Hey guys.

Going to buy an FC tomorrow. Owner rebuilt it two years ago. Only has a couple thousand on the rebuild. Car has 87k and looks to be in awesome shape.

He sent me videos this evening of a compression test he performed with an at-home tester (which I've found to be decently accurate in most cases) and both rotors read just over 100.

I've heard 100-115 is healthy. I'm not concerned by these numbers. A close friend of mine with a 13b rotary truck and rx8 seems to think these numbers are pretty solid as well. That same friend also states a hot start on a rotary tells quite a bit about compression and motor health.

What else should I look for when looking the car over tomorrow? The owner seems awesome, and very much on the up-and-up. He's a forum user here as a matter of fact. I mean really, very nice guy to go through the trouble of a compression test just for a finicky buyer like me.

-Gabe

 

100 is a good number generally. A solid idle is a good thing especially on a cold start so it's good to be able to check out the car before it's been started and warmed up ahead of inspection. Also, you want to make sure the temp gauge stays below 1/3 after the car has been driven. After driving the car you would also want to see how it starts when warm. And you want to see how the car acts under load such as w/the headlights, A/C on for example. And then you want to see a smooth transition between the primary and secondary injectors which occurs close to 3800 rpm and under load when you stomp the throttle.

Also, check the various switches in the interior such as turn signals, lights, wipers and logicon (climate control unit).

 

Thanks for all of the great information. It's highly appreciated!

-gabe

 

Actually if they do not want to compression test the engine then they could in fact be hiding something,so by doing a comp check the guy is being straight with you.

Now just be forewarned that this Technical section is not to be used to find "should I buy this Car" answers,as it is a personal choice..your money.,your burden.
The Forum offers SO much info that it can be looked up easily and honestly anyone on here would tell you to buy the damn thing as they are Biased as hell and wouldn't care if the car is crap as it is not their money to burn!

*(but if he's a member..it should tell you that he cares about his car..lol!)