aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Ok lets try this again, spent an hr doing this and comp locked up on me so round 2 lol. My names Randy, nice to meet everyone, I used to be in the honda game but this wierd little car caught my eye and now im addicted, I cant wait to get this car to the point its safe enough for autox. I have a 1983 Mazda RX-7 I think is a GS model. I havent decided which way I want to go with this yet so im just goin to start with the stuff that needs fixed regardless of going original or performance. I got pretty lucky with this RX-7, traded one of my old civics for it and its in surprisingly good shape for an 83, some rust on the undercarraige no rotting cancer holes tho, most of it is surface rust outside of the diff housing which has deffinately seen better days. It has 129k on the clock and feels like it has good power so the engine cant be in to bad a shape, so far the only leaks ive found is the 1 under the bee hive oil cooler, and the gearbox is leaking somewhere, not bad tho more of a seap than a leak everything else is dry, thought i might have a problem cause there was a pool of oil on the 12a stamp but I cleand it off and it still hasnt come back so yay me lol. So far ive redone the rims, last owner painted them gold ; ;, stripped that and put a couple coats of black and a gloss coat on them leaving the lip alluminum, turned out way better then I was expecting. I redid the trim around the windsheild and side windows, striped them down to metal primerd them and redid the black on that as well as the wiper arms. I didnt want to bend up my trim so I left it on the car taped everything off and used aircraft paint remover, grease and wax remover and a light sanding to get it ready for primer. Mechanicaly ive changed the oil and gearbox lube, 20-50 in engine and 80-90 in the gearbox. I did the plugs and wires, im going to do the cap rotor and 2 new coils this weekend maybe next if I dont have the time to do it to. Ive orderd new axle bearings, seals, front bearings, rotors, 2 motor mounts and a trans mount that I should have by saturday and in by sunday I hope. Sorry about all that reading with no pics just wanted to recap what has been done since ive gotten my hands on it. Ok heres some recap pics, let me know what yall think and any ideas yall might have on anything I might be overlooking or a part yall know is crap that I shouldnt waste my money on, thanks guys and girls

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Heres some of what ive done recently, the trim and whatnot.

RotoricanNY

iTrader: (2)

first of all welcome to the rotary and first gen community, there's a lot to learn about these cars, luckily this forum is filled with TONS of info and a lot of extremely knowledgeable persons in this community, if you have any questions look in the FAQ first and if you can't find it there feel free to ask, I'm almost 100% sure someone will be able to answer you question or point you in the right direction.

btw if you ask me, when ever you trade a honda for an rx7 you win regardless of the shape of the rx7 lol. Nice

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the welcome R-cien, and yeah even with all the money I dumped into my civic this car was deffinately a trade up. My bros thought I was nutz untill they saw how it sits now after all my cleaning up and a tune up, and passed my bosses 85 ss monte, it was a good feeling lol. I love the power band in this car, it pulls all the way till the BUZZZZZ. I dont think the guy before me new much about rotarys, he must not have hit the buzzer much cause first time I got it up there after my fluid changes it kinda caughed and woke up lol. But anyway im ramblng thank R-cien and already learning alot reading thru the older posts^^

bmeyer

iTrader: (5)

Very, very nice car. I really like the way you did the wheels, you gave me an idea. I think I'm going to have to do the same. How did you get rid of some of the crusty **** on the wheels? I guess you just sanded the hell out of it? Anyway good find, and you'll love the car.

I'd check fuel and brake lines, and replace as necessary, also the fuel filters are pretty wimpy and clog easily. They cost $3 and I change them every 4000 with the oil. Another thing to look at is the rear drum brakes, the self-adjusters should get anti-seize lube on them from time to time, but usually get ignored. My self-adjusters never got greased, and it was a bitch getting them to work, now they do. Good luck with the car, and keep us posted.

RotoricanNY

iTrader: (2)

Welcome, and yeah those rims did come out pretty nice, you got a good deal on that car, doesn't help that Maya Gold is my favorite oem color :-D

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

Nice! What paint did you use on the window trim?

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the advice bmeyer, just did my fuel filter 5 mins ago^^ going to take care of the reart brakes when I do the axles this weekend.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks t_g_farrell, I cant remember the brand but it was automotive trim paint, ill check the can and let you know when I get to the house tonight. It turned out pretty good.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Sweet, called up worldpac today at work and orderd 4 oil cooler o-rings, upper and lower rad hose, oil cooler to housing hose and heater to oil cooler line and the other one under the cooler that goes to the heater. Should have all that on monday just intime for my day off teusday. Also sucked out what I could from the steering box, last guy put reg power steering fluid in it lol, after I got that out and cleaned up I filled it with some 90wt and steering feels a ton better. Its kinda shaping up to be a slow day at work so I might get alot done on the rx-7 today^^

yay 12a stamp still dry

Kentetsu

Nice work, and a great looking car! Welcome aboard.

If you decide to autocross it, and want any advice on suspension setup, feel free to shoot me a PM. I'll be glad to let you know what I'm using, and what's available out there. If nothing else, I can help you avoid making the same mistakes that several of us have already been through.


.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks Kentetsu, oh im deffinately going to autox the RX-7, shes beggin for it lol. And ill deff hit you up when it comes time for tires shocks and springs, dont wanna be in a class I have no busniess being in cause I got the wrong tires or put a strut bar on lol. And saw some of your autox vids nice driving Kentetsu^^


Thanks for all the comments guys, keeps me motivated and not lazy lol

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Hey t_g_farrel, the paint I used was dupli-color trim paint, restores oem black. The paint is a flat black, on my car its glossy because I used a good clearcoat, Im going to sand it with some really fine sand paper to give it the factory flat black look, ive used this stuff before on my 79 camaro chrome trim and it looked good but only lasted about a year before it started fadeing again and not looking to good, so I striped it again sanded the metal to give the primer a good surface, before the primer tho make sure you wipe it down with some grease and tar remover this will give the primer a really good bond to the metal, make sure you use a pretty fine sandpaper or some tuff steel wool will do the trick to, you just wanna scuff the surface not scratch it. Next lay down a couple good coats of primer and lightly sand that with some really fine sand paper to smooth it up and get out any run spots and other flaws then a couple coats of the color of your choice let dry really good, an optional step here is to wet sand the paint to smooth that up and get out any flaws, next is a couple good coats of clear. The clear is whats really going to make it last and keep the weather from discoloring the paint, depending on your taste mine being flat as opposed to glossy is just a matter of how far you take wet sanding the clearcoat. You can get away without all the wetsanding but the point of it is to get all the minor imperfections out because thats where its going to chip fade and discolor. The trim on my camaro still looks factory new after almost 9 years half of that sitting in my backyard not running lol. I know its alot of work but it will last and give you the results your looking for.

jshiz

iTrader: (4)

beautiful car. That color is PIMPtastic

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

i really like the maya gold paint on the S2. not a fan of the black wheels but its your car and if you like them, then keep them and enjoy them. i think the car is a great candidate for a restoration instead of a stripping and bastardazation.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks mazdaverx7, yeah im liking the maya gold the more I look at it, when I first got it I wanted to paint it white, just always liked white on my sports cars or some reason, but the maya gold just screams 80's and goes to well on car to change it lol.

On another note, got most of my parts in today, my 3 mounts, oil cooler o-rings and rear axle bearings, also got some hose to replace old brittle ones around the carb. Been doing searches and keep finding some stuff on switching to mechanical secondaries but not any detaild stuff, can anyone point me to a link by chance, from what im reading being able to feel when the secondaries kick in with the pedal will help the gas milage a bit. On an interior note, I spent my down time at work today looking for door panels for my car and cant find anything but small parts like the door latch cups, I also found door panels used but none of them were for my year and nothing at all in the color of my interior ( brown) anyone have any ideas on where I might find some 83 rx7 manual window door panels? I dont even really care about color anymore, I can recover and paint to match, all the rattles are getting anoying lol. If I cant find some soon im going to go buy some 1/4 inch panels of wood and make some lol. Oh well heres some pics of the parts, everything looks right on the mounts but do these bearings look right? I havent had the rear end apart yet and the guy at oreileys didnt look like he knew what was going on lol, I know these parts had to be orderd and they orderd them all together, he pulled these bearings off the shell and my mounts were in a plastic crate in the back so I dont know lol. Let me know what yall think, thanks guys and Ill deff take some good pics through out the work I do to the rx7 tommorow^^

Kentetsu

Mech secondaries (which I highly recommend). The first link has good instructions from Sterling, the second link has decent photos:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...threadid=62678

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=157717


Also, before you go through the trouble if changing out those rear wheel bearings, you might want to decide if LSD and disc brakes are something you are going to want. Swapping out the rear end for one from a GSL will give you both, and let you keep the same bolt pattern for the wheels. I did this on my GS and love it. Disc brakes work better, are easier to work on, and the LSD makes the car a blast to horse around in. Plus, for autocross, it eliminates spinning the inside wheel when powering out of corners, which makes a huge difference in times.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks Kentetsu I really apreciate you taking the time to find a link for me most of the stuff that came up when I searched "mechanical secondary mod" didnt seem to relevant, ust need to word my searches better I guess. And yes a rear end swap is something ive been looking into, mines deff seen better days, lots of flaking rust not surface, the problem is finding one. Im still going to replace the rear axle bearings, mine are making alot of noise, and ill just keep my eye out for the right axle housing. Am I right when thinking I need to find a 83 or earlier gsl rearend? It was 84-85 that changed lug sizes right, ot was it just the 84-85 gsl-se that changed lug sizes?

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

lol just realized its my day off and ive been up since 6am waiting to work on my car lol, its been a while since ive had a car I liked as much as this one.

RotoricanNY

iTrader: (2)

the GSL-SE is the one with different lug pattern (can't remember off the top of my head), GSL is 4 x 110

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Thanks R-cien, I knew the GSL-SE had a diff pattern but didnt know if it was just the year 84-85 or if it was the fact it was a specific modle thing for GSL-SE, thanks for clearing it up for me, gives me a few more options when looking for a rearend.

And a quick question, are FC mounts diff from FB mounts? The ones I took off were smaller than the new ones, pass side was fines no problems, but the driver side was hitting the side of the motor after lowering it down, just wondering if I maybe got the wrong year or maybe ones for a 13b I dont know lol. Alright gotta go try to inish putting the rx-7 back together, its looking like rain outside, ill post pics here shortly.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Ok heres a few pics didnt get done nearly what I wanted to but eh, got a little side tracked with a fire hazard under the dash. Was under the dash checking out the pedals and making sure I have full range with all, and checking for any slack by hand when I looked over and saw a big rats nest of wires behind the the radio all kinds of quick connects and splices and amp wires. I cant stand that or some reason bugs the crap out of me, especialy when I can see them hanging down boooo, cleaned up most of that and taped it up, going to solder everything except the stereo harness, but solder gun at work so that will be a project for another day. Didnt bother with the axle bearings, going to give a good hard look around for a gsl rearend for one more week if I dont find anything ill just do the bearings and get rid of that noise. Decided to do the beehive o-rings at work tommorow so I can do it with my oil change. And the mounts cant be right one is touching the motor where the oil pan mates to it and the other one is pressing against the lower rad hose booo. All in all not the day I wanted but did get some stuff done.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Heres a few more in the differances in the motor mounts.

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Hey hey guys and gals, and OMFG could mazda have made that damn beehive oil cooler any more complicated to get out lol, for something right on top like that you would think it would be a little easier. But anyway no more oil leak.... for now lol, still dont know about the mounts and if there just cheap and poorly made or if I ust got the wrong year or maybe ones for a 13b. Going to try and pull off the air pump, since its kinda useless since I cut the cat out. Might pull off some of the emissions stuff tommorow so I can get at the linkage a bit better, not sure my secondaries are working, wondering how much vacume it takes for them to open? Thanks and out side fixing my oil leak I didnt get much done except getting the rust off the skid plate and painting it black heres some pics, take it easy guys

aragami78

iTrader: (3)

Hey guys, got real cold today, was goint to get my rear wheel bearings done but dont eel like getting sick. Thought id dig out my car cover and take some pics tho, seems to fit really well and has a mazda RX-7 logo on it.