'83 GS resto-mod
04-03-12, 06:42 AM
#1
'83 GS resto-mod
Hey all! This will be my 7th RX, 5th that I'll own at one time. It's an '83 GS, comes w/ a glass sunroof, aftermarket springs & tokico blue shocks/struts. I'm trading a T2 diff, driveshaft, & axles for it!
Car's sat in its current state atleast 4 years. Very minimal rust, it's a FL car so the underbody isn't haggard
. I'm trading the parts & obtaining the title next week. However, it will sit where it's at now for a bit longer, until I tie down a job & house of my own to store it at (just graduated from USF w a BS in mechanical engineering).
Will be a semi-daily driver when done- something I can drive on nice days, but do so quite often, & not worry about putting miles on. Will have A/C too
Planing on: re-do interior, but use S3 maroon parts. Will be all stock down to an S3 cassette player, just not S2. I do prefer the looks of the S3 interior more.
13B NA swap-- Probably going for an S5 NA. Will be fuel injected using stock ECU/wiring. Be really cool if I can fab the GSLSE airbox to fit to the S5 MAF- Basically I want it looking as though it came this way from the factory. Anyone not heavily into RX-7s would think it was all stock. I want something that will: Easily start up and need no maintenance in the coming years, be relatively cheap and easy to find, have some power (160bhp) but still get decent highway milage.
Paint- It's T5 Havanna Brown. Not sure where I stand on this.. I don't want to rack up hundreds of hours in body work, and if I do change the color, I'll go to the S3 light beige. Oddds are it will stay T5, but with a good re-spray. Will do this while the car's torn apart, nothing half assed here.
Anyway that's the plan as of now, figure I'd start this and get a few replies, I'm really excited! It will be my first FB restore, I've fixed up 3 FC's and have a mint original first gen that's far too nice to touch.
Car's sat in its current state atleast 4 years. Very minimal rust, it's a FL car so the underbody isn't haggard
. I'm trading the parts & obtaining the title next week. However, it will sit where it's at now for a bit longer, until I tie down a job & house of my own to store it at (just graduated from USF w a BS in mechanical engineering). Will be a semi-daily driver when done- something I can drive on nice days, but do so quite often, & not worry about putting miles on. Will have A/C too
Planing on: re-do interior, but use S3 maroon parts. Will be all stock down to an S3 cassette player, just not S2. I do prefer the looks of the S3 interior more.
13B NA swap-- Probably going for an S5 NA. Will be fuel injected using stock ECU/wiring. Be really cool if I can fab the GSLSE airbox to fit to the S5 MAF- Basically I want it looking as though it came this way from the factory. Anyone not heavily into RX-7s would think it was all stock. I want something that will: Easily start up and need no maintenance in the coming years, be relatively cheap and easy to find, have some power (160bhp) but still get decent highway milage.
Paint- It's T5 Havanna Brown. Not sure where I stand on this.. I don't want to rack up hundreds of hours in body work, and if I do change the color, I'll go to the S3 light beige. Oddds are it will stay T5, but with a good re-spray. Will do this while the car's torn apart, nothing half assed here.
Anyway that's the plan as of now, figure I'd start this and get a few replies, I'm really excited! It will be my first FB restore, I've fixed up 3 FC's and have a mint original first gen that's far too nice to touch.
04-04-12, 06:13 PM
#3
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that sounds like a really neat project! S5 13B in a 1st gen seems like a really good combo (i've never done it).
T5 brown OR tan with a red interior is going to look weird, isn't it? i had a T9 brown GSL-SE once, so if it was mine, i'd keep the brown. i like the S2 interior better too, but ymmv
i'm sure that the GSL-SE airbox could be pretty easily adapted to the S5 afm, actually you need one of those miata cone filter adaptors, bolt it to the airbox, and then use a silicon boot to go to the AFM... i'm not sure how that works space wise, but it'll work functionally.
T5 brown OR tan with a red interior is going to look weird, isn't it? i had a T9 brown GSL-SE once, so if it was mine, i'd keep the brown. i like the S2 interior better too, but ymmv
i'm sure that the GSL-SE airbox could be pretty easily adapted to the S5 afm, actually you need one of those miata cone filter adaptors, bolt it to the airbox, and then use a silicon boot to go to the AFM... i'm not sure how that works space wise, but it'll work functionally.
04-05-12, 07:19 AM
#4
that sounds like a really neat project! S5 13B in a 1st gen seems like a really good combo (i've never done it).
T5 brown OR tan with a red interior is going to look weird, isn't it? i had a T9 brown GSL-SE once, so if it was mine, i'd keep the brown. i like the S2 interior better too, but ymmv
i'm sure that the GSL-SE airbox could be pretty easily adapted to the S5 afm, actually you need one of those miata cone filter adaptors, bolt it to the airbox, and then use a silicon boot to go to the AFM... i'm not sure how that works space wise, but it'll work functionally.
T5 brown OR tan with a red interior is going to look weird, isn't it? i had a T9 brown GSL-SE once, so if it was mine, i'd keep the brown. i like the S2 interior better too, but ymmv
i'm sure that the GSL-SE airbox could be pretty easily adapted to the S5 afm, actually you need one of those miata cone filter adaptors, bolt it to the airbox, and then use a silicon boot to go to the AFM... i'm not sure how that works space wise, but it'll work functionally.
Included w/ the car is a complete S3 red interior, and the S2 interior is really neglected. I'm also red/green color blind, so maybe I'm seeing the red interior/brown exterior in a different light than most haha.
Good info on the GSL-SE airbox. Shouldn't be too tough to make it work. If anything maybe use a GSL-SE snorkel to keep the distance the same. I'm really excited about this project- Sadly updates are going to be minimal until I land an engineering job & a house to store the car. But they'll be coming then!
04-05-12, 11:28 AM
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06-01-12, 07:58 AM
#6
Small update!
Landed an engineering job- next step is a house & I can get started on this!
I also found on my local craigslist, an 87 T2 engine with 5k original miles. Yes you read that right haha.
Guy bought it in '88 from a junkyard in Cali, where he was living at the time. Came from a car that was wrapped around a tree & totaled very early on in it's life. Still has the original silver mazda oil filter! Crazy. Came with the S4 turbo as well, got it for a semi-steal of $800.
So, slowly but surely she's coming along
Landed an engineering job- next step is a house & I can get started on this!
I also found on my local craigslist, an 87 T2 engine with 5k original miles. Yes you read that right haha.
Guy bought it in '88 from a junkyard in Cali, where he was living at the time. Came from a car that was wrapped around a tree & totaled very early on in it's life. Still has the original silver mazda oil filter! Crazy. Came with the S4 turbo as well, got it for a semi-steal of $800.
So, slowly but surely she's coming along
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