Bought this a while back, but its been sitting at a friends house. Finally brought her home today.

1980 RX-7. Bought from the orginal owner with 118k on the body and about 2k on a new motor. After it was rebuilt, the owner went over seas and it was left in a garage. It sat for over 10 years with no one starting it. Time to bring it back to life.









its mainly going to be my track car...but i hope once i get her running good, ill take it out on weekend drives. i have a lot of plans for it, so hopefully illget the ball rolling pretty quick!

 

that would be a nice car restored..ask Stu about those sunrise red SA's....

 

Congrats! Those FB seats and door panels are in very good condition. Thanks for sharing. Have fun!

 

Sweet. Time to get ur hands dirty! LOL Should be fun project, GL

 

thanks guys...ive done a crap ton of work to it, but i still havent gotten it running. it cranks, but wont fire up. im pretty sure it needs a carb rebuild.

soon as its running and driving, im taking it to a body shop to weld up those rust spots. the lower half of the quarter panels behind the wheels are almost gone, so im having a buddy fab up some new panels there.

 

any newer pics to post? are you sure you're getting adequate spark and fuel?

 

XLNT to see another SA coming back from the grave!

Carb rebuild for sure, and probably you need to get the tank boiled after sitting that long.

And mind the brakes, esp. the rears; you can have substantial leaks with a drum brake and never know it til you take them down (or til they suddenly say "no!"); the shoes suck up brake fluid like sponges.

 

no new pics yet, i was in a motorcycle accident not too long ago, so i havent been doing much of anything other than laying in bed.

thanks for the tips, much appreciated. i know as of right now, it has NO brake pressure what so ever. i know the booster is wasted, so im starting there.

about that tank boiling...ive never done that, what all is involved there?

 

Tank is easy to pull - held in by 2 straps. Just make sure its actually EMPTY as sloshing fuel makes it a hand full when lowering! 4 line hoses plus big filler hose all need to be detached. Filler must be undone BEFORE drop, other 4, no prob BUT make SURE you note which hose goes WHERE!!!!!!!! digi-camera is your Friend!
Excellent time to replace all the soft lines. Filler hose likely OK. Obviously, new fuel filter
I took my tank to a good rad shop, they dumped it in their chemical tank - $65. THEN you need to reline the tank or all that newly exposed metal will start to re-corrode. por15.com sells a tank sealing kit for about $60. $ well spent.

Frankly, recommend you replace ALL soft hoses, cooling and brake included. Also treat rad to same chem dunk treatment.

Lots to do - man you are brave to take on the rust! - unfortunately, what you see is only a small portion of what there is!!! you might want to be sure you have either the skill or the $$ to have that cut out and replaced before you dump a lot of love and money into the mechanicals.
Lots of fine help here - make sure you take some time in the Archives - most answers already there.
Welcome.

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Excellent advice. I know your car doesn't have rear storage bins, but I would check where they normally are for any possible advanced rust.

 

Well, you're starting with the fastest color

 

Thats a nice start to what Iam sure will be a nice rx7...

 

thanks for all the responses guys!! i usually dont get much of a response to anything in the 2nd gen forums for my FC.

guess 1st gen owners are cooler!! haha

ima do the tank thing soon. now that im back on my feet ive ripped out basically everything interior wise. nothing but surface rust that i was able to sand and prep. its gonna be a very long on-going project seeing as im still a full time student and i work part time. i dont care though, its something to keep my occupied in my freetime.

1st thing im tackling, rebuilding the carb. its toast too. i cleaned the hell out of the radiator already...i just need to get some new bolts for the thermostat housing and fill it with fluid and itll be ready to go. i was already planning on replacing ALL soft lines as i did it with my FC when i got her.

after i actually get the motor running, im doing the tank next..than focusing on brakes. i messed around some more and found out the mast cyl is wasted too! i need new mast and slave cyl for clutch aswell. calipers look ok, but i guess ill find out when i get everything up above in line. im not a fan of drums, so im thinking about doing the 5-lug conversion cause apparently its a biotch to find some 4x110 wheels!

ill post up some pics here soon! thanks for all the comments again guys.

 

well i have a spare brake booster and i have a spare carb i pulled off a running car about 2 weeks ago, PM me if you want them

rust is a bitch, you will want to get that thing up in the air to check it all out.