Question, what are we going to do when parts are NLA
 

As the years go by parts for first gen RX-7's ( especially 12 A engines) are getting harder and harder to find, and some are even NLA /unobtainums.

As time goes by certain essential parts are going to be NLA, and thus we are going to have to modify our beloved cars.


Reasonably going forward 3d printing is going to save the day, but that requires us, as a community, to scan our GOOD parts since doubt Mazda is going to give us the schematics, and then upload them to a database so all of us with 3d printers can print our parts

It's a real shame that you can essentially build a new 69' Camaro from new parts ( even the frame, im dead serious, you can buy a new frame ) , but then we cant find small parts like bushings for our wipers anymore =( sad times

what parts do you have in mind? what would be the top ten parts to have?

For starters 12A rotors and housings are NLA . Meaning the prices have skyrocketed for new old stock .

​​​​​​Dashes , all gone

Both windshield / light assembly bushings are NLA period .

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Upgrade and build our own stuff. The reason this isn't a problem for the muscle car guys is that most of them were exactly the same (within brand and chassis) under their skin.

As far as SA/FB;
Front suspension: I've heard a rumor that S13 (or was it S14?) stuff swaps in fairly easily. AE86 stuff looks like it would work too but this is unconfirmed. If those supplies dry up, swap over to a Mustang II front suspension or similar like all the muscle car guys do.
Rear suspension: Coilovers and a Ford 8.8
Engines: 13b, REW, Renesis, or get your housings re-plated. There are options. Endless options if you're willing to not go rotary.

If you mean keeping the car completely stock, well, start stocking up on the things that are already hard to find NOW, before they are unobtainable.

What do you think the Studebaker, Hudson, and AMC guys are doing? Exactly this.

There are dash covers available, even some decent OEM dashes out there if you are patient and willing to pay the price.

The bushings you mentioned are still available new, 3D printed. A member here makes them.

Dashes can be reskinned with vinyl using a vacuum forming process. It takes a specialist but there are numerous restorers who offer this service in Australia for reasonably economical prices. They'll even colour and grain match the vinyl. I'm surprised there is nothing similar in the US given your car restoration culture/market is larger and stronger than ours.

Phils Rotaries in Australia has had reproductions of various mazda parts made including 1st gen headlight and wiper bushings. Proper OEM spec white nylon. Not 3D printed. A guy in NZ has done the same. All you need is an entrepreneurial person with contacts in auto manufacturing in Thailand/Taiwan/Philippines. They'll be making reproduction taillight lens soon apparently as mazda stock is almost dried up.

Complex items like rotor housings are more problematic but you guys have a service available to rechrome them.

I bought my first RX-7 ('84 GSL-SE) a couple of years ago and I too have been experiencing some NLA parts lately because I am trying to keep the car as original as possible.

I have also owned a '67 Austin-Healey since 1983. At that time, it had been 30 years since the first Healeys had been produced, and 15 years since production had stopped. In the early 80s, you could still go into a Jag dealership and order later Healey parts. As the decade wore on, more parts became NLA, harder to find and more expensive, which is where we are today with our 1st Gen RX-7s. As with any car, you could substitute incorrect parts that would work, so I am talking of stock parts indistinguishable from the original.

As prices for new old stock and good used parts rise, there will be a monetary incentive for manufacturers to produce new parts. As the value of the cars rise, there will be more shops specializing in the restoration of older parts that would be prohibitively expensive to remanufacture (like rotor housings or dashes). Going back to the Healey example, by the time I started its full restoration in the 90s, entire frames, faithful to the original, were available. By the end of the 90s, the entire sub-structure on top of the frame was also available, along with a very healthy selection of every other part you could want. Of course, there were parts that were unobtanium, new or used, but even some of those are being manufactured today, almost 65 years on from initial production. The quality of some of the parts varies, but at least they are available.

There were 10 times as many RX-7s made as Big Healeys so hopefully within the next decade, we will see the same evolution in after-market parts availability. It's just going to be a little painful and/or expensive in the mean time.

I fear that emissions regulations will inevitably outlaw our cars in the next 20 years. The electric car hype dealt a massive blow to traditional motorsports this year. :(

Haha California... Move back east we love cars over here.

I wish, im going to law school and only 3 states pay lawyers well. But yes, im going to pray hard core to pass emissions. :lol: Stupid F***ing laws shouldn't apply to 30+-year-old cars. This one pushing 40.

Spoken like a true lawyer to be! If there weren't so many laws ....


CA will be the first state to outlaw IC engines when it comes to it.

Frogman wrote, "I fear that emissions regulations will inevitably outlaw our cars in the next 20 years. The electric car hype dealt a massive blow to traditional motorsports this year".

So we then stuff an electric motor with a whole shit load of batteries in our RX-7's

And lose our beloved rotaries?

color me optimistic, but i basically ordered the whole car in 1997, and have hardly had to even dig into the stash since then.

point being that there are TONS of parts for these available still. worst case you need to dig a little. 12A housings maybe being the exception.

1997 was 20 years ago. I can't find a driver side fender in California . I honestly think I bought the last one in a junk yard after two weeks of ringing up every place I could . Go online and you will see 6 junk yards have fenders in cali . 5 of the 6 no longer have it .. The 6th one.. yeah I was there ASAP and it was damaged but I didint see it because the damage is on the underside . FB ' parts are alot easier to find

FYI Black Tie is going to be making reproduction fiberglass front SA fenders within the next couple months. I believe they said $300 for the pair.

You're bullshitting me ?? HELL THE FUCK YEAH! that weight reduction!!

Um, steel front fenders barely weigh anything.

These guys seem to have a lot of stuff, even SA stuffs.

Home

75% of their stock is NLA Sigh. They do have some stuff other places don't though

And fiberglass doesn't weight anything. We're talking 10-20 lbs of weight reduction. The steel ones probably weight 30 pounds a pop. modern cars use sheet metal, that crap is tin can quality, you can literally dent it with the palm of your hand and a few pounds of pressure!

Three Sa or Fb fenders would be about 30 lbs-together. You are overestimating the weight of the fender. Loose fender by itself is very light...and flimsy. Have a couple in garage i could weigh if you wanted to know an exact weight.

Depends on the resin they use and the method of laying the glass.


If they bag it and don't use a lot of glass and resin I'd say they would weigh about the same as metal... maybe a pound or two lighter on either side, but I wouldn't count on it.

buy a parts car..

Mazda has new 81-85 fenders still, retail is like $125. FA01-52-211D for the left and FA01-52-111D for the right.