Alright after careful thought and a look at expenses I've decided I'm going to purchase the 85' GSL SE that I posted about before. I just figured I'd make a post saying that I'm going to join the 7 family soon. All I have to do now is gather up the 4 grand to pay for it. I plan on selling some extra guitar/amp equipment and also (with great difficulty) decided to quit paintball and sell my sell my paintball equipment. I'm an electrician and with this hard economy my company decided to lay me and 11 others off. So what makes this hard is I'm trying to gather at least 2 grand for a down payment before someone else comes and snatches it up. I'm wondering if there are other ideas in which I may get money for this car, I've tried a loan from the bank and they refused it, so I'm stuck saving. I'm currently for another contractor to work for but until then its looking pretty skinny. I'm living off of unemployment.

 

Sell crack, sex, and any other less-than-honorable service/goods that the world thrives on nowadays. Should get you bank in no time.

 

I can't help you with the money part, but I read through your other post. It would be great if we could see pictures of the car.
Have you driven the car? Did it smoke at start up, white smoke, blue smoke, no smoke? Did it idle at between 800-1000 rpm? Did it run smoothly to redline with no drama? Did it shift into all gears with no crunching of synchronous?

Other things to look for: engine oil leaks ( they all seem to leak here). Oil cooler, transmission, and rear end fluids leaking. The oil coolers can leak due to the fitting cracking. Usually caused by a mechanic over tightening the fittings.

Good luck with getting the money to buy it. Any problems you find will be good negotiating points to get the price down. It hard for us to say if $4k is fair without seeing and driving the car. FYI I paid $1500 for an SE but it was a little rough. I think they have gone up in price as of late.

Good thread here for general info and how to: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/1st-gen-rx-7-faq-page-237777/

 

Please don't act on my previous post. Lol.

 

I'm going to go take pictures of it today. The dealership is closed which is better for me to go take pictures unhassled. I'll take a picture of where the front bumper doesn't quite match up and one of the Vin for me to do a vehix report on it. I'm hoping its open so I can pop the hood for and take a picture or two under there. The interior is 100% except for the seats having the usual wear. I have driven it and everything I'll give a full report when I get back from errands with my brother and g/f

 

Alright since I have a bit more time to make a post here I'll give you what I have found with the car so far (the dearship was open and I'm pretty sure the guy is sick of seeing me without money to atleast put down so no pictures as of yet)

Exterior:: When first approaching the car it looks to be in tip top shape, but upon closer inspection you notice that the right corner of the front bumper doesn't match up with the rest of body, looks like someone may have tapped the left side. When I peered into the engine bay I didn't see any damage at all to that side of the front or to the left side of the front. After asking the guy he told me he bought the car like that and that it was his personal vehicle, he told me that he repainted it, (and he did a damn fine job too) but there is a lot of over spray on the undercarriage and under the front bumper the horn and some wires are all painted and there some spray on the radiator. It is a Targa topped 7 and in the middle of the band on the roof the metal is bubbled up some, it looks like some liquid nails would hold that back down, and on the bottom parts where it reads Targa7 its fading a little bit. I peeked under the car and in the wheel wells I did not see one spot of rust the body was in pretty darn good shape and my buddy knows how to do body work so he could help me with that bumper.

Interior:: Not much to say here, it was beautiful the dashboard wasn't cracked or warped or faded at all. He had Honda Accord floor mats but who cares mates are a dime a dozen anymore. It had the original stereo system in it and with my girlfriend messing around with it we found that it sounds better then the system in my Focus. We did find however that the driver and passenger windows did not roll down the whole way they went maybe about an inch and then went amazingly slow. (leading me to think there is something wrong with the motors) The weather stripping on the doors needs to replaced as it it is cracking. But other than that the interior is in great great shape.

Driving:: I know he had this car sitting there for awhile because when I first put it in gear and got it going I could hear it break free of the brakes. When we first got there the battery was dead he said it had something to do with the cold air and that someone left the door cracked open. So we came back a little later and he said they replaced the plugs and charged up the battery and had it started. When I showed back up he didn't have the car running he handed me the keys and took my license in I started the car and there was no smoke. The engine didn't struggle at all and it fired right up I popped the hood and noticed that the engine was little dirty with some rust on some of the engine components. I put it into first and it took right off (I learned in a super charged Miata so under powered cars are a little tough for me get going). I pulled off and it bucked some (a error made by me with letting the clutch out to fast) it drove off fine without any problems. I put into second and it bucked some more with me letting off the clutch too quickly again. Third and fourth went smoothly as did fifth gear. The car ran great and it drove surprisingly smoothly. The only problem I had was getting it into first I'm used to first being immediately up on the far left. This car was a tiny bit in from being far left to first. When I brought it back I turned the car off and then started it right back up. Again it started beautifully without any problems or smoke.

Engine Bay:: I don't know how exactly to place this part but from the fan housing to right before the engine there was a silver colored plate that covered the bottom of the engine bay. There was some oil on there but it was fresh oil it had dirt and stuff on it just a small coating. I was puzzled because there isn't any components that handle oil over top of that plate. I rubbed my finger on it and smelled it and it was in fact oil, the owner that was standing over top of me said it doesn't leak and that he would let me put it on their rack to have a look at the underside just to show that it doesn't leak. He told me that he just washed the engine but why the heck would you do that in the middle of winter? It was definitely oil.

Sorry for the lengthy post but I do already know that this car isn't worth 4K my plan is to get 500 for a down payment save up about 3k and go in with cash and tell him that this is all I have and talk him into taking that.

 

be carefulll man

 

A potential welcome to the wonderful world of rotarys. In my sig line you will find links to the online FSMs and other reading material. Download and read everthing you can. Since I'm guessing Harrissburg is in PA, and the rust belt, be aware that rust is a major issue with 1st gens. If he will let you put it up on the lift, inspect everything. Since the windage tray, where you found the oil, is still shiny on the galvanized coating, rust may not be an issue if it was garage kept and perhaps kept away from salted streets. Take as many pics as you can and post them. For rust, the inner wheel wells are the major issue, along with where the front ends of the lower control arm brackets attach, then the rockers. Post mileage. A well cared for SE can last for 250k.



What else to look for:

Fuel smell in engine bay, i.e., the forward end of the injectors fuel rail. All FI engines have a pulsation dampner that have a high failure rate. This leads to engine bay fires. A new PD is over 125, or an 8 buck banjo bolt can be substituted instead.

The oil leak. From your description, it's coming from the Metering Oil Pump or the lines that feed oil to the combustion chamber. Repair is fairly simple, but critical for engine longevity.

Next time you look at it, make sure you're the one who starts it when it's cold. Rotarys tend to smoke a little on start up, but that soon goes away. How much it smokes and for how long is an indication of eninge internals/wear.

Smell the exhaust, after it's warm. It will be rich, but check for excessive oil smell or any coolant smell at all.

With engine off, check for freeplay in the steering wheel. If it's more than 1", something in the steering needs addressed.

Take the radiator cap off and look at the radiator core, check for build up.

Remove the oil fill cap, check the inside of the fill tube for 'lung mustard', a mixture of oil and water. While fairly common in small amounts, too much indicates a fault in the PCV system/charcoal canister.

Check the entire exhaust system. If you have to pass emissions, this can be a very expensive repair. Replacing the 2 precats and main cat can run over 1k. If you're not subject to emissions, Raqcing Beat makes the best full aftermarket exhaust system. This is the 1st mod to increase hp and produces the greatest gain of any other mod incliding an engine rebuild with porting mild.

Under the hood, with the engine running, free rev it past 4k and make sure auxilliary ports are opening. Check the 85 FSM for location and how they operate. The plunger on the actuators will pull in. If they aren't functional, it may be as simple as a bad feed line from the exhaust to the actuators, or the engine is so carboned up the aux port sleeves no longer open. If the later is the case, the entire intake may need to be removed to repair. If the plungers aren't retracting, try pushing them down manually.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.



Be sure to read the FAQs in my link. It's a weath of basic/newbie info.

Overspray is common on repaints, not an issue. Important part is the quality of the prep work and final paint/finish. Ask who painted it and get details of how much work they really put into the paint job. A decent paint job is often worth more than 4k. That alone may justify the asking price.

Normaly I would say negotiate a lower price, but since it's an SE, has been repainted and on a dealer's lot, you may not have much luck. Give it a shot any way. Often dealers will drop the price if you pester them enough, unless they think you 'must have' the car. Explain your employment situation. Tell him you're doing your part to help the economy get back on track. Dealers need to sell cars, the longer one sits, the more it costs them. Downside is it's his personal car.

Final note. I rarely post this much info for a newb, but you posted well and intelligently. A good quality that deserves a good reply. Imho, the 1st gen forum is the best one of the 3 RX7 gens, that's why I spend most of my time there, along with having a rather interesting 1st, link is the last line of my sig. They tend to be more helpful and civil than the other gens and a pretty tight community.

Good luck and be sure to post pics. Those will elicit the most replys and post this in the 1st gen forum or add a link to this thread.
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