Hi All,
I'm new here so please be gentle on me. Haha.

I test drove a RX7 today and I just wanted to run few things by you folks before making a move. I did read up on few things already posted here and I found them very helpful.

First thing I noticed when the engine was fired up was the "Add Coolant" light was on until the car was warmed up enough (5-10 min). I also saw bit of white smoke coming from the exhaust during warm up, not much but still noticable. The coolant light disappeared and didn't turn on again during the test drive. After the test drive, I shut down the engine, got outside, and then smelt a hint of coolant coming from the car but I didn't see any puddles or drips.

During low speed driving, shifting from 1st to 2nd wasn't smooth. When I was moving the stick from 1st to 2nd there was bit of shaking/notchy-feeling and bit of resistance. Shifting into all other gears were fine and smooth.

Clutch seemed to engage when the pedal was almost completely released (very new experience for me).

So what do you guys think? I don't really want to pick up another project car. RX7 is definitely my fav car of all times but I'd rather be driving one rather than working on one (besides few reliability improving mods)...

Any advice would be highly appreciated.
Also, if I do decide to not get this one, any referrals would be great. Looking for mostly stock one in red color (blue or silver would do as well...) located in NorCal area.

THANKS!

 

What do you want to use it for? Daily driver? Track days? Weekend warier?

How much time are you willing to dedicate to it?

Do you have a few thousand dollars lying around or budgeted for the many projects and repairs that will happen?

How mechanical are you? Can you pick up new skills easily?

Are you buying it because you think it is pretty, or because you are a motor sports enthusiast?

Ask yourself the above questions, then you should read the FAQs and Technical links so that you really understand what you are getting into and are willing to dedicate your time and resources to the "project".

 

You don't mention miles, cosmetic condition, or price so it is impossible to say anything sensible about this car.

Also, subtract $5k for a rebuild.

 

Pass this FD the tranny sounds like it needs a rebuild or at least the synchros replaced and thats not fun. But don't get discouraged because trust me you need to look a good while and do a lot of research before you buy an FD. They are nit picky cars and if you rush buying one and make a bad mistake...you are screwed. It took me 2.5 years to find the perfect FD and trust me I looked at literally hundreds all over the world. But in the end I am glad I waited because it was well worth it.

 

I'm definitely looking at it as a weekend worrior car (possible track days later down the line). Also, I am a mechanical engineer and have been working on cars/motorcycles/robots/etc for as long as I can remember. I love working on cars as long as it doesn't end up becoming a wild goose chase.

Now for the car, it has 70k or so miles, good exterior (few panels are definitely repainted and the bumpers are poorly painted, big dent in one of the bumpers), good interior, price was bit over 18k.

Oh I think it was a 93 or 94...

 

Can anyone offer advice regarding the transmission? I ask because I'm beginning to wonder about the synchros in my 94. It is harder to get in first and second isn't as smooth as I would like. Not sure what to check or have checked out.

 

Price is way too high! What kind of mods does it have?

 

Pretty much bone stock. I haven't really negotiated though.

 

$18k makes no sense. Car would have to be absolutely mint inside and out with far fewer miles for that price.

It sounds like the coolant seals are shot so you should basically be paying the price of an FD with a dead engine, i.e., $8k or so.

cf. https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ht=price+miles

for a sense of what people have paid for their cars.

 

People around here don't seem to like my opinions as far as values for out cars goes.

My personal opinion is buy a well modded, clean, possible single turbo setup with 80K or less for around $15k. Some people are purists and want to do all of the of the modifications themselves, but that gets very expsnisve. I have done that onces and spent way too much money.

I am cheap and I want cheap speed and power and at the same time have a car that I can work on. I would love to buy a new Z06, but a well modded 400 hp RX7 has a little more soul and is in my budget.

I have seen some nice cars on this site that are pretty good bargains. They also come highly recommended by various people on this site.

http://speedforsale.com/

Good luck and do your research!

 

Is it the original engine? Not to scare you, but on average, the '93s (& I guess some '94s) averaged about 60K before the apex seals went on the engine...necessitating a rebuild or new engine.

I actually got 161K outta my '94 though, before it happened. I complained, until I found out what the average was :-).

Can the owner provide maintenance receipts? There were a few Mazda factory recall items on the '94 I KNOW FOR SURE that need to have been done (e.g., fans not coming on after hard driving).

The coolant light could be several things......a defective sensor, a hose leak or a leak near the air separator, whatever. Is there a little high-pitched tone accompanying the coolant light?

Even though you have a very good background, you'd probably do good to find a local mechanic whose done a LOT of work on RX7s....especially 3rd gen; that's what I have (Thank God!)...my mechanic owns his own shop and used to work for Mazda.

As a matter of fact, the reason I met him is because the Mazda dealership referred him to me after they flat out told me they just don't work on the cars enough to be able to fix them anymore (this was about 8 years ago)! Of course, they told me this AFTER charging me $2k to fix something (I don't recal what it was) they didn't really fix that well!

I echo what others have said...make sure you have some "maintenance cash" stashed.....Mechanical Engineers make good money though :-). It's a wonderful car, but like all high performance cars, there's a high maintenance cost as well.

Hope al this helps some.

 

+1. I'd walk away from this one unless you're willing to put in a new engine. That'll cost you $4 - 5,000 on top of whatever you pay for the car. You can do better.

 

my 1st to second is a bit notchy until the box has warmed up, i think its pretty normal for a 15year old car, especially with worn engine mounts.

The thing that sounds worrying is the engine in this cars case, my add coolant light has never come on like that, i would find that worrying.

 

i say check out speedforsale.com as mentioned earlier.. they do have modified and stock cars up for sale for less than the asking price of the one you are looking at.. either way i think you should shop around a little more

 

also there is for sale sections on this forum that might be a more reliable source of pricing or even finding something you like.. good luck!

 

Just walk away from it, white smoke, and everything else you described for 18k is not a good deal at all! To me modifications have nothing to do with price, personally I rather buy a stock car so I know what I am dealing with, and not having to fix someone else's mistakes. You can find something much better for cheaper that could be very reliable if taken care of!

 

+1

My FD used to have the coolant light come on when I first turned it on. She is very picky. About 4oz of liquid to top her off and it never did it again.

That is not relevant though. I wouldn't get the car.

 

We need a "thinking about buying an FD" sticky.


Come to think of it that is all that is needed, the sticky with that title. Just link it directly to the FAQ and 3rd gen useful links page.

 

Please don't spread false information. You seem to be relatively new to this site so I'll just say this now so you won't continue to do it in the future:


There is no "average" at which these motors blow. It all depends on the user and the cars maintenance...plain and simple. Oh, and 93's are not prone to engine damage any moreso than a 94 or even a 95+. I can guarantee you right now that owners of 2002 RX-7's have blown their engines. Why? Not because the car is the same or drastically different from a 93 or any other year, but due to the lack of knowledge and improper maintenance.

 

Coolant seals, not apex seals. The apex seals will last 150k, they only break if the engine detonates.

Dave

 

Excuse me str8ryd, but with all due respect, when does being "new" to a site equate with knowledge or accuracy (or inaccuracy as you suggest) of information? Like the saying goes, it's not the years (or time spent posting on a website in this case), it's the mileage (actual experience).

Be that as it may, the information is not false. And I didn't say "blow"...there's a big difference in "blowing a rotary engine" and apex seal failure in a rotary.

All things being equal (and they nerver are), yes improper maintenance will definitely lead to failure of anything.

But I assure you, if anyone is obsessive when it comes to preventive maintenance I am. So it's not a question of improper maintenance, at least, not as far as my car is concerned.

It's a commomly known fact that the '93 models engines (& I mention 94 only because I happen to have one sitting in my garage like most of you...since November '94 when I bought it) were more prone to apex seal failure at approx. 60K miles for the majority of owners reporting the low compression issue....and eventual difficult starting/rough idling problems. Again, I didn't experience it @60K, but I eventually experienced the "low compression", and I believe it was 161K miles when I actually couldn't drive the car without addressing the situation.

I didn't pull the number out of a hat; I was supplied this info from local Mazda technicians "back in the day" when I supported the Mazda Service Center that is, and eventually confirmed by an independant rotary engine specialist.

We all know how the law of averages works, so if you didn't experience this with your '93 or '94, you have something else to be thankful for.

But I shared the information in ithe interest of assisting someone else that may not have been aware of what I thought was commonly known (if you were around at the time the car came out) info.

 

+1 If you take care of the car, follow up on everything like you should the car can last. There are many factors that can come into account when a motor goes, but I would have to say it could be due to improper care, poor build quality, tune, or modifications without the supporting parts.

 

I'd like to hear more on this for you to validate your point. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know there was no change in the apex seals in the cars after '93. Or are you claiming something else contributed to this apex seal failure? If so, what was it?

 

I'm not aware of any design changes between '93 and '94 and '95 engines. I'd also like to see some evidence for this claim.

 

You could by mine for $18k with extras included.