The plan: I've always wanted an rx7 vert. Ever since I was browsing cars on ebay when I was 14 and I first layed my eyes on it. But then again I always wanted a lot of cars , from dsms to 240s , to turbo dodges to conquest/starions. But in the end the project car I finally decided on was the rex. I am 19 years old and I either work full time and school part time or the other way around. I leased an 05 Impreza for that whole purpose so the whole daily driver aspect is covered. What I wanted to do is to have a TII vert for the weekends and the summer.

Background: I bought an 88 triple black vert in Maryland in late October of 05. The car was actually sitting in a field because the engine was blown and the owner , an elderly gentleman didnt want to bother with it anymore because of his age.



The car has 330,000 miles on it but body wise it was good minus the dent on the rear drivers fender, paint is crap , interior was damn nice minus wear on the seats and everything electrical including the top worked great.




We agreed on 750 for it and I spent about another 250 towards U-haul trailer rental and gas/food for friends truck/friend getting the car back to Philly.



So basically 1000 dollars and it was sitting in my garage.


I dropped the exhaust and tranny within the first week since I couldent wait to wrench on it. The engine came a week or two later. The underside of the car looked good rust wise but I still planned to Herculine the bottom of it just to keep it that way. But ofcourse with my luck , I was pulling back the carpet to yank the ecu and harness and found this.



So then I decided to pull all the carpet and ofcourse the more I pulled the worse it got. The worst problems were on the drivers side. 1 . behind the seat 2. near the seat and 3. the underside of the rockerpanel.







So the whole swap thing had to be put on hold and it got really cold even in the garage so I really got discouraged and barely messed with it.

Now: The way it sits now is I finally got the rust holes cut out and welded up. I plan to por15 and herculine the whole underside of it. I dropped the rear end and purchased the S4 TII rear end with halfshafts, brembo drilled/slotted rotors all around , s/s brake lines , racing beat rear sway and endlinks , new bushings and mounts all around.

How the plan has changed: In mid may my girlfriend and I are planning to go to the Jersey shore for a few days before she goes on a month+ long trip with her parents. And I would LOVE to drive down there in the rex. All I want it to do is run , I dont care how it looks because as soon as I come back it will be repainted. The journey is only about 2 hours each way and temperates in mid May shouldent be too bad, cooling wise.

This thread is kind of like a project log/question thread.

So here are my questions.

What should I do purchase to make this happen. I have about a month and half to get this done. Currently I still have to paint the inside and outside with por15 and herculine the bottom. Find something to redo the tranny tunnel with , heatshield wise. Bolt up all the crap I have for the rear end and brakes and do the bushings and rear end mounts. Buy a jspec from where I have yet to decide and all the other crap I need to make it run like sensors and drivetrain. I do have a TII tranny but if the jspec comes with one then I will keep it.

What things other than a rebuild should I do to make sure the car will make the trip. I plan to ofcourse have new fluids for everything, new spark plugs , wires , fuel filter, test the tps , new drivebelts and motor mounts. I was thinking about upgrading the stock rad and hoses to a koyo and samco hoses or at the very least buying new oem hoses and probably replace all the stock vac line hoses with the Hose Techniques lines since it will be really easy with the jspec just sitting there. The car will be dead stock from the airbox to the exhaust which I will take from my friend once he upgrades his stock 87 TII. The stock suspension is shot but I think I can get away with keeping it that way , I want to purchase Tein Flex's but thats later. I will replace the suspension if its really bad after the trip. I will have great brakes though. So what I am really worried about is cooling and old stuff failing on me halfway down there. Thats all it has to do is run and run good , Im not going to beat on it , it doesent have to handle good , or look good , just drive and drive nice.

Damn thats long ,so thats about it , what should I do , what shouldent I do , can I get away with keeping a few things stock and shot or should I not play with fire and just get new stuff , etc. All comments , tips , flames welcome.