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I have a project car that hasn't seen much attention lately (since newborn)
1987 N.A. s4 rx7 in metallic blue No stereo (wires have been cut off and dash blanked) Push start button and kill switch as ignition barrel is missing Has decent brakes and suspension, has the more desirable s5 tail lights TSW wheels (and the original mazda wheels) Aftermarket exhaust however this is blowing 64k miles, starts and runs hot or cold No mot
I'd sell it to help fund a good retro daily if it was worth enough but I really don't want to get rid, will post pics soon when I have chance
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There are pics and videos available on my instagram rotary_chris
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,865
Club RR Member Number: 58
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1987 Mazda RX-7 FC non turboadam73bgt
@adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member 58
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Just had a look on insta, looks pretty cool Not the most common colour for them here either Values for FC's don't seem to be too strong at the moment, theres a bit of difference between NA and Turbo, and coupe and convertible, seems to be less of a difference in price between S4 and S5 I was trying to sell my MOT'd Turbo S5 Vert for around £4500 earlier this year but wasn't getting any real interest Do you know what it would take to get yours through an MOT? Rust can be a killer on these and I suspect no MOT would have potential buyers thinking its rusty As it is, I'd probably say £1k-£1.5k as a rough estimate? I'm no expert though, just an FC owner with a keen interest I hope you find a way to hang onto it though as they're a cool car
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I don't think it would take Much tbh, looking at the previous mot history of the car but it's been off the road 3 years and I haven't been able to inspect the underside properly, the floor inside under the carpets is pretty damn clean so I'm hoping for good things underneath! The exhaust blow could be an issue, but other than that it only needs a few niggly bits doing (that I'd likely fix before sale) I think if it's only going to be 1-1.5k then I'll likely hold onto it and find some way of looking after it while I don't gave the money or time to work on it
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The world and his wife knows that the rotary engine has always been a very flawed power-plant and that no manufacturer has come remotely close to getting it right even today, the RX-8 nearly bankrupted Mazda due to the volume of serious engine failures / re-calls with many cars needing new engines before they'd clocked up 20K miles. It was far from right in the RX-7 and the cars have become synonymous with being money-pits. Most RX-7's get laid up because the engine is on its last legs so I think most potential buyers would be very suspicious of a car that's been laid up for a while and assume the worst, (i.e. engine re-con required at more than the value of the car).
That said, they're remarkably pretty cars, advanced for their time and they have developed a bit of a cult status. I personally think they're very attractive cars and had a model RX-7 in pride of place on my display shelving when I was a teenager but I wouldn't touch one with a barge-pole due to their well-deserved reputation for mechanical fragility and consequent high running costs.
Who is your potential market? Possibly a die-hard RX-7 fanatic who is unfazed by major work but most likely a clueless teen who doesn't have the slightest idea what he's taking on, (to my shame, I have sold my money pits onto such clueless teens). Assuming the engine would run during an inspection, I think £1½-£2K is about right as is. With a fresh MOT, all the niggles set right, looking A1 and driving well it would probably be worth at least £5K, (how much cost is involved to get it to that status?) Looking at the MOT history I can see that you were typically failing on numerous items every year and getting shedloads of advisories including 'general under body corrosion', if the rot hasn't been sorted then the value would obviously be proportionately less. As the same MOT advisories were cropping up year after year, any serious buyer worth their salt is going to do the same MOT check and probably conclude the car has not been well maintained. If you're really into RX-7's I would suggest if it was on the road you would probably not want to get rid, so you'd just need to budget for a major engine overhaul about every 25K miles on top of usual classic running costs.
If ££'s is the key determining factor it might be considering how much the car could be worth if broken.
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Dec 10, 2017 11:34:13 GMT
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I think that might be the answer I was after. It has service history up to a point but between the end of the history I have, and the two previous owners (both of which I know thankfully) it's probably had a 'neglectful' owner. The guy who owned it prior to the guy I bought it from owned a tuning part shop and knew his stuff, so I think that's where advisories began to be sorted properly again. In terms of the engine, well maintained 13b's from this era have been known to do 100k+ miles, but again this goes depend on ownership. After the work I've done she does now start on the button, rebuilds about £1k if done at home and there are aftermarket seal kits that perform better than the standard mazda seals, but again it's be having the time and space to do it. I'm thinking of just taking it in for MOT and seeing what happens. It's just a shame not having the funds to do the work it deserves at the moment
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Dec 10, 2017 12:49:30 GMT
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I think that might be the answer I was after. It has service history up to a point but between the end of the history I have, and the two previous owners (both of which I know thankfully) it's probably had a 'neglectful' owner. The guy who owned it prior to the guy I bought it from owned a tuning part shop and knew his stuff, so I think that's where advisories began to be sorted properly again. In terms of the engine, well maintained 13b's from this era have been known to do 100k+ miles, but again this goes depend on ownership. After the work I've done she does now start on the button, rebuilds about £1k if done at home and there are aftermarket seal kits that perform better than the standard mazda seals, but again it's be having the time and space to do it. I'm thinking of just taking it in for MOT and seeing what happens. It's just a shame not having the funds to do the work it deserves at the moment If you believe that the corrosion issues have been properly dealt with and it's running well, (currently), then it may be worth nearer to £2K. I'm guessing that an RX-7 with 100K miles in it would have had the engine out a couple of times?
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Dec 10, 2017 13:16:04 GMT
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In honesty it looks like the engine is untouched
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,865
Club RR Member Number: 58
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1987 Mazda RX-7 FC non turboadam73bgt
@adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member 58
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Dec 10, 2017 15:23:25 GMT
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I think that might be the answer I was after. It has service history up to a point but between the end of the history I have, and the two previous owners (both of which I know thankfully) it's probably had a 'neglectful' owner. The guy who owned it prior to the guy I bought it from owned a tuning part shop and knew his stuff, so I think that's where advisories began to be sorted properly again. In terms of the engine, well maintained 13b's from this era have been known to do 100k+ miles, but again this goes depend on ownership. After the work I've done she does now start on the button, rebuilds about £1k if done at home and there are aftermarket seal kits that perform better than the standard mazda seals, but again it's be having the time and space to do it. I'm thinking of just taking it in for MOT and seeing what happens. It's just a shame not having the funds to do the work it deserves at the moment If you believe that the corrosion issues have been properly dealt with and it's running well, (currently), then it may be worth nearer to £2K. I'm guessing that an RX-7 with 100K miles in it would have had the engine out a couple of times? The 13B in the RX7 is a totally different beast to that in the RX8. They can fairly easily do 100k miles with proper maintenance (even RX8s can do this with the right maintenance) so shouldn't necessarily assume the engine is about to expire.. What will help to convince a prospective buyer would be a compression test done to show that the engine is in reasonable health. Having this (and an MOT) would significantly help the resale value
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