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So here's the deal. In my neighborhood is a guy, who's got a FD RX7. Years ago it was a driver, then it started sitting in the street, then eventually moved to his driveway, then out of sight. The other day I was out on a walk with the wife, and spotted it...sitting under a tree,in his back yard, covered in debris, obviously forgotten about. I assume the rotary stopped happily spinning and will probably never be fixed by his hand.I have big dreams of LS swapping this thing. I've got enough skill and the tools to do it, but a LS swap ain't cheap, and this car will need some resto work as well (paint, interior,bushings/suspension, brakes, tires.....) and I'm not rich. Also, I'm working on prepping my house for sale, we haven't found our new one, and are planning kids soon. Time may be a factor. Should I make a offer to buy it, clean it up and at least put the thing in a garage till I can get to it? He's been sitting on it rotting away for years now, he may not know what he's got....engine or not. low ball offer? I'm thinking walking up with 750-1000 cash to take it on the spot. Or just let it be, don't plant the seed of sale in his head, and get it when my life settles down? (if ever)

Start at scrap value...

But remember you will not be able to fulfill your dream for this car for quite some time and you will be stuck with storing it and walking around it and banging into it with the lawnmower.

If you do buy it don't take it apart until you have the majority of your swap parts on hand.

$500? These shells go for a couple grand decently clean. When it was parked in the street, where i could see it years ago it was pretty solid. I don't know its condition now. If water (think it had the moonroof) or mice have gotten in it, it might just be a loss at this point. Just mentioned it to the Mrs... Usually I bounce my bonehead ideas off her, and she comes back with the voice of reason, and financial wisdom. Oddly, she responded with, "go talk to him."

In reply to TGMF:

If you're wife's saying okay, jump on it.

Wife and I settled on a max of 1k offer if its decent. Anymore and it isn't worth it at this point for me. I'll swing by his place in the next couple days and see what his plans are for it. If he bites, I'll drag it home and snap some pre and post clean-up pictures.

Good luck. Post pics of it. I want one of those in a terrible way

TGMF wrote: Wife and I settled on a max of 1k offer if its decent. Anymore and it isn't worth it at this point for me. I'll swing by his place in the next couple days and see what his plans are for it. If he bites, I'll drag it home and snap some pre and post clean-up pictures.

I suppose if the guy isn't a car guy you could explain to him in layman's terms how much it costs to replace apex seals, paint, etc etc and see if he would part with it. Never hurts to offer. I can't remember the last time I saw an FD on the street in these parts where I live. Years ago.

FD? If you can get it for a grand do eet!

Approach him with $400 in one pocket and $100 in another if you need to up the offer. Then walk away. Have another $500 waiting at home just in case you need to get it before he can finish writing a Craigslist ad. Don't go all in on your first visit. I doubt that he has a line of people waiting to give him cash for a non-runner.

Oh wait, FD? Yeah, bring more cash.

I read the first post thinking it was a FC and was like ehhh, but as I read more and realized it was an FD I'm like DO IT! Seriously do it. Love the FD body and would be sad if you didn't try.

I can only endorse if you promise to not stuff an lswhatever in it.

I have no affection towards rotary engines. I owned a 85 RX7 as my first real car, so i can tick the "owned a rotary engine " box already. FD's engines like to blow up. I like wrenching, but I really like driving, and not worrying about it. LS's are reliable drop in power, with a huge backing as far as swap complexity. I know that makes some rotary fans upset, but having a Chevy lump under the hood and being on the road is still better than a slow return to the earth, in a backyard under a tree.

AS far as this guy going for it, I'm pretty certain no one else has approached him on purchasing it, unless you know he has it, you'd never see it on a normal cruise by. I can't imagine he will go for a grand, then again, it will need a lot of work to bring it back to life. I'll ask, because I've wanted to do it for years, and I might be moving soon, so this may be my last chance. Not that I wish bad on the guy, but hopefully he's in some type of dire financial position and jumps at my low ball offer.

If he knows what it's worth and isn't sick of looking at it, he'll want quite a few grand for it but it may still be worth it if it's not composted itself while sitting outside.

The 13B in the FD is very different from the one in an FB. But then, I like rotaries.

Going to toss out another option.

Shop for an already finished car. They have been done and should not be too hard to find.

I figure the road you are going down is going to eat 25k out of your pocket and a ton of your free time. Not that I have a problem with that, just tossing plan B on the table.

If wrenching on E36 M3 has value TO YOU (does to me) then forget what I just wrote.

I'd love to put either a 3.0 or 3.5l V6 in it, and maybe even get some dress up kits to pretend that it's a Lincoln.

Really.

I completely missed this is an FD

Good luck. If you get it for a grand you will have me motivated to ask about every car I've been watching sit and rot.

Yeah, I love working on my car, especially a car that isn't the daily, and has no deadline for completion. Dropping 25k on a built one seems like cheating, and it stings less to drag out the expense over years of parts purchases.

I stopped by there, gave a knock, but nobody answered. I wanted to snap a picture or two but thought it would look super creepy to a kid or wife if they are home and just not answering the door to a strange man. I'll try again tomorrow, if they don't answer again, then I'll leave contact info. Didn't leave it this time, I want to catch them off guard so they don't jump online to see what a FD is going for.

At worst, I can't get ahold of them without being obnoxious, but I'll at least have tried. I've still got my 350Z and could always dump a V8 in that if this doesn't pan out.

Sure you have seen this a million times, but it still cracks me up every time an LS swap is proposed for a rotary.

Hitler on Rotards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XhXB8XDYYc

I'm going to be a dissenting opinion I guess. I love to tear crap apart and build new crap. I have 2-4 car projects going on at any one time. BUT, if I were in moving mode, every car I own would be for sale and I wouldn't be planning on another for at least 2 years after the move. There's a lot of projects in a new house that occupy your time.

Plus kids? hahahaha....no. You will be buying it to store it, nothing more. The current owner is already storing it. You may think you are doing it a favor by moving it inside but it will be a project to die on the vine. Projects that dont get worked are projects that get scrapped.

In your situation the only thought I'd give to buying it is IF it were cheap enough wash it and flip it for a few hundred extra.

JThw8 wrote: I love to tear crap apart and build new crap. I have 2-4 car projects going on at any one time. BUT, if I were in moving mode, every car I own would be for sale and I wouldn't be planning on another for at least 2 years after the move.

That's the difference between you and me. If I were moving, I would take all of my projects with me. Why? Because I'm a walking logistics nightmare, that's why.

In reply to G_Body_Man:

You say that now, but move enough times, and you eventually reach the point where you'd rather just burn everything and start over wherever you end up next. I'm about there.

With that said, a cheap FD might be spared from the conflagration, if I were to come across one.

cmcgregor wrote: In reply to G_Body_Man: You say that now, but move enough times, and you eventually reach the point where you'd rather just burn everything and start over wherever you end up next. I'm about there.

I get too emotionally attached because I have one friend I never see, and another who's into cars as much as me, but is usually a Shiny Happy Person.

Just do it. You can't assign a monetary value to awesomeness.

Even if you don't want to do anything with it I'm sure you could pull it out of the weeds and sell it to someone (ME!) quickly.