Hello all, some of you already know this, but this last weekend I finally bought my first FC.

I picked it up in Astoria, OR - and they were asking $1,500 for it. There was a lot wrong with the car, and they needed $1,000 in parts for their DD Jeeps.

I offered them $950 out of kindness to their money problems, and they agreed.

This topic will be spreading the whole buildup of the car, including getting rid of rust, getting it fully reliable (as much as I can) and eventually bringing it back up to its former glory it was back in 1988.

Pics below of the first day I got it, (August 16th, 2008)

This first one is of my car at their place, RXzeben from the forums whom I've become friends with came with me to check it out. Here it is as it sat there.



These next few pics are were taken after I got it home.









From here on out it's going to be about the restoration. Thanks for looking.

 

Not a bad looking base you got. Few dings/dents besides the drivers door according to the pics. Any Idea what is wrong with it? And what are your plans for upgrading things (like the god aweful 4lug hubs and going to the bigger 4pot brakes up front?)

 

There are many things wrong with it. However today it crapped out on me after 3 days of me owning it. Had to leave it outside of work and get picked up to go to class tonight.

Getting triple A to tow it to where a friend of mine works to get it looked at, the one who helped me when I got it. He owns a 7 and should hopefully have it up and running by tomorrow morning within an hour.

I also am going to be looking at getting it to pass DEQ here soon, on the original OR title, it said I had 30 days to get it registered, but apparently in WA it's 15 days. So now I have 12 days to get it to pass, or else I'll have to drive it illegally, which I'm not wanting to do, what so ever.

I'm going to get it running, get a new o2 sensor, cat, exhaust, etc etc... and pray to god that I pass, and then probably start thinking about getting a rebuild for it as well.

 

if they made the phone dials in bigger sizes I wouldve kept mines on love them phone dials.
Your car is in way better shape then mines when I first got my 88 SE.

 

UPDATE:
It was just a fuel pump issue with my car we beleive, and it's now back up and running. Drove it home from work last night around midnight after I got it started, and now I'm back at work with it again.

 

what are your plans for the car?

 

I said it up above the pictures, but essentially to restore it to how it was in 1988, plus some more modern suspension, brakes, etc etc...

Trying to keep the interior completely stock, the original radio is still inside and works.

 

Just found a parts car for sale, will be going to take a look tomorrow morning, and hopefully have it towed back to my place within the week. Look for pics soon.

 

Almost looks like the car got shot at on the driverside door :S , heavy neighbourhood :P?

 

Picked this up yesturday for $500.

 

.... anybody else thinkin what I'm thinkin...?

 

u thinking swap the motor/trans to the white one?

looks like a nice body on that "parts car". Does it have an engine/trans?? Whats your plan as far as swapping parts from one to the other?

 

The interior on the white one is shot, I thought about swapping the engine from my DD into it, and swapping the interior as well. It would be a lot of work, and I couldn't do it myself - that's why I hadn't already decided that's what I was going to do.

 

Keep at it. More pics more pics man!

 

For me to drive the white one, I'd need someone to do most of/help me with the interior, and the engine. The white one does not have a running engine at this point, however I might be able to get it going. However, the interior is shot.

The passenger seat isn't even bolted down.
The center panels aren't screwed in.
The speakers are missing some parts in the back hatch.
etc etc etc

But the body is great. haha

 

Went and got both cars titled and in my name this last week.

Got my 88 SE through emissions, it failed the first time, but I got a waiver the 2nd. My HC output was at almost 1,500 - 7x the legal limit here in WA... haha

The important thing is, it's legally on the road finally.

 

Great work man!

Now that you own one, maybe you can perfect your 3D model, eh?

Vince

 

I've actually been thinking about completely redoing it. Starting from scratch, getting all of the topology of the model right, and the lines of the car perfect. I love driving the 7, it's a beautiful car.

It may smoke, the NA may be slower than my old car, but it's beautiful.

My girl calls it "Ghetto-Fabulous" and she loves it. hahahaha

 

Alright, I've spent parts of the last 2 days at a pull-it place, and have found quite a bit of stuff to fix my cars.

First of all I found a glovebox door that replaced my cracked one - so now that old one is free for anyone who wants it - pic below.

Free!!!:



Also, I grabbed a door to replace my one with a semi-hole in it, rust abundantly in several places as well:

New door:


Old door:


If anyone has any spare S4 body trim to replace my S5 I would appreciate it - send me a PM.

Also, if anyone has a use for a aero style electric mirror - I have the internal wiring for it, the actual mirror is busted.



Also picked out some new interior pieces for the white GXL:







And my red SE with it's new plates on! YAY!

 

Went and picked up a new bumper today off of Josh18_2k's red V8 FC.

It's in much better condition than my current bumper was, the pic it looks a bit more weathered than it is, because I just sprayed it down with water to get off the initial dirt, and will be detailing it later tonight.

Thanks again Josh,

 

Looks like some good deals so far, and great progress. I dont think I could ever pass an emissions test in my FC.

Just upon noticing, did you happen to get all of the S5 interior bits out of the scrapyard car? Theres a few interior lights in the hatch area the S5's have that the S4's did not, which is why your rear panels have holes/slats in them.

And one more bit of advice, mostly concerning your project GXL, find someone parting out 10th anniversary interior bits, the S5 black trim aroun the A and B pillars wont look/work right with the manual seat belts of the S4 cars.

Congratulations, you have been thoroughly infected with the rotary virus, there is no cure, only temporary fixes of redlining and wonderful mazda "Zoom-Zoom".

 

Still need to get the bumper on. :p

 

HUUUGE pictures!

So you replaced a small dented door with a bigger dented door? Do you plan on pounding and filling the dent in?? I wouldn't worry about the body of the car too much. It looks fine to me. Just needs a few applications of cleaner wax. I'd swap the mufflers out, white mufflers onto the red car.

 

Lookin good. Glad to see your not just going to rape the white gxl. Hope you can get that one running too. That might be better for ya in the long run.

 

The other door I'm going to be fixing, as well as the one that's currently on the red car. That way I will have two to work with.

Why would I want to put the GXL mufflers onto my SE? Is there a specific reason behind that?

And yeah, I'm glad I'm not gutting it either, need to keep as many 7's on the road as we can. That's my philosophy.