Our Rx7s are starting to come of age. Unless you're willing to pay top dollar, you'll be hard pressed to acquire one that's not in need of something.
Luckily, I am not a man of means. And, a few years ago I happened to pick up a montego blue 94 touring that needs one of everything.


It passed smog! So, I set about fixing it and driving it. But, mostly driving it. Merry Xmas!


I did fix a few things...
-Stuck sunroof
-New glovebox
-Rotten stock exhaust
-Inner door deal
-Blown turbo coolant hose
-New undertray
-Cracked dash vents
-Replace map pocket

Anyways, eventually me and time caught up to it and now it's under the knife. Only, I kindof got fixated on refurbishing the interior instead. Expect slow progress and a can-do attitude. Hang in there!

 

So the interior on this car is a little ratty, and needs some freshening up.



I thought about switching to black carpet, but
1. They're hard to come by
2. I already had a very nice tan carpet
3. I actually kindof like the tan, it's classy

Getting everything out was a pretty big PITA, but finally got the new carpet in. Found a buttload of change under the old carpet.



No more holes! Now I'm just working my way back out, and hope to have some quick progress soon.
Definitely going to be rocking floor mats, and in the market for some new seats.
Anyone know how to test out the heater core?

 

What are your plans for the car? Good job bringing it back though

 

Thanks, it's got a long way to go yet.
I'm planning a resto-mod of sorts, like an SP2/r2 conversion I guess. Keeping the twins and the montego blue.
It might take me a while to exit the interior, but I guess we're headed to paint, body, and light engine work next. Might hit up some low hanging fruit along the way. Stay tuned!

 

Some of my cluster bulbs were dead, so I thought I'd pull it out and replace them. I broke the cluster hood, major bummer. Found a new one; it's on the way.
Meanwhile, I put what's left of the dash back in. It's all wired up, but I'm pretty much going to need it to run before I put that thing in there all permanent-like
Also picked up some rear speaker brackets and grills for my ongoing de-bose-ing operation. Like hen's teeth, I tell you.
Then we went to a car show.











There was a Veyron there and all kinds of crazy stuff, mostly old classics.
To Do:
raise steering wheel
hook up cluster
heater hoses and coolant
install radiator and junk?

 

There have been developments....

The FD I started this thread with has become sort of a ship in a bottle. My dedication to stock and high quality parts has drawn out the timeline, and it has become rudely apparent that my personal commitments preclude me from enjoying driving this car on an acceptable timeline. I've got nothing against such projects, but I really just wanna drive a nice FD in the short term.

One of the great lessons with these cars is that it is imperative to start with a solid platform. The FD from earlier in this thread is solid, but needs many of the common things you'd expect. And new seats, and a 94+ cluster hood. And some of it takes a lot of dedication and luck to track down. We're all fighting for the same rare and fragile parts on the most-uncommon of FD platforms(94+, LHD).

I had been looking at that 17k mile fd in the classified, but I couldn't reach a reasonable arrangement with the owner. Most of the value in these cars is in them being stock and well maintained. Modifications, however expensive, detract from the marketability and value of your car. People want a blank slate. Tastes differ. Also, I have had 2 mb fd's with a sunroof(a 94-glassy and my 1st rx7 95-metal from fritz) and I'm over it. I'm 6'3"...

I was kindof bitterly surfing rx7 ads, when I came across a super clean 94 base model. I jumped on it.

1 owner, 67k miles, and bone stinking stock.
Fastidious maintenance and a large folder of record and reciepts. Super super cool owner and author. Sent me home with a signed book and a glass of scotch.
Gotta ship it and get it looked over by a specialist. My circumstances are such that it couldn't effectively be my daily, so it'll be a weekend car. Would be a shame to run up commuting miles on it anyways...



First mod will be one of those fancy SBG car covers

 

Neat to have two FD's in the driveway for a minute, but a short-lived sight...Hard to tell from the crappy pics, but the new one is on the right.


Sad to see it go...


Took the new whip to Rick's Performance in Pleasanton. Changed some belts, fluids, and filters and got Rick's stamp of approval. Was very pleased with their service.
Putting on a few little things, and planning some reliability mods. Will post more pics soon.

 

Had the new FD serviced and checked over by Rick's Performance. They did a great job, and Rick said the car is top notch. Not many changes aside from belts, plugs, fluids, and filters. I had a non-bose cargo cover lying around, and I'm really enjoying the JDM arm rest(never had one before). Installed a 51R battery with some help from TurboJeff and Atkins Rotary. I see people relocating and running smaller batteries, but I think this is pretty legit. On the fence with the lime green interstate. It's fun but I might go with a regular black SuperStart or something. Just going to enjoy driving it for a minute. I've got some parts lying around, but trying to keep this thing classy. Getting the cooling system ready for summer is top priority. Definitely needs some cleaning. We'll see....












And a couple shots from the other night.

 

Very nice stock example (even has the original AST). IMO, stock is nearly perfect (unless you track it). Wish I had a bigger garage so I could have two and keep one unmolested

 

^thats what I always say^ have two FD's, my wife is ok with it too, she wants a white one lol

 

Thanks, I agree. I wish I could've kept the other one to really get wild with. Maybe one day...

She's got good taste! But, like women, I find one FD is more than enough trouble.

Here's my favorite change so far. Changed out the turn lamps for a cleaner set.



The base/touring front lip is growing on me. But, I wouldn't mind switching to the r1/99-spec lip.

 

Cleaned up the car a little bit and installed this very race car hood prop. We all know lightness and strength are super imperative, when it comes hood props.
It came with fancy new plastic hardware, which is also key.
Clear now I must replace all the things with shiny new.

 

Not much to report.
One of my radio ***** exploded, so I ordered a new set from atkins, no pics for now.
(You can't get the ones with dots on them anymore I guess, so they're not exactly correct)
They nice, tho.
Spotted an OG radio fs. Might have to snap that up, the lights don't work on mine at night.

Saw a sweet old school mustard truck in one of my garages!




Decided to embrace my inner farmer.
Too many peas in one pot.




My OG gas cap failed inspection a while ago.
The garage hooked me up with a generic at the time, which was ok.
Bought a mazda-correct replacement.
(Moderately bummed it's not exactly correct, maybe I can get a super OG one and swap on the new gasket ring)
One hundred!




Have picked up a couple of these things in my journey.
Working on fixing the hardware and making them super sweet.




Picking up some other goodies for the summer, too.
More about that later...

 

Very clean unmolested example. Nice.

 

Small update...

The plastic barrel was broken in half on my driver's side sun visor.



Despite being told my multiple domestic sources the part was unavailable...
I was able to order one from japan via a canadian friend.



Much better.







Thanks! Trying to keep it classy.

 

That's a nice part!

 

I need two sun visors as well, would you happen to share the source so i can have two ordered? Please?

 

Nice thread.
Am in the process of trying to do a OEM Plus on my interior, however can't seem to trace new cluster hoods that arent a fortune. Share the secret!!!

 

i love this type of build thread.

 

Thanks! There's nothing like OEM.


They can see this, perhaps they will reveal themselves...

As it were, the visor I ordered only fits sunroof cars. Checking if there's a non-sunroof version available.
More about this piece of the project later...


No secret when it comes to cluster hoods, unfortunately.
You have to subscribe to the FS section and wait with a hair trigger. Check ebay when you can.
You can still order the '93 version from Atkins(including the gauge bezel), I believe.
Bubble Tech is in prototyping with a reproduction, which seems promising.
Another vendor also tried in the plastic parts dev thread, but it's been super quiet recently.
A couple people make carbon versions.

If you broke a 94, try to glue it back together.
Otherwise, it's about patience and lowered expectations.


Thanks! Trying to keep it full of weird pictures and part numbers. It's gonna be a slow ride

 

It was me who ordered it for him. Was just told that the touring version and base model are a little different. If you want I can order them for you if available. For 100% accuracy, it would be best to send me your VIN just in case

 

About the visor thing...

I had ordered some JDM sunvisors(with good clip-barrels) off of ebay. With a razor blade and some patience, I was able to relieve one of the ebay visors of its clip-barrel cleanly in half. After doing so, I was able to carefully super glue the halves back together around my original visor.

I let the glue set on the repair overnight and it's holding up very well in the car now. You can't even tell, and now I've got a few spare barrels lying around if it ever comes undone(I doubt it would any time soon). I'll take some pictures, but I forgot :/

I had tested the super glue method on the remnants of an original barrel for fun, and it seemed impressively strong. If I'm able to get a brand new replacement or find some unicorn pristine r1 visors maybe I'll replace it. But I'm super satisfied with the visor situation for now. I'll have to pass on the new touring visor to some lucky club member.

Here's a picture of the old radio with the new audio *****. Trying to figure out why the lights don't come on at night. Hopefully just a fuse, but browsing the FS section for radios.







Took a nice ride with the lady friend to some old restaurant...
The roads in and out this place a quite a thrill when you get them all to yourself.









What else?

I had went fishing. Caught a lot of sharks...


Eventually found what I was looking for!




Saw some cool cars along the way..
Lotus replica in the garage


Some sort of purple death machine at the local muffler shop(the one next to the most excellent mexican cuisine)



A butt-ton of exotics at the local foreign shop, like way too many(20?)
A few old ferraris too, I would've done a full photo shoot but y'know.

 

Not too much to report.
Actually got the car out a few times recently.
Snapped some pictures on an extended errands/shopping session


Clean-ish engine bay. Shiny new bolts for the overflow and washer tank necks.


Here's a couple pictures of the repaired sun visor barrel(left). It's been holding up really well.
You can't tell one has been sliced in half and glued back together.
Just in case they repair doesn't hold, I picked up some of these cool 3d printed barrels: https://www.rx7club.com/group-buy-pr...p-buy-1104780/
Options are always good.



The woman person has informed my my parts queue is unacceptable. Some stuff to be sold, some to be installed, some to be squirreled away in storage.
I really wanna redo my radiator, AST, and hoses. But, I've been super busy and some nice parts side tracked me.
And, I change my mind a lot. More than the woman person, I think.
Nobody eats at the table anyways...


Lucky Strike Extra: Saw this super sweet motored bicycle, whilst out on the town.

 

Weak update...

Took the car up to Rick's Performance and he installed some stuff for me. Don't have a great workspace or time to work through even the easy stuff anymore. And, I get the sense that the car is a little too nice for my amateur mechanical adventures.
But, Rick takes good care of me and does a real nice job. Hard to see parts budget go to labor, but it's quality work. It's a way way nicer job than I could manage on my own, for now. Just gotta suck it up and stay patient.
+R1/R2 oil coolers in very nice shape(nicer than my stock single, which wasn't bad, thanks Jaiyurai) - wanna go autox.
+Stainless brake and clutch lines from Sakebomb - I've burst a brake line before...scary.
+Billet oil pedestal from Sakebomb - Might run some oil gauges and will try the larger 929 filter later.
+New OEM hardware for lip and undertray - Someone left a couple bolts or snaps out previously, but homie don't play that.
+Redline differential and transmission fluid - New owner maintenance, I think all the fluids are swapped now. Might've forgotten the PS fluid or something else.


Next destination is radiator replacement.
I bought a Koyo and was set with new stock AST and lots of new hoses, but I don't have the heart to mess with the brackets to force the fit, and Rick thinks it's overkill. I'm not in the business of disagreeing with vetted professionals of superior experience. And, if this car ever goes autox or HPDE that will be the heaviest duty it ever sees(and a large victory, since that's the goal here). So, I think I'm gonna take a page out of TomU's book and pick up a Ron Davis(mazdacomp) radiator. I think their reputation for quality is sexy.


Trying to get the car nice and tight before we do anything performance related. I've got some other cool peripheral stuff that hopefully will show up when we do the radiator this spring. Got a long wish list of expensive stuff, but wont bore you with my pipe dreams. We'll just wait and see what actually gets installed. I have just as much fun swapping parts as I do putting them on, and I managed to pass some nice stuff back into the community and to good ownership. So, hopefully we whittled the parts pile down to stuff, I'll actually install. But, you never know.

None of the newly installed parts are super visually sexy and the weather sucks here now. So, pictures of other neat cars I encountered to hold you over: