new car!

[jrewing]

Rather then start a new thread, I thought I'd post in here.
I too, am looking at a new car, and in particular the RX-7 Series 8. Before mentioning other cars, I don't care about Supra's, Skyline's, WRX's, Ford's or Holden's.
The only other car I'd really look at is a Evo 8/9/10. Naturally, I can't really justify the $70,000 or so for the Evo 10 but I can dream, hey.

I can get a 2002 Series 8 RX7 imported from Japan through a semi-local business here for ~$30,000 with less then 30,000km on the clock inc. a 3year warrenty through their business covering everything bar stupidness of course. This will be my daily driven car which funnily enough, will be more of a weekend car as I'll be living on the RAAF base at both Wagga and Williamtown. I'm prepared for the large insurance hit and fuel bill and the need to service the rotor more often then a piston engine.

I won't be going stupid with mod's due to my age (will be 20 when I own this) only a tasteful set of 18 or 19" rims with high quality tyres and upgrade the brakes and possibly suspension. Engine will be staying stock as I don't wan't the hassle a friend of mine has had with their WRX, multiple thousands of dollars into the engine and it still blows up, I don't care if my car can go 400km/h, as long as it can go the 110km/h on the freeway and still go hard on the track thats all that matters to me. The styling of the RX7 has always appealed to me and now I'm going to finally go with it and pick up my dream car, I have a friend whose a spray painter so the spoiler will be getting removed ASAP.

What I was wondering, is there anything I really have to look for when the car is bought in before paying for it? Anything I should notice whilst test driving to tell for any signs of wear and tear or neglect in the engine. I've never owned a rotor let alone a twin-turbo one, so have no idea what to look for and feel for whilst driving. Visual damage and repairs I can tell along with more serious damage such as chassis damage and donor engines and part. I don't want it to be a cop magnet so the rims aren't going to be cheap chromies, most likely a nice alloy or a billet rim, proper brake upgrade and upgraded coilovers when I lower it to get a nicer stance. Is there anything that I'm being completely oblivious too about this style car? Help from anyone whose driven/own/owned/worked on this style car is greatly appreciated as it's my first major purchase and I know things CAN go wrong with these engines if not properly maintained like every other car but parts are becoming rarer to come accross.

Thanks in advance.
Dan

Nice choice in car there...absolutely love them. I was into the rotor scene ages ago but have forgot a lot of it. If you aren't doing much engine wise you'll be right. When boosting them up people often go single turbo for less complexity of the sequenced turbos, plus they don't care about the lower end power.
Just do the basics. exhaust and a good computer tune. They go so well in all aspects.
Gee, i really have forgotten alot of it. Keep researching it and you sound clued enough to know good advice.
how bout a pink pearl paintjob too. haha kidding

 

[slip]

Also, 18" wheels max if you want it to handle/grip well. 19's on such a light car is just asking for it. $$$ to replace, less grip, less tyre selection, and so on. 17's won't look as cool, but even better tyre prices and probably improved grip over the 18's, if you're spending the same $ on a tyre.

 

[Arete]

Dan

I'm a recent owner of a turbo'ed series II.

I seriously looked at 8's a while ago.

- basically, the k's on any SEVS import are not worth looking at. They're never consistent with the age and wear on the car. So look primarily at condition rather than the odomoeter.

- the gen III rx-7's had a few reliability issues. The cooling system isn't really up to the job. check out the tech section of ausrotary for a few tips and mods on getting some more reliability out of it.

- standard compression testing equpiment isn't useful for a rotary. you need a specialised tool. if you're getting a comp test done, get it done by a rotary specialist. In fact, get any work done by a specialist.

- Be wary of boosted rotaries without appropriate fuel management modifications. leaning out will kill the engine fast.

- rotary engines are very simple beasts. if you properly warm up, cool down, keep the oil topped up (they actually burn a bit of oil, so consider it a consumable) and service regularly, it should last 150 - 200 thousand k's before any appreciable drop in compression. If you, or a previous owner don't do those things, engine life is reduced considerably. Given imports have no history, planning for a near future rebuild with insurance or a spare 4K or so is a must.

- on the lookout for previous track pigs, be wary of the usual stripped interiors and cages and such as well as t04 or other big single turbo conversions.


Have fun, and welcome to five figure revs

 

[hardinge915]

Also, 18" wheels max if you want it to handle/grip well. 19's on such a light car is just asking for it. $$$ to replace, less grip, less tyre selection, and so on. 17's won't look as cool, but even better tyre prices and probably improved grip over the 18's, if you're spending the same $ on a tyre.

Tyre price doesn't really phase me as a family friend is the rep for Beaurepairs down the coast, so get VERY discounted tyres and rims. That said, I have been looking at some very attractive 18" 'racing' rims. I've had the 20" chrome rims and all that before and I don't think they belong on a car of this style haha. Luckily you and some select others seem to agree with my style of thinking here, alot of my friends are trying to tell me to get 20's again.

Info

I also heard but the cooling and have been looking into fixes for these problems. I'm not really looking at making this car stupidly fast, maybe in 6years time when I own another car I might make this a dedicated track car but until those days, everything will be staying stock. Just tidy up under the engine bay, nice set of rims and exhaust. Only things I'm considering is brakes and a suspension upgrade.

 

[Arete]

Yep understood. However combining living in FNQ, the cooling system is known to be underdone and considering that overheating a rotor is especially bad for it, I'd say not doing anything about improving it would be asking for trouble.

 

[slip]

Tyre price doesn't really phase me as a family friend is the rep for Beaurepairs down the coast, so get VERY discounted tyres and rims. That said, I have been looking at some very attractive 18" 'racing' rims.

Only things I'm considering is brakes and a suspension upgrade.

What kind of brake/suspension upgrade are we talking here?

Nice set of 18's and some mates rates quality tyres is a good option.

 

[hardinge915]

Yep understood. However combining living in FNQ, the cooling system is known to be underdone and considering that overheating a rotor is especially bad for it, I'd say not doing anything about improving it would be asking for trouble.

I am setting aside $10,000 for all the things I want to do to it, better oil coolers and radiator are def. #1 on the list. Temperatures here can sore to 50 degrees in summer.

What kind of brake/suspension upgrade are we talking here?

Nice set of 18's and some mates rates quality tyres is a good option.

Brakes and upgrades will just be new set of brake pads and some drilled and slotted rotors, possibly the big brake upgrade kit that was made for the RX7. Suspension will be some adjustable coilovers, TEIN/KONI or anywhere along those lines. Tyres are also one thing I wont be skimping out on because the difference between a good tyre and a bad tyre can be the difference between stopping or ending up in a body bag and I've had a few close mates end up in the second option unfortunately.

 

[slip]

They've got decent brakes standard, and any car with that sort of gear standard goes really well with the following, in order - like you're planning.

Pads, fluid, braided lines. Don't skimp on the fluid, braided lines make a world of difference.
Slotted rotors.
Also things like rebuilt master cyl/booster, master cyl stopper.

With the right pads/fluid and braided lines you can see some major improvements and nice pedal feel.

Whiteline's work with Skylines is interesting too. Their setup retains a fair bit of ride height, which apparently gives best lap times, while sacrificing aesthetics. I've driven coilovers/stock/whiteline and the whiteline setup is excellent for the road. Good shocks and springs ARE a coilover arrangement, just not packaged in the same way as what we'd normally call 'coilovers'. Sometimes the best solution is just a koni/bilstein shock with the appropriate spring in the original style, not a full 'coilover' setup. Something to keep in mind, especially when so many people reach straight for the Tein/ISC/etc coilovers when another setup would often be a superior solution.

 

[hidesy]

i got new rims and tiers, they dont make the hammer wheels anymore. the ones i got are 18 inch amg rims of an sl.
ill take some photo's with my slr after it has been polished and post them up.

 

[protecon]

Nice wheels - not exactly subtle though?

Oh and nice shorts.

 

[dhd]

Looks nice. She's riding a bit high though.....You might want get a hold of some of these:
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?mai..._id=11&zenid=143b9872d2259b5df7497f96eae20950

 

[dh damo]

It's looking alright but you need to get it tucking, and the spokes are a bit to small you can see to much of the brakes which are small.