Finally drove a seven to work
 

When I was about 19 I was car shopping and found a mint '85 SE. The year was 1990 and the car was immaculate. It had around 45k miles, but it looked more like a couple hundred. The car was going for $6k or so, but my insurance estimate was through the roof. I didn't get that car, but I fell in love with seven's and the rotary engine. Twelve or so years later, I got my first 7 for $300 - an '85 GS as a project car. It ran but the O-rings leaked and it tended to overheat. I swapped an engine in from a parts car, but the front rotor has little or no compression, so it runs- but poorly. I recently began a rebuild on the original engine (and yep the O-rings were bad), but beginning to doubt the usabiliy of the 12A parts (and my ability to get a drivable FB out it).

Five years after getting my GS and still never even really driving it, legally on the road, I found this GSL-SE on craiglist and it seemed like a steal. I called the guy, went down and drove it friday, went back and bought it saturday for $1600. The car runs great. It has 114k miles on it, 5 speed, decent paint and decent interior. There are a few problems with it -both cosmetically and mechanically.

1) I think it needs a new starter. It grinds before it catches, then starts.
2) There's an issue with the idle at warm up. First of all it doesn't do the typical rotary warmup where it runs at 3000 rpm for 20-30 seconds. It tends to stall easily when cold. It surges when 'trolling' in first or second gear (even after warmup) and it idles high -about 11-1200 rpm -after warmup. I've already found an article in the archives called "Solving GSL-SE Idle Problems" and I've added some fuel injector cleaner to a recent fill-up (91 octane).
3) The air filter looked pretty bad, but nobody had one, so I'll have to order it. I blew it out with the compressor real good till it comes.
4) It had AutoLite spark plugs in it! I changed to 9BREQ.
5) The dash lights don't work. Checked fuses - not it. I really don't want to pull the dash. Hoping it is an easily replacable bulb.

Today, I drove it, legally, to work and it was fun. Can't wait for the ride home. I think I'll remove the moon roof. Now I just need to find someone who wants a 12A project car cheap.

Some pics
 

Here's some as bought pics.

I'm only hours away from getting an '84 GSL-LE for a $1000 and its got 150k on it..

9BREQ? Those recommended?

nice car i really like it. not a bigs fan of the first gens but u guess everyone has the opinions, nice car have fun on the way home

Don't quote me on that spark plug number. I was going off memory. It's the NGK 'cold' plug in the owner's manual.