firstgen89sho

alright, finally got it up on the hoist and got a real good look at her.

kind of questioning some of the rust that I have found.


passengers side idler arm mount area


drivers side steering box mount area


front to back shots of underneath, the rust is all surface here








drivers side rear inner fender


drivers side front inner fender


passengers side front inner fender


passengers side rear inner fender


passengers side rear shock mount


drivers side rear shock mount


looking up by the fuel pump and filter


looking front towards the back of the engine


looking in passengers side cubbyhole


passengers side inside rear fender


drivers side inner rear fender

-xlr8planet-

iTrader: (3)

ouch... thats a lot of rust......

Midwest 7's

iTrader: (4)

check under the battery tray as well.

Naegleria_Fowleri

That is a ton of rust. I don't think I would have the money to repair that much rust.

firstgen89sho

ok, the main areas are as follows:

front drivers and passengers side lower fender area

rear inside fender areas as seen in pics.

all the rest that you see in the pics, is typical surface rust, if I had to, I'd take a wire wheel, take it down to metal, then paint it with undercoating.

83rx7boy92

idk id say find a clean shell and swap everything

firstgen89sho

problem is, up here, trying to find a clean shell is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

I will keep an eye out for a clean shell the best that I can, but I will still run this one for now untill I can.

have had it on the road, besides the slight miss in the engine, goes pretty good.

83rx7boy92

well thats good

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

It's repairable. There was a link the other day for new rear 1/4 panels and patch panels, that's going to be the most work, along with the rockers. Bit suprised seeing the rust on the front wheel wells, but that's a fairly easy repair.

How bad is the dowel pin leak?

firstgen89sho

not too bad, but that engine is coming out of there in a week or 2.... due to a nicked apex seal on the front rotor.

picked up a 84 12a to throw in, checked al the apex seals, they are in good shape, and the rotor housings, from what I can see through the exhaust holes, that there are no chrome, or not alot of chrome flaked off.

ok next question, what would be better to use? air oil cooler (factory 82)? water oil cooler (factory 84), or water to air? if possible

Tripple 7's

The rear brake line to the diff is a bit scarry with the loops

rotornoob

iTrader: (2)

wow that is a whole lot of rust buddy. idk if i myself would try to save it but if you do it may cost a lot and involve a lot of cutting and such

85 FB

Usually, you'll save more money, time, and hassle if you had a cleaner slate to work off of, yet, since you said finding a clean shell is like a needle in a haystack, then you just might have to take your chances in repairing each item one by one.

Replacement parts shouldn't be too hard to find, and for the areas that are never seen unless carpeting is removed, or along those lines, you could take a cutter wheel, find some filler metal, and weld in some patches, like the cubby holes.

But, looking at the other areas that seem harder to work on, well, you might have your work cut out for you. The car looks like a rolling rust bucket. Maybe there's another RX-7 in your area for sell that has less rust?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

[QUOTEok next question, what would be better to use? air oil cooler (factory 82)? water oil cooler (factory 84), or water to air? if possible[/QUOTE]
I always recomend going with a 2nd gen oil cooler when replacing the beehive. The FC cooler has better bungs and they are not prone to cracking. I have a writeup in the archives on the install.

Don't bother with a wire wheel. With the amount of rust you have, invest in a sand blaster and a good respirator o fresh air hood. Then buy a gallon of POR-15 to recoat everything.

When you get the engine out, take a good look at the inner frame rails to see how far the rust has gone, you may need to box the rails in.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Yea I definatly agree with trochoid on this one, the wirewheel/prime method won't work with that much rust. A good sandblaster isn't that much and the quality of the results you'll get with it are worth every penny. I've had really good results by sandblasting and then coating everything with por15, that way in case you miss a few specks of rust with the blaster the por15 will take care of it. While I'm not sure I believe por 15's claim of being able to go directly over heavy rust, it does work really really well as a sealer for metal thats been sandblasted. It dries hard as a rock and really seals the metal nicely, really good base to put undercoating or other sealers on top of. Anything is repairable, finding a good shell is hard as hell, if i were you (and I basically am in teh same situation) I'd repair it.
oh and I was the one who posted the link for teh quarters, not on my home computer right now, but i'll post it later if you guys want.

Lee Lyons

nope sell what you don't want to me!!!

Hades12

Stick a screwdriver in this one and look to see if you can see it on one the other side. Also on the passenger side check the steering arm atachment area and see if it is rotted.




Get a better pic of the area circled, Include the mount point under the car.




The red is the same point as the red in the last pic, The blue does not hurt but needs stopped.