tcps

Hey all,

Coming back to the states (Tampa then San Diego) within a few weeks and am looking to spend some reasonable money on a car to daily drive. I found this rebuilt/modified RX-7 on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6327
(advertised to put out 475@15psi)
and an S2000 on autotrader: http://autotrader.com/findacar/vdeta...or=&cardist=98
(called the guy, says puts out @314hp on stock pulley, @386 on Vortech prototype pulley)

The S2000 will be a great Cali car for me, but the RX-7 is pure badass. A lot of issues...price on the S2000, reliability of the rotary, etc. etc.

Just wondering if you guys could give your input/experience with modified RX-7s and supercharged S2000s.

Thanks.

b16aRacer

in the way of buying a heavily modified car, theres going to be some things youll need to consider.

1. Youre buying someone else project. Whatever they have done wrong is going to take its toll on you, because youll constantly have to go back and fix their mistakes.

2. With any car making that kind of horsepower, youre going to want to make sure everything was done right and maintained right, and bought legally. Ask for receipts for everything, maintenance, repair, and parts to make sure everything is legit.

3. High horsepower cars break. No way around it. The RX7 is older and will be more finicky, and will likely require more effort to keep it running its best. However, of the two, the RX7 probably has more potential to be faster and is faster the way it sits than the S2000, im sure.

Other than those, either car looks badass. I would probably take the RX7. It'll probably be more of a handful, but with those kinda numbers i'd be happy to own it. S2000 looks nice as well, but the RX7 seems like a more "complete" car. Good luck.

cosmo459sx

The RX7 hands down. I've seen a few supercharged S2000s and wasnt all that impressed with the outcome. Obviously, the rotary engine is a bitch to work on and needs to be worked on quite frequently. But then again its an RX7, and that car and hard work go hand in hand to equate to bad ass machine. Project car, take the RX7. Daily driver, take the S2000. But you already knew that, you just wanted to make us drool. lol

ricola555

The RX-7 is a beautiful car, and faster than anything you could ever imagine. I've always wanted a third gen...
The problem is emissions. If you are going to cali you are gonna have to pass the toughest epa standards (smog0 in the country. The RX-7 "...Further reliability and simplicity has been achieved by removing many of the unnecessary emissions equipment. "
Get the s2000.

StuntMan

If you want a reliable daily driver I would stay away from both of those. First off they both appear to be overpriced NMO. Also a supercharger + high compression = trouble. You might want to check to see what kinda of gas milage the RX7 gets(if that matters) I would guess fuel milage to be very low. That is a lot of horsepower for such small engines which is going to kill the life of those engines. I would go with the RX7 over the S2000 but you could find alot of other cars for that price with that kind of power with less reliablity issues.
What kind of torque are those cars putting down?

tcps

Reliability is key with me, but I just have that drive to have something powerful and different.
Emissions won't be a problem- military members keep emission standards/registration for their home state, i.e. my license will always be FL, won't have to pass CA emissions, and don't have to have a front license plate.
Fuel economy is no issue with me.
I was looking at Supras, but 35-40k for a used car is insane. If I can find a nicely done SR20det 240sx in Florida, I'd snatch it up in a hearbeat, but I'm kind of picky. Anyway, I'm not rich or anything at all- I just wanted to treat myself. I'm gonna be deployed with my unit 6-8 months out of the year anyway. I may die tommorrow.

Again, keep your comments coming, I'm learning a thing or two.

j0shth3j3w

my take if i had 30g's to throw down on a car i would build my own so i knew what and how was done to it or buy a evo like this https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/s...threadid=94871
but out of the 2 i think the s2000 just because the year and resale value. plus reliabilty would be an issue for me. you might want to think about buying a nice cruiser and the building a project so your never stranded. my .02. Josh

Tom

vorteched S2000's are pretty sweet

Slash

I dont think he should buy someone elses project car... mine took me to town, and it even turned out that a lot of the parts that were supposed to be there were either badly engineered or not on the vehicle at all (bad fuel system engineering, No built internals on motor)

StuntMan

You can find a Supra cheaper than that just have to look plus they seem to be able to handle power but parts are pricey. There seems to be someone else every week getting an SR swap but I believe Ralph was selling his https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/s...threadid=93767 not sure if it is still for sell. If you want alot of power and still have reliablity then you could find Mustangs and F-bodys all day but they are not really different considering everybody has one.