jj911

im 16, and going to get an rx7 soon.

hold the flame for a second about being an irresponsible owner, and not getting a rx7 as a first car because of problems and inexperience and whatnot.

im going to learn first hand, and not get some 240sx, mainly because two of my older cousins have rx7s and being in them just feels plain sexy.

im buying one used specs:

Year : 1994
Make : Mazda
Model: RX7 Touring Trim
Style/Body: Coupe 2D
Class: Sport Car - Touring
Engine: 1.3L EFI Twin Turbo
Country of Assembly: Japan
Vehicle Age: 15 year(s)
Calculated Owners: 2
Last Reported
Odometer Reading: 31,160

all red

"This RX7 a very rare find, garage kept and had more care than miles, serviced and maintained by the RX7 Experts at Pettit Racing who kept it in top condition always running beautifully. It has had all the reliability modifications / updates performed and the orignal engine was replaced with a Mazda oem block less than 15000 miles ago. Just last week a major service was performed, a full tune up, all the fluids changed, trans, diff, brakes, engine oil and filter, a new thermostat, a 185 fan switch and a complete cooling system service. It also has about $2500 in performance upgrades from Pettit Racing, Cold Air Induction System, Power Pulleys, Stainless Down pipe, Catback Exhaust System and Column Mount Boost Gauge, etc. and all the orignal parts are included as well, even the window sticker and all the manuals.

It has never been involved in an accident and there is no rust anywhere, not even around the sunroof, it is perfect, (see picture) the paint is orignal with the exception of the hood which was repainted under warranty due to a factory paint problem with the aluminum hoods, this was common with many RX7's, 3 minor parking lot dings (see pictures) the usual stone chips on the nose, a small blemish area on the rear wing and the normal fading on the plastic parts are the only flaws, a fresh paint job is all this car needs to be in perfect show room condition. "

74000 miles on the body and gonna run about 17,000.

ive saved up about 7k so far, and have a decent income of about 1500 a month, still in high school and i think i can afford it.

im just wondering if theres any rx7 owners nearby that may be nice enough to show me around, and help me out if needed.

another thing i wanna do later on is "ruin" it with a veilside fortune wide bodykit.

thats going to be after im at least 20, saved up enough to buy one, install it,a nd paint it, and probably modded the **** out of my rx7.

hate on the fortune wide, but its the sexiest thing i can think of right now, beats the **** out of any honda, supra, even the nsx fortune kit.

please try to keep the flame to a minimum

AzEKnightz

iTrader: (24)

First of all, I would compliment you on bringing yourself on here knowing you will get flame.

Second. Do all your research on reliability mods and how much it actually will cost you to maintain the car before buying one.

Third, dont expect people to HELP u fix your car if it is problematic. You need to get yourself some hands-on-experience and basic knowledge of how these vehicles work.

fourth, please utility the third gen section for all your FSM needs and diagnosis. There are plenty of information out there for newbies. I was once a newbie, bought my first car as an RX7.

5th, prepare yourself, if your RX7 is down what else do you have as your transportation?

6th, If you have the money for the veilside fortune kit, might as well upgrade all ur engine components, turbos, all ur other needs before wasting money on exterior. That kit itself will cost u over 10 grand NOT cheap at all.

Hopefully these can be some guidelines for you to be part of us in the community.

Good luck with buying a minty RX7.

-AzEKnightz

AzEKnightz

iTrader: (24)

some useful links:

FAQ for 3rd Gen & other useful links

94 FSM's available for download

Malloy Mazda , Ray Crowe is the parts manager, gives great prices to RX-7 owners, quick shipping888) 533-3400 , (703) 490-8170 , fax: (703) 490-3864 , hmkparts@aol.com
**Ray is the best person to look for if you want to buy stock parts, he will provide you with best services and he knows our RX7s inside out. Great pricing too with discount for being an rx7club member.

Pick some brains if you have any questions, before doing that, do your search first =).

Hope this can be helpful

-AzEKnightz

Dudemaaanownsanrx7

iTrader: (23)

Be prepared to either learn how to do alot of work or spend alot of money paying someone else to do work on the car. You should really have a cheap back up source of transportation. And keeping a few grand in the bank for a rebuild is a good idea too. I got my rx7 when i was 18 it was my 3rd car after an old vette and bmw. I blew the engine after 2 years and the car then sat for awhile before i had the ambition to get another engine. I then spent well over 10k rebuilding it and going single turbo. This was doing all the work myself and sourcing good deals on each individual part. So be prepared... These cars are fun but expensive.

Mytelex22

iTrader: (10)

I've only got one piece of advice (Because everything else is in the FAQ)


Do not forget your car is 15 years old... Rubber turns to plastic, plastic turns to dust, 15 year old cars fall apart... Good luck! You masochist!

NCZ13

i wouldnt daily a 7. especially one you plan on messing with.

definitely ensure you have an alternate form of transportation. There is a definite learning curve when working with cars, so your car will inevitably see downtime.

jj911

thanks for the advice guys

yea, ive done alot of research the past few months

so far ive found out main probs with rx7
eats oil
supposedly "blows up" what does that mean?

im thinking of getting as much mods as i can for my rx7 before going for the veilside

having a veilside on a almost dead stock rx7 is just plain stupid.


as for transportation, i have no friggin clue.

does anyone know any good rx7 mechanics, or people familiar with them in the nyc long island area? im planning on doing most of the work myself, but just in case.

the rx7 im getting comes with a decent 13b rotary which i want to up to a 20b 3rotor one, roughly how much would that cost done in a shop? after browsing around i didnt get much of an answer so much as 4-6k which is pretty vague.

is the rx7 reliable, or does it break down really often? i used to mess around in my parents jaguar which basically had to get fixed every few months for shitty little problems. drivable? yes. window airconditioning through 100 degree weather, and smoking engines in the middle of no where.

rotorooter93fd

iTrader: (6)

dont worry man I bought my first fd when i was 16 im 22 now and im still a huge rotary fan. best of luck to you. these cars do require a lot of maintanence but if you put in the work and money you will love the rewards. just rember even though it is a 1.3 liter mazda it will suprise you what it can do. the car can get away from you if you arent careful. best ofluck and welcome to the forum!

RotarySB

First of all, "blows up" means your motor goes KA-BOOM! Second, converting a stock FD to a 20B FD with the Fortune Widebody is going to cost you BIG $$$$$$. Probably $50,000+ (this probably a low estimate) and it will be NO WHERE near daily driveable. If you want to be able to daily drive an FD, then I suggest you keep it stock and buy all the reliability mods. Just remember, the FD is already fast from the factory.

Also, next time you post, use some grammar.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Some warnings:
1) An FD is not a year-round car. Even with snow tires it's a poor winter car in terms of versatility, safety, etc

2) Get an insurance quote. Teenagers pay through the nose. Make sure you can even get insurance for it - many companies will not insure it. It's because FDs and teenage drivers don't go together quite as well as teenage drivers go together with guardrails and trees. There are 15 years of statistics to back that up.

3) This is a dangerous car for a new driver. People seem to understand that getting their kid a new Corvette is not a good idea. But they don't see that an FD is very much the same thing (I race vettes regularly on the autox course). Learning to drive is risky and challenging enough - learning to drive an FD and not wrap a pole is another level. Even if you drive carefully, there will come a time when you must react in an emergency situation and without a good ability to control the car at it's limit, what could be a minor evasive maneuver turns into a major accident.

4) People may choose to help you. However, this forum does not come with the expectation that the help will be what you want to hear or will happen the moment you post. Help yourself first and the help from others can be icing on the cake. If you take that approach this forum will be tremendous.

5) Leave the car stock. Exhaust the reliability mods and maintenance chore list, then run the car for about a year to learn the car and formulate a plan if you want to modify it.

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I don't like stupid teenagers. I especially don't like stupid teenagers telling me to do anything (like stay away). Since you are a teenager, and therefore don't know ****, I will take it upon myself to give you some advice: Don't buy an FD. It will most likely turn out badly for you, or the car, or both. You can't afford it, you can't drive it without crashing it, and you are not smart enough to realize it.

zanthrax

Even if you are a responsible owner like you think you are, no teenager is a responsible driver.
Everyone drives their first car into something. I had one accident and a collision-free 540 degree spin accross 3 lanes on a freeway in my 60hp '87 civic. If my first car 10 years ago would have been a RWD 250hp car I would have almost certainly totalled it, possibly killing me.
The RX-7 is a performance machine in first place, looks come second.
Anyone who chooses the Fortune kit as a first mod on his FD is insane in my book. I don't care if you're 16 or 61 years old, you just don't understand the nature of this car.

trickshot

Just from that statement alone I can tell you haven't learned what you need to learn about these cars.

First of all the fact that the car "eats oil" is NOT a problem. It's part of the design. You should expect to add about 1/2 to 1 quart of oil for every 1,000 miles you drive.

If you don't know how an FD engine can "blow" then you don't know about the major vulernability of this car. This is new buyer 101. A $5,000 engine replacement can ruin your whole day. Such stories are not uncommon.

Go read up on coolant seal leaks (the most common cause of FD rotary engine death) and detonation. I'm mean really read up on them. Detonation, for instance, can be caused by a number of things. You'll need a knowledge of the weak points of the car if you want to avoid trouble. These is especially true if you have some serious engine and exhaust modifications on your car.

I also detect a kind of "gloss" in what you wrote about your car. But I'm reading between the lines and I see some red flags. Up top you list a 31,160 odometer reading....but the odometer has stopped. Why was it "stopped" and why hasn't it been fixed in over 70,000 miles? (Later you say there's 74,000 miles on the body. How do you know of sure? Because the seller told you?)

Same goes for the claim of an OEM engine. Really? How do you know? Because the seller told you? My guess is you're dealing with a rebuild. It may be a Mazda rebuild, but it's likely a rebuild.
It could be one the last factory new FD engines, which would be a good thing, but I'd want to see some serious paperwork to prove it.
If it's just a Mazda rebuild I'm not overly impressed. Do a search of this Forum on Mazda rebuilds and decide for yourself how good they are.

And the seller wants $17,000 for a 74k mi + car that needs a paint job and some dings taken out......$17,000 in this market??!!!!! Jeez Louise!

You may find what I wrote harsh sounding, but I'm giving it to you straight. Agree with me now, or agree with me later. Your choice.
And I wrote what I wrote not because you're a teenager, but because you seem naive and not fully informed about the 3rd generation RX-7.

Hossler

iTrader: (3)

how much will you insurance be?

really though i would not get a rx7 for my first car, let alone my only car!

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

+1.

I researched FD's for about 18 months before looking at an insurance quote when I was 20 with no accidents or tickets. My insurance quote, on my parents plan with 6 other cars and a $600k house was $12,000 per year. $1000 per month. The FD I was looking at was $10k when I got the insurance quote. You CANNOT afford this car.

Wargasm

17k for what is basically an old car is just a terrible idea at your age/income. First of all, I don't know who would loan you the remaining 10k needed on such an old car. But, let's say you get it somehow...

This thing will cost money for unexpected things that pop up over the years and will generally be a hassle to own if you do not have a second car to drive around while you fix the RX-7. OK, so you buy a 5k beater car to go with the RX-7 (to drive when it doesn't work or to drive to bad parts of town where you don't want the RX screwed with).... Now you're up to 22k.

Besides that, I can virtually guarantee that you will wreck it in the first 6 months. I'm sure you will -try- to drive it carefully, but **** happens, and with limited driving experience you will screw up. We have all messed up at some point, but it was probably at a much slower speed than you will be going. I spun my 1987 Turbo II 180 degrees within a month of buying it because I wasn't used to a rear wheel drive car. Luckily, I stayed on the road and nobody was hurt/hit. Thank god. I was probably 19-20 at the time (d'oh).

If you want a nice car, why not check out something like a Honda S2000? I have one for my daily driver, and I really do like the car. You could probably pick up a nice one for 15k (about 10 years newer than the FD) and daily drive it with very good reliability.

Just my 2 cents, not really a flame, just trying to help you out!

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

This has to be a belated April Fools joke on us all. This couldn't BE much more fraught with impending disaster. If not, I'm predicting a future sniffing, huffy post about converting to LS1 because the rotary is so unreliable.

TpCpLaYa

iTrader: (10)

I agree with most, if you want the 7 but already have all these expensive plans it might not turn out at smooth as you think. 17k is A LOT right now in the market and I would suggest getting one around 12-13K and then using the 4K as back up money because I guarantee you will spend around 4k more then you paid in the first year.

So I would rethink your plan....

however you will ultimately do whatever you want to do


this coming from someone who was 16 when I got my FD (first car), I'm 22 now going on 23 with NO ACCIDENTS! Like 5 tickets but none were outrageous and I treat my car as if it were my baby

I learned how and do all my own work now.....I can say though that I would have ditched the 7 LONG LONG ago if it weren't for the invaluable knowledge that is the RX7Club

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

If I had my FD at 16...I would'nt be here today

jj911

The car has an engine rebuilt by petitt racing with paperwork for every part replaced bought and installed

Yes I do realize I'm going to be blowing large mounts of money into it but I'm ready to do that. Sure I'm a teen that know jack **** but there's always a first to everythin and I don't think a 50hp civic would satify my needs.

zanthrax

Nice troll...
Why ask for peoples' advice when you won't listen to it?

arghx

iTrader: (3)

what people don't understand is that the FD has a built-in "car payment" whether you have the title or not. If you average it out, expect $300-$400 a month to maintain it if you include all the random interior parts that are going to break, relatively frequent fluid changes, etc etc.

so if you don't own it outright, and say you have a $200-$300 a month car payment, expect to budget $600-700 a month JUST TO KEEP IT FROM FALLING APART. you will have a bunch of electrical problems like sunroof switches, power window switches, etc. and all sorts of other random stuff. and then when you mod it, since it's your first car you will end up breaking stuff in the process of modding it and pushing it hard. I went through that with my first Rx-7 that I had at age 19, and it was a damn nonturbo.

LAXitives288

iTrader: (1)

Speak for yourself. Maybe you lacked the ability or self control to keep a car rubber side down for your first years behind the wheel, but thats not the case for everyone. To pull off a 540 degree spin in a FWD car takes an impressive amount of skill or an impressive lack of it. All I can say is that being in my teen years I do take offense to the idea that every teen will destroy these cars, be it either through a lack of responsibility or lack of a ability/self control. I know that i've had the luxury of having experience with a handful of vehicles in my driving career and that i've managed to keep a spotless driving record while doing it. It should be noted that this handful includes a 350whp Rx7.



Blanket statements such as yours really grind my gears. However, I do agree that this kid is not suitable to drive/own an rx7. It appears he has done zero research and is going to end up heartbroken with a popped motor or wrecked car.

jj911

i have done some research not much but heres what i got so far

oil +filter change every 3k or so miles
boost gauge + new temp gauge is a priority
replace plasic air tank with metal one
custom cool air intake
replace vacumm and rubber couplers.

replace with much better after marker intercoolor and radiator

also saw a fuel cpu thing for a few hundred bucks that looks decent, as well as a boost controller for ~300 or so and i read somewhere else on this forum that i have to replace the cat-back.

not being a troll, ive gotten alot of good advice that i would take account for, but some douchebag bums think they're cool coming on and making a 2 line bullshit post.

that or restating over and over, that just because im a teen, im going to drive it up my ***.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

That says enough. /thread

Dave