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My special cars/motorcycles get driven until the salt goes down (usually Dec or Jan). Then fuel stabilizer in the tank and run through the carb, either disconnect the battery or hook up tender, and leave in the garage. Last year I semi-finished the garage with heat and insulation, so I can work out there all year in a t-shirt.
All this talk about putting the rx-7 up in storage during winter somehow evokes victorian attics, dilapidated mansions, furniture covered in white sheets, swimming pools filled with rotten leaves, and old school elitism.
The door is still masked off. I painted the black trim before it went out for paint. Yes, the black trim on the arch will need to be done.
[ QUOTE=Rx7fb spirit r;12380706]The good time of your restore will starting now. I remember the day i got my car back. I was so happy. Good luck!
They forget to paint the black around the door frame and the hatch glases. Making a lot of different look.[/QUOTE]
The door is still masked off. I painted the black trim before it went out for paint. Yes, the black trim on the arch will need to be done.
[ QUOTE=Rx7fb spirit r;12380706]The good time of your restore will starting now. I remember the day i got my car back. I was so happy. Good luck!
They forget to paint the black around the door frame and the hatch glases. Making a lot of different look.
After painting the two different colours normally you will spray the clear coat over all for a good finish and protection. When the door is still masked off, you will missing the clear coat.
After painting the two different colours normally you will spray the clear coat over all for a good finish and protection. When the door is still masked off, you will missing the clear coat.
I see the advantage, but the trim was never clear coated when it left the factory. it was a black satin. ( apparently there was a dark grey used in some early models)
I see the advantage, but the trim was never clear coated when it left the factory. it was a black satin. ( apparently there was a dark grey used in some early models)
It wasn't satin, it was gloss. I've had my car since new and been polishing the black trim for 37 years . But you're right, it wasn't clear. That doesn't mean you couldn't clear it now.
Had my car back on the dyno yesterday. Still running the Jenvey 45DCOE TBI on a large street port but swapped from the wrap-around manifold to the shorty manifold. I don't really trust the numbers but for those curious, it made 130hp at 7,000 RPM using a dynapack before, and this time a Mustang dyno said it made 180hp at 8,000 RPM. Yeah, no. It feels more like 135-140 at best, but it does pull pretty hard up top. The tall 3.90 gearing doesn't allow me to make use of that top end power for very long though. Anyway, we solved a few transient issues and cleaned up the AFRs so it wasn't wasted time.
I still have an oil consumption problem which I think is control rings. The other symptom is rough coasting (shuddering, bucking) while still in gear. It feels like a vacuum leak but the manifold is sealed up good and I've tried deleting all the unnecessary vacuum lines and only hooking up the MAP sensor. One suggestion I got was to plug the crank case or use a PCV to make sure it cannot suck air from the crank case under vacuum. I may try that this week. Right now the factory EVAP lines are all hooked up so if the crank sees vacuum, it will just suck air from the charcoal canister.
It wasn't satin, it was gloss. I've had my car since new and been polishing the black trim for 37 years . But you're right, it wasn't clear. That doesn't mean you couldn't clear it now.
I have had my car since it was 3 years young and its always been a satin black on the rain gutters and windshield trim. The door trim is a bit smoother but no what I would call glossy. Maybe its an SA thang.
I have had my car since it was 3 years young and its always been a satin black on the rain gutters and windshield trim. The door trim is a bit smoother but no what I would call glossy. Maybe its an SA thang.
The 1979 grayish black trim a pretty flat color. Somewhat satin but even flatter then my 1985.
I don't have a build thread,maybe i should... due to wrestling with some health issues i don't get to work on my car as much as i'd like and substantial amounts of time go by between"sessions".
3 years ago i rebuilt/replaced/upgraded complete suspension/brake systems and when near done noticed some flaking paint and minor bulging on forward upper link reinforcing plate on body. Owned this car for 27 years,purchased from original owner and garage kept by them and me all its life. I thought this car was rust free other than paint chips/surface rust. Some scratching,digging with a pick and small screwdriver and a small hole appeared that seemed to be "soft" inside. I drilled out all the spot welds and you can see what was underneath.
I removed the bins both sides and inspected interior. Picked and pulled out all seam sealer in rusted area to see complete area needing repair. In this case,rust did not get into floor either side. I cut out all rust both sides until i had solid metal on all sides of damage and ground down all surface rust on to shiny metal and welded up any holes in body and ground flat. Primered and painted til i could work on car again.
I'm not a body man by trade,i have repaired damage in this area on other 1st gens i owned and while they were solid repairs,it was apparent car had been repaired in his area.I wanted this repair to be "as before". I would know it was repaired but no trace of repair to be found
I used the drilled out reinforcement plates for each side as templates to fabricate repair panels for rusted areas i had cut out. I formed the ridge or stepdown? across the panel like the original by clamping in a vice and bending using a hammer.
I sanded paint/primer off previous welded repair areas of body and used weld thru primer on body and back side of repair panels and welded panels in place and ground down all welded areas til flush and primered. I made patch panels for inside of car and welded in place and ground all welds flush and primered.
I'm not good at taking pics at each step,don't realize til after done i should have stopped and taken a pic.
Entire time i was contemplating doing these repairs i wanted to find another car with reinforcement plates that were not rusty. I live on the east coast,wasn't easy to find cars in salvage yards that didn't have rust in same areas. I took tools/drill/spotweld cutters and small generator and jacked up and drilled out plates on four different cars with more than a little rust on the inside of plates of each. Only one of the cars showed evidence of rust underneath and i didn't bother to drill out opposite side plate.
Inquired with salvage yards on west coast and several in Arizona and while they said they had rust free shells in which to remove the reinforcement plates from,they wanted a fortune to do so and ship to me. I asked if they could cut out surrounding sheet metal with cutoff wheel and ship the section with reinforcing plate to me. None were amenable to this.
A lot of time went by due to searching for plates and my inability to do so and being able to work on the car. Attending a funeral for a good friend a couple hundred miles away after the viewing,talk gravitated to cars(we were all gearheads) and i mentioned my project was stalled for the time being from inability to find what i needed. A friend of one of my friends there mentioned a junkyard that had a lot of imports in it @30 miles from there and knew there were several 2nd gens and a 3rd gen there but didn't know of any 1st gens. The day after services i went with my buddy to the place his friend had recommended. We found three 1st gen shells. Two were swiss cheese rusted,the third had no tires/wheels on it and had begun to sink into the ground.
It had the required trees growing out of the engine compartment.Neither of us were dressed to go junkyarding and i ruined a pair of dress shoes and pants in the process...we found a jack handle from another car and dug out enough grass and dirt for me to stick my phone under car and take some pics of plates you see here.
I went back a month later with aforementioned equipment and an atv jack and jacked up car and drilled out plates and took my prizes home.
Last edited by GSLSEforme; Nov 16, 2019 at 02:33 PM.
The plates had almost no rust on back sides,put them in glassbeader and came out like new. A coat of weld thru primer on and plug welded both into place and primered the area both sides and seam sealed exterior and interior repair spots.
How car sits presently. Next step is to lightly undercoat like it was and paint with single stage color coat to match rest of inner fenderwell.
Once this is completed,i will turn my attention to repairing right 1/4 panel where i got hit while on my 1st roadtest after completing suspension/brake work. Believe i chronicled that here @ three years ago.
Yikes! Rust sucks, I miss the West coast a lot when it comes to cars.
I picked up my new driveshaft today - Mazda trans to Ford rear.
Looks good,what did that run you?
Yes,it does. Especially when i thought this car had none.
Remember that thread awhile back where you had taken pics of installation of your new diff and i asked you to take a closeup pic of reinforcing plates in your car? I thought i saw some similar marks there,reason i asked for better pic.Imagine yours is East Coast car also.
Driveshaft was $480 including tax. Yes I'm in PA, above Philly. Before that car lived in Providence RI since late 80's. I wasnt sure what you were looking for when you asked for pics before.
Last edited by Maxwedge; Nov 16, 2019 at 04:18 PM.
The plates had almost no rust on back sides,put them in glassbeader and came out like new. A coat of weld thru primer on and plug welded both into place and primered the area both sides and seam sealed exterior and interior repair spots.
How car sits presently. Next step is to lightly undercoat like it was and paint with single stage color coat to match rest of inner fenderwell.
Once this is completed,i will turn my attention to repairing right 1/4 panel where i got hit while on my 1st roadtest after completing suspension/brake work. Believe i chronicled that here @ three years ago.
>>>>>>>>that's a rite of passage in the RX-7 owner's community . I did mine in 08, I tried removing all the car's rusty metal, but the area kept getting larger and larger and larger. At around 6 inches I just stoppeeeed. Naval Jelly'd the exposed rusty metal, primed ad painted it. Bolted huge 1/8 soft steel plates, a shitload of bolts, body puttied the hell out of it, primered the hell out of it. Painted the hell out of it, And underbody sprayed the hell out of it. If the car ever gets another underbody state inspection, the inspector is going to be very interested. In 1996, the New Jersey Inspection Official was fascinated in the area where I JUST/ONLY touched up the undercoating. He probably never seen a 13 year old car go though his inspecton station. God bless So Cal and Nevada!!<<<<<<<<<<<
Installed new clutch master and slave cylinders with my son. Probably the best bonding experience we've ever had: Not too hard, but kept os focussed for a few hours on a useful challenge (the car will become his someday). I did forget to read other's warning that the studs on the newer master cylinders need a spacer through the firewall. Pretty much the only hiccup for the entire project - used oversized nuts as spacers to tighten up the studs.
. But you're right, it wasn't clear. That doesn't mean you couldn't clear it now.
