I like the way things are coming along. Very clean and quality stuff

 

Thank you. For the kind comments. I am trying to tidy up an already nice car so it's just a lot of little details and honestly it's the stuff I like to do. Complete restorations are for the birds.

 

UPDATE* Happy 2016 everyone

The rear bumper has been refinished and repainted. It's going to be here tomorrow.

A few items were discovered when taking off the rear bumper and it explains a few things.

1. The car had been hit in the right rear and repaired. The repair is not quite 100%. The paint is coming up and cracking where the repair was done. Also the bodywork isn't perfect and it caused the rear tails not to have perfect fitment. We found washers stacked up under the right tail light assembly. It makes sense now why the center brake light sat up higher and not flush with the right tail light. When they finished the repair they tried to make it look right with washers but was still off.

2. There was some surface rust in the hatch under the carpet so we are going to take care of that.

3. There is a lot of sound deadening/rust preventer overspray in the hatch and some got on the hatch plastics. I removed them and my paint and body guy is going to refinish them. I'm looking forward to seeing them done. He picks them up tomorrow.

4. The color did not match the factory CYM. So my painter did research and found 5 versions of CYM; sprayed 5 cards with each formula and none matched the car. Actually not even close. He mentioned he would like to take my bumper skin to Maryland where they do a computer analysis of the paint with 99.9% accuracy for a fee. My painter wanted to match the paint perfectly and felt it not wise to skimp on the process. Of course I agreed and the computer says the color is a known paint code and not just a custom mix. That's good news. Means we can get the exact paint!
The car was repainted back in the early 2000's and they must have really liked the new Lamborghini Murceialgo. They chose a special Lamborghini color. I believe it's called "Giallo Orion" it's a Pearlecent color. It's a bit more yellow and less pale than the factory Mazda color. It's also being used on the Aventedor

I am fine with it. I'm not exactly what you would call a purist. As many of you know I've even owned LS3 powered FD's. So this color looks fantastic and everyone who sees the car agrees about the paint. So the title of this build thread should probably be changed.
Actually the car is an original CYM car. You can see in the door jabs and hatch/under the hood the original CYM color so at some point it could easily be returned to factory Mazda Competition Yellow Mica. But it won't be during my tenure as owner...






1993 Mazda RX-7 by -mik3ymomo-

So while removing various plastics and hatch materials I found I was missing some plastic fasteners, a Grommit that keeps moisture out of the hatch behind the right tail light and understand why I had a rattle in the back.

I sourced parts online from people here parting out cars for things no longer available from Mazda and even things that are available from Mazda I found some alternatives for that I want to share.

The plastic fasteners, rivets, clips etc directly from Mazda I've purchased are between $3 and $8 each. I bought a few but decided to look around and found some 3rd parties selling these things in bulk for pennies on the dollar.

Everything you need for carpet, interior and exterior plastic, weatherstripping fasteners, clips, grommets etc.
I ordered hundreds of these things and it cost less than a handful from Mazda and they are Mazda specific.

These are good to have around for things like interior plastics, dash, fender liners, under trays, etc.
Find them here.

https://www.clipsandfasteners.com

 

These holidays have given me time to get out and work on the car.
So I finally wanted to swap in the rebuilt stock shifter today. The car has an Authentic B&M short shifter. I wanted to swap in the stock one and see how I like it.


And I pull off the cover and the trans is shifted to the right. It could be a few things but the most likely suspect is the Power Plant Frame needs adjustment. That's a big heavy Hulking piece of steel that I don't want to really mess with from my back on the concrete floor with the car on jack stands by myself.
I'm still thinking it over. But it needs to be adjusted before I go further with the shifter. I'm not going to mangle the trans tunnel like the person who put the shifter on already started to do.

 

Bumper is done. I realized I need more hardware so placed an order with an online parts place out of New Mexico. I placed an order on Dec 26th and it's still processing. I will call them tomorrow and make sure it all ships soon or I will try other avenues. Mazda Motorsports Development will be back open from the holidays so I may call them if I don't hear my stuff is shipping tomorrow.

So here is the work that was done so far. Also the bodywork on the rear behind the lights looks to now have solved the tailight fitment issue. The hammer and an experienced body guy make things work.




The bumper once installed will be wet sanded and buff polished. It's wrapped in a blanket and sitting on my dining room table until the hardware arrives.

 

Bumper looks good, u must have a very understanding wife to be able to leave the bumper on the dining room table.

i think you are going to like that rebuilt shifter over the B&M. I hated the B&M shifter in my car.

 

Yes she is understanding. And I think I am going to wait on the shifter until I get the car on a lift and adjust the PPF.
Hoping to have the car back on the road by next weekend.

 

car is looking great man.

thanks for those links on the mazda retainers and clips. i think my car is missing a few of each, which is weird because i bought my fd untouched or modded, which means i lost or broke them lol

i too hated the b&m shifter.

keep up the progress!

 

Mike - care to share your mobil body guy's contact information? I have some things I'd like to be taken care of.

 

PM sent

 

I had the same issue with the shifter which was mainly caused by aftermarket engine mounts and oil pan brace. I got a different mount which helped, but it's still to the right a little.


https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...nment-1085345/

 

Yep it's always to the right a little if it's a lot it is the engine mount not the ppf. You want the PPF relaxed and straight (drive line nice and straight) and not under load while in a neutral position so if you adjust it to hold the engine/trans to the left you are asking for a cracked or broken PPF later.

 

Hot Damn! I love me some good exhaust ****

Looking great Mike!

Lane

 

congrats on a successful build that maintains the essence and beauty of the FD while enhancing it.

(of course we all know that builds are never finished)

"I don't have a resonated mid-pipe so it is loud enough to leave you with your ears ringing after a long drive with the previous cat-back"

i do agree your exhaust borders on ****. while you may be satisfied w the sound should you want to tone it down just a bit yet still be a happy guy when your right foot is on the floor i very confidently suggest you consider adding a Borla PN 40944. i have a Racing Beat catback and the combo is perfect IMO.

BTW, have to love your neighborhood w all the road racing iron.

Howard

 

Thanks Howard, it's coming along.

We put the rear bumper back on today with new hardware. The fitment on the right shows they bent the brackets to get the panel fitment right. We didn't do that. We are thinking about trying to work the fitment but for now we are going to leave it alone. The painter is a friend of mine and I don't want to turn the job into a nightmare for him. The friendship is more important than the panel fitment right now. He did a nice job and it's not his fault the car has had body work.
Again I am just being very particular and am fixated on anything that isn't perfect. I make a very bad customer lol.
I'm going to try and live with it. If we keep taking it apart we run risks of damaging the freshly painted bumper. It's looking much better than it did as far as paint. He did an amazing job including the interior panels. I will take some pics of those as well as the pinch welds he painted black.

 

Such a bonus to be getting this done in freaking JANUARY in the northeast

Can't wait to get to some car events with you next year Mike..... I see NJMP in our future for sure

 

Got it buttoned up.


Have some clearance on the exhaust now.




Yeah Rich, I want to do a couple track days a year. Nothing real competitive but want to enjoy the car for what it was made to do.

 

interesting that you went with the efini emblem instead of the newer flying M

 

I had the Efini emblem plus already one on the front. I had him fill the holes on the right where the other stickers and name was.
Here is a shot of the pinch welds painted black.

 

Had all my hatch plastics refinished. Spent the last half of the day taking my time and putting them back in the RX-7.










Yeah he did a real nice job. I need to get the bins done at some point.



I think I took a pic of them before. I will try to find that pic and post it. He did a heck of a job.
I took my time putting them back in and made sure I had all the correct fasteners.



Little bit of simple green still wet on a couple spots. I wiped the dust off and finger prints after I was finished.

Just missing a shock top plastic, should be around. Will find it this week. Hope you guys are enjoying the projects.

 

More pics.
Strange that the carpet doesn't seem to line up with the holes in the plastics. Goodfellasfd3s says it's not factory. Looks decent. Has some nice padding under it. Can't tack it down with the existing holes though.

 

I gotta say, I love what you're doing here

 

I'm going to guess that's a factory rear carpet, but it most likely came out of a JDM RX-7 with the rear seats, that's why it has the slits cut out for the latches.

 

Oh thanks for the heads up. It was a real head scratcher for me.

 

is the foam on the underside about 40mm thick and quite a dark grey open cell stuff? If so it most likely is a factory one as that is what came in my car which is imported from japan. Other than that, car is looking great keep it up