'79 SA... My first Old School Ride!!!
 

Everyone,

My first old school rotary arrived yesterday. Found this gem on Craigslist in Wisconsin, original owner, 41K miles with plaid interior. Car starts, drives and feels new. Build date is 9/78. I'm pumped!!! Interior-wise, everything works but the clock. Has AC, rare cassette deck, AM/FM radio. Car came with all of the maintenance records and paperwork since new.

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N-I-C-E! Paint looks like it has responded well to some Love. And those crazy plaid seat covers - still intact? Likewise the radio-speaker 'd early dash seems complete and untracked? Impressive.
Mind telling us what you paid?
More pix!! lets have a look under the hood.
Let us know and we can frighten you with the list of parts you should think about changing…while you can still get (most of) them…
;)

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska (& Sedona)

Thats is one sweet looking SA!

+1 on more pics of the engine bay and underneath.

Thanks Stu. Yea, the overall condition of the interior is impeccable. Paintwise, not as well. As you can see from the picture on the car hauler, whiteness around the rear hatch, roof, and on either side of the front vent, indicate that the clearcoat is gone, however the color is still there. She looks pretty good from 20 feet, but will need a reshoot to be truly spectacular. As you mentioned, she has many interior pieces still intact that are difficult, if not impossible to find. For crying out loud, the car still has the original radiator cap with Japanese writing on it!! Would love to find a NOS one if anyone has one.

Based on the seller's paperwork, the tires were purchased in 1990, so replacing those will be a priority. Pricewise, I paid $4500 plus a grand to ship. Not bad, but again, she is not perfect (yet) :)

I'll try to shoot a few close ups of items under the hood tonight. Here's one for now. Let me know if there's anything in particular that you'd like to see.

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Thanks t_g... I'll see if I can't get her up on a lift in the next week or two to take some pics of the undercarriage.

I 2nd what Stu and Tim say. Sonic Bronze w/ red plaid seats is a neat find. Looks like it's still a drivers side mirror only car with the early, non push button AC switch. Be very careful with the seats, yours look to be exceptionally nice. These covers tend to get very brittle with age. sometimes just sitting in them can streach them enough to cause tears to develop. Looks like it was stored indoors for most of its life, I hope you can do the same with it. Don't need to tell you what damage south west sun can do. Looks bone stock under the hood, still has original hose clamps and battery ends. Has an early style rubber plug in the header pannel too. Later 79s had a larger dome top plug. I've re-zinked a lot of under hood hardware and metal parts making them look like new again. Yes, even the radiator and gas caps can be done this way and make a world of difference. Congrauts on your score. :icon_tup:

A truly beautiful example - congrats!

Banzai, thanks for the background on my ride. Yea, seats are still supple. Freakishly nice. Appreciate yours and others guidance on what to look for since this is my first venture into old school ownership. The car will be covered in our garage, so summertime garage heat will be my main concern. Did you re-zink your own bolts? If so, how did you do it? Eastwood kit?

My only rotary experience up to this point has been my FD, but I'm looking forward to obsessing over this one as well ;)

Thanks DD. Maybe someday we can park side-by-side at JCCS :)

How does one do a nationwide search for a specific car on Craigslist?

Use this tool....

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Thanks! Great way to keep track of what these cars are going for now days...

I've tried the Eastwood products and was very disapointed. This region has a long history of manufacturing with a few different plating shops in the area. I just gather up a box of parts and take them in. Normally takes a week or two turnaround and the cost isn't too bad. About $30-$40 per trip. Here's an example of some parts I've taken and what the results can look like.

Wow.... absolutely blown away by your detail. So many questions, not sure where to start. Hope you don't mind if I PM you occasionally for advice. Your engine bay is my new benchmark. Do you just do a few pieces at a time, or did you pull the engine, repaint the engine bay and detail the parts with the engine out? Impressive! Always been impressed by "DivinDrivers" engine bay as well. Did you repowdercoat or repaint the engine cleaner? If so, are any of the air cleaner stickers still available from ANY source?

Wow.... absolutely blown away by your detail. So many questions, not sure where to start. Hope you don't mind if I PM you occasionally for advice. Your engine bay is my new benchmark. Do you just do a few pieces at a time, or did you pull the engine, repaint the engine bay and detail the parts with the engine out? Impressive! Always been impressed by "DivinDrivers" engine bay as well. Did you repowdercoat or repaint the engine cleaner? If so, are any of the air cleaner stickers still available from ANY source?

Doesn't the cadnium plating process affect the rubber seals on the radiator caps?

Sorry for the double post guys...

RCAAZ if you're looking for a mint FB air cleaner I have one available :)

Pulling the engine depends on the condition of everything to begin with as well as how extreme you want to go. Obviously there are no shortcuts. The only way to completely go through anything is to completely tear it down. I've yet to pull any of my engines (3 different cars in those pics) and going by your engine bay, I'd say you could achieve very simillar results with out pulling yours either. Basically, I strip the fenders allowing access to the existing paint. Clean and polish every nook and cranny. (ask Stu about his toothbrush skills)

I disassemble things like the headlight mechanism assemblies, radiator shrouds, alternator and air pump. Anything that needs attention. The problem is, where do you draw the line? Once you redo one thing, it makes the thing next to it look bad and it just goes on....

Nothing makes an engine bay pop like shinny new hardware. I remove as much hardware as possibile and it comes back like new. I even break the OEM hose clamps down and pop off the relay covers. Since the plating shop charges by the load rather than the actual quantity, I try and do as much as possibile per time. Physical part size is the only variable. As long as it all fits in their basket they can run it as a single batch for a single charge.

There was guy overseas who sold air cleaner decals on this fourm. DD printed or silk screened his new chrome dome air cleaner. Mine are still stock. I did re-zink the attachment clips (that where do you draw the line thing) I remove the rubber bits from the caps. A stock bay all cleaned up is visually, very impressive and an important part of the cars overall presentation.

Keep in mind that my cars are not daily drivers. They are more of a hobby for me, things to maintain and obsess over.

Truer words were never spoken. :nod:

that is one beautiful SA! nice find.

Thanks Craaaazzy.... been following your widebody build as well. Incredible project. Love the progress so far.

So, here's my first (of many) old school 'newb' questions. Is there a way to refurbish the rubber gaskets in the original coolant caps? I know that Banzai said he sends his off to the cadnium plater to be redone, but how about the rubber seals and gaskets in the cap. They get compressed and worn over time, correct? Can those be replaced or freshened up somehow?

Also, wasn't there a source for Old School Mazda parts located somewhere in the NW US? I believe it was a guy in Oregon or Washington state? Can't recall his name or web page. I see the links to Philsrotary in AUS, but I thought this guy was in the US. Again, any guidance on good sources for old school NOS parts would be appreciated!

Thx everyone. Appreciate the support as the journey (or obsession) begins :)

I've seen your car, so I KNOW you have totally lost control ;)

Radiator and fuel caps may still be available through Mazda or Mazda Trix. Atkins is in the Pacific NW and still sell a number of old parts. There was another Rotary guy who had 30-50 cars in a yard up there. I contacted him about a year and a half ago. I'm sure I still have his contact info on my work computer.

Both Apex Auto and Rotary Restorations used to have a regular supply of used parts but both have dried up. Jim from Rotary Restorations sold his remaining inventory I believe, but I don't know who to. Your lucky because the old interior parts are extremely hard to find. Australia seems to more than a few NOS parts available.

Jeff Clark has a place called Mazda Manor in WA. : Jeffs Automotive, Puyallup WA. USA.

Thanks again Banzai for all of the info!

So, question, are the dark burgundy pieces in my car considered "Red" by Mazda? They could almost be brown, but I think red is the correct color.

Thx

i just looked in the parts fische, and there is sometimes a section with the colors, but no joy for the SA...

Mazda lists a black, which isn't right, a wine (red wine, probably a burgundy, and not, a Champagne), and three browns, by vin. i suspect the early brown is more tan, and the late brown is more brown.

for parts sourcing, 90% of the parts for these came from Mazda, so thats the best place to start, just about everyone else is a middleman, and in that case you're looking for the middle man who ordered a ton of parts and then didn't sell them.

nice car btw!

You listed up front that this is a 9/78 car. That should put the VIN between 516625 and 520637.

I could be wrong, but when I look at my 79 parts fische book, I see the A pillar trim, dash cowl (where the defroster vents are), upper dash and window cranks all available in wine or brown or black in your VIN range. There is a 2nd brown listed but it looks to be on later VINs.

Given those choices if correct, I'd guess the dark burgundy color is actually wine. The early brown (like you see in alot of spark car interiors) is lighter, almost tan. FBs had wine interiors too but that is a different shade. Like the 2 tone brown seems exclusive to spark cars, this 2 tone redish scheme seems exclusive to bronze ones. In addition, the red plaid seats only seemed to come in bronze cars, the white plaid seats in silver and blue cars, but you could get the black interior w/red dot seats in all exterior colors offered the first year.