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From what I remember, the "hiref" as notated in your reference were the 3 stage paint jobs. Those came on the Touring models, while the base and r1 had the single stage paints. I may be corrected but thats what I remember reading from the past.
that is correct. the NU is the color for Vintage Red, and NT is the same color but painted with Mazda's High Reflex system. i'm hazy on the details, but i think they put it on a turntable and there was maybe an oven involved? only on the North American Touring and equivalent Japanese model
attached is a spreadsheet of all the colors used on the FD, well except that one 1994 in Pearly White N6
The beautiful VR paint on my '93 touring is thick, probably adds more weight to the touring cars not desirable on R1's. When it chips , it looks like red wax peeling.
I do have a bottle of OEM touch up paint that has a big "NU" sticker on top of it.
IIRC there was no recall but many suffered from a premature fading issue. Seem to remember dealers doing re-sprays. I think a family owned shop at the time may have even done one or two. Those I remember being red too, so maybe an issue with that color only. (?)
I bought my car (a 92 production NU VR R1) way back with low miles, no evidence of collision but with a good quality single-stage re-spray. Still, the faded VR was evident in the engine bay and only partially correctable.
My car is a VR touring 01/92 build date. It is one of the first few off the line. It’s body color code
is NU. J9fd3s hit the nail on the head. They “Flow coated” them at the factory. Which was a lengthily process compared to most vehicle manufacturing at that time. They were painted on a rotisserie, which I found evidence of where the pin locations are on the front and rear of the body that we’re still in primer. I spoke to an old painter who was in the Industry around that time and he explained the whole process to me. It will take me some time to find it, but I did see a video of the flow coating / painting process of the Rx7 some years back. I will try to dig it up if possible.
I remember at the time the Tourings had the special High Reflex paint job. I THINK that was the one that mainly had problems with paint chipping super easy, there were a lot of cars that Mazda had to do a full respray on back in the day.
GDub, if you can find a video of that process that would be awesome. Always wondered how they did that.
Dale
Dale, I am definitely going to go thru my old computers and devices to see if I still have it, or the link. If I remember correctly it showed the process on the rotisserie and the different stages when they put it in the booth multi times. Something like four techs would work on one body at a time. I believe it was competition yellow As well. It’s been a couple years but I’ll give it a look.
~ GW
Just a note ~ mine did have clear de-lamination and a good amount of rock chip damage before the respray. I’m fairly sure mine has the high reflect on it considering the build date and I do know it was the original paint.
in the USA only R package cars got wings, everything else was wingless. wing was available as an accessory and would be dealer installed
I agree with you that R model trim in 92-95 only came from the factory with a wing. 92- mid 94 touring and base models may of had dealer installed other options like the wing, leather seats on the base etc etc ( I’m not sure if they could of been ordered from the factory with them or not). Mid 94 -95 when the touring package became renamed to the PEP I do know that some cars that had the PEP trim came with factory installed wings ( no Bose or fog lights ~ fog lights came back in 95 with the PEP ). Not clear if they were special ordered that way or not, but I do know that some came over that way. It does get a little convoluted because you could order cars the way you wanted if you were willing to wait. I found all of this info digging around in the 3 gen archives.
Along with this link that talks about production number colors ~ Mazda RX-7 History
I agree with you that R model trim in 92-95 only came from the factory with a wing. 92- mid 94 touring and base models may of had dealer installed other options like the wing, leather seats on the base etc etc ( I’m not sure if they could of been ordered from the factory with them or not). Mid 94 -95 when the touring package became renamed to the PEP
the 1993 base had leather as an option, and then 1994-1994 this is what becomes the PEP (along with the sunroof/CD player), the touring was still available in 1994-1995.
the 1993 base had leather as an option, and then 1994-1994 this is what becomes the PEP (along with the sunroof/CD player), the touring was still available in 1994-1995.
That’s the thing, many base models had options added on at the dealer. Hell, I’ve even seen an 93 cym r1 that the dealer put leather in as a add on. Sure was, tho it was relabeled to PEP in 95 which included leather, sunroof, fogs, CD player and a wing. Side note- off topic from this tread, it would be neat if they’re was a up to date thread about trim packages and add on options in one area. I’ve searched tons of areas that unfortunately had a lot of speculation and opinions without official listing.
It can also be hard to say at this time what a car originally came with. These cars have been so modified over the years that it's really hard to say. The only things that are almost always certain is a sunroof and rear wiper, maybe dual oil coolers, most everything else can be easily swapped around.
It can also be hard to say at this time what a car originally came with. These cars have been so modified over the years that it's really hard to say. The only things that are almost always certain is a sunroof and rear wiper, maybe dual oil coolers, most everything else can be easily swapped around.
Dale
its a lot of work, but the parts catalog knows what the car came out of the factory with.
it can also be hard to say at this time what a car originally came with. These cars have been so modified over the years that it's really hard to say. The only things that are almost always certain is a sunroof and rear wiper, maybe dual oil coolers, most everything else can be easily swapped around.
, it looks like red wax peeling.
