Looking to buy RX7 3rd Gen, few Questions?
 

Hey everybody, I'm selling my 93 3000GT VR4 and looking for a change. I really want a 3rd gen RX7 but just wanted to talk to some people who are owners before i buy. Are these cars built well, what are the know for maintence wise for problems. My 3000GT is known for spun bearings and syncros going out in the tranny. How do thy repsond to mods? are the hard to tune? what needs to be done to run mid to low 11's that is my goal. My 3000 is running about mid 12's but its so hard to keep it running right and it weights sssooooo much and i can't find parts for it very easy. The aftermarket is just now starting to develope. What can i expect to pay for one in pretty good condition, i don't mind doing work. so it doesn't need to be perfect. Also How are the engines? what can you boost on stock engine and it easily take? Are the engines hard to rebuild and expensive?
Sorry for all the questions i just want to do my research before i buy. Thanks guys and girls i do love your car's

read this and try searching next time

don't say you couldn't find it, its right at the top of the thread where it says NEWBIES READ THIS!

I'm not stupid because i'm a newbie towards RX7's, I did read that and i have been reading tons of threads. I just what to be able to repsond and talk to people. Thanks for the early off criticism and help!!!

ok, I should flame away like I did the past guy to stay consistant but I wont. YES, you should have used the search feature as most people you will now talk to are going to yell at you considering there was a post about 5 hours ago on the same subject. I recommend the following options for this thread
1.) 93...dont post on here, search the midwest or wherever colorado is on this board and try to find people in your area with a 7 so you can 'talk to someone' cause you are going to get the same stuff on here.
2.) Everyone else: dont flame him and dont respond to these, they are going to happen alot and just let the thread die.
3.) Mods should post links and then close the thread for this and others like it because it just wastes screen area and pisses people (like me) off to see it over and over again.
Thanks and have a nice day

Well i did not know it would be this hard just to talk to a bunch of 7 owners about there cars. i was just wanting to talk.. I own a 3000GT and a Camaro z28 and belong to both message boards and have never been flamed. Thanks alot guys, i don't want to own a 7 if all the owners a assholes. Thanks for the help. I won't be back.

its not that we dont want to talk to you, its that we dont want to keep answering the same questons over and over again. Meet up with your local 7 owners and talk to them.

No, the interiors are cheap and thin, and little stuff breaks all the time.

Known for:
- suspension bushings
- fuel pulsation damper
- bad solenoids
- detached vacuum hoses
- blown engines
- clogged precats and cats
- breakable 5th gear synchros
- burst air separation tanks and radiators, burst turbo coolant hoses
- and many more.

They respond just fine but the stock boost control system and fuel maps don't go far. If you outdo them you'll blow your engine. With proper fuel upgrades and an eye on boost, you can go quite a ways. Oh, and at all times you need to make sure the heat is being removed. So intercooler, radiator, etc upgrades are a necessity. Cook an FD engine a little too much, it pops. If you plan to take it to the track, brake system upgrades are a huge help since the stockers aren't very hard to heat soak.

Hard to do well. It's a MAP-based system, not MAF so it's crude. Anyone can fool with a pig-rich fuel map and 'tune' their car, but experts are needed to do it well. Oh, and if you screw up and run lean for even a split second, you blow your engine.

$13-20k. Depends on mileage, mods, and engine condition.

A rotary engine is tough. A rotary engine with turbos ain't so tough. The simple fact is rotaries rely on many more seals than a piston engine, and the layered block construction (made of alternate iron and aluminum blocks) will warp or expose the seals if overheated. So the o-rings separating the coolant and oil passages can fail and require a rebuild. Usually an overheating is caused by not stopping the car IMMEDIATELY when a cooling system problem occurs or driving hard before the engine is fully warmed up. The latter case causing a slow painful death for the engine, usually coolant seals. The boosting before full warmup is a major reason why so many stock engines have been rebuilt between 40k-70k, just my theory. Rebuilt, the engine is ok again, but there are too many FDs out there needing a rebuild for sale.

Plus, if you run too lean (bad gas, fuel supply issue, bad tuning) and get a little detonation the apex seals will shatter. Apex seals are made of hardened steel and are pretty much in the line of fire when detonation occurs. Unlike piston engines which mostly pit in the center of the head and spare the rings. Broken apex seals can also take out your turbos when they blow through the exhaust, making a bad day worse.

If you take the stock system above 10psi you should do some homework. I don't know much about it, but to push stock twins above 15psi you really need to know what you're doing. Most people who want to push the boost opt for a single turbo which significantly simplified the works under the hood.

The stock turbo control system is unique in that Mazda threw a whole bunch of solenoids and vacuum/pressure actuators to control the twin turbo system. It's a cheap, complicated, failure prone mess. (But I still love it anyway :)) You'll have to do one of 3 things: 1) pray yours continues to work as the pieces embrittle and age 2) replace all the hoses with something better and hope you put it all back together correctly, or 3) go single turbo, non-sequential, or some other hack that removes most of that junk.

Keep reading. Scuderiaciriani, Robinette, Max Cooper sites are gems. The posts here by the veterans are fantastic too - keep searching and reading, using different search terms. You can't read too much, although I admit it's really hard to read all this stuff and not have a car to refer to makes it much harder to absorb. Lurk, read, and take 7s for test drives.

That's all I'm writing. You've totally used up your newbie 'get out of jail free' card.

Dave

The FD version RX-7 is now 12 years old. A hard core driven car from 1992 onwards is going to show various signs of wear & tear.

Keep that in your head when you are looking at a car to choose from.

Plus beware of anyone telling you the car is a 93 model. Over 70% of "so-called" 93 models are actually 92 models acording to Mazda USA sales figures.

God I hate how some people respond to newbies. Not everyone feels like searching and reading tens of useless pages.

If you dont feel like responding, then dont even bother to flame :mad:

dgeesaman *clap clap clap*

Well, when you've been on here 4+ years and see 4-5 newbie threads a day it does get old. I just stopped responding to them, but they still needlessly clutter up the forum.

hey, i was annoyed yes, BUT i did the same thing the moderators would have done and sent him a link to the newbie thread.

I'm here for good 1.5years and I still sometimes enjoy writing them back. If I don't I just dont bother flaming ;)

If you pretend you are a complete stranger and go read top few posts rx7 owners seem a little cocky...

Problem is it took me 30min to write that answer. I still think a better FAQ is possible and I'll spend some time on it someday.

Dave

Thanks, i found this thread in a search and sorry for bringing it back again but im trying to do my hw before buying an rx-7 and have a couple of questions:
1. How much does it usually cost for an engine rebuild by a reputable shop
2. This car will not be a daily driver, and learning to work on it will be a hobby for me. Is it extremely difficult to learn how to work on a rotary?
3. Should I stay away from rx-7's that have already been rebuilt?

I'm sure you get the same questions over and over on your forum in regards to the 3kGT and Stealth so perhaps you might understand these guys are here to help with issues that come up on these cars and not just answer general questions that have the answers already posted in the archives. 10 plus years your questions are answered already and you obviously haven't read much. If it's just banter you wanted then try the lounge. The car is like yours it has it's normal everyday issue's and then it has it's mod/people induced problems from not understanding what they read. If your going from the 3kGT to the FD for reliability then you missed a thread or two.

1. From what I've seen a rebuild goes for 2k+, depending on what you get done. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
2. Smart, you should have a daily driver or at least a back up car. In some ways a rotary engine is alot simpler than than piston engines, in some ways it alot more complicated. Case in point, I just did my first plug change in my FD( I just got it a couple of weeks ago), took me four hours working above and from under the car. It also required removing some of the intake parts. But at least now I know how to do it next time! From what I've read online, the engines can be rather tempermental....
3. Personally, I think buying an FD with a rebuild engine is the way to go. It's ALMOST like getting a new car. FD's still have they're issues outside the engine, but IMHO, the engine portion of the car is the most difficult and fustrating. So if you've got a newly rebuilt engine that was done by a reputable rotary shop and it's been properly broken in( car not driven past 4k rpm for the first 1k-1.5k miles), then you're golden!

Read the FAQ stickies. You'll learn A LOT about FD's. The ups and downs, how you should buy one, issues you should look for, common problems, how to prolong engine life, and what you should expect from them. Everyone on the board would agree you should create a "rainy day fund" for your FD. When they break, they REALLY break. Also, I think everyone here would agree that the 3rd RX-7's are one of the most beautiful and fun cars to own and drive. One of the fun parts of owning an FD is the attention they bring. I can't drive my car anywhere without someone asking about the car or gawking at it( the STI and EVO owners in my area ALWAYS turn their heads to look at my FD). Owning a 3rd gen RX-7 is really fun and can be a drain on your wallet( I've only owned mine for a couple of weeks and have spent over $500 just in reliabilty mods and PM work), but in our eyes it's more than worth it.

Thanks for the info yuichiror. I'm still in the process of reading through the faqs. Congrats on your new rx-7 :)

We have a newbies specific section on our board.

Also, 93VR4Twins; Trevor on 3Si has both a VR4 and a RX7 so he should be able to give you an unbiased opinion. In terms of buying a used RX7, from what I can find it's pretty much the same as buying a used VR4. But then again working on a car is half the fun.