I have a 79 rx7 that is mainly gutted. I put the glass from my 84 parts car in the back. I bought a latch assembly off an 80. The latch appears t have electric release. As my car is not equipped for that, I drilled the spot welds and removed that panel from it. The latch still does not seem to fit. The bolt holes don't seem right, and if I get the latch lined up at all, the latch on the glass does not line up to the slot by a good inch or 2. Do I need to find the latch from a car without power release, is the latch on the glass different on the 80, or am I just doing something wrong?

 

the glass and catch hardware are all the same, so you must be doing something wrong

 

On the 79 mounting points which are staggered diagonally, I get 3.990 distance between the holes. On the latch I bought from an 80, I get 4.320 distance between diagonal holes and 4.275 distance between parallel holes. When one hole is lined up with the mount point, the other mount point isn't even visible through the other hole.






If the inside to inside measurement of the mounting points is over .200 off, the outside points of the mount holes won't barely meet the inside points of the holes in the latch.

 

I don't think electric release was an option in '80.

I am wondering if the catch was from something else entirely.

 

The only difference between this one and the latch off my 84 parts car is different levers where the lock linkage attaches. This one off an 80 did have the correct linkage for a 79. But the mount points are vastly different. Bolts into my 84 parts car just fine too.

The bolts on the 79 are physically much closer together by significant amount, and all the latches I can find for sale all have evidence of only the top oblong bolt holes being used. To attach to a 79 they should be staggered. I really think there's something more to this than just "I did something wrong," but without the ability to look into several different cars and see, I can't tell what it is. If any one of the mounts align, the other side ends up far clear of the mounting nut entirely.

 

Found the difference on here actually.

Here's a 79 latch





And here is an 80 latch.

 

Yes, the plastic trim covers are different too btw 79 / 80.

 

So everyone saying they all interchange, and all the eBay sellers selling 79 to 85 fitment are wrong. Thanks for the confirmation I'm not losing my mind. How about the loop on the glass? Is that different?

 

the loop on the glass, 8871-62-361 is the same 79-85.

for the latch, 79 gets 8871-62-310B

in 1980 you have a choice of power, 8341-62-310 or manual 8346-62-310. 81+ they are all power, FA01-62-310, or the S model gets manual FA02-62-310.

the rear end sheetmetal panel is new after the start of 1980 production, and then again for 81, as the exterior part was changed, and they come together

 

Very few things interchange between '79-80 and '81-85, and to make things more maddening, not very many things interchange between '79 and '80 but SOME '80 stuff is easier to interchange with '81-85 with a little work. (Calipers are the same except for thread pitch, late '80 transmissions can tailhousing-swap with FB/FC, stuff like that)

Basically if you own an SA, you end up doing a lot of research because a lot of FB owners don't realize that SAs are practically two different generations. It's of little coincidence that SA fans end up being the Keepers of Obscure RX-7 Knowledge.

(My first RX-7 was an '80, on purpose )

 

SAs rule! Show the waffles respect!

 

If it were possible to buy new SA's off the lot id pay 40k+ for one, especially if they made it with waffles too.