socalred

Hi i'm new. I am going to buy a 500 hp 1997 sinlge turbo(turbonetics t-66) rx7. I went to test drive it and a coolant line blew. It overheated and i never drove it. Ive never owned a booster car. does this happen alot? are there underlying problems? All work done by tripoint engineering and everything is mazda comp or equivelnt. Why would the line blow? It.s the one on top side near the fire wall. Is it a good deal for 24, 000? It has 50,000 miles and 5,000 since the rebuild. It was bored and rebuild with race parts apparently. Let me know what u think!

Icemastr

iTrader: (2)

Sounds a little high priced. The line would blow because it wasn't on tight, was cracked, or old etc. Coolant line problems are are not a common thing but are prone to happen once in the life of an RX-7.

wReX

iTrader: (6)

No, purging your stock BOV to the atmosphere will not give you extra horsepower.

particleeffect

stay away from the car, learn a lot more. about 3rd gen rx7's. we got them here from 93-95, that's it. and you can't bore out a rotary, so if someone tells you they bored it out, they are full of ****.

bigmack000

try this

KaiFD3S

iTrader: (37)

1997?

1badd7

If you never owned a turbo car, 500 maybe too much and buying a rotary, your going to get a huge migraine WHEN it breaks down.

widebody2

If I read correctly you said the engine just overheated...right there that engines in trouble. Stay clear

washabi

exactly what i was thinking..

FDeez

Huh?

jeremyb

well you do have 500 hp to a stock motor im assuming? You got alot of compression going into the chambers so if u for example, have a common o-ring leak, all that powerful combustion will force its way through causing excessible gas into you your coolant lines. So according to icemstr, if u notice that line next to your firewall is a heater hose and PROBABLY wasnt tightened hard enough to the hardline. Cause its usually your AST/Upper or Lower radiator hose that blows when u have this type of problem.

fastcarfreak

lol, you got to be kidding me

SVT Squasher

That is one hell of a first post. In all honesty you realy need to research the FD3S befor even thinking about purchasing one. This is not the forume to post on if you dont know what you are talking about or try to make a good effort at knowing what you are talking about. You cant BS your way through the rotory like you can a recip and these guys will be all over you the first chance they get. I did a lot of research becuse I knew nothing about rotory motors and heard everybody talk about how unreliable they are and bought one anyway and now I fully understand the problems thay have. I am very mechnical and the car still JUST PISSES ME OFF TO NO END. Good luck. And $24k for any FD with 50k miles is way to much. That car is already needing a rebuild, but then again just bore it out again and put a larger piston in it. "There is no replacement for displacment". 97 FD's are real hard to come by in the US.




GOOD LUCK TO YA.


PS if you want to know what I think about the rotory read my sig. That is the best reliabilty mod you can do to the FD3, just takes a little $$$$.

damimfast

do u have any pics of the car? i wanna see a 97 rx7 in the US

satoacs

actually i just got this book for my birthday, not much help, but in it are some pretty cool facts on rx7s. it also states the history of the rx7, i was reading it and it was saying how the US's markets stopped at 95' because the mazda dealers weren't ready for a car so technical and advanced for that time. but in australia they did come out with one more version of the RX7 and i think it stopped in 97' or 97' was part of the years when it came out. correct me if im wrong, ill go and read that page again sometime tonite.

particleeffect

and they would need to retrofit the FD to pass obdII regulations, which would cost alot, so they just pulled them from the US market.

they made the FD untill 02, the only new rotary car since has been the rx8.

jimlab

Sales of the FD in the US were already in trouble long before OBD-II was a requirement ('96). The FD continued to sell in the U.K. and Australia/New Zealand until 1998, I believe. From '99-'02, it was available in Japan only.

BTW, thanks for the avatar.

plan9

Seems like a really bad idea.
Having never owned a boosted car, you want to jump right into the deep-end and buy a pretty extreme 500hp car? You are almost guaranteed that this car has been driven HARD, and it has already had a problem before you even got to drive it. Not only that, you don't seem to know much about RX7s in the first place...

*shrug* sorry if I come off as an *** here...but it seems like buying this car would be a really, really stupid idea, and will be nothing but a money sink for you. I suggest doing more research on FDs, and if anything, buying a cheaper one (you can easily get a nice one from 13-14k) with no major mods, and putting that 10k you saved into mods over time. Not only will you be able to get a feel for the car slowly and as it develops, but you'll be guaranteed to have a car thats more reliable than the one you're looking to purchase - plus you'll actually know the history of the car.

Anyway - thats just my 2 cents.

satoacs

i agree with plan9, thats the smart way to go, not go all out on ur first RX7.

according to jimlab, i was close, i said 97' he said 98'

1234rotor

iTrader: (1)

Pass up on that one and researchthese cars very hard for over a week if you really are set on buying one. It takes a good gameplan just to inspect one of these cars for purchase. Boost checks, coolant leaks, compression tests, history of service. Hazards to look out for. Money to do the reliability mods right when you first get it, or want to start driving it hard at all.

You have to have a preset gameplan to own one of these cars successfully...bottom line.

pugg57

i say buy it, blow the motor, and then sell what's left of the car ot someone on the forum or part that baby out the fewer FDs are out there, the more mine's worth

it really doesn't sound like you've got a straight story on this car buddy...

socalred

pistons? okay i did do a lot of research i went for the test drive already but the line blew and it didn't overheat but did get hot enough for the light to come on. I made the post extreamely breif but i learned a few things. here is the link to hte car, hope this helps http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...or=&cardist=33

I agree it'd be a headache being so modded. And as far as knowledgs of the car I have done alot of research. True I couldn't rebuild one now but I am confident about the mods on it. The guy has all work-done papers, and ive researched the weak points of the car and know hes done upgrades to improve it. Another reason i've considered this one is because the low miles on it and the fact that 500 miles ago it was rebuilt by tri-point enigineering wich seems to be reputable. I am very thankful for your advice but I feel I'm getting weak responses of, learn more and other non-detailed reasons. If you follow the link it'll show you a few thinks done. Of course I drilled the guy on everything done and have researched the parts of the car too. My thought on this is that the money I'd need to spend would only be for maintnance on what's already a lot of money put into it. Please look at the car and give my detailed replys. If I don't buy this car my next choice is the WRX STI. I cant afford it yet but that is my second choice.

Thanx!

particleeffect

i knew the prices were getting higher each year after they started selling the FDs here, i figured it was because of tightening importation regulations and costs (hence me pointing to obdII).

you're very welcome.

socalred

replys?

pianoprodigy

That car is very clean. I picked mine up in similar shape for $20k about 1.5 years ago. The engine and turbo in the car I purchased had fewer than 300 miles on them. The paint was only a few months old.

It seems to me that the FD market has gotten cheaper over the last year or so. I would think that you could find a similar if not better car for several thousand less. Check out the "For Sale" section and see what I mean.

Oh, and blowing a coolant line/possible overheating would scare me away unless I got an immaculately clean bill of health from a well-known rotary specialist.