So I want to buy an RX-7...

[magnumP5]

Eh, my whole point for getting an RX7 would be to keep the rotary engine. If I wanted something with an LSx or LT1 I'd go with an older GM (F-body Camaro or something). As for the oil oil pressure on your friend's RX, I believe they are supposed to be low, but yeah, not that low. I think I recall the minimum being 15 psi at idle.

 

[1QWIK7]

Depends on what seals were replaced. If its the apex seals than yes basically the engine was rebuilt.

A/C pffftttt roll down the windows. The ac system weighs a lot so its usually removed. Typically the powersteering is also removed along with the airpump (usually not the best idea to remove on a s5 though)

The dead spot may not be a tps I know there are other other reasons for mid rpm stumbles. It fairly common and I believe are usually all easy fixes.

No thats incorrect.

If the apex seals were replaced, that doesnt make the engine rebuilt.

You have corner seals, oil control rings, what about the rotor housings or the rotors themselves??

If the housings are ******, you can have brand new everything and the motor is still s***.

A proper LSx into an FD will cost more than 10k. Thats going by your own labor. If you have someone do it for you, expect to pay about 15k. Thats usually the going rate. Some could be cheaper but thats about the going rate.

Magnum, i applaud you for wanting to stay rotary. People wanna stick a v8 in everything these days. Theres no more originality anymore. Not cracking on the v8 swapped cars. Its just not my thing.

If i wanted a v8, id get a z06 or a gto since its cheaper.

Power to weight is awesome but in the end, you're driving a Japanese car with a v8 in it.

 

[Shadow102]

No thats incorrect.

If the apex seals were replaced, that doesnt make the engine rebuilt.

You have corner seals, oil control rings, what about the rotor housings or the rotors themselves??

If the housings are ******, you can have brand new everything and the motor is still s***.

Ok let me rephrase, if they went through the trouble of opening the engine up to replace the apex seals then everything else SHOULD have been replaced because your in there anyay

 

[1QWIK7]

Ok let me rephrase, if they went through the trouble of opening the engine up to replace the apex seals then everything else SHOULD have been replaced because your in there anyay

Should but its not always the case.

I think thats one of the main reasons rotarys get a bad rap. Because of poor building. That and tuning, along with improper maintenance lol

But i dont wanna get into those.

For the OP, its best he knows EVERYTHING. Dont take shortcuts otherwise his rx7 will turn into a nightmare.

 

[magnumP5]

Thanks for the info. I am going to go look at a stock '91 'Vert today and see how that goes. I will probably go take a look at the '90 GTU tomorrow and see if I can't get a little more information. Perhaps get the contact information of the original owner who did the "rebuild".

On another note I saw a pretty sweet look '85 up in WI that has a streetported 13B in. It looks really clean but the asking price is a little high around $8k. I may consider this if I can get my P5 sold first. The only downside is it's 350 miles away not a very large selection in my area.

 

[magnumP5]

So I just got back from checking out the '91 'Vert. Over all the car is in pretty good shape. There are the expected scratches and pits in the paint but over all the paint is in very good condition. The antenna on this one is broken is well - is this a common problem with the RX7? The interior was in very good condition with the exception of a couple of glaring faults. The biggest was the center console, where all the controls arewas popping up and would not stay down where it should. There also was some missing trim on the drivers side by the roof. The biggest problem I have with this car is the price. They would not come down from their $5995 high horse at all. I humored them for a trade on my P5 as-is and they offered $5500. Sorry, I'm not going negative with a 19 year-old car, especially one in worse condition and with more miles than my P5. At least they let me test drive it, which was a first for me. It was a little strange but unfortunately I have nothing to compare to so I have no idea if everything was correct or not. This leads to a final question: was there no tilt wheel option on the 'verts? I couldn't find anything anywhere!

 

[Shadow102]

Tilt columns are a rare option from what I have seen. My vert I know doesn't have one. 6k is stupid high for that. I bought mine bone stock running in fair condition for 1k. My center control panel is lifting the same way as well. Ohh and the antennae is a normal issue...stupid power junk

 

[SpooledupRacing]

OK.... WOW.. looks like you have been on a roll here..

Sounds like I would stay clear of all 3..


If the gTU had the engine seals replaced you WANT TO KNOW who did the engine and what all was replaced... to many companies (or people) will rebuild and engine with EXTREMELY worn or bad housings/irons.
Another problem is if they just replaced the coolant seals (because thats normally a problem) then that means there may have been coolant damage on the internals and it may not be in great shape.. just appear to..

The "3800 hesitation" is normal.. it is due to a faulty or out of adjustment TPS.. a great tool to get to adjust the tps is a tps adjustment tool

you can get them for 30.00 from www.banzai-racing.com

Keep looking and keep posting.. You will find something..

I also wanted to applaud you for being true to the ROTARY ENGINE... F!! the V8 swaps..

 

[magnumP5]

^^^ Ah, that the other thing that was replaced! Talking to the owner he said the previous owner had the apex and coolant seals replaced. As for the TPS, the current owner is a mechanic and has measured across the TPS with an analog meter (seems kind of like what is available at the link you posted) and he mentioned that at a particular input, the output sweeps all over the place. I did some looking around and TPS's are $400! Well, I'm going to go take a look at the car first-hand today and hopefully get a better idea as to its condition. I think I've really narrowed down what I'm looking for - I want to stick with the S5's, preferrably black. Even though they have more emissions crap I like the styling and they have a little more power. As to what type, only the TII came with an LSD and while one of those would be nice I could go with any of them as long as the condition and price are right. I'm already looking into all the things I can do Unfortunately, I'm still trying to sell my P5, which is becoming the more difficult part of this ordeal - I may be reduced to parting things out after all as I'm sure I could easily make a couple grand on top of trade-in/sale value.

EDIT: Oh yeah, as for the rotary engine, well of course! If I wanted something with an LT or LSx engine I would buy something American. My goal here is to get an older car that is easier to work on so I'm not "ruining a good, new car" (as my fiance' puts it). Sure there are many other options here but I'm been with Mazda now for 4 years and I like the fact the rotary is such a unique engine.

 

[lil_red_wagon]

there is an 87 turbo II in houston for $4000. it comes with an extra motor and a couple of mods, but mostly stock. 67k miles and i can personally say that it is clean. i don't know if you want to come this far for one, but i think it would probably make the drive back. mine came from ohio a few years ago and made the drive from there to here on 62k miles.

 

[lil_red_wagon]

pics http://www.angelfire.com/dc/dcamco/picpage.html

 

[magnumP5]

^^^ Wow! That looks very clean and the price is very good! Do you know all the mods done to it or have any more information on it? I can only see what looks to be two gauges (wideband and something else) and perhaps a EBC or turbo timer. I can only think of two problems: 1) Picking it up would be very difficult obviously ("it should make it back" worries me) and 2) it's an S4. I don't have anything particularly against the S4 but doesn't the S4 TII make like the same power as the N/A S5? I know I said the trim didn't matter all that much, I just find it hard to justify buying an older car with all the issues associated with turbochargers when I could pick up a more reliable S5 that makes about the same power and for a similar price. I would be seriously considering this if it were closer but it may still be an option depending on the condtion of the car. ANy extra info you could provide would be great!

Also, today I went and looked at the '90 GTU. AS for mods, it has a header-back exhaust, electric fan wired for always on, 'rat's nest' removed (anyone have mor info on this?), A/C bypassed (compressor is still there, the lines have been removed and there is no drive belt), aftermaket pedals, aftermarket steering wheel, some sort of lowering springs and a shaved/debadged rear (no antenna, emblems, etc.). As for the condition, the passenger's side mirror is gone, one of the vents on the passenger's side is missing, the stock radio does not work, the moulding and trim is worn/greyed/cracked and lastly it has been reprayed (but not very good). The paint is okay but it looks like the spray gun got contaminated as there are some bubbles in the paint and the masking job sucked, so this is definitely something that would need to be fixed. Mechanically it seemed okay. Unfortunately it was not cold when I got there (boo!) but it did start right up. The 3800 RPM stutter is there so a TPS adjustment/replacement is warranted. Lastly the shifter is sloppy as hell - I guess some bushing is gone. Price was $3000 but I know I could talk him down to $2500 at least. Keeping my options open for now...

 

[magnumP5]

Bah! I just found this one: http://www.cars.com/go/search/detai...onal&paId=310116564&recnum=13&leadExists=true

'89 GXL with 97k miles for $3000 and it's just down the road from my fiance'. It'd be so easy to fly to NoVA for a weekend to visit the fiance' and pick up the car and drive back. I need to sell my P5 NOW! I'll have to call the owner tomorrow to get more information on the car. If everything is good I may just take the P5 to the dealership tomorrow to see how much I could get for it outright

 

[SpooledupRacing]

TPS can be bought used and in good shape for under 100.00 no need to buy NEW..

DEFF want to see that car when it is COLD... if it is warmed up when u get there that would worry me. My old vert had a hell of a time starting up when cold.. But once warmed it would start just fine.

As long as the exhaust is done good (or bought a kit like Racing Beat, CS etc) I would be ok with that.. If its a cobbled job I would take that out of the price then.
Electric fan IMO is one of the first things to do so that is a good thing...
No AC... well I removed mine.. it helps clean up the engine bay, and if it don't work 2/60 air is good for me.

Rats Nest removal.... if you have emissions you may want to make sure that the rats nest is in and all the hoses are good.. Rats nests is a big vacuum spider (metal tubes that have many rubber hoses that connect to different solinoides intake ports etc). While this cleans up the engine bay ALOT I think if you have emissions and bypass all the solinoids you may not pass...

I did however just tare down a n/a S5 engine and have a COMPLETE rats nest with solinoids if you buy the car and need it.

 

[magnumP5]

Nope, no emissions testing here in SW OH but in VA there is so that's something to consider (I may move back in the future). I'm probably not going to consider the black GTU although, if I were to get a N/A RX-7 the GTU would be my preference (lighter than GXL and no AAS). After work today I'm going to call the guy about the red GXL in NoVA and get more info even though it is a GXL. It looks like it has been posted for a while so maybe I'll be in luck. I'm probably going to start pulling parts off the P5 today that I still have the stock replacements.

The S4 TII posted above in Texas is still bugging me. Is there any advantage to going with an S4 over an S5? I know the TII S4's make like 186 HP, and I suppose that's still 26 HP more than a N/A S5 and the potential for much more is there and probably easier to achieve, but which is the better platform? Right now the only advantage I see for the S4 is that it is lighter by like 100 lbs.

 

[SpooledupRacing]

IMO I love the S4's alot more... granted.. the tails and mirrors on the S5 were awesome.. but thats IT.. I like the subtleness of the S4 bumpers even though alot of others strive to get the S5 bumpers..

I would not trade my 86 for anything.. I had an 89 (s5) vert and I perfer my S4 more

 

[magnumP5]

IMO I love the S4's alot more... granted.. the tails and mirrors on the S5 were awesome.. but thats IT.. I like the subtleness of the S4 bumpers even though alot of others strive to get the S5 bumpers..

I would not trade my 86 for anything.. I had an 89 (s5) vert and I perfer my S4 more

See that's what I was thinking. Personally I like the looks of the S5's a little better but I like the weight of the S4's as well. I mean, performance wise, the best weight/power ratio is the S5 TII at 14.9 lb/hp, but face it, those are few and far between. The S4 TII is 15.7 lb/hp and a S5 GTU is 17.5 lb/hp. For what's availabe (across the country) the S4 TII seems like the best option but I don't know if I can get over the styling. That's why I was curious if there were any other advantages of the S4 over S5.

 

[SpooledupRacing]

besides weight and the subtleness there really is not much advantage... I think the S4 was availible with a "more stripped down" model.. as my base has no bin buckets, no p/s, no ac, power locks, manual windows, power moon roof.

I don't like a bunch of "gadgets" that will eventually break especially on an older car... The simplicity of the S4 is another thing that time and time again wins my heart over..

Really choice is up to you.. I kinda perfer the more "old school" Japanese feel then the S5 with all those "creature comforts" lol

 

[magnumP5]

^^^ I agree with you completely. The one item I would like to keep, however, is A/C. For the small amount of HP you free up I don't think the added discomfort makes up for the difference. Again, I'm not trying to make a race car. However, power steering, locks and windows is something I have lived with before ('86 Toyota Pickup) and they never really bothered me. I also DO NOT want a sunroof. I have one in my P5 and I never use it. I'll pass on the added weight and reduced rigidity. There are lots of trade-offs: I really like the bare-bones GTU's but they don't come with rear ventilated disks or the four-pot fronts. The GXL's and TII's have those but they also have power everything and all the other junk, which is just added weight. I guess I'm just going to have to take what I can find.

 

[SpooledupRacing]

doing the 4 pot and rear vented swap is a PIECE OF CAKE.. I did the entire 4 to 5 lug swap with the turbo front 4 pots and the turbo rear vented disc.. easy swap.. little money and will deff be worth it.

IMO its easier and cheaper to buy 4 used calipers for under 100.00 either rebuild them or use them as cores and buy all new brakes for the swap and CHEAPER then buying a car with them.. normally any car that comes with those brakes (turbos or GXL's) will be much more then a gtu or base