sliverate

Hey I'm Tom and glad to be a new member of this online community and hope to learn a lot more about the rx-7's with my time roaming the boards here. Now to the matter at hand....(scroll to the bottom for cliff notes lol)

I found out about a local 1993 RX-7 for sale thru a co-worker who heard that its in pristine factory unmolested condition. I got in contact with the owner on friday and he told me how to find it so I went check it out after work. Well it indeed looked close to mint.....paint/body had no flaws and the interior was like a brand new car, oh and the mileage is in the high 80K's. Here's the bad... Its obvious the cars been sitting for a while as theres pollen is all the crevices, discs totally rusted, and dark streaks running down all sides of the car (will wash off). Guy is asking 10,900 and said its a steal because they are going for around $12K in that condition. He did not hesitate to offer me to drive it this tuesday so I would assume he's pretty confident in it. Over the weekend I went to see it again with a buddy and we nit picked.....great idea. Noticed a lot of little imperfections...and then our eyes got big when we started seeing TINY TINY areas with a hint of red overspray. Ordered a carfax report today to find it was in a rear end collision in 2000 that required it to be towed.

What I'm looking to hear from you guys is what I should look for mechanically on tuesday when I drive it and can actually look under the hood. Assuming it seems alright mechanically what should I be offering considering everything.

Thanks so much this is very important to me. -TT

CLIFFS:
-Guy finds out about a mint red RX-7 with 8X,XXX miles
-Gets owners number from a friend
-Looks at the car by himself, finds it to
be mint but having sat a long time
-Gets an asking price of 10,900 from owner
-Looks at it again with a friend finds hidden overspray and some flaws
-Gets carfax report finds a clean title but an accident in 2000 requiring a tow
-Asking for guidance from rx-7 gurus so a good deal is had

jdhuegel1

Take it to a reputable body shop and have them look it over. It's good to have found the collision on carfax though... lots of things don't get reported and you'll pay for a "mint" car only to find things later on that reveal an accident.

A little overspray is common because the cars aren't painted then assembled like from the factory... it's a pain to do. What I would do though, is have someone with repair experience look it over.

sliverate

Funny thing is.. its being stored at an auto collision center, the back half is rented by the seller for his auto sales. Yeah seems pretty convenient right?

jdhuegel1

That it does...

Clear title?

Still may be a decent deal, but you can't be too careful.

sliverate

Yeah not reconstructed or anything..take a look
http://www.carfax.com/viewEmailRepor...i3&language=EN

jdhuegel1

I'm confused... so the accident happened in 2000 but wasn't reported or fixed till 2008? Carfax confuses me sometimes.

sliverate

Your guess is as good as mine.

sickboy2345

i just did that, bough a car that was sitting somewhere for a while with no enbgine, geezer bought a 2nd hand engine fitted it and sold it to me..when i went to look and check the car everything seemed to be fine, driven it, was fine, paint looked nice, no scratches etc...

got back home - bought the car went to get it serviced first - they found 18 faults, few leaks(rad,ps pump,exhaust etc) rusted disc, things like that, paint became faded after 2 days, dont know what stuff he put over it but it looked really neat when i went to see it..

all im saying is, get a really good mechanic and check all over it, check it undearneath etc..the thing is that the paintwork might be the smallest thing to worry about..

bajaman

No 15 year old car with ~80K miles is "mint", you have to expect normal wear and tear to take place in that elapsed time.
Sounds like the interior is great, the exterior is typical of this vintage. The fact it had a little fender-bender shouldn't be a concern unless the car got fuxored bad enough to tweak the unibody, which could cause tracking problems. Remember: These are pretty fragile cars when it comes to impacts, they are lightweight and built to perform. And while the chassis IS robust in a lot of ways, it just doesn't like being whacked about.
A car with nearly 90K miles is about due for an engine rebuild, you just have to know this. What, if any, "reliability mods" were done? If none, then for sure you will have a rebuild in the near future.
The price IS about right. What you have to consider is....you will soon be spending about $3K - $6K more on a new engine. So that makes it a $14K car at a minimum...STILL not bad.

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of the FD but, be aware that these cars are best suited for an occasional, weekend type of use. These cars can and often do become black holes of money loss, which leads to terrible disappointment.
The Forum is FULL of stories where someone bought one of these cars as it has always been their "dream car", only to get nickel-and-dimed to death.

sliverate

Thanks thats exactly the kind if info I was looking for. I noticed a lot of rx-7's going for around $14K-15 had new motors installed recently. Obviously I didin't expect the car to be perfect but my main concern is what I'll be spending on it and if I can prevent a loss ahead of time. Being 20 years old and a full time student the money I have for the car is all I have and have been slowly saving it up so it sure means a lot to me. I'm definitely going to take the advice and get it checked out by a good mechanic hopefully theres a mazda dealer within reasonable distance. I'm going to go ahead and assume its the original motor but I won't know for sure until tuesday. Then again I would imagine he would have mentioned a new motor by now and used it as a selling point if that was the case. I will be taking some pictures when I go to see it to post up and hopefully nothing happens to the motor from it sitting. I'm a bit concerned about how these motors hold up after sitting for more than a few months and if I should take some special precautions before I start it for the first time (will obviously check all fluids etc.). Oh and no I don't plan on daily driving this car if I get it just a weekend love affair haha Thanks for all the help so far and please don't hesitate to chime in with your 2 cents.

dhays

iTrader: (1)

Well, with that invitation....

If you are 20 and a full time student, I would suggest that you don't buy an FD. Get yourself a reliable car for simple transportation. As a student, you won't have the time or money to throw into the money pit that is an FD.

sliverate

Well I actually have a 1.3l turbo toyota tercel that I swapped myself and drive everyday and plan to continue using lol this car will get VERY minimal miles put on it by me maybe 2000 a year if that and rarely floored (honestly). I'm very glad to now be more aware though that they really ARE a money pit you're one of many people who have warned me here among other places. I DO have extra funds to maintain it and I am certified automotive technician. If I really enjoy driving the car and it puts a smile on my face I have no problem spending extra money on maintenance. I just don't want to buy it for more than I should be paying, and then have a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff go bad and I'm in it too deep. We'll see how low I can get this thing....

dhays

iTrader: (1)

In that situation, go for it. Since you won't be counting on it for your basic transportation, AND you have the basic skills to learn to repair and maintain it yourself (something I don't have) then you should be good. Just keep in mind what folks have been saying about being prepared for a rebuild. In my case, a rebuild would mean lots of money since I don't have the time, space, tools, or most importantly, expertise to pull and install an engine. Sounds like you might.

sliverate

Would be really cool to pick it up for my B-day, the big 21 on wednesday

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Even having another car to use as your main transportation if you are spending the bulk of your savings on buying the car alone expect to have it see a lot of downtime. Parts and repairs for these cars are not cheap, and something small can quickly spiral into something MAJOR. I can honestly say I kinda wish I would have purchased a cheaper FC to get myself more aquainted with the quirks of a rotary and the stubborness of an RX7 . With that said I love my FD even if I have only put 200-300 miles on it in the 2 years that I've owned it , I feel that all the money I've poured into it will be worth it in the long run but it did mean a lot of sacrifices and it has meant the car was inoperable for a long time while I saved up to buy the parts. I'm also a college student but I work a lot while going to school as well...

Sounds like you already have your mind made up, but I would seriously sit back and ask yourself how much you like extra spending money , the reliability mods alone are going to add up very quickly...

Good luck with whatever you decide on! these are very fun cars .

SLOASFK

iTrader: (5)

Is it an auto or a manual? The price seems low for a manual, however if it's on a used car lot with a history of being rear ended, I'd be wary of that car. These vehicles tend to be a bit problematic due to the previous owners as it is, the last thing you want is one that was give a $5 patch job and dropped on a used car lot to look pretty and get dumped off on some sucker.

What area of PA are you in? I would be willing to look it over if it's local to me.

dhays

iTrader: (1)

Nice offer. If you are at all close, I'd take him up on it.

gainer_reniag

you can pm me if you want to buy a real mint RX-7

sliverate

Yeah its a manual. Bit strange, the guy says he's a wholesaler and doesn't really have a "lot" just a small building to work out of. Whatever work was done to it due to the accident was definitely done well because the paint is near flawless and all body panel gaps look proper. I live in the allentown area but the car is in the harleysville area. I'm totally down with your idea if you can I'll even pay for the gas, thanks.

sickboy2345

just because you said you're 20...

few weeks ago my m,ates brother bought an rx7, highly modded one 410 bhp single turbo, really nice looker as well, he needed to wait a while untill he turned 21 so he could be driving it..

but lets get to the point - his car doesn't exist anymore, hes ok - but rx7 smashed at the central reservation on the motorway ...

he obviously can't afford to fix it so they will have to scrap it...

just be careful mate..


btw:

about little faults etc. dont know about the prices in states but i spent 1100 pounds last month and 300 so far in this month to fix them little bits and pieces - they have charged me 1500 for labour to get it all done so i have done it myself = 1500saved but still lots spent on it

good luck!

dhays

iTrader: (1)

+1 Fast cars and young drivers are not a good mix. The problem is that young drivers rarely think of themselves as young drivers. So just be careful.



I've dropped $7k into my FD since I bought it 6 months ago. It ran fine and didn't need anything but to pass emissions testing. Even so, there are things that I wanted and little things that could be fixed plus routine maintenanc. I record all my expenses on a spreadsheet with a running total of how much I've spent on the car to date. Needless to say, that is not something that I show my wife.

Rx7Rocket

Yeah I live in allentown as well and if your looking for help i might be able to give you a little looking it over. I am by no means as familiar as some of these guys on this site I've learned a lot since owning mine and might be a little bit of help

Slippmr2

Sounds good, just be safe when driving and find out the limits of the car safely.

sliverate

Well everything went well on the test drive I'd say. Car rode EXCELLENT for how long it has been sitting and I must say having a 350whp integra I figured this would feel a bit slow but honestly....thing ran like a raped date pardon my words lol and I didn't even give it hell I was VERY easy with it not even close to redline. Only problems I noticed is at idle the oil pressure was reading near 0 unless you blipped the throttle it would go up and driving it was around 30 iirc. Also at idle if you would tap the throttle it would sputter/misfire a tad bit and would do the same like hesitate a split second if you jabbed the gas at a low rpm while cruising along in a higher gear. But yeah no smoke out the tail pipe...whisper quiet motor, LOTS of power, no visible fluid leaks....$10,500 firm

Not sure where I'm gonna go from here have to think about it and maybe go see it with a forum member before decide to seal the deal. Sorry didn't take pics but it just looks like a stock 93 touring edition no flaws really car looks like new. Oh and that acoustics tunnel crap is NUTS lol

RX7gp

If you're in Allentown I would HIGHLY recommend you have Dave @KDRotary take a look at the car before you buy. He's in New Tripoli and is THE MAN in this area (or any area) when it comes to everything w/ FD's. -Randy