Considering buying 1st Gen ITS car(s): advice?
 

I'm considering buying a pair of ITS 1st gens built by a seasoned racer. They're in OK shape, but have been stored outdoors and need some love.

First off I have no idea about this racing class/cars or anything outside of autocross. My first concern about buying the car is I have no idea of the value. I know there is alot of work that goes into these cars.

Both cars are ITS with log books. One runs, the other does not. The one that runs is pretty much ready to go with a little TLC, some new tires, and belts etc. Both have detachable steering wheels, cages, spec suspension and racing seats etc.

The car that doesn't run needs proper wheels and tires, probably a rebuild, and some exhaust work. He said the exhaust was leaking

The guy has corner weighted them, which I hear is a pain.

He mentioned wanting $3500 to $4k for the pair and then said I should make him an offer when he saw my expression. :)

What should I offer and what would I be getting into? Thanks guys.

The 1st Gen is not an ITS car. The 2nd Gen is an ITS car, the 1st Gen is ITA. So, not sure what kind of cars you even got here. Post lots of pics, that would be the best way if you want peoples opinion on value.

Who built these?

Sorry. It's IT something, like I said my experience is limited to autocross.

No pics yet, may go down and look at the cars with my friend and if I do I will take pics. I didn't even mean to check them out earlier I was just there to pick up some FC parts for my father's car. I had been looking for an old school project.

Richard from Mitchum Enterprises built it. His son had an ITS FC, maybe that's what i had it confused with.

Actually the 13B 1st gen is classed in ITS but it not a great ITS car. In any case whether they are ITS or ITA(12A) that is a pretty good deal for two cars. I would offer him like 2000 to 2500 and see if he takes it. That would be a great deal and a good platform to get into road racing. Where are these cars located?

They are definitely 12A, so I guess they are spec ITA cars.

It sounds like these are ITA cars as stated although not very competitive. In many place they have a class for IT7 which is just for 1st gens. These make pretty good starter race cars, lot of knowledge out there, although parts are getting harder to find. Race ready cars seem to sell for $3K - $6K. If you can find someone to go with you who knows the SCCA rules it could be a big help. I am sure there are items that need to be updated if the cars have sat long and if you can list them ( cage side bars, new belts, side net mounting) it helps move the price down.
Corner weighting is no big deal if you have access to scales. You will need to learn to do alignment and corner weighting pretty early in your racing career.
Dick

Thanks. Why do you say they are not very competitive? I thought this was a class with only RX-7's 79-85. Is it possible that I'm way off on what it is and it's a Spec RX-7? I think Richard mentioned that they are spec RX-7's. Or is that the same thing...? I'm kind of confused here.

Y'know... I'll just take some pictures and get you fellas opinions because I'm obviously out of my element here. :)

What I mean is they are not very competitive in ITA against the CRXs and Integras but even so they are a great first car to learn on and ITA usually has good racing throughout the field. You can’t get more bang for the buck.
Now IT7 is another story, that is a class that is run in some areas just for IT prepped first gens. You will have a level playing field in that class. I assume you would run at Summit Point and they like the rest of the North East Division adopted IT7 last year. It is a three year trial but I think it will be here for awhile. IT7 is very strong in most of the Southeast division.
Do not confuse this with Spec 7. That is a class that is/was popular in the DC area for the same cars but with a lot less modifications, more like showroom stock. Most IT cars are way too modified to go back to Spec 7.
Best advice I can give you if you go this route is to go to some local races meet some IT7 guys and volunteer to help them as crew for some races, you will learn so much.
When you are ready to look at the cars let us know and maybe we can come up with some questions to ask the sellers.

Just look them over really good. I would be very leery of a race car that is stored outside. Race cars usually have a fair number of missing weatherstripping gaskets and all the coatings to protect them from the weather have usually been striped off. If the cars have NASCAR door bars, the windows will be gone, possibly replaced with some type of replacement that is most likely not sealed.

They are definitely spec RX-7's. The stock windows are retained, but there are nets inside the cars that I guess just clip in.

I'm going to try and go out there this week with another VA member weather and time permitting. Richard said he started the complete car and ran it up to temp to make sure everything was ok and cleaned it up a bit for us to look at.

I'm fairly excited... but I'm only going to do it if it all checks out and/or the price is right. I'll post a follow up.

Take the one that runs for a test drive on the street. Make sure the brakes work. Make sure the trans does not feel rough or noisy.

As said in an earlier post, if they have not been run in a few years, you will have to get some extra tubes added to the rule cage to bring it up to date.
Count on having to replace all fluids, and new brake pads, and new seat belts and harness.

Make sure the engine will hot start well. Do a compression check.

Read, the rule book for what ever sactioning body you are looking to run. I think that SCCA, has "grandfathered" the roll cages of older year built cars. I know a smaller sanctioning body here in the Northwest has done that.

But, if you have an older cage, and add even one bar, then you have to bring the entire cage up to current specifications. My personal opinion is that you would want to update the cage/safety of the car.

SCCA does kind of have a grandfather clause in that there are rules for cars built in 07 or later and a separate section of the book (appendix G I think) for cars built before that. These dates are based on when the vehicle logbook was issued. Updates can and must be done however, for instance in 07 it was required to have two bars across both door openings, and older cars must be updated regardless of logbook date. SCCA’s General Competition Rules (GCR) can be downloaded free at scca.com.
Dick Patullo

Thanks guys.

After some thought, I think what I'll do is volunteer and tag along at a spec rx-7 event next season. That way I can tell if I really want to get into it.

smart move

Start out participating in a couple of HPDE and then you can really get a feel for the sport. Also volunteer and crew for a fellow Spec RX-7 or IT7 racer. This what actually got me hooked.