[athikerguy4life]

Thanks everyone for the good wishes! I'm going down for the gfinal look with my friend who is a mechanic. He's owned/worked on a bunch of 80's jap and american cars so he should be able to give me some good advice. We're going down with a jack, flashlight, and prybar to make sure everything is good and solid before I buy.

At least as solid as a $600 28 year old car can be. haha. I'm beyond stoked right now to go check this car out. Im actually going down with my mechanic friend and my girlfriend. she's there to make sure I dont make a stupid decision, cause I know my mechanic friend will just say "buy buy buy" haha. If everything checks out, she'll drive my car home and we'll be taking the mazda. He's gonna drive it while I sit back and listen and check everything out. He has more experience with old cars, so he's more likely to be able to "feel out" any problems during the drive home. I'll be too busy looking at everything and touching everything anyways. haha

 

[athikerguy4life]

Been doing some more research on the car and here's what I've come up with:

1984 RX-7 GS (base model)

-Mazda 12a rotary engine w/ 4 barrel carb
-5 Spd manual transmission (I believe this is the only "option" the first owner chose..)
-vented disc brakes (front and rear I believe)
-curb weight=2400 lbs
-AM/FM stereo (gonna try to find a way to do ipod integration but make it STEALTH

Things it doesn't have: A/C, power windows/locks/mirrors, power steering

And thats all I know for now. Can't wait to go see it!

 

[athikerguy4life]

Made a bill-of-sale today. Trying to figure out how Im gonna get the damn car home since it wont be registered/insured.. Might have to borrow the guys plates just to get it back home without attracting the lawmen

it'd be *technically* legal. At that point, if I got pulled over I could just say I was borrowing or test driving the car and be fine. As long as he doesn't know I've officially purchased it yet..

 

[ADOversa]

Awesome! Congrats! Looks like a fun project, and definitely something you don't see every day!

 

[athikerguy4life]

Update: The car was not what he made it out to be...

Today I went for the final inspection/test drive. Went down with cash in hand, ready to drive it home. So we get there, take the jack out, and take a look under the car (its so low that you NEED to jack it up to see anything). Here's what I find:

Bushings=dry rotted. All of them.
Brakes=low pads, but otherwise looking alright
Exhaust=Huge patch on it and it still leaks.
Interior=every single piece was chipped, cracked, broken, or just plain missing. I didn't see a single piece of trim that was in one piece.
Springs=quite saggy
Muffler=non-existent
Paint=well, there was a bit left on the car

And then there's the rust... I found at least 5 places I could wiggle a finger into. Probably 90% of the car was solid and rust free, and then there was some surface rust where you'd expect it, but then there were a couple areas with rot. All fixable, but not gonna be cheap.

On the plus side, the engine ran perfectly and it was super-smooth on my test drive. We drove it about 10 miles. 5 miles one way taking it nice and easy and then on the way back, we opened it up a bit more and romped on the gas. Transmission felt AWESOME, and even with the exhaust leak and a lack of a muffler, It sounded wicked cool. Brakes felt kinda spongy, but they stopped fine. Headlamps still pop up, all electrical components work (radio is missing, and there isn't much else in there. haha).

So I take a step back and say "alright, so your missing trim pieces, theres some rust on it, im gonna have to replace nearly EVERY suspension component, the paints bad, you've got missing pieces. I'm gonna have to think about it.." he replies with "yeah thats fine, let me know. Like you said, it does need some work. I'd really like to sell it, but if I can't, I'll probably end up scrapping it at the end of the summer."

I call him up a few hours later and offer $250. That's all he's gonna get in scrap anyways. He says no. I go up to $350. he turns me down again.

So I tell him good luck with the sale. If he cant sell it give me a call and my offer will stand.

 

[JoshG]

That's not good. I was hoping for a good update.

 

[athikerguy4life]

I'm going to look at another one on Saturday. I told the guy my offer would stand so I'm hoping he gives me a call in another week or two. If not I may call him back and raise my offer to $450. I really want it.

 

[athikerguy4life]

ITS MINE! Paid $450 for it

Now I'm trying to get the other car that I looked at yesterday. It has most of the parts that this car needs. I'm gonna be bringing it home towards the end of the week. I have to tow it back because I dont wanna register/insure it until it's fixed up. No point in registering a car that gonna be up on blocks for the next 3 months right? I'll post pics once I get it

 

[JoshG]

Congrats. Cant beat it for $450.

 

[athikerguy4life]

Exactly. I can part it out for that much if it doesn't end well.

 

[ADOversa]

Awesome! Congrats!

 

[athikerguy4life]

Bringing her home Saturday pics and videos will go up as soon as I have them

I'm extremely excited for this. I just love 80's cars with all the random weird switches and buttons. I really hope I can get the parts car too so I can get power windows and mirrors. I've been looking parts all weekend and its not looking too bad right now. Probably gonna have to put ~1000-1500 in suspension/brakes, another 200-300 in body work, another 200-300 in the engine and then whatever I eventually wanna spend on the paint/interior.

If I get the parts car it'll save me a ton of money cause it has a brand new header and exhaust with a high flow cat, coilovers, and all the interior goodies that I want. With any luck I can buy it cheap, strip the whole thing over a couple weeks, and then scrap it for a hundred bucks.