Where are all the RX-7s?!
Discussion
dapprman said:
I got lucky as there was a guy round the corner who had started his own garage and had always fancied my car - literally he rang my door bell, explained he had been eyeing my car for years and I no longer seemed to drive it much so would I be interested in selling.
Dream sale that!To those saying prices being brought down etc- you sure about that?
I remember years ago almost buying one for £6k with a fresh rebuild and a fresh respray. That would be what triple that now?
Riknos said:
Dream sale that!
To those saying prices being brought down etc- you sure about that?
I remember years ago almost buying one for £6k with a fresh rebuild and a fresh respray. That would be what triple that now?
Three years back then I sold mine - yes they had been rock bottom for a few years - the importers were flooding the market and at low prices as they were hard to sell.To those saying prices being brought down etc- you sure about that?
I remember years ago almost buying one for £6k with a fresh rebuild and a fresh respray. That would be what triple that now?
I let my recently rebuilt 1996 Type RS go for £4.5k in 2012 when the market was at rock bottom - it took 9 months to sell. It had started to become bothersome to run as I had a very short commute over rough roads, which put me into a constant cycle of changing suspension bushings, plus the lack of local specialists made servicing a real nuisance. The GT86 that eventually replaced it is far easier to live with and almost as fun, but nowhere near as special.
Massive regret now given it's probably worth around 15k, and my dream of one day owning a Spirit R is now a distant one. I should have sorn it and squirreled it away as I now have the space for a weekend car.
Massive regret now given it's probably worth around 15k, and my dream of one day owning a Spirit R is now a distant one. I should have sorn it and squirreled it away as I now have the space for a weekend car.
I was lucky enough to get a decent example mid 2012 when it was the lowest prices for them. Was first one I went to view and other than faded red paint and a hole in the intercooler pipe (£5 replacement) it was generally fine.
It did have a really stupid big spoiler and a bucket seat which was a hassle but returned it to stock.
Not had a rebuild as of yet and major costs so far have been an Alexi ECU and coilovers as the suspension was shot.
Bodywork wise it'll be early bumper with 99 spoiler and side skirts so nothing too extravagant.
Paid £4k and had maybe 60k miles on it and decent compression.
Reckon once I redo the paint again (had a cheap respray in 2012). It'd go for £13-15k.
I do think that with cheap finance for new sports cars it'll be rarer to see them on the road.
Been about 3 years since I've seen another one in the UK aside form a car show.
As mentioned above they will go up in price and wouldn't surprise me if some get sent back to Japan, it happened with the NSX before it skyrocketed in value.
It did have a really stupid big spoiler and a bucket seat which was a hassle but returned it to stock.
Not had a rebuild as of yet and major costs so far have been an Alexi ECU and coilovers as the suspension was shot.
Bodywork wise it'll be early bumper with 99 spoiler and side skirts so nothing too extravagant.
Paid £4k and had maybe 60k miles on it and decent compression.
Reckon once I redo the paint again (had a cheap respray in 2012). It'd go for £13-15k.
I do think that with cheap finance for new sports cars it'll be rarer to see them on the road.
Been about 3 years since I've seen another one in the UK aside form a car show.
As mentioned above they will go up in price and wouldn't surprise me if some get sent back to Japan, it happened with the NSX before it skyrocketed in value.
Edited by KaiserDahms on Wednesday 20th May 17:25
I bought mine towards the end of 2018 for £5k Someone had tried to turn it into a drift car. I drive mine everywhere which you can see on my insta @driv3meto I take it places no RX7 should go 😂
I got rid of the Big Wing and replaced it with a Mazdaspeed spoiler.
Gave the car some TLC; wheels, coilovers, a wrap, new radiator, water pump, a service and its still going strong 6000 miles later. Now at 79k miles. I don't worry about it going wrong. I let it warm up properly before any drive and add premix to every fuel run. I also keep oil in the boot just in case but my car doesn't seem to go through much oil at all. I still have bits to do like adding an Apexi Power FC and doing a basic power upgrade along with a larger intercooler. I don't really have any intention of selling the car despite knowing it will return a profit. It is an amazing car. Maybe not as refined as my 300ZX but it is such a beautiful car.
It currently looks like this
I got rid of the Big Wing and replaced it with a Mazdaspeed spoiler.
Gave the car some TLC; wheels, coilovers, a wrap, new radiator, water pump, a service and its still going strong 6000 miles later. Now at 79k miles. I don't worry about it going wrong. I let it warm up properly before any drive and add premix to every fuel run. I also keep oil in the boot just in case but my car doesn't seem to go through much oil at all. I still have bits to do like adding an Apexi Power FC and doing a basic power upgrade along with a larger intercooler. I don't really have any intention of selling the car despite knowing it will return a profit. It is an amazing car. Maybe not as refined as my 300ZX but it is such a beautiful car.
It currently looks like this
dapprman said:
If you're upgrading your intercooler then you'll probably need to increase the size of your secondary injectors as well - which will also result in the need for a larger in tank fuel pump or an ancillary booster.
Thank you for the information. Didn't know about the need to increase the size of the Secondary injectors. I do have an upgraded fuel pumpDriv3meto said:
Thank you for the information. Didn't know about the need to increase the size of the Secondary injectors. I do have an upgraded fuel pump
Was certainly my experience. Got an FMIC and Apexi PFC, then in the winter with the cold air, was hitting c. 95% injector duty, was advised to upgrade injectors. Presumably it would be a possible alternative to wind back the boost, but where's the fun in that?If you get the Apexi with the Commander display unit you can keep an eye on injector duty.
With the injectors, there are primaries and larger secondaries. Technically you can upgrade either to get the higher flow rate. Upgrading the primaries is cheaper because the parts are common and just slot in, but will probably spoil the idle / low speed manners. Upgrading the secondaries you need big injectors and an aftermarket fuel rail, which gets quite a bit more expensive, but by keeping the stock primaries it keeps it civilised around town, as I understand it.
Car looks good in the red wrap
The RX-7 has always been a rare car in the UK but apparently there are over 500 on the road at some stage or another throughout the year. The UK FD Owner's Club now consists of owners that have had their cars or several RX-7s since the 90s or early 2000s, and in the last 4-5 years a lot of more serious owners with the pockets and DIY capabilities to keep the cars going and improve / restore them. You do still have some owners that are young and don't have the right cash to keep them going, and they get neglected to a degree.
OEM parts aren't always that pricey and some modifications are reasonably priced, but many want the authentic JDM stuff by RE-Amemiya, Knight Sports, FEED, Greddy, etc. and some of these parts go for insane money. There are one or two well established members of the community that break bad cars, fix up good ones but will often import a car that is quite standard but has a few nice parts on it simply because the value of those parts almost equals the cost of the car from the auction. Fortunately, those cars are just having the parts swapped out and sold separately while the rest of the car is restored and prepared for sale to a new owner in the UK or Europe.
As for running the car, they aren't that complicated (oil and spark plug changes every 3,000-6,000 miles assuming you've checked and replaced the older ancillaries already) and I've put over 20,000 miles on mine since buying it back in 2015 with 15+ track days, and the engine is still showing compression figures as good as the day I bought it. I am still running the sequential twin turbo system which is temperamental to those that don't tackle the issues (same way you would replace 20 year old suspension bushings rather than just one). Many want to swap out for a single which admittedly runs cooler and can make more power, but usually costs quite a bit since you need to change fuel, intercooler, custom exhaust, ignition, etc. and potentially lose AC and power steering.
Anyway, I have thought about selling at times to try something else but it always comes back to the question, what else can you get that is as engaging, balanced and capable for under £30k? It has front and rear double wishbone suspension with endless adjustability out of the box, and only weighs 1,250-1,280kg, and without computers spoiling the experience.
If you've ever driven a sorted RX-7 you quickly determine that a R32/R33/R34, Supra, Evo and even NSX doesn't quite match it in most circumstances and those cars leave you wanting except for straight line speed in cars with 600+hp. It's not as easy to drive as an Evo or Skyline due to the RX-7 being RWD but I simply feel it's a better package and just as reliable and temperamental as the 4G63 and RB26. I have also thought about moving onto Porsche as many RX-7 owners do, but the RX-7 is still a better driver's car than anything that isn't a GT3 in terms of engagement and fun on a Sunday drive or around a track. My view is that you need to spend possibly £60k+ to find something that's equivalent or better value as a driver's car (then you get into a whole new world of upkeep costs as well), and I know many can't get past the stigma associated with the rotary although it's been very reliable for me.
Buy a sorted car or one that only needs a few things doing, take it to Rotor Torque to sort it out, and join the community which is very close and helpful to each other and you'll see why they are changing hands less frequently because the community is better than it was 5-8 years ago.
OEM parts aren't always that pricey and some modifications are reasonably priced, but many want the authentic JDM stuff by RE-Amemiya, Knight Sports, FEED, Greddy, etc. and some of these parts go for insane money. There are one or two well established members of the community that break bad cars, fix up good ones but will often import a car that is quite standard but has a few nice parts on it simply because the value of those parts almost equals the cost of the car from the auction. Fortunately, those cars are just having the parts swapped out and sold separately while the rest of the car is restored and prepared for sale to a new owner in the UK or Europe.
As for running the car, they aren't that complicated (oil and spark plug changes every 3,000-6,000 miles assuming you've checked and replaced the older ancillaries already) and I've put over 20,000 miles on mine since buying it back in 2015 with 15+ track days, and the engine is still showing compression figures as good as the day I bought it. I am still running the sequential twin turbo system which is temperamental to those that don't tackle the issues (same way you would replace 20 year old suspension bushings rather than just one). Many want to swap out for a single which admittedly runs cooler and can make more power, but usually costs quite a bit since you need to change fuel, intercooler, custom exhaust, ignition, etc. and potentially lose AC and power steering.
Anyway, I have thought about selling at times to try something else but it always comes back to the question, what else can you get that is as engaging, balanced and capable for under £30k? It has front and rear double wishbone suspension with endless adjustability out of the box, and only weighs 1,250-1,280kg, and without computers spoiling the experience.
If you've ever driven a sorted RX-7 you quickly determine that a R32/R33/R34, Supra, Evo and even NSX doesn't quite match it in most circumstances and those cars leave you wanting except for straight line speed in cars with 600+hp. It's not as easy to drive as an Evo or Skyline due to the RX-7 being RWD but I simply feel it's a better package and just as reliable and temperamental as the 4G63 and RB26. I have also thought about moving onto Porsche as many RX-7 owners do, but the RX-7 is still a better driver's car than anything that isn't a GT3 in terms of engagement and fun on a Sunday drive or around a track. My view is that you need to spend possibly £60k+ to find something that's equivalent or better value as a driver's car (then you get into a whole new world of upkeep costs as well), and I know many can't get past the stigma associated with the rotary although it's been very reliable for me.
Buy a sorted car or one that only needs a few things doing, take it to Rotor Torque to sort it out, and join the community which is very close and helpful to each other and you'll see why they are changing hands less frequently because the community is better than it was 5-8 years ago.
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