Ian F
PowerDork
2/23/13 7:13 a.m.
clutchsmoke wrote:
I've seen some enabling on this forum, but WOW this is some serious enabling. You should definitely get it. Like right now. What are you waiting for? Also post pics!
No kidding. Usually there is at least one dissenting vote.
A friend of mine has one for a Hillclimb car. He and his brother have bent a couple on the hills, but other than being obnoxiously loud, they seem like good cars to play with.
I always wanted one of those. nice simple sports car. I've had a few FCs and still own my FD. Maybe someday, I'll have an FB or SA / 1st gen.
One does not say no to a legend.
The only knocks I'd make against it have been mentioned -- problematic wheel selection, horrible gas mileage, and vague steering.
But, it is light, lively, and liveable. Do it. You won't regret it.
wrek496
New Reader
2/25/13 5:17 a.m.
1984? 60,000 miles? Holy crap what are you waiting for?!?
ZOO wrote:
The only knocks I'd make against it have been mentioned -- problematic wheel selection, horrible gas mileage, and vague steering.
The steering is still better than 90% of the cars from that timeframe, and it's trivial to get 25mpg from a carbureted model with simple reliabilitiy mods (upgraded fuel pump and regulator, and no I don't know why putting a BETTER pump in makes economy INCREASE but it has on three cars)\ so far) and I've seen as high as 33mpg, which is better than some of these Diesel POS things that people drool over.
In reply to wrek496:
For him to get back with me. The wife is also three days late now as well. I may have to change plans
Great little cars. I had a bunch of them. They were cheep on Cl for a long time. You could get a runner for $250 for a long time. The 85's have a better interior. I liked the 85 seats better then the later seats in the FC's
Hello people, after reading your postings, I wanted to say "Hey...I just bought one too". I've had many imports & muscle cars over the years (yes, I'm "vintage"), but never a rotary, so I figured..."why not", picked up this 1984 RX7 for way under the asking price, 12A (1.1) 5 spd. 82K miles, one owner, pristine interior, zero rust, wing & rear hatch louvers. It received it's second set of tires @ 47K miles, which they are still there and drove it home on. Window sticker and all paper work in glove box, including warranty for AM/FM-Casst and receipt for the tires. Sooo....should I delete all vacuum hoses & valves, cat & go with 2 1/2" exhaust? As a tradition, I cut the muffler off of anything I own. Being that I plan on keeping my foot up it's ass on every drive, what's the best mod for the buck? Love to show you pics, as soon as I figure out how to load them.
Buy it. Skip the seafoam. Rotaries don't like seafoam. Drive it like a sports car and enjoy.
In reply to amg_rx7: I don't use seafoam, don't like any additives, but since I don't know anything about rotaries, I'll have to school myself on a few things.
gpsmotorsports wrote:
what's the best mod for the buck?
I'd start by going through the cooling system to make sure everything is in good shape. Rotaries don't deal well with being overheated, and they need pretty robust cooling.
After that, I'd look at updating the suspension a little. Personally, I'd be looking for a rack and pinion.
Ear plugs. Non muffled NA rotary will damage your hearing in short order, they are at least 3x louder than a piston engine.
whenry
HalfDork
8/9/13 7:59 a.m.
Buy it! In the old days I raced RX-3 in ITA and we tried out all our "go fast" ideas on my '85 GS. What a fun car and incredibly reliable. Just check the oil and the water and it will never die. As someone else mentioned, it is the spiritual father of the Miata. The FC's and FD's could be stupid fast but with the 12A you could take it to the redline on every shift and enjoy yourself; no one would ever know unless you did something really stupid.
I think that I owned 6 different 12A cars over the years. My favorite was a GSL-SE with 13B 4 port transplant, holley carb and lots of suspension mods. I found it on a local used car lot and had a hard time keeping a straight face negotiating to buy it. Luckily the choke was bad and you couldnt keep the car running so I had something to bitch about. Seems a doctor over in Oak Ridge had the car built by Mike Levy in Atlanta and it was done right. Rebuilt the carb and it would outrun 5.0 Mustangs all day.
Buy it and replace the stock exhaust with RB stuff. You will never regret the decision. You should be able to find suspension and wheel parts from IT racers in your area.
I have had 5 Gen 1 7s. You already have the answer. Write the check.
Hey, my thread has been resurrected I never did buy it. I do have something on the way that is currently putting out about 159 hpm though. It's parked in the wife's belly I bought a 1st gen double cab Tacoma instead as the family truckster for backroad winter hauling duties to the in-laws for daycare. I drove that car several times and it was a neat little car. It would have been awesome to own. I'm actually not sure if he ever sold it or not.
Spinout007 wrote:
Ear plugs. Non muffled NA rotary will damage your hearing in short order, they are at least 3x louder than a piston engine.
QFT. I love the damn things, even though I've never owned one. But I still recall working an SCCA race at Road Atlanta back in the day, a guy with a GT-3 RX3 lost his Supertrapp baffles when he downshifted for Turn 1 (the fireball blew them off). He laid onto the throttle, and all of us at the corner station curled up in pain. Most of us were wearing hearing protection, and it was still that loud. Race Control actually saw it (you can see T1 from the tower at RdAtl), and called to ask if we were OK. Was bridgeporting legal in GT-3 back then? That may have been why it was so loud.
Yeah, I know you can't do it now but for anyone else thinking about it put me in the enabler pile. I had an SA and an FB, man I loved those cars. Only gripe was the really slow steering (~4 turns lock to lock!), otherwise a helluva lot of fun. I still do rotaries to this day because of those two cars.
My FB count is 13, 4 RX3s and a couple of FCs
I still have two
This one is my baby
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/rx50-project/33672/page1/
Not exactly a 12a any more though
aussiesmg wrote:
This one is my baby
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/rx50-project/33672/page1/
Not exactly a 12a any more though
Yap-yap-yap-yap, yap-yap-yap-yap, WAA! WAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAA! WuuuuhaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Still the only Japanese car ever to have won O/A at Le Mans. Go get 'em, Johnny. I'm gonna get me some magic spinning triangles one day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az39eqLIbyU
amg_rx7 wrote:
Buy it. Skip the seafoam. Rotaries don't like seafoam. Drive it like a sports car and enjoy.
Mine sat for 10 years, I did the resurrection and then Seafoamed it, smoked out the whole street, compression restored and drove it another 35K before I went V8, sold the engine still running great when removed.
aussiesmg wrote:
amg_rx7 wrote:
Buy it. Skip the seafoam. Rotaries don't like seafoam. Drive it like a sports car and enjoy.
Mine sat for 10 years, I did the resurrection and then Seafoamed it, smoked out the whole street, compression restored and drove it another 35K before I went V8, sold the engine still running great when removed.
I was about to ask if people could still get 12a stuff..and then realized you're probably not the guy I wanted to ask.
I have built several up, from stock port to bridgeport, I just wanted more and didn't trust a turbo rotary to be trustworthy