocks! While waiting on the smoke machine to look for vacuum leaks I took his advice to look at the map sensor and whala the damn hose was off!:lol: thank you sir. If it were a snake it would have bit me while doing a compression test. Thanks guys! Another classic forum help. Running good again but I am on another path now. We will be in touch Banzai. Talk soon.

I'm in a similar situation with a car that has just shy of 14,000 miles right now. The cars are appreciating in value from here on out, and having one that is in good, clean, stock condition is now more rare than finding one with 350+ horsepower that's all ragged inside.

I'm planning on a downpipe, a catback, and that's about it!

Similar boat. Have numerous other cars whose value is greater, but I treat my pristine nearly stock 35k r1 as if it's a Pebble Beach champion.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0f69d4e39c.jpg


stock except for wheels, rear seats, and cat back. keep debating whether I should do the other reliability mods...

To the OP, stock is worth more. Hope a rebuild isn't needed for your baby

I am firm believer of "its your car do whatever you want". Keeping my car a certain condition just so later down the line someone else can pay more money for it, is a waste of my time. In other words, I'm not some storage facility keeping it nice for the next guy.

Life is too short for not having the car I really want. That is why I bought this car for myself to solely enjoy in the exact way that I want it (and IMO 100% stock FD's are rather slow and underwhelming). But with that said - Get boltons first; as you'd be surprised how fast these cars can be.

I will say this though: Nothing ruins a car faster than having crappy modifications so if you do modify it, make sure that you do it right. Also going single is something that shouldn't be taking lightly - a lot of gremlins can come up and a car in that condition deserves to be done correctly.

Following advice
 

So after thinking about it for a while and looking through several bolt on options we may have to move this to the build threads! Ha, not that it will be that complicated, but , fun none the less. Time for a few bolt on HP, reliability, stock looking, sleeper parts:nod: Walboro 255, HKS down pipe, Apexi intakes, RB catback duals, tidy looking (hard to find) SMIC, PFC, AFM gauge and some Dyno time$$$!

Good luck with the upgrades. Do you have a local rotary specialist shop?

I hear Steve Kahn is the one to see in my area (TX). My local buddy from back in the day is out of it now, too bad for me, he was really great. I believe Steve is in the Dallas area and I am closer to San Antonio.

Moving around
 

Moved to the "Build" section to move forward with the car. Hopefully I figured out the link below. Otherwise, same forum, gen 3 build section.

https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...build-1108983/

That is exactly how I feel. I'm not buying something like this so it can just stare at it and watch it collect dust in my garage. This the way I see it. With my own personal Fd, I paid $13,500 for a bone stock 94 Touring with 65,000 miles back in 2003. Car now has 112,000 with my own 20b swap. I have about an additional $25,000 put in on top of the purchase price so that total cost is around $39,000. Original owner paid over $42,000 brand new for the car so I think I came out ahead when you look at the BIG picture.

Now that is what I'm talking a out. Enjoy your build!