Hi, I've been lurking on rotary forums for the past month or so and trying to take in as much information as possible.



I drove an fc last night, and there were a few problems that couldn't justify my buying the car on the spot.



1) Clutch needed a bleed. There were supposedly air bubbles in the lines, so it wasn't grabbing as hard as it should have been. As a result, it was easy to grind into 3rd and reverse. Owner said he could have this done by next weekend. Would the bleed help out in the grabbing and grinding aspects?



2) Hard to shift into first from a stop. Owner recommended that I go into 2nd, and then into first to make it easier. Don't know if this is normal.



3) Shifter feels sloppy and weird. I was told by my cousin that this is normal, and is just the way the FCs are. Is there any way to fix this, perhaps with a short shifter or something similar?



4) Peeling paint in some areas. Mazda paint back then was bad, I know that. However, there appears to be a bit of rust around the sunroof, as well as a tiny bit around other areas of the car.



5) Front crossmember appears to have been bent, and then bent back into place. My cousin suspects that it was involved in a front end collision.



Other than that, the car is not TOO bad, just damn hard to drive at this moment. They claim that the motor is a rebuilt unit, with 20k miles on it and it still has the warranty. The turbo was also rebuilt. Intercooler looks fine, car boosts fine and runs fine.

sloppy shifter is easy to fix. just get new bushings from Mazdatrix or get one of their short shifters. personally i dont like the short shifter i put the stock one back in my car with new Mazdatrix bushings, it is nice and tight now. clutch problem could be more serious. could be a bad master or slave cylinder which are easy to replace but it could be a bad clutch. the grinding gears and 1st gear problems are related to this. if your not sure take it to someone who can diagnose it. DONT TRUST THE SELLER.

1,2 it needs the clutch master and slave, bleeding it might help, if the fluid was really old, but 99% chance the hydraulics are bad, they really almost bleed themselves. the grinding is prolly from the clutch not being disenguaged all the way cause the hydraulics are bad.



3. there are bushings that wear out in there, its a 15 mnute, $15 fix



4. peeling pain and a rusty sunroof are kinda normal.



5. id be looking closely to see how big of a wreck it was in....

ok, thanks a lot. Any idea how much the master/slave cylinders would cost?



Also, I assume that you are around the Bay Area in california? This car is in hayward. Do you know of any local places that I could take it to be inspected further?

master and slave are prolly $200 for both...



lots of places to take the car



in hayward, pr motorsports.



menlo mazda in redwood city, we all have fc's....



ivan the goat





who's selling the car?

the car is being sold by a private seller. Honestly, his entire group of friends is trying to sell the car, so somehow, I don't know the actual owner's name. However, I can tell you that it is a white 1989 FC Turbo II, with a new motor (still under warranty) swapped into the car. The motor was probably a rebuild, and they told me that the turbo was rebuilt as well. The rest of the car is stock, except for a blitz ss bov and hks turbo timer. Here are pictures of the car included with the craigslist ad.



http://b.im.craigslist.org/yb/nj/QtS...DGLJdvWTsG.jpg



http://a.im.craigslist.org/3n/uY/dS8...yvyHLSMVEN.jpg



http://b.im.craigslist.org/KC/2m/rHW...pp8bIGles0.jpg



http://a.im.craigslist.org/fz/lr/pWF...G8TVVLL7fo.jpg

A group sell huh? That sounds a little....fishy.

it looks like it has been hit in the front

well, it's really just a group of friends. Can't really fault them for it.

Yeah, that's what my cousin told me. Do you think such a collision would have bent the frame? Anything else I should look out for because of the collision? Thanks a lot.

the thing i notice is that it is tweaked by the hood latch

I really have to disagree with this statement. My '89 626 looked great the day I sold it back in 2003, and it was never garaged a day in it's life. Other than some very slight pitting, the paint held up very well. Better than most cars I've seen, and certainly better than anything domestic.



My '88 T2 is still wearing the original paint today, and doesn't look all that bad, other than the few dings and scratches.

in 89ish mazda introduced a new paint process called "high reflex" it had something to do with the car spining while it was being painted. basically the upshot is that the whites liked to peel, an then later they got the red and silver to chip really badly



it also matters what kind of soap you use on it. if you're using dish soap, its much worse than anything else.

The 626 was white, and it didn't peel at all. I wasn't fanatical about washing it, but it got a good wax job (I usually used Nu-Finish) at least once a year. There may have been a time that I used dish soap to wash it, but most often used a product like Armor-All Car Wash.



It could be that auto finishes are more durable and require less care today, but I think the older finishes could hold up pretty well with only a minimal amount of attention.

yeah, i noticed that as well.



Could you perhaps give me advice on how I would go about arranging for a mechanic to look at it? Should I just drive over with the owner before I buy?

Clutch master /slave troubleshooting : Look in the master clutch resevoir, (take the lid off) . Is the fluid all black ? If so its likely the master cylinder seals deteriorating. If u reach back to the bellhousing, pushing on the slave cylinder, if it moves back, (and/or if fluid is bubbling up in the master cylinder) then you have a bad master. If it doesnt move it could just be a bad slave cylinder. The master was 100 bucks from Standard auto in Baltimore, the rebuild kits are under 20 bucks.



My car was hit in the front also, if the fram isnt damaged its fixable. The radiator support is no big deal. Drive the car see if it tracks straight. The gears will grind until the clutch hydralics are dealt with. There is also an adjustment under the dash (on the pushrod that goes from the pedal) that you can use to see if its just a question of too much freeplay.



I suggest unless its outrageously priced, purchase the car. Its a classic.

car seemed to track straight from the test drive. They're asking 4500 for the car after they have bled the clutch.

I'd walk away from this car and find some other one. These aren't 69 camaros. There are still plenty of them around.



I bought my car 4 years ago. It was my first car. I didn't know anything about working on cars at all. Just a typical magazine person. Having said that I would've held out longer for a mint one.



From what I know is that the previous owner understeered into a dump truck in the rain. I can see bad bondo work and bad repair job. I put it into the ditch once.



The body work will come back and haunt you. It is very hard to fix. I have tried to get it fixed many times. Have not had luck myself or paying shops too.



I disagree on the paint. I have a 89TII. It's original paint except for the bumper skin and the passenger fender. No rust. No peeling nothing. It all depends on hwo the owner looked after it.



The hydrualics are definitly fuc'd. You can't bleed back back to life. The shifter is an easy fix. Hold out till you find a mint one. Pay good moeny for a mint one too! I would pay upwards of 8000 USD for a mint white S5TII I had to do it again. I paid about 5000 USD 4 years ago.



Hold out till you find one u like. And always buy from an older more mature person. Not a bunch of teenagers

if it hasnt been said befor i would take it to a fram shop and get htem to look at it they can tell you for sure. i had to replace my core support and get mine straightend after a lady ran out in front of me. and the spacing looks a little off but that could be because of the angle of hte pics.

Can you buy that rad support from brand new?

mm, i want to do this, but my question is, do i do this before or after the sale? The owner should be able to handle this request if he has nothing to hide right?

you should do this BEFORE you by it. there is nothing worse than a unalignable car that eats tires. fixing the unibody is very expensive. i agree you should walk from this car. that is too much for a damaged(and probably abused) car with clutch problems (bleeding is probably not a permanent fix). there are alot better cars out there for that kind of money.

the car has a rebuilt motor and turbo with warranty and paperwork. Should this be a factor in the decision or should i look for somethign with the original motor but in better exterior shape (i've found one).

i personally would rather do mechanical work than bodywork. who rebuilt the engine? is the warrenty transferable to you?(most are not). also who installed the engine? the more hands that have touched a car the greater the chance something is fucked up. i would look for a low mileage unmolested car.

what kind of mileage is on the car? how is the interior? just taken a quick look on ebay and there are some decent turbo II's for well under 5000 and cars on ebay are usaully overpriced. i looked in the completed listings and there was a damn nice looking black one that sold for 2600

The chassis is at 130k miles. The motor is at 20k. The interior is not bad at all, though there is a rip on the driver's side seat. The engine was purchased from a shop (it was probably a rebuild) and the installation of said motor was done by the owner. As far as what they have told me, the warranty is transferrable.



I've been browsing ebay as well, but I can't seem to find an S5 turbo II for the life of me.

it is a factor, but almost any idiot can replace an engine. the cosmetic/bodywork stuff is the hardest to get right, and also the most expensive.

yep. pic is complex, you need to look at it

Is it pricey? I'm thinking of buying a fender and all the rad support stuff and dropping the car off at a good body shop and telling them to cut out all the hacked jobs other body shops have done to my car and installing the new rad support, fender and my feed lip.

dealer cost is $240.... list is $400, but it doesnt include the bumper holder framus.



again you should look at the pic, its a little odd how they broke it down

Looks like i'll be making another mazdaspeed motorsports buy soon