Hi there, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Ken and I live in Tampa, Florida with my girlfriend. I am 19 years old and I bought a S5 FC about a week ago for $750, I was shocked at the price and snatched it up. It runs, but has a coolant leak, after bringing it home I took it out around the block at about 2am (no tags so I didn't want to take it far), and then the battery died. I have put in radiator stop leak so that I can drive it to work hopefully, but I'm going to take baby steps and not go too far and keep a close look on the gauges before I take it all the way there. All in all though, for the price, and of course, the performance, I really can't complain. I was amazed at it's handling, and the sound is still stuck in my head even though I only took it into second gear.

I started with the hand me down car that my father gave to me, an '04 Chevy Aveo. While I appreciated of course the degree of independence that it gave me, after riding in my friends 5 speed Miata, I was hooked on getting a manual transmission car. We also drifted that car, not many people drift Miatas, but with the taste of it that I got, I knew as far as motorsports that's where I wanted to be one day, I sold my car and bought an absolutely JUNK Miata. I didn't have a job at the time, and it sat until I sold it.

Now, having a job, I was able to save up for the rx-7, I had originally planned to get a Nissan 240sx, but I'm glad I went with the mazda. It came with the original owners manual and with no working battery I've just sat for many hours in the car and I can see that I'm going to absolutely love it once it is registered and has a tag on it. Anyway, I'm slightly tipsy so I'm kind of just rambling, I just wanted to introduce myself, I plan to be active on the forums as much as possible, I have included pictures of the car.

PS - Because of the heat, and due to the age of the weather strips, my doors and trunk lid often stick. Am I wrong in thinking that I could spray Pam or a similar substance and have them not stick? I was thinking of doing it but I wasn't sure if it would damage it so I didn't. Also, where can I buy the radio trim for relatively cheap? I wasn't able to find any on Ebay

 

Welcome, Ken!


Kent

 

lol@being tipsy!!


good decision on car btw... was kinda in the same boat

 

Congrats on the FC! Do you know anyone with a lift so you can do a real through inspection? I just got a '91 FC vert and first thing I did was pull it into the shop I work at and do all new plugs, wires, oil and fuel filter. Then diag'd a few problems and figured a good order to takle them.

 

Unfortunately no lift, I also spent every last dime I had in my bank to buy the car so I'm waiting on my check to do any work on it. I flushed the radiator and had a chance to crawl under the car though, and it still has the original bottom mount dust guards (?) so I didn't see much of what was going on but from what the owner said he recently put in a freshly rebuilt transmission, which from what I could tell was true because the bell housing still had the dealerships part number on it. Also new fuel filters, master & slave cylinder, new rotors. Came with a new thermostat which I'll install just for kicks, won't help me much with a blown coolant seal lol. Everything looked in relatively good condition but truth be told I'm no mechanic. Since I have no engine crane I'll be splitting my paychecks between saving for the rebuild and restoring the interior.

 

Not sure why the pictures didn't upload the first time, sorry for the double post if it doesn't merge.

 

Hi Ken! Welcome! There is an active group of Rotary Owners in Tampa. Join us on Facebook: Tampa Bay Rotary Owners Club and come hang out in the SE Section of RX7 Club!

 

I sent a request, thank you for the invite! Hopefully I'll have my car up and running soon so I can come to the meets if you have them

 

nice fc man pretty cleann for only $750 too!

 

im in toronto bitch

 

Heck of a deal, hope you enjoy the car and take it slow so you can enjoy it.

 

welcome rx-7 buddy

 

Welcome! Nice purchase!

 

welcome to the club. You're lucky to have on of the best fabricators there in Tampa: Roque fab and dyno. Wish I had someone that could fab stuff for my cars around where I live. Again, welcome!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome! Nice pick up on the FC, RX7 > 240 haha

where is your coolant leak coming from?

 

I'm actually not entirely sure, at first I thought that the leak was coming from the engine itself because coolant was coming out the exhaust/engine bay. But upon closer inspection of the previous owners shoddy workmanship I'm not entirely sure. When I squeeze intercooler hose which connects to the front of the engine there are obvious sounds of a leak. If I'm not mistaken it is the thermostat housing, the previous owner told me that he did the fix himself, the top bolt closest to the back had its head twisted off and when I crank the engine air is sucked through. I'll submit this post as a new thread in the technical section when I get home, but for those of you who are subscribed to this thread and interested in helping, heres a pic of what I'm talking about if I mislabeled a part. Its the one covered in silicon putty.

http://postimage.org/image/usx9h9c5d/

Sorry if image hosting is not allowed from there I'm on my phone and wanted to see what other members had to say.

 

Good looking fc

 

we should all get together for a cruise. Im in Sarasota with my girlfriend we just moved