Hi long time reader first time poster. I buy and sell cars at auctions. I started doing this last year. My whole point in doing this is to eventually make enough to pickup an MKIV, anyways besides that. I really like Rx7's and id love to grab this. This car will be sold next week at an auction i go to. Ive never posted here but ive read alot on and off. So i know the rx7 isnt for somone whos finnicky on maintenance etc... Well heres the deal, would you think this car would be worth bringing back to life? Its a 93 and has 123,219 miles, it starts and runs . I will be previewing the car on tuesday. Is there anything to see or look at to tell if its the original engine? Ive done 4 honda/acuras so far and they got little differences you can tell from. As you can see from the pictures the fenders got some dents. I would just buy some stock replacements from a local dismanler i know of, or the classifieds on here. My good friends uncle has a body shop and he told me he would try to get me the best deal he could. The right rear fender needs some work. Ive never messed with any cars that have body damage, just thefts only. So if anyone with some body experience could gimme some advice it would be appreciated. Now my main priority is the engine, i know 120,xxx miles would be considered alot for an FD engine. Thats why i wanna preview it to see if its had a replacement. The auction it will be sold at doesnt have alotta turnout so the prices are always low. I was thinkin the most id spend would be 6.5k for it. It seems like anything over that would be a waste of time, adding all parts,painting and engine work if it needs any. Compared to just buying a new used one. Most likely i may pick it up for 4-5k depending on the turnout of ppl there that day. If not ill just buy 2 more honda/acuras and sell. Id love to have a chance at owning/driving and FD i may end up likin it more then the MKIV so i dont wanna pass it up. I hope to be posting on here soon as much as i do on honda-tech.com

thanks

 

No more than 4K with unknown engine condition, unless you are a gambler. If it runs good it could be a money maker, and if it doesnt it will be a money pit. As far as the body it appears that the rear quarter and front fender will need t be replaced. The drivers fender might be easier to replace as well, and the door looks like it can be fixed. fenders are $150 each and the rear quarter if it cant be repaired will go for about $700 if memory serves. I would figure $3000 at least for body expenses, and $500 for unknowns, brakes , exhaust whatever.

 

thats easily fixable if the engine is good.

 

get a hold of turbojeff?... He does alot of these types of things. I believe i saw him post " I have had 23 Fd's but don't listen to me"..Hahahaha!!! That"s great! I've seen a few of the cars he's rebirthed. Does very nice work. He'll probably be your best source.

 

turbojeff is your man for this.

 

Wait, hold on. I just looked at the first pic again. Does that thing on the dash look like a commander holder to anyone else?

If it is or was, and the Power FC is taken out, whatever condition the engine is in now, it will probably be blown if you drive it hard for any length of time. If you can, look in the passenger side kick panel and check out the ECU. If it is the stock one it should say "remanufactured for Mazda" and have a stickers that says N3A1 on it. If it is the upgraded Power FC it will have the APEXi logo and name on it.

 

I would buy it and sell the parts.
You'll make more money.
Thsoe rear quarters are fucked and on a fd that is chassis damage since they are not removable (with out cutting them off the body anyway)
My .02

 

I can help with this if you have any questions, anyone who has seen my work from before you after knows that I do this alot. PM me and Ill send you my number, If you dont want to do it I may buy it, Im a licensed auto dealer as well

 

yeah, if you can pick it up for 4, you in good shape.

 

Did you guys notice! that 7 has Mustang Cobra R rims on it.

 

Whats up with the cobra r rims? I wouldn't think the offset is right. If you can get it for really cheap I would say go for it

 

I haven't seen a stock catback in a long time but that doesn't look stock and it's got an Alpine cd player.

There's really no way to tell if the motor has been replaced. You can look at the rotor housings by the spark plugs and see if they're fairly clean and that's about it.

 

Haha, turbojeff has already seen this one. www.iaai.com .

Anyway all salvage FDs are worth more in parts than whole. I just like saving them. The original engine probably didn't make it 123K. The replacement might not be making it either.

Fenders are best bought new, 1/4 panel would be a good thing to get used.

This is a bad place to post up info on a car that is up for bid, you never know who your bidding against.

FD3boost,

1/4 panel replacement isn't really a big deal at all. New parts are available, replacement is totally legit by modern car repair standards. The only thing that really matters is that the repair is done correctly. Sorta like an engine rebuild, there are good ones and bad ones, most of the rebuld quality is totally dependent on the person doing the work. This guy fixes salvage cars so you aren't telling him anything.


WARNING, Shameless self promotion:

http://community.webshots.com/album/69912816VsRYvb

 

Hehe, all i posted was pics of it not the location of it

 

not to be off topic here, but Turbojeff, just some amazing work you do. So do you sell them through a dealer or something after you are done? Either way, great job saving FDs... "SFDF - Save the FD Foundation" !!!

Btw, I was in Eugene Oregon about a year ago - gf's brother was graduating from U of O. Nice place... so peaceful compared to NYC...

 

i say get it and do the mkiv swap, that way you'll look good and have the power of the supra. chances are prob pretty good that you'll need a new engine...why not go extreme?

 

I find body work is more difficult then just replacing an engine and components. They are right, the 7 does not have fenders to replace back there. You will have to use bondo or have a good (great) body shop cut and paste new sections in. I would not pay over 4K for it because it will need about 5-6k more (I am not a body man so that price may be wrong) to make it look nice again. You might have better luck finding one that needs an engine or not running. But don't let me stop you from bring this one back to life if you think you can. The more third gens on the road the better. Does it have a totalled title? If so you may have a hard time selling it later. I know I will not buy one with a salvaged title even if it has cobra R rims (and maybe even 30k in mods). Just my input on this subject.

 

Oh by the way, if you do some hunting you can find a nice looking stock car for about 10-12k. That might be the price of that car once you are done with the body work and the title would be clear too. You can find one for even less then that if it has a blown motor. A motor could cost as little as 1500-2000 or a more depending on mods.

 

dont drop a 2jz in there. Just get an old z car for that ****.

 

If engine is good.. its worth it.. but you are not going to find that out at the auction..

it might be better to get a frame and replace all the parts.. you need to also replace that rim.. the offset is way off!! so, that's another 400 for used fd rims..

 

I have seen Joe's work before. He does really good stuff. In my pictures link below there are pics of his car from the MARX7.org meet. Every panel on the car was destroyed when he got it, and a lot of interior pieces were ripped up too (wife took a claw hammer to it). Check it out now. Beautiful...

 

I think it's stock, just got pushed in by whatever rear-ended the poor FD