what has been the hardest part to track down for your car???

mine have been: the oil cooler and the the plastic trim piece that goes around the radio and the ac controls.(still looking for that one)<

 

a dome light for an 80 in good condition.

 

A frickin shift boot or that little piece in the center armrest that holds the power window switches and the radio joystick.... i'm also lookin for some door panels that are actually red and not the faded brown/green... having no luck on of these.. my buddy is making me a custom stereo trim though, with shelves and everything.. only problem is its takin him over a month to do it cuz his s10 extreme comes before my 7.

 

Let's see ya top this one!! A good, stock, first gen antenna!!! Who the hell has all of them?

 

Oh No. Mine's broken as well. I didn't think it would be that hard to find.

 

lol i have the stock 82 antenna.....and i think i have the ac control ****....lol i dont use either one....parker

 

Definitely door panels. I've owned a bunch of 1st gens and it's nearly impossible to find good door panels...in black, at least. They sag, get cut up, burned, fade, peel. I usually settle for "okay" ones, but even they are hard to find and cost quite a bit. For some reason, the brown and burgundy ones are usually in good shape, but the black ones are scarce.

 

worse finding a 80 black door panels. i thiught i got lucky and got some nice 82's. but i need to change the doors for them to fit right. reaLLY SUCKS.

 

I would have to say the trim around the stereo, and AC controls...Im on my 2nd one, and accidently cracked that one too. The next piece I need is the piece where the window switches are. The plastics in this car are so damn frail. SUCKS

 

A goddam 3.5:1 ring gear and pinion with LSD for the ford live axle

Anything Mazda is pretty easy, most of it I can get new from Mazda NZ. Seems to be lots of surplus.

 

Wheel cylinders for the rear brakes on my '79: Discontinued.
Alternator for my '79: Discontinued
Voltage regulator for my '79: Discontinued

Are you sensing a pattern here, 'cause I am.

You FB guys don't know how good you've got it.

 

Yeah, but, your bumpers are metal. Yeah.

 

the hardest thing for me to find is the loose nut behind the wheel of mine.but seriously there are no SA's or FB's in the local salvage yards here and even the FC's get raped real quick.

 

And you have no idea how thankful I am. I've been backed into twice, one this winter and once last, and my metal bumper emerged unscathed, whereas when I had my '82, the polyurethane cover shattered.

 

And, as of a couple months ago, the engine rotor housings were discontinued, so no more stock rebuilds.

If you are a collector and want everything original, start hoarding the SA (79-80) stuff NOW. On the other hand, for those who just want a fun, reliable car, most of the stuff dissappearing can be replaced with better FB parts. If I owned a 79, I wouldn't be complaining about voltage regulators, wheel cylinders of any kind, weird-pitch brake lines, or whatever...but my cars won't begin to appreciate significantly in ten years time, as a truly stock classic would. In ten or fifteen years, I'll be kicking myself as I watch the Barrett-Jackson auction, but until then I'm happy to make incremental improvements so I can get the most smiles-per-miles.

 

That's odd. What is so differrent? I could swear I've used both interchagably, but perhaps my memory is foggy. BTW, despite my claim that they are really hard to find, I did see an SA with decent black door panels in the U-Pull-It on SE Foster Rd at 110th. This was more than a week ago, though. I really meant to go back with tools to grab them and a couple other things, but life got in the way.

 

But that stuff can still be bought new, so I don't think that counts.

 

"the next piece I need is the piece where the window switches are"

hey man there is a 85 down here and i think i saw that part in there.. but i dont know if it will fit yours.. if so let me know and i will go grab it for you, if its still there...

 

I got my stock 84 SE automatic antenna still working...:P

 

Me too but I've had to rebuild it twice. I've replaced a lot of my interior trim with Mazdatrix parts, but they go up in price more often than I change my underwear so I'm glad I don't need interior pieces any more.

 

I don't know what part of florida you are in but in Sanford wich is just north of Orlando there is a junkyard dedicated to rx7's 1st 2nd and 3rd gen parts only thing is the owner is insane pricing seems way off as far as I am concerned but he does have a ton of parts the place is called Mark's Import auto salvage I think

 

I'm in clearwater and I've searched the tampa/st.pete/clearwater area and everything is picked clean as soon as it's arrived.

 

Hi folks:

I HAVE been hoarding 79-80 parts for awhile now. Email me with what you might need. odds are i do have it. james7hull7@yahoo.com