Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

I really regretted not documenting what I did with my last FD during my 3 years of ownership..So now I've got another, I'm starting a build thread .

So after 1.5 years of being without an RX-7, I found myself looking at the classifieds & came across a rather rare (1 of 124 made) 100% standard UKDM RX-7...Somehow I managed to convince myself that I could afford it and it was a sensible thing to do...

The car had been dry stored in a container for quite some years. Me and a my friend Terry picked her up Monday night.....It was a long drive (Just over 220 miles each way)...Especially with an 18ft trailer!



My poor golf actually pulled it on just fine. Modern diesels are amazing, a few small mods and shes got 210hp, 410ft/lb of torque, yet still does 54mpg avg . Only 41avg full loaded with an rx7 on the back mind!


Pics of the car:





UK spec goodness, headlight washer & headlight levelling controls



The interior needs a little TLC & the plastics need a respray...Otherwise shes really rather tidy. The paint is awesome for its age, really shines nicely!

My plans for her are to get her up to mid 300s on sequential twins, but first of all..I need to get her into a state that will pass its MOT so I can start driving her.

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

So Today I decided to find the source of the ignition breakup. The previous owner had changed the plugs & done an oil change just prior to me purchasing it.

After removing the leads...What I found was not great...



Trailing coil 1, resistance was near 2 ohms - Time for a new coil.



This leading coil amazingly was in spec, but obviously needs to be replaced...



Trailing 2....Surprise suprise...near 2 ohms.

So all in all my FD ignition breakup issue is going to cost a little more than I had hoped!





Not a great day...It did, however, get better when the postman dropped off a package from the guys at Sakebomb Garage

RENESISFD

iTrader: (13)

Nice to see you back in an FD.


Care to take some pics of the headlight leveling setup I am curious how it looks.


Re the coils: you may want to look into IGN-1A coils if you are going to be replacing all three.

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

I'll post up pics when I fit the new lights, most likely tomorrow as I'm off work this week .

Thanks for the tip on the coils, I'll look into it as 3 new Mazda coils would run me for ~£650 ($1020)

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

Looks good, how well does the headlight sprayer works without a wiper to actually clean stuff off the lens?

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

I haven't got to drive the car too much yet, so I cant really give an accurate answer to your question. What I can say is that the water jet is pretty darn powerful, the rebound off the lights got the wall opposite fairly wet. UK rx-7s have a huge rear washer tank (Runs almost the width of the car) with extra motors to run these washers.

Black Hearts

iTrader: (23)

looks good and welcome back!

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

Glad to see you back man.

Jeez its always cloudy in england lol. So far i havent seen pics of any place in england where the sun was showing lol

raceratheart15

iTrader: (1)

Nicely done! good find and way to tow it with a VW. Cant wait to see more

drftbndwgn

Car looks good also big ups on towing with a vdub made me look twice

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

Thanks all.

Today I installed the Sakebomb lights, removed the interior plastics to get them ready for painting & removed all the ignition equip I no longer need as I'm going with the AEM IGN-1A coils . I'm going to try and squeeze them behind the ABS, but I doubt they'll fit so they'll most likely end up in the stock location.

The plug on the right is for the adjustable headlights, it runs in with the lights harness.


Motor location:


Ended up removing the assy due to rust that needed some attention.




Sakebomb HID's in:






Here is a pic of the large rear tank, it actually continues behind the plastic on both sides...

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

The drivers seat looked pretty bad when I picked her up, looks much better after some leather restorer



Interior as it stands now...I found a minor blemish on the passenger side of the dash....I'm a little OCD when it comes to interiors...So I'll either be fitting a new dash or getting it wrapped...



Switches all cleaned up



Got to love being the first person to remove parts from a car, all mounting points etc intact...No broken clips, its great! My last one required a load of plast-aid to get the switch mounts usable.



Regarding interior plastics colour, I'll probably go with a dark grey. Darker than the spirit R grey. I wanted to do this last time, but the company I ordered from sent me a light grey by mistake.....I just used it anyway & I think It came out quite nice. I want this FD to look more oem, though.

Pic of my last FD's interior:

RENESISFD

iTrader: (13)

Extremely jealous of that rear washer tank. That thing is almost worth its weight in gold.

Thanks for the pics of the headlight assembly.

chiefboon

What did you use for leather restorer? Fantastic results on that seat.

riverseine

iTrader: (1)

She's beautiful mate!
Love that dash on the last FD.

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

I used some black polish to get some colour back into the parts of the seat that we're bad, then some ancient leather restorer, that can must literally be 40 years old. Seems to have done the job, though

Thanks! I will most likely be going a similar route again (Spirit r gear gaiter, handbrake, cluster etc). Its a shame I couldn't get more parts off the car before it was scrapped, the genuine parts are pretty pricey .

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

I've been away for a while, so haven't got around to updating this for a bit.

I've repaired up my interior plastics & painted them satin black, really pleased with the finish. Plast-aid is amazing stuff!





I purchased some genuine '99 rear lights with beat up lenses & swapped my '93 lenses over as they're in immaculate condition

Lenses off the '99s:


I love the look of stock '99s.....FD's look really dated with the pre '99 lights imo.





I went with Defi BF gauges in my last car....So decided to give Prosport a try for this FD. I went for their metric range (Boost, water temp & arf gauges). Here are some pics:



They look blue here...But its just the tint of the gauge face showing up with the flash...They are actually backlit amber.


Coolant temp sensor installed in the T-stat housing





I forgot to take pics, but I installed an FC thermosensor to bring the fans online that little bit earlier (95 degrees C). What a stupid location for a sensor!
As I had the UIM off, I thought it would be rude not to upgrade the standard air sensor with a fast reacting replacement, so I've dropped one in .

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

Installed a new boss as the standard wheel just has to go... I also removed all the cruise control gubbings/controls etc as I do not want it, plus is clutters up the engine.




I sent my Personal Grinta off to get recovered, along with other standard interior parts...Really pleased with the results!





I'd highly recommend Matt (hulanfd3s) if you need anything recovered. Top bloke!

Battle Cat

iTrader: (78)

**** YES YOUR BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! subscribed!!

T Train

I LOVE the white interior.

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

Haven't done much on the FD recently as I've been working on rebuilding a friends engine that needed new shells & a crank.....Un-relaible piston engines....

I sourced a new dash as the original one had a few marks..

New dash in, needs some wax as the finish is very dull standard:




Bought a standard radio as I want to keep this car looking standardish and I really really dislike silver headunits with green/blue lights etc. If its good enough for the Spirit R, its good enough for me . I'll fit a usb & 3.5mm audio jack into the glove box & connect it via the cd-changer plug to the headunit.



I was having issues mounting the bracket I made for my coils. Even with a 90 degree drill it was a tight fit to get it between the engine & the chassis leg, so decided to pull the engine. The engine bay is seriously in need of a clean anyway, so with the engine out, I'll be able to give her a good clean & touch up any paint damage/rust. Engine bay as it sits now:





I'm borrowing a friends engine crane tomorrow, so I'll pull her out one evening next week . The vaccum hoses look standard, so its a good time to replace all of those. I've also purchased a new IC, efini y-pipe & a lot of polishing wheels. I have never seen an engine bay as dirty as this FD...Going to be a lot of work to get her clean!

As she sits now:

ratcooker

Nice find, those gauges look nice. And amber backlighting. Why DO they make car stereos look like a light show at a rave party?

cptpain

iTrader: (1)

Out this entire thread, Im more impressed on your VW as a tow vehicle lol.

people seriously dont know how dead reliable and highly fuel efficient a diesel engine is..... even a small 1.9 VW

Ceylon

iTrader: (3)

Shes pulled heavier loads in the past..................And required a new clutch shortly after haha .

But yeah, over here they're really common due to the cost of fuel being so high. I used my last FD as a DD, this is not an option for me with today's fuel costs.