Hey everyone, I’ve been using this forum as a search engine, and to learn for years. I had an ‘84 fb in college, did some work on it back in 2013-2014 and life happened quick. Married, kids, house, new state everything.

fast forward to today and I recently picked up an ‘85 GS with an old Elford Turbo body kit (minus the front bumper) in the V3 Tender blue.
215k Miles! Pretty much my dream rx7.

*My goal is a fun handling “grippy go cart” for the weekend, occasional drives to work, maybe some light local auto cross, Car meets, and shows. A project for me and the kids. Realistically 165-240hp. 165hp for a streetport set up, 240hp for a Bridgeport. I don’t know which way I’d like to go, I’m in no rush but I’ve been doing my research. Both seem to have pros and cons and I’m totally on the fence because i like each respectively.*

I Found on this GS on an old lady’s property, she owned it for 10 years, and only drove it 5k miles. Pretty much a hidden gem. I have service records she kept going back to 2005. And it was kept in the same family for most of its life. Each of the owners spent lots of money on this thing through its life. Definitely taken care of, but it’s seen some years.

Paint fade, and clear coat peel, some minor surface rust cracking. Underbody spotless though, it’s fairly clean overall, just needs some loving.

It needed some obvious basic maintenance out of the gate, and I’ve been going through everything I can myself, and bring the kiddos along for help when they are into it.

Just as a first post I thought it would be good to go through some things I’ve been up to, things coming up, and things I need help with.

Recently I just did the following:

- major cleaning, interior, exterior, engine bay clean up, degrease and overall cleanliness
- cleaned the heater blower (entire forest was in there)
- NGK spark plugs, NGK wires, rotor and cap
- 15” Kosei K1’s wheels
- 205/50/15 Khumo Ecsta PS31 tires
- new to the car driveshaft
- pitman and idler arm
- 20w50 conventional oil / Mazda OEM filter
- Idemitsu premix .5oz per gallon (no clue if the OMP works)
- air filter
- changed the cloth fusable links to the modern Bussman style
-Removed the subzero assist unit
- Door card removed and copy cat of techno toys style cards.
-Pioneer head unit and front speaker upgrade


Parts in the garage waiting to be installed:

- Racing Beat Spring set
- Full Energy Suspension bushing package
- KYB Excel-G front shock cartridges
- KYB AGX rear adjustable shocks(another forum member had a write up on these to just cut the mounting eye down 1/4”)
- Upper Strut Mounts
- Front lower ball joint
- Inner front tie rods
- All new engine belts
- Racing Beat Radiator hoses
- Aluminum 3 row radiator
- Thermostat/gasket


Things I’m waiting on to start the above, have questions on, or just need help:

- When I slowly hit the gas from idle to about 3/3.5k i get these dips downwards like the needle shutters for a second then if i give it more gas it keeps climbing. If I mash the gas this is mostly unnoticeable, it’s only when I’m slowly pressing the gas. This is also only been noticed in my driveway(haven’t checked it while moving yet, or even noticed it)

- My radiator clutch fan is probably seized? (It only follows engine rpm at all times and is super loud)
***Do you just replace it with a new one, does it have any sensors, or just simple remove and replace?***

- My headlights flip up and down with the left toggle button, and with the stalk.
The “push forward and stay on brights” don’t work ever.
The low Beams work 5% of the time randomly mostly don’t work at all.
The high beam flash to pass always work.
**any insight on what I can do here?**
***seriously thinking about getting some halos and just wiring an independent 4-way switch to make them (DLR On/ Lows On/Highs On/ Off)
** would I need to upgrade my alternator? **

- Power Antenna engages and the motor makes sounds but it doesn’t retract (can I just push it down and disconnect the electrical?)

- My A/C dosent work, I want to just delete this for now as i don’t know if it’s the compressor or a leak somewhere? Seems straightforward to delete. Will tackle this when I do the coolant system.

- I’d like to do a rats nest delete and mod my Nikki, not sure where to start there. (I’ve seen and read a lot of the threads/posts, however a lot of them there are no pictures or the pictures/linked sites are long gone. I’m very visual)

- I’d like to do the Racing Beat Road Race system, and delete the air pump.
*** do i need extra block offs from RB or does it come with everything?***
*** do i need to upgrade to a dual pulley on the alternator if i remove the air pump?***

- WHEN the engine goes, I think I’d want to do a street ported 12a, or Bridge ported 12a. (I know this will come with the need for a new carb setup, fuel pump, regulator, filter etc) Probably will be difficult finding 12a intakes and other parts.


Everyone does a 13b, and I get the parts are more readily available…12a build sounds fun and unique to me.

Unless someone can convince me of a 13b street port w/ carb swap, I just want it as close to plug and play from the 12a and rather not mess with an ECU and laptop tuning.

That’s all I can think of right now! But will post here as I go.
Any help to these issues would be appreciated. I’ve been searching most of this on the forum and these are just some questions I couldn’t find clear answers on.

 

Sweet looking car. There are very few left that nice.

 

Car looks great! At some point in time, you might want to consider either a GSL rear end or at least a LSD. This will be a fun project for sure!

 

Welcome to the forum! Nice car

 

Thanks, appreciate it!

 

Im going to try and slowly get better at keeping a how to on each thing I do to the car. These first posts are the infant stages before I decided to try and document this build.

I've noticed that lot of old posts from 10+ years ago have missing images, missing links that no longer exist, and point you to some dead end websites. (Specifically the Nikki carb mods.....man I wish there was a full write up with pictures and how to) So I think some of this stuff might help others.

For now here are some things I've been working on.

Heater Blower clean out, just 3 screws right under the passenger footwell. It looks like a black avacado with a hose, on the 84-85 GS.

Changed the old spark plugs ( NGK BR8EQ-14), and NGK wires and Bussman style fuseable links

T3 copy cat door cards


The ‘Avacado’ heater blower cover

Probably 40 years of never being cleaned

NGK plugs BR8EQ14

NGK plug wires and fuseable links changed to the modern “Bussman” style



T3 copy cat door cards




Also some interior shots

 

This is the third clutch fan I’ve tried, and they all have had the same seized/locked issue even this one. They all only spin with engine rpm, no matter the temperature it spins as fast as I rev.


First remove the 4 bolts that extend from the plate attached to the pulley.

I used a rubber grip wrench to wedge the pulley in place to stop it from moving, while I loosened the bolts.

Remove the inner bolts

“Newest clutch on the left, old on the right” both don’t work properly.

A bit banged up around the edges, but after cleaning it up I just used the same fan.

 

When cold, the clutch fan will be hard to spin. It really won't spin by hand, more like move a little.

 

They have resistance, but they dont slow down at any temp they are always full blast all the time. So if I'm at 4500rpm so is the fan. I may look into getting an electric fan set up at this point. Electrical stuff isnt my strong suit however. Alt upgrades, wiring, etc no clue how to do all that yet.

 

With the fan clutches, have you tried the "broom test"? I only ask because the fan will always be rotating, just not *tightly* linked by the clutch when cool.

Good luck!

 

the last two just kept spinning like a tornado. I just got one more to try out, going to put it in soon.

 

Ok so here are a few things Ive been up too lately on the build. Not sure if its normal to break these up on other threads.

[img alt="First up was an aluminum 3-row radiator removal and install.

First I removed the cover bolts"]https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7club.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_7355_441c6a916e311f8a2274b444363a0b08efcaeaa5. jpeg[/img]
First up was an aluminum 3-row radiator removal and install. First I removed the cover bolts

Get some ziplocks and keep the bolts you remove attached to the part you take off. Easy to loose these things.

Un-hooked the battery and removed it for some space and a good time to clean the under tray.

Take off all the sensors, cap, wires and hoses off the top of the radiator.

Jack the car up and remove the under tray (clean your oil pain and all the dirt while your under here)

Get a bucket/drain pan and remove the radiator drain plug from the bottom of the radiator. Let this drain for and while and squeeze your top and bottom hoses. There is also a sensor on the bottom of the radiator that you can remove that will let some juice out. ALSO there is a coolant plug on the bottom of your center iron, if you follow your oil filler spout down under the car, there is a nut remove this to drain the coolant out of your engine. Clean and Reinstall the bolt.
[img alt="While that’s going on, you can remove the bottom radiator hose and it will drain out. Also remove the heater hose (smaller hose connected to the radiator by the lower hose)

After all that draining, remove the top hose and take off the thermostat housing neck. Mine was gnarly and all gnarly looking."]https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7club.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_7368_64f48f2dab1a46681458faed53a4c866535967fb. jpeg[/img]
While that’s going on, you can remove the bottom radiator hose and it will drain out. Also remove the heater hose (smaller hose connected to the radiator by the lower hose) After all that draining, remove the top hose and take off the thermostat housing neck. Mine was gnarly looking.

Toss your old thermostat, and carefully plug the opening with a small shop towel. Grab a razor blade and some solvent/soap and get to scraping. Clean and wipe down carefully. Remove the towel and put in your new thermostat, along with the new gasket. Put back the housing neck.
[img alt="Install some new hoses top and bottom. Fill the radiator up with the appropriate coolant (green) and mixture for your climate. I’m in Florida and the coldest we get is 30-40 degrees. So I just use off the shelf premixed coolant.

Once you fill the coolant to the top of the radiator keep going, it will settle and look full but it’s only kinda full. When it spurts back up your funnel it’s full…ALMOST."]https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7club.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_7371_3ac1a4dd332515bfa05d36e46dd5adff1391fce1. jpeg[/img]
Install some new hoses top and bottom. Fill the radiator up with the appropriate coolant (green) and mixture for your climate. I’m in Florida and the coldest we get is 30-40 degrees. So I just use off the shelf premixed 50/50 coolant. Once you fill the coolant to the top of the radiator keep going, it will settle and look full but it’s only kinda full. When it spurts back up your funnel it’s full.
now with the cap off squeeze the top and bottom hoses, refill the radiator as necessary.

At this point you need to run the car. But keep in mind that you just took all the coolant out of the engine. So you’ll have to do this next part 1-3 times.

grab a rag and put it over the open radiator top, start and let the car run for 3-5 minutes and squeeze your top hose and bottom hose quite a bit, you’re trying to air out the system from air pockets. Turn the car off and see if you need to refill the radiator.

Repeat, put the radiator cap on, but this time let the engine warm up and watch your coolant light. drive (down your street under 3.5k close to home) most likely your coolant light will go on. You really don’t want to drive with it for more than 30sec or so.

go back home and repeat until your radiator is full, and you don’t get the coolant light. Fill up your reservoir tank to half way and check back periodically through the week as you drive the car. Top everything off as necessary. Done!

 

Cover plate removal

Cap, sensor, hose removal

Old thermostat, gnarly

 

Filling up the new radiator

 

Up next I did the rear suspension, AGX adjustable shocks and RB springs. As followed by @t_g_farrell previous write up.


Jack up the car, and remove this bolt. You need compressed air to make working on this car easier, go grab a compressor and gun/impact sockets to make your life easier.

Let it hang, no sweat.

I needed to use spring compressors to get these out, surprisingly still springy.

Here’s a comparison of the old stock springs and the Racing Beat springs.

 

The RB springs will be much easier to wiggle in place.

Make sure you seat the springs like this^ the end of the spring will rest next to this perch indent.

Comparison old vs new

Part number if you need it.

 

For illustrative purposes, the AGX rears adjustable shock eyes do not fit in the stock mounting location. You need an angle grinder and a metal cutting blade.

Line it up and sharpie a cut line, here’s about how much you need to trim off each end.

Remove the old shock at the locking bolts, from the top hatch area and replace with the new one. Bolt the mounting eye back up.

Then tighten the top locking nuts back up top.

Repeat for the other side. Done!

 

While I was under there I replaced the fuel filter (possibly the original? it was gnarly) and the hose/claps for this section. I’ll be doing the other hose lines when I install my Carter Pump.

Drop was small/modest. Nothing crazy about 3 fingers can fit from tire to the flare compared to 4 fingers before. It’s reasonable, they are way nicer so far compared to the stock stuff that was on the car.

 

Next up was the front suspension. KYB Excel G, new strut mounts and dust boot/bump stops Here are the part numbers.

 

Remove the end links.

Remove this tension rod thing from the control arms

Undo 3 bolts from the top hat and get your jack under here, to hold the assembly in place, watch your brake lines!! Compress the spring and remove.

 

THIS…damn glam nut was the worst part of the whole thing. So soft of a metal it bends and strips no matter what you throw at it.

A bit *** wrench, WD-40, a 3lbs mallet, and some hearty elbow grease worked for me.

Pull the old shock out of here.

 

I


Throw the new springs on, put the new bump stop and dust cover on. Reinstall all the washers and such in the same order and throw the top hat back on too. The fronts dropped about a finger or so, definitely happy where this sits. The old shocks were toast, oils spurting out and compressed far too easily. This set up feels much tighter and not so floaty on the road!

 

Threw some new MSD High Vibration Coils in. Easy to install. Just mark your positive and negative so you know the orientation. (big wire goes to positive)

 

Got a new 70amp S4 alternator.


Also ordered a Bonzai racing Dual belt pulley

To remove the old alternator pulley, just hold the pulley with your hand tightly (with gloves) and impact the nut off. Remove, replace, repeat. I’ll save this for later as I’m going to be doing a whole lot here next.

 

Oh boy, parts haul! Drove 4.5hrs away to pick up this whole set for a third of the price! Only was used for 2 years. In great shape.
Full RB Road Race Street Port System
Weber 45 DCOE (and a box of jets)
Intake Manifold
1-5psi regulator






Weber 45 DCOE with Intake Manifold