StevenL5975

Hi, my name is Steven and i am from Luxembourg. I recently bought a white 1986 RX7 NA.
I am already registered a few weeks here and readed trough the forum.
Very interessting stuff here
I decided that it would be time to introduce myself.
My english is not the best but I will give it a try.


At first a bit about myself.
Well I am 20 years now, and since I was 16 or so I m interested in cars.
Cars in general, engines, mechanics, suspension etc ... Almost everything
related to cars drew my attention.
Well I think the most interesting thing is the suspension stuff. I learned pretty much
about suspension systems and how they work, how to set up a car etc...
Actually I am doing a apprenticeship for IT. Sitting pretty much
all the day long in front of a computer screen ... I am always happy when I can relax
working on my car (bought a '81 Delorean 3 years back). I am doing a complete rebuild on that car.
Currently it is completly disassembled in our home garage, and getting step by step a nice car again.
I dont like the modern cars which are being sold these days, at least the ones in our area over here.

The RX7 was already an interesting car in my opinion (FD as well as FC). I always liked it, so thats
why it is nr.2 on my top 10 list, right behind the delorean.


How did I come to my RX7 ?
Pretty simple. I was driving my dads '95 Nissan Maxima as a daily driver. Never minded about getting my own DD.
In my opinion and what I know about suspension so far, I think the previous owner (wannabe tuner) did mess up the suspension.
Few months ago I crashed it on a highway interconnection (doing 44mph) in a right curve. It had rained recently.
I was not speeding (and I never drink alcohol) it just simply spun out, heavy oversteering. It felt as if chuck norris did
roundhouse kick the rear out. Did a 360 degree spin and hit the guards with the front at almost 90 degree,
While remaining at the same lane. No injuries, medium damage to the car. The driver behind me slided too and he said that there was
some kind of oil or diesel on the left side of the lane. Well I drove that fatty nissan home and was very upset. (very very ...)
Car is fixed now and I dont like driving it because its kind of unpredictable, even before the accident it was so.
I dont know why but after that I wanted my own daily driver. Searched the same day at the local markets and found a nice 240sx.
The only one for sale at that time in the entire country. But before I could visit that thing it was already sold ...

Well I let it be for a while. Until one day when I decided to lookup the net again. Found nothing which matched my criterias for
a "car". Just out of fun I searched for an "RX7". And then wow, there were 2 for sale at that time in the entire country.
Hehe I could not believe it, did not expect to find 1 let alone 2 !!! Awesome !
First was a horrible expensive FB about 4600 $ when I remember correctly.
Second was a white 1986 FC for about 2600 $ with 133000 km and original NA engine.
Called immediatly and visited it the same day. (I remembered that waiting too long is not a good idea when buying such cars)
The owner know a little about rotarys but nothing specific. Before I visited I did some research for specific buying advice.
Found a lot of stuff (also on this forum) and left well prepared for buying an RX7


The car:
Car is in a good general shape, paint is a bit dull (IMHO never saw a wash or polish).
Exterior is fine, no dents but imho it was repainted a while back, still white but a few slightly different color shapes.
Got those ultra gay looking big round blinkers on the sidefenders, no square blinkers on the front or side trim.
Sunroof is working very well, windows too. There is a decent black rubber rear "wing" mounted with "mazda" engraved on it.
Tyres are new, Hankook Icebear allweather on stock rims. Dark tinted rear window. Stock double exhaust. Sticky antenna.
Interior in good shape but the PO was a chainsmoker ...
Sloppy shifter, no play in steering, but worn out DTSS system. Suspension, uhhm well ... no comment on this one ...
Front rear brake caliper was sticky.
New alt, new battery, no clima but heater works. No bubbles in the coolant bottle, engine sounds like a lawnmower,
it shakes a little bit when in idle. It has all vented brake rotors and the 4 piston calipers.
Also wrong spark plugs mounted, NGKs but wrong model imho, BUR"7/9"EQP are not avaible here. (as I found later out)
Car is running so rich that I get tears in my eyes from driving with open windows.
After discussion I got the car for 1800 € (2400 $) instead of 2600 $. He needed space for a new motorcycle.

Wohooo i mentioned spark plugs ... Well a funny story here:
I went to the local parts dealer to order a set of 2 BUR7EQP and 2 BUR9EQP, wrote the ngk numbers on paper and gave it to the guy.
Also wanted to ask for caliper rebuild kit or even new caliper.


Conversation went like this:


-ME: "Hi, I need Sparkplugs, 2 from each model."

<Reaching the paper>

-HIM: "Ok let me see .."

<Me waiting and looking at those Ferodos ...>

-HIM: "What car is it for ?"

-ME: "It's a 86 Mazda RX7 with rotary engine."

-HIM: "Well I found them, but we have to order them."

-ME: "Oh, well no problem. What does it cost ?"

-HIM: "They are about 431 €"

(NOTE: 431 € is about 565 USD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

-ME: "Holy shid !! Wait! You are telling me that 4 plugs cost 430 € ???"

-HIM: "Yes"

-ME: "Whooa, I can get them shipped from the USA for about 8 $ each w/o shipping fees !"

-HIM: "Well thats the price."

-ME: "Damn, thats to much, I dont take them."

<Getting my paper back and leaving the shop stepping backwards>

Needless to say I completly forgot to ask for the caliper stuff ...
Shock of the month ... over 400 € for a set of stock NGKs, thats heavy stuff.
Never went back there ...


Car is now at a trusted shop, waiting to get new fuel and brake lines. I got new slotted brake rotors from corksport.
Atkinsrotary delivered me a nice rebuild kit for the calipers, shifter bushings,
and the right plugs for 34 $ (what a bargain) hehe...
The frame under the drivers side needs welding, there is a rusty spot. And actually it wont pass technical inspection.

Oh yes, technical inspection and tuning-culture over here ... A complete story for itself, feel free to ask if you are interested...

Back to topic, car will also get new oil (castrol edge 10W60) new coolant and new filters and other random stuff which need to be replaced
and get inspection done.


Car is still at the shop, I may get it in 2 weeks or so, then I will post pictures.
Of course feel free to ask if you have any questions.


Oh, if anyone needs advice or has any tech questions about deloreans I will be glad to help out,
you guys helped me a lot with RX7 stuff.



Best Regards
Steven


ps. I hope it took not too long to read and my english is understandable & contains not too much spelling mistakes.

funkjaw

iTrader: (3)

Welcome to the club Steven

Let me just say, your English is better than most people's here on the forum WHO SPEAK ENGLISH AS THEIR PRIMARY LANGUAGE!!! So don't worry about it I had no problem reading your post.

Sounds like you got yourself a nice little car with relatively low miles. Great Job!

Hope everything comes together and when you get a chance you should post some pics of the car!

So do you guys have smog laws over there?

CorkSport

iTrader: (1)

Nice to see you post up here.

You english is fine. 431 euro for some spark plugs is crazy. You could order several hundred spark plugs for that price.

-Derrick

StevenL5975

Thanks


Nice forum here.

Well we got emission laws over here, but they are not too strict.
Kind of making sure that everyone is running a CAT etc ...
Emissions get checked at regulary technical inspection, never had any problem.

Most people here are owning new cars, because of the famous "Eco-Prime".
You got over 2000 € from the gov when you wrecked your 10 + yr old car and buy a new one with lower emissions.
The more emission friendly the more cash you get. Similiar to germany

Happily the PO did not wreck the 7 and sold it indeed
Of course no one will buy a car like this over here ...
Thats why it was so damn cheap (usually luxembourg is a very expensive country)
My repair costs are actually 2 times the initial buying price ...

Back to my car.
I did no compression check, because I had no tester. Now I got one and I will check when I get my 7 back.
I dont know in which condition the engine is, it may be possible that is just running on 1 rotor and I havent remarked yet ...
In terms of care, the PO did not a good job, entire car is dirty and exterior did not
recieve any polish or wash at all.
He even told me the rims (stock) need to be repainted ... Well I sprayed a good layer of
wheel cleaner and now they look like new ... hehe there goes the paintjob ...

I did a extensive polish job and now it looks way better.
I will order some redline fuel cleaner, and using premix as soon as I can get the right oil.
Hope the engine will last at least 1 year before I can do a rebuild. Dont have actually enough money for such a task.
I am not saying rotarys are not reliable, they are when correctly maintaned.
BUT I dont know what condition the internals are... Looking at the rest of the car I would not bet that maintenance shedules have been respected ...

I noticed that the EU version is quiet different from the US version you got over there.
Particualry the front bumper. US version has those front blinkers and wider air inlets
(Where the fog lights are supposed to be)
Are the US and EU bumbers exchangable ? (just wondering)
They look so damn good

Regards
Steven

StevenL5975

Well

today I got the news from my shop that my rx7 failed inspection last friday.
Rear brakes are not working even. They promised to look after it today.

Oh, the PO gave me also a tube (I believe its aluminium) about 1,8 m long which was attached underside the car, maybe the split air pipe? It is about 1,5" thick.
That thing is not attached to the car anymore and I think it IS emission related.
FSM isnt very clear about that thing.

Funnyest thing is that emissions were fine ... Maybe they hooked the sensor in
the wrong hole ?? I dont know and I dont care, passed emissions means passed emissions

I think my car is close to about 2 months at the shop...
US order took about 1,5 weeks.
All they had to do is the following:

-New slotted brake rotors (I ordered them from the US)
-Front caliper rebuild (Ordered the parts from the US)
-New pads
-New fuel lines
-New brake lines
-Oil change
-Coolant change
-New oil & fuel filter
-Frame welding underside (2 small spots)

Well now I am waiting, almost 2 months, for my car to be finished.
Got the right plugs and the shifter bushings. I will install them myself, I dont
want to confuse them with 2 types of plugs

Regards
Steven

Jhereg

iTrader: (27)

Congrats and welcome. Sounds like you should start your own RX7 supply shop there and make some side money. $500 markup on plugs is one helluva profit margin.

StevenL5975

Thanks,


hehe I only saw 2 FDs over here. RX7 are very rare here. You can see a porsche on every corner over here ...

-A clean black FD which is RHD, a friend says that its an efini, but I cannot confirm this.
I see that car once in a while, it is driven by a girl.
-Red FD which looks very abused. The license plate matches with the 13B ccm number
That makes me think that the owner knows sth about his or her car.
Maybe I will leave a message under the wiper.

Today I got the bad news, rear calipers are shot.
Dammed, now I have to wait again 2 weeks for parts comming from the US.
Now I really know why that car was so daaaamn cheap !
No mechanic over here can get parts for that thing.

The PO did never change the brake fluid, just putting everytime new pads on and go on.
Then the brakes were on the way out and he was unable to get new parts and just sold that thing.

Neighbours are wondering if I sold my RX7 because it hasn showed up since 2,5 months.


Regards
Steven