Well, I figured I might as well announce it to the RX-7 Forum... but it finally happened.

No7Yet, a.k.a. bmatt, a.k.a. Brandon, has finally acquired an RX-7. After two and one-half years of searching, 6 months of working two jobs and saving every last red cent I could, and fighting tooth and nail to get a small ($2500USD) loan, I did it.

You see, I got my first car when I was 16.5 years old. It was a 1987 Nissan 200SX XE. It was a nice little car, RWD, and it never broke down on me, but it was slow and ugly. Just a few months after I bought that car, I read something on everything.org about a "rotary" engine. Having only a cursory understanding of how a boinger works, I decided to check it out. Through this research, I discovered the 2nd gen RX-7. Later on, I found the 1st and 3rd gens, but the 2nd was the one that really called out to me.

Fast forward two.five years. I'd been on the FC3S list, the "big" list, the SE-RX-7 list for years, and had spent countless hours browsing the web looking for RX-7 content. I knew everything one possibly can about RX-7s without actually owning one (proof - written off the top of my head). In a half-joking manner one day, I wrote to the MRCCFL list and said "Sell me your TII cheap!" - I had already "resigned" myself to N/A ownership. Joe Castleberry, and 3rd-gen owner in Punta Gorda, FL wrote me and basically said "There's a guy down here with a cherry 89 TII who wants to sell it."

Long story short, the guy is a Doctor who got the car for free from his sister and knows nothing of RX-7s - to him it's just a car to get to work in. Having the necessary fundage, I drove down to P.G. (as the locals call it when in the company of Latinos) with Kristy Van Tries. The first time I went, the car had a HUGE vacuum leak and wouldn't idle right - at the time, I thought it was a busted apex. Dejected pessimism followed.

Longer story shorter, the compression checked out fine (mid 7s all the way around! Hell Yea!), and the leak was fixed. The car then received a new radiator, drive belts, spark plugs, and various other crap it didn't need (remember, the DPO doesn't know anything about RX-7s).

On the 21st of December, 2001, with the assistance of one Kristy Van Tries (again! THANK YOU K-DAWG!) I took ownership of and drove home one 1989 Crystal White Mazda RX-7 TurboII with 89,000 miles to Tallahassee, FL, having paid $4000USD for the privilege.

It's not perfect. It's a "10-foot car". But goddamn. It's an RX-7. And it's a Turbo. And it's PRETTY. And, best of all, it's MINE.

Oh YEAH!

(Attached is a photo taken in P.G. Yes, that's a factory lip spoiler in PERFECT condition!)

Brandon
98 Camry V6 - Ho-Ho-Ho-Hum
89 Rx-7 TII - Zoom Zoom Zoom!

 

Actually, here's the image - the forum complained about duplicate images.

 

 

congrats man!!! you're damn lucky to find an 89+ in that nice of shape i remember the pics you posted about a week back. have fun with it!

 

congratulations on your new toy

 

...uh, for the archives.

Of course.

 

holy **** that is one sweet TII you bastard, GIVE ME ONE. p.s. if your 200sx was a hatch thats dope as hell, i love gazelles

 

...and here's all most people are every going to see!!!

(well, once I learn how to drive the damn thing)

Oh, and yeah, my 200SX was a hatchback. One of these days I'm going to do a Turbo V6 swap into one of those things - they're Z-bodies, and lighter than all hell. One of these days.

Oh, and you can have my car when you pry the keys out of my cold, dead fingers :p

 

actually its not a Z body its a silvia. you cant swap in the v6 (vg30de or vg30dett in the twin turbo flavour for z31 DOHC motors which is what you'd wont) without a $3000 mount kit, unless you have the 87-88 200sx SE which already has an SOHC 3 litre v6 (vg30e). you can however swap in any CA engine (which you already have a ca20e or ca20et, depending on trim level unless its the SE), RB, or SR engine, which means RB20, rb25, sr20, and ca18 are also direct bolt ins. FJ20ET will also bolt straight in, which is a great choice. RB26DETT (Skyline GT-R) will need alot of modification but it'll fit if you have the expertise (and money) to do the swap.

 

Sweetness! make sure and rub it in Node's face every chance you get ...

 

Ah, okay. I thought the CA20E (the engine in the XE, which I had) mounted the same way as the VG30DE (the SE motor). Guess not

Actually the 87-88 200SX Turbo had the CA18ET, FWIW. I'm not much of a Nissan guy, but thanks for the heads up An SR20DET swap would be bitchin' in that car! Talk about a sleeper

 

Merry Christmas to you too Barney!

 

I'd rub it in, but Node already knows I had EIGHT!!!

http://i16.yimg.com/16/8a908686/h/8310caa4/Mvc-034f.jpg

No TII's, though. I guess I'd have to say I'm envious for now, but one if these days I will have a gutted FC body with a TII drivetrain.

Nice car.

Ren

 

thanks, yeah it was ca18et, there was no ca20et unless you make a hybrid car. i did see a very cool hybrid where a guy mated a ca18det head with a ca20e shortblock in australia with twin turbos (why he went this route i have no idea). he hasnt completed the project though, and might go with just a big single in the end. CA engine is a better design than the SR, they only changed due to cost reasons, and the only reason more people wouldnt use the CA is 1. the gniens are all old and 2. theres hardly any aftermarket

 

Now that's cool. Actually, I wanted to do something like that when I had the car. You see, the CA20E is a WEAK engine, esp. when mated to an auto. I always wondered whether you could mate a ported CA18 head + turbo to a CA20 block - I figured I'd get a bit more torque with all the top end. Pretty cool.

So the 200SX was (essentially) an S12 Sylvia? Very cool. What else can you tell me about these cars? How well recieved were they? What was their main competition in the market? Did anyone sucessfully race them? I always wondered why I didn't know/hear more about these cars as compared to the 240SX, FC, Supra, etc, especially given their decent suspension, RWD, LSD and light weight. (if you can't tell, I miss that car, even with a TII FC out front )

 

yup, you have what is the hatch version of the s12 silvia/gazelle/200sx. they were out there to compete against the Hachi Roku if nothing else. also if you had wanted a cheap swap that has some low end torque the KA24DE and manual trans would've been a good idea, as it also would've bolted straight in, and could be had for under $500. they werent all that well received over here, but in australia and japan and parts of europe they were all very popular at the time, and came with the much stronger fj20et turbo engine (slightly more powerful than the sr20det, very torque happy, found alot of applications as a rally and drag engine). i've always wanted one of these because they look like a hachi roku (ae86, corolla GT-S) but better, and have alot of potential with the large stable of nissan donor engines (though the hachi could also take the 3s-gte from the mr2 or celica turbo)

 

Dont worry NODE you'll get yours! ...

 

Hey Node - Just keep working and saving and you'll have yours before you know it. Don't let these guys get under your skin.

 

Thank You, FCTurbo2 and BhamBill

 

and then he'll crash it 2 days later hahaha :p

 

Screeeeeeeetch! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

 

it hurts me to see that

 

Same here, it also made me truely sad to see the pictures of felix wankels friends wrecked 10th AE

 

Whats up No7Yet, Gotta change the handle man...Gotta let me go for a ride in the TII. It looks sweet. Email me.














Grady

 

Node----youre in love with 10th AE's arent you?