Major Restoration Effort. 85 S
12-12-14, 12:53 PM
#1
Major Restoration Effort. 85 S
A customer dropped her once beloved 85 RX-7 off to me to have a full restoration done on the car. She said that she bought the car with very low miles as a lease turn in back in 1987. She drove it and parked it after a light tap on the right rear caused intermittent running issues. She had been taking parts off of this car to keep her current 85 GS on the road. She decided it was time to bring this car back to life and chose me to perform the much needed work. I will document the progress as this car unfolds to a car that is ready for service once again. Most people would part this one out, but this will go to show you that they are all worth saving. Here are some pics of the car:
12-12-14, 01:20 PM
#3
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Jealous! i would love to be restoring a 1st gen.
that one looks like a good candidate too, its complete, and seems mostly to be decent.
what is the time frame on the build?
that one looks like a good candidate too, its complete, and seems mostly to be decent.
what is the time frame on the build?
12-12-14, 01:34 PM
#4
With the new floor sections that will have to go in and the rust repair I quoted her 6-8 months on the restoration. I work 12 hours a day and I have four kids and a wife so I can't devote all of my free time to the project. Tanya understood and said that she will be happy to wait as long as it takes. The car has been sitting over 10 years. The engine actually spins freely... Compression is very little unfortunately.
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12-12-14, 09:51 PM
#8
Sorry Qingdao, this is going to be a factory restoration, so no aftermarket wheels lol. And on the center caps..Its missing one so I will need to locate one from an 84-85 S model. Probably one of the tougher parts that I am going to need to find.
12-13-14, 12:57 AM
#9
She absolutely picked the right guy for the job. Your attention to detail and knowledge of how these things are supposed to be put together will def give her a car that will be roadworthy and nostalgic all at the same time. I will follow this thread closely as I am a major fan of 85's. Good luck with the build!
12-14-14, 09:41 AM
#10
I agree completely!
Looking forward to seeing how the build goes, especially the rust repair so I can compare it to mine (a natural male thing to do) and see how the rebuild part goes.
12-15-14, 06:35 AM
#12
I appreciate the compliments guys! I'm really going to try and save this car and bring it back to is former glory. The rust is going to be the most challenging part as a section of the unibody is missing from rust. I have another shell from an 85 GSL that I believe has good floor sections that I can use. The first thing that needs to be done is making the car able to roll around freely. The brakes are locked up and all of the tires are flat. Brakes will be done first and I plan on swapping another set of wheels onto the car that have good tires. This will help me roll the car and will allow me to restore the steel wheels.
12-15-14, 05:15 PM
#14
I vacuumed the interior and engine bay and fixed the hood latch. I also emptied the crap out of the hatch area and reset the carpet and mat. I will be sure to take more pictures tomorrow. Will hopefully get some good wheels and tires on the thing tomorrow.
12-16-14, 08:03 AM
#19
Damn that's a mess, looks like something I'd restore LOL. You gonna try your hand at body work or is someone else doing the door and quarter panel repair? I'll be watching this 
I'll take a look, I might have some of the steel center caps from my S still, I'll let you know.
I'll take a look, I might have some of the steel center caps from my S still, I'll let you know.
12-29-14, 03:53 AM
#23
I embarked on a very similar project back in July. My car is an '84 GS - silver with burgundy interior. It sat outside for 20 years in Connecticut, so it also needs some love to bring it back. I'm my own customer, so there isn't much urgency here.
One thing I have to fix is the smell. If yours is like mine, it has a musky old car odor that really needs to go. I plan to use a carpet cleaning machine on it when it gets warmer. Any other suggestions?
One thing I have to fix is the smell. If yours is like mine, it has a musky old car odor that really needs to go. I plan to use a carpet cleaning machine on it when it gets warmer. Any other suggestions?
12-29-14, 08:02 AM
#24
I would pull the carpet and steam clean it. Check the padding underneath for saturation from water or animal urine. If you don't want to pull the dash out to remove the front carpet section you can just peel the carpet back enough to access the padding. But, I would pull out as much as you can and clean it it properly and clean the metal underneath. You'd be surprised how much smell can come form some nasty liquid under the carpet.
