82 Widebody, turbo, 19K mile project...
 

Let me start by saying i've owned about 20 RX7's since 1987. I've been searching for a particular car for about 10 years...about 3 months ago i found it and after a short negotiation period i purchased the car...site-unseen. I have now owned it for 2.5 months. She was delivered from Ohio exactly one month ago...January 9th. When she back out of the enclosed trailer i was very happy with what i was seeing. Everything was pretty much as described. The interior was in incredible condition; the wheels and tires were very nice; the engine bay was clean and in need of a rewire and the paint was HORRIBLE:)

The car started on the first crank and the exhaust sounded great. I've enjoyed having the car and have started on making this awesome car...PERFECT!!!

I took her our for a 45 minute drive today and the odometer now reads 19,378 miles on it:) The records and documents i have date back to July 1st 1987 when she had 10,141 miles.

Here's what i've done so far. Under the hood i have cleaned up some of the wiring added a little bling, replaced the alternator and the belts. I will redo a lot of the wiring when i pull the motor for a rebuild. That will probably happen in a few months.
Under the car i have just cleaned it up. She does have a small oil leak which will be addressed when i pull the motor.
I am working with the owner of a certain RX7 shop (in Garland, Texas) on upgrading the brakes. We are still looking at the options. So far all i have done is paint the calipers.
As for suspension i will change out the existing shocks and springs to new ones...still debating on what brand and whether to do a custom setup.
I am going to replace all the bushings, sway bars, upper and lower links, control arms...etc. If it's under the car it's probably going to be replaced. All the original will parts will be for sale.
The tires were brand new and the wheels were in very good condition. I was not a fan of the gold honeycomb so they had to be changed. The wheels have now been repolished and the honeycombs are now flat black.
I replaced the original moonroof with a mint condition glass roof.
The biggest change to the appearance of the car will happen later this month. I will be having the car completely repainted. The color will be Kaiser Silver which is the same color as my 3rd gen.

At some point i will change out the 1980's Alpine tape deck and JVC EQ along with the existing speakers. The only change i will make to the interior is to have the door panels redone. They are currently in very good condition...but not perfect.

I guess that's enough for now. More to come....

Here are a few pictures before and after...and the mileage when i bought it.

Here's the color she will be painted...

Beautiful color choice !

Nice find!

She looks good!

What kind of power is she making?

I haven't put her on the dyno but the butt test at 10 pounds of boost says low 200's....

I posted on the sale thread right before you bought it and kept tabs on it.

I was hoping you'd post up a build thread and I'm so glad you did! Keep us all updated with pics and videos, in my opinion this is one of the most beautiful 1st gens I've ever seen. Congrats :bigthumb:

Did a little work on the car today. I started removing the old stereo system today. I pulled the speakers that were on the door panels and on the back the speaker was dated from the day it was installed 4-5-1983. They still sound pretty good. When i was removing some of the speaker wire i pulled the carpet back and found a quarter. I told my wife it better not say 20XX. The date was 1982...i guess she's been sitting there a long time.

I am in the process of installing an old set of Nakamichi Sp-400 in the back rear bins...i had them installed in my first RX7 back in 1987. I think i paid more for my Nakamichi stereo system back then than i did for the entire car. I amy end up pulling them out as i just bought (5 minutes ago) a set of excellent condition rear seats. I know...why rear seats? I have a 9 year old and a 6 year old that could fit in them.

I bought a new set of Tokico blues and RB springs that i will be installing when i get the car back from being painted. I am getting one more quote tomorrow on the paint job...so far the low quote was $6500 and the high was $9800...and the car doesn't have any rust:( I will drop her off to be painted later this week. I am hoping it only takes 3 weeks.

While the car is being painted i am going to have the door panels repaired. They each have a couple holes in them from where the speakers were installed.

I know it's crazy but i am buing new rear tail lights and the center peice for the car. That's going to cost me about $650...yuk! But it will make the rear under the big tail look really nice:)

More to come....

Here are a few pictures...

Widebody
 

I paid about 7k to have my black widebody painted 2 years ago. The problem with the kent body's is there race bodies, not really designed for the street. The front cap is thin fiberglass, so be careful after you paint for stress cracks.

Try to reinforce the area in the front under the hood where the 4 bolts, bolt the fender to the car. I don't know if you have driven your car on the highway but the amount of downforce you get from the body kit it's nuts. The car sticks to the road at ant any speed.

Remember Dave kent/Mazda motorsports designed this kit to go against the big boys in the GTU class, in imsa in 1980. It's got major testing behind the body flow and road handling. Notice your duck bill wing does not past the rear bumper if you measure straight down from the top to the edge of the bumper. It was regulated the wing could not pass the bumper in GTU class. The actual bodywork guy who did work on mine raced one with the same body in the 80's, he told me a bunch of cool stories.

I was driving mine yesterday, unreal how crazy it still looks on the road, good luck with your build

Larry

It's looking great, looking forward to seeing it with some new paint.

Love the gold wheels. Black looks good too. Great looking car man!!

loving those ssr formula mesh

this is an 82? how does it have the newer rear bumper and tails?? car looks sexy! i have one of these in red. with the same wheels.

She is an 82. Those are the tail lights that came on the 82's... Not sure what the difference is on the bumper.

Shit, you're absotutely right, i had a brainfart. car looks sexy brother!:icon_tup:

nice find! i badly need a set of those rims lol

A little update on the car...It's now up to 19669 miles.

The door panels have been replaced and recovered. I removed the old stereo....even though the stereo was very cool. I replaced it all with new equipment.

Four weeks ago i dropped the car off at the body shop to have the body prepared for painting. The car is now back home primered and ready to be painted. Not sure what color. I may end up dipping (plasti dip) (dipyourcar.com) the car so i can change the color if i want to.

I replaced the tail lights with a set in very good condition.

The interior is now excellent, the exterior is ready to be painted.

Engine is running very nice. I will eventually do some work to it to see how much power i can make.

This car is on it's way to be one of the nicest in North America...of course thats just my opinion:)

A few more pics.

nice
 

Always nice seeing another widebody

Beautiful car!

I'd paint it black again, looks great in black.

Looks amazing! I still can't believe how clean that body was. As much as I like black, I really don't think it shows off the body lines that well. That kit just flows sooo well. I like the original idea of silver, it will really make the kit pop!

Looks great Bill. Glad to see you giving your tender love to an FB. You should bring it next time you are down. :)

any updates on the car??

No new updates...soon i will have some updates...

The suspense! :banghead: Really looking forward to what you do with this car, I have no doubt it'll be something great.

Very nice and my exact color choice on my WB.