A friend of mine saw a 1985 silver RX-7 5spd close to where I live for $1000. Im thinking of buying it, though I wont have time to test drive it until friday.

He says the interrior looks good, does not know how many miles, and its got a couple of dings and dents.



Neither of us know much about rotaries, so when I check it out I want to know a few quick things:



a: can I tell if the engine has been overheated or not?

b: how does the engine run (if at all) if an apex seal has been broken

c: is it possible to tell if it has been flooded

d: are there any other specific things about the engine I should check for before considering

 

you cant really tell if the engine has been overheated, just check for white smoke which is a sign of bad coolant seals.



the engine may run with a broken apex seal but probably not. to do a ghetto, but pretty good, compression test take out a spark plug from each housing (one at a time) and when you crank the car over you should hear 3 even swooshes for each rev of the motor. these need to sound strong and even, if not there are probably apex seal problems. make sure you disconnect the fuel pump (if its a gslse, dont know what to do for a 12a)



you cant tell if its been flooded unless its flooded now, which would make it not start. its easy to unflood them, and if it wont start that is likely the problem. this is a great bargaining point, get the car started and dont tell the seller, you buy a non starting car (so he thinks) for cheap and get a running one.



make sure you do that compression test, or have one done by mazda, before you buy it. check for smoke and quality of the coolant. also check the condition of the oil: check for lots and lots of gas(there should be some) and coolant (there should be none).



$1k could be a great price, or you might be able to find one cheaper, i got my running 85 gslse (1.3 liter 13b instead of the 1.2 liter 12a) for 800 in january, and ive been driving it pretty much everyday since then. mine does have high miles, 224k on the original motor, so these cars can last it just depends on how they were maintained. if the car is the gslse (should be fuel injection instead of carbed) you should probably try to talk him down and pay the lowest you can, if its in good shape id pay $1k for it if i had to, but at least try to talk him down.

 

no need to look at that '85, just buy mine... https://www.nopistons.com/forums/ind...howtopic=52644