Has anyone successfully restored a 1993 FD to original showroom condition? Are there meets where cars are judged for this objective as in Corvette restoration?

 

There might be a couple but these cars aren't like older Corvettes, they are still modern and don't have any of that "classic" mystique around them yet. Many owners prefer to modify the car over keeping it stock.

 

That's sort of my goal, but there are many obstacles:
- plastic parts that don't age well
- lack of OEM replacement parts, ridiculous prices for them (i.e. $110 for a shift ****)
- these engines don't do well with very low usage

My car is nowhere close to showroom condition (59k miles) but I do like restoring worn items to like new condition.

Unfortunately, when a garaged, occasionally used, mint FD comes up for sale, it usually never gets to a buyer who intends to preserve it. It usually gets opened up and modded by the buyer who could afford to start with a low mileage car.

Dave

 

Yeah, it's called 5000 dollar paint job.

 

Not just that but its actually bad to at least keep the stock pre-cat the heat that thing generates, is a reason enough to remove it.

 

Really? The precat causes excessive heat?

 

The precat produces more heat than hell. Run the car hard, then pull over, look into engine bay by the turbo area and everything around there should be glowing red. I know a couple FD owners who got off of the highway to get some gas, and could see their precat glowing red from underneath the car. The newer FD's had the precat replaced with a downpipe from the factory. Get a downpipe, its realiablitly mod, but also a performance mod.

ALI

 

I don't know about keeping my car in "showroom condition", but I try to be sure all my mods are easily restorable to original spec, and I keep my old stock parts. Since I plan to keep the car forever, it doesn't make sense, but I do it anyway.

 

same here

 

To really do this right (IMO, of course!), you need to time the market for when a "restored" example is worth more than the unrestored (though with some cars, "orginal miles" without resotoration is actually bringing more dollars as "reference" examples... think MOPARS). Anyway, the best approach is to start accumulating parts that will be required to be replaced to produce a fully functioning automobile that is as close to stock as possible. This means buying an air pump, catalytic converter, correct stock water pump housing (early ones had removable filler cap mount, later ones were integrated), and so on. Probably the hardest thing will be interior. The 93's will have the smooth interior, and there are no NOS (new old stock) versions of these as they've been superceded by the 94 and up style. This means painting the originals, something that will require research to get as close to the original paint as possible.

When you are accumulating parts, KEEP THE RECEIPTS! You need to show that the part that is on the car came from Mazda, and is as close to an original replacement as possible. Take pics of the parts if you can to prove that they're correct.

When dissassembling the car for a resto, TAKE PICTURES. OF EVERYTHING. REALLY! I was tearing into my interior for my battery relocation (a non stock thing that would require replacing the rear bins to bring back to "factory original") and I noticed a screw holding the pass side rear interior panel along the weatherstrip line, about halfway down the door. It was basically a wood screw (black shiny painted), going into a plate that had been pop rivited into the side of the metal. I pretty much know I'm the first one in there since manufacture, so this is likely a production line modification to make the panel fit properly, not documented. If that was there in the restored version, you would need documentation, like pictures, to show it should be there.

There's more to talk about, but it gets tedious. One way around the above mentioned pre-cat situation is to break out the honey-comb in the cat ("gutting it"). You get the look of the original, without the mini-sun in the engine bay.

There's sooo many things that will get replaced that need documentation. Power steering boots. Brake discs. Brake pads. Shock absorbers. Bushings. Control arms for when the ball joints fail. Sway bar brackets. Radiator (!). Oil cooler flex lines. Fog light covers. Halogen light bulbs. Bleeding stupid winshield wipers (concours correct, anyone?). Hell, the cadmium plating on the clutch line bracket on the fire wall, AND the correct but useless ground strap on the same firewall.

Then there's the recalls. Is "factory correct" pre- or post-recall? Hmmm...

Seatbelts. Seat covers. Carpet. Functioning Bose. Cat back. Center console wiring. Boost gauge? Temp gauge un-linearization.

It never ends. And it's not even begun yet. Might for this car, though, especially with all the hack jobs that will be coming in a few years. Almost EXACTLY like the 70-74 E-body MOPARS (Challengers and Barracudas). Not that many made, hot rodded almost the DAY they were bought, thrashed endlessly, owned by 30 or more before restoration, differing "quality" restorations, bondo queens, numbers mismatches, faked hemi 'Cudas, years and tears later with money down an endless drain.. can't WAIT to see it!

Or not...