Looking to buy an 3g RX7
 

First time poster here.

Hey guys, I'm from the DSM side of things, but I've always liked and resepcted RX7s. I come here in hope that you guys can help me out with some questions I have concerning buying an RX7.

Here's the juice:

1994 RX7 TT
83,XXX miles
Asking $18,000
Seems stock, but has some upgrades;
boost gauge
wilwood brakes
upgraded (greddy I think) intercooler
strut bar
springs or coilovers

Thats all I know so far, but I'm going to go look at the car again and take it for a test drive. If you guys could, could you warn me of any problems or anything regarding this model. How about the price? Is it fair? I dont know, I'm clueless when it comes to FDs. I'll attach some pics.

Thanks guys!

Sp00ln

18k thats pretty high

What would be good price?

there is a section in the FAQ about buying one of these cars... but 18K?!
mother f****r thats a high price for a 1994!!

i'd never get involved in how much you'd look to pay for any given car, but you don't wanna pay that much.

See if you can get a full list of "exactly" what is on the car. It looks like that car was setup for road racing (at least at some point).

Looks like Tokico shocks, but no shots to see if it's using a coilover kit like Ground Control or just springs. Large SMIC and cold air intake. No info on the exhaust or engine (i.e. ported or stock), fuel system info and or ECU info...

to put the price in perspective i paid 21k for my flawless 95 vr touring and it only had 21k on the odometer so yea 18k is pretty steep for a 94 with 83xxxxx miles

The price is high on that because its only lightly and well modified(nice brakes tbs), its under 100k, its a 94. Its a fair price though you could have one cheaper if you wanted. On the lower end of the price scale lie good, running 93's with over 100k miles for about $13k.

i paid 5k for my 94 with 130k miles... the motor didn't run, but the body was in perfect condition... i have also seen a few 94s with around 100k miles go for 12k...

IMHO, the price is fine as long as the engine is still good. however, if the engine is bad and needs a rebuild, you're gonna end up spending nearly $24k for the 7.

When I go see it next, I'll take a better look at things. It was raining today, so I couldn't see much. I'll update you as soon as I know the info.

As far as rotary with 83k on the clock - is a rebuild in order?

Does someone own the car or is it on a lot somewhere? If there is an owner, get a list of what's on it. If there is no owner (it's on a lot), I would probably steer clear of this one.

Rotary engines wear by nature. However, there is no set mileage to say "you have past the point of no return, time to rebuild the engine". Get a compression test done on the engine, that will let you know what kind of life it has left.

original engine & build? have a compression test on the car. i search around for the test results to see what's good and what's bad. anyway, i recently paid $13k for my 93 Touring VR (5spd). 2 weeks later a water seal busted and it's currently at RRR for a rebuild (i should get it back by friday :bigok: ) so yeah...that's a grand total of $19k for a 93 w/ 110k milage.

it may well have already beed rebuilt?

The car is on a lot. He said he got it at an auction.

Thanks for all the quick replies guys - and all the good info.

I personally would pass unless the price came down quite a bit.

Hard to tell 100%, but it has many things that would turn me off of it (lot, + auction, + price).

if its got a rebuild thats a fair price, if thats the original motor i'd hit'em up on the price a little bit, looks like a nice car, start doing your homework so it stays that way :D...

I would personally pass on the car. It looks like it was fairly well modified at one point. The past owner may have taken things off before getting rid of the car.. i.e. taking rims off, PFC and putting back the stock ECU... things like that sell really well by themselves rather than increasing the price of the car as a whole.

Also, you have no idea the condition of the motor, ported or not, etc... There are just a lot of unknowns to dive into for $18k.

Now, having said that, I don't believe $18k is unreasonsable for the right FD. I'll be damned if I sell my FD for $11-12k (if I were going to sell it) even if the chassis does have about 80k on it.

I would never buy a car that was already modded. If a previous owner modified it, you know he ragged it out and drove it hard. I'm sure people do that to stock cars too, but I might keep looking if I was you. Price is way too high, by the way.

Thanks for all your help guys. I agree with you guys say - good call on the "was highly modified but brought back down to stock". I'll still take it for a test drive tho. :)

Oh, and other question for shits and giggles. Will an LS1/6 or whatever fit into a nt 3g RX7?

question for all of you: would you sell your FD for 11-13k? (hypothetically speaking, like if you had to)

Sin, do you speak Japanese?

And Im assuming that an LS1/6 can and will fit into a non-turbo 3g RX7...

いいえ、私は　がくせいの日本語てす。 = still learing japanese :p:

LS1/6 is a common swap into an FD...something i wouldn't do myself. i bought an FD cause it's a rotary. i don't know for sure if it bolts right in, but people do it.

That looks like a medium SMIC since the battery is still there, correct me if I'm wrong though. 83,xxx is a lot of miles. I paid 17,000 for my car, but mine had 59,000 and was bone stock not one mod. I say if you can get them to lower it to 16,000 it would be a deal. Then again a test drive and compression test would do this motor some justice. Also look for leaks around the oil pan area, and the oil filter.