kemel

Hey guys, as the title said I am new to RX7club.com. I am also new to rotary's in general. I have been into tuner cars for many years and I just sold my STI, although I know nearly nothing about RX-7 and rotary's. I have always liked the looks of the cars but have heard a lot of negative things about the motors. Anyway, I have been looking through craigslist for a new car and came upon a 93' RX-7. Here is some info on the car...




93' Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo
Color: Montego Blue
Interior: Tan
Mileage: 34,500
Clear title

Extras include:
Custom Wheels and Tires
OZ Mitao Front: 18 x 8.5, Rear: 18 x 10
Yokahama AVS Sport Front: 235/40 ZR18, Rear: 275/35 ZR18
Bra
Mirror covers
Painted calipers (Red)
Stainless brake lines
Aluminum Intake pipe set for cooling system
Mazda Speed Short Shift Kit
Jacobs Energy Core Plug Wires
Aluminum Air separator tank
M2 Performance Fresh Air Intake
Power pulley
Car cover
‘99 tail lights/turn signal assembly
PIAA driving lights
Upgraded door jam covers
Mud flaps
Tinted windows
Strut tower cross bar
Touch up paint
Lowered Eibach Spring Kit (3/4 inch) S
Proteck-R Full Lube 9 x 4 oz. bottles, 1 Gallon for refilling
Never raced or abused
All maintenance records and upgrade receipts
Dash cover
Shop manual
All original parts (except tail lights) (springs, wheels & tires (4mm tread measure to wear bar), air box, battery case, etc)
M2 Performance Battery Relocation Kit (no completed, includes small battery, cables, connectors)


MOVING ON...

It sounded like a nice car, so I went to take a look at it today. The car was very clean. When I started talking to the guy that owned it he said that it was a theft recovery but has a clear title (carfax shows it clean and only shows him as the owner). He picked it up at 4500 miles in 1993. He told me whoever had it, hid the car in a friends garage and reported it stolen and he thinks the guy just couldn't afford it anymore. He talked with a local dealer and the car wasn't missing a thing, so they gave it a clear title and he bought it. He has had it ever since.

Well, when we were out test driving everything seemed fine for a while. Finally we got up to around 3-4k RPM and heard a loud "pop" type noise. We pulled over and it turned out something cause the intercooler pipe to pop off and sent the clamp flying around the motor and shredded all of the belts in the front. I was told this could be that some of the ports are stuck from opening because it hasn't been driven very much.

All in all, I did like the car and he said he was going to get all the belts replaced and have the motor checked out and provide me with receipts and paperwork for everything. He also said I could find a rotary shop or dealer and have them check it out too..

I do want this car, but any advice from all of you would be great! He is asking $18,000 obo for the car. I don't want to lowball him and he did say 2 other people were looking at it, so I was going to offer him $16k and try and negotiate from there. Is this a good deal? Let me know your opinions!

Sorry for such a long post!

THANKS

dhays

iTrader: (1)

Take a look at this page and read everything related to buying an FD.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/faq-3rd-gen-other-useful-links-68640/

One of those will have a list of things to look for when considering an FD. If the car really does check out OK, (and having a rotary shop look at it is a great idea), then $16,000 isn't bad for a low mileage stock car. It has to be in good shape however.

kemel

Okay thanks! I'll take a look at that.. And overall the car does seem in good shape. It has the usual wear and tear from rock chips on the outside, but nothing major. The interior is in great shape and still smells new! I'm not sure how negotiable the guy will be.. He may not take $16k.. Maybe $17k.. I'm not sure.

glutton

i think what hes asking for is a good price, so anything lower than that is just bonus for a car with 50,000km or 32,000miles. just make sure your able to afford at least a few thousand more (2 or 3) incase something goes wrong right off the bat and then do all the reliability mods to the car as soon as you can. after that work on making it what you want.
If the motor is putting out 95+psi and the boost is 10-8-10 it should be all nice. make sure you check the hoses in the engine bay for wear and cracking... if their really brittle its probably due to excess heat and the engine has overheated in the past. theres deffaintly a difference between rubber deterioration and heat damage so if you can try and take a look at a few more rx7s before you jump on this one.

as far as negotiating its really what you feel comfortable with, 16k isnt so much of a lowball on 18k asking.... thats only an 11% cut. Often i try 20% right off unless something is deffaintly wrong with the car and the guy is out to lunch on his asking price. if your sincere in your offer and say it seriously he will be receptive to that and if its too low he'll let you know and you can work it out from there.

kemel

Yeah, after he gets everything back together I am going to have it checked out by 1, maybe 2, shops in the area. This is the first RX-7 I've looked at, but it is also the only one in colorado that seems decent for sale.

glutton

ahhh, well go look at them anyways even if your not interested. that way you have something to compare the car to when you look at it again and take it to the shop. dont be afraid to ask the shop some questions while their doing the inspection (if you can) or at the very least afterwards.

the first one i looked at was an automatic with a dead cat, worn brushings..the front dash basically falling apart (it seriously started to come apart during the testdrive) the sunroof only opened 5cm.... the car had overheated before, had a coolent leak, the turbos wernt boosting properly and the front suspension needed some attention. the dealership wanted $14,999 for the car with 160,000km on it LOL......the third one was at a dealership for $25,000, it was a "94" (the tag read oct 93..i hate dealers) with a blown engine... really nice interior but the car had deafently overheated as well...this time no testdrive though but the sales person thought it a good idea to immedialty start it up and rev the car to 5k.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/fd3s-practicality-757130/

The Driver

iTrader: (4)

Good luck, there two totally different worlds the sti and the 7, both of which I've been in and driven too many times to count. If you leave it as is and just finish up the reliability mods - cat-back - downpipe and AST, you should have yourself a nice reliable rx7. If you go mod happy prepare to spend $

Rx7's are reliable when modded corectly, go cheap on her and she will run your pockets dry...

rotaryextreme

iTrader: (2)

I would buy it just because it has low mileage, the FD is the only twin turbo Japanesse car that did not come with a non-turbo option. IE: supra, 300zx, 3000gt, stealth. The FD will become a classic and will be worth alot of money in the future.

If you do buy this car, preserve it and buy a high mileage FD for regular driving.

The only other twin turbo Japanesse car to be a classic will be the 1991-1993 3000gt twin turbo. It had the aero package, awd, aws, soft and hard suspension settings and a valve in the exhaust to make it high flow under load.

Ben Meeker, New owner of Rotary Extreme.

jmeyer93

iTrader: (1)

if you say 16k he will probably meet you at 17k. its a nice car

dhays

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, if it checks out it would be a great car and a very good price. Even his 18k asking price is reasonable. It is just a matter of him finding a willing buyer at that price. For many of us, money is tight and the high price of gas has cut deeply into our disposable income. Makes it hard to sell toys that burn gas like we breath air.

theorie

iTrader: (31)

i'll be out in the denver area pretty soon...still trying to decide if i want to drive the FD out there or not...long drive from FL haha

kemel

Nice! you should let me know so I could see your 7!

Thanks for all the helpful advice so far guys! Hope I can get it checked out soon. I have a car I can use for DD, so I wouldn't have to drive it all the time. Is there much difference between the 93-95 years? Only things I have read is that the early 93's had paint issues and problems with the dash and trim pieces inside chipping off (which this car has that issue I believe because it has been touched up inside, but he has a dash cover on it to block sun). How would I tell if it has anything wrong with the paint? There are a lot of rock chips on the hood and front bumper.. but that seems to be normal wear and tear, especially in colorado..

And any advice on how that AST mod works? I read about it, but didn't really understand the description..

Thanks again!

dhays

iTrader: (1)

It makes more sense once you can actually see the car.

kemel

Haha, alright that makes sense..

Would it be hard to swap the tan interior for black interior? How hard would it be to find? Not sure how much I like the tan..


Also, here are some more pics I got...

RMRanger

iTrader: (1)

I say go for it. It looks like a good car, and as others have said, I think $17k would be a fair price for how many miles are on it. I am in Denver too, and I know how hard it is to find a good example of these cars around here. I finally just broke down and bought an FD that's in NC. (I have family down there and will be driving it back next month.) Mine is a lot like that one, it even has the R1 lip. So now there will be three MB FD owners in the Denver area (that I know of) If you do get the car, we should hook up and take some pictures

If the paint has problems it should be pretty obvious, just like any car...flaking, cracking, oxidizing / fading, etc. It's normal for an FD that color to fade into more of a green color than the original green / blue, so don't worry about that.

From what I understand, the 1993 cars have several important recalls that need to be done:

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/1993/...lls/index.html

The other changes are minor:

"1994 Mazda RX: Improvements this year included a new "one-touch" feature for the driver's window, plus map pockets. Dual airbags were installed, and a softer suspension setting aimed to reduce ride harshness over bumps--especially in the base and Touring editions. Dashboards were revised slightly. A new option group put popular features into a single package. Three major option groups were offered: Luxury-oriented Touring (now with a power steel sunroof rather than glass); Performance (now called R-2); and Popular Equipment (sunroof, leather, and a rear cargo cover)."

Who are you going to have look at the car? I haven't been able to find a good rotary shop around here...

kemel

Nice! What year did you get? What color interior? How many miles? And if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pick it up for?

I am thinking about contact Precision Import Repair or ImportSports to have them look at the car..

RMRanger

iTrader: (1)

It's a 1993 montego blue (MB) car with the tan interior, like yours. I got it for $15.5k, but it has 90k miles on it. It has quite a few mods though. Good thing is that it has a freshly rebuilt motor. I have heard Precision is the place to go for rotary work, but I've also heard bad things about them. You might try contacting Moe at SpeedImage---he's a great guy and does good work. I know he is familiar with 13Bs, but I'm not sure if he has the proper compression tester for a rotary. Whatever you do, don't take it to a dealership. Unfortunately there aren't a whole lot of rotary owners in Denver, so the Rocky Mountain section is pretty dead. However, look in there and you'll see a user named Mike B, he might have more insight for you.

Concerning converting to black interior...I like the tan, so I'll keep mine that way. But from what I've read, the conversion is easy, it's just finding the interior that's hard! (Black interior only came in R package cars as far as I know.)

kemel

Yeah. The tan doesn't look horrible. Just need to get used to it.. It has the all tan doors which I'm not fond of.. But the blue with tan does look more exotic in my opinion. And I have been talking to Mike B. He said it sounds like a good buy and he would offer $16k and have Precision check it out.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I was going to say $18K a fair price? It's good deal... man there's some broke *** people on here.

KKMpunkrock2011

iTrader: (5)

I'm buying a 93 FD here in Nebraska, just got to wait for the guy to get back, damn airline pilot, one of only like two. It's red with a black interior, touring, and I want the tan interior. I'm actually gonna be travelling to Colorado Springs in the next month to visit some family so maybe we could meet up and swap out the interiors. Just need to do some research on how, I can't imagine it's too hard.

kemel

Nice! We'll have to keep in touch and if I get this one then I'm sure we can work it out! I know some people that probably know how to do it.

dhays

iTrader: (1)

It's because most of us already own FD's. That pretty much guarantees a lack of cash.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

^^ ha ha too bad it's true.

kemel

So I emailed the seller last night and offered him $16,000 for the car, and this was his response...

"I am in no hurry to sell the car. I realize that the NADA and Blue Books and everyone in the world have an opinion of value for the car. I have other people that are interested and I have just started this process so I will pass on your offer. If you would like me to keep you in mind if I change my mind at a future date I am willing to do that. As for now the price is still $18,000. Sorry for the problems Tuesday and I will have the car repaired and back in shape soon."


I responsed and asked if he is negotiable at all on his asking price, and if we could work something out... But he hasn't written back yet. He posted "OBO" so I figured he would at least counter my offer and say $17,000 or something... But I guess not?