My brother got a 83/84 rx-7 a while back and took it completely apart. Then he got a job in NC and left the car with me in GA. Now I have a stripped down car sitting in my garage just waiting to get put back together. I was hoping someone on the forum could help me decide a good plan of attack for reassembly. If you could just arrange a list of the main systems and the order that you would recommend I put them back on the chassis, I would be very grateful. Are there any tricky parts that must go in before something else, that don't seem like they obviously have an assembly order? Right now I have the official shop repair manuals and a few non-Mazda manuals to help me. I have also been looking through the forum over the past few days to get a better idea of the work I have ahead and to get more familiar with the car.

A few things to note:
-It's got a 12a and a manual transmission.

-I'm not worrying about the windows, doors, bumpers, or wiring harness until the end.

-The brake pedals are modified with 2 wilwood mater cylinders that my brother calculated would be good enough to use without a brake booster. I'm not sure how well this is going to work, but at least there will be less parts to put back in.

-The Nikki carb has had most of the unnecessary parts removed.

-There is no A/C or HVAC system. We removed all cabin air management equipment, so that should make things a little easier as well. Although, I will probably have to plug some holes now.


Here is my current order:
-Brake lines and fuel lines
-Fuel tank
-Rear diff (The rear end is together, but not mounted in the car)
-Rear Suspension
-Exhaust (except the header)
-drive shaft
-front suspension
-transmission
-engine
-header
-radiator
-steering rack
-steering column
-brake, gas, and clutch pedals and master cylinders

I'm sure I missed a good bit of obvious systems, so please add in any that I missed.

This is going to be my first car build, so I'm really excited. Thanks for any help.

 

pics?

 

There are many here more knowledgeable than I, but to get "propper" advice, pics of what you have and have to work with would ease the process.

I am assuming you have the car up stands, that being the case, I would procedd as follows.

If you have access to a hoist,
A.master cylinders/boosters/etc.
1.steering rack and column
2.tranny to engine
3.engine and tranny into chassis
4.fuel and brake lines
5.diff into rearend
6.install fuel tank
7.rearend into chassis
8.driveline
9.rear suspension
10.entire exhaust
11.front suspension
12.radiator/oil cooler
13.clutch slave
14.connect carb lines and vac. if using, oil lines, cables etc.
15.pedals
16.wiring harness/battery

Alot of this stuff is personal preference, but someone feel free to correct anything I got wrong.

 

fail.

car doesn't have a steering rack

 

I'm assuming he means the idler arm, pitman arm and steering linkage(tie rods etc.)

 

the nice thing about the 1st gen is that its pretty easy to work on everything, there isn't much that cant be done with the car together, that being said here is how i'd attack it

1. put the front and rear suspension together, then the car rolls
2. steering is next, with no engine you can get to everything without having the car in the air.
3. put the engine and trans together, and put em in.
4. then start mounting things like the radiator, exhaust, driveshaft, etc etc

 

here's some pics for ray green

 

the rest of the pics

 

Thanks for all the replies. I like j9fd3s' reasoning. Will it be possible to get the gas tank in after the rear suspension though? As you can see in the pics, the suspension is only kind of on. The linkage isn't actually securally atached yet.

 

Wow that is in amazing shape.

 

Installing the gas tank after the rear suspension shouldn't cause any issues.

One thing I would recommend at this point though, is to replace any bushings that are worn out. Also, shocks, ball joints, or anything else that would require disassembly to replace. Might as well do it now, so you don't have to tear it down again later.

Most of these items can be found at Respeed (www.re-speed.com).

Good luck man, nice looking project!


.

 

I would complete all the body work and paint first.

 

if you ever get mad take a break trust me. i would do the body and paint first. or the bay and door jams and under neath first

 

yep, gas tank comes right out, might make the rear suspension a tad easier (or maybe it just gives you a place to put your head!)

looking at the pics step one should actually be to make a list of all the sh-t you have.

and paint (at least under the hood) is never going to be easier now.

 

The bottom of the car is already painted, so I think I will paint the engine bay and then putting all the stuff back in under the hood and under the car. Then I'll paint the outside of the car. Then I can paint the interior and put all the electrical and interior stuff in.

 

A long time ago I was told "get the car perfect mechanically, then paint it. Otherwise, you'll just mess the paint up while doing the work on the car (dropped wrenches, leaning on the fenders, etc.)". Sounded like good advice then, and still does....


.

 

I'd put all the stuff on the bottom first, then suspention and steering, then fuel tank and lines. then do engine tranny and every thing else under the hood. then wireing harness, then put the interior back in. that seems like the best plan of action.

 

it looks burnt. it might just be the pics though.

 

sorting it mechanically can be messy, plus if you change parts etc etc.

so you wanna get the car right, then pull it as far apart as you can and paint.

its wonderful putting a car back together with all new paint, and new parts, YOU get IT dirty

 

i like the idea of getting most of the mechanical stuff sorted and put in before painting the outside and putting the interior in. And no the car has not been burned. We just put a lot of paint stripper on it so the exterior looks rough.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I need to make a few more posts to be allowed to post a wanted ad in the classifieds section. So, I figured I could update this thread with some mid-process and mostly finished pictures of the car. These are the only pics I have on my computer since my bother took the car back once he got back from working in England. It was a fun learning experience putting the car back together. He's having fun driving and working on it now.

 

here are the only finished pictures i have of it mostly finished. My uncle visited from Poland so we had to go for a ride without the seats bolted in yet.

 

here is a video of a one wheel burnout

 

Glad to hear you got it going, looks like a riot!