Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

First I'm new here, and I'm new to RX-7's in general but I've been a wistful onlooker for a long time. I just bought an 87 FC today, but in looking through the information, I'm having trouble identifying what model I have. It's been repainted so any emblems or markings on the outside of the car are gone. These are the things that confuse me - I have leather seats with lumbar support, and locking storage bins which are GXL only things according to the options list, but I have no sunroof, and I have 14" phone dial wheels which are base model things. I thought I'd check with carfax and see what it says, and it shows that it's a 1.3L turbo, but I'd think I'd notice something like that, so I'm pretty sure it's normally aspirated. Another site (xs3all.nl/~erix7/rx7vin.html) showed what the different numbers and letters are according to VIN Number - and it says that according to my vin number it's an 87 RX7 with a 12a engine, and I didn't think that any FC3 rx7 came with one - my vin number is JM1FC3311HO------ (last 6 digit's are just the serial number and aren't important)
Thanks for any help you can give!

Richter12x2

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

You have a base model. Previous owner upgraded the seats.

RETed

All you have to worry about is if the car is a turbo or not.
Carfax is still retarded about the VIN decoding.
This question would've been answered if you had looked at the FAQ stickies at the TOP.


-Ted

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Gee thanks for all your help Ted - if you had read my post, I actually cited the information from the brochure that is stickied at the top. That's why I was confused by the fact that the car had leather seats, locking compartment doors, and the limited slip differential that the brochure in the sticky says were all not available in the base model. Since the question was NOT answered by the FAQ stickies at the top, I made a new thread. Perhaps you should take the time to educate yourself before attempting to jump on the imagined shortcomings of others. I apologize for not starting the post with "Yes Ted, I looked through the FAQs, but all the information I've found is contradictory" - I'll make the effort to be better about that in the future if you'll make the effort to actually attempt to be helpful instead of jumping to erroneous conclusions.
I also don't know about just someone swapping the seats, because I could see that, and I could see changing the compartment locks maybe - but it has cruise control, which according to the brochure is not available on the base - but it has no rear window wiper which is standard on the GXL - this is what I'm talking about - I doubt if anyone would go to the trouble to steal the cruise control if the car didn't come with it, as well as the theft deterrent system which was not available on the base model.

RETed

So tell me, why is it so important what trim your car is?
Are you going to win money?

There are basically three BASIC trims for FC's in the U.S.
One, the top-of-the-line Turbo II.
Second, the GXL - luxury, loaded non-turbo - it's a Turbo II without the turbo engine.
Third, the base model - called "SE" in 1988, and "GTU" in 1989 - 1990.
The base models all have inferior brakes - the 1986 - 1988 base models were easily spotted byt he 4-lug wheels; the 1989 - 1991 base models were 5-lug like all the other FC's, but the brakes were inferior and smaller than all the other 5-lug models.
(I'm ignoring the convertibles.)

There are specialty models that added minor changes to those above three.
The "Sport" model is just a GXL minus most of the luxury items + special aero trim.
The 1988 "GTU" is a GXL with less luxury options and no turbo engine - basically, it's an extension of the "Sport" model, since the "Sport" model didn't carry over to 1988.
In 1988, the 1988 "GTU" turned into the "GTUs", with a special 4.3 rear end and 16" Turbo II wheels.

All 1986 - 1988 non-turbos have the same 146bhp engine.
All 1989 - 1991 non-turbso have the same 160bhp engine.

Watch out as the 1988 "GTU" isn't the same as a 1989 - 1990 "GTU".
The 1988 "GTU" is a high performance package, while the 1989-1990 "GTU" is a base model.

Now, if you can ingest all of that information, a non-turbo is a non-turbo with maybe the except of being a base model or not.
So what if you have a sunroof or leather seats - these are not consistent - 1989 - 1990 "GTUs" models come with sunroofs, even though they are "not supposed to".

Just look at your brakes, and it'll tell you what you have.
There are minor weight differences, but basically they all perform the same.

So I ask you again, why do you care???



-Ted

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

The phone dials are the give away. I have an 87 with ac, sunroof, cruise, rear seats and the phone dials. With the spare parts and cars I have sitting around, I can turn that SE into any 'model' I wish too.

BklynRX7

The biggest give away was the phone dials. Only bases models were 4 lug and no-one in their right mind would change form 5 lug down to 4 lug.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Awesome, now THAT'S the information I was looking for.
Why do I care? I just bought the car and I was curious, and I really don't need someone else to tell me that something I'm interested in is important or not, because it's important to me. I'm not some 16 year old whose daddy bought him a new car for making good grades in football this term. I've wanted one of these since I was old enough to drive, I'm enjoying the crap out of the one I have, but I want to learn all I can about it. Is that okay? I have an attention to detail, it's the way I am. I also own a 1992 Stratosphere Blue Mercury Capri convertible that I bought non-running, with hail damage. Probably noone cares but me, but officially Mercury didn't make any 1992 Stratosphere Blue Capri's, it was supposed to be a limited edition one year color for 1993 - so the car I have in addition to being one of only around 9,000 left-hand drive Australian built Mercury Capri's brought over in 1992, was one of about 150 in that color. In just over a year's time, I took that non-running, hail damaged reject car that I had to fix on the dealer's lot to drive home to the Ford-only carshow in Ennis, drove it almost 100 miles to get there, and then won the Class Winner title at the car show. I do my own mechanical repairs, my own autobody, my own paint - I even had to repair the electric window regulators, rebuild the headlight motors, and make a custom top because Ford (in America) will barely acknowledge that these cars exist, let alone support parts for them. Like I said, I've wanted an RX-7, even wanted an FC more than an FD, since I was old enough to drive legally, which is about 10 years, even though I've been driving for almost 18 years. So I'm not out to make a street racing car, I'm not out to put the whoop down on Honda Civics and Mustangs, I just want a nice, clean, sharp looking FC, and if it was a GXL then I want to put the badges back to it and make it one. I'm a biomedical technician, I don't talk smack, I don't type words that have numbers in them, I know how cars work, and even how the rotary engine works, what I don't know I ask. I'm sorry, maybe we got off on the wrong foot, but one thing I absolutely hate is for someone to be so self-righteous as to presume to tell me what's important to me or not, and my biggest pet peeve is people who don't answer your freaking question, or who post back with "Why would you want to do that?"

In closing, thank you for finally answering my question, you know RX-7's far better than I, that much is apparent, now if you'd stop thinking you know ME better than I, then I think we can get along.

rs_1101

calm down man.. nothens personal here.. you kinda gotta get used to redted.. its hard to take him all in one day.
just wait till youre doing your first rebuild.. youll love these guys then. trust me.

Icemark

watch the attitude guy... The proper response would have been, "can you tell me more" or something along that vein rather than the snippy attitude which will only alienate you from people that really can help.

The only reason someone would say that (and you better not get all pissy if someone does) is if you were asking from something that really makes no sense. So if someone asks that, get off your high horse and explain yourself.

The fact that the car has 4 lug wheels, and no sunroof point only to the car being a base model (FB01)...any add ons such as cruise or seats, as simply something that someone added onto that strippy base model (actually cruise control was a dealer installed option on all FCs that didn't come with it from the factory) from some stuff they found in a junkyard or a bought and added on.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Rarely was it ever something that truly made no sense - typically it was something like "What parts would you need to install the 5 lug hubs onto a car that originally had 4" or one of my others "Will a b6t exhaust manifold bolt onto a stock b6 engine and still clear the stock accessories?" I'm making a concerted effort to learn more about my car, and instead of getting an answer to the question I asked, I get "You don't need to know" - if you think I'm copping an attitude, then that's fine, as a matter of point I probably am, it may have something to do with seeking knowledge and instead of being rewarded with it having it lorded over me as though it were something unattainable or the merest concept of an inkling of it would be so far over my head that it would be a waste of time for anyone to deign to explain it to me. In the future, when someone asks me to justify my reason for asking a question, then I'll just redirect it with "So you don't know the answer, or you don't want to tell me until you determine whether or not my motives are pure?" :P