Sup all, I'm new to the forum. Just got my 88" RX-7 Turbo yesterday and im in love, fresh import from japan, 60k on, running harmoniously but i had to change the alternator belt today.

Back to it - do i have a series 4 or 5? Before you get pissed caus i didn't research, i did and i'm aware that ser 4 is 86-88 and ser 5 is 89-92. The problem is that i have series 5 lights which have stock glued on tinted covers in which the tint has really faded (true for a 15 year old car).

I checked the rear of the lights, on the chassis, where a cut is supposed to be made to allow the lights to fit, and its a fabricated hole, perfect from the factory!

What other ways are there of telling what model i have? There is a serial number on the engine bay but it doesn't look like it will tell me much. The radio is pretty old by the looks of it. me confused...

 

Simple. Go to this site http://www.mazdaformance.com/rx7parts.htm

Now click on 86-88 ENGINE

Now wait til it downloads.

Now click to *about* the third and fourth page. Now go down the list of chassis numbers and compare it with your cars numbers. If its not there, then go to the 89 and up, and click on ENGINE, and do the same til you find your chassis number.

 

check the door for the year it was made. 89 would start around 8/88 or so. if it's close to that do the above. if it's way off (like 90) then you know for sure.

do you have circle gauges or triangle gagues? the S5 are full circles in the dash.

 

Scott, i looked on the side of the door and found nothing. I do however have trangle gauges. But that still doesn't explain the factory holes at the rear for the S5 lights! I gotta find out which series it is because I want to install a cd player into the car. I got no idea which wires are for what. If someone could tell me what all the wires are for, coming off a japan spec '88 model, that would be swoit!

Hailers, I tried your link, but it confused the hell out of me. I'm not sure if i was looking at the right page, but the only number i can find on the car ( in the engine bay ) is FC3S-130691 and underneath, E-FC3S.

I don't know if this is coincidence, but the number on the driver's seat belt is 28901.

 

www.rotorhead.ca


I'm pretty sure that the FC's followed the same vin scheme as the FB. If not - disregard this post! Look at your serial number, and you can work out the year of the car.

 

That VIN is only for North America (and a FB). The Pacific (NZ/AUZ/JPN) all used a different VIN layout.

 

Ahhhh Australia - my mistake!

 

I shoulda known better. In his original thread he DID say Jap import.

 

My 88 is the same. The car came from Japan with a full S5 exterior, including stock wheels and fog lights. There are no modifications to the rear panel to fit the S5 taillights. The interior is all S4 except for the S5 steering wheel and the factory S5 foglight switch, which is plugged into an unmodified factory loom. The engine and driveline is all S4.

I believe Mazda actually started S5 production in late-88. I've decided that my car (and probably yours) was made during the S4-S5 transition phase in 1988, and left the factory with a mix of both S4 and S5 bits. I have heard of other manufacturers doing this during model updates.

This is only my theory, and I'm still not 100% sure I'm right. So far it's just the best answer I've come up with to explain all the S5 bits on an 88. Many of the bits are bolt-on and could've been done by an owner, but I don't know why anyone would bother swapping on an S5 steering wheel and 15" wheels, and the foglight switch and taillights appear to have been factory fitted.

What else can definitely identify an S4 from an S5? Stuff that could only have been done in the factory.

 

It seems viable to me. It would certainly explain the VIN separation in which the earlier 88's got the S4 steering wheel, and the later 88's got the S5 wheel. I have only noted this on Canadian cars, so I can't comment on US-spec cars.

 

That'd explain your factory paint job too wouldn't it? Because I don't think Shade Green was available until 89. Lol, that always bugged me about your car.

Interesting!

Steve

 

thanks to all of you, great help. Its a pity though isn't it? I wanted 200hp! I'm still satisfied - I'm on my P's at the moment, i'll get even more messed up by the cops if i get pulled over with even more power...

So Nzconvertible, could you tell me what wires are what in the back of my radio/cassette S4.5?

 

I used the S4 FSM wiring diagrams. They matched what was in the car.

If you don't have the FSM (factory service manual), go to www.iluvmyrx7.com and download the chapters you need.