Nice! I want to check your car out sometime!!

 

any update ? how is the AC acting

 

And, exactly why do car guys live in California? (Why does anyone live there anymore?)

 

The only update is, I've been driving it work pretty regularly to break it in. Drives fantastic. Its such a better car to drive with the stock clutch, milder flywheel and new transmission. No leaks, no issues at all. I have a bit of de-rattling tasks to do around the driver's side window. Have not charged the a/c yet. I am going to have Ivan do it, but its a bit of a hassle getting the car down to him, so I haven't got it done yet Soon though, its getting warm out now!

Took the car to an informal half moon bay cars and coffee a few weeks ago, had a good time talking to some local car peeps, then went for a drive down hwy 1. Theres another informal meetup in a few weeks if you're interested (i know its a long drive for you).

 

lol, come fly out here for Monterey car week

Seriously though, I really dig where I'm at. I'm a five minutes walk from the ocean, stays around 60-75 most of the year, never have to shovel snow and can drive the FD 365 days a year if I wanted. California gets a reputation for a being a bunch of tree-hugging prius drivers, but theres a great car culture out here.

 

I know. I lived there in the early 70's and then again in 1999-2000. When I was there for Sevenstock last year I saw a LOT of homeless and drug stuff and have since seen what has been happening to San Francisco. Hope it gets fixed, because other than that and the sort of anti-car regulations, its such a great place.

And, I love your car. After my first FD, I bought a stock R1 and drove it for about a year before switching to a 20b. If I get more room, I will add a stock FD. The stock car is so sweet.

 

Ivd worked in one worst parts of San Francisco, the Tenderloin, for the last 7 years and its gotten significantly worse. Inverse to the San Francisco economy. I volunteer at St Anthony's and its depressing, I try to stay positive but I feel like what I'm doing is a tiny drop in a massive bucket. Its unfortunate, but its going to get worse before it get better and the root cause is addressed.

Thanks for the kind words! It was tempting to add some go-fast goodies to it, but keeping it close to oem was the right decision. Its a blast to drive. Having owned a heavily modified rx7 years before has made me appreciate how good these cars were right off the dealership lot. That and maybe a bit of old age too

If i could somehow squeeze room, I'd love a modified RX-3 in the stable. Which oddly enough, never show up on BAT.

 

Hey that is pretty close to me, when is the HMB Cars and Coffee? Can't find any info on it.

 

First Sunday of every month at Peets coffee at 8am. It was yesterday (but I was busy and couldn't attend). Ill hit you up if you want to go next month.

 

Update: air con is back up and running! For anyone following my thread, I went through my air conditioning system replaced all the o-rings, compressor and expansion valve. The MANA expansion valve is NLA, so I replaced with a Four Seasons 39054 from a miata. I finally dropped the car off at Ivan's to have him recharge with R12. Been driving it around, the system is ice cold! Ready for Monterey car week cruising!

In other news, finally making some progress on the garage. Got the floors done. Purchased directly from SwissTrax. Was a fun project, its not quite drop in, you have to do a lot of measuring and cutting. But I think it turned out great.

 

Thats greats about your AC. And thanks for sharing the expansion valve whereabouts. What did you do about your accumulator?

 

Great call out, its the original one. What I did was rent a vacuum pump and buy an a/c manifold set from amazon (make sure and get the R12 hose adapters) and pull vacuum on the system for over 24 hours. I would say if your system has been open for awhile (like mine), definitely pull vacuum on it for at least a few hours to pull any moisture out of it.

No problems with mine after doing those steps.

 

I love those RS wheels. Are you gonna fill em with 99spec brakes? You guys are killing me.

 

QUOTE=Narfle;12292883]I love those RS wheels. Are you gonna fill em with 99spec brakes? You guys are killing me.[/QUOTE]

LOL. If you hang around long enough, I'll eventually do something most everyone will disagree with! So, I pulled the Efini RS wheels last week. I spent the time and restored the original set of wheels that came with the car back to their former glory, put a fresh set of Bridgestone S007As and heres the result:





I figure this might be a bit polarizing, but I really like the look of the OEM wheels on an FD with a stock/near-stock exterior. They fit the car. Not sure what I'm going to do with my old 17"s yet.

 

The stock wheels are hard to match. Nothing else matches the design quite so well. So, I don't disagree at all. Did you have a shop refinish the 16's? I have some wheels that I need refinished locally. If you decide to sell the 17's, let me know. I like 'em.

 

That is why you do what please you and forget what anyone else thinks. Opinions are like @$$holes. Everyone has one.

For example, I have always hated the stock wheels as I always felt that mazda felt short on the appeal of the wheel design. But ultimately it's your car, your taste .

 

thanks for the tip and info about the expansion valve. I can't wait to have a good working AC system.

And iIve thought about going back to stock wheels from 17s. The extra side wall makes the car feel so much more comfy.

 

This is the sentiment echoed online, but at least from my experience, is far from the case. In my nearly 20 years of driving in CA, I've only had to perform one smog check or inspection of any kind, and that was recently having bought my RX-7 from out-of-state. Aside from that, I've never experienced a situation where a law or regulation prevented me from modifying any car as I wish. No inspection is required until 6 years after you purchase a new car, as opposed to other states where an annual inspection is required. Safe to say I can afford to live anywhere in the world I want, so the Bay Area it is. But I agree...SF is a disgusting cesspool of filth.

Car looks great, Seth! Tough to beat the look of a factory original FD.

 

The place I used was kwicksilver wheel repair. Its not cheap, but they did a fantastic job. Work was flawless. Its not cheap however, expect anywhere from $150-$180.

I'll likely end up selling my 17"s. But If I can't get a decent price for them, I'll throw them up on the wall in the garage as an expensive garage art project lol

 

Yes. I think the 99 spec wheels look much better than the stock 93 wheels, but it's his car.