Off to look at a RX7 on Wednesday

[themightyo]

Evening folks. I\'m a newbie on here, but been on mr2oc for a while.
I\'m away to view what looks like a beaut of an RX7 on Wednesday in Bradford (from Edinburgh). It looks like it may have been stood since import - about 6 months or so I\'m guessing - and I was wondering what effect this might have on a test drive. I\'ve looked at the buying guide and I get the general "thing" about rotary engines but I\'m thinking I might mistake something that isn\'t terminal for something that is. Not that I\'m scared about rebuild costs etc - I\'m fully aware of the long-term financial commitment a RX7 demands.
It\'s a low-mileage example at around 30000, and it is untouched mechanically. This to me suggests that either it\'s in very good nick with maybe 20-30k miles left on the engine, or it\'s been ragged from day 1 and is now over here cos it\'s broken.
I certainly don\'t want to buy a lemon, so does anyone have any advice for my particular situation?

Cheers in advance

[skybusr34]

post up some pictures bud?

[T11MNM]

Be wary, Bradford has more than it\'s fair share of "Lemons"

[themightyo]

post up some pictures bud?

Here\'s the Pistonheads link. To be honest it\'s the 1st I\'ll have looked at from a buyer\'s point of view, and I\'m a bit wary of being bowled over by the looks alone.

[carlos]

looks nice, be careful on the \'warrenty\' side of things, my first rx7 i brought came with warrenty but didnt cover the engine popping, so always allow for a rebuild

[themightyo]

I wouldn\'t expect the warranty to cover much, really. They\'re generally always of the kind that only cover things that can\'t be explained away by "general wear and tear, age of vehice, Acts of God or gods, war, pestilence, famine, fear, militiary occupation, civil war, riots, phases of the moon or teenagers"

[interloper393]

mine a be up for sale in a week bud.. its a 97 with 21,000km on the clocks, big spec and im only an 1 1/2 hours drive away

[dthebuk]

the exhaust doesn\'t look to stock on that car tbh

[themightyo]

mine a be up for sale in a week bud.. its a 97 with 21,000km on the clocks, big spec and im only an 1 1/2 hours drive away

Very tempting mate, but I\'m looking for a standard one engine-wise. I\'m moving up from an MR2 Turbo, which is fairly quick, but I don\'t want to get into the realms of fantasy just quite yet...

[interloper393]

well mines running non-sequencial so really everthings there to go single lateron if you wanted.. mines more reliabilty built.. getting maped n comp tested tomorrow so i`ll pop up the results? power wise id say 300bhp maxish

[themightyo]

the exhaust doesn\'t look to stock on that car tbh

Yes, I noticed that. What\'s the craic with that kind of thing on rotary engines? On my MR2 a new exhaust only means an ECU reset and some cold-grade plugs, and that\'s just advisory rather than essential. If there\'s an aftermarket exhaust but nothing done to the engine, how\'s that going to affect things like engine life?

[Kevin]

I\'ve heard a couple of bad reports of this place from a few people in the trade.  I had a look at them a while ago and was really amused at this advert:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/320649.htm

1994, Tax & tested, blitz intercooler, arc induction, akimoto vacume hose, reneted headlight covers, rays enginering coilovers, 16 inch mazda speed alloys, paddle clutch, quick shift, button handbrake for drifting, apexi boost guages, apexi water guage, HKS turbo timer, greedy oil temp + guage, twin din kenwood cd/md, rs stainless steel exhaust, UPRATED DIFF, momo steering, FULLY DRIFT PREPPED FROM JAPAN

"akimoto vacume hose" - Your guess is as good as mine?... Maybe Kakimoto Exhaust and uprated vacume hoses? :confused:

"reneted headlight covers" - Maybe Vented headlight cover? :Thumbsup!

"rays engineering coilovers" - Since when have rays ever done that?  Maybe means rays engineering alloys & some form of coilovers? :confused:

"16 inch mazdaspeed alloys" - Ok you\'ve mentioned the same alloys in the one sentance twice now :confused:

"rs stainless steel exhaust" - RS?.... What do you mean RS*R? :confused:

"button handbrake for drifting" - Words fail me, they really do :2Rolleyes

"FULLY DRIFT PREPPED FROM JAPAN" - Again words fail me, there is not one thing that I would class as "drift" on this car apart from the "uprated diff" & "coilvers"............ If this car even has them? :2Rolleyes

At the end of the day would you really spend your money at a place that cant even get basic English right, let alone the advert!

[Kevin]

Yes, I noticed that. What\'s the craic with that kind of thing on rotary engines? On my MR2 a new exhaust only means an ECU reset and some cold-grade plugs, and that\'s just advisory rather than essential. If there\'s an aftermarket exhaust but nothing done to the engine, how\'s that going to affect things like engine life?

Back box wont make much difference and wont really require any real upgrades.  If you start replacing the mid pipe and downpipe, then you really need to start looking at boost control and fueling.  Such as PowerFC.

A straight through exhaust can be controlled by decent mapping (according to pip @ WGT), however I always like to see some form of boost controller on rotary\'s aswell just to keep ontop of any spikes.

[themightyo]

"Greedy oil temp gauge" LOL
Joking apart, I\'m not going to base my opinions of a company on someone\'s spelling/grammar: they\'re car dealers, not the Poet Laureate :Tongue1
 Having said that, I\'m wary of anything in the West Yorkshire area due to the horror stories I\'ve read about that "Keighley Motors" place. I heard they changed their name a coupe of times due to bad image, and I\'m not up for getting myself involved with any of that business.
Any particular badness about MIR, or is it just general cowboy antics?

[themightyo]

Cheers Kevin
I\'ve got a boost controller lying around here somewhere, and it\'ll be going straight on any RX7 I decide to buy.