Purchasing FD
 

Hey everyone, I was hoping you could do me a huge favor.

I am going to look at an FD tonight, and while I'm familiar with first gens, I really don't know any of the major issues and things to look for on a 94 FD. Before you flame me for not using the search function, this deal came up unexpectedly and I am trading my turbo G35, I will be working all day before I go to see it so really can't spend much time searching before I go see it.

Could you please list some common issues that I should check for? This is kind of a risky trade, its heavily modified, T78 single turbo, 144k miles, but suspension, built engine, turbo, and other critical accesories don't even have 1000 miles on them. It has been tuned at 14psi at about 450 whp. It looks amazing, but as with any modified car there are many problems that could pop up. I feel ok with the mods, I'm just not familiar with common issues with a 94. I appreciate any help that you can give me, and if I get the car, don't worry, I won't be posting again without using the search first. Thanks.

anyone? i've only got a few hours left. It's the Mother's Performance Center Car out of New Jersey if that helps. (Orange with carbon fiber accents and a mothers decal on the sides)

Buying an RX-7 / Buyers Guide / Used Car Shopping:
http://rx7.voodoobox.net/infofaq/bguide3g/bguide3g.html
http://www.marx7.org/infocenter/faqs/3rd_faq_main.html
http://www.fd3s.net/buying.html
http://www.rx7.org/Robinette/buyaused.htm
http://www.epinions.com/content_92709097092

Thanks, that buyers guide was a big help on the Robinette site was a huge help.

This car has a large single turbo, is there anything specific to that that I should be concerned about. The install looks clean, its big (78mm), engine was built with 2mm apex seals, is that preferred for high boost applications?

my car is a t78 single turbo as well.. i basiclaly go tthis car to eliminate all the sequesntial turbo B/s which makes for a very clean engine bay.. main things to look for is anytype of overheating,any breaking up on acceleration etc. see if the owner can provide receipts for any replaced, rebuilt stuff.. last thing i did was get the cmpression checked.. to make sure the motor is healthy,,despite having been rebuilt etc.

my best advice is to make a deal with the gentleman to hold the car for you using some sort of collateral or a cash deposit to let him know you're serious about the trade.

take a few days to learn about it then if you still want it then by all means go ahead...

don't dive in head first if you dont know how deep the water is.

Excellent advice. I wish I had spent more time before I made the purchase. I probably would still have done what I did, but would have been better informed.

Thanks for the advice, I will be putting a deposit on it tonight if it goes well, then I'll keep reading through the week. The engine was just rebuilt 1000 miles ago, I would normally think that is good, but it could also mean there are some potential major problems that just haven't happened yet right? Anything specific to look for on such a fresh engine? Not sure which ems its got at the moment.

I will also be having speed4sale.com do an appraisal, my roomate used them for his supra and had a good experience. Has anyone here had a bad experience with them?

Is this a nationwide chain of appraisers or some such? I wouldn't use an appraiser that couldn't inspect the car in person....

I'm not really sure how valuable an appraisal will be for making a purchasing decision. I would recommend taking the car to a rotary shop and have them inspect it. They may be able to spot obvious problems, do a compression test, coolant system pressure test, ect. It would be worth the expense. An appraisal may be handy for insurance reasons, but the market for FD is rather odd and I'm not sure it would give you a good idea on what you should spend on a particular car.

I'm in the process of buying an FD as well, have been for a few months. Read the faq thread. Then if you have any more questions people always seem more then willing to help around here.

This isn't a car you can just get in and drive. You have to be meticulous with routine maintenance, if you do then it'll treat you well.

Advice that is always given to me is "Always have $4-5000 on hand for when the engine blows".

i agree to most of the vets here. for my 7, so far after 6 months of owning it i only have the pleasure to drive it twice as I don't want the engine to get over heated.

speed4sale specializes in Rx-7's, supras, 300zx's and vettes mostly. That will be mostly for insurance reasons.

I have a safety fund saved up in case I have any major problems with the engine. Seems like the major issues to worry about are the compression and engine temps.

If I own this car for 6 months and only drive it twice it won't be worth having. I know these aren't the best daily driver, but i do plan on driving it often, and will maintain it properly to keep it running.

I searched for reviews on Mothers Performance (this is their show car), which is connected to the shop that did most of the work on the car, owned by some guy named Sammy, it seemed to have ok reviews but nothing spectacular, I did pm a guy that worked their and hopefully he responds soon.

In my opinion, before purchasing the car you should take it to a rotary specialist for a very thorough check.

Since the car is rather modded the quality of support mods need to be inspected.

another thing to take in consideration is the fact that no matter if its cold or hot outside, the car will always have to be warmed up for a few min(10 for me) before you can drive it.. sometimes its a real pain in the ass especially when you just want to jump in and go.. i also have a secondary 97 honda accord as a daily driver, and it helps alot.. good luck..sometimes it could be a pain but well worth it.. i love mine!!

Thanks everyone, I went and drove it last night. It is a sick car, but just a little too radical for my taste. I wouldn't say it would be my daily driver but I'd be using it a lot especially in the summer. It had the hks 4 inch exhaust and was insanely loud, but i wasn't hung up on that, its easy to change an exhaust. The thing that got me was the 6puck clutch, i've never experienced that before, it was like an on off switch haha, i know i could get used to it but it would be horrible driving around town or getting stuck in traffic on the freeway. It was powerful though, but the gauges weren't hooked up so i couldnt tell if the boost was nice and steady and constant, it felt good but i'm also not used to it so i couldn't tell if there were any problems. I'll keep looking, now i know what to look out for.

It also had race seats that were fixed in place, i didn't like that too much either. But if I wanted a track car or a car just for people to look at it would be pretty sweet. Thanks again for all the good info.

Out of curiosity, how much were they asking for this single turbo show car? Do you have any pics? You know everyone on this site loves pictures. Thanks.

I though only really old people did this? The time taken for the oil pressure reach its initial level (about 10 seconds) is all the time you need. Manufacturers would not put a thermostat in a car if they wanted it to warm up slowly.

It's for sale here on the forum under the username 'rayspeed'

Btw, David Jerome from speed for sale is a standup guy, he posts under djseven here on the forum.

does he include picts of the car when he post the car for sale on this website?

i'm searching for the thread now.

Yeah, it is the 94, his 93 was sold already, i saw your post there.

So what is the concensus now that it was posted on this site. Did I pass up a good deal? I have an 04 g35 with a Turbonetics single turbo kit, 70k miles. the original seller on the 350Z forum wanted a straight up trade.

dude WTF! Most of the people who own rx-7's and me previously having 8 before 1st &2nd gen, all know that a 7 must be warmed up before driving especially if your car is modified like mine. your the type of person that probably jumps in his car and boosts it hard as soon as you go down the street..

I didn't see moconnor say anything about getting in and boosting right away. He's just making the point that starting the car for 10 minutes before you leave is pointless.
Start the car. Then drive easy for a few minutes untill is warm. It's that simple.

Yeah, as long as you go easy on it till its warm you should be ok.

Now, back on topic... here is the link to the sale on this forum now, I think its sold again already. What do you guys think of it.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=766714