I found an nice little car for sale the other day and I'm gonna go pick it up Monday, just wanted to get your opinions on my find.

The owner is probably late 40s, hes owned the car for the last 10 years, has the service records, and never drove the car in the winter. The vehicle has 90,000 miles and the inteior isnt to shabby. The color of the car is pretty faded but thats no biggie to me at this point.

The owner told me there is a problem starting, but he couldnt remember what it was. I talked to the auto shop that the owner had taken his car to, and they said that the ignition module was out or going bad. Which would cost around $400 to get the new piece. My girlfriends father is a mechanic, and his response to this was, "If the ignition module was bad, then the car wouldnt start at all." He is assuming that one of the coils is bad. He is going with me to take the car for a drive on Sunday. The owner of the car said he would sell it for 600 even today, so I told him not to sell it and that I will pay for it Sunday or Monday.


Here are more pictures of car.

This is the main rust on the car.


I have more but they arent working at the moment.

 

It's obvious that the mechanic is not familar with the ignition system. Their are leading and trailing ignitors/coils. The biggest thing you are looking for are compression. But being that it is a turbo series, i would gladly give the $600.00
running or not. The paint will buff out very nicely with some work. Thats; the beauty of red paint. Even if a coil/ignitor has failed you can pick them up fairly cheap on the forum. I'd say buy the thing or i will. Rx7doctor

 

Yea totally, for 600$ its a good deal running or not. Its probably flooding upon startup, either poor compression or bad injectors, or hell, both. Read the FAQ, seriously there is a good article on there about buying a seven. Whether it passes or fails the tests its still worth the 600$ but if you have time, tell us how that goes before you buy so we can tell you how much your going to have to pay to get it fixed.

 

Yeah, he said we could take it to the shop and hook it up to the computer, to figure out whats going on. This will be my second car, just a project type car. So running or not, I guess its worth the 600.

 

What are things I need to know about owning my first rx-7?

 

since I'm in the process of giving my car a tune up, I'm assuming that some or most of the things I'll say will apply to yours. A basic tune up:
Replace the spark plugs
Fuel filter
Plug wires
Battery cable
Air Filter
Replace the tranny fluid, oil, that's all I can think of.
Change the oil every...2000 miles. Since it's a turbo, I'm assuming you have to worry about the oil more, than you do with a N/A, correct?
Make sure the turbo is in good condition, as well.
As for the starting up problem, The TPS needs to be adjusted. There could also be a possible leak in the air intake system, or it could be a weak fuel pump. Which is what I most likely have since I recently came to find out that when I was in drive and idled, my idle would drop to the point of shutting off, in which I have to pumping my foot on the gas a bit to keep it from not dying. Only time will tell as soon as I'm able to transfer money into my acocunt.
I'm in the process of ordering the K&N drop in filter online for $64.99. Plus, for the time being, I'm getting new(don't ask how I got them)Michelin tires, which will lower it some...from what i heard.
I'm still in the learning process of getting to know my car, so my information may not be accurate.

Edit: Also, some time down the line, if you plan on working on the car by yourself, invest in The Haynes Manual.

 

Or download a copy of the FSM here on the forum- the Haynes is good for basic stuff, but the FSM is priceless for vac diagrams, wiring, and other detailed stuff the Haynes (or Chilton) manual leaves out.

 

I'm in the "$600!!!! Running or not, buy it!" crowd......

 

haha , im ine the $1000 not running crowd and mine isnt even turbo ! but mine has problems starting due to no ignition just like his but mine is the wiring harness (fried)... make sure thats not the problem with yours cuz that would really suck, i was pretty mad when i found out but oh well

ive had it since about september last year, and hoping to get it running within the next month or so, waiting on my rebuilt engine from rotary resurrection

 

So...how did you get them?

I'd also pick it up for that. Heck of a good deal. You could make more than that just by parting it out!

 

dang... wish I was in Iowa...