Help wanted RX7/R34/Supra

[Jetpilot]

Rhian has spilt a whole mug of tea in the footwell, and lasagna on the seat!

 

Why is she eating her dinner in the car????

 

You can see why Skylines are known as Skybus's, its not a bad looking car, but jeez does it look huge compared to a 7

Edited April 5, 2016 by Jetpilot

[grahamc]

I do love the RX7, but have never owned one.... For me, they are the Japanese equivalent to the European Alfa, quirky, things break, but in the end its worth it.

 

I have however owned a Supra. I bought it knowing it would require engine work (spun bearings), not a great deal of work. Standard engine is good for 600bhp and standard 6 speed manual gearbox is good for over 800bhp. I went the odd route of staying the twin turbos and ended up with just under 500bhp, with hindsight, a big single would have been move driveable. It was an angry car and I am pretty sure its only goal was to put me into a hedge.

 

Not the best pics, but you get the idea

 

[Ian]

Seeing as we are whoring Supra pictures

 

 

TBH, i probably shouldnt have sold it, I'd have an 800hp on my drive now if I'd kept it

[coldel]

I do love the RX7, but have never owned one.... For me, they are the Japanese equivalent to the European Alfa, quirky, things break, but in the end its worth it.

 

I have however owned a Supra. I bought it knowing it would require engine work (spun bearings), not a great deal of work. Standard engine is good for 600bhp and standard 6 speed manual gearbox is good for over 800bhp. I went the odd route of staying the twin turbos and ended up with just under 500bhp, with hindsight, a big single would have been move driveable. It was an angry car and I am pretty sure its only goal was to put me into a hedge.

 

Not the best pics, but you get the idea

 

 

Looks like it did indeed achieve its goal of putting you in a hedge...

[Richf]

Rhian has spilt a whole mug of tea in the footwell, and lasagna on the seat!

 

Why is she eating her dinner in the car????

 

You can see why Skylines are known as Skybus's, its not a bad looking car, but jeez does it look huge compared to a 7

 

Skylines arent big , RX-7's are tiny

[grahamc]

Seeing as we are whoring Supra pictures

 

 

TBH, i probably shouldnt have sold it, I'd have an 800hp on my drive now if I'd kept it

 

Probably should have and yours looked good Ridox front, cant go wrong

[GeorgeW]

I love how happy the supra looks, its like 'yippppppeeeeeeeeeee..oh a hedge, time for some blackberry picking!'

Edited April 5, 2016 by GeorgeW

[grahamc]

or you could go daft with a quad rotor RX7

[GeorgeW]

Well that's nice

[Jetpilot]

There are a few triple rotor rx7's kicking around as they made the triple as standard in the Cosmo, so easy to swap out. 4 rotors are pretty easily built, bolt up two twin rotors and weld up the eccentric shaft.

 

If i ever win the lottery i will commision a short block triple made from the original series 1 rx7 12a rotary.

[GeorgeW]

Good news, just been going brought the jap cars showing Rhian what they car, and she points to the bugeye Subaru and goes 'ew ugly supras', so I quickly showed her an actual supra 'oh that's pretty!'

 

All this time she's been trying to stop me get a supra because she thought they were subarus!..she was actually protecting me!

 

 

Utter madness

[GeorgeW]

so whilst waiting for the skyline chap to reply, I have been looking at the alternatives, and found this on eBay:

RX7

 

Seems a good one, with a compression test looking ok.

 

Any thoughts or suspicions? because as Rhian kindly put it last night 'im not manly enough for a car like a skyline'..

[Spatt]

Hey George, seems you've made your mind up and to be honest i'm quite jealous

 

I can't speak from any experience but all the options look great so happy hunting.

 

 

ps, if you get an RX7 please let me come see it!!!

[Jetpilot]

so whilst waiting for the skyline chap to reply, I have been looking at the alternatives, and found this on eBay:

RX7

 

Seems a good one, with a compression test looking ok.

 

Any thoughts or suspicions? because as Rhian kindly put it last night 'im not manly enough for a car like a skyline'..

 

Unless its had a rebuild, leave well alone, compression results are not that great and to be honest only tell half the story, should be mid to high 7's and it isnt a 99 spec bumper, so if he doesnt know that, what else has he been liberal with the truth with, sorry buddy, there are better than that out there.

[GeorgeW]

ok thanks, I was hoping you would have something to say about it. It has had a rebuild though apparently with 9 years of receipts, MOT's and service proof to back its standard up. does look nice though

[Jetpilot]

I cant see anywhere where it says its been rebuilt. Odd also they are only boosting it at 6 psi, std twins should be 10 psi from memory.

[GeorgeW]

I think he mentioned it on the phone. The reason that its at 6psi is that when he took it over it had one failed turbo, so after the garage fixed it up he asked for it to run on the safe side, with the intention of bringing it up to 8 or 10 in the next few weeks (it all is starting to sound a bit off tbh)

[Jetpilot]

If you have a Rx7 for sale thats been rebuilt, thats the first thing you mention, not completely forget to mention it, steer clear imho, too much for what it is.

[GeorgeW]

yes its already sounding like more work than I would like ideally. I will leave it for now, thanks for that

[Rock_Steady]

i'd have the RX7 in a heart beat. Love them. i think they're the best looking car to come out of japan.

[RobPhoboS]

Definitely take your time George, a gooden will show up (whatever model you want)

[coldel]

...and buy 400 litres of oil at the same time

[GeorgeW]

Yes well I am still completely torn between the R34 (the black one still), an RX7 and supra, and would be over the moon with all of them (not saying I'm not with the 350z, I still smile every time I drive it, just fancy a turbo and back seats)

 

Lets be honest, Supra is out of the question as the price is a lot more, and Dan says I'm not allowed an auto So its the R34 and RX7.

 

R34 seems to be a safer option, but I would prefer an RX7 I think. RX7's just seem too touchy. - At what mileage is a rebuild due?

[Ekona]

I'd say anywhere from 40k onwards, but with a healthy dose of 'depends'.

 

You have to remember that a rotary is designed to wear out and need tips replacing etc, it's the very reason why it works. Add boost to that and it accelerates wear, turn the boost up and it's even worse. A stock RX7 (if such a thing even exists any more!) is probably good for at least that. Start adding boost or tuning and you're going to be reducing that considerably. Short trips as well, much more wear on a rotary on a short trip than on a piston engine. As such, it wouldn't be unrealistic to see a rebuild being needed from just 20k, if it hadn't been looked after.

 

If you can find an engine that's just been rebuilt, I'd buy it and run it without worrying too much as I'm guessing you're like me and don't keep your cars too long. If it hadn't been done, then I'd simply budget a couple of grand in to get it done before I put any miles on it.

[Jetpilot]

There is no set mileage, my first one had done circa 65k miles without a rebuild and i know the owner after me didnt have to rebuild. 70k - 80k is possible but it all depends on maintenance and use as per any engine.

 

Just buy one rebuilt, its the safest option, or buy one needing a rebuild and have 3 years unlimited mileage warranty from Hayward Rotary, thats the way i would go.

 

Give Hayward a call, they are a really nice bunch of guys and they often have cars for sale too.