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What's the dumbest things a previous owner did to your RX7?

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Old 06-27-14, 03:50 PM
  #76  
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Ooh I want in on this thread.

Here's my list so far:

1. Installed what look like desktop computer speakers in the storage bins.
2. Smoked in it.
3. Put his butts out on the A-pillar trim.
4. Seems to have attempted to paint the black rubstrips by brushing them with black residential paint. Badly.
5. Applied nasty purple tint. Badly.
6. Installed some sort of GPS/laptop holder thingy using the bolt for the passenger seat rail.

I'm sure I'll uncover more going forward.

Bringing these things back is a labor of love, y'all!
Old 06-27-14, 06:33 PM
  #77  
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had a stripped nikki, and a rats nest.
de badged the whole thing.
had the fuel lines reversed, and the one way was on the incoming line.
house paint.
rear housing coolant lines near the beehive cemented and blocked off.
just cut a hole so a an 83 trans would fit, and left it like that. no trim.
no front bolts on the driver seat.
bypassed the fusible links.
plumbers tape (strap) to hold the gas tank on.
rewired the radio so all outputs go to the front 2 speakers (moar power)
... im sure there's more, but im getting mad now just thinking about what ive been through in the past year.
Old 06-27-14, 07:46 PM
  #78  
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I just purchased a 1980 that a previous owner had decided he wanted a black interior instead of the wine it had. Achieved with rattle can. Carpet too. Spray paint. Not dye. The center stack is the worst, though the overspray on the body (doors and door sills in particular) really give an insight to the pure genius of that individuals interior design skills. I'll post pics when I get around to documenting a build thread.
Old 11-02-14, 06:13 PM
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Okay, it has been a while since I've been on the forums, but I have to post on this thread.

First off: I bought a gsl-se body with the intention of swapping in my engine for the one that i could tell was about to spit out an apex seal, so i paid $300 for it. 6 YEARS AGO, and it still gives me new reasons to be upset every day.

First thing was cutting a massive hole in the transmission tunnel so he could put a 12a tranny onto a 13b engine, why? I don't know.

Then I noticed that He had repainted the car, an issue that is a recurring nightmare.

Over the years I have noticed multiple things about this paint job:
1) it was done with house paint.
2) it was done with a paint brush and a roller
3) no prep work was done, so it has more flakes than a Head & Shoulders commercial.
4) by no prep work, I mean he just painted right over the old paint.

The list goes on and on, but the paint is my most recent reason for going grey as a result of this car.
Old 11-03-14, 02:15 AM
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Previous owner replaced the motorized antenna with a non-motorized type but left the old antenna motor rattling around in the body panel.
Old 11-03-14, 04:50 AM
  #81  
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about the stupidest mod i see is gilmer drive belt systems

why people put these on, yet do not own a supercharger.. is beyond me

all to often bodged to make fit over water pump spigot mismatches or bodged over the various alternator shafts

noisy, utterly unreliable and eats belts that cost lots more than V belts

and with no way to time the engine accurately
that will invariably be the fundamental reason the engine was eventually lost later down the track
Old 11-03-14, 05:20 AM
  #82  
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The dumbest thing was the p o had a bad wreck with a fire. When I got it, the interior was brand new. The foam under the door upholstery was melted, the rear differential had a stock number tag on it, so did the rear valence, and you could see where it was welded.
Old 11-04-14, 04:18 PM
  #83  
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Spray painted the windshield trim and wiper arms black without masking anything off. Looked great as you can imagine.
Old 11-16-14, 12:51 PM
  #84  
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knot right

The fuel pump had been installed with an additional twist, causing the inlet hose to knot up against the housing (out of sight). Ran okay on the flat, but quite sluggish on hills.
Old 11-20-14, 01:03 PM
  #85  
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OH

Previous owner: My Father

He threw away a set of the aluminum rear window louvers because they were coming apart!!!!! AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!
Old 11-20-14, 11:31 PM
  #86  
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The previous owner installed an FD engine using FD motor mounts (the dumb squishy stock liquid filled kind that suck *** for anything other than a power plant frame equipped stock FD, and even then are too soft). He took channel stock and modded it to cradle the motor mounts. The engine would easily rock back and forth. He also chopped off the stock FB motor mount pedestals for clearance.

Oh and he painted the engine bay competition yellow mica... because FD engine?










Kinda glad he never got it running.

This is what it looked like when I got it.
Old 11-21-14, 09:15 AM
  #87  
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Previous 2 owners couldn't figure out why the 2nd turbo wouldn't produce boost over the span of 3 years...both told me the turbo was a brick. The only thing wrong was the vacuum line to the charge relief valve had popped off and was hanging out in plain sight. Id think Google would solve this kinda ignorance...apparently not
Old 11-22-14, 11:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Jeff20B
This is what it looked like when I got it.
Sweet, what's the displacement in that thing, 2X4?
Old 11-22-14, 12:45 PM
  #89  
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Yeah. It requires 1 to 2 HP (human power) to move the car. Pretty sweet, right?
Old 03-16-15, 12:36 PM
  #90  
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On my 79 the external voltage regulator went out so the PO used a large gauge amp power wire (with translucent red insulation of course) to run from the alternator output to the positive post of the battery. Caused good times having unregulated voltage going to the battery. I removed that and put in an S4 alternator and updated the wiring to match.

Car had been in a small collision. PO did a decent job of getting the bodywork done but didn't know how to adjust the headlights. They would go up and down constantly when opened. So instead of adjusting them properly or disconnecting the motors and leaving them up he installed two el cheapo driving lights. Luckily he chose to use existing holes to mount the lights and switch.
Old 03-16-15, 07:08 PM
  #91  
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Here's one I hadn't entered before. Place a feel good device spliced into the fuel delivery line from the firewall to the Nikki.
Attached Thumbnails What's the dumbest things a previous owner did to your RX7?-1-1-.jpg   What's the dumbest things a previous owner did to your RX7?-1-2-.jpg  
Old 03-19-15, 01:16 PM
  #92  
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It's something new every time I dig in further.

Most recently I discovered the in tank fuel pump was wired in with butt splices with no heat shrink to protect the hot wire from potentially sparking in the tank should it come out and hit anything.

Next I found the stereo head unit was wired in without use of any butt splices... Just stripped ends twisted together and then sloppily wrapped with electrical tape.

I'm sure I'll find more too...
Old 03-19-15, 02:23 PM
  #93  
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Originally Posted by ray green
Here's something even dumber, drilled holes in the battery tray.



Of course that tray is there to catch battery acid. Here's the result:



And here's my repair:

But the weight savings!

Old 03-20-15, 03:58 PM
  #94  
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Lol, and I'll have to agree with the smoking in the car, it turns the grey cloth a gold shade, most noticeable is/was the head liner, nasty
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