Hi guys, i'm Craig. 20 Year Old and an Electrical Engineering Apprentice for the NHS. 21 in late April and looking for a new car.
Right on to the burning question I have! I've been looking for an FD for a while now and I went and test drove a 3rd Gen RX-7 Twin Turbo 96 Model yesterday.
Its an import and was registered in 2007 for the UK, on the outside it looks good, few minor body marks but nothing I can't get fixed myself. Its got the four seats the leather in the back has a slight rip and I would change that straight away. But until I saw it yesterday I didn't know just how impractical they really are! But that doesn't bother me, i'm single and 20 haha!
Then it came to crunch time, he turned it over. To start with it was idling at 1100rpm until it warmed up (left it about 10 minutes), dropped down to 800rpm and sat there. Quite a loud idle as well, which I do like to be honest. Since my current car is a Grande Punto 1.4 I asked him to drive it out for 10 minutes just so I knew what it was like. We got in, pulled away slowly and he explained the clutch was an expensive one, used for drift cars and could handle 500bhp, and that it made a noise pulling away which was good. Now i'm no expert on clutches but i'm sure they aren't meant to make a noise when you pull away. That suggests something isn't quite right! Once we were moving it was fine, no noise while changing gear, but pulling away was like a mechanical grinding sound. He did a third gear pull and compared to cars I've been in before I can say it was really quick. He didn't ever push the car, he used the second turbo just a small amount. Its still sequential and it felt good, the boost gauge is already installed so means i dont have to. I also made sure it didn't overboost, he said BP and Tesco Fuel will make it overboost but Shell is fine. Not sure on how true that is but im just taking is word for it.
Then I jumped in and to say the least it was exciting but did give me a bit of a fright if i'm being honest. The power difference from 70bhp in my Punto to what I feel was slightly more than the standard 236bhp in the car was phenomenal. I think it was more so pushing 250bhp.
Anyway, so its got a new front bumper on at the moment but its got a few cracks in. He has offered the original bumper with the car as well, so I guess I could refurbish it or just sell it on and make the car look stock again. He's got a rear wing that was on it, he took it off and covered the holes in the boot lid with duct tape, which rang alarm bells! Was he really looking after this car?
He says its been meticulously looked after and i guess what i'm saying is i don't feel like it has. But its up at an absolute bargain, its not the colour i want but it supposedly had an engine rebuild 25,000 miles ago.
Just looking or hoping for guidance. With the saving on the car I could in theory get a rebuild and a full respray and keep it at about £9000. But if I spend £10,000 I could get one that's been looked after and from a dealer, I also don't have to start tinkering with it because i know they wont sell a duff car! Then I have 6 months warranty by law as well, I don't have that luxury with a private sale!
Well any help is appreciated guys i realise i'm new!
Thanks again, Craig!
Sorry posted this in the wrong place. How do i move it?
Hi Craig and welcome,
First up has got to be that, no the clutch should not make a noise on pull away, if it's making like a rattling noise with the clutch disengaged then it could be an expensive twin plate clutch but it won't make a noise on pull away.
If you have 9k to. spend then for that money you should be able to find a very nice car for that and with a rebuild
If you have really fallen in love with the car though (we have all done that one) at least post up pictures and as much info as possible and we will try and help you as much as possible
Hope this helps
Hi Clive.
Thanks for such a quick reply!
I didn't take any of the car when I was there, But it is advertised on a popular car selling only site. With a below £5,000 price tag and its silver. (Not sure on the policy of naming sites etc) I just had a quick look on the forums but couldn't see anything about that im quite new to forums so im pros sky looking in all the wrong places! I'm sure I'll get up to speed pretty quick.
It's not like ive fallen in love with it. I think I have just fell in love with the models in general. Beautiful cars and I guess at 20 it's verging on a dream, the insurance was coming back at £695 with mods and saying its an import as well!
Thanks again and if I can post pictures of a car that isn't mine I'll just drag the pictures off and post them when I get back on the computer tomorrow!
I guess a photo is just a photo, But if it's not allowed I understand it being taken down!(http://img.pistonheads.com.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Fullsize/mazda/rx-7/turbo/mazda-rx-7-turbo-S1613370-7.jpg)
Looks stunning....we all like piccys here!. Hpi it and check mot advisories....would be nice to some compression test results also.
Not as expensive as I thought and a real good insurance deal.
No problem with the pictures.
I would say apart from checking out the clutch thing , try and remember back to when you returned from the road test, did you hear any gurgaling or water system noises from under the bonnet, if not for that money you should be fine.
Had a good read of ad and sounds like a genuine enthuastic owner who has taken care of it. Clutch issue aside at that price does seem a very attractive price and room to get the clutch looked at . Was expecting circa 6k tbh. If there is a rebuild reciept for me id be trying to strike a deal...good luck.
Thanks for all the replies guys.
I can't remember hearing any gurgling or noises. Just the fans coming on to cool the car down once we had driven it. He showed me how to fill up fuel and told me not to turn the car off after using the boost straight away. He uses the radio clock since its never worked as a turbo timer and just waited 2 minutes before I turned the car off.
He did seem like a genuine enthusiast and was a nice guy when I was in the car. His brother has had an S15, R32 Skyline with over 500 horses and multiple other Jap cars. I just keep looking at the price and not knowing what to do. It's cheap and if it lasts at that price for even a year I would be happy to do some work and have saved myself over a more expensive version. He has a receipt for the Clutch at £900 on it's own, nearly £1300 when it had labour and the flywheel etc included. That was done in October, it had a rear strut bar across the back seats in the boot area. I know it is for stability and making the chassis more rigid but it was aftermarket and it didn't fit perfect so I would need to file the plastic down to make it fit over the bar.
He didn't have compression readings, he went to get some but he said the car was to low because he took it to Mazda and they couldn't do it. I didn't see results from the rebuild or a receipt for the rebuild being done. He said it was because a previous owner had it done. He has had the car a year so it has had the oil changed etc for the time he has had it.
I'll list what I would need to change once I got it. From the inexpensive to the Rebuild and Spray, for £4500 I could really make this car my own though!
New interior mirror (the current one has a some damage to the mirror and looks unsightly)
New Speedometer face (the one in at the moment is slightly marked, couldn't tell if it was the plastic cover or the actual face)
Repair back seat rip down the centre (I could take the seats out, do I replace with storage bins or to just take them out?)
Bumper needs crack repairs (My mum's friend is a mechanic and he works with a guy that does bumper repairs etc so would cost much)
Bumper has no Mesh inside to stop you seeing the parts behind the bumper (I assume black mesh type material is cheap and easy to do myself)
Two new tyres for the fronts (They are legal but not by much, might need changed in a few thousand miles.)
Respray (I want a black Rx7, that's what I was looking at originally but the price here really threw that out the water!) Anyone know price for a good job, loads of people give information on the net but people say you can get good for £1000, others say £2000+ for a good job that will last!
Possible rebuild (If he doesn't have rebuild receipts or compression readings then it could be on its way out for all I know)
Rear wing to cover the holes from the spoiler that used to be on the car. (Don't want a temporary fix, but he did offer the wing which would work)
Maybe change to a single turbo? (not sure on peoples opinions on taking the turbo out to get rid of some of the rats nest.)
I would probably remove the Air Con, not sure how much of a difference this makes on it's own but I want to add an intercooler been told you have to take it out for that. >:D
Other than that I guess I would leave it the same.. HAHA
Thanks again guys!
Craig