IlyaRX

Hello,

I am in the market for a 93-95 RX7, and I came upon this one on Craigslist:

http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/car/122402400.html

How does the price sound? Car looks pretty clean from the few pics I could find from his link. I am new to the RX7 scene, so I am not sure if the mods he chose are of good quality, etc.

Please help me out.

Thanks.

YoshiFD3S

iTrader: (19)

I'd rather sell ya mine for $12.5k

:P

Looks like a nice one though, I'd take it.

CantGoStraight

1St. impression is that it's not a true R-1. I don't know why any one would order an R-1 package and stick a sun roof in it ? ? ? ? ? So it may be a touring with some R-1 stuff on it. I could only get one of the pictures to open (the other requires a password) so just from the one picture. ? ? ? ? With all the mods listed I see no ECU in the list.....I'm sure the car is or should be above stock boost levels with those mods. Not a good thing to be over 10 psi on the stock ECU. Guess the asking price would be a big influence. Just look closely.

Yellow Man

If the engine is good, I think it's a good buy. I may be wrong but that does not look like the R1, because of the roof...

OOPS...looks like cantgostraight beat me to the punch

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

That seems like a lotta flow mods for a car with no ECU or boost controller listed. Keep an eye out for boost spiking or overboosting. Remember, you should see the gauge at 0psi when the car is off, and reach 10psi under full boost.

Then of course, a compression test, coolant pressure test, etc. 35k on the motor unfortunately doesn't mean much.

Dave

IlyaRX

I see, I see.

I sent him another e-mail asking about the R1 issue, as well as the ECU issue. We'll see what he says.

dgeesaman, what do you mean that 35k on the engine doesn't mean much? Could the engine be toast again?

juicyjosh

iTrader: (29)

Only able to get one of the pics to open as well. If he fibbed on the "R1" aspect of the car, there might be more of than just that...

I agree on the "no test drive" part though, as long as he takes you for a test drive himself. If he refuses to gun it at least a couple times for you to feel the car's power - or lack thereof - then forget it.

When I sold my previous FD (which passed the CA sniffer with 0.00 and 0.01 emissions, I might add, and yes, I still have the smog certificate to prove it), I had kids test driving my car pretending to have the money just so they could get a joy ride in an RX7. A couple of them even brought their mothers with them to get their mothers' opinion of the car !?!?

I see where he's coming from, but know that you may need to perform at the least some minor maintenance on it if you do pick it up.

Check out the car on a sunny day, if possible. Request receipts/proof of certain mods, like the engine rebuild, although that was some time ago, and yeah, no ecu upgrade with all those mods ??

If the engine bay looks clean and the interior looks like it was cared for, I'd still offer less than the asking price. - And only if you actually have the money.

No ecu !?!?


~Josh

93 FD3S Touring MT
Apexi Power FC
Efini downpipe
Greddy Airinx
Greddy Evo2
HKS bov
Koyo radiator
Magnacore wires
NGK 9 plugs
TEIN Type Flex

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Not a very bad price for an FD in the Bay Area if the condition is as good as the one picture that I could see suggests.

However, R models did not come with sunroofs so this is probably not an R (which is not a big deal). However, if it is and R and the owner installed an aftermarket sunroof, I would run - not walk - away from the car.

Have the car checked out by a rotary specialist (there are lots in the Bay Area - do a search) if you get serious.

And, as a general point, make sure you have $5k or so handy for the random things that will come up in the first year or two of ownership.

MakoRacing

iTrader: (12)

See if you can take it to rotary extreme or some other shop around us(bay area) and have a comp check done and it onced over...no ecu scares me...

axr6

Does not seem to me that the R1 aspect was misrepresented. The ad said that it "had an R1 lip". (On a second check the ad title does say "R1 model".)

There are a few things that can surprise you with any used car. I had just purchased my second FD from a San Francisco owner 2 months back. The car had M2 mods (intake, IC, ECU) but, with the stock exhaust. First thing I did was to put on a straight 3" pipe behind the cat. Following that I tried 3 acceleration with the new pipe and blew the engine immediately (apex seals on the rear). The engine had 12 K miles on it, was a Mazda rebuilt. I have the receipts for it. At the time, I did not have a boost gauge so, I have no clue why the engine went. Naturally, it took the turbo with it.

When I pulled the engine the clutch was completely gone. It also had 12 K miles on it but, was a San Francisco car, which could explain it (all the hills in the city).

Since, I got a DP and a PFC and waiting for my broad band A/F gauge to arrive before I get too much into the newly installed rebuilt engine. I'm a bit gunshy from pushing the engine before I confirm the fuel numbers. Interestingly back in '94 I had a lot of mods on my first R1 with stock ECU, run the hell out of that car on the road race circuits and on the streets with boost spikes to 14 lbs and never had any engine or other problems. The third owner since is still driving the same car, same engine and loving it. I actually tried to repurchase my old car but, he would not sell.

Good luck with your purchase.

spekdah

do those tail lights look 99spec ( round ones)? maybe its just the pic

oorx7

iTrader: (2)

That sunroof looks to me like a after maket sunroof. I can't seem to see the double bubble on the roof. The factory sunroof cars had this, correct? So He might not be lying after all.

Seems to me like you are going about this purchase the right way. There is alot of valuable info on this site. Check the stickies, make shure you try to search for some of your questions before you ask them (this board seems to hate it when people ask things over and over).

Good luck with your future purchase, and glad to have you as a member.

PS those rims look familiar, He might be on this board.

yuichiror

iTrader: (1)

The pics:
http://photobucket.com/albums/y141/g...rrent=RX71.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y141/g...rrent=RX72.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y141/g...rrent=RX73.jpg

Yeah, it does look like an aftermarket sunroof....

CantGoStraight

Ok after looking at the remainder of the pictures....I have to agree the sunroof looks aftermarket, still find it hard to believe the owner of an R-1 would go through all the trouble of adding the Bose snake in the rear, the touring fog lamps, and from the one picture the seats look to be leather rather than the suede. So I'm still inclined to believe its the tourig model with R-1 lip and wing. Hell I have a 94 with the Lip and wing and I don't call mine an R-1, Ac and cruise under the hood would just about clinch it. 35k on a motor that's had the capability of over bossting on a regular basis is reason enough to expect motor problems, full boost vcan be achieved at half throttle so it doesn't require full throttle runs to overboost. All things said it still looks to be in decent shape, it's not hard to tell a cared for car.

BMike

AC wouldn't clinch it, R1s have A/C, they definately don't have cruise or Bose audio though. If thats an aftermarket sunroof, I'd keep looking as was said before.

CantGoStraight

Woooops the ac part wasn't supposed to be in there. If you look closely in the back window you can see the top of one of the Bose tubes sticking up, he doesn't have the trunk cover so nothing should be visable in that area. I'm betting on cruise.

pincusa

iTrader: (1)

Let me say that the FDs are great cars to have.
But know before you buy what you're getting into for maintenance. R1 or touring - doesn't much matter in the end except for the dual oil coolers (No need to start this debate on this thread). The lack of an ECU with the aftermarket parts and how much you have in your bank account to spend on the car is what really matters. We don't want to see another pissed off RX7 owner because of the constant attention these cars require. Be financially and mentally ready to drop over $1K into the car in the next few months on stupid little stuff (maybe more if you don't do the work yourself)
Have the car checked out by someone who knows these cars. Do a compression check! Ask him when the last time he changed the spark plugs was. If he gives you a dumb look or tells you ‘you really don't need to change them that often,’ walk away.
Just my two cents – good luck

bajaman

This is really interesting. A couple of years ago I posted about a car that was in Derby, Kansas at Starbird's Collision Repair. The car was for sale, it was JUST LIKE THIS CAR!
I posted to comment how it was a 'R1' model but it did not have the dual oil coolers and had this aftermarket sunroof, etc so I didn't believe it to be a true R1.

Folks, the car in that picture looks EXACTLY the same as that car I looked at! I wonder how long that California owner has had it? Because the car I looked at had been in a bad wreck and rebuilt, but obviously was not a true R1 model but rather had been modified to be similar to one.

oorx7

iTrader: (2)

And the plot thickens.

jpandes

Why do some any people fixate on whether or not it's a true R1. Who cares. Just like Pincusa said the only real difference is the dual oil coolers.

IlyaRX, I think you have gotten great advice on theis thread on how to check out this car. I personally would be bummed if I had to sell my car for $12k, after all the money that I have poured into it.

bajaman

Agreed....whether or not this is a true R1 car or not is of little consequence. My post was intended to show the incredible similarities of this car and the one I saw here locally a couple of years or so ago.
I really have to believe this is the same car. There are far too many similarities. And yeah, once again it doesn't really matter to the potential purchaser that started the thread I am sure. Just sort of interesting is all.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

It means that although 35k is less than the chassis mileage, I wouldn't put any extra value into the engine for having "only" 35k. It could be fine, it could be crap; so evaluate it carefully in any case.

As for the ECU - there are two theories to the limits of the stock ECU. One suggests that 3 flow mods (intake, intercooler, downpipe, cat, cat-back) is the limit of the stock ECU. There is another theory (one that is more sensible IMO) that says that any bolt-ons are fine as long as boost is controlled to 10psi. A boost controller could be holding 10psi, in which case the stock ECU is ok. In either case, you should inquire about the boost control and/or the ECU and find out 1) what boost he's running, 2) how it's controlled, and 3) what the ECU is and what it's tuned for.

Dave