Hi, this is my first post and Im looking to you guys to give me some advice before I make a mistake!

I know almost nothing about RX-7s in particular other than the fact that they are fast and beautiful.

There is an RX-7 for sale costing £6000. Its a 93' with 61,000 miles on the clock. Its very heavily moddified at the moment and im concerned about the treatment the car may have had.

I live about 500 miles away from where the car is and obviously I dont want to be travelling all the way down to find out its a pile of rubbish. If I get positive feedback then it will be worth the trip down to view and test drive the car.

What questions should I ask the current owner? I know its not had an engine rebuild or anything like that, the owner says it does not need it at the moment. Im prepared to spend £2k doing that in the future but Im not really interested in doing it a few months after buying the car.

It has crazy graphics and a lot of neon lights which Im not interested in and which I shall remove as soon as I get the car. Once I get the cash together Im getting the C-West kit for it and maybe a possible respray in black. They look stunning in black.

Here is a spec list taken directly from the advert and some photos.

Your honest opinions please. Thanks.

61,000 miles. highly modified rx7 (import) running 1.2bar of boost
400bhp at the flywheel 80bhp wet nos system direct port & intercooler spray bar. turbos upgraded to stage 2 ported head dump valve performance exaust 3" through pipe into 5" rear can. hks turbo boost & hardpipe twin k&n induction kit uprated atc clutch plate. fse power boost valve 800cc injectors apexi ecu remapp

one off body graphics rear tail racing fin
17" custom made 3 peice forged alloy with chrome finish with falken tyres 265x40x17 rear & 235x40x17 front cost £3000 invoice available.

lowered 60mm onto tein super coilovers worth £1200.00

custom made seats /mats /gear **** nos bottle mounted on centre rest £1500,00 worth of in car entertainment and neons pioneer videographics cd player jvc cd player 4x sony 12" subs fitted into custom made shelf in boot 2 splx subs in box fitted pioneer 180 watt door speakers 4 ring neons 1 neon bar. 1 x sony 1600 watt amplifier

new brake pads 10 months mot 4 months tax over £1800 spent on servicing and maintainance over the last 8 months.

0 to 60 4 seconds and will do the clock 180mph
dyno test sheet read out for bhp COMPLETE WITH IMPORTED ALARM, START YOUR CAR FROM INSIDE YOUR HOUSE WITH THE REMOTE OR FROM 100YRDS AWAY! AMAZING GADGET!

roughly £14,000 spent. this car is amazing real eye catcher

 

A few more pics.

oh and the price in USD is $10,826

 

please god let this be fake

 

someone saw tom ngo and tried to copy him with walmart parts!

 

I really don't know where to start... maybe with 1.2 bar of boost on the stock intercooler!! That's asking for a blown engine.

"turbos upgraded to stage 2 ported head dump valve performance exaust"

WTF does that mean?

Honestly, if you don't know much about RX-7's this probably isn't a good car to start with. I'd look for a clean stock/close to stock FD.

 

Why do I have a feeling someone stensil'd that "HKS" on the IC pipe?

Personally, I would stay really far away from that car.

 

Don't buy that car.

-s-

 

I agree. That is the tackiest FD I have ever seen.

 

This is a serious post. Is it the look of the car that is really putting people off or the modifications made to the engine?

All the garbage spider vinyl and neons etc will be removed the very moment I would get it. I think they look terrible and I would be embarrased to be seen driving about in it.

I do understand the idea behind buying a stock car as its far more likely to be reliable. The problem I have is that Im going to want to modify the engine myself and put coilovers on the car. Everyone knows that you never get your money back on upgrades to your car. Modifying a car is like throwing money away once you come to sell it. As this car appears to have had a lot of money spent on it, it would be the current owner who is losing his money. Now there could be huge problems facing this car at the moment and maybe in the future, as Ive said Im no expert.

Perhaps there is an uprated intercooler and he has not mentioned it, at the moment Im not sure. With regards to "turbos upgraded to stage 2 ported head dump valve performance exaust" then he is saying that the turbos have been upgraded to stage 2, the head is ported, it has a dump valve and a performance exhaust. His sentence structure is not the best. I guess you realise that so are you saying that those claims are not right or something is wrong there?

What about the idea of me finding a garage near where he lives that specialise in Rotary engines and asking them to go and examine the car for me? It would cost a couple of hundred pound but would be worth it if it saved me wasting nearly $11,000.

So styling aside, what value would you place on this car providing the engine was not damaged and everything worked ok?

 

1) Gawd, that's an ugly car. (I know we agree, I just have to announce it). You'll have a lot of work converting that wench into a woman again. A black paint job is a good start, but I prefer the stock red.

2) The only technical thing I see wrong is that running 1.2Bar on a stock intercooler is a really bad idea. For all the work that went into the engine bay I would have expected at least an upgraded stock mount ic. I see an aftermarket AST, which is good, but it may need other maintenance done - ask if it has a replaced radiator, when the full set of coolant hoses was replaced, and as much maintenance history as you can muster. Use the items listed in the newbie sticky thread as a reference for possible gotchas.

3) Any heavily modded car requires super scrutiny of the engine condition. Especially running such a hot intake charge, it could have some cooked coolant seals or low compression. So if you make a visit, be sure to have a compression test done by a qualified shop, and be sure the car is dead cold when you arrive so you can look for coolant smoke on the first start-up. (Bad coolant seals seep coolant into the chambers that gets burnt off on the next restart). Borrow/beg/steal a coolant pressure tester too and see if the cooling system holds pressure indefinitely. Read the FAQ here and go through the buyers' guides to learn more about these issues.

4) $11k sounds like a decent price - but I don't know how that compares to other UK FDs. Since you plan to run it modded, I would factor in an engine rebuild almost immediately. So $4k for that, and it still sounds fair.

Dave

 

I will phone the owner up later on today to ask him about the intercooler.

Here is a much larger picture of the engine bay. Don't know if this sheds any light on the condition but you can definetly see that the HKS logo is not "etched on"

 

I kinda actually like that spider thing on the side What that has to do with a FD, I have no idea. Maybe the owner likes spiders

Why the hell would you do all this to the car and retain the stock intercooler? You run 1.2 bar which is equivalent to 17-18 psi on a full open engine back exhaust with the stock intercooler. He has an open air intake combined with the stock intercooler, it wouldn't be too bad if he at least had a cai. To top it off, he got naaawwwwzzzz

 

omg that car is so BAD.. lol I'd run away from that car asap! I don't like the stock IC thing either... I wish I could see the car first hand and really give it a one over.. but my first impression of this car is total rice and its not fast.

 

damnit... double post.

 

OK Ive phoned him up to ask some questions about it.

Car was tested last year when it went in for its MOT and the compression test was 100% ok. There is absolutely no rust or dents anywhere on the car. It is the Effini model which has a rubber splitter thingymabob. Its 330bhp which increases to 398bhp with the NOS turned on. It does not have an uprated intercooler, it has an expansion tank on it. He said it does not need an uprated intercooler as he is not racing it. He never actually did any of the work himself, he had two performance garages do it for him. The interior is very clean and there are no scratches or marks. He has also had the car resprayed. He has receipts for all of the work carried out and the servicing.

I phoned the company that did the nitrous work for him and the guy there said he thought it was a nice car which was very clean internally and externally. He thought it was a fair price for a very clean car of that age. He said he had himself bought an RX-7 18 months ago for £4000 (this one is £6000) which was dreadful inside and needed a whole lot of work. He also mentioned that the styling of the car was a very personal thing and may not be to my liking. AGREED! He said that the wheels could be sold on very easily as they are in top condition and some people would love chrome wheels. Apparently they are the exact same wheels that David Beckham has on one of his cars, although Becks has the 22" versions. Not that I care about that you understand.

I explained that I would be very dissapointed to travel all the way down from Scotland (500 miles) to find that the car was not as described. He assured me that he was not interested in messing me about and that I would not find a better, cleaner car arond in the UK and most certainly not at this price. The reason he is selling it is his wife is having difficulty getting out of the car and that he has 4 cars anyway which he is struggling to insure due to costs.

Whats the story behind the Effini? He states that its basically a one piece moulded shell which is slightly wider at the back than the FDS3. Does this mean I cant get bodykits for it? What would the outcome of a crash be then? How would I replace a wing if there is not exactly a seperate wing there? Is the Effini worth more or less than the FDS3?

Apologies for so many questions but I have to find theses answers because Im extremely impulsive and I would like to know before I go and see it. If I go down and see it I bet I'm going to fall in love with it and just buy it. That would be stupid but quite likely something that i would do!

 

Efini is simply the brand name used in Japan instead of Mazda. Just like Lexus is an alternate name for Toyota here in the US. I don't think that it involves any restyled body panels, but I'm far from expert on the non-US varieties.

To say that the stock IC is ok because he doesn't race isn't very smart to me. Intake charge temps can get very high simply due to the amount of air compression (1.2bar is 50% more than stock and makes for some hot intake air), and without a cold air intake it only gets worse. Just doing the dyno tests would have put it under great heating loads.

Compression tests are more than 'good' or 'bad'. A can be teetering on the edge of failing the test and you need to know if that's the case. If he had the test done by a competent shop, he can show you the six numbers. Otherwise, the test was wasted money IMO. Plus, with that amount of HP another compression test is justified - I would pay for it myself if you're serious about the car.

As well, nitrous oxide is a very touchy subject that I can't imagine working correctly with a remapped ECU. (I thought you would need a programmable ECU, but I have no experience with it). FDs cannot handle running lean while under boost, ever. (This is how engines are blown). Either it runs pig-rich w/o the juice, or it runs dangerously lean with it, or both.

I'm not saying the seller is a fool, since this is 3rd-hand info to me, but these three concerns IMO need to be understood. And you have a lot of reading/learning to do before buying one - FDs are not abusable and trouble-free like some other cars.

Dave

 

if your looking to mod it up get it you'll save yourself a lot of money in the long run trust me turn the boost down and you said that u got the cash for a rebuild so your laughing really.

 

The dumbass that owns it didnt modify it the right way... What else did he screw up?????

Think about it.

500 miles form you? Where? I have one already so I dont want to buy it, but I could help... If I'm nearby... Im good with troubleshooting these cars.

Im near Cambridge/Bury St Edmonds/Norwich.

And an FD is not the car to be impulsive with... I waited a year until I found the right one. Mainly based on the owners care and mileage.

 

Its quite a bit away from you mate. He lives in Fareham in Hampshire, which is a 270 mile round trip. Do you know anyone down that neck of the woods? He couldnt be much further away from here if he tried.

You say he has not modified it correctly. In what way exactly? If I was to budget the £2k to rebuild the engine in say 3 or 4 months would that resolve most of the potential problems I would be facing with regards to the mods this guy has already done?

Im thinking of maybe getting a garage down theree to have a look at it before I decide.

 

Just steer clear of anything second hand with NOS, mate. £6,000 is a ******* good deal for that amount of car, ok so the vinyls look like crap and the neons would go; that goes without saying, but still that offer seems a little bit too good to be true.

The HKS wasn't stencilled on, they're cheap aftermarket parts if not rip-offs, and seriously, one easy way to completely **** an engine (if you don't know what you're doing-the owner of this car doesn't look like he does) is to add Nitrous.

Wide birth methinks. You could go to Trans Imports or any other import garage forecourt and get twice the car for less money...See http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW...00533204057894 It's been looked after, and has great scope for modding, the best thing about rx-7's is that as long as it looks good you don't have to mod the engine until later on because it'll still kick the **** off anything on our roads!