My project is finally done! Here's the story- as a college student bored at home during the summer, I thought I'd sell my Jeep Cherokee and buy something cool.

Well, after a lot of looking around on craigslist, I found the perfect car, that was in my price range- a 1983 RX7. I bought the car from an enthusiast who also had a first generation RX7 that he was turning into a race car; it had drag slicks and everything on it. He also had a 1970s Mazda rotary pickup. So, I felt comfortable buying the car from him. I got it for a thousand dollars because the paint was completely sun baked and it needed body work. Besides the body, the rest of the car was great. The guy I bought it from had removed the rats' nest too, so that was a plus.

So, I spent about a month sanding the old paint off and fixing the rust. I learned a lot about body work from doing all that work on this car. I then primed it and wet sanded it, and then it was time to bring the car to get painted. I waited three weeks to get the car back from the paint shop, but it was definitely worth it. The paint turned out great.

After that, I had new tires put on it, and then I put some new brake parts on, and then it was all set to be my daily driver. I'm super happy with how the car turned out . Here are the pics that I've been dying to show the other fans of these RX7's:

 

BRAVO!!!! photographs very well

check blackdragon.com for the dash and looks like ya done

 

Nice work! Looks good. Did you pull off trim and molding before paint? Looks like all new side molding.

 

HaHaHa! finished! that's hilarious! I don't think there is such a thing when it comes to these cars lol. But seriously the car looks great!

 

Very nice work; you should be proud!

 

good job

 

Nice work there looks good.

 

looks good. How much did they charge for painting the car? Do you know what type of paint they used? I have an 82 I would like to get repainted. I have only got one price so far, it came in about $2000.00 but included some body work on the rear quarters. I though that was a little high.

 

Thanks everyone!

ptuttle- I got the car sprayed for $700, but I sanded all the old paint off, primed it, and wet sanded it myself, so that made the price cheaper. I was going to get a $300 job done at Maaco, but when I called them to set everything up, they said they wouldn't touch it because they only paint cars that they prime, and I sure wasn't going to sand all the primer off that I had sprayed onto it. So, I just called a few shops and found a good one that would do it for under a grand. I also had it painted the same color it originally was so they wouldn't have to paint the door jams which saved some money.

If they're doing the body work and sanding off the old paint and all, then 2 grand could be about right because that's a ton of work to do. I'm not sure on exactly what kind of paint they used, but I told the guy to just try to get a red color close to what was in the door jams, and to put a decent amount of hardener in it so the paint wouldn't get scratched too easily. Just call around, see what kind of deals you can get.


pjr- Nope same old rubber moldings, I just scrubbed them like crazy when I got the car back. They look really good with some elbow grease.

 

It looks nice. A different look with the red grille.

Congratulations! How much did the tires set you back? I need to get some for my GS.

 

haha i have those same seat covers

 

i think you've done a great job. the car looks like something that has a new lease on life. you ought to be proud. as for the issue of whether or not you're all done ... ha! ha! ... you'll learn.

on a sidenote, i've seen several Maaco jobs, and as fas as i'm concerned, i think you dodged a bullet.

 

Car looks good! GO SOX!

 

Thanks and GO SOX, but they better get their acts together or they won't make the playoffs...

I got a deal at a Cassidy Tires, I got them for $260 out the door- installed, balanced, and all, they're small tires so they're cheap.

Haha they're the best covers for the money I think, and they don't have any big stupid looking logos on them.

Yea after I got the car back, I heard from a few friends that Maaco is no good. So good thing they wouldn't take my car haha

 

the moldings look tinted red with overspray. Could just be the pictures.

 

Very nice. And the fact you did so much work yourself must give you a vroom every time you see it. I need to get mine painted as well.... after the racing beat exhaust...

 

very nice thx for sharing