www.RX7fb.com

What up, y'all?

I'm a new guy, and I'm using the moniker Rustle here. That's really my dog's name. I'm not as friendly or handsome as he is, but he's scared of riding in cars. So I figure that between the two of us we make a pretty cool feller. We both live with our family in Madison Wisconsin, and we're so happy about the Badgers, but we're more football and baseball fans than BB...at least until the playoffs.

I'm new to the board because I stumbled on to a Craigslist ad last week for a 1982 RX7 S (SE?) for sale that has it's hooks in me. It's got no A/C or power accessories. But it does have 154K mi, aftermarket sunroof, aftermarket (American Racing I think) wheels but owner says he has the originals still. It's red but had a respray some time along the line. He says the steering's a little "loose". IIRC, it's not had any overheating issues. It's listed for $4,500 but I figure that's intentionally fat for the sake of negotiation.

I'm here to get my learn on re. gen-1 RX7's and Wankelia in general. I don't know terribly much about them, and wouldn't call myself a very knowledgeable car guy in general. Probably a little more than needed to be dangerous. I've been long known to break and ruin stuff while trying to fix them, and my mother has said that I never had a toy car for 5 minutes without trying to take the wheels off whether they were supposed to or not.

I come here from Miata.net where I've been a member since spring 2008 when I bought my 2007 MX-5 PRHT (power retractable hard top - in Miata speak). It's the second North American year of the 3rd generation Miata, or NC1, which means first version of the 3rd generation. Next year the ND comes out, and I'm pretty sure I'll get one of those (although I'm not rich, and nor do I have property for storage - I'm paying for storage now) too. I've also got a 1985 Subaru BRAT that I inherited from my Dad's elderly Aunt when his uncle passed away. It's got about 55K miles on it, 10K of which are mine since getting it in 2002. They lived in New Mexico, so it's rust free, but does have about 1,000 dings that they put into it themselves with their other car. Then wife and I each have a high mileage car from Japan as our daily drivers: Lexus RX and Acura Legend respectively. Wife'll probably be getting a new rig in a year or so, and I'll likely try to find another used (already depreciated) car. That is unless we win the lottery or something, the chances of which are only slightly less likely than people who actually buy lottery tix.

So that's about it for now. I'd be happy to hear from youse guys. Until then I'll be snooping and lurking around trying to see what I can find out about these cars. Meanwhile, any insight you can give me about the Craigslist car I've described would be appreciate it.

Thanks.

Hi Rustle, Welcome to the Forum, Lots of info & knowledgeable people willing to help with advice on here.
Not sure about the Badgers, over here in UK opinion is split on Badgers as it is believed by us Farming types they spread TB to cattle & is quite a emotive topic
regards Pete

Hi, Rustle and welcome. Cheers for a highly entertaining introduction

Steering is always a little "loose", it's down to the primeval recirculating ball steering box. It's usually fine in the turns but very vague at dead-ahead. A bit like driving through a Hollywood movie, the wheels take no interest in what the steering wheel's doing. On left-hand drive American models you can fit a Moog idler arm which has a good reputation for steadying the steering.

154k miles is a lot, but there are cars with higher mileages. And because in bad climates the bodywork dissolves faster than an Aspirin, there ought to be lots of knackered cars rotting away with good engines to swap out, so not necessarily a problem. I've no idea if 4.5 grand is a lot in your market. Doesn't sound horrendous but doesn't sound cheap either.

There's an excellent "what to look for when buying" section on here that will answer all your questions in more detail, but do remember it's only a car. Small amount of voodoo magic thrown in, admittedly, but only a car at the end of the day. Someone made it, someone else can fix it

Bridges of Madison County eh? The covered bridges. The book describes beautiful country.

Welcome on here. As Lucky (Nik) says, the steering is wooley - but you get do used to it.
The most important thing with these cars is NEVER to ignore the underbonnet (hood sheet in US speak). The water and oil levels in these engines is everything.
Let the coolant or oil levels drop and it can be death - it's a lightweight aluminium / iron powerplant running quite high duties. On the other hand, look after it, change oil and coolant regularly and it'll run for ever.

Cheers Dave