Gorgeous piece, nice... no beautiful find. Looks fantastic and I'm jealous.

That's funny, I could have sworn my pants were ON before I looked at this thread.
Those rebuild pics are rotary porn.

You want Rotary Porn? Check this out

Ray,
The cool thing about that video is at 11:55 you can see our group as we meet cookboy!!

Ray, the new pictures of steering wheel are much better. BTW, I saw a series 2 with a dash cover in black on the way up to the DGRR. A guy from Florida (I think his name is Mike) has it and it looks good. Don't know if you have to dye it to get it red.

I'd give my right nut for that Steering Wheel!

LMAO!!!!!

Ray has a way of getting things that other people swear dont exist. If I know him he will end up with a brand new NOS bergundy 83 dash still in the plastic...

He wont tell us how he does it!!

Yeah, like a virgin 12A that came from a brand new RX-7 that was in a train wreck on its way to the dealership in 1983.

And I agree Robert, an NOS 1983 burgundy dash would be really cool. Perhaps my ritual sacrifices to the Rotary Gods will please them and this will come to pass.

In the mean time, I just keep a close eye on ebay and Craigslist. Here's what I scored last night:

Pair of Excellent 12A Mazda RX 7 RX7 Rotor Housings 1979 1985 | eBay

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxN...TVbiu/$_57.JPG

Now I'm praying to the Rotary Gods that my wife doesn't kill me when she finds out.

Speaking of the Rotary Gods, they came to me in a dream the other night, with the sound of a 12A winding its way down the Dragon, just like in Andy's video.

With the smell of rotary exhaust in the air, a mint S2 4 spoke steering wheel wrapped in black leather drifted down from the sky, floating just out of my reach.

I think the Rotary Gods are telling me that an 83 GSL must have the correct black 4 spoke steering wheel.

And, as pretty as it is, my red leather S3 steering wheel is not right for the car. (Mike was right).

Perhaps if I make a sacrifice to the Rotary Gods by selling my mint red leather steering wheel, they will deliver on to me an equally mint black leather S2 steering wheel?

I could accept testicles for payment, if this would please the Gods.

But if it's all the same to them, a paypal payment would help offset the bill for those rotor housings, which could make a difference with the wife.

Wow.......
Those are beutiful, very impressive.

But...,

I will believe that you sold that steering wheel when I see, not one minute before, I dont think you will be able to do it!!!!

No shit?

Ill offer $150 for the wheel and knob. PayPal.

You're probably right Robert, there's no way I'm going to part with that red steering wheel.

Even though I don't have a car for it, it's been sitting in storage for five years and my wife is going to kill me for buying the rotor housings.

I'd better save it for some future S3 project.

I'm thinking we can use the rotor housings for one of those 200 hp 12A's you've been talking about.

We'll put it in the S3 project and take it racing over at Road Atlanta. I think the Rotary Gods would like that.

Ray, why are you buying more rotor housings? I thought you pretty much cornered the market on 12As.

BTW, I made an offer on an old school 13B. If I get it, I'll have you over to perform the appropriate sacrafice to the rotary gods prior to craking it open. I am hoping for excellent housings and rotors. Not going to offer up testicles (I might need those), but I will provide beer.

You can't have too many decent 12A rotor housings Mike.

All the Rotary Gods drive 12A's, you know that.

Hope you get the Old School 13B, there could be some jewels in there and I love a treasure hunt.

And if you want to please the Rotary Gods, you'll need to lap your irons.

I have some pin ball machine glass that makes an excellent lapping surface, I'll bring some of that.

I'll also bring the rear hatch glass from the 84 GS.

The Rotary Gods were never happy with the rear wipers they put on the US imports and they should be removed whenever possible.

My rear wiper worked beautifully until yesterday. :dunno:

Project comes to fruition
 

I just reread this thread and want to provide a project update:

Well, the long awaited completion has finally come to pass, after a change from Ray's original plan to install the engine into the white 83 to an almost pristine 83 LE (that he just could not resist) , I am proud to announce that earlier this month a group of OGTAs got together in the North Georgia mountains and christened The Trainwreck 12- A.

Ray has carefully restored a beautiful (and appropriate for this engine) '83 LE, and the motor has a home. After a Friday night at Mikes with some good food, good beer and even a little bourbon, we spent a Saturday winding through a beautiful mountain drive, route courtesy of Mike, Tommy, Erin and Brett. Tim, myself, Holly and Erin rounded out the group and witnessed the unveiling of this engine combined with Ray's beautiful LE.

I was relived to see that the motor runs perfectly, no smoking, water blowing or other disastrous indication of engine assembly mishaps, (whew!).

Then on Sunday morning we got up early and attended the Caffiene and Octane in Atlanta and had a great time oogling all the neat cars there and having the LE examined by more than a few people interested in these first gen cars, Ray's car got more than its fair amount of attention and we all had a blast and I feel that it was a great way to celebrate this story.

Ray has lots of pics of the weekends activities, hopefully he will post some up, he always serves as the group's photographer.

It as it often does,it took longer than expected, but that has not taken anything from the story. Rays progress along with pictures, all documented in his 83 LE thread has only added to the saga. I have to admit that I am a little warm and fuzzy over this story and was glad Mike and myself was able to do something nice for one of the most generous, good natured Rotor Heads ever. He has done so much for others in the form of advice, spare parts and relaying helpful information to the rotary community than anyone I know. This includes the fact that he, along with Mike are the founding members of the OGTA, which has to be one of the longest most responded to threads on this forum. Its the only thread I look at most days.

We all love him and his unique outlook on the world, rotary and otherwise, so much that fixing him up with this engine was an easy decision for Mike and I.

…..and as a teen age counter boy at a car parts store in Atlanta once proclaimed, while marveling at Mike's 12A with twin Webers,...…. " That's cooler than shit!".

Well Robert, you know how much I don't like Trump.

But he's getting impeached, so I feel better.

Anyway, yes, the TW12A is alive and way better than well.

She screams.

I've been so busy driving the LE I haven't had time to update all the mods we did to it.

But I will soon.

For now, here's pics of the 2020 OGTA Mountains, Cars and Caffine at Mike's Weekend:



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Awesome to hear that you have the LE on the road now!! We will definitely need pictures of the car!

Always enjoy seeing pictures of your meets and of all the cars!! Keep up the great work!

Well, the Rotary gods acted again. I seldom get to this site these days, but I jumped on today and low and behold this is what I found.

Yes, seeing the TW 12A in action in Ray's beautiful 83 LE was awesome. As usual though, it is the rotary community that makes these get togethers special.

BTW, the 1st Gens were all invited into the main car coral at Caffeine and Octane.

Glad to see they still let me post on here...

I had to fight for you Mike, when you bought that Miata they wanted to expel you from the club.

And you're right, it's not the cars, it's the people.

People with the good sense to own, fix and drive 1st gen RX-7's.

So here's to Mike, who has the perfect bachelor's pad for RX-7 weekends.

And Robert, who does everything well, and with flare.

And Tim and his sensational home brew and his amazing tall tales about college days in Missouri.

And Dave, the mod who seems to be impossible to piss off.

But I'm working on it.

And to all OGTA's everywhere, the Rotary Brotherhood is strong.

Thanks for the resurrection Robert, I promise more TW12A pictures coming soon!

(the LE will be in a separate thread)

Not an old guy, but I've got a 12A. Love seeing the community spirit on this forum!

I met Ray a couple of months ago when passing through Georgia on my way from Iowa to Florida. I purchased a set of '83 LE wheels from him for my '79 GS. At that time I got about 2/3rds of the train wreck 12A story, and now by bringing this post back to the forefront, in the words of Paul Harvey, "Now I know the rest of the story". A great guy, with a great car and a real passion for the 1st Gen RX-7.

i need to get back up that way again. but if the weather's nice enough by then i may be on a non-rotary.

I'd love to come down and visit...been saying that for years. Having 2 jobs and 6 kids doesnt leave much free time however. One of these days. But hey if you guys are ever up for a road trip, I host two rotary meets per year at my place and you guys are always welcome to attend!!

Nice!
 

Ray, glad to see everything finally came together and the LE is shining brighter than ever! Enjoy!

Hank

Thanks Hank.

For those of you who don't know, Hank sold me the LE a few years ago (for a very reasonable price):

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The LE is the daily driver now and the TW12A purrs like a kitten now that it's properly broken in.

I've upgraded the suspension and brakes, it handles better than a new FB, flat as an LP on the curves

Eibach springs, Tokico blues, stainless steel brake lines, new control link bushings and drilled/slotted rotors all around.

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I also replaced the windshield, that was fun:

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Next is getting it back to the original S3 Chateau Silver Metallic paint job.

Over the years S3 loses it's "Chateau" and looks like regular K3 Sunbeam Silver, so I'm learning to do auto paint.

Once I get good enough I'll do the LE and add back the windshield trim, then it will not only drive like new, it will look brand new as well.