85 GSL restoration
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Ohio
here are some pics of the progress.
dent that needed removed:

first rough in after pulling the dent out with a stud gun:

second layer and where i stopped this afternoon:

dent that needed removed:

first rough in after pulling the dent out with a stud gun:

second layer and where i stopped this afternoon:

Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,581
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From: Ohio
i hope to get more work done on the car tomorrow and keep making a lot of progress. there's other fun stuff other than body work that needs done..should keep me pretty busy, lol.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Ohio
while the work is at a stand still, i wanted to share the story of the car with everyone. the story i can tell was that the car was bought originally in florida by a woman. it was brought to ohio when her and her husband moved north. it was sold to a guy named Jim and Jim brought the car to me to work on. it had an issue where when put into drive the engine would stall. after a carb rebuild and a few more new parts here and there, the car was running well. Jim ran into some financial issues and the car sat for over a year. Jim decided that he would like to sell me the car. so, at that point, i took ownership of the car and when i got the title, the first thing i did (after and intense cleaning) was convert the car to a 5spd.
here are some pics from when i first bought the car, oversized tires, automatic and all:









here are some pics from when i first bought the car, oversized tires, automatic and all:









Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,581
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From: Ohio
i got the oil leak fixed today. the issue was a faulty o-ring on the oil level sensor. i ordered a new o-ring from the dealer and it works super well!
o-ring installed on the newly used sensor:

pics of the car as it sat today when i pulled it out of the garage:



temp gauge under normal operating conditions. a little warm but still within range i guess:

my daughter loves the RX-7's and always wants to be by them. here she is demanding i take her picture in front of the cars:



my daughter took this pic of the GSL. her first picture that she took of the 7:
o-ring installed on the newly used sensor:

pics of the car as it sat today when i pulled it out of the garage:



temp gauge under normal operating conditions. a little warm but still within range i guess:

my daughter loves the RX-7's and always wants to be by them. here she is demanding i take her picture in front of the cars:



my daughter took this pic of the GSL. her first picture that she took of the 7:
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,581
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From: Ohio
ok, some pics i took last night. here are pics of the new plug installed:

pic of the 83 Limited Edition wheels that i iwll be installing on the car once io have the wheels professionally refinished:

pic of the 83 Limited Edition wheels that i iwll be installing on the car once io have the wheels professionally refinished:
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,581
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From: Ohio
havent really updated this in awhile due to my attention being on other projects. i ordered a new set of NGK wires for the car and installed them the other day. its a start to the continuation of this project:


Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Ohio
the Vette was an 84. it had the 4+3 trans and 37K miles. it was a beautiful car. i sold it near a month ago and i really miss the car..but due to having a third kid on the way, some stuff has to go and the C4 went before any of my 7's.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Ohio
the next step will be a replacement trans mount and fix some rust i found in the hatch gutter area. seems that the drain holes were plugged at one time and water collected in there and started forming some rust. hope to paint the car this summer as well.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Ohio
got the 85 GSL up and running today. first time its been started since last year. ran well other than having no heat. will diagnose that as soon as i bring it back home from storage:








Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Ohio
yea i noticed that too....the master cylinder piston seal went bad over the winter. i'll order a kit from the dealer and rebuild the brake master cylinder. the main issue i'm having with the car now is that there's no heat and the temp gauge crawls up to just a shade over the halfway mark. turned the engine off and removed the radiator cap and there was some pressure but not a ton. the coolant was warm but not hot as it should be. so with that said, i plan to order a new oem t-stat and gasket, radiator cap, and perform a coolant flush and bleed the system really well and try to get that issue solved.
here's a pic of the temp gauge. pretty much the same as it was last summer and it doesn't really move from there, up or down:
here's a pic of the temp gauge. pretty much the same as it was last summer and it doesn't really move from there, up or down:
Last edited by mazdaverx713b; Mar 23, 2011 at 08:25 PM.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,581
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From: Ohio
it was a pain to start but hasn't run in 5 months and the engine had sat for over five years prior to me installing it. and i've only put 27 miles on it since i installed it so i'm hoping it'll run better and better as i tack on more and more miles. i can't wait until the weather breakes a little and i finish my 85 GS's front suspension. then this beast will be back home in the garage!
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: https://www2.mazda.com/en/100th/
i know a couple people who havent touched a car in a long time cause they have been working on the shop.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,581
Likes: 1,273
From: Ohio
hoping to have the car home this weekend. i want to start tearing into it and making it completely road worthy. it'll make a nice summer cruiser!
Last edited by mazdaverx713b; Apr 1, 2011 at 01:59 AM.







