I know how you feel Mahjik. The roads here haven't been fit to take the FD out lately, and it's killing me not being able to stretch the legs on my new turbo

 

Yea, it's not looking good. The weather forecast show a high of low 20's for the weekend and more snow on Sunday. Oh well.

 

^ One Friday night I'm going to drive up there and by Sunday night that dang car of yours is going to be running under its own power even if we have to stuff the Audi's motor in there By the time you get this engine running I will have worn out another one in my own car

 

Please, at least use my M3's motor instead.

Yea, I've been loosing enthusiasm for the project over time. However, I think watching the Rolex 24 has renewed interest to get the car running and back on the track again.

 

I'll bring some size 12 enthusiasm to you as well

 

Stay with it! I installed a used engine myself and then found out that a manual engine wouldn't work in my automatic. This was after I had stripped the manual engine to a short block and sold the parts. I then transfered all the parts from the automatic over to the manual short block. Talk about bummed! I then rebuilt my old motor and exhausted every cent I had. Car was down for almost two years. Now its up and running great and I can work on the enjoyable little projects to make it an even better car! I was on a roller coaster for a time, but kept going. I had my down times no doubt, but knew some day I would get that gratification of accomplishing something most people don't ever do.
Keep plugging! I have been following your thread for a long time!

Terry7

 

You'll have to get in line, as I think my wife and several other people have already started forming it.

My problem is that I'm not really all that bummed about anything. As most people feared, my M3 has basically given me a reason not to really care so much about the RX-7. If I was daily driving a Neon, I probably would have had the car finished a year ago.

My problem is that I just really don't care anymore whether the car is running or not.. So my motivation to do any work on it only comes in spurts every now and then.

And before anyone says anything, the M3 is no RX-7. But the one place where I differ from most people is that I don't really need a "fast" car to have fun. For me, when I'm on a race track, me trying to be the best driver I can in whatever I'm driving is more important. I'd rather be in a slow car on a track but a great driver than a really fast car and only going fast because the car can, not because I'm making it fast (if that makes any sense). With that mind set, it really doesn't matter what I'm driving on a track as long as I am on a track.

I can definitely get by with buying some track pads for my M3 and some sticky tires and I'd be set. Who knows, I may be making all this drama for nothing. I may put the RX-7 on the road here in the next week and everything is fine. Or, it may go back on jackstands for another year, who knows!

 

lol, this statement just hit me as uber funny.

Good build, good pics and great write up. Thanks for taking the time to do this, as I know as a father and husband myself, taking the time to take pics/descriptions for people is extremely time consuming.

Good job, and the best of luck to you for your build. Keep us posted on what the results are after your snow storm :P

 

I know the feeling when you're not pushed to get something done. My solution is to just bundle up, get in the garage, and start doing SOMETHING. Pretty soon I've spent several hours and motivation is not the issue.

But boy would I be disappointed if you went Jimlab on us.

Dave

 

I hate having an investment sit around and gather dust, if you're content with the M3 I'd just get it running properly and pawn it

I have too much fun with the FD to let it sit for long, although it was down for almost a full year with the latest overhaul

 

That's the thing, it's not an investment. If I were looking for an investment, it wouldn't be a car that I'm spending $10k on to put back on the road only to be able to sell it for maybe $17-18k when its done (and the car costing me over $20k when I bought it back in 1997 with an additional new engine and turbos in 1999 for almost $10k).

 

unless the car has zero residual value, it's an investment....it's money sitting there doing nothing

you could have sold it a few years ago, invested in google, and picked up a C6 Z06 by now

 

YZF, I think you need to relook at the definition of "investment":

the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.

While it may be worth something sitting there, it's not worth MORE than what has already been spent on it. So, you are right in the sense that the proper word begins with an *I*, but it's not investment; its Indulgement. Investment would mean that I would at least get back what's gone into it and a little more but that isn't even remotely the case with these cars.

I could get a C6 Z06 now if I really wanted one, but I don't. I can't bring myself to spend that much money on any car available here in the USA. The M3 was a stretch for me (internally, not financially). I really didn't want to spend that much, but I do enjoy the car. I would spend that on a TVR Sagaris if they were here, but they aren't.

 

Why does an investment always have to be of monetary value? How about an investment towards your happiness and ethusiasm?

 

If that were the case, the car would have been gone a LONG time ago.

If I would looking into an investment of happiness, seeing the car sitting in my garage does not make me unhappy. *IF* it did, the car would have been running a long time ago and either sold or completed.

I'm in no hurry to sell it. I have no need for my other garage space. The current other cars I would be considering, I wouldn't be able to pay for in cash completely even with the sale of my RX-7. At this point, I don't want another car payment on top of my M3 payment and paying for my wife's Audi. In about 2 years when the M3 is paid, I will most likely consider something at that point. However, if the RX-7 sits in the garage gathering dust till then, so be it.

 

My perspective re: investment. For me, working on the 7 is great therapy and an investment in my sanity considering it is so different from what I do to make a living. Probably much cheaper than a therapist in the long run. It is a great diversion and its always nice to see the fruits of my labor, not to mention, it is so much fun to drive.

IMHO - Reading through this thread and seeing the pics, it seems to me that this project for Kyle is more a labor of love, fun factor, pride, and the need for speed / horsepower. How do you put a value on that.

-chuck

 

hurry up and finish this Mahjik

 

Sorry all for the lack of updates, but I'll give you a run down of what has been happening:

1. The car was flooding a lot, so I ended up buying used injectors all around. I had them cleaned and balanced. After installing them, they stopped the flooding problems. Car starts up just fine (along with new spark plugs).

2. Excessive smoke. I noticed oil in the exhaust and saw some around the manifold of the turbos. I purchased a good used set of turbos and got them installed.

3. Had a few codes and some other odd ends which I purchased replacement parts for those as well.

So, as of now, the car starts fine; no more flooding. I still have a little smoke, but no more oil pouring out of the turbos. I'm not sure if the oil is still burning off out of the cat or if there is still another problem. This past weekend I put the car back into condition to drive on the road (check attached picture). So, time will tell with the smoke.

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough gas in it to drive down to the gas station. I did a few trips to the gas station with my little gas can to put some in it. I plan to start putting some miles on it this week.

 

from my experiences, oil in the exhaust can take forever to burn off. I had a turbo go bad on the talon. didnt do much about it for awhile. Finally changed it with a rebuilt unit. Thing still smoked for about a week or two in decreasing levels and they was driving everyday at least 50 miles a day.

 

Looks great Mahjik! Glad to see her back on the road.

 

Congrats and good luck.

 

Congrats!

 

Good to see you're getting the bugs worked out Kyle. The car is lookin' great

 

Thanks guys.

The car made its first trip last night. I took it around the block to see how it would do. No real problems aside from noting I need to bleed and adjust the clutch (new clutch in the car as well).

I'm going to start taking for drives more often and increase the distances each time. We'll see how it goes!

I still have the "busy work" things now to complete (new gauge installs, roll bar, etc). So I'll be working on those smaller things over the next few weeks as I begin to break the engine in.

 

Great to see this Mahjik! It's a great feeling I know. Glad you didn't give up!