My son the realtor has a house he sold (to my daughter) which has an old red faded RX-7 with some flat tires. I just glanced at it but it does not look rusty, the interior is intact and it is a stick.

I have no idea what year...80 something?

I think I can get it pretty cheaply because the sellers don't really have a place for it and don't really want to move it again.

I am wondering what the chances are of putting some decent tires on it and some konis and using it for autocross.

Any opinions?

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

those RX-7's are a blast to drive.. fast as hell when you tune them right.. But the apex seals are the known failure point. The newer RX-7's (more streamlined) are track beasts. the older can be as well. They are loud too..

might want to get some coil overs and thicker sway bars and upgrade the brakes

I had a teacher in high school who was an amateur racer, and raced the heck out of these RX-7's.

I have heard nothing but great things about these cars.

There ought to be a pretty active community of guys who still race these cars.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

big community.. you will pick out the rice boi's easily..

From what I've heard about them, they need apex seals occasionally. The older ones might need them every 100K. You do not want to wait until a seal snags a port.

their MPG is pretty crappy also.. but probably in the neighbor hood of low 20's

Tom do you really need another car?

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Of course not.

Hey! You sound like my wife!

You know, at the sniff of a good deal the old antenna go up.

My subconscience starts saying...I bet I could get that thing running.

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Excellent fun to drive car with great handling, if you maintain them right, they can last a while. The new RX-8 is a phenomenally good yet understated sports car available. The beauty of a rotary engine is its near constant torque, at any RPM there is torque available.

__________________
99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

Take a look at rx7club.com. Lots of info on all 3 generations of RX-7s. They have several quirks, and apex seals give you no warning of their imminent demise. And you don't just "replace a seal" when they break. They usually take the rotor housing with them. It requires a full teardown of the engine to the tune of $1200+ if you do it yourself. Of course that gives you the opportunity to upgrade various bits and pieces while you are in there. The second gen, which I had, is very well balanced and corners like a slot car. You don't want to drive it in the snow, at all.

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

A friend of mine had a pair of first-gen RX7's. Great handlers, as they're essentially front mid engine. Not a lot of torque, so you had to wind them a bit if you wanted to hustle, but very smooth engines. Watch for rust.

The engines consume oil by their nature so if the previous owner didn't check it every once in a while there is a chance the engine is not in great shape.

__________________
1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I had the second generation model ('87) with a turbo. It was the best sports car I ever owned, and beat everything it came up against (including 944 turbos and 911's). Power to weight was phenomenal. Reliability was perfect in 60K miles.
Each wankel rotor is essentially a two-stroke triple, so it does what you would expect from such an engine: rev happily, drink gas, and need top-end lubrication. From what I've read - check wikipedia for wankels - the apex seal issue was limited to the 70's.

__________________
Prost!

Neat little cars and the rotary engines have always fascinated me. It would probably make a great autocross car.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I owned a 1971 RX2 & a 1975 rx3 ....rev happy, no torque, eats fuel like a small block.
I overhauled the RX2 in 1976 because of a side O ring seal going bad (blown head gasket)
Nobody knew anything about these motors back then and i was 19 yo, so I buy the only book avalible at that time & step by step overhauled the motor. Man, was I suprised when it started and ran!

It was facinating to see how the rotors worked in the elliptical chamber; It blows your mind watching it. ( kind of like a spiral graph)
The motor is comparable to a 6 cylinder with no firing overlap. Very little recipricating mass.

__________________

"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"