Elford turbo find whats it worth?

[bola]

Alright, my first post on the forum, I\'m new to mazdas (always been a vauxhall man) and dont know too much about them so thought you lot may be able to help! I have been to look at a mazda rx-7 elford turbo has been sat in a garden down the road from me for over ten years. I was wondering what it is worth really. One owner from new, 80k miles, interior in bad nick seats ripped etc. It is light blue in colour but the bodywork is quite rusted the sills badly gone and around 3-4" all around rear arches, dont know what the floor is like but all other areas seem solid enough. It is an original elford turbo and from looking at the brochure i think it has the full package; the original gold pepperpot alloys (good condition), stainless steel exhaust (twin pipes), colour coded front splitter and rear spoiler and obviously the elford turbo engine setup. Was wondering wether to break the car or would it be worth a re-shell or repairing it to get it back on the road? Are body panels available etc? Also how hard is it to get the turbo\'s reconed i think i can get the engine going but surely the turbo will be siezed. Anyone gone about getting an elford turbo stood this long going before? All help would be appreciated! Thanks
 
Edit: unsure if this is in the wrong section or not now, if so, sorry please move it!

[Steve-A]

Welcome to the club, yes this is the right section.

Sounds like a pretty interesting find! We always like pictures here, and David has been working hard to keep an eye on the numbers of these cars still about the place so, as long as you wouldn\'t see it as an invasion of privacy etc, we\'d like to know the reg number and roughly where in the country you are. David may even have a record of it, and some history on it!

They all go at the rear end of the sills, to varying degrees. The other real rust spot in the upper rear radius arm links, where they join the underside of the rear seats. If you look in a few of the larger restoration threads in this section you should find plenty of pictures of the affected areas and the sort of repairs needed.

Some body parts are available from Mazda still, such as the rear valance, and many mechanical parts are still pretty easy to come by. For doors and wings though the second hand market is the only option. The MRC has a good list of a number of the rx7s being broken, and the sticky thread at the top of this page also tends to pick up on new cars up for breaking.

I\'ve no direct information on the turbo but certainly it\'s not unheard of for 12a to have been stood for 10+ years to crackle into life relatively easily with just some fresh oil, plugs and fuel, mine did!

Prices for these cars are criminally low right now, with the typical sill rust and having been stood a while £2-300 seems to be the going rate, but with the full Elford kit that will be up nearer £1k I imagine. A nicely restored, taxed and tested Elford would seem to be valued at £2-2.5k by the locals, but its hard to find someone willing to actually part with cash.

Restoring or breaking a first gen rx7 is not currently really a good money making scheme!

If you were to break it some parts would go quickly and for comparatively good money, such as the Elford front and rear spoilers (in which I\'d be very interested!!!), the wheels, turbo set-up, engine and box and fuel tank if its not leaking. If its got a glass sunroof then that\'s quite desired and will go for a fair price. The rest of the car would be unfortunately be hard to sell, and each part if you could sell it would sell for pence.  

Ian65 on here is the real Elford specialist and I\'m sure he\'ll post soon. Best bet would be to get some pictures up here, much easier to asses what you\'ve got than with just words

[David Nock (RIP)]

Hi Bola, Greetings.

The post by Steve above is dead right and has just about said it all.

A running Elford with similar miles and very bad paintwork sold the other week on ebay for £500 quid or so. That one had been stored 10years rather than sat in a garden, but I don\'t think it was taxed or tested.

The body looked not to bad though, your find sounds a bit more rotten though.

Also as Steve says, the rotary engine will tolerate long periods without running, far better than a piston engine.

I really would like the Reg and a rough location. (County will do).

Dave

[Ian65]

Alright, my first post on the forum, I\'m new to mazdas (always been a vauxhall man) and dont know too much about them so thought you lot may be able to help! I have been to look at a mazda rx-7 elford turbo has been sat in a garden down the road from me for over ten years. I was wondering what it is worth really. One owner from new, 80k miles, interior in bad nick seats ripped etc. It is light blue in colour but the bodywork is quite rusted the sills badly gone and around 3-4" all around rear arches, dont know what the floor is like but all other areas seem solid enough. It is an original elford turbo and from looking at the brochure i think it has the full package; the original gold pepperpot alloys (good condition), stainless steel exhaust (twin pipes), colour coded front splitter and rear spoiler and obviously the elford turbo engine setup. Was wondering wether to break the car or would it be worth a re-shell or repairing it to get it back on the road? Are body panels available etc? Also how hard is it to get the turbo\'s reconed i think i can get the engine going but surely the turbo will be siezed. Anyone gone about getting an elford turbo stood this long going before? All help would be appreciated! Thanks
 
Edit: unsure if this is in the wrong section or not now, if so, sorry please move it!

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Project 1st gen RX7\'s are very cheap to buy these days and spares don\'t sell for much.... don\'t go by the ridiculous prices asked on ebay for parts.... the same sellers have been trying to unload the same overprices parts for ages.

A nice roadworthy Elford turbo is a desirable beast but there are less than 20 in the UK and maybe another half a dozen overseas and not all of these are taxed and on the road.
Project Elfords start at around £170...

2 sold last year for around £170 each and I bought this one for £200 and broke this it last month...and this one was taxed and on the road a couple of years back and also had a receipted engine rebuild at a top Mazda specialist....



















If the one you\'re looking at has been stood outside for 10 years, it\'s probably beyond economical repair by now... I think most body panels are only available from scrappers these days... Mazda may have some old stock but if they have, prepare to pay ££££.

The engine would sell, as would the spoilers and maybe the wheels but you\'ll struggle to shift any other bits... as Steve says above, you\'ll only get pennies really... trim and panelwork may find a buyer if in good condition but rusty metalwork and damaged trim will end up in the skip... mine did.

My advice is to remove all the Elford stuff and then buy yourself a nice solid series 2 car and put the Elford bits on it... you\'ll then end up with a usable, desirable car that is also an asset.

80,000 miles on a 12a rotary engine, particularly on on Elford is coming up for a rebuild...
if you want to start it, lift the rear seat, unplug the fuel pump and spin it over on the key until the oil pressure gets well up and then plug the pump back in and try to fire it up. The turbo takes it\'s oil feed from the engine so oil pressure is critical

I\'ll be amazed if it starts... the Elford uses a HIF44 SU carb and they are very intolerant to inactivity...  the fuel solidifies in them and the rubber seals rot.

It\'s worth buying but not for more than a couple of hundred quid in my opinion.

[bola]

Sorry didnt get any pictures and it had no reg plates on or I would have put it. I may give the fella a ring tomorrow and see if we can decide on a price. Would be interesting to get it running again worked on alot of normal piston engines but never a rotary. Location is Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Shame to break it really as it has only had 1 owner etc always been looked after until he bought a new car and parked it up for good! That was a problem I thought of about getting it running tbh carbs are difficult to get right anyway but should imagine it will be gunged up. May buy it then and have a play if not ill take pics and stick it on here for you lot.
 
How much does a road worthy shell and ok cond engine go for so i could use turbo setup etc for it?
 
Cheers for the advice
 
Oh and this is my old (and first) project if anyone is interested started it when i was 16 and sold it last year: http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78317

[captainbizzaro]

To give you an idea in the current climate, the gold S2 of Vin\'s went on ebay for under £150.

[Ian65]

Sorry didnt get any pictures and it had no reg plates on or I would have put it. I may give the fella a ring tomorrow and see if we can decide on a price. Would be interesting to get it running again worked on alot of normal piston engines but never a rotary. Location is Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Shame to break it really as it has only had 1 owner etc always been looked after until he bought a new car and parked it up for good! That was a problem I thought of about getting it running tbh carbs are difficult to get right anyway but should imagine it will be gunged up. May buy it then and have a play if not ill take pics and stick it on here for you lot.
 
How much does a road worthy shell and ok cond engine go for so i could use turbo setup etc for it?
 
Cheers for the advice
 
Oh and this is my old (and first) project if anyone is interested started it when i was 16 and sold it last year: http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78317

you can get on the road in a mot\'d 1st gen for upwards of £500... a carb rebuild kit is about £40... check out my Elford turbo conversion thread to see what\'s involved.
I wouldn\'t even consider trying to reshell that Elford if it\'d got heavy structural corrosion... just salvage what you need and drop it straight onto a mot\'d good base car.. a couple of weekends and you\'ll be on the road.