Hey guys! It's been a good while since I signed up. I was insanely busy with work and the restoration you'll read about below and I only hopped on here to research and to diagnose my wiring harness/ECU to put it back to stock. Thanks to Ceylon and Akagis_white_comet for the help with resources.

Quick intro about me: I'm a 27 year old guy from Norway, Oslo. Been into cars since before I could walk and an RX7 has always been one of my dream cars.
I work with content creating (no I'm not a youtuber) for both my own company, making films and taking pictures for companies and such. My 9-5 is doing the same for the Norwegian truck company called Scania. (You yanks will probably have to google it, the rest of the world knows them)

I've known for a fact that I won't be able to save up enough money to buy one, as I have a Miata project as well. On the 21st of April 2020 I stumbled by chance over a busted up blue FD parked inside a cramped one-car garage with parts and stuff piled ontop of it. Sadly I didn't save those photos.
The car in question was a JDM import with quite a history to it, after it landed on european soil with a bad engine in 2006. The engine was removed and never came back in. It then sat, mostly outside on a trailer, for years with a few parts slowly being picked off of it.
One day a few kids apparently started throwing rocks at it. Smashed the front and side windows completely and every other panel got the same treatment with dents and scratches. But their thirst wasn't quenched by that - they then managed to set fire to the building it was parked up against, or a dumpster or something - which caused the left rear corner of the car to be completely burnt.
Carpet and the rear interior was cut out and tossed because of either fire or water damage. The rear panel was subsequently painted black to protect the metal, ut they didn't with the inside - so that was severely rusted. It was then sold to someone up the street who planned on putting it back together with a 3SGTE engine, but that never happened.
In the ad the last owner stated the tax and import papers were lost over the years, and they couldn't get them from the government. They listed the car for $600 as it sat with no documentation. I called a buddy who knew someone who worked within the customs department and they gave me a thumbs up back within 30 minutes that the car was legally imported and the documentation existed.
I called the guy and told him I'd pick it up with a trailer the morning after. There was someone else interested so in total it cost me $700.



Picked up and on the way home I contacted customs and got the case-number on the car, then went to the DMV and got a copy of the import and tax document - all good.








The stripped interior - it also came with stock cloth seats that badly need a cleaning, but otherwise 99% un-ripped. Also notice the turbo timer and what I think is a lap timer on the dash.




The burn damage on the inside. Wiring loom was burnt, ABS-computer and rusty bare metal. It got real hot. Luckily no real structural damage and the fuel tank un touched.




What sold me was how rust-free it was underneath, just a few spots on the subframe - but nothing you can't expect on a 30 year old car. It is absolutely filthy though (peep the farm owners single turbo LHD FD in the abckground. I'm renting a spot in his barn converted to a two-story workshop space)




First job was to remove the windshield. A friend of mine came with the right tools and got it out - it already looked a lot better without the shattered glass. I continued to clean the car inside and out to get a better overview of what the condition was.
I quickly started to do some research on finding paperwork on this car and learning more on its history. Amongst other paperwork I needed export papers from Japan to be able to register it in Norway - to confirm it wasn't stolen and legally exported. After some googling I came across japancarhistorycheck.com - I fired away an email and within a few hours a nice gentleman by the name of David got back to me.
After some money was exchanged together with a VIN number I placed an order to get them to physically go to the registration office in Japan and find a physical copy of both the registration papers and complete owners history. Within a week from I contacted David and his crew I got translated version back by email, and he sent me the physical copies by mail. Can't reccomend them enough!



Next up was bodywork. I'm no bodywork guy, I've only paint prepped small stuff and never a whole car with this much damage. To be honest I was terrified, but in order to save a little money I wanted to do the worst of it myself and spend the time.
I won't go into too much detail, as it was quite laborious. Most of my summer between may and august consisted of either bodyworking the car, working my 9-5 to pay my bills or freelancing to pay for parts and supplies on the car. Barely any of my 9-5 paycheck got used on the car as it basically covers my living expenses. With no savings after buying and renovating my apartment the last half of 2019 there was no time or money for time off work.




With the rear bumper off it's easier to see the extent of the fire in the rear. I'm thankful they covered the outside of it at least. I am VERY happy the rear window wasn't busted, new-prices on those are ridiculous. It's slightly scratched in a couple places, but nothing I can't live with. The rubber seal and trim around the glass also burned off on that corner.



Down to bare metal, can also see the oem mounting holes for the wing. All the holes to be welded for a smooth look.



Part 2 coming up (12 image limit)

 

Left front fender busted in several spots. It was also at this time I started noticing the amount of paint layers too, and discovered that this car was previously Montego Blue and somewhere in its life repainted. The left fender was also previously bondo'd over, so must've had a tiny little fender bender in its life. No structural damage underneath. I then decided to return it to Montego Blue.




The driver door must've been slammed hard on the buckle or something, because the bottom was dented outwards and the seam split on the welds. I hammered and dollied it back straight and re-welded the seam before sealing it.



While I was at it I decided to roll the fenders. One piece of bodywork I actually have a fair amount of experience with. Heat, arch roller, a big hammer with dolly and a small rounded hammer to help massage, compress and stretch the metal where it was needed. A very difficult arch to roll smoothly!




Cleaned the inside lip thoroughly before rolling. It almost felt bad rolling them considering how clean they were.




Covered everything in a thick layer of glue/sealant to protect the inside from moisture once rolled. While rolling I also continued filling the crevice up with the same sealent until there was no crevice left. Hopefully that does the trick in keeping air and moisture out.




Here you can also see my Miata project. Full caged, smoothed and shaved engine bay and a slightly tuned 1.8 vvti sport RS engine with Jenvey ITB's. Had that car since I was 15 and it's been off the road for 5.5 years now. It'd be done now if it wasn't for the RX7.




In the middle of the summer I got a freelance gig on the west coast of Norway, an 8 hour drive. This gave me the chance to drive another 5 hours south to pick up a good condition carpet, roof liner, left side loom, rear hatch rubber and some other parts. All-in-all a 22 hour roundt trip around the coast. On the way I stopped by and spent a couple days with some friends. About the only vacation I had that summer. Luckily the job covered all my gas expenses and paid for the parts. Shipping those would be a nightmare.




Speaking of parts, I've spent a considerable amount of time on Yahoo auctions finding cheap deals on the stuff I was missing.




Hired a mobile sandblaster to come to my shop to strip the rear of the car of all rust and paint. Well worth the investment and absolutely not something you can do well enough with wirewheels and angle grinders.




Way too much time cleaning the metal with alcohol and getting rid of all the sand I got the rear end epoxy primered to seal it for good. Now it shouldn't rust anymore.

 

A walk around the car to show the extent of damage after initial bodyfiller and sanding. My body-filling was by no means perfect, but a good step in the right direction. I also got the bottom rubber coating off as I want a smooth finish with no texture. That stuff sucked to get off. I eventually want the oem 99 spec sideskirts and spats on and they wouldn't cover the rubber-lining around the front fender vent completely and ruining the overall look.




The car completely epoxy primered and looking a whole lot better than it did before. I then did a bunch more sanding and smoothing out imperfections as far as I could.




Converted the front end to a new 99 front bumper. With a 15% discount at Mazda it actually was the cheapest alternative to buying used from Japan or the US. I considered KBD's polyurethane bumper, but apparently they can easily sag and need more reinforcements to keep a perfect fit.





Dropped the car of at the bodyshop for a final once over and paint. Here's also a picture of my daily laid out on its air suspension. Gotta flex a little

 

A few weeks later and more work than first anticipated I could dfinally pick the car up. They painted everything except the floor in front of the rear shock towers and engine bay - the latter I wanted to do at a later date after the car is on the road and in full working order. Because I want to eventually shave and clean up the engine bay and re-do the wiring loom once I go for an aftermarket ECU to simplify everything. Besides, I have never worked on an RX7 nor a rotary so I don't want to be afraid to nick the paint in the bay.



A lot of RX7 people don't like Montego Blue, but it's gorgeous in the sun when it's shiny.




It was then put together with a new windshield, second hand side windows and assembled as far as I could before winter storage. The spot in my shop gets taken up by another car during winter, so there was no room for the FD once the snow came in the end of October/start of November. I also needed a financial break to say the least
That's the reason for my bodywork and glass-rush. To get it as weather-sealed as possible and to prevent any rust from forming.




April rolled around and the spot free'd up. Fresh powdercoat on the oem 16's and Yokohama AD08R's on. Now that the outside of the car was mostly done I could continue with wiring, interior and driveline.



With the process of removing the turbo timer and its shoddy electrical splicing came the extensive task of identifyig all the wires to the ECU to confirm that it's in its oem configuration. Here's where the help from Ceylon and Akagis_white_comet came to play.
This invaluable link contains all the wiring diagrams and schematics you'll (most likely) ever need. WD4003 was the one I needed as it's the first JDM model being a '92 car.



I made a little cheat sheet with the colours in kanji and all.




Then to the most important bit. The engine. I've shot a Swedish timeattack series for almsot a decade now - in that series is a Swede racing a single turbo FC that also builds rotaries. I hit him up, he had a stock and complete 13b laying around with low compression on one of the rotors. We came to an agreement and he rebuilt it with Lannetti apex's and a used rotor and housing to replace the blown one. Below are a few images of it in no particular order.

 

Your daily is slammed!
And after seeing your miata, I have confidence that you will save this FD and it will turn out great for you

Amazing job on all that body work yourself, that is a ton of work!
And I like the decision you made to go back to Montego Blue.

Now just invest in a good car cover!

 

Thank you! Haha yeah it's luckily on air so I can get everywhere I need to go! 40.000km's a year, summer and winter on air! If I can get the FD registered and reliable I can give the Lexus a much needed service and love

Continuation:








After a good amount of time I got it delivered to the shop. With it came a used (but good) clutch and flywheel, engine loom, full exhaust with a Racing Beat rear muffler, twin turbos, airbox and piping. Everything I needed. He also inspected and replaced what needed replacing in the rats nest.




After enoiugh hours and head scratching, with good help from local rotary heads it all came together. A few hiccups here and there, mostly caused by my inexperience with FD's and rotaries it was complete.

 

Then came the fuel tank. Since it's been sitting for 17-18 years with open fuel lines and no gas cap I knew that was gonna be an issue not worth risking not investigating.




Filthy, but rust free on the outside.




If I could post a picture of the worst smelling thing I've smelled since I visited a back alley in Cairo in 2012 this was definitely it. 17 year old gas and a lot of oil, with a bit of moisture mixed in, makes an awful smell.




After draining the sludge this mess was left. Rust and lots of debris from deteriorated rubber god knows what else.




It cleaned up pretty nicely, but surface rust came back pretty quick.




Degreaser and 70 degree celsius high pressure washer did wonders.

Next up was how to deal with the inside of the tank:



After a thorough pressure wash and attempted scrub this was the starting point. Some investigation later turned me to the alternative of mixing citric acid powder with warm water.




A few hours later and enough water to drown in later this was the result. A massive improvement and I hope it's gonna be good enough to run. My only other alternative is to either re-coat the inside with a tank sealer, but then you run the risk of it dissolving and clogging up filters. Or to just bite the bullet and buy a new tank.




You can see the water line here, couldn't get it highter than that.




I then discovered the placement of the dreaded fuel filter. ABOVE the rear subframe and diff? What on earth were they thinking?




Sorry for the terrible picture, but I relocated the filter to behind the subframe using the oem mount, the rubbers from the other side as spacers and nut inserts drilled and fitted to the subframe. It's pretty sturdy and mounted as high up as possible. And now actually serviceable on the side of the road!

 

After a successful reinstallation of the tank and rear subframe, trans and everything else - with a re-do of everything because I fucked up and crossed a couple fuel lines so the high pressure feed dumped straight out of the charcoal filter - it started right up and ran as smooth as a fresh built engine is expected to.
But I couldn't get the trans to get into 3rd or fourth. Couldn't even feel the "notches", and a bearing noise was very very apparent from the transmission. It goes away only when the clutch is completely depressed, so I suspect it's the input bearing after some digging online and conferring with the engine builder and friends.




So out it had to come. It was interesting as I couldn't seperate the propshaft from the diff flange, there was so much rust on there that when I tightened it, it seized. Can you remove a transmission from an FD with the prop shaft still attached at both ends? By yourself? Yes, barely. Would I reccomend it? Absolutely not.
It took a lot of force with a hammer and chisel to remove the drive shaft from the diff. I didn't want to be pounding on it with it still inside the trans, and I needed the sideways leverage.




Third and fourth is engaged through the gear shifter with the middle fork. Completely stuck.



Which is the rear gears behind here, you can see the rods sticking down to the left behind them.
Gently tapping the top of the fork freed it up. The rest of the insides looked good other than the bearing. Needless to say the trans has to come back out again to disassemble the entire thing, just to replace the bearing.




Then came the fun part. Finally piecing the thing together for a test drive.




Pretty sure the FedEx guy hated me for ordering a package the weight of a 15 year old boy with about 90 pieces from Atkins.





New rotors, pads, brakelines, fuel rubber fuel lines, clutch master, slave, loads of interior trim and seals, filters, plugs, everything got assembled piece by piece.




New LHD headlights from Atkins and depo bumper lights bought on a bargain from yahoo completed the front end.




A buddy had a pair of recaro's sitting in his shed I snagged. Currently sourcing rails. So for now they're living room accessory - every bachelor pad needs two red recaro's

 

And then came the first test drive on a morning with frost on the ground. Luckily it warmed up quickly so the slicks weren't that sketchy. Break in miles for the motor. Everything else feels good! A little clunking in the rear from some loose pillowballs or bushings - there's a little sideways play if I grab the wheel. Motor feels strong (from what I can feel below 4000rpm) and runs smoother and smoother.
A short video from the very first couple kilometers:


I then delivered it to a bunch of friends of mine running a detailing shop, to correct the paint.


It'll get more work done and maybe a clear bra once it's registered and on the road. There's some sanding marks that need a deeper buff to get out - luckily there's a ton of clear on this car






One of the last sunny and dry days before winter, driving it home to my parents to let it sit through winter.





Unfortunately it's outside in a car port, but I'm not worried about the paint or rust - as it'll be as dry as it can be in the cold.

Now we're pretty much up to date to today. This process took place between April 22nd to I parked it in november 2021 with a six month break during the 20/21 winter.

Only thing missing now is to rebuild the transmission with a new bearing, run in the engine, fix the remainding interior like window switches and loose panels. Then do an alignment, adjust the lights and smog test it before I attempt going through inspection and registration - so please cross your fingers that they allow it!
Norway is a particularly tough country to import cars to. Generally they HAVE to have a european registration history before they allow an imported car to be registered. This car comes straight from Japan, but now it's 30 years and considered a classic - with more lenient requirements to paperwork, this also applies to mods.
I already have seats, a Cusco bolt in cage (will only use the back half cage), seat rails on the way, boost guage and Nardi. Next on the list is coils and I consider running my staggered 18/19 Weds LXZ's on it to begin with, until I find an 17 or 18" squared setup I like (too many options)

Let me know what you guys think!

 

[ Deleted, double post ]

 

Amazing job!

 

Got new bride rails that fit the SR series recoro perfect.

 

https://www.rx7club.com/interior-ext...789715/page35/

 

Thanks for the tip! I found some cheap rails on auction on Yahoo auctions that I have coming in the next month or so, so hopefully those fit and work fine.

 

Wow, you really pulled that car back from the dead!

Fantastic work! Even with what I know about FD's doing a job of that magnitude is VERY daunting. Glad you stuck with it! Hope you get to really enjoy the car soon!

(and find some center caps for those wheels!)

Dale

 

Thanks man! Yeah daunting indeed, but I figured it was the only chance I'd ever have of owning an FD and would regret it if I didn't.

Haha, I have two centre caps - they just need painting silver. And I found another on yahoo auctions for 800 yen, coming in soon. Just missing the last one now!

 

Please posts some pics here as well thanks. Tell us about your adventures. Also some you tube of a hoon through those very (very) long Norwegian tunnels.

Thanks.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...1148527/page5/

 

I will post stuff once I get the car on the road! Ha, trust me - there will be videos with microphones placed by the turbo's and exhaust.

 

Incredible amount of work- good work and great write up!