jreilley

In High School and College I had a 85 RX-7 which was an S model. After College I bought a 92 Vette with the LT1 Engine and 300hp. I still continued to drive the RX-7 because it was a blast to drive and I wanted to keep the miles off of the Vette. I recently bought a 90 ZR-1 Corvette with 375hp and with modifications, I am probably at about 400hp.
The 85 RX-7 is sitting at my dads house and he starts it from time to time. It has 134,000 miles on it and I am sure the clutch is probably due some time soon. Other than that the engine appears pretty strong and the tranny shifts good (stick transmission) A/C is orginal and is still cold as can be. My dad wants to sell it but I reallly want to keep on to it. He also owns a store where a bodyshop guy rents it from him so I figure I could probably get a decent paint job for $800.00.

The only problems with keeping it would be potential problems such as rotary engine and tranny or rearend.
Most people say the rotarys will go 200,000 no problem.
I have maintained the engine well and have done 3,000
mile interval oil changes religiously.

I just feel like it would be a shame to get rid of it for $2-3k dollars especially when it looks good without even painting it.

What are the costs associated with a rebuild and are parts easily found. I have the simple basic 12A in the car. The only mod is it has mindtrain headers and no cats.

thanks for your help I love the RX-7

Manntis

I would love to answer such an articulate plea, but I'll leave this one for someone with more experience with rotary rebuilds.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

It's hard to say how much a rebuild will cost you, because there are a few variables that need to be considered, especially since the engine is still running. The same thing goes for parts ... it's going to depend on what's out of spec or what broke. However, unless you're planning to do some weird porting or race-prepping, or else your motor goes and you have to replace many MAJOR parts, I don't see why a decent rebuild should exceed $2,000 (parts, labor, and maybe shipping) I believe a basic rebuild is usually in the $1,600 to $1,700 range ... but I may stand corrected (I do my own rebuilds, so I can only speak of what I "heard" or see on websites)

On one hand, the smart thing might be to tell you to do a rebuild before it dies, but on the other hand, it doesn't "SOUND" like you abuse the car, so it would be a waste of time and money to go messing with it now. "If it ain't broke .... yaddah, yaddah, yaddah ..."

I have heard of many 12A's passing the 200K miles mark, but they are not in the majority, but again, it sounds like you're caring for the car, so who knows?

Change the oil in the tranny and differential as religiously as you do the oil (meaning in their respective suggested intervals) and you should not have to worry about them, unless you spring a leak. I have heard of VERY, VERY FEW cases where a tranny or rear died before the engine without being abused in some way (racing or just being dumb).

I don't know ... maybe some of the other guys will be able to shed some more light on this.

On a side note though, it would be a shame to just let the car sit there and rot. From your post, it doesn't like you drive it much any more.

peace

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

I forgot to mention one thing ...
The prices that I gave you are for reputable shops that I've heard of ... you could go the route of finding an individual that rebuilds engines (although, be very, very careful if you choose to go this way) and it can cost as little as $900 (if your motor just needs seals, gaskets and lapping of the side housing surfaces).

That's it ... I just remembered that option.

jreilley

Thank you for your help. You are right. The car is not registered anymore but I make sure that it has fresh oil and that my dad runs the engine every few weaks in order to make sure the apex seals don't dry out and rot.

I just think it is fun car and since its already 17 years old and the only car with a rotary - I would like to hang on to it. Also, I feel like now that the car is old some mods would be cheap as opposed to $1,000.00 headers for the ZR1 and $500.00 for a tire.

The inside of the car looks brand new as well. If the motor did blow up or I wanted to change it. What kinda $ would I need to get up in the 200hp range. maybe a GSE-SE 13B with porting? I know they usued to have a special carbeurator too called Delorto or something to that effect.

Thanks for all your help.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

5 Bills for a tire???? Sheeesh! I thought I had it bad ... Yeah ... I used to think my Rx-7 was expensive until I started modding my MR2T ...

Anyway, whenever you decide to trod that road and modify the Rx-7, 200HP is a relatively easy and relatively cheap (compared to adding 100HP to the ZR1) thing to do ...

There are a few options, but in my opinion, a streetport 13B (4-port) is probably the easiest road of all your options. However, just check back when you're ready, and I'm sure all the guys will be willing to share their experiences with mods up to 200HP. They are all pretty cool

jreilley

Thank you for your help. I will try to follow-up with an email to you.

thanks.

PS> the rear zr1 tires are 315's. You can probably get a rear tire for like $350 but mine ran about $500.