Vital Stats

Details are provided below.

Body (good condition)
The car has minimal winter experience, and it shows. The shop that installed the modded engine did a good job mechanically, but they left small scratches on a lot of the car, so I had it painted, and a few very small spots of surface rust were taken care of then before they got to be a problem.

I think it shows in the pictures how great this car looks, and with the tinting, it's even better now. Come see it, you won't be disappointed.

Interior (fair condition)
Burgandy with leather seats and door panel trim. Overall it's good. The original stereo is in there, still looking as beautiful as ever, and sounding surprisingly good. There have been no mods made inside, and no real damage, but there are the following opportunities for improvement:

• Some of the plastic trim has faded from exposure to sun. Note that the dash looks great, as do all leather surfaces.
• The carpet in the rear needs replacement.
• The leather steering wheel should be re-covered or replaced.

Suspension (excellent condition)
The stock handling of any RX-7 is very good. But I wanted better, so some mods have been done here. The ride is pretty rough, but not punishing.

• Racing Beat springs lower the ride about 1-1.5", and the increased stiffness definitely helps turn in and transient response. A buddy of mine with a '98 Firebird Trans Am was blown away when he drove it - said it was very flickable and turned like it's on rails.
• Tokico Illumina (non-adjustable) shocks are an excellent match to damp these springs.

Brakes were done recently (new rotors and bearings up front, one new caliper in the back, and new pads everywhere), and they work great. Pedal feel is firm and grip is good. They are stock brakes, no mods or upgrades. Note that the GSL has disc brakes in the back, not drums.

Wheels and tires are in excellent condition, and a nice setup for driving this car in real-world conditions.

• Centerline 14" wheels look fantastic with the silver body.
• Bridgestone Potenza RE-71 (195/65-14) have good dry traction, sharp handling, a decent ride, and are very good in the wet. Only tire I've had that was better in the rain was a Nokia NRH, which are almost impossible to get now.

Drivetrain (excellent condition)
The main attraction with this car is the engine. It came from an '88 RX-7 that I drove for years. I had it rebuilt and modified when it was put into this car, and I've never had a problem with it. It pulls very hard and it loves the revs. You will NOT be embarassed by any of the current crop of front wheel drive cars in this machine!

Details of the engine:

• 6-port motor with 50,000 kms since rebuild
• Street-ported, plus secondary actuators and exhaust sleeves removed for better flow.
• K&N conical air filter
• Header, 2.5" collector and resonator, 3" stainless exhaust to 3" Saber muffler. Note that this setup is very loud with the NA motor.
• Stock '88 factory computer and engine management system
• Blueprinted and flow-matched injectors.
• Well-maintained with oil changes every 5000 kms, and new spark plugs every 4 months.
• High-capacity electric fuel pump in tank w/ larger fuel line, capable of feeding over 350 hp.
• Electric fan on rebuilt stock rad - this setup has kept cool even in city driving in 30+ degree temps all summer.
• Braided stainless hoses for oil cooler.
• Dyno-tested: 150hp at the wheels, which is about 180 at the engine. Note that this was before the injectors were rebuilt, and I can certainly feel a difference in top-end power and smoothness everywhere. I expect that it's making a fair bit more than 180 now, but I haven't had it tested.

The clutch is a copper-lined competition unit. This clutch is pretty grabby and takes some getting used to, but it was installed because the original clutch gave up at 170,000 kms, and my plan was to eventually put a turbo on this car. Some say that this clutch is inappropriate for use on the street, but I find it works nicely once you learn how to treat it. I'm very gentle on clutches in general, but I like the added security of this bulletproof clutch. You can rev it to 7,000 RPM and dump the clutch at full-throttle, and it just hooks up with no complaint. You'll never burn this sucker out.

The '84 transmission was used with the '88 engine because I wanted shorter gearing than I had with my '88, and I also wanted the speedometer and odometer to read correctly. It's geared pretty short – you have to use 3rd for a 0-60 run, but it makes it a lot of fun to drive - excellent torque and you really get to wind it out and use the revs.

The stock limited-slip differential is still working fine. The car launches hard with as much or as little wheel spin as you want, and no sign whatsoever of axle tramp. It's very easy to set this car into a controled drift, make mid-corner corrections, or whatever you want to do. You can steer it with the throttle as much or as little as you want.

Miscellaneous Notes
When this engine was rebuilt, the intention was to eventually put a large turbo on it and try to make about 400hp for my Bricklin project car. When I bought the '84, the plan changed to swapping the 13B into the '84 in NA tune, then adding a mild turbo setup in the spring to aim for a 250 hp street-drivable machine (hence the hi-perf clutch & fuel pump and big exhaust). The purchaser of this car could take any of the following approaches (or something similar):

• Just drive it! The car is a lot of fun right now. It feels faster than it is, but there's something to be said for that. Just do some basic cosmetic and convenience fixes, maybe put a quieter muffler on it, and enjoy. For reference, in its current state of tune, it is a bit faster in a straight line than my buddy's 2001 Prelude.
• Stick with the NA setup, but tune it a bit more. A quieter muffler, Pettit racing NA computer, and lightened flywheel should be enough to make this car a serious razor-sharp NA performer making around 200hp at the motor.
• Mild turbo setup. The existing computer with a rising rate fuel pressure regulator and a small, non-intercooled turbo at about 6-7 psi should get this combo making 220-240hp, and be very livable on the street.
• Intermediate turbo setup. Add an intercooler, T-II or aftermarket computer, and a moderate turbo making 10 psi, and you're looking at about 300hp at the motor, or a solid 240-250 at the wheels. This setup would still be drivable on the street, but I think you'd want to stay off boost in the rain. :)
• Wild turbo setup. The sky's the limit. :) Read postings on the RX=7 Mailing List to get an idea of how much power you can make with a serious turbo setup on a well-built 13B (350-400hp setups are fairly common). Just don't ask me how you're going to hook it up in a little 1st gen. :)

Conclusion
Well, that's the epic saga of my sweet little '84 GSL with its ported 13B. Like I said above, I've reduced the price to $3900, but if you're genuinely interested in this machine as a project car or a driver, then please don't hesitate to make an offer.

I'm serious about selling this car as soon as possible, so if you're interested act quickly. The first non-outrageous offer I receive will take the car. Get in touch with me to set up a time for viewing and a test drive.

Resources
I've provided some links to valuable resources for an RX-7 owner below. Any rotary-engined car is special, and requires special expertise. This is also true for a car that's almost 20 years old. In general, you want to STAY AWAY from Mazda dealers. Yes, they may have special tools, and they might even have a certificate saying that they've taken a rotary course or two. But they see these cars so rarely, they don't have the body of knowledge about how do deal with the car day-to-day, or how to recognize symptoms. For example, I had a Mazda dealer tell me that I had a blown engine when I really just had dirty and leaky injectors!

There are lots of vendors, shops, customizers, and user groups around. There are plenty of people who love the RX-7 (especially the first-generation GSL and GSL-SE cars, known as FB's because of their serial numbers), which makes ownership an interesting and rewarding experience. I'm certainly going to miss mine!