1988 Mazda RX 7 (buy, engine, rotary, turbo)

[Bigg Mann]

Some one in family has purchased on E-Bay a 1988 Mazda RX 7 for 1600.00. It has a rebuilt motor with 12,000 miles on it and car has 225,000 miles. It is a Pennsylvania car. Does this sound like a deal and are these reliable or a money pit which is what I think.

[Mr.Cat]

Did he check for rust?

[Sayantsi]

Haha, what a question!

The chassis is solid - a great work of engineering that is one of the great handling cars of the 80s. The achilles heel of the RX-7 is the 13b rotary engine, if only in the sense that a rotary engine's apex seal will just wear out over time.

If the motor was rebuilt properly, it will be bullet proof. An 88 is not a turbo, so a lot of the plumbing complexity is absent, another plus.

I'm not sure if the 88s had the fuel-flooding cut feature yet, so old/leaky injectors or cold starts will cause flooding - probably the only real engine issue you'll see on a normal basis.

Only other ting I'd worry about is rust - its 20 years old and from the North. At $1,600, its hard to be a money pit.

[caution]

whoever owns it needs to check the oil weekly also.... I think they paid too much considering.

[Mr.Cat]

Originally Posted by Sayantsi

Haha, what a question!

The chassis is solid - a great work of engineering that is one of the great handling cars of the 80s. The achilles heel of the RX-7 is the 13b rotary engine, if only in the sense that a rotary engine's apex seal will just wear out over time.

If the motor was rebuilt properly, it will be bullet proof. An 88 is not a turbo, so a lot of the plumbing complexity is absent, another plus.

I'm not sure if the 88s had the fuel-flooding cut feature yet, so old/leaky injectors or cold starts will cause flooding - probably the only real engine issue you'll see on a normal basis.

Only other ting I'd worry about is rust - its 20 years old and from the North. At $1,600, its hard to be a money pit.

Precisely the point of my question. Cars in the northeast are notorious for this.

[M3 Mitch]

Why people buy collector cars from the Northeast region beats me. *only* if you have reason to think the car has *never* been driven on salted roads, are they worth considering.

If it's rusty, it was a bad deal, although it might make a good parts car for a better body. If it's not rusty, a good buy IMHO.

[JTraik]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Why people buy collector cars from the Northeast region beats me. *only* if you have reason to think the car has *never* been driven on salted roads, are they worth considering.

If it's rusty, it was a bad deal, although it might make a good parts car for a better body. If it's not rusty, a good buy IMHO.

Exactly... especially in my area! My criterion of pictures when looking into a car focuses mainly on undercarriage and other rust prone areas... broken mechanical items are easily replaced.