Alright I THINK I can maintaine an RX7 but what are some good things to check regualrly and what should I check on (daily, weekly, monthly, #miles, ect.)? I want this car but I realy need to know what to look for before I buy it. thanks

PS I heard about an RX7 with a 944 engine in it? or were they jus bulshitting?

 

Mostly the normal things that older cars need, nothing unusual, every type/make/model car has its own "gremlins"...

A 944 engine would be a downgrade, I know a guy with one, and he's always telling me he wished he would have gotten an rx-7...You think our parts are expensive?

 

a 944 swap would just be stupid. I'm not going to get into swaps in this thread, as Icemark and some of the other guys will get all pissy...

If you wanna know about swaps, check out the V8RX7 boards on www.torquecentral.com. You wanna keep it off these boards, they don't like us.

Maintenance wise, they're really not worse then a piston engine. They're just a little more touchy if you DON'T maintain them properly. Change the oil every 3K miles, use Castrol dino oils, run 87 octane, change the plugs every 10-15K, flush the radiator every 50K or 1.5 years or so... stuff you should do on any car really (except maybe the plugs). Running premix is a nice thing to do as well (I ran marvel mystery oil every 2nd fill up).

The thing that can kill ya is if the previous owner didn't take care of it properly. I was meticulous with my car, and the rotary conked out at 98K miles... not the fault of the engine, but rather someone before me didn't take care of it (or so I assume).

Also, don't let people scare you with "everything is expensive" crap. I've redone every inch of my car, from paint to suspension/tires, and I have maybe 3000 in it including the price of the car (excluding my V8 swap). Shop smart, and take care of it, and a 7 is a nice car.

FWIW, I'd recommend against it as a first car, just because it's a little oversteer happy for a novice driver who isn't careful.

 

What I meant was how is the maintanince of the rotary engine. How hard/extensive/time consuming is it? and when should i regularly check it?

 

What I meant was how is the maintanince of the rotary engine. How hard/extensive/time consuming is it? and when should i regularly check on it?

 

Digitalsolo already answered that for you- keep the oil changed, keep it from overheating, basic common sense stuff, same as with the piston poppers...

Most people that claim rotaries are unreliable do so out of ignorance of the engine design itself...

 

Or jelousy

 

I need to know more than that because people always tell me they are more sensitive than piston engines and that they need more care and more attention than pistions do...

 

?

 

any help? even a link?

 

honestly, youre gonna have to just go through all the BS to see how hard it is, if you aint down with taking care of a rotary then sell it

 

I think the "High maintanence" thing is really just a myth.....

i mean, sure we have to oil change a little early and put 1 qt motor oil in engine once every 1000 miles....
and sure we "can't" (don't mind changing oils) use synthetics.... and our engines get flooded easier ^_^

ok, but u know what? I think the best part of the RX-7 IS in fact the engine....
its not that hard to maintain at all.... but of course u have to spend time with it and treat it with love and care..... but thats what all sports cars need....

and it gives u plenty of laughs.... like when u go up to people and they say... "oh rotary huh? so is it Single or Dual overhead cams?" or when they ask "how many pistons it got?" its a GREAT laugh (even if it is silent)

other problems of the car, i think they are just stuff that EVERY 15 year old car will have... alternator, starter, ground wire.... just to name a few

but i think the best part for the FC is definitely the handling...maybe not ALOT of power or torque.... but just the handing of the car is worth all the money in the world

 

It isn't too bad Just make sure you take care of that motor, everything else is much more forgiving. My aunt who owned Baby before me, made sure that car was meticulously maintained. In return that car gave her 15 years and 214,000 miles of dependible service. In fact the only reason I have her now is because the motor smoked and my aunt didn't want to see her in a junkyard.

So keep up with those 3000 mile oil changes because unlike piston engines which can safely go 5-6,000 miles before an oil change rotarys NEED to have that dino juce changed early and often. Change those plugs out every 10-15 as was said before, and dont mess with too much stuff on the engine itself.

 

I wouldn't say rotary engines are high maintenance. I would say they are a lot less tolerant of low maintenance than piston engines. You can abuse a piston engine horridly and still see 150-200k miles. It may not run well, but it will still run. Treat a rotary the same (don't change the oil, don't check fluids, etc) and it will die early.

You just sort of get into the habit of checking stuff. It usually takes me 10+ minutes to get gas. Pour the 2-cycle oil in, clean the windows, check the oil, check the brake fluid, fill up, check tire pressure, etc. It doesn't hurt that my previous car was (is?) such a beater that I checked everything quite often just to make sure it wasn't pissing fluids out (which it did, on a regular basis).

Also, for a rotary engine, being driven gently all the time is a form of abuse. If you don't wind it up on a fairly regular basis ("A redline a day keeps the rebuild away"), they carbon up, and the 6th ports (on a NA) seize up, and all sorts of ugly things happen.

Another issue with the rotaries is overheating. Most piston engines will take a bit of overheating without too much problem. Rotaries won't. You'll lose a coolant seal, and be rebuilding it. So make sure the cooling system is in good shape.

Remember, the RX-7s are 15 year old sports cars. They're not the same as a Cavalier or such of the same era. Sports cars require more maintenance. And if you think RX-7s are bad, try owning some of the older British touring cars. MG, anyone?

Finally, it is possible to work on the cars yourself. A year ago I was of the "Eeeh... cars. Yea, I'll just take mine in if it has problems" variety. Through the joys of owning an uber-cheap beater where the cost of a shop visit would literally total the car, and then owning an RX-7 that blew the engine this summer, I'm fairly comfortable working on mine now. Get a jack & a set of jackstands, a decent metric toolkit, a Haynes manual, download the Factory Service Manual, and you should be able to do a lot of the work yourself.

Oh. And finally, they're a blast to drive. Are they the fastest thing in straight line acceleration? Nope. Can much in their price range touch them when it comes to cornering and taking winding roads at speeds well in excess of the posted limit (when closed for a sanctioned track event, of course)? Nope.

-=Russ=-

 

I bought my car January of this year. I also keep reciepts forever. I got curious with your question and did the math. I spent $1361.47 in maintenance. I divide that by the 8 full months that I have had the car and it equals $170.18 per month. At first I had people do the work for me because I had no freakin' clue what I was doing. Slowly I did the easy things and am getting used to it. The last person who owned the car took ok care of it but fell short on money, so for prob'ly 6 months she didnt get any love. So I had to do the catching up. A lot of the maintenance I spent was catching up. Clutch, tires, belts, plugs, air filter, oil pressure sender, oil cooler lines, oil, oil, oil, oil... She still needs some work but its not going to keep me from driving. I need new shocks and ball joints. Aside from that everything is good. I prob'ly could have bought a honda or a toyota echo to save on gas but I wouldn't get so many "ahhhh!!!" or "WOW!!!" from kids who play too much Initial D.

 

dude did you even bother to read what the people posted in reponse to your original question? break it down easy:

YOU MUST:

1. change oil 3k
2. add oil every 1k miles (rotary is supposed to burn oil)
2. sparkies 15k
3. flush coolant
4. 87 oct ONLY (n/a)
5. natural dino oil ONLY
6. DONT overheat *EVER*

if u don't do this :

piston - will still work
rotary - will rape you up the butt

if previous owner did not care for car

piston - *may* will still work
rotary - will rape you up the butt (maybe)

additionally:

newest FC you can buy = 13 year old car. probably alot of maintenace/fixing chit you will need to do with it (filters, calipers, driveshaft, etc.) before its in 'okay' condition again.

if you can do your own work and do a STRICT maintenace schedule - FC n/a is good and reliable.

if you pay other ppl to do your work and don't know **** about working on cars - get another car.

 

I just got rid of a 1992 civic Si for my 1990 RX-7 vert. The civic was a lot faster (14.9 @92), handled a lot better, got 35 mpg, and i beat the living **** out of it on a daily basis for 3 years and put 120,000 miles it.

Now I have my 7 and I love it. Its much slower, handles like a tank (3140 lb rx-7 vs 1950 lb civic), gets 18-20 mpg if im lucky, and I treat her like a baby.

The seven is such a joy to own and drive, I feel like I owe her something better than daily beatings. Gorgeous leather interior, tach mounted front and center, looks from the hotties when you are cruising with the top down. This is definately no econo car turned ricer. I would never trust anyone else to do any maintenance on her, so I read and keep myself informed on RX-7's constantly. I have a preventative maintenance schedule that I strictly adhere to, and a notebook where I log all maintenance for future referance.

-Oil changes every 3k with Amsoil (7 bucks a qt) and a K&N oil filter.
-NGK spark plugs every other oil change.
-Coolant flush every 6 months with a bottle of water wetter.
-Redline fluids in the tranny and rear end replaced every 12 months.
-Brake & clutch fluid bleed and replacement every 12 months.
-Leather treatment and moisturizing every other week.
-Vacuum and wash every week.
-Cleanse, polish, and 2 coats of wax every 6 months.

I usually drive 70 mph on the highway and fully stop at stop signs, and take off slowly. But the entire point of owning a sports car is to drive it like a sports car. Dont let her get old and boring. Find someplace where you can you can open her up, push the car to its limits, find out where that edge is. Maybe even drift it around a corner or two. (Soooo much fun).

If you are worried about maintenance on your RX-7, you shouldn't own one. For me, keeping this car maintained is as natural as a mother breastfeeding her child.

 

ahhahhahahahh rotaries reliable?!!>>!!>!>!> get ready to spend some seriosu DOUGH my friend! but **** it is a almost 20 year old car so be good and enjoy life. LONG LIVE THE ROTARY.


( yeah u can flame, but after spending 6k on my fc i have only been able to drive it for 10k miles teh rest it has been in repairs and i had the car for 3 years@!!!)

 

Hehe, you go a little more overbaord then me, I got mine ~2 months ago for $2,000 and catching up has cost me ~$300 including the cost of all my body repair materials. I've replaced the tranny and diff. fluid with Royal Purple, which made a tremendous difference, and have cleaned up and updated alot of things, including all the belts which were getting pretty nasty looking.

Really watch that oil level between oil changes as well. An average 13b will burn 1qt. per 1000 miles, but watch your oil pressure guage to make sure you're not burning abnormal amounts. I see 60psi (or whatever the measurement unit is) at crusing speed normally, and it will drop close to 30 when I get to 1000 miles.

The gas mileage doesn't suck that bad either. When I got the car, itwas averaging 17mpg mixed with some spirited driving in there, and after all the fluid changes and updating (I did some vacuum hoses too) I've gone up to 21mpg average and I'm hoping to increase that even more with an injector cleaning, regrounding, and I'm going to clean out my TPS, BAC, and get a cone filter and smooth pipe for the intake.

I love just working on this car, I rarely touch my computer or Xbox anymore, hehe.

 

Your FC is schooling you, lol. Out of all the people I've talked to over the last year haven't had any major problems with theirs. I've met a couple of people that had one that was just blowing things out left and right, but they just made them parts cars and purchased betters RX7s Now would be a good time to get a Turbo II, eh?

 

Handled a lot better?!?!?! where are you coming from, I know you have a vert' but FWD cars handle terrible, unless your going straight which isn't much fun.


The point is maintain the Rotary and it will love you. You will have the most fun in one of these cars as your first car. If you like to tool around and fix things in your sapare time, GET ONE. If you can maintain your car, GET ONE. You will not be sad that you didnt get another car. I reccomend an 86-88 N/A RX-7, preferably a sport. I think a sport would be the best RX-7 to start out with. The first thing to do when you get it though. Change ALL fluids and put the correct spark plugs in the car. Also, check over the car. Then drive it.

I also know Peruvian RX-7 says it's unreliable because he has had a lot of trouble with his car. the lesson there is, why did he spend 6k on it trying to get it to work. He loved the car. You will too if you get one. Just MAINTAIN the car.

 

I think these cars are phenominally easy to work on, and this is coming from somone who has owned a 1966 Mustang!


PS: (1966 Mustang = very easy to work on, case you didnt know)

 

That's one thing I didn't expect after coming off an 87 Accord. The 7s are laid out pretty nicely and if you need to get to something you don't have to remove 20 other things to get there.

On the topic of spark plugs, what should I get? I haven't replaced them yet, and don't know when the previous owner did, so I figure I probably should do them next week just to be safe? I know you have to be careful about which ones you get because you can snap an apex seal with the incorrect type.

Are they something that NAPA should eb able to get me at a reasonable price?

 

Oh yeh; I should mention; I drive my car daily and after 30K miles, the only problem I can report on my 127,700 Mile car is a blown lower heater hose.

On spark plugs:

Get the stock NGK ones unless you've got MAJOR upgrades, then do a search for plugs threads by Icemark

 

Where is a good place to get a hold of those puppies?